Release (4 page)

Mr. and Mrs.
Callahan looked at each other with knowing smiles. 

“Did Robbie tell
you that Tabitha Lowe happens to be my wife’s big sister?” Mr. Callahan asked
with pride in his voice.

“He did! 
What a small world it is, huh?  Or at least a small
city.
”
 

“Well then, we
must introduce you two,” he said.  “It looks like the party is starting to
die down, and she’ll have plenty of time to chat now.  You would’ve met
her at Robbie’s graduation last summer, but she and her son were out of town on
a business venture, and couldn’t get back in time for the actual graduation. 
We’ve all talked about you often enough in the family, so it’ll be fun to watch
her connect the name with the face finally.” 

Right at that
moment, Mr. Callahan looked over her shoulder, and said to someone standing
there, “Ah, Jem.  You’re just in time.  We were about to go looking
for your mother.”

Ryann turned
around to see Jeremy standing at her back. 

No.  No,
no, no, no,
no. 
She made brief eye contact with Jeremy, then
looked at Mr. Callahan with an overly bright smile plastered on her face. 
She immediately swallowed, and wanted to crawl under a rock. 

Please,
please,
please
don’t tell me that Jeremy is Tabitha Lowe’s son!
 
What were the fucking chances?  I mean, seriously.  This night could
not have any more coincidences, could it?

This gorgeous
yet pompous man, who she’d been snippy to for the last 15 minutes was Tabitha
Lowe’s son.  Great.  You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Mr. Callahan
continued.  “Jem, let me introduce Ryann Thornton.  She was Robbie’s
English Lit teacher from when he was at the Academy.  Mrs. Thornton, this
is Jeremy McCallister, Tabitha’s son, and my nephew.  If you know what’s
good for you, you’ll stay away from him.  He’s a heartbreaker, this one,”
he said with a chuckle.

“Oh, Michael,
knock it off.  Hi, sweetie,” she said as she turned to Jeremy.  “I
haven’t had a chance to hug you yet tonight.” Mrs. Callahan leaned in to give
him a squeeze and a kiss.

Jeremy hugged
her back, then looked at his uncle.  “Yes, I just spoke with Robbie, and
he explained the connection.  And Uncle Mike, your protectiveness toward
Mrs. Thornton’s virtue is certainly noble, but completely unnecessary. 
She is, after all, a married woman and safe from my charms,” he said
dryly.  “Where is your husband, Mrs. Thornton?  Is he here with you
tonight?  I believe you were looking for him earlier,” he said
pointedly. 

Mrs. Callahan
gasped quietly, while she and her husband turned toward Ryann for her
response.  At that moment, all of the previous conversations she’d had
with Jeremy started to click into place.   Robbie had referred to her
as Mrs. T when he had come over to them.  Is that why Jeremy walked away? 
Because he thought she was married?  Or maybe he just wasn’t
interested.  See?  This is why she hated dating.  Too much
thinking involved.  She was exhausted already.

More thoughts
clicked into place, and she felt a little dizzy.  That meant that Robbie
was his cousin…and that his
other
cousin was the caterer. 

The big jerk had
been toying with her all evening.  She internally shook her head.

Mr. Callahan was
right.  She needed to stay far away from him.

All of these
thoughts ran through her head in three seconds.  She mentally shook
herself, and became aware that everyone was looking to her for a response to
Jeremy’s question.

She cleared her
throat and looked at Jeremy, who had an expectant and confused look on his
face.  It was obvious he didn’t understand why his aunt had reacted the
way she did.  “My husband passed away a couple of years ago, Mr.
McCallister.”     

Jeremy looked at
her, with surprise.  His expression then shifted to one of… relief? 
Then his eyes warmed with compassion, and he said kindly, “I’m so sorry,
Ryann.  I didn’t know.  I only assumed… and I see now that I
shouldn’t have.”

“It was a
natural assumption given how I was introduced.”  She smiled at him,
wanting to ease his discomfort, and remove the air of awkwardness that was now
hovering around the group.   

After a moment
of everyone looking at each other, Mr. and Mrs. Callahan continued looking at
her sympathetically.   She didn’t want pity.  She understood
people didn’t know what to say, but she hated the look they were giving
her.  She put her hand on Mrs. Callahan’s arm, and gave her a reassuring
smile.

With a look of
relief, Mrs. Callahan finally got her bearings, and looked at Jem.  “Well,
as your uncle was saying, we were off to find your mom.  Mrs. Thornton,
uhh, Ryann, umm… I’m sorry, Mrs. Thornton.  Do you still go by Mrs.
Thornton?  I’m sorry, this is so awkward,” she stammered.  “I’m
always so used to referring to you as
Mrs.
Thornton.  How should I
- ”

Ryann
interrupted.  “Please.  Call me Ryann.  I think under the
circumstances, it might be easier.  After all, I’m no longer Robbie’s
teacher, so there’s no need for the formality anymore.”

