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There was something about him that unnerved her, that was rattling her like a key chain blowing in the wind, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. He was troubled, sure. There were things he was obviously holding tight to his chest. But he was honest, she’d give him that. From the expression she’d seen more than once in his eyes, from the way he looked at Gabby, she doubted he was any good at lying.
Although maybe that was just a by-product of his special-forces training. After all, she didn’t exactly have a great track record when it came to judging men.
“Penny for them?”
She laughed at his old-fashioned saying. “You caught me dreaming again.”
He opened the back door for Gabby, and then the front one for her. Caitlin wasn’t even sure a guy had ever opened a door for her before and yet Tom was already making a habit of it.
“You sure it’s okay to take me all the way home?”
His eyebrows nudged together as he frowned. “Like I’m gonna buy you an ice cream then make you find your own way to your place?”
Caitlin laughed. His expression was so comical she couldn’t do anything but laugh. “Okay, okay. I don’t like being a burden, that’s all.”
From the look on his face, he didn’t think she was a burden.
And from the look of it, he was struggling with what to say, how to behave, as much as she was. Could he honestly be as unused to attention from the opposite sex as she was? Caitlin sure doubted it. She’d perfected her look, a back-off way of staring at guys who so much as threatened to show interest in her. Tom’s body language was closed, but he sure didn’t have a stay-away vibe, not in that way.
“Miss Rose, do you have a husband?”
Caitlin coughed, tried not to inhale ice cream up her nose as she spluttered. Where the heck had that question come from?
“Gabby!” Tom scolded. “That’s not a polite question.”
Caitlin didn’t turn to look, couldn’t even brave a glance at Tom. But she wasn’t going to let Gabby get in trouble for being inquisitive. Didn’t she always tell her class the importance of asking questions? Maybe she needed to remind them of what types of questions were appropriate, though!
“It’s fine, Tom. It doesn’t matter.”
“So do you?” Gabby asked.
“Gabriella!” Tom’s voice boomed through the car.
No, thought Caitlin. No, she didn’t. But the thought of saying that in front of Tom scared her, made her want to wrench the car door open and run. Because she’d built a fort around herself, never made herself available in any way, and she sure as heck wasn’t ready for that to change.
“Sorry,” Gabby said, sounding unsure why she had to apologize. “It’s just that Tommy doesn’t have a wife and Mommy is always saying that he needs a ‘nice girl to settle down with.’”
Caitlin fought the urge not to laugh at Gabby’s put-on voice and failed miserably. One look at Tom and he was in hysterics, too, laughter ringing through the car. Jokes she could handle. Jokes were safe.
“A nice girl, huh?” She couldn’t stop the smirk that settled on her face when she found her voice again.
Tom glared at her, but that only made them both laugh again. “Don’t kids say the darnedest things?” Only this time his gaze hinted at a seriousness below the surface, and she wondered if Tom was after a nice girl, or if it was just his sister-in-law wanting him to find one.
Either way, it meant nothing to her. She wasn’t interested in a relationship, and Tom wasn’t her type.
What she couldn’t understand was why talking about Tom like that had sent an itch under her skin that she couldn’t dislodge.
CHAPTER THREE
“SO you’re telling me that nothing happened?”
Caitlin sighed into the lukewarm coffee she was nursing. “Correct.”
Her friend and fellow teacher sighed dramatically. “Look me in the eye and tell me,” Lucy demanded.
Caitlin wasn’t lying. She was dreadful at keeping secrets, but she was guilty of one thing.
“I promise nothing happened,” she said, raising her eyes and shrugging. “Seriously.”
Lucy tucked her legs up beneath her, curled like a cat on the sofa. “But you wanted something to happen, right?”
Heat burst onto Caitlin’s cheeks as she sipped her now almost-cold coffee, trying to avoid Lucy’s gaze. “I agree that he’s kind of cute, but he’s not really my type. And seriously, Lucy, what was going to happen in a class full of six-year-olds?”
The groan she received in response told her she’d given the wrong answer.
