Kathy Love - Demon Cant Help It

She nearly swooned when the man's bare chest had come in contact with the skin of her arm. She'd longed for him to wrap his muscular arms around her and hold her and kiss her and…

And what? Take care of her? Make her past disappear? That wasn't going to happen.

She tossed the damp towel into the garbage can near the sink on top of Maksim's soiled shirt. The image of him peeling it off flared in her mind, hard muscles covered in smooth, golden skin.

She straightened, taking a deep breath, pulling herself together. This was ridiculous. She moved to the mirror to tuck loose hair back into the knot on the back of her head and wipe away any remnants of water-smeared makeup.

She pulled her glasses out of her pocket, hoping the dark frames would distract from the worst of it. She dropped her hand and stared at her face, not seeing herself, but Maksim. The memory of his reflection staring back at her. The look in his eyes.

She could have sworn she saw tenderness in his stunningly vivid eyes. She looked down at her hand. The hand he'd held as he'd helped her turn on the water. His touch had been gentle, kind.

Her gaze lingered on her hand, which tingled. From the water, she told herself. Then she frowned at herself in the mirror. What was she doing? She couldn't think of him as some gallant knight who'd come to her rescue.

He wasn't that. She knew it. She did know his type. Only too well.

But for a moment…

"Enough," she growled, the word echoing through the tiled room.

Get a grip.

Pulling in a deep breath, she realized as much as she didn't want to see him, she had to muster up her courage and go apologize to the man. She'd apologize, and then tell him that, while his résumé was impressive, she just didn't have a position for him.

She couldn't have him around. It wasn't possible. And if she was lucky, he'd already left and she could just call him to tell him all this anyway. She doubted he was waiting around out there shirtless and covered in barf.

How would she explain that to her daycare parents?

And that was what had to be her focus. The center.

When she walked back into the daycare room, Cherise had somehow managed to get the floor cleaned and the children on their threadbare mats for nap time. Even Damon was calm and lying with his favorite toy, a tattered dog with one missing eye. Lettie sat in a metal chair at the now vacant tables, her chin on her chest, dozing. She enjoyed nap time most of all.

"Are you feeling okay?" Cherise asked in a hushed tone.

Jo nodded. "For some reason, seeing what happened—just got to me."

Cherise nodded. "A chain reaction. It happens to the best of us."

Jo nodded, appreciating the woman's gesture to make her feel less mortified.

Jo glanced around again, relief flooding her.

"Did Maksim leave?"

"No, I'm right here."

Jo spun to see him behind her, leaning on the door frame leading to the hallway. Damn, couldn't, just this once, luck be on her side?

Her eyes scanned down his body, taking in his newest collection of designer apparel.

"I had clothes in my car," he said, in response to her lingering stare.

Her cheeks burned. She'd wished that was what she'd been pondering, when in truth, her mind had moved on to the way the cut of his shirt accentuated the broadness of his shoulders and chest and how his pants emphasized the narrowness of his hips. Even his feet caught her attention.

She forced herself to meet his gaze. One of his dark eyebrows rose as if he could read her mind and knew she hadn't even wondered where he got the new clothes.

Great, another one with tell-all eyebrows. He and Cherise could probably hold a whole conversation with nothing but movement of their brows.

"I'm—I'm glad you had—some—other clothes to change into." She clenched her teeth briefly, irritated with her fumbling speech. Just get out what you need to, and then get back to work.

"And I'm sorry for…" There she went again, stammering. "For getting sick on you."

Maksim shrugged. "No big deal. That sort of thing happens."

Jo nodded, then pulled in a breath, preparing herself for what had to be done. For her sanity.

"And I'm very impressed with your résumé—"

Maksim nodded and again with the raised eyebrow. This time it said, "But of course."

"But," she said, trying to keep her voice steady and firm, "I just don't have any positions at this time to offer you."

Jo waited for Maksim's indignant response, but he never even got a chance to react. Instead it was Cherise's outraged voice that responded.

"What?" Her voice was loud and sharp enough to cause a few of the children to stir on their mats. She bustled away from the kids, joining Jo and Maksim.

"Have you gone crazier than a gull at a crawfish festival?" she asked in a hushed but no less emphatic tone.

Jo frowned at her employee, really wishing in this case, she'd just let her eloquent eyebrow do the talking for her. And even then, only after Jo had gotten rid of Maksim.

No luck of any sort was on Jo's side today, because Cherise added, "We don't have room for him? Look around here. We got nothing but room."

Jo's frown deepened, and she willed Cherise to just stop. Stop talking. Stop standing with her hands on her hips, which meant she wasn't messing around. Stop looking at her like she was an utter fool. To just stop.

Instead of stopping, the feisty eyebrow joined in, arching so high it nearly touched her hairline.

"If you don't take this guy on as a volunteer, I'm going to let Lettie handle free-choice centers from now on."

Jo's mouth dropped open. Now that was low. Free-choice centers was the wildest part of the day for the children. They got to move from learning station to learning station and without proper supervision it was utter chaos. Not an easy time for Cherise and Jo to handle—impossible for the nearly catatonic woman slumped in the chair over there with her mouth wide open and a steady snore emitting from it. The children would destroy the place. Given the hands on the hips and the sky-high eyebrow, Jo didn't think Cherise was bluffing.

Jo turned back to Maksim. He watched them, a smirking, closed-lip smile turning up the edges of his mouth. His vivid green eyes sparkled.

He was loving every minute of this.

Oh, she could not do this. She couldn't let him have a position here. She stared at him for a moment, trying to think of any loophole, any possible out, that neither he nor Cherise could debate.

Nothing came. His résumé was impeccable. He'd handled the whole upchuck fiasco with grace. He wasn't giving her any reasonable flaw to back her decision.

She was stuck. With a résumé like that…

Wait…that was one heck of a résumé. A dream résumé, really. He had to have faked his past work experience and references. He had to have.

Her initial opinions of him couldn't have been so far off. He wasn't a knight in shining armor.

Her eyes narrowed as she regarded him, taking in the newly changed, crisply clean, still expensive, still designer name clothing.

If this guy had ever worked with a kid in his life, then she wasn't just the director of this community center, but of the whole freakin' world.

He'd made the whole thing up. She knew it.

She smiled back at him, feeling in control for the first time since he'd stepped foot in the center.

"Cherise is right. How can I possibly turn down such a great candidate?"

Maksim's smile deepened, although she couldn't quite read the look in his eyes.

"Well, I am glad you came to your senses, woman," Cherise stated, her hands no longer on her hips.

"Me, too," Maksim said, his rich voice low, but drawing Jo's attention back to him as surely as if he'd shouted.