Page 1 of The Do-Over Girl

KALI

The Principal's office door opens all the way and I glance inside at the man standing there.

And my heart nearly stops, then stutters to a rapid fluttering beat. I'm going to die.

Or I would if I was still the same girl I was seventeen years ago when I last saw him—the night of our graduation dance and the worst night of my life to this day.

Now he leans against the windowsill, hands in his pockets, messy wet hair looking like he came directly from the locker room, his dark stubbled unshaven chin looking like it was meant to give a girl whisker burn—between her legs.

My knees collapse from shock and the weight of too many emotions piling on me all at once. I grab onto the door handle, hard, to hold myself up.

The door moves and I stumble anyway, falling all the way down to my knees, literally at his feet.

He looks down at me as I hastily get up off the floor and straighten my skirt. Embarrassed much? Heck yeah. I bet I have the lovely red face to prove it.

“Hello Kali.” His voice is the same, made of sinful velvet decadence and hard raw sex.

I gulp, then manage to rasp, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m the new hockey coach.”

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the star of my biggest nightmare, Nash Lewis, former NHL hockey player and all-around big shot.

Somehow after 17 years, we're both back to where we started... for a do-over?

The pit inside my stomach grows bigger than a teacher’s apple. I have no business being here.

How did I let Nikki talk me into coming back to the scene of the worst night of my life?

Oh yeah, she was rescuing me from the second worst nightmare of my life—the one where my fiancée broke our engagement—then fired me. I snort. Because right now, staring at the man who broke my heart in high school, the broken engagement with Brad and him firing me don’t seem as bad as what happened that night seventeen years ago right here. A shudder rolls through me.

I remind myself, again, I’m not that girl this time around. I’m a teacher, a full-grown adult, so it shouldn’t be so hard returning to the scene of all my high school crimes. I did all the right things, class President, head cheerleader, Valedictorian. I had a ball for four years. All the way up to the very last night.

It was only one night. I should have forgotten about it by now.

But, surprise—I haven’t.

That night?All my girlhood hopes and dreams were exploded to dust by one boy, the one big bad reason I haven’t been back until now, Nash Lewis.

Straightening my shoulders, I retrieve my poise and avoid looking at Nash.

Nikki, my bestie from high school and now the principal at Andrews Point Academy in Andrews Point, Maine, stands and smiles.

“Glad you made it, Kali. I was going to send out the dogs—namely Rink—to find you.”

Archie grins at me. “How the hell are you? Looking gorgeous as ever.” He comes forward and gives me a hug.

I hug him back swallowing my emotions. “It’s been a while, Rink. You look like a happy family man.”

“I am,” he admits. “Rocking the dad bod. Glad you’re here to help Kali. We need you. My family needs you,” he laughs. “If we make our goal, the Board of Trustees promised me a big fat bonus so I can finally repair our roof.”

My brows knit, mildly concerned about Archie’s joking about poverty—the school’s and his—but I put my concern aside.

“Don’t worry, Arch,” Nash says. “I’ll do my part.” I can’t help glancing back at him. Mistake. He’s still as hot as he is arrogant.

“You and Kali will be working together to help rescue the school,” Nikki says.

I tear my stare from Nash and look back to Nikki in panic.