Maggie - Eye of the hurricane
While waiting for our morning meeting to begin in the library, I filled Kelly in with as much information as I was allowed to share.
Her mouth dropped open as she took in my cast. “You poor thing. At least you have the bodyguard looking out for you now.” She looked around. “Where is he?”
“You don’t even want to know,” I said with a snort. “Where’s Mark?”
“He’ll be late because the principal asked him to make a bunch of copies of his printouts for the meetings. He asked us to save a seat for him.” She smirked. “Guess it doesn’t always pay for the admin to know you.”
“True. I’d rather fly under the radar,” I murmured.
She cringed. “Might be a little hard for you now with a bodyguard.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be a pain in the butt,” I said with a sigh. “I hate the feeling of being constantly watched. I’m afraid it’s going to change my classroom mojo.” I twisted my lips in thought. “I’ll just need to be creative in how to get some freedom back. Like this morning.” His angry face flashed into my mind and I grinned wickedly. Leaving him on the side of the road was a little payback for how he acted this morning when he laughed at me. My face heated just thinking of him standing in the bathroom with that amused gleam in his eye. Who’s amused now, Benny boy?
The back door of the library flew open, making me jump and turn in my seat.
Ben was stalking straight at me, fury in his eyes.
My heart went a little spastic, feeling a high from poking the grumbly, very attractive bear.
“Oh no, that’s gotta be him. Is that him?” Kelly asked, laughing behind her hand. “He looks furious with you. What did you do?”
Ben completely ignored the rest of the teacher’s watching him as he charged for me like a man on a mission, his long legs eating up the distance quickly.
“He’s so mad.” I covered my mouth to stop from laughing.
“He is so hot when he’s mad,” Kelly whispered, fanning her face. “And all those toned muscles, oh my gosh.”
Before I could respond, Ben kicked my chair, hard, making my whole body jolt, and I suddenly faced him. He leaned forward and braced his large hands on the arms of my chair, caging me in with his muscular chest and arms.
Beads of sweat dripped down his face and his hairline was slightly damp. With the slash through his eyebrow and the way he was scowling, he looked so menacing, so primal, so male . He resembled a determined athlete about to chug gatorade, and damn, I hated that it turned me on, but it did all the same.
I twisted my lips to stop from grinning and cocked my head to the side, waiting him out.
His nose flared. “Pull that shit again and you will regret it,” he said in a quiet, lethal tone. “Do we understand each other?”
I almost laughed in his face. Because he was trying so damn hard to be scary, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. And maybe that’s what made him so attractive to me. Because I knew he could, but he never would.
I smiled extra sweetly at him. “Aw, did I make you mad, Benny?”
He dropped his head for a beat. When he looked back up, he ran his tongue over his teeth in his shut mouth. “It’s Ben. Now, do we understand each other?”
My nose wrinkled. “I’d say we don’t. You kinda smell by the way.” I patted his chest and instantly regretted it. I didn’t want to feel that zing of attraction through my fingertips. And he totally didn’t smell, I was lying through my teeth about that, but I was finding it quite fun to push his buttons.
His eyes flamed. “And who’s fault is that? You just made me run three miles in the hot sun, Maggie.” He leaned closer to me and I could feel his whisper on my skin as he said, “Payback’s gonna be a bitch.”
His voice sent shivers down my spine. I was thankful for wearing a long sleeve to conceal the goosebumps surely rising on my arms.
When he pulled slightly back, I could’ve sworn his gaze dipped down to my lips.
Kelly leaned her head towards me. “Is it bad that I kinda wanna know what he means by payback?”
A giggle popped out of me. She rolled her glossed lips together, trying hard to keep a straight face.
Ben set his dark gaze on her, but didn’t release me from the cage of his making. “Are you going to be a bad influence?”
Her blue eyes cut to mine and she gulped. But then the goofy mood took over and the two of us busted up laughing.
Ben shook his head. “Jesu–”
I pointed a stern finger at his face.
“Good morning staff,” the principal announced from the front of the room.
Ben’s eyes stayed locked on mine. His jaw ticked one more time before he slowly pulled away.
I watched as he wandered to the back of the room. His impressive back muscles shifted under his shirt as he stretched his arms a bit. He was just so fit. I knew for a fact his shirt was concealing the impressive eight pack I saw this morning. He looked like he could handle anything with ease and confidence. Anything except driving with me , I thought with amusement.
I made the mistake of glancing at Kelly, and then we both started giggling all over again.
