Chapter 32
Cienna
Ihad never played favorites with my students.
I’d found a way to love each and every one of them for what was special and unique about them.
Even the more challenging children. They brought something to the world, though sometimes it didn’t manifest in an acceptable way until adulthood.
Or at least that was what I told parents when they complained to me about how exasperating or misbehaved their child was. Regardless, I adored them all.
For example, William, the lovely child whose grandma had a pool and ate waffles and ice cream.
He was throwing a tantrum at my feet because he shot a dodgeball right into Abi’s face and had to sit out.
Abigail, on the other hand, sat on the other side of me, nearly rolling her eyes at his dramatic fit, as she shoved a tissue in each nostril and held ice on her nose.
Did I know that William had moments of anger due to the struggles at home that were beyond his control?
Yes. Did I want to give Abi a dodgeball and let her loose on him?
Yes. That too. That was a problem, but I’d address that later.
The even more pressing concern was the phone call home to both parents.
Karen joined me on the playground to take William to the office and check on Abi’s injuries. As she walked away, William wailing and trailing along, she turned back. “I’ll make the call to William’s mother.” At hearing that, William screamed louder, and a profanity or two slipped out.
I nodded. “Yep, I’ll text Reed.” Karen’s brows shot up. Oh fuck, that came out wrong. “I mean, Mr. Marsh. He prefers being notified via text, and I have it from our work on the dance committee.”
She pursed her lips but nodded, accepting my bullshit backtrack. She knew me too well not to read into that slipup.
“Oh, Abigail, what happened?” The voice made me nauseous before I even saw the face attached to it. Why was she every-fucking-where. I turned as Jill stooped down, looking over Abi’s tear-stained face.
“Wiawabllanmehfsss,” Abi explained from behind her ice pack and tissues.
Jill smiled warmly, but I practically saw the snake’s tongue slithering through her lips as she turned her attention to me. “Cici, I just stopped by to remind you of our meeting tonight. Will you and Reed be able to attend?”
Me and Reed. Did I imagine the venom in her voice? Not falling in that trap, sneaky bitch.
“Oh, I have it on my calendar to attend. I’m not sure about Reed. I do have to contact him about Abigail, though, so I can remind him.”
She nodded with a little purse of her lips. My answer gave nothing away. I didn’t even say I’d text him. This time.
Abigail pulled the ice from her nose. “Cici, remember? Uncle Reed is meeting you here for your meeting, and I get to go with Daisy, and then when we get home, we’re going to bake donut balls.”
Abigail replaced her ice and swung her feet happily under the bench she sat on, looking cheerful as ever despite the blood on her shirt. And the ammunition she just laid right at Jill’s feet.
“Donut balls, huh?” Jill quirked a brow.
“Oh yes,” I nearly whispered. “Trying out a few recipes for the dance, including my grandmother’s baked bombas.
We thought it’d be a nice touch to have homemade baked goods, especially ones that honor our school’s founder.
” Lies. That shut her up, but now I was stuck baking Italian pastries for an epic shit ton of people.
“Oh, how lovely,” she purred and tapped my wrist with her hand. “You and Reed make such a great team.”
I smiled at Jill, hoping my face wasn’t letting on just how much her comment irritated me.
“I’ll see you tonight, then.” She began to walk back down the blacktop toward the corridor to the office, but then she turned. “Oh, Cici,” she sang out, loud enough to jolt the kids on the playground, “I was thinking of ordering pizza for the meeting. Any requests?”
I shook my head, but a sweet, muffled voice behind me rang out, “Cici likes pineapple on her pizza!”
At her proclamation, a ball tightened in my stomach, and it had nothing to do with food.
That afternoon, Abigail went home with Daisy, happy as a clam, after I’d changed her into an Aisling Dolphins Volleyball shirt since hers looked like a murder scene. An hour later, Reed knocked on my classroom door and leaned against it, his smile all heated and swoony.
He shut the door behind him before he strutted to me. “These rooms should have fucking locks,” he muttered as he approached my desk.
I didn’t think I’d ever seen a man look at me the way he was—like I was a snack, and best believe, this man looked delicious himself.
His olive-colored shirt brought out the darker parts of his eyes, and he had rolled up the sleeves to show off muscled forearms and sprinkles of amber hair.
