Pandora's Box by Natale Stenzel Read Free Book Online

been promoting. We’ll see if it works.”
    “Still, if they have a shortage, you shouldn’t have any problem finding another job, right?”
    “Sure.” Except for that whole moral grounds issue. Tiffy really needed to die. Preferably with Jackson’s favorite body part
     wedged between her silicone-plumped lips—the exact position they’d assumed shortly before Mina discovered them together a
     few months ago. In Mina’s own bed, no less. Tiffy was quite the hypocritical bitch.
    “So that’s good, then, right?” Teague gave her a probing look, obviously realizing there was more to the situation than Mina
     was saying. “You’ll find a job pretty easily?”
    “Let’s just say it wasn’t a genial parting of ways between the school and me. I’ll probably have to move and start over somewhere
     else.”
    “That bad? What did you do, sleep with the school principal?”
    Mina blinked in mild surprise. “No, the superintendent.”
    “Oh. Well.” He choked back a laugh. “Guess you didn’t do that halfway, did you?”
    “No, I left that to Tiffy, who happens to be the stepmother of a student of mine. She did him halfway. I was just stupid enough to cohabit with the man while she was half-doing him. Then she got me fired.”
    “Over . . . ?” He looked amazed and confused and mildly . . . titillated? No doubt he was picturing a hair-pulling, girl-slapping
     catfight in the school cafeteria. Pervert.
    She scowled. “The school board objects to its teachers living indiscreetly with their unmarried lovers. Tiffy simply brought
     my particular indiscretion to their attention, and that was that.”
    “Seriously? That’s why they fired you?”
    “Morality clause. Setting an example for the kids, blah, blah, blah. I could have stayed on, but they obviously wanted to
     make me miserable enough to leave. So I left.”
    “What about the superintendent? Was he fired, too?”
    “Nope. He’s still superintending. Since his position is purely administrative, he’s not, technically, mingling with the kids
     everyday. He’s less likely to contaminate them with his questionable morals.”
    “And the stepmom he was screwing?”
    “No proof of that, other than my immoral word. Meanwhile, Jackson and I signed our names to a single mortgage. Proof.”
    “That. Really. Sucks.”
    She relaxed and even managed a smile. “Yes. It. Does.”
    “And so does she, apparently. Tiffy ? Sure she’s not a dog? It sounds like a dog’s name.”
    Mina, who’d dropped the smile at the “so does she” part, snorted in amused surprise. “Wellll . . . sort of depends on your
     perspective, I suppose. Although I have to admit she did seem to enjoy going down on all fours.”
    “Ooooh, that’s bad.” But he was laughing.
    “You know, I could really like you, Teague.” In a purely platonic manner, of course. After shenanigans between Tiffy and Jackson,
     no way was Mina going to occupy a corner of yet another lovers’ triangle. Nope. An ethical woman observed dibsies, and apparently
     Janelle—whom Mina had liked, damn it all—had dibsies on her hot neighbor. That meant paws off for Mina. “I wasn’t sure about
     you at first, what with all the wench comments, but this woman or dog question gives me a whole new take on your personality.”
    “Wench comments?”
    She waved a hand, smiling generously. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just put it behind us.”
    He frowned. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
    When she groaned, he held his hands up in surrender. “Just asking. So how big was this rock again?”
    “About—”
    “Wait a minute.” He shoved aside a filthy pile that used to be kitchen curtains and reached behind them. “Is this it?” He
     held out a chunk of familiar gray stone so she could see it.
    “It sure is.” The corner was chipped and the seal was gone, but the brick was otherwise intact.
    “Well, the thing’s empty now. Any idea at all what used to be inside? Papers, objects, anything?” He