“Why not?”
“She’s a teacher.” Dominic was probably his best buddy, in Chicago at least, and even he didn’t know about the trauma inflicted on him by teachers. “I don’t date teachers. Don’t want anything to do with teachers.”
Teaching was a noble profession. He couldn’t judge all teachers the same. Just because a few teachers had made his life hell didn’t mean they were all like that. Hell, he should thank Ms Wong. If it wasn’t for her, he probably wouldn’t be where he was.
“Huh.” Dominic shot him a mystified glance. “She’s kinda cute. What difference does it make if she’s a teacher?”
“Never mind. Not going there. Let’s go get some food.”
But he couldn’t get the sexy little teacher out of his head for the next week, until he was back at Abraham Lincoln Middle School a week later, sitting in her classroom with a bunch of grade six kids.
He watched Remi with another group as he sat in a corner of her classroom. He seemed unable to drag his eyes away from her, and his concentration kept drifting off into images of her naked, his hands on her…dammit. He had a hard enough time paying attention without a major hot distraction like her.
He should just ask her out again. He’d wanted to. He’d planned to call her. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
And yet, the intimidation factor was high. Teachers were smart. Bossy. Know-it-alls. Teachers made him feel like a speck of dirt on the ice.
Why he kept thinking about Remi, he’d never know. She was clearly unimpressed with the fact that he played a game for a living. He’d caught that comment about how surprised she was that he was involved in the reading program. She probably thought he didn’t even know how to read.
A familiar knife twisted in his gut at that thought. He had to get over all that old crap.
Dammit. A teacher.
She laughed at something one of the kids said and at that moment looked up. Their eyes locked on each other across the room. His heart knocked in his chest.
He tore his gaze away from her, sucked in air and tried to focus on the kids he was supposed to be paying attention to. Christ, she’d really think he was illiterate if he couldn’t even read a short story with the kids and she’d really think he was stupid if he couldn’t focus long enough to put a few sentences together about what they’d read.
“I cried when Travis had to shoot Old Yeller,” Lindsay confessed. Two boys groaned.
“Hey,” Jason said. “I cried too. He loved that dog. Don’t you think that was a tough choice he had to make?”
Again, he caught Remi’s eyes on him and had to refocus.
As the session drew to a close, Remi retreated to her desk and began tidying up. Jason found his jacket and slid his arms into the sleeves, taking his time, picking up some books and placing them on a table, until the kids were gone and he and Remi were alone.
She looked up at him, her pretty face expressionless, as he approached the desk, a book clasped in his hands.
“Is this what we’re reading for next week?” he asked.
She nodded, lifting an eyebrow. “Yes.”
His face heated. She knew he’d already told her students that. He felt like one of those kids, a kid with a crush on a classmate, practically scuffing his feet on the floor as he hung around on a pretext.
“So, I…uh…” Jesus, she had turned him into a stammering idiot. Why did teachers have that effect on him? He drew in a long slow breath, and forced a smile. She was just a woman. A hot, sexy woman, one he’d already in fact had in bed. Nothing to be afraid of.
He was terrified.
“I’ll…uh…see you next week,” he said and booked it out of there.
Helping kids with reading, being back in school in the classroom, creating hopefully positive experiences for other kids had seemed like an excellent way for him to deal with his own crappy past and the other years he’d done this Stars for Reading program had been great. But this year…why was he getting all screwed up again?
So he’d nailed a teacher. She was just a woman. It didn’t matter if she thought he was big and dumb. It didn’t matter what she thought at all.
Remi watched Jason with the kids. This was now the third week he’d been there in her class and the kids seemed to love him, but she was starting to have doubts about his ability to keep them focused. Seeing as he could barely keep himself focused.
He kept staring off into space or, even worse, staring at her, dammit, and Jessie Doherty had to ask him the same question twice, then twitch his shirt sleeve before he seemed to hear her. “Sorry,” he said to her with a smile, but it wasn’t long before he’d done it again. He rubbed his face, glanced over at Remi, and when he saw her watching, a dark flush stained his cheeks and he frowned at the book in his hands.
With a sigh, she moved over to the group and took control of the discussion about The Chronicles of Narnia, earning a scowl from Jason that tightened her insides. Well, she couldn’t worry about him, she needed to make sure the kids were getting something from this.
Two kids hung around after class, Ryan and Jessie.
Ryan started talking about hockey, while Jessie stood there smiling worshipfully up at Jason.
“You ever come to any Wolves games?” Jason asked Ryan.
“No,” he said glumly. “My mom says tickets are too expensive.”
Jason’s smile disappeared. “Yeah. I guess they are pretty expensive.”
“Well, I guess I better go,” Ryan said.
When he’d gone, Jessie looked up at him. “Are you married?” she asked.
He grinned. “Nope.”
She nodded and gave a smile that looked way too mature for a twelve-year-old. “When’s your next game?”
“Friday night,” he answered, folding his arms across his wide chest. “You like hockey?”
“I love hockey,” she said breathlessly.
Remi sighed. The pre-teen clearly had a huge crush on Jason.
“Cool,” Jason said.
Jessie made no move to leave.
“Jason.” Remi spoke up. “I need a word with you before you go.”
Jessie dragged her feet out of the classroom with a wistful wave at Jason.
Jason turned to face Remi and her stomach went fluttery. His expression turned wooden. “Yes, ma’am, what is it?” he asked.
Remi glared at him. “You know, if you’re not into this anymore, we can probably find someone else.”
“Do you know how many people are in Ryan’s family?”
She blinked at the completely unrelated question. “Um…why?” She frowned at him.
“Just curious.”
“He has a brother, I taught him two years ago. And his mom, she’s a single parent.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“So as I was saying…”
“You don’t need to find someone else,” he said. “I’m still into it.”
“Well, it didn’t seem like it,” she snapped back. “You kept drifting off somewhere. You weren’t even paying attention.”
He stared back at her, his mouth tight, eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Ma’am.”
“Why are you calling me that?” she demanded. She set her hands on her hips. “It sounds ridiculous.”
“You’re the teacher, right? You’re in charge.”
“I’m not…” She blew out a breath. What was with him? “Okay, we all have days where we have a lot on our minds. I’m sure that’s what was happening today for you. But you have to be able to hold the kids’ attention.”
“I know that.”
They stared at each other, the air crackling between them.
“This was supposed to be fun,” he muttered.
Her lips parted. Fun? Oh yeah, sure. Fun. His main goal in life.
Oh, why was she thinking like such a stick in the mud? Of course it was supposed to be fun. What better way for kids to learn than by having fun? “I’m sorry if you’re not enjoying it,” she said stiffly.