Her Every Fantasy (7 page)

“Okay, class. Who can tell me the names of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence?”

Kayla turned to face her ninth-grade class. Several hands were up, and she was glad. She wrote down as many names as the kids could call out. When she turned back to the class, she walked around and sat on the edge of her desk.

“Can anyone tell me why it was so important that the Declaration of Independence was written?”

She only half listened to her students. One reason was because she’d already had this discussion, and the second was that her mind was on James.

She was still mad as hell at his rudeness. Nothing gave him the right to be that rude or inconsiderate. Her students finished giving her reasons as to why they thought the Declaration of Independence had been written. She gave them a few more reasons. The bell rang shortly after she gave her students their assignment for that night and the following day. As her students began to file out of the room, she erased the board and prepared for her class of tenth graders. They were going to discuss the French Revolution. Napoleon was always an interesting subject for her.

The rest of the day flew by, and for that, she was thankful. Unfortunately, her last class of the day was full of tenth graders. Five of them had made it an eventful one so far. She turned to look out at her students.

“What can you tell me about the French Revolution?”

She called on the students who had their hands raised. Some gave her answers that let her know that they had read the book. Others gave her answers that were questionable. When Holly raised her hand, the classroom became silent. Kayla took a deep breath then called on her.

When Holly gave her a correct answer, she had to keep her mouth from falling open in shock. Instead she grinned. “That is correct, Holly.”

The smile that appeared on Holly’s face was blinding. Kayla realized then that compliments of the sort were a rarity in the teenager’s life, and wondered if Holly wasn’t immune to her mother’s negative ways. After standing up, she headed to the chalkboard. “Most of you are correct.”

She listed important events and people of the French Revolution. They became so involved in discussion that the bell caught them off guard.

“Okay, everyone, that is it for the day.”

She quickly told them what the next day assignment would be prior to wishing them a good evening. All of the students ran out excitedly. She used to get excited herself for the last class of the day, especially the closer it got to the weekend. She turned to the chalkboard and began erasing it.

“Am I too late for class?”

She spun around at the sound of James’s voice. The first thing she noticed was that he was sexy. The second was that he was entering her classroom and closing the door behind him. Lastly, she noticed that she was drooling over a man that had been so rude and disrespectful to her the prior night. She turned back to face the chalkboard before she got herself in trouble.

“Yes, you are. Maybe you can try again tomorrow.”

He hesitated in his response.
“Even if I am here to apologize?”

That caused her to pause slightly. She could feel him walking up behind her, but she kept erasing the board.

“Apologize for what?”

“For my rudeness and jealousy,” he replied as his hand came up and covered the one that held the eraser. His touch made her shiver, but she fought the reaction knowing that she should be aiming for his knees as she had promised to refrain from doing last night when he’d hung up on her.

“Please look at me.”

She didn’t respond, and his grip tightened. “Look at me, Kayla. I have always been told that you can see the truth in a man’s eyes. So I want you to look at me.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Lord, the man had a way with words. Turning around, she looked at him. Up close, he was only more breathtaking. He also smelled good. She was so weak for this man. She was in trouble when she became turned on by his scent.

“I am sorry, and if you give me the chance to explain, I will.”

More importantly, she saw the sincerity in his eyes and felt herself nod, then looked at the clock on the back wall. “Okay, but you have five minutes.”

His eyebrows rose. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

She smiled. He truly was a man. “No I don’t, but neither do I get paid for overtime.”

He laughed. “You have a good point. I will make it quick.”

* * * *

When Kayla agreed, he sighed in relief. She eased into one of the student chairs, and he sat in another next to her.

“I know that I behaved like an ass last night, but I promise you that it won’t happen again.”

He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what he was going to say. “My ex-wife Nicole had an affair with her best friend.”

He smiled, but it was not one of humor. “Actually it was a good friend of both of ours. Byron and I went to high school and college together. We all hung out in college.” He shrugged in a nonchalant manner that he didn’t feel. “I should have seen it coming, but it didn’t. Because even if I didn’t trust Nicole, I knew that I could Byron.”

His laugh was void of amusement.
“Turns out that I couldn’t.”

What he left unsaid was that Byron had been one of the possible candidates when it came to Josh’s parentage. Once he’d found out just how willing Nicole was to share her body with anyone, he hadn’t touched her. He wouldn’t sleep in the same bed with her and allowed her to go about living her life the way she wanted because he didn’t know what else to do at the time. His only rule had been that she not
leave
the house until after the children were in bed. At least until he’d found out that she was pregnant with Josh. Then he hadn’t let her out of his sight. The last thing that he’d wanted was for a child to be harmed whether it was his or not. Luckily, Josh had turned out to be his son, and he cherished him. He cherished all of his children. Kayla reached out and touched his hand bringing him out of his thoughts.

