Oh, Baby!. Patricia Kay

certainly glad those days were long behind her. And she was enormously grateful that Joy had lived up to her name and was a joy to raise. The girl had never given Sophie one moment of trouble, thank the Lord.

      She looked up at the noisy entrance of two of her colleagues—Ann McPherson, a chemistry teacher, and Cindy Bloom, who taught computer science and keyboarding.

      “Oh God,” Cindy said, fanning herself, “be still, my heart!”

      “Yeah,” Ann said. “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he? And I’m sure he knows it.”

      “Of course he knows it!” Cindy said, laughing. “I mean, he’s dated some of the most beautiful women in the world.”

      Sophie kept her expression blank, even though she instantly knew the two women were discussing Dillon Burke, former pro quarterback for the Los Angeles Lions, who had moved back to his hometown of Crandall Lake in June and was now the new varsity football coach at the high school. The very same Dillon Burke with whom she, Sophie, had once been wildly in love.

      And who she was now avoiding at all costs.

      Our relationship took place a long time ago, she reminded herself for about the hundredth time since she’d heard he’d come back to town. He’s no longer even a blip on your radar screen. And if she’d had any doubts that this was so, the fact that he hadn’t made any effort at all to see her or talk to her would have made that fact abundantly clear.

      Unfortunately, the nonblip had gotten nonstop publicity and attention ever since he hit town. Sophie would have had to be blind not to notice he was even better-looking now than he’d been as a senior in high school. Tall, with black hair and piercing blue eyes and a body to die for, he had set many a heart aflutter in the past thirteen years.

       But not mine! I’m so over him.

      Sophie was just grateful that most of her colleagues had never known she and Dillon were once an item. And the few who had known must feel the way Sophie felt now: that the relationship between her as a sixteen-year-old sophomore and Dillon, as a senior and the star quarterback of Crandall High’s Cougars, was nothing more than a teenage fling long forgotten by everyone.

      “It won’t be any different here,” Ann was saying. “I noticed Nicole was all over him at the fair Saturday.”

      Cindy grimaced. “She makes me sick.”

      They were discussing Nicole Blanchard, the French teacher. New this year, she’d been a topic of speculation from the first day of school—leggy, blond and gorgeous. Every man who came into her orbit fell under her spell. Sophie figured Dillon Burke would be no different.

      “Yeah, well, he didn’t seem to be unhappy about the attention.” Finally noticing Sophie, Ann said, “Hey, Sophie, how’s it going?”

      “Okay. How about you?” Finishing her sandwich, Sophie started on her apple.

      “Well, I’m tired from the weekend. Other than that, things are great.”

      They continued with meaningless chitchat for a few more minutes, and then Sophie said, “I think I’ll take a walk. See you guys later.” She pitched her apple core into the trash, stood and dusted off her jeans, then waved goodbye.

      Outside, even though it was already the first week of October and should be cooling off by now, the temperature today was supposed to reach eighty-five. Sophie had lived in Texas her entire life, but she’d never become used to the heat. Maybe it was her redheaded complexion, but the only time of the year she truly enjoyed living in the area was in the winter. She’d often thought she’d be happier in a northern state somewhere and had even toyed with applying to schools in Michigan, Ohio or Pennsylvania. She’d fantasized about settling in a bigger city, somewhere she might have a better chance of meeting the kind of guy she still hoped to one day find.

      But then her mother and Joy’s dad, Josh—Sophie’s stepdad—were killed in the plane crash, and Sophie became Joy’s legal guardian. All thoughts of moving away had been shelved. Keeping Joy’s life as close to normal as possible became Sophie’s number-one priority...and always would be until Joy was out of college and able to take care of herself.

      Sophie was so caught up in her thoughts that as she rounded the corner on her way to the side entrance of the school, which was closest to her office, she collided with someone coming the other way.

      “Oh, sorry,” she said, looking up.

      “Sorry,” he said, looking down.

      Hazel’s eyes locked with blue eyes, and for one long moment, Sophie didn’t breathe.

      “Well, well, well,” Dillon Burke said, a smile playing around his mouth. “If it isn’t Sophie Marlowe. I was beginning to think you were a figment of my imagination.”

      Sophie’s traitorous heart skipped alarmingly as she tried to think of something clever to say. “Hello, Dillon” was all she could manage.

      He grinned. “Hello, Sophie.”

      “I, um, was on my way back to my office.” Oh, great. Was that the best she could do?

      “So I see.”

      He was still smiling, and his eyes—oh, those eyes!—were giving her a thorough once-over.

      “I, uh, heard you were back.” Dear Lord. Now she sounded like an idiot. I heard you were back. No, duh.

      He made a face. “You and everyone else in Texas.”

      “That’s what happens when you’re famous.”

      “Famous.” He made the word sound like a curse.

      “You hadn’t seemed to mind the attention in the past.”

      “Past being the operative word.”

      Sophie pointedly looked at her watch. “Well, it’s nice seeing you again, Dillon. But I need to get back to work.”

      Giving her a little bow to go along with his sexy smile, he said, drawling a little to sho his Texas roots, “Good to see you, too, Sophie. And by the way, you’re lookin’ good.” His gaze moved to her butt. “I can remember when jeans that fit like yours were outlawed.”

      Sophie could feel the blush heating her face.

      She could also feel his eyes watching her as she made her escape through the side door.

      Thank God no one had seen their encounter. Because Sophie was sure if anyone had, they’d have immediately known she was not immune to the charms of Dillon Burke, no matter how many times she told herself she was.

      * * *

      Man, she was one sexy woman. Dillon couldn’t get over how good Sophie looked. Nor could he get over how much seeing her had affected him. This wasn’t the first time he’d had a glimpse of her, but it was their first close encounter. The first time he’d been able to see those beautiful gold-flecked eyes, that smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, the way her full lower lip looked ready and ripe....

       Damn. Best not to go there.

      She’d been avoiding him. Truth to tell, he’d been avoiding her, too. Not that he had anything to regret where she was concerned. He’d been up front with her from the beginning. He’d made her no promises. She’d always known he was going off to college when he graduated.

      And he did. Pretty much without a backward glance. Oh, he’d thought about Sophie. He couldn’t help thinking about her. They’d been a pretty steady item for nearly a year, and he’d fallen hard for her. It had taken him months, years actually, to stop comparing other women to her. And if he was being completely honest, he’d never really stopped. No matter who he was with, somehow he always had Sophie in the back of his mind as his gold standard.

      Had anyone else ever measured up?

      Tessa, maybe, for a while at least. Until she got greedy.