“He’s every girl’s type, Caitlin.” Lucy stood up and stretched. “Either you’ve got rocks in your head or you’ve gone blind. I saw him leave your class yesterday and he’s hot, hot, hot.” Lucy waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Don’t give me that rubbish about being in a classroom either, because I know you walked him out. It’s about time you gave a guy a shot. One day you might just surprise yourself.”
Okay, so Tom was hot. Gorgeous in fact. Sexy as hell. But it still didn’t mean she was capable of liking him in that way. And if he’d been interested in her, surely he’d have made a move by now? Guys like Tom were used to playing the game, knew how to attract a girl and how to reel her in.
Which was another reason she wasn’t interested in him.
“I’ve got to get back to class,” Caitlin said, raising her fingers in a wave and scurrying toward the door. “And nothing happened, okay? I mean, jeez, I only just met the man. I was hardly going to jump him in the hall!”
“Admit it, Miss Rose,” Lucy called out, voice all prim and proper. “There’s nothing about him not to like and you know it.”
She ignored Lucy and kept on walking. That part her friend was wrong about. Caitlin had perfectly good reasons for not being interested in Tom, for wanting to keep her distance from him, she just had no intention of sharing them. Of delving into the past and letting those feelings resurface.
Not now.
Besides, she was happy. Liked her life the way it was. If a man came along to tempt her, he’d have to be perfect husband material. And Tom Cartwright sure as heck didn’t fit the bill.
“Miss Rose, Miss Rose!”
She looked up to find a little girl from her class jumping up and down in the hallway. “Honey, what’s wrong?” Caitlin bent to talk to her, preferring to be on the same level as the children.
“Sarah fell over in the playground and hurt her knee. She’s crying.”
Caitlin took the girl’s hand and let herself be led outside. “You did the right thing, sweetheart, let’s go find her.”
Tom found it hard to indulge in the simpleness of guzzling water on a hot day. He’d spent so long rationing every sip, being so careful to preserve what he’d come to think of as his lifeline. Yet here he was, back on American soil, gulping water as though he had an endless supply of it.
He stopped and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
It suddenly hit him as if he’d been slammed into a wall—a solid, massive brick wall.
He was back for good. There were no more rations, no more missions. Nada. He was back now and he had to lump it or leave it. Or however the hell that saying went.
“Sir?”
Tom turned, bottle almost squashed in his hand, the plastic pressed tight between his fingers. He paused, wanting to calm down before he risked snapping unnecessarily at his pupil. Just because he hadn’t been able to sleep last night didn’t mean he could take it out on anyone else.
“Yes?” He fought not to glare. The poor kid was suffering enough through his training without him being an ass, as well.
“Sir, I saw your name on the board and the guys wanted me to ask if it was you.”
Tom nodded, a tick starting to pulse at this temple. He could feel it, like a pressure point, thumping away. “Yes, that’s me.”
He’d taken the top honors in the water for his year. Had been in the top five percent consistently, one of the strongest of the bunch in all their training. Tom raised a hand to his ear as he so often did these days, rubbing, worrying it. Self-conscious of his hearing, he angled his body further to make sure he could hear the young man without having to ask him to repeat himself.
If he hadn’t been so close to the explosion, hadn’t suffered such damage to his eardrum he’d still be in the water instead of being on the sidelines with nothing to do other than coach others, encouraging them to do the same.
“You sure set the bar high, sir.”
Tom smiled as the young man walked back off to his buddies. A giant’s fist clenched around his throat, squeezing the lifeblood from him as he watched the group of men bond, knowing how close they’d become, those that made it.
It was something he’d miss for the rest of his life, but he was going to have to get used to it.
Because the doctor had been pretty clear about his prognosis. He could still go permanently deaf in one ear, and he’d never be able to get in the water again. Or at least not in the way he had to be able to in order to pass his physical.
It was over. Period. Something else he’d have to get used to.
“Okay, boys, break’s over. Back in the pool,” Tom barked. He also needed to stop playing Mr. Nice Guy. If these men were going to make it, they had to be the toughest of the tough. He knew that firsthand. “Unless you’re prepared to break my record or come damn close, you can expect a long night.”
Groans echoed out.
“Do I hear a ‘Yes, sir’?” he boomed.
“Yes, sir!” came an even louder response.
“That’s more like it. Now get in the water!” Tom ordered.
