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this teacher and the last thing she wanted was to come across as one of those parents who are clueless about her child’s schooling. A deep cleansing breath, a check of her watch, and Sarah entered.
    The woman behind the desk looked younger than she probably was. Short dark hair was tucked behind her ears and her gently made-up brown eyes seemed to take up more than their share of her face. Her skin was smooth as porcelain, her lashes and brows almost black, and her full lips shined with a recent coat of gloss. When she glanced at Sarah and smiled, the entire room felt warmer.
    “Mrs. Holt?” She stood and held out her hand.
    Sarah cleared her throat and reached for the hand, which was warm, soft, and Sarah held on a beat longer than she probably should have. “Sarah. Please.”
    “Hi, Sarah. I’m Cassidy Freeman. I’m so pleased to meet you. Jeremy is a great kid.” She gestured to the chair next to her desk. “Have a seat.”
    Sarah thanked the gods above for the chair because she was certain her knees were about to give out. Okay, so it’s not just Rebecca , she thought with a mixture of dismay and a little thrill. There was definitely something about Cassidy Freeman… Something… Sarah wet her lips, trying her damnedest to listen as Cassidy talked about Jeremy’s strengths and weaknesses. Her eyes traveled from Cassidy’s full lips across her jawline and down the side of her neck to the collarbone revealed by the open collar of her emerald green blouse. She stopped at what she knew from the movie The English Patient was called the super sternum notch, that delicate spot at the base of a woman’s throat. Right then, Sarah wanted nothing more than to run her tongue over that skin.
    “So, other than that whole talking thing, he’s doing great,” Cassidy was saying. Sarah glanced up to meet her eyes, which held concern. “Sarah? Are you all right?”
    Sarah blinked several times and forced a smile onto her face. “I’m good.” She hoped her nodding and feigned enthusiasm weren’t over the top. “No, I’m good,” she repeated, only one clear thought in her head.
    What the hell am I going to do?

THE TEACHER
     
    Jeremy Holt’s mother—who was totally hot, despite seeming a little dazed—was Cassidy Freeman’s last appointment for the evening. Thank god because she was so excited about her date that night, she felt as if she’d spent the day constantly squirming in her chair like some of her students. Parent-teacher conferences probably ended up being a lifesaver, no matter how much she’d muttered and resented them all day. If she’d gone home on time, Cassidy knew she would have driven herself to the brink of insanity pacing her apartment and trying to decide what to wear. This way, it was after five o’clock. She was meeting Deb at the restaurant at 7:30, so she had barely two hours to shower, change, and get there. Cassidy worked much better under pressure.
    An uneventful drive home, a quick zip through the mail, a quick feeding of the cat, and Cassidy was in the shower reflecting on what little she knew about Deb Crawford.
    In her mid-thirties, Deb was the president of her own payroll company. She was fairly well-known locally, her company growing by leaps and bounds and participating in many local charity events. So…confident and financially well-off. Those were definite plusses to Cassidy. She’d spent three years supporting her last girlfriend—both monetarily and psychologically—and it was more than exhausting. She was not in any hurry to deal with that again. According to Cassidy’s friend who was setting them up, Deb had been in a relationship for ten years, but had been single for almost two years since then. She had a bit of a reputation for womanizing, and that gave Cassidy the slightest bit of trepidation, but she was willing to find out for herself. Besides, she was a little bit fascinated by Deb’s success and drive. She was looking forward to exploring those subjects.