Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
So it had to be him calmly sitting in my father’s office.
And he had a daughter, which he didn’t tell me about. Although, to be fair it was my great idea to reveal as little about ourselves as possible. Not even last names, as I remember. And when he clasped my hand, I felt so dizzy I was ready to swoon. Thank God, I didn’t. I held my nerve and spoke to his daughter instead. And that worked. I felt slightly more grounded.
Even so, I couldn’t think straight as I walked away from my dad’s office.
Thank heavens, I’d made a list of the places and things to give the new pupil and her parent a tour of on my phone so I pulled it out and went through it.
I stared at it.
The words swam before my eyes. I saw the words Science Lab.
Good idea. It was quite secluded and not currently in use. Given the circumstances, I wanted to be far away from prying eyes so I could try to gather my thoughts.
I turned to go but slammed into an immovable wall named Cole. The impact would have sent me flying if his strong arms had not grabbed my own and kept me upright.
“With or without heels, balance is not your thing, is it?” he noted, close to my ear.
Because I wasn’t crazy, I avoided looking directly into his eyes. Instead, I shifted my attention to his daughter. She was a sweet little thing.
“Are you okay, Miss Moore?” she asked, and I turned around and smiled at her.
I plastered a big, fake smile on my face. “I am. Thank you.”
She held my gaze, and I held hers simply because I couldn’t look at her father, but then she said something that made me even forget he was there for the moment at least.
“You’re pretty,” she said.
I couldn’t believe her compliment because I was, at that moment, a hot, mud-stained mess from working in the field. My gaze flew towards Cole. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he must be thinking. The last time he saw me I was all dolled up. Seeing the real me must be a great disappointment.
He smiled at me, and my heart nearly stopped because even though I had convinced myself I hated his guts he seemed just as beautiful as he had been that night in Stormy City.
“She’s right,” he said softly. “In spite of the mud and all.”
I frowned. What the hell was happening to me? I hated this man.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded aggressively, but even as I spat the words out, I knew I shouldn’t have uttered them in front of the girl. Instantly my gaze swung to her. She was looking at me curiously. Cole got down on his haunches next to his daughter.
“Did you see the seats outside in the hallway on our way here?”
She nodded solemnly.
“Good. Go sit there and wait for me,” he instructed. “And remember, don't leave until I get there. For any reason.”
She threw me another inquisitive glance, then skipped away to do as she had been asked.
He straightened and met my gaze. “I just brought my daughter to her new school,” he said in response to my aggressive question.
I felt incredibly silly, but then again, he wasn’t going to gaslight me into thinking that all of this was normal and that I should just take it all in my stride, without any drama.
“I … I thought you were just passing through.”
“You may have assumed that, but I never divulged that information.”
My frown deepened. “Then why didn’t you resp-” I started to say, but then I cut myself short. I was beginning to whine, I could hear and feel it, and I swore against that embarrassment.
“You know what it doesn’t matter. I’m glad she's here; we’ll take good care of her.”
I turned around to leave then, but he caught my hand, and immediately my body responded, which infuriated me. I twisted my hand out of his grip and backed away.
“That's inappropriate. Please don’t interact with me like that again when we’re in such a public setting.”
“I understand,” he said, but he continued to stare at me in the most inappropriate way. “I didn’t respond because-”
“No need,” I stopped him with a hand in the air. “No need. It’s all water under the bridge now. It will never happen again. You’re just one of the parents, and I’m your daughter’s teacher. Let's continue on with the tour.”
“I didn’t respond,” he continued as if I had not spoken, “because it was the wrong time for me. Too many things were happening and I couldn’t handle a new relationship. It wouldn’t have been fair to you. I had to put my daughter’s needs before my own.”
My heart ran wild in my chest. For me, that night was unbelievable, amazing, out of control. Our chemistry was insane, and things could have got really wild between us. But for him, he simply decided to shut it down because it was inconvenient.