Perfectly Seduced Read online

  April seemed to have inherited many of her father’s qualities, and I wondered what her mother would have been like if she hadn’t died at such a young age. When in her element, April was doubtless as good, if not better, at her job than many professionals. As a forensic pathologist and investigator, this girl had experience under her belt that was nothing to sneeze at. For the umpteenth time, I couldn’t help but get curious whether that had played a role in her husband’s death. And if it had, then she was in big trouble; and so was I, because no matter what crime she’d committed, I was sure I couldn’t simply walk away from her.

  And now I waited for April in my new class, at my new job, where like a moron I pretended to be a teacher. This was not my idea. I hadn’t thought about the possibility of being attracted beyond my control to the parent of one of the kids when I planned this case. She wasn’t supposed to be beautifully hot and witty. In fact, she was supposed to be my number one suspect.

  At first, the kids had seemed afraid of me, but the candy-filled jug on my desk was beginning to break the tension between us. They got rewarded at the end of the day and looked forward to guessing the gummy bear flavors by their colors. I must have re-watched Kindergarten Cop a dozen times before taking on this job – but movies lied, of course. My kids were nothing compared to the brats on the screen.

  I shook my head.

  Why would I refer to them as my first graders? They were part of a job. One I’d only taken because it was close to home and allowed me to see my daughter every day. And once it was done, I would move onto the next assignment. That was my life. Get a case; solve that case without revealing who I was; move on to the next one without jeopardizing my family’s safety. Unfortunately, I’d already failed in April’s case and gotten attached. Would this work out, or would I get both of us in deeper trouble?

  Just keep your hands away from her, Sean, and you’ll be fine.

  Parker sat in the front row. His hands were on his knees underneath the table, and a look of fear and anticipation glistened in his eyes. I checked my watch again. Five minutes late. For a forensic analyst, I didn’t take April to be someone who disrespected appointment times.

  “Don’t worry Parker. Your mom should be here any minute.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you have your daypack all ready?”

  “I do.”

  “Good. Maybe you can start on the homework while we’re waiting.”

  “Okay.”

  He removed his notebook and began filling in the lines with words from a book, then switched his pencil for crayons and started coloring in the figures on the sheet. She’d raised him well. I’d been asking him just enough questions about his life in the new town not to raise suspicion. As far as I knew, he hadn’t repeated what we talked about to his mother. Not yet, at least. If she’d gotten a whiff of our conversations, I was sure she’d have already stormed into the school like a hurricane.

  I stood up and paced to the back of the room, arranging the books by the size of their spine. While I’d never imagined myself to be a teacher, I could certainly picture doing the job for hours. There was something to be gained from such leisurely activities. It couldn’t be as stressful as my real job, where my brain was used to firing electrons like a lightning storm. But then again, I’d probably end up getting bored as a teacher. The only reason why I hadn’t yet was because I knew this was part of learning about April and weaseling myself into her life. It would be tough. I had yet to figure out how I’d do that without jeopardizing the connection we had. But hadn’t I done that already, by agreeing to pretend to be someone I wasn’t? I’d been forced to lie to her and I wondered whether the price I was going to pay for that was worth it. But if my instincts were correct, this could be a bigger payout than I’d first anticipated.

  I shouldn’t have slept with her. I shouldn’t have complicated the job.

  But it was too late for regrets. Fuck, I’d never regret that night. Not until I was six feet under, and even then I’d probably find a way to get my cock upright if April was near.

  “Parker? Oh, honey, I’m so sorry I’m late.”

  Although my back was turned and I hadn’t seen her, April’s voice was enough to revive the memories of our night together and make me hard for her. Someone must have hypnotized my dick to recognize her voice as arousing.

  Keep your cool, Sean.

  “It’s okay. I’m doing my homework. My teacher’s waiting there.”

