Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Laurel’s pulse faltered upon hearing that name whispered in her ear, but it jettisoned into warp speed when she looked up. The fireman had removed his helmet and was staring down at her with an amused grin, ice blue eyes full of mischief.
“Hi, Laurel.”
Holy hopscotch!
Laurel’s heart slammed against her rib cage, and she stumbled back a step.
Jake, from the bar!
“Nice to see you again...” His voice was smooth as silk and brought every stroke of his tongue to the forefront of her mind. His gaze floated down her frame, stirring up her insides, before rising back to focus on her face. “… without the hat.”
He winked, and her mouth dropped open. For the life of her, she couldn’t find her voice. She stood there, mute, unable to move a muscle. Helpless against his knowing grin.
After a few, torturous moments of being watched, Jake addressed the kids. With the magnetic pull of his eyes directed elsewhere, Laurel wasted no time in escaping to the safety of her desk. She scootched her chair in so far, the desk dented her stomach. She didn’t care. She needed the barrier it afforded between herself and the living, breathing, sexy-as-bells incarnation of her abject humiliation.
Jake discussed his life as a fireman and what he did on a daily basis when he wasn’t fighting fires. The chores, training, physical fitness—he emphasized the importance of exercise, for both him and the kids, which she thought was a nice touch. He explained how he prepared for fighting fires, and the precautions he had to take. He even segued into a segment on fire safety for the kids and taught them the “stop, drop, and roll” method if they—God forbid—ever found themselves on fire.
When the kids asked him about his gear, he explained everything piece by piece. How the self-contained breathing apparatus respirator mask, or SCBA for short, allowed him to breathe in a smoke-filled room, and the fact his outfit—he’d called the jacket and pants “turnouts”—helped repel moisture and had thermal layers which offered some insulation from the heat.
He took off his jacket, so the kids could try it on.
Laurel gripped her desk like it was a lifeboat keeping her from going under. Jake was wearing a navy-blue T-shirt that emphasized the muscles in his back and revealed powerful arms she knew could effortlessly hold her down on a bed as he had his way with her.
A little shocked and a lot turned on by how easily her mind had thrown her into a porno film, she crossed her legs tightly against the sudden tingling in her core.
Jake wrapped his turnout coat around Travis’s shoulders. It dwarfed him, puddling on the floor around his feet, like it did on all of the children who took a turn donning the jacket. Her ex-fiancé, Ethan, would’ve shut it down after the first two. Correction, he never would’ve offered to let them try it on in the first place. He had no patience for kids, which should’ve been red flag number one. She was a grade school teacher, for goodness’ sake. Why the heck had she agreed to marry someone who wasn’t good with children?
Jake, on the other hand, was relaxed and accommodating, and seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with the kids. It was… surprising. And hot. Just like the kiss they’d shared.
Her thoughts flashed back to Hannah’s and being held in Jake’s arms. The way he’d lifted her as he’d plundered her mouth. The heat that’d ignited her senses when he’d cupped her butt and pulled her against?—
“Laurel?”
A large hand on her shoulder made her jump. She looked up to find Jake standing over her.
“You in there?” he asked.
“What?” It took a few seconds for her to come back to the present and realize she’d been sitting at the head of her first-grade class, fantasizing about kissing a man she didn’t know.
A guilty blush burned her cheeks. She shot to her feet, her head colliding with Jake’s arm in the process. She heard a faint snap, but was too embarrassed to register what it was. “Yes!” She stumbled into, then around her chair, quickly moving to the opposite side of the desk. “Of course!”
The twinkle in Jake’s eyes made her nervous. No way he could know what she’d been thinking, right? She’d die if he knew!
They’re still twinkling.
His gaze didn’t waver, making her shift uncomfortably under the scrutiny. It felt like he was raiding her secrets.
Stop twinkling!
She nearly jumped out of her skin when the bell rang. She used to groan whenever characters were “saved by the bell” in movies, but she took back every eye roll she’d ever executed because she’d never been more thankful for anything in her life.
The children all hopped up at once, ready to make a mad dash to the door.
“Wait a minute,” Laurel ordered, stopping them in their tracks. She squared her shoulders, pretending the man standing on the other side of her desk wasn’t playing havoc with her senses. An in-control teacher, that’s what she needed to be. That was her safe space.
“Before you go,” she told the kids, hoping with everything in her that she didn’t sound as flustered as Jake was making her feel. “What do you want to say to our guests?”
A chorus of little voices shouted, “Thank you!”
Officer Bennett, Dr. Kent, and Jake responded, “You’re welcome.”
“Okay.” Laurel nodded to her class. “You may go. I’ll see you tomorrow. Make the rest of your day super-duper?—”
“Awesome!” the kids finished for her.
She always ended her class with that farewell. She liked them leaving with a positive thought in their heads.
Keeping her teacher's armor firmly in place, she thanked her guests for donating their time and exchanged numbers with Officer Bennett, so they could arrange his return.
After everyone had left, she turned and placed her hands on her desk and leaned over it with a heavy sigh, letting the tension ebb away. Her hair fell forward, the blue streak hanging front and center before her eyes, taunting her.
So, that’s what the snap she’d heard had been. Her barrette had come undone when she’d run into Jake’s arm. Perfect. That meant Officer Bennett, Dr. Kent, and Jake had seen how ridiculous she looked.
“You okay?”
Laurel yelped upon hearing Jake’s voice and spun around, knocking a box of crayons off her desk in the process. The lid opened when it hit the floor, sending crayons rolling in every direction.
“Fudgsicles!” She crouched down and started gathering them up, thankful her clumsiness gave her a reason to avoid looking at him.
He joined her, his shoulder brushing against hers as he kneeled down beside her.