“I am sorry to hear that, but I’m nothing like Nicole.”

James looked up in alarm and total horror. He realized that was exactly what he’d implied, and he was ashamed. “I know that, and if I have insinuated that then I really do apologize. You could never be anything like her. Nicole lacked the intelligence and class that you have. It was just too late before I realized it.”

She looked at him with an expression full of hesitance. “I am glad that you realize that, and I accept your apology. Just make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

He brought his hand up to cup her cheek. “It won’t happen again. You are too kind and deserve better than that.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

He dropped his hand. “I don’t know if I can make it up to you because what I did was really stupid, but I hope that you will let me try.”

The corners of her mouth tilted upward. “I’m not the one that you need to make it up to.”

At his look of puzzlement, she continued. “You need to make it up to yourself. I am sure that I don’t have the whole story, but hopefully you will tell me one day.”

He returned her smile. She was better at reading his eyes than he expected. Then again, he shouldn’t be. Kayla was a very intelligent woman. He simply nodded, confirming her statement.

“I will because you deserve to know it, but it won’t be now. This is not really the time or place.”

She gave him a look of understanding. “Well, until you do, try not to beat yourself up too
much,
or me while you are at it.”

He laughed. “I will work on that.”

She gave him a warning look. “I’d like that, because if it does happen again, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

He leaned closer to her. “It won’t. I like you.”

She chuckled. “Well, I would hope so. I hate to think that I invested all of this time for no reason.”

He grinned. “Well I don’t want to keep you over since you don’t get paid overtime, but I would still love to see you again on Saturday. That is if you have time.”

She studied him for a several moments,
then
exhaled softly. “That sounds good, and thank you for coming by to apologize. Now I can reserve all of my curse words that I had laid out for you until a later time.”

That statement made him laugh again. “You know I really do like your sense of humor.”

She stood up. “It is my pleasure. We all need a little laughter.”

He stood up. “You are right. What else do people need in their life?”

She shrugged, her expression becoming indecisive. “Whatever else that person wants.”

He stepped closer to her. “And what is it that you want?”

She shivered as she looked up at him. He looked at her intently because he really did expect an answer. She disappointed him when she gave a simple but complex one.

“To be happy.”

He smiled. “And are you happy?”

She paused briefly before responding. “For the most part I am.”

“What part of you is not happy?”

She sighed.
“The part of me that wants a wonderful man to spend the rest of my life with.”

One corner of his mouth curved upward. “Do you have any prospective candidates?”

She nodded slowly.
“Only one.”

He tried to taper the hope that surged through him. “And who would that be?”

She answered without hesitation.
“You.”

He knew that he should be running in the opposite direction at that statement, but for some reason he was excited to hear that. This was the first time that he’d thought about getting serious with another woman. The fact that it was her made the idea a whole lot more appealing. He truly had been hurt when Nicole had gone off and began having affairs. Kayla was nothing like Nicole, and he was starting to realize that she was a woman that he could look forward to spending the rest of his life with. He couldn’t help but to grin at the thought.

“What are you smiling about?”

The expression on his face became lethal, and he felt her shiver. “The fact that every time I am around you, that I am tempted to kiss you senseless.”

She chuckled as she stepped closer to him. Her eyes told him that a kiss from him would be more than welcome. “Well, feel free to do so anytime.”

That was all of the affirmation he needed. He pulled her into his arms and loved the feel of her against him. Lowering his head, he captured her mouth passionately. He swept his tongue in a search of her mouth, and she wilted against him. The thin material of her blouse allowed him to feel her nipples harden as soon as her chest touched his. His hands came down and cupped her bottom as she moaned. He brought her into his growing erection, and she in turn arched her body into his willingly.

His erection became one that was full and throbbing. He lifted her up into his arms and carried her over to her desk. The knee-length skirt was the perfect length for what he had in mind. Her breath caught in her throat as he stepped between her legs. His erection strained against the confines of his pants. He bit back a moan as her hands gripped the hard muscles of his arms. He countered her move by bringing his hands up and cupped a breast in each hand. The feel of her body was producing sensations in him that he had never imagined. Her breasts were heavy in his palms. He groaned as she arched against him. The feel of her against him—in his arms was almost too much. She stiffened against him, pulling her mouth away from his, and he had the perfect excuse to turn his attention to her neck. She trembled in his arms again calling his name.