  The heat of her stare seared through my back as I turned around in what felt like slow motion. For the first time since I planned this meeting, I couldn’t find the words. The shock on April’s face was exactly what I expected. A beautiful mix of confusion and happiness with a hint of fear and apprehension. And those lips, the ones I had yet to feel around my cock, were as plump and luscious as I remembered.

  Fuck me!

  And fuck hypnosis. April was more like walking Viagra that exuded its potent essence.

  “Hello, Ms. Davis,” I said.

  “Sean?”

  The emotions that flashed across her face were so raw, I wanted to slap myself for being so nonchalant. And that was the moment I decided to play the ‘I didn’t know Parker was your son’ card.

  “April? I… I didn’t recognize you.”

  I headed toward her with caution, aware her son was watching us both, hopefully not re-evaluating all the questions I’d been asking him over the past week — ever since school began. The smile on her face made me pick up my pace. I was like an opportunistic shark, taking advantage of her weak moment of confusion.

  “You… you’re Parker’s teacher?” She covered her mouth. “This is not possible.”

  I could see the wheels in her head turning. It wouldn’t take long for my opportunity to fade. She was probably thinking this meeting of ours couldn’t be a coincidence… and it wasn’t. If Parker hadn’t been in this room, looking at us both wide-eyed, I would have grabbed April by her waist and locked my lips around hers to suck all that instinct out of her with my mouth so that she would stop over-analyzing. There was only one way to make her lose herself and prevent her from putting all the pieces together, but I wasn’t about to bend her over my desk and take her right in front of her son.

  “Mommy, you know Mr. Gordon?”

  I was standing barely a foot away from her, feeling my dick grow at the speed of light. April must have noticed because her cheeks turned pinkish and the few freckles on her cheeks darkened.

  “Ahm, yes, honey. We met on mommy’s vacation.”

  A very naked vacation, where my cock had a lot more freedom than it did now.

  “Cool.”

  “You… you should have told me.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  She’s getting defensive already.

  “I didn’t know, April. If you had come to the first conference, we’d have met a week ago.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and the shade of her cheeks went from pinkish to crimson. Her mouth hardened and brows narrowed.

  Shit! I was already screwing this up.

  “I am not a bad mother,” she seethed through her teeth.

  “She’s not,” I heard from the side. Parker made those puppy eyes that were about to cry, and I wished I could slap myself for being such an asshole. I had to remedy this situation, and I had to do it fast – before both April and Parker posed questions I couldn’t answer.

  “I never said you were. I’m so glad you’re here.” I took her into my arms for a more friendly embrace than a normal parent-teacher relationship allowed, but I couldn’t help myself. She mellowed in my hold, and I felt like I’d just scored with her for the second time. Holding her was almost as good as fucking her. At least I wanted to pretend it was, because honestly, with all the lies I was spinning, I wasn’t sure how quickly I could get into her panties again.

  I did not expect this woman to hold such power over me. I didn’t want her to be making my decisions, even though she didn’t know she was doing so. Being under h
er control was the last thing I needed. But she was drop-dead gorgeous; there was no way any man could resist her. So why was I forced to? If I could have, I would have given up my job and taken our families somewhere far away to a no-man’s-land, and never regretted the decision. Call it lovestruck or whatever the fuck you want, and I wouldn’t care, as long as I could touch her, feel her and hold her naked body against mine again. I hadn’t felt that way about anyone since... Jesus, had it really been that long?

  April didn’t know it, but she was my assignment. I had hoped it wouldn’t stand in the way of us, but who was I kidding? I was investigating a murder, and tasked to get rid of the one person who stood between my employer and fifty million dollars. And that one person was April.

  Chapter 3

  April

  “Can I speak with you privately?” he asked.

  Did I even have a choice? Sean grasped me by my arm and pulled me toward a door at the side of the classroom, locking it behind us.

  “What the hell are you doing? We’re in a closet.”

  “I’m aware of where we are.”

