Chapter 2

M aggie Hughes looked at the tablet as each