“Fine. 
Ryann it is,” Mrs. Callahan smiled, glad that the matter was settled.  “So
as I was saying, Jem, we were just about to find your mother to introduce her
to Ryann.  Ryann is a big fan and would love to meet her!” Mrs. Callahan
put her arm around Ryann and gave her a squeeze.  “Let’s go see if we can
find her.” 

They left their
empty glasses on the small table near where they were standing, and turned to
go in search of Tabitha Lowe, when Jeremy interrupted.

“I’ll take Ryann
to meet her.  In fact, it would be my pleasure.  I just saw where she
was a few moments ago, and I haven’t yet had a chance to talk to her
either.  Ryann?” He offered his hand, and without waiting, took hers and
brought it through to wrap in the crook of his arm, trapping her to him.

They turned to
go, and from behind her, she heard Mr. Callahan say, “Why don’t we all join
you?  I would love to see Tabby’s face when she discovers who Ryann
is.  She’s certainly heard Robbie talk about her often enough.”

They stopped and
looked over their shoulders to Mr. Callahan, and Ryann noticed Jeremy’s
face.  His jaw was tight, and he had a resigned look about him, but smiled
and nodded to them.  “Of course.”

At that moment,
Robbie walked over and interrupted.  “Hey,” he said as he looked at
everyone with a smile.  “I just wanted to make sure Mrs. T found you
guys.   I’m almost done, and then we can go.”

“You don’t have
to help with clean up?” his mother asked.

“Nope.  I
was the first shift.  Thank God.”

“Ok.  Well,
why don’t you go finish up and we’ll take Mrs. Thornton to meet your
aunt.  Then we can head out.”

“Cool.”  He
looked between Ryann and Jeremy, then smiled.  “I’ll see you before you
go, right Mrs. T?”

“Oh, you
definitely will,” she said, giving him a look.

He smiled his
charming smile, and said, “Ok, see you later?”

She shook her
head, then smiled.  “Yup, we’ll say goodbye before you go,” she said with
a wink.

“Okay,” he said
blushing.

As Robbie walked
away, Jeremy began to lead the group through the exhibit, using his other hand
to toy with her fingers wrapped around his arm.  She could feel her nerves
stretching, as her left breast pressed up against his arm, and her nipples
tightened. 

Moments later,
they were separated a bit from Robbie’s parents who were waylaid by another
couple wanting to say goodbye.  Suddenly, it seemed as if she and Jeremy
were the only two people in the room.  He released her arm, and moved his
hand proprietarily to the small of her back.  His fingers stroked there
where his hand rested and she could feel her body going turning warm and gooey.

Get it
together, Ryann!

Peripherally,
she could feel his look burning through her before she even glanced up to meet
his gaze, but couldn’t tell what he was thinking by his expression.  Then
he said, “Robbie has a crush on you.”

What?  That
was the last thing she expected him to say.  She shook her head.  “No
he doesn’t.  I taught him for two years, and we had a great
relationship.  He was one of the few students who I genuinely liked, and
we simply have a mutual care for one another. That’s all.”

“That might be
true, but he still has a crush on you.  If my former high school English
teacher winked at me, I wouldn’t have been so affected.  Mr. Harkins
didn’t look as good as you,” he said wryly.  “But you don’t look like most
teachers.  Robbie got all flushed when you winked at him just then.”

“Did he?” she
asked, disconcerted.  “I hadn’t noticed.” 

“Maybe you
shouldn’t wink at him anymore.  He’s not a kid.  It might be ok for
you to wink at a kid, but when that kid is now a young man, it takes on a whole
new meaning.”

This guy was
unbelievable.  Did he think she was being… inappropriate with his cousin? 
Now she was pissed.

“First of all,
it was completely harmless and innocent, and you know it. I…
always
wink
at people.  It’s just, I don’t know, what I do.  Robbie knows
that.  Stop making it into a bigger deal than it is,” she stammered.

Now she was
flustered.  She realized she sounded defensive and didn’t like it. 
She had nothing to feel guilty about.  Geez, did he think she had been
flirting
with Robbie?  She would
never
do anything like that.  Ayanna
would be snorting her head off right now if she were here. 
Doesn’t
this guy know you don’t even know how to flirt with MEN?,
she’d say.
 
You certainly wouldn’t know how to flirt with a teenage boy.  And, eww,
that’s gross, by the way. 

Ryann
agreed.  It
was
gross.  Not to mention just plain wrong on so
many levels.  Yuk.  She didn’t even like thinking about it, and shook
her head slightly to wipe the visual from her mind. 