  I couldn’t see him, but the proximity of his body, the same one I had explored with my hands two weeks ago, was doing something funny to me. My brain was fogging up. How did he do that? He was making me feel like a marionette, his breath, lips, slightly rough fingers, and dominant strength, the strings he controlled me with. And then his mouth touched mine. Gently at first, tasting me and giving me that hope I’d lost, yet slowly reminding me, lick by lick and tug by tug, of the most wonderful twenty-four hours I had ever spent with a man, and it was him. And I melted in his arms.

  He was a frickin’ puppet master.

  Fearing I’d forget how to breathe, I pulled away, panting.

  “So much better,” he whispered against my lips.

  It was more than better. It was absolutely amazing. I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t. Something along the lines of a mumble escaped; my tongue and my lips felt like they’d just been injected with a local anesthetic. His mouth left me with the same feeling I’d had after tasting the first spoon of a chocolate mousse cake. And his tongue... it was addictive. I wanted more — much more.

  He gently cupped my face, stroking his thumb over the seam of my bottom lip.

  “I never said you were a bad mother, April. I was nervous. I’m sorry. Maybe we started off on the wrong foot here. Things were going much better when we were both naked.”

  What? Naked? We’re in a closet, at Parker’s school.

  The thought somewhat woke me out of my dreamy state. “If you’re asking me to remove my clothes, you must be out of your mind.”

  His chest rumbled, spiking my heart rate and reviving something else in my system. It must have been lust. Pure and delicious desire that made my mouth water and surged through my body like a tidal wave whenever he was near me, making me forget who I was.

  “I wouldn’t imply anything like that here. I’m your son’s teacher.” His hand slid over my side, heading south, right down into my pants, squeezing through the waistband, touching my bare flesh and meandering beyond my panties. Jesus, he felt so good.

  What did he just say about a teacher?

  His actions did not match his words. The heated touch on my flesh erased my thoughts, pushing my resistance right off the cliff.

  “You’re so wet.”

  His fingers slid between my folds. They felt so thick and rambunctious, giving and mischievous at the same time. Jesus, this man would be the end of me.

  “We have some unfinished business. I can’t believe you’re here. It must be fate. Have a date with me, April. Just you and me. Maybe our second evening will turn out as good as our first. You can’t deny how right this feels. I’ve missed you, sweetheart.”

  Sweetheart? Urgh!

  I hated when he called me that. Simon, my deceased husband, had used that nickname, and I didn’t want to be reminded of him. That word was enough to clear my mind and lift that thick fog of lust. If his definition of right was to have his hand massaging my pussy in a closet, he had it way wrong. And all this crap about fate was way too suspicious. Where the hell did my guard go when I needed it the most? This wasn’t Hawaii. I wasn’t dazed by the tropical atmosphere, his constant nakedness, the muscles and strength but that perfectly sized cock that fit so nicely inside me.

  Stop it, April!

  I’d been trained to be suspicious and make decisions based on facts. I was the one in control. I wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb my son’s life again. And the fact was that Sean’s sudden appearance at my son’s school was definitely questionable. Yet as his fingers worked down between my folds, almost all the way to my opening, my legs parted on their own, and my conviction began to dwindle again. This felt so good. Too good. With the last ounce of reason and will left inside me, I regretfully grasped his wrist and pulled it out of my panties.

  “You’re smooth, but this isn’t Hawaii. This isn’t a reckless vacation where I can let my guard down so we can have fun. I will not be irresponsible while my son is on the other side of the door. Now if you excuse me, Mr. Gordon, I think it’s time to go back to class.”

  He growled at the sound of his name on my lips as if it turned him on even more. Or maybe it was something else. Didn’t he like me calling him by his last name?

  I straightened my shirt, opened the door, and stepped back into the class, acutely aware of the squishing moisture in my panties. Parker sat at his desk, both his eyes and mouth wide open staring at me.

  “Parker, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

  “Why did Mr. Gordon take you in the supplies closet?”

