Page 20 of XOXO, Valentina

Two spots of color appeared high on her cheeks. “It was never about the dress code.”

Frustration made my chest tighten. I narrowed my eyes at her. “What then? Why would you fire me? I love PES, and the students adore me.”

Her eyebrows knit together. “Not just the students,” she said.

Was the chemistry zinging between us too much for her to handle? Was she so nervous about the attraction between us she’d get rid of me?

“Is it because we are attracted to each other?” It was so uptight of her. So American. Anger blazed through me.

“No,” she snapped.

“Well, what then?” Some of my confidence returned. “Why would you fire me? I’ve never had one complaint, and the students are going to ace the end-of-grade tests.”

Her eyes fired daggers at me. “You really don’t know?”

The server approached with her wine, set the glass on the table, and made himself scarce, just as I’d requested.

“Sit down, please,” I said once he was gone. “Tell me what this is about.”

Gabriella eyed the wine, then looked back at me. For a long moment, I thought she was going to leave me in the dark, but she slid into the booth, picked up her glass, and took a long sip. She set the glass on the table and looked at me, a pained expression on her face.

“I saw you,” she said.

I arched an eyebrow at her.Go on,my eyebrow said.

She took another swig of wine. “In your room.” Her eyes flicked away from mine and then back. “At your desk?”

“I spend a lot of time at my desk, Gabriella.” My voice was tense. I was a patient man, but this was ridiculous.

She leaned forward, her eyes clashing with mine. The color in her cheeks spread down her neck to the top of her chest visible above the V-neck of her T-shirt. “You were at your desk, and a blonde woman was on her knees sucking your—”

“Have you had a chance to look over the menu?” the server asked, coming out of nowhere.

We both turned and glared at him.

His eyes widened. “A few more minutes,” he said, and quickly retreated.

I returned my gaze to Gabriella. The bomb had detonated. I closed my eyes in mortification, no longer able to meet her eyes. She’d seen Caroline giving me a blowjob. I deserved to be fired. The clanging sound of my heart filled my ears. No wonder she’d been keeping me at arm’s length. I opened my eyes and saw her staring at me, waiting for me to say something.

“That wasn’t my fault,” I said lamely.

Her eyebrows rose dramatically. “So, I’m supposed to believe there’s a BJ bandit running around Mossy Oak attacking innocent men?”

I winced. Caroline was a wine distributor, not a criminal. We’d met at a costume party on Halloween and had hit it off immediately. She traveled to Mossy Oak for work, and she called me when she was in town. We had an easy thing going. No strings, all benefits. We’d been on our way to dinner that fateful night when I’d stopped by the school to grab my laptop. The janitor had let me in, and Caroline had tagged along. Once we were in my office, she’d locked the door and confessed she had a teacher-student fantasy she was dying to act out.

I knew it was stupid and reckless, but as they say, one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, she’d unzipped my pants and knelt in front of me. I wouldn’t say Caroline was a “BJ bandit,” but she had been very persuasive.

I knew nothing I said would make it right, but I had to try. “I didn’t think anyone else was there.”

Her eyebrows rose impossibly higher. “Neither did I.”

“She locked the door.”

“You forgot about the window.”

I grabbed my water and took a long sip, wetting my dry throat. There was a slim window in my wooden door, but she’d had to have been at just the right angle to see in. She’d had to have been looking. I narrowed my eyes at Gabriella, and she glanced away.

“You should have fired me. Why didn’t you?” I asked.

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