Maggie froze as Darren Hernandez pushed open the office door and stepped back inside. She felt absolutely embarrassed. There was no way to look as though she hadn’t been eavesdropping and watching Darren argue with his brother through the window blinds. He was going to think she was a shameless gossip for sure.

“Now,” Darren told her with a warm smile. “I think we should just start with where the gym is and how I’m supposed to go about my job. Is that okay?”

Maggie was at a momentary loss. He looked even better today than he had yesterday. His athletic pants showed off the shape of his butt while giving only a tantalizing glimpse of his powerful legs. His black T-shirt was plain and very snug across the shoulders and pecs. But it was his eyes that caught her attention. She could not stop staring into his eyes. They were just so blue. It was incredible to stand there and see the nuances of every single thought that was going through his mind. His face was more expressive than his brother’s, and yet their features were very similar. The planes of Darren’s face were angular, but he had laugh lines at the corners of his eyes and bracketing his mouth that told her he liked to smile and enjoy himself.

“Maggie?” She watched his mouth move as he said her name.

Then she realized that she was supposed to be responding. “Oh. Yes. The gym. Definitely. It’s right across the hallway.”

“Are you sure?” He was smiling in a way that seemed to be laughing at her, and yet there was nothing malicious about it. “Because if we need to go on a quest to find the gymnasium, I’m totally up for that.”

“A quest?” Maggie felt her cheeks heating up. She should have been businesslike. She shouldn’t be joking with him, but the urge was irresistible. “Perhaps you can set up a quest for the children. We’ll call it the quest for manners and responsible behavior.”

He made a face as they exited the office. “That sounds like the worst quest ever. Are there dragons?”

“No. Definitely not.” She was so very aware of Rhonda watching her every move. It was disconcerting.

“Well, if there aren’t any dragons,” he let the statement hang as she closed the office door and started walking toward the gym a few doors down. “Then, perhaps I’ll have to find a few.”

“If you do happen to find dragons inside our school, feel free to slay them.” Maggie had a sudden image of the three young bullies and their mothers. She could not begin to picture how hilarious it would be to see those women dealing with actual dragons or anything else that was not brand name.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Darren told her. He followed her into the gym.

The smell in here was oddly comforting to Maggie. Perhaps it was because she had spent so much time in gyms growing up. Living in Colorado meant plenty of indoor practices for sport during the winter months. She recalled playing indoor soccer, and the scent of this place could instantly bring back those days. She inhaled deeply and thought of sweaty kids, climbing ropes, and those thin mats that never seemed to cushion anything when you tried to practice your forward rolls for the gymnastics unit.

“What am I thinking?” Maggie started walking toward the gym teacher’s closet-like office in the far corner of the cavernous space.

“You’re thinking that unless those dragons are wearing Prada, they need not apply to this school.”

Maggie swung around and stared at him. “How did you know that?”

“Please.” Darren actually rolled his eyes. “The parents in this place are like my brother and my ex-sister-in-law. They’re like my mother and even like about ninety-nine percent of the women I’ve dated. It’s all about brand names and money and how much money you can spend on a shopping trip that seems to happen every single week.”

It was sort of sad and yet refreshing to hear that someone else recognized that fact. Maggie sighed. “You’re right. And those three boys that I’m particularly interested in you dealing with?”

“Their mothers are the worst,” he guessed.

Maggie sighed. She used her key on the office door and opened it up. Then she reached inside and flipped on the single bare bulb. “Yep. They are the worst. They show up every single day in designer jeans with their knee-high heeled boots and their scarves. They’ve all got the latest smartphones, and they talk about shopping and who redecorated their house last month. I feel bad because I want to relate to them. It would help their kids, you know. I feel like if I could get through to the parents and help them relate to their kids, then I would be able to help. You know?”

“Because all you want to do is help.”

His voice was soft. Maggie wasn’t sure when she became so abruptly aware that this office was even smaller than she had first realized. It was warm in there. But maybe that wasn’t the office. Maybe that was the fact that both she and Darren Hernandez were standing in there and it felt strangely intimate in a way that she should have avoided like the plague.

He was standing quite close. She was so very aware of the fact that when she took a deep breath, her breasts barely brushed his chest. Her thin blouse did nothing to cover up the fact that her body was responding to Darren’s nearness. Maggie looked up and realized that he was staring down at her. His expression was solemn. He looked so very strong and so very solid. Maybe that was what made him so incredibly attractive. This was a man you could honestly count on. He’d proved it over and over again, and she’d only known him less than twenty-four hours.

