The Mistresses. Katherine Garbera

      For her, she knew that. But she was positive that Adam was used to women falling all over him and she wanted to be distinctive, not part of the pack.

      He tipped her head back. “What are you thinking?”

      “That I’m an idiot.”

      “Gracie …”

      “No one’s ever called me a nickname before,” she said, the words slipping out without her permission.

      She’d had two serious relationships since she’d left home and neither of them had lasted more than a year. She was afraid suddenly that Adam would be gone as quickly. Not because she needed a man to cling to, but because he was the first person to make her feel like who she was was enough. That she didn’t have to pretend to be someone else. And that really scared her, because she’d never been comfortable in her own skin.

      “Can I ask you a personal question?” he asked.

      “I’m standing naked in your shower. I think we’ve gone past the point where personal questions are out of bounds.”

      “Why do you wear baggy clothes?”

      “I … They’re just more comfortable.”

      “I thought we agreed there’d be no lies between us.”

      “Did we agree to that?”

      “Stop stalling.”

      She reached for the loofah sponge and put some shower gel on it. “Turn around and I’ll wash your back.”

      He arched one eyebrow at her but did as she asked. She scrubbed his back and noticed the scar that ran along the base of his spine. She touched it, wondering where it came from. “I wear the baggy clothes because my body distracts men. Makes them think of sin instead of business.”

      “Grace.”

      She stepped away from him, retreating to the far corner of the shower, sponging herself. Actually, now that she’d said the words out loud, she knew that she’d revealed too much. She felt more naked than she had on the lounge chair with his mouth between her legs.

      “I don’t know who said that to you, but that is not what your body makes me think of.”

      She tipped her head to the side, studying him. Trying to gauge the truth in his words. “What do I make you think of, Adam?”

      He dropped his gaze from her for a second and then lifted his eyes to hers again. “You make me think of home, Gracie.”

      She didn’t know how to respond to that, and it seemed neither did Adam. They each washed their own hair and got out of the shower without saying another word. It scared her to realize that Adam knew some of her deepest secrets, but she knew she also knew one of his. The man who had everything his heart desired was searching for something the same way she was.

       Six

      The sound of raised voices filtered through her locked office door. Panicked at the thought of getting caught half naked in his arms, she started to push away from him.

      But he held her close, wrapping his strong arms around her. “I’ve got you.”

      Grace hugged him to her and closed her eyes, reminding herself that this was just loneliness and she hadn’t found the man she’d been secretly dreaming of.

       Excerpt from “Adam’s Mistress” by Stephanie Grace

      Two weeks later, Grace had managed to keep Adam at arm’s length. Not an easy decision on her part, but she knew that dating him publicly was the absolute worst thing she could do as an administrator. Plus, she was scared.

      She would admit it only to herself, but she’d let Adam get much closer in one night that she’d ever intended to. Seeing him every day at the school was a bittersweet thing. After hearing from two concerned parents about the amount of time she was spending with Adam on campus, she was almost afraid to be alone with him.

      Afraid that if anyone thought there was something inappropriate going on between her and Adam, it might fuel Malcolm’s campaign to close the school. Sue-Ellen and the PTA had really run with the fundraising and money was starting to come in from the alumni group. But Grace knew any small mistake could set Malcolm off.

      More disconcerting, her file folder with the story had shown back up on her desk. Where had it been? Had it been there the entire time?

      She glanced at the pages and knew she should probably shred the thing before someone definitely saw it. The office shredder was in Bruce’s cubicle and she’d tried a couple of times to use it but someone always walked by.

      There was a brief knock on her door before it opened and Adam filled the doorway.

      She shoved the folder under the blotter on her desk. She flushed a little and hated that. She wanted to come off as more sophisticated than she was, but no matter how hard she tried she was always going to be a small-town girl.

      “Good afternoon, Grace. Do you have a minute?” Adam asked.

      Quickly she closed the Internet window on her computer where she’d been reading an article about Adam that had been in Entrepreneur magazine last fall.

      “Sure,” she said.

      He closed the door behind him. He wore a pair of dark dress pants and a blue shirt that really brought out his eyes.

      “Please leave the door open.”

      “What?”

      “Sue-Ellen thinks I’m spending too much time with you behind closed doors. You know she goes straight to Malcolm with her concerns, so I really don’t want to give her any more fodder.”

      He crossed his arms over his chest and made no move to open the door. She didn’t want to force the issue. Worrying about a closed door seemed kind of silly to her, but she was willing to do whatever was needed to keep the school open.

      “Is that why you’ve been too busy to have dinner with me the last two weeks?” he asked.

      “No. I have a life. I wasn’t just sitting alone in my house waiting for you to start asking me out.” She hoped he’d never know how many nights she’d spent sitting alone in her house thinking of him. Fantasizing about what it would be like to be in his arms. Her dreams had now become fevered remembrances of his mouth on her body. Her hands on him. She squirmed a little in her chair just at the thought of the intimacies they’d shared.

      “Too bad for me,” he said with a self-deprecating grin that made her smile back at him.

      “What did you want to discuss?” she asked, knowing if she didn’t change the subject she was going to do something she’d regret, like tell him to lock the door then seduce him on her desk.

      “The gym needs a new floor. And that’s not in your budget,” he said, leaning back against the still-closed door.

      “What do you suggest we do?” she asked. The school needed a lot of repairs. The tuitions that they’d had to refund after the scandal broke had left them in a sticky place.

      “Coach Jarrett and the boys’ team suggested a charity basketball game to raise money. We’d use the outdoor courts for play.”

      That was a great idea, but she wondered how many games they’d have to play to earn enough money to resurface the floor. “Okay. But I don’t think we’re going to raise enough with just our team. Attendance at the games hasn’t been that high.”

      “I’m going to contact a few of the musicians on my label and get them to come and play.”

      “I approve that idea. When were you thinking of having the event?”

      “The weekend prior to spring break. I think that will give us some high-profile press coverage and we can maximize it to bring our enrollment numbers