Page 55 of Learn Your Lesson

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 duringthatparticular part of the warm up.”

The corner of his mouth climbed. “Did you just saydeflowering? 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 Perryflirtingwith 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.

But eventually, the day was over, the kids were picked up, and Ava and I were tidying the classroom. She loved when I gave her something to do, and currently, she was meticulously wiping down each table with Lysol wipes while humming along to a Mia Love album she’d begged me to put on the speaker.

I, on the other hand, was staring blankly at my laptop screen with my heart thundering in my chest.

I was officially out of my element, and I needed help.

But as a woman whose closest friends were her mother and grandmother — who decidedly wouldnotbe good confidants for this particular subject — I had to get a little creative.

Fortunately for me, there was a wonderful little corner of the interwebs calledReddit.

And right there in my classroom under a vague username and with a little courage from a glazed donut, I posted my first thread.

Help: I’m falling for my boss.

• • •

Ava and I arrived home to a surprise in the form of Maven and Livia in the kitchen with Chef Patel.

Ava ran full-speed at them, hugging each and spouting on animatedly about our day — especially the Donuts with Dad event. I watched with a tired smile as the three adult women tried to keep up.

Eventually, Ava was out of breath, and I ruffled her hair before Arushi was setting her up with a snack at the dining table. I told her she could have twenty minutes of screen time — this strange girl could never get enough of hockey highlights on YouTube — and once she was set up with the iPad, I sank into one of the empty barstools at the kitchen island.

“And how’s our favorite teacher?” Maven asked with a smile that told me she already knew.

I laid my head on my arms with a groan. “Let’s just say any day that involves that much sugar is a tough one.”

Livia chuckled. “I don’t know how you do it. The only kid I can stand to be around is that one right there,” she said, pointing toward Ava in the next room over. “And even that has its limits.”

“What about when I have kids?” Maven asked, crossing her arms.

“Oh, I suppose I can put up with them. So long as you let me spoil them rotten.”