Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
And then, he smirked.
It was ridiculous how that tiny, pathetic excuse for a smile made my heart triple its pace, but it did. I felt like I was thirteen again, reading a blowjob scene from a Wattpad story under my covers well after Mom and Grandma were asleep, instead of sitting at a table full of dads and their kids.
Everything this man did now had my skin tingling, my blood pumping faster, my toes curling in my shoes. He dripped with sex appeal even when he didn’t try to, and it was becoming a real issue for his new nanny who was trying very hard not to drool over him.
“You’re amazing.”
I blinked. “Um… what?”
Will gestured one large hand to the classroom, like it was obvious. I took that precise moment to take in how hilariously bizarre this beast of a man looked folded into a little kid’s chair.
“I’ve never seen you in your element,” he said. “I mean, not since those first days of school when I was walking Ava in.” He paused, his brows inching together. “You really do love this job, don’t you. You love these kids.”
Neither one of those statements were questions, though he posed them as so.
“I do,” I breathed on a smile, looking around the room. I tucked my hair behind my ear again on habit before internally cursing and shoving my hands back in my lap. “These kids, they’re so young, so innocent. They’re discovering the world for the first time. They’re honest — sometimes brutally so,” I added on a laugh. “But they’re also heartbreakingly kind and gentle. They’re raw, like putty waiting for a strong hand to shape them. I like thinking that maybe I can plant some seeds that will grow as they do. I like the thought that some of their best qualities could be molded right here in this classroom.”
I laughed a little at myself, hiding my blush as I looked down at my hands in my lap.
“And at the very least, I like knowing that for the hours they’re here with me, they can feel safe. And loved. And free to be themselves.”
Will was quiet for so long I wasn’t sure I wanted to look at him, for fear I’d see him looking at me like I was insane.
Instead, it was awe I found in his gaze when I met it. Genuine, unfiltered wonder.
“Oh, stop looking at me like that,” I said on a laugh, shoving playfully at his shoulder — which didn’t so much as budge an inch. “You act like it’s not you who is the amazing one to watch at work. I’m just a teacher — one in a billion. But you are a professional hockey player. A goalie. Literally one in, what, thirty?” I shook my head. “I’m nothing in comparison.”
That made his scowl deepen, his jaw hard as stone. “You are far from nothing, Chloe. You…”
I hung on that word, on what would come after it, but as if he thought better of what he was about to say, he never finished.
Instead, he shook his head and took a large drink of his water before looking at me again — this time, with somewhat of a cocky smirk and a playfulness in my eyes.
“I didn’t realize you watched me so closely at the arena,” he said. “Had I known, I would have shown off a bit more.”
I snorted. “Please — like you don’t know what you look like when you’re doing all those… those…” I waved my hand. “Hip thrust things.”
He cocked a brow.
“You know, the warm-up humps.” My face flushed, and I looked around to make sure no one was listening to us. “You look like you’re deflowering the ice, and there’s no way you don’t know that. There’s no way you don’t see all those phones recording you during that particular part of the warm up.”
The corner of his mouth climbed. “Did you just say deflowering? What, are we in the seventeenth century?”
I narrowed my gaze at him, fighting back my smile. “There are little ears around.”
“For the record, I didn’t realize,” he said. “But now that I know, I’ll make sure to go nice and slow through those stretches. Since they’re your favorite.”
He winked at me, and I was surprised I didn’t fall backward right off that tiny chair my ass was far too large for.
Was Will Perry flirting with me?
There was a pause between us before his eyes widened like he’d just had the same thought, and he quickly scowled and stood, abruptly announcing that he was going to use the restroom.
When he came back, the event was ending, and he left with a kiss to Ava’s cheek and not a single word to me.
I spent the rest of the day in a haze, not sure if I was teaching my sugar-powered kids anything of use or if I was just mumbling incoherent thoughts at the front of the class.