Caitlyn Willows

Dean's List

© 2010

Chapter 1

She wasn't his first wet dream…or his last. But she was definitely his best.

Dan Jefferson nursed the hard-on from hell beneath the postage stamp-sized wood that served as a desk. He'd barely been able to fit into the student desks when he was in high school. He sure as hell couldn't do it now at age twenty-eight and bulked up from years serving in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, especially with an elephantine erection swelling his jeans.

Using his worn three-ring binder as a shield, Dan tried making some adjustments. The gum-smacking blonde to his right shot him a glance, then smiled. She probably thought the hard-on was for her. He winced at the thought. The gum cracking was bad enough, but the multiple piercings, shaved eyebrows, and necklace that said "Fuck You" made even being in her vicinity difficult. The complete opposite of the classic beauty who'd walked into the classroom less than a minute before.

Dan had to blink at the time to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. But there she was-Leigh Miller in all her exquisite glory. Actually, she was Leigh Dean now…or rather, L.E. Dean, according to the class schedule. He'd never learned what the "E" stood for. She'd taken her birth name back, probably after her divorce from that jerk-face son of a bitch she'd been married to.

She'd be thirty-six now, though you couldn't tell from looking at her. She'd pass for ten years younger. Her smile lit up the classroom. Heat basked in his groin. In the short space of time she and her good-for-nothing husband lived next door to Dan's family, Dan had rarely seen her smile like this-bright and open. Maybe that's what divorce had done for her-made her happy. Unless she'd remarried and was so in love with her husband the feeling transmuted everything she did. Maybe she had children, too.

Dan's erection deflated at the thought. Please don't let her be married. He glanced at her left hand-no wedding ring in sight. A woman like Leigh would wear a wedding ring…right? As for children… Dan shook his head, then dashed a quick look from the corners of his eyes to make sure no one had seen him do it.

As far as he knew, Leigh hadn't been pregnant when she and Jerk-face separated. But there were a lot of years between then and now. She could have been married and divorced again with kids on top of it all. That might put a crimp in his rapidly forming grand plan.

Screw it. Dan didn't care if she had twenty kids. He was going to go for it. One thing serving in a war zone had taught him-you only live once; don't live it with regret. And if he didn't go after Leigh Dean, Dan would regret it the rest of his life. What's the worst that could happen? That she'd shoot him down? Well, he'd been shot at a lot over the last several years and had survived. He could survive a blow to hopes and dreams that had actually helped make him the man he was today.

Dan had learned a lot from watching Leigh's marriage disintegrate. There were right ways to treat the woman you cherished. Jerk-face didn't know any of them-not that he even remotely cherished his wife. He knew how to humiliate his spouse and how to fuck the neighbor across the street. That marriage hadn't lasted long either.

Dan's heart had broken a thousand times over at the devastation on Leigh's face when she'd found Jerk-face and what Dan guessed was his latest conquest writhing in her bed. But damn if she didn't go after them good. The two hadn't even seen her coming until the riding crop cut into Jerk-face's buttocks. She whipped them both good and proper, even drawing blood on her errant spouse's bubble butt.

In the aftermath, Leigh had turned her tear-stained face toward her bedroom window. Those big green eyes caught Dan watching the whole scene. Her chin came up in defiance, and Dan did the only thing an almost sixteen-year-old boy could do. He gave her a thumbs-up, pumped his fist in the air, and gave her a high-five she couldn't return. And Leigh had smiled. Nodded. Then closed the curtains, ending his brief stint as a voyeur. He hadn't seen her since. He'd returned from school a couple of days later to find a moving van in the driveway. She'd left Jerk-face to deal with the neighborhood repercussions of his wandering dick. More sweet justice.

Dan was sorry she hadn't stuck around to watch the fireworks. Sorrier still he couldn't see her anymore, wouldn't be able to talk with her as he did so often. He wanted to help her deal with all the hurt and pain Jerk-face had caused, just as Leigh had helped Dan through the grief he'd suffered months before. In truth, she'd been his strength, his greatest confidante, able to sort through the jumble of emotions life brought and understand everything.

Yeah, Dan had missed her something fierce after she left, but he supported her decision one hundred percent. If only he'd gotten the chance to say…a thousand things he'd wanted to say to her. Things Dan didn't realize needed saying until years later, things he hadn't realized, things he lacked the skill to express at the time.

But that was then, and this was now. Fate had brought them together once more. The chance he'd wanted was here. The playing field was clear-he hoped-and they were both adults. Granted there was still the minor issue of eight years between them, but it was just that-minor. He was a man now and she a woman of certain needs; that much he'd figured out for himself over the years. And Dan knew how to take care of those needs very, very well. His cock agreed.

Dan squirmed in his seat, trying to find a comfortable position. His jeans weren't cooperating.

"Wanna skip out during break?" the blonde whispered, unleashing a fog of ashes on her cigarette-tainted breath.

Dan leaned away. "No, thanks."

"Are ya sure? Only take a sec."

Yeah…if he was still fifteen and didn't have standards or the notion of what good sex really was. "I'm positive."

She shrugged, plucked her gum from her mouth, and aimed for the underside of her desk.

Dan grabbed her arm. "Whoa there. What do you think you're doing?"

"I was about to ask the same question," Leigh said from the front.

Dan released the girl and eased back in his seat. The power in Leigh's voice sent ripples down his spine. His imagination flashed on a schoolmarm from the Old West, sweet but stern, reaching for a cane and tapping it against her palm while she pondered her student's misstep.

Take me, baby. Take me now, his cock screamed, pushing for freedom from its jeans prison.

"I'm pretty lenient as teachers go, but come on…" Leigh flicked her palms up. "Gum under the desk? Did I blink and we're all back in junior high?"

A deep flush spread up blondie's throat and covered her face. She glanced down at the gum stuck between her fingers as if debating what she'd do with it now. A tissue fluttered over her shoulder from the middle-aged woman behind her. Blondie took it with a muttered thanks and poked the gum into it, then stuffed it between her boobs.

Classy all the way. Dan bit back the urge to utter the sarcastic thought.

Leigh's demeanor shifted back to happy, as if the confrontation had never happened. The tension in the room faded.

No canings tonight, people. Dan fought a smile. The schoolmarm and the cane…and the cowboy she craved would use it on her.

"Welcome to English Composition." Leigh retrieved a binder from the biggest purse Dan had ever seen and slipped a piece of paper from the front. "I'm Leigh Dean. Leigh. Because we're all adults here, and I'm not fond of division and lording my exalted power as teacher over you."