Chapter 8
8
Hank lifted his gaze to the clock, before focusing once more on his laptop screen. He had another ten minutes before the first bell rang to start the day, and he was going to spend it trying to figure out a way to get another exchange going with Jo. But nothing like the four emails he’d had with jwebster.
This time they’d be with Jo Webster…
The woman he wanted to claim for his own.
And, yes, it was fast. Some people might even say crazy. But it wasn’t. At least not to him. Not after Sunday night when he’d known deep down a piece of him had been walking away as he’d stared after her. Not Monday and most of the day that Tuesday when he’d lived with a sense that he’d lost something wonderful that he had no idea how to get back.
Well, that last part might not be completely true. He’d had ideas. But hanging out every night at Laverty’s or approaching one of the owners to ask if they knew her last name would have probably put him into the creep category with the guy she’d run off.
Sad thing was, he hadn’t completely ruled any of that out by the time he’d run into her at practice. And that feeling he’d lost something? It had vanished the moment he’d laid eyes on her.
It had increased one hundred and ten percent when he’d had her in his arms again. After the fact, he’d realized how glad he was that she’d thrown him out. It wasn’t the right place. But if he’d had a condom…
But now that he did know who she was and the fact she was it for him, the whole ethical dilemma of dating a student’s mom—and, yes, they would be dating—came into play. If he had to, he’d just have to quit teaching that particular class. Hopefully that wouldn’t get him fired.
Damn, when he’d decided to go into teaching, this kind of parent/teacher relations wasn’t what he’d envisioned. But now that it was there, he wanted to explore how far those relations could go.
The problem was, whatever he had to do to make things happen between them, Jo wasn’t going to be an easy sell. She’d pushed back at him pretty hard.
Hank didn’t scare that easily.
Buzzzzz .
First bell.
Cue his students slowly filing in—some of them trudging like this was the last place they wanted to be, which it probably was—and taking their seats as he closed his laptop. This morning, he kind of understood how they felt.
But while he had this job, he had to focus on something more than how his fingers ached to get tangled up in soft, blond curls again, or how he wanted time to explore the rest of a body he’d yet to get a good look at.
"Good morning, Dr. Lawton."
"Good morning, Leah." The smile he forced on his face had a lot to do with the fact he was mentally willing his dick to behave. Thankfully, by the time the second bell rang, he had everything well under control.
For now.
Okay, Hank. Time to do your job.
"Good morning, everyone." A round of half-hearted replies sounded around the class, with a few cheerier ones scattered about. Poor kids. Monday mornings were usually bad enough, but he was about to make it even better . "Let’s start the day with a pop quiz."
"Dr. Lawton?"
Hank lifted his gaze to Collin standing in front of his desk, before glancing behind him. The rest of his second-period class had already left and were probably on their way to the lunchroom.
"Yes, Collin."
"I just wanted to thank you again for Tuesday." Could the kid look anymore sheepish?
"You don’t have to keep thanking me." And he didn’t. Collin had earned the grade he’d gotten, regardless of how long it had taken for him to retake the test.
"Well, it’s not just about the test."
Hank sat back straight in his seat. The only other thing Collin could possibly have to talk about with him would be his mother.
"It’s not?"
"No. Um, thanks for liking my mom now."
And there it was. Alright, this was about to get into some sticky territory.
"I never dis liked your mom." A look of doubt accompanied a grin on the young man’s face. Collin wasn’t stupid. So, to keep from completely lying to the kid, he ended up saying, "Well, let’s say maybe I misunderstood her."
"Yeah, I get that," Collin said with a shrug. "Like I told you the other day, she worries too much. And sometimes it makes her a little overprotective." He grinned again. "We’re working on that."
"Well, that’s good." Why was he hovering? "Was there anything else?"
"Kinda. So, you really do like my mom now, right?"
"I like her fine." Where was this going?
"She likes you too."
"She does?" Why had his heart started pounding so hard? And more than that, why did he feel like the geekiest high school nerd finding out the prettiest girl in school wanted him to take her to the prom?
Keep it cool.
"I mean, I’m glad she does."
"Yeah. I think she likes you a lot."
He liked her a lot. Maybe more than liked. And though he’d only spent a handful of time with Jo, he couldn’t see her confiding anything about him to her son. So, the question was, why was Collin trying to matchmake?
This might not be a bad thing.
Right. Who was he kidding? It could be monumentally bad, depending on how you looked at it. Because, yeah, that whole parent/teacher thing again.
"That’s good to know." Had he sounded composed enough? Maybe. A flash of long, strawberry blond hair at his open classroom door caught his eye. "Now, you’d better head to lunch or you won’t have time to eat." He gave Collin a grin. "Besides, I think you have someone waiting on you."
"Yeah," Collin said, his cheeks ruddy as he rubbed the back of his neck and flicked his gaze toward the door and back. "Well," he continued, dropping his hand. "I just wanted to let you know that Mom is going to that Laverty’s place tonight, and you, um…" Hank held his breath, a sense of expectation filling him, until Collin finished in a rush with, "You have my blessing."
Before Hank could do anything more than drop his jaw and heave out that breath he’d been holding, Collin had scurried from the classroom. Then a slow smile started, one that hurt his cheeks with how broad it was.
"I have his blessing."