“
Do
you?”

What were they
saying again?  She couldn’t think straight around him.  Come on,
Ryann.  What the hell is wrong with you?  She must’ve looked
confused.

“Always wink at
people.  You shouldn’t.  Especially men.  Unless, of course, you
want a man to get all kinds of ideas in his head.”  He gave her a heated
look.

“Oh, for crying
out loud,” she muttered in exasperation, and she looked away.  “If you
think I would ever do anything to…lead someone on…or make inappropriate
overtures to teenage boys, then you really don’t think very highly of me, Mr.
McCallister.  I would never do anything like that.”  Now that she had
begun, she couldn’t seem to stop.  “And by the way, you could’ve told me
that Robbie was your cousin earlier!” she said as she lightly whacked him in
the chest with the back of her hand.  And a hard, nicely chiseled chest at
that. “You just let me go on and on.”

“It’s Jeremy,
first of all.  And secondly, I know you would never
intentionally
be inappropriate.  I simply meant that when a sexy woman in ‘fuck me’
shoes winks at an unsuspecting man, it makes him think of all the different
ways he’d like to bury himself inside of her,” he snarled. 

She gasped,
looked around to see if anyone had heard, then glared at him.  “I can’t
believe you just said that!”

“Oh, Ryann,
baby.  I haven’t even gotten started.”  He grabbed her hand and
continued to lead her through the gallery.  She was flustered, pissed,
incredibly aroused, and
furious
with herself!  She didn’t want to
be aroused.  She wanted to…kick him!

The entire time
he dragged her to wherever he was taking her, she muttered under her
breath.  She would never
intentionally
be inappropriate?  What
the hell did that mean?  That he thought she
had
been
inappropriate?  She was the most damn appropriate woman she knew! 
Who the hell did he think he was? 

She had to jog
to keep up, all the while trying to squeeze her legs together to relieve the
throbbing at the juncture of her thighs. 

Somehow, they
ended up in an uninhabited corner by another one of his mom’s paintings; an oil
of a beautifully serene New York City in the fall.  The mood of the
painting was at odds with the electricity charging the atmosphere around
them.  He turned to face her, and maneuvered himself so that he blocked
the other guests from seeing them.  She could smell his subtle spicy
scent. 
Don’t get distracted, Ryann.  You need all of your
faculties about you.

Then he stared
at her, his eyes darkening, looking like he was ready to gobble her up. 

She blurted out
in an exasperated loud whisper, “Don’t look at me like that!  Talk about
inappropriate!” she sputtered. “You know, you make people feel uncomfortable
when you stare at them like that.”

“I’m not your
student, Ryann.  And you’re not my teacher,” he said with a lust fueled
look.  “So I can look at you anyway I want.”  He shifted
closer.  “Am I making you uncomfortable?”  He didn’t look like he
cared in the least if he
was
making her uncomfortable.  In fact he
looked happy about it.  He stepped a little closer while he stared at her
lips.

“What…what do
you want from me?” she asked in a furious whisper, while her eyes jumped around
nervously to make sure no one was listening.  She felt like a deer caught
in headlights, and felt a moment of panic.  “On second thought, don’t
answer that.  I don’t want to know.”

He answered
anyway.  “That mouth of yours, for one thing.  Has a man ever told
you that it inspires all kinds of dirty thoughts?  Plump, wet lips. 
Mmm, a delectable.  Fuckable.  Mouth,” he said huskily, punctuating
each word.

She blinked, not
believing what she just heard.  No man had ever talked to her like
this.  Not even Brent! 

She sputtered in
a low growl, “Stop…
talking
to me like that!” 

Again, she
nervously looked around to make sure no one heard him.  She could feel the
creaminess in her thong sliding between the lips of her sex.  She was
mortified.  Could he tell how wet she was?  Oh, God.  Could he
smell
her?  She didn’t want him to know how aroused she was by the way
he was talking to her, but she was.  There was no doubt about it. 
Her thong was drenched.  Her breath hitched in her throat and she thought,
would there be a wet spot on her skirt?

His low chuckle
rumbled in his throat, and he leaned in, his nostrils flaring.  His right
hand made its way up her arm and rested in the crook of her neck, his fingers
lightly dancing over the soft hairs at the base, his thumb resting under her
jaw line. 

With an intense
look on his face, his gaze latched onto her mouth, while his thumb made its way
to rest on her bottom lip.  Instinctively, her lips parted and the tip of
his thumb moved into her mouth.  God, she had never been so turned on in
her life.  Without thinking, the tip of her tongue grazed his thumb, and
she noted its salty flavor.  He pressed his thumb in a little further, and
she sucked gently, ending with a slight nibble to the tip.