Fudge! Here she was trying to get away from him, and now he was so close she could smell the clean scent of his… well, he wasn’t wearing cologne, but he still smelled incredible.
Maybe this is what pheromones smell like.
How else could she explain the kick in her pulse and warmth spreading throughout her body?
She tried to sidestep crawl away to create some distance between them. The train her thoughts had been riding on earlier had left her confused and turned on, which was not good. Being in such close proximity to him, she couldn’t afford to be hot and bothered because right now, all she could think about was his lips on hers.
Keeping wary eyes on him, instead of where she was going, she bumped into her desk. The thin side metal caved in, then bounced back into place with a cu-klunk. She dropped onto her butt on the floor, back against the wall—er—desk. Scooping up some of the crayons, she hugged them to her chest like armor.
Because crayons are great protection? Pathetic.
Jake was within kissing distance—not moving closer, but not moving away either.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared.”
He pointedly looked at the rainbow of crayons white-knuckle-clutched in her hand.
Okay, maybe she didn’t look it, but she wasn’t scared. She was aroused.
“Did you need something?” she asked, trying her best to sound professional. Even if she’d somehow managed it, she was pretty sure sitting on her butt on the vinyl floor of her classroom ruined that illusion.
A ghost of a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.
When he lifted a hand, Laurel pulled back, knocking her head against the desk in the process. She automatically reached to rub the back of her head—even though it didn’t hurt—the same time his fingers twirled around the blue streak in her hair.
“I like this better.”
“Than the pie?” The instant the words left her mouth, she blanched.
Oh, fudgesicles! Why did I say that?
She really didn’t want him to recall how awful she’d looked.
Jake’s eyes captured hers. “I never said pie,” he told her, absently lowering his hand, letting the lock of hair sift through his fingers as his knuckles brushed down her neck.
She shivered, despite the fact she was quickly overheating… especially when he moved a fraction of an inch closer.
Tell him to move. Push him back. Something!
His gaze dropped to her lips. “But it is one of my favorite desserts.”
Jake leaned forward the last few inches and pressed his lips to hers. She balked slightly, even though it shouldn’t have been a surprise. He’d moved closer, and he’d been staring at her mouth. But he was every woman’s fantasy come to life, and she?—
He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, and her thoughts scattered. She opened for him before she even realized what she was doing.
He took advantage, threading his hand through her hair and sliding his tongue against hers. She felt the metal indent behind her when he deepened the kiss, pushing her against the desk as he moved closer. She dropped the crayons to wrap one hand around his arm, while the other rested on his chest. His heart was beating as frantically as her own, which turned her on even more. Kissing her affected him. It was the most powerful feeling she’d ever experienced.
When his free hand moved to her calf, then slid under her skirt to a little past her knee, a ripple of heat from the contact continued up to the apex of her thighs.
A loud “Ah-hem” shattered the magic, dumping the proverbial bucket of ice water onto the moment.
Laurel jerked back, hitting her head on the desk again, and shoved Jake’s hand away.
Her co-worker, Amy, was standing in the doorway. “If you want to get fired, keep doing that,” she said with an amused grin. Her appreciative gaze traveled over Jake’s backside. “Though, it would be worth it.”
When Jake turned to see who it was, Amy’s eyes widened.
“Jake,” she said, apparently recognizing him.
Jake paused a second before saying, “Hi…”
“Amy.” She sighed. “My name’s Amy.”
Jake flashed a smile. “Nice to see you again, Amy,” he said, charm personified.
“See you again?” They know each other?
With a small shake of her head and a dubious grin, Amy addressed Laurel. “I’ll go ahead and close this for you.” She started to pull the door shut, then quickly stuck her head back inside. “Carry on,” she said, before shutting the door completely.
When the latch clicked into place, Jake lifted Laurel’s chin with a finger. “Where were we?” He moved in for another kiss, but she turned her head. His lips grazed her ear.
Confused by the exchange between Amy and Jake, and thoroughly embarrassed at having been caught kissing him, Laurel flushed from her chest to her ears. She pushed against the immovable brick wall impersonating a man in front of her. “We’re in my classroom.” Goosebumps erupted along her skin as the realization of what she’d done barreled into her like a wave decimating a sand castle. “Oh, my goodness! We’re in my classroom!”
What was wrong with her?
She’d kissed him… in her classroom!
She’d let him glide a hand under her skirt.
In.
Her.
Classroom!
“I can’t.… We can’t.…” she sputtered, scrambling to her feet. “I don’t even know you!”
Jake smiled and stood next to her. “I’d like to get to know you.”
“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she blurted, then immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. What in bells made her say that? It’s not like she’d been fantasizing about him in her bed ever since she’d laid eyes on him in the bar.
Ummm…
He chuckled. “I never asked you to, but I’m game, if you’re asking.”
“I’m not!” she squeaked. That thought was laughable. She’d never asked a guy for sex in her life, and that included Ethan. He’d always been the one to initiate it. She sure wasn’t going to start being the aggressor after thirty years of doing the opposite. Especially not with a man who was the embodiment of perfection… who she didn’t even know!
She took a fortifying breath, then forced herself to meet his eyes, intent on making darn sure he knew having sex with him was the furthest thing from her mind.
Sure, it is.
He smiled again, and her bravado faltered. Self-consciously tucking the strand of blue behind her ear, she schooled her features into what she hoped was an I-so-don’t-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off-and-ride-you-on-my-desk expression before continuing.
“For the record,” she informed him. “If you had asked, I would’ve said no.”
Probably.
Maybe.
Oh, who am I kidd ? —
“Good to know.” He leaned over and picked up the jacket he’d dropped earlier when he’d kneeled down to help her gather crayons… which were still scattered across the floor. Tossing it over his shoulder, he added, “I’ll remember that for next time.”
Next time?