Tom folded his arms and fingered the whistle hanging around his neck. If he couldn’t be out there himself, he was going to make darn sure he trained the best Navy SEALs ever to graduate from the academy.
Tom was starting to wish he hadn’t been such a demon to his training team when they were still in the water two hours later. He was also starting to think that perhaps none of them were going to make the cut. Because they hadn’t left the pool yet and they still had hours to go.
“Come on!” he ordered. “Push yourselves. You can do this!”
He waved over another training officer over who’d clearly finished for the day. “Can you watch these guys for me? I have to make an urgent call.”
Tom gave his colleague a quick pat on the back and jogged into the office. He looked up the school number, glanced at his watch and dialed.
But all the bravado in the world wasn’t helping his nerves any. The hand holding the phone went clammy, he couldn’t stop fidgeting.
He didn’t know what the hell was happening to him. Why his usual nerves of steel and unflappable attitude were failing him now. But he wasn’t going to let a woman rattle him.
Not a pretty wisp of a teacher who could be blown off her feet in a strong gust of wind, who’d looked so vulnerable the other night that he’d struggled not to soften. Found it hard not to let her in.
Because he wasn’t that guy anymore. He didn’t have the strength to deal with his own problems, so he certainly didn’t have anything to give a woman, and he didn’t want to have to explain himself. Or hurt anyone else, let anyone else close, and then expose them to the demons that kept him awake at night.
“Brownwood Elementary School.”
Tom cleared his throat and made a fist, pressing it hard into the desk. “I’m sorry to call during school hours, but I need to speak to Miss Caitlin Rose.”
Caitlin nodded to the office lady and walked quickly down the hall. It wasn’t often she had to disrupt her lessons to take a phone call.
“Hello?” she pressed the telephone to her ear, dread crawling in her belly.
“Caitlin? It’s Tom.”
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified! A ripple of goose pimples tingled across her skin. “Hi, Tom. Is … ah, everything okay?” Why was he phoning her during school hours?
There was silence, followed by the deep rumble of his voice. “Yeah, everything’s okay, it’s just that I’m not going to make it to pick Gabby up and I don’t have anyone else to phone.”
Oh. Caitlin ignored her feelings, kicking herself for hoping, even for the tiniest of seconds, that he might have been phoning her for something else. He’d hardly call her during class time to ask her out on a date!
“Caitlin?”
She had no idea what he might have said. “Sorry, Tom, I was listening to one of the children.” Caitlin cringed. She was a dreadful liar, surely he’d know she was fibbing?
“You wouldn’t be able to watch her for an hour or so, would you? I’m not going to be able to get away early and I don’t know what else to do.”
Caitlin relaxed, forced her shoulders to fall from their hunched position. “Of course. It’s no problem at all.”
“Are you sure? I hate having to ask you.”
She started nodding before realizing that he couldn’t see her. “Honestly, don’t even think about it.” She paused, knowing she had to end the call yet reluctant to say goodbye. “I’ll take her home with me if that’s okay? Save me hanging around here, then you don’t have to hurry.”
“I really appreciate it, Caitlin. I owe you.”
They said goodbye and she placed the receiver down carefully, before leaning against the wall and shutting her eyes, needing a moment to herself. Needing to think about what she’d said yes to, about the fact that she’d just invited Tom to her home. Sure, it was only to collect Gabby, but home was … well, until now it had been private. Sacred.
She’d never, ever invited a man there. Yet right now, without even being pushed into it, she’d told Tom to collect his niece from her place.
And there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she’d be asking him in. No matter how hard her heart was pounding at the thought of it.
She’d always known the day would come, but it still troubled her. Her privacy—being alone—had been her sanctuary, the only way she knew how to protect herself, to stay out of harm’s reach.
CHAPTER FOUR
CAITLIN peered out the window, then berated herself for doing it. There was no point waiting, mooning around. He was coming to collect his niece, not to see her.
She looked up as the timer on the oven rang out.
So if she wasn’t trying to impress him, thinking of ways to lure him in, why had she scooted home to make lasagna as if her life depended on it?
So much for being committed to keeping guys out of her domain.
“Miss Rose, look at him now!”
