Chapter 19 #2
Adam had never been a man who needed to see a woman in a domesticated role in order to find her worth.
But damn if Janae wasn’t the sexiest thing he’d ever seen standing there in fitted jeans and a crop top sweater underneath a black apron that read, “Seasoning Makes Everything Better.” She damn sure wasn’t lying, because seeing her flavor displayed in her outfit was doing everything to ramp up his appetite for her.
“Hi, Janae.”
He could feel the stupid juvenile smile curling on his lips as he gave her a simple wave to greet her. He hadn’t felt like this, so enamored, so taken, since his crush on his sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Lerner.
This however was no schoolboy crush. No, this was something deeper that raked through him like sharp claws through silk.
“You ready, Dr. Henderson?”
James’ voice rang through like the world’s loudest alarm clock, shaking him out of his lustful thoughts instantly.
“Sure,” Adam answered, forcing himself to be an attentive adult and look the young man in his eyes. “Go get set up. I need to talk to your mom for a minute. Is that okay?”
The young man’s eyes opened slightly wider, as if he were somehow surprised Adam had asked his permission for something.
“Sure thing, Dr. Henderson.” James moved to the door maintaining the same surprised look on his face. Unfortunately, it was an expression Adam was all too familiar with.
As an educator, he often saw firsthand how adults treated kids, as if they had no say whatsoever in their lives. Adam believed in firm boundaries. But within the confines of those boundaries, he also believed children should have some choice about what happened to and around them.
“Thanks, James.” Adam’s thoughtful response awarded him a respectful nod before the boy grabbed his basketball from the side of the patio door.
“Your kids must’ve loved you when you were in the classroom.”
Adam could feel that sickeningly sweet smile blooming on his lips again and he tried hard to keep it from blossoming into a full-blown grin.
“I won ‘Teacher of the Year’ more times than I can count.”
“Do you miss it?” Her eyes were bright with honesty and genuine interest when she asked that question. This wasn’t mere small talk, she really wanted to know.
“Sometimes.” His answer was simple but truthful.
He loved being inside the classroom with the kids.
But he realized he could do more for them as an administrator than he could being one teacher in a classroom.
“Lesson planning was a lot more fun than worrying about the budget of an entire district. Yet the emotional stress seeing the firsthand impact of how schools often fail kids, that part wasn’t so enjoyable. ”
“I don’t imagine it was.”
“No,” he answered. “It wasn’t. But this isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. Work can wait until Monday.”
Janae nodded and welcomed his change in conversational topic.
“Did you speak to James’ father? How does he feel about me teaching James the game?”
Her brows lifted as she nodded. “I did. He was of course disappointed he couldn’t do this with James, but he didn’t want to force his son to miss out either. He asked me to thank you for asking his permission, though. It meant a lot to him.”
Relief bled through Adam. He’d never had the pleasure of meeting James’ father, and Janae didn’t talk much about him except to say his job kept him away a lot. No matter their lack of formal introduction, he wanted to make sure he didn’t cause any issues for Janae.
“By the way,” she continued. “What made you ask? Most people wouldn’t have thought to.”
Her question was valid, and his answer was simple. “I just thought about how I’d feel if someone was impeding on my time with my kid if I had one. I would at least want the option to say yes or no.”
He could tell by the cautious smile on her face that she was attributing this all to him trying to get in her good graces.
“That’s mighty enlightened of you.”
“I’ve been around kids and their families long enough to navigate some of the tricky dynamics you can encounter. Most of all, Henderson loves the kids, so I’m not trying to stress out their parents unnecessarily.”
That got a chuckle out of her, and the sweet sound of it made him want to plant his feet where he stood and never leave her presence. Fortunately for James, that wasn’t what Adam came here for.
“Thanks for following up for me with James’ dad. If you don’t mind, I’m gonna leave you to work your magic with the food while I teach your boy how to hoop.”
She folded her arms, lifting a brow as her brown eyes connected with his, sharing a moment of playfulness. “Who says I can work magic with food?”
“Janae, as long as I’ve known you, everything you do is magic. I somehow doubt cooking is the thing that will trip you up.”
He walked over to her, leaned down, and placed a gentle kiss at the top of her cheek. His skin barely touched hers and his body was already burning, ready to make the chaste kiss something a lot less friendly.
“I’m gonna head out before I find myself in trouble.”
She looked up at him with a building storm in her eyes as she said, “I think that would be the safest option for both of us.”