As soon as the principal launched into his meeting, Mark appeared at the front of the room with three large stacks of handouts. He gave a quick head nod to Kelly and I before moving around the room to pass out the papers.
I knew I needed to pay attention to the meetings going on at the front of the room, especially because they concerned safety– the powerpoint indicated we were going over fire, tornado, and lockdown drills– but it was true, teachers really were the worst students. Instead of focusing on safety, my mind spun up a dangerous hurricane of thoughts– and Ben was the eye.
I hated that he held such a command over my body. His growly talking had me wishing he’d kiss me– something I hadn’t wished for in a very long time. Over the past couple years, I wondered if maybe I just wasn’t a very sexual person because I typically dreaded physical intimacy– like at the end of dates, I dreaded the prospect of a kiss. But he just shot that theory out of the water. My body wanted him. He had more of an effect on me than any previous boyfriend. But maybe that just meant I was finally healed enough that my body was interested in men again? Maybe that meant I needed to go out this weekend to find a real date?
I leaned over to whisper to Kelly, “Wanna go out this weekend? Saturday?”
She clapped her hands quietly. “Yes, please!” Her eyes drifted to Mark. “Can we invite him too? Unless you want it to be girl’s night, then I totally get it.”
I glanced back at Ben. “I don’t think I’ll be allowed to have a solo girl’s night for a while.”
Kelly laughed. “Wait, are you and him…?”
“No.” I could sense what she was trying to ask. “There’s no me and him.”
She arched a skeptical eyebrow. “I don’t know if I’d write it off that fast if I were you. I sensed some serious tension between you two.”
I shook my head. “No. He’s only here and being all protective because it’s his job.”
She shrugged. “Yes, you two were thrown together by circumstance, but who says you can’t enjoy each other’s company? Is he single?”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t managed to ask him that yet, and now that I thought about it, it should’ve been my first question. I had no business pushing him and teasing him like I just did if he had a girl at home.
“ I think he’s single. And I think he likes you,” she said, wagging her eyebrows.
“No, he can’t stand me,” I said automatically. And he’s way out of your league, Maggie , I sternly told myself.
“Or…” she drawled, “he can’t stand that he likes you.”
I rolled my eyes, but a little voice, a little hope, in the back of my mind wondered… Did his eyes really dip down to my lips the way I thought they had?
No.
I needed to wipe those thoughts from my mind before I made a fool of myself. He made it very clear that he was only helping me because he was being paid to. I needed to reroute my mind before I fell for him and ended up in a pathetic unrequited love situation.
“You and Mark?” I asked Kelly, trying to change the subject.
She shrugged and gathered her blonde hair to pull over her shoulder. She glanced at him glumly. “I think he friend-zoned me, but…”
“But you still like him?”
She gave a small smile. “Lame, I know.”
“No, you never know unless you give it a full shot. I think this weekend is needed.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Now I can’t wait ‘til Saturday.”
“What’s happening Saturday?”
I jumped at his gravelly voice.
“Jeez, way to lurk,” I snapped quietly, to which Ben arched an eyebrow at me.
The Principal cut us a curious look and continued on with his presentation.
“You didn’t answer. What’s going on Saturday?” Ben repeated.
“Nothing,” I squeaked out.
His gaze turned to Kelly. She shrugged and mumbled her own “nothing.”
Ben regarded me with the look of wary uneasiness that I was starting to get used to. “Can I see those?” He grabbed the papers without waiting for my response.
My eyes narrowed. “Why ask if you were gonna steal them?”
“Well, someone’s gotta know this stuff, and it apparently isn’t going to be you.”
I gasped at his audacity and looked way up at him. “I’m not–”
“Paying attention? I know.” His eyes were already scanning over the handouts. “These plans suck. You guys are way too exposed for a tornado in that designated hallway.”
“Well, then figure out a plan, FBI man,” I murmured. I didn’t really like thinking about these sorts of things.
“I’m confiscating this.” He stole my pencil. I grappled for it back with my good hand, but he easily swatted me away. “Pay attention, Maggie,” he ordered with a sharp look. The way he said my name made those goosebumps come right back.
He wandered to the back of the room before I could say anything else.
A second later, I pushed up out of my seat and wandered to the front of the room for a new pencil.
He wasn’t even looking at me, but he shook his head, like he knew what I was doing and didn’t approve. Well, he could eat his heart out. Because I needed this pencil. What he didn’t know was that drawing helped me pay attention, it was the only time my thoughts calmed down and cleared out so I could actually listen to what was being said.
Today was harder than usual to clear my head though. Because I was hyper aware of every movement Ben made.