Page 15

By the time he finishes checking things out, the Colorado sun has long since set. The cool evening breeze is a welcome reprieve from the unforgiving sun in the Mile High City. Crickets chirp in the quiet neighborhood and only stop to let the sound of the occasional engine passing by taunt me.

“I’m not a mechanic, but for at least tonight, I can jump your car and that should get you home,” he says, and I can’t help it, I damn near knock him over with how hard I hug him.

“Oh my god.” I tighten my arms around him, not caring one bit if this is inappropriate or not. I get to go home, and I didn’t even have to pay for a mechanic, tow truck, or Uber. “Thank you so much!”

Who needs a knight in shining armor when you can have a DILF in a well-tailored suit with basic car knowledge? Armor and a horse aren’t going to do shit for me; from here on out, I’ll take a man working under my hood any day of the week.

“You didn’t let me finish,” he says, and even though this doesn’t bode well for me, it’s almost impossible to refrain from shouting that’s what she said in the dark, empty parking lot. “I can jump your car and it will get you home, but it’s very likely that you’ll have this problem in the morning.”

Drat. I knew it was too good to be true.

“Okay, so what do you suggest I do?”

At this point, I’ll do whatever he says if it means I get to go home sooner than later, but I can tell that my lack of sarcasm and willingness to listen catches him off guard.

“I think we should jump your car and I’ll follow you to AutoZone. You can get a new car battery and I’ll install it for you, that way you don’t have to think about it and only need to focus on getting an oil change.”

It’s not lost on me how much work this is to do for anyone, let alone a former fling who you’re not on great terms with. “You’d do that for me?”

“I’d do it for Isla,” he says matter-of-factly. “She was really nervous about school and for some reason I can only partly understand, she really loves you. If I can do something that ensures you’re at school tomorrow, I’m going to do it.”

Oh…duh.

Of course this is about Isla. Why would it be about anything else?

“Well, the kindergartners of Nester Fox Elementary thank you for your service.” The familiar burn of humiliation that only Luke seems to provide is making it hard to breathe. My forced smile falters on my face as I throw open my car door. “I’ll have to come up with something to repay you.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a very creative way to pay me back.”

The double entendre is unmistakable and my mind goes to a place I try to reserve for late nights and my bedroom. “I am very talented at payback.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second.” His quiet laughter washes over me, and I hate the way it makes my body tingle.

“But if you need ideas, I do love Isla’s handprint crafts and my new place is severely lacking art.

Or…” He pauses, and I can almost see his mind working a million miles per minute. “Never mind.”

“Oh no you don’t.” I shouldn’t care what he’s thinking, but for some absurd reason, I do. And I care a lot. “What were you going to say?”

“Nothing.” He kicks an imaginary piece of dirt on the ground. “It was stupid.”

“No way. Tell me what you were going to say or else I’ll…” Or else I’ll do what? Let him go home while I fix my own damn car? “I don’t know what I’ll do, but I promise you won’t like it.”

As far as threats go, it’s not my best work, but it’s all I have.

“You’re going to say no. We should leave, we don’t want the store to close.”

Oh. Leverage!

“Then you better hurry up and tell me so we can get going.” I lean against the car door and cross my arms across my chest. I am an unmovable force. “Plus, if you already know I’m going to say no, then what’s the worst that could happen?”

He mutters something beneath his breath, and it sounds a lot like “this is what I get for doing a good deed.” As a teacher, I can confirm, there are rewards for being a good person.

But, whenever I look at the internet, it seems the opposite is true and if I wanted anything nice in my life, I should’ve been a villain.

“Fine, but when I ask, you can only say no,” he forewarns. “You can’t yell at me.”

Omg.

Is he going to ask for sex?!

And if he did, would I yell or take a moment to deeply consider it?

“Fine, no yelling.” I agree to his terms…kind of hoping it’s about sex. “Now tell me.”

I expect him to look down, maybe even whisper as he tells me.

What I don’t expect is him looking me straight in the eyes, his deep voice not wavering as he asks me the last thing I ever expected.

“I need help with my article,” he says. “I know you said you’re happy and I’m not asking you to quit or anything. But I’d love to hear about your experiences, good and bad, with Petunia Lemon. What draws you in, any red flags you might see.”

Wait…What? There’s no way I’m hearing this right.

“You want me to be a spy?”

Welp. He was right. This was a stupid idea, and I am going to say no.

He’s lucky I take my promises seriously—and that my safety and well-being is currently resting in his very capable hands—because I might’ve screamed.

“Not exactly.” He’s so calm in the face of foolishness, and for some reason I find it as reassuring as I do infuriating.

“If I remember correctly, after you read my article, you called it a hack job. And even though that was very harsh, some of your criticism wasn’t wrong.

My article was unbalanced and too personal. Having your opinion would be helpful.”

I don’t want to think of Luke as a reasonable, thoughtful, hot person and unfortunately, the more time I spend around him, the less I hate him.

“I can’t.” I hope I sound more resolute than I feel.

“I’m glad you’re doing this, but I don’t think I should be the person you do it with.

Things are already a little complicated with me being Isla’s teacher and you know…

what happened downtown. I’m not sure it’d be a good idea to add something else. ”

“No, you’re right.” He takes a giant step away from me, like just being this close to me could cause problems. “I told you, it was a stupid idea.”

It’s like a switch goes off inside of him and the helpful, easy-going guy vanishes into thin air. His back is ramrod straight, and you don’t need to be an expert on body language to know he wants to hurry up and be finished with me.

My feet itch to follow him to the front of my car and offer to help, but I don’t.

The faster we can get this over with, the better.

I sit in my car and adjust the seat so there’s no more evidence of his long, strong body in there.

And by the time he finally gets my car to start and I follow him to the auto store, I’ve talked some sense into myself.

Whatever happened tonight was nice, but it was just two adults acting like adults.

Nothing more. We’ve had our problems with each other, but maybe after tonight we can both put our pettiness aside.

He can see me as his daughter’s teacher, and I can view him as just another parent in my class and not the jackass supreme of the universe.

Cordial adults and nothing more.

No matter how hot he is.

And on the plus side, now I don’t have to feel guilty when I lie about the oil change that I’m absolutely never going to get.