  Gordon. I definitely didn’t picture Sean as a Mr. Gordon. And thankfully he didn’t really take me. Wouldn’t that make for an interesting afternoon?

  OMG! What am I thinking?

  “We had some business to take care of.”

  “Am I in trouble?”

  “No, you’re not,” Sean replied. “But your mom said you’d like to show me your room. Do you think I can come over for supper?”

  How dare he?

  I felt my mouth open wide. Sean reached for my chin and tapped it closed, and my cheeks heated at the touch.

  “That would be awesome! Can he, Mom?”

  Oh, I so wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. With my lips.

  Get a grip, April!

  “I guess that would be fine. But we’re doing take-out tonight.”

  “Can we have pizza?”

  “If it’s not too shabby for Mr. Gordon, pizza sounds great.”

  Parker rounded his eyes and made a puppy face that would melt Cruella de Vil’s heart, and I knew he’d won Sean over. Not that Mr. Gordon would disagree. He already managed to touch me between my legs and invite himself over to my house, and it had been only a few minutes since we’d run into each other. What would happen if we were in each other’s company longer? I couldn’t pursue that thought any further, especially with Parker nearby.

  “Pizza’s my favorite,” Sean said. “So long as it doesn’t have any anchovies.”

  Stay in control, April.

  “Eww,” Parker wrinkled his nose. “I hate anchovies.”

  I grabbed a pencil, scribbled my address on the paper, and handed it to Sean. “Give us a half hour?”

  “Sure. I have some things to finish up here anyway. I’ll see you guys soon.”

  If someone had told me that Sean Gordon (that last name didn’t suit him at all) would be coming to my house today, I would have slapped them to wake up.

  With his back to Parker, Sean pulled his glistening fingers up to his nose and dragged an inhale along their length. My thighs clenched at the sight. I looked toward the window to see whether it was open because I really needed to catch some fresh air.

  “Ahm, sounds good.”

  As soon as I got in my car I texted my brother.

  APRIL: I need you to do a check on Sean Gordon.

  DAVE: Should I be worried?

  APRIL: No, just makin
g sure Parker’s teacher is a good one.

  DAVE: Right, and I’m getting back with Millie.

  APRIL: You should. Luv ya. xoxo

  At home I quickly changed into a fresh pair of jeans, ordered the pizza, set Parker up with a puzzle, and waited. Exactly thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang and I frowned. Deep inside, I had hoped he wouldn’t come. But as always, my instinct was right. New anxiety and a ton of questions filled me. The man I’d been looking for had mysteriously shown up as a teacher at my son’s school. The one with whom I’d spent the most amazing twenty-four hours of my life and had so much hope for…and he had lied to me. My heart should have been shattered, but at this moment the anger boiling inside me overwrote any other emotion. I’d have developed a dragon’s breath of fire if I could. I made a note to ask my reincarnation-expert-friend Millie whether I could have been Khaleesi in a past life.

  Fuming, I opened the door and stepped outside, closing it behind me. Sean’s grin faded as he scanned me from the bottom up. I held my firm stance, crossed my arms over my chest, and gave him the best fuck-off expression my face could muster.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “How did you know where I lived?” I asked.

  “You gave me your address.”

  There was a reason why I was skeptical of men, most of it having to do with my deceased husband, but I had hoped Sean wasn’t anything like Simon. Now that he was here, the jury was out on that one.

  “Ok, let me try this again. How did you know where I lived? And if you don’t answer me truthfully, you can turn around, leave, and never come back again.” After a longer pause, I added, “I never gave you my address. I don’t even know if the one on that paper exists.”

  Chapter 4

  Sean

  Fuck me!

  I should have lied that I had checked Parker’s details on the school’s database, but I’d already said I got it from the paper April gave me. No, I shouldn’t have lied at all, but I had no choice. She’d trapped me. I wasn’t sure whether to scream at this smart woman or take her in my arms and kiss her hard for her wit. If there was anything that was almost impossible to do, it was to outwit me.