“Maggie,” he whispered. “I want to kiss you.”

“I would like that.” Had those words come out of her mouth? She shouldn’t have said that.

But then he leaned in closer. He put his palms flat on the cinder block walls on either side of her body. She felt a thrill as she saw the bulging muscles of his arms bracketing her on both sides. He was so very strong. Yet he was so very gentle. The contrast made her feel delicate and protected.

His lips came closer. Maggie sucked in a quick breath and then felt his mouth cover hers. There was an explosion. Flavor and heat and something so deep and profound that she could not even define it. Maggie’s arms seemed to wind around Darren’s neck in spite of herself. She tangled her fingers in his curly hair and reveled in the feel of those silky strands sifting through her fingers. She pressed her body against his. Deeping the kiss, she parted her lips on a sigh. She felt him tickle her with his tongue. There was a slow glide of his tongue over her lips, and then she felt him take a deep breath.

His chest moved against hers. She felt the power there. His pectoral muscles seemed to jump a little. Was he trembling? She was trembling. Her whole body was quivering with something she could not name. It felt as though somewhere above them the heavens were singing. She buried her hands in his hair and tugged as she stood on tiptoe and pressed her mouth even more firmly to his.

He tasted spicy and masculine and like no other man she had ever experienced. His hands moved from her waist to the round globes of her butt. Pulling her even tighter against his body, she felt him flex his fingers into her nether cheeks. There was a corresponding pull low in her belly. She felt as though her entire body were coming alive in that one moment. This was everything she had been missing. This was everything her life needed.

Then he pulled back, slowly taking one last lingering kiss and tugging on her bottom lip until she moaned and shivered with delight. “We should stop.”

“Yes.” She was agreeing. Did she really feel that way?

“I don’t think this room has ever experienced this kind of action before.” His smile held a hint of the devil.

Maggie could not help but smile. There was something irreverent and almost silly about him. She loved it. Darren had the perfect balance of serious and distinctly not serious. It made him fun to be around but did not prevent him from acting like an adult when the situation called for it. How often was that particular trait lacking?

The temperature in the tiny office had risen a million degrees. Maggie tried to take a deep breath to calm down and realized that what she really wanted was another kiss. Was that wrong? Was it right? It was almost impossible to say.

“So, this is my office,” Darren said in an almost conversational tone. “I’m assuming that somewhere in here is a binder or something that has lesson plans from your last teacher?”

“Possibly.” Maggie’s brains were mush. She was struggling to remember why they were there. “Why did you want to kiss me?”

His eyes flared bright blue. There was something akin to a solar flare in their depths, and then he smiled. He took her hands and drew them up around his neck. Leaning down, he let his lips brush her sensitive earlobe. “Let’s just say that your lips are irresistible. I wanted to see if they were as soft as they looked.”

“And?” she prompted. “Are they?”

He was nibbling her jawline now on his way down to her neck. “Yes. They’re softer, I think. And I never could have imagined the taste of them. It’s amazing.”

“The taste?”

“Wild feminine passion,” he told her in a low voice. “That’s what they taste like.”

“Are you sure?” she whispered. “Because if you’re not, you could taste them again.”

His low laugh made everything from her waist down tighten with need. He moved his lips from her neck to her lips and took her mouth in a deep drugging kiss that made her toes curl inside her shoes. He wrapped her in his arms and held her motionless against his body. He held on and bent her backwards as he continued to kiss her. It was priceless. It was perfect. It was what she wanted and more. She gasped in delight and gave herself over to Darren. She trusted him to hold her close and keep her safe. And once that barrier was broken, she felt as though it would never exist again.

Suddenly there was a noise very similar to the sound of a herd of wild horses stampeding through a tunnel. Maggie felt bemused. Her mind was passion drugged and sluggish. And when Darren set her upright on her feet, she needed a moment to get her balance and bearings. Fortunately, Darren kept an arm around her.

“I think the kids have arrived,” Darren murmured in her ear. “At least I’m guessing that’s what the horrible ruckus is.”

There was a distinct sound of screaming as the young people started enjoying the echo factor in the gym. Maggie sighed. She let her face fall to his shoulder and inhaled deeply of his wonderful scent. She needed to go introduce the new gym teacher to the kids. That was her task here. That was what mattered. So, it was really too bad that she couldn’t stop sniffing him. Maybe she could just close the office door and spend the rest of the day inhaling his distinctive clean male scent. In her book that would be a day well spent.