He even wore a damn leather-strapped watch, knowing full well that it was a nerdy turn-on for me.
I half expected him to flick his bouncy hair and seductively put slutty little reading glasses on.
He squatted down, eye level with me. Before I could argue, he grazed his index finger under my chin and brushed a kiss across my lips. There was nothing chaste about it, despite how brief, because the groan that traveled into my mouth zipped right down to my core.
“Reed,” I whispered, part pant, part plea.
“I know, but I couldn’t help myself.” He shrugged shamelessly. “I never expected my ‘hot for teacher’ phase to come in my thirties, or to be attending PTA meetings, not detention.”
I rolled my eyes. He stood and moved next to my desk chair, leaning in the most seductive way.
I started making piles of paper, some on purpose, others just to keep my hands busy and off him while I snuck glances his way.
His eyes darted around the room, back at me, to my chair, to the floor, to the door, and then back at me.
A side of his lip tilted up, his grin pure mischief.
“Wha—”
In one fell swoop, he spun my chair, stood me up, pushed my chair back, and hauled me down so we both stooped behind my desk.
I squealed, and his fingers touched my lips with a “Shh.” He moved into a seated position and drew me down next to him.
I leaned my head back, reclined against the desk drawer, and sighed.
His hand grabbed mine, and his smile turned from mischief to soft and sincere. “I just needed a minute with you.”
I slumped over and rested my temple on his shoulder, not realizing how much I needed it too.
He kissed the top of my head and stayed there for a moment.
The intimacy in that basic gesture filled me with warmth.
Needing more, I twisted until our noses grazed, then kissed him.
This time, I held the kiss longer before biting his lower lip, tasting his minty breath.
His hum of approval was quiet but gruff, and his hand moved from behind me to the back of my neck.
He deepened the kiss, then growled as he placed tiny kisses and nibbles along my jawline.
A giggle escaped me before I covered my mouth, and he grinned victoriously. It was just us, and for one moment, our little secret was a playful thing.
“I don’t know how I’m going to keep my hands off you during this meeting,” he whispered, and instead of following up his statement with another teasing move, he placed a kiss at my temple and rested his head on top of mine.
Voices traveled from the hallway into my classroom, and Reed’s hand tightened around mine.
“Cici?” Jill’s annoying voice called out.
Despite freezing every muscle in my body, I felt a twitch under my eye, the underlying stress of our covert relationship bubbling to the surface once again.
My heartbeat was a thump, thump, thump in my ears, almost drowning out the shuffling of feet as they moved into the classroom.
“Hmm, I thought I saw Reed stop in here.”
Then another voice, one I couldn’t place, said, “Oh, well… guess we will have to find another studly PTA dad to haul our pizzas in.”
Jill huffed, a note of playfulness in her voice. “Don’t kid yourself. There’s not another specimen like that in this entire school. Town, even.”
A speck of jealousy blossomed in my stomach but was quickly overshadowed by the queasiness of unease nagging at me. Reed made a gagging gesture, and I nudged him with my elbow.
“I’ve never been so jealous of you being divorced and single,” the other woman prattled.
“Hmm, he definitely makes the single-mom vibe a little less daunting.” I could practically hear Jill smirk. “But I think a certain kindergarten teacher has been sniffing around.”
“Ooh, do spill.” The creak of the door shutting cut off the rest of their conversation.
Great. Another prying PTA mom. We were idiots to think we could keep this contained between us. I dug my teeth into my lower lip and closed my eyes, trying to subdue the boiling panic from this close call.
Reed turned to me, wearing a big, goofy grin, but when he saw my face, those sexy lips immediately turned down.
“Flattered?” I rolled my eyes. “Did you hear them? Hear her?”
He looked at me thoughtfully, then nudged my shoulder. “Well, have you been sniffing around?” Closing the space between us, he made sniffing sounds into my neck and hair.
“I’m serious.” I flapped my arms on my lap with a whisper-shriek.
“Okay, I know, I know. We’ll be—I’ll be more careful. Let’s talk about this after the meeting.” He pulled me in and gave me the slowest, most lingering kiss. “It will be fine.” In the blink of an eye, he stood, turning and winking before he walked to the door. “See you in there.”
Still hiding behind the safety of my desk, I covered my face with my hands and tried to stifle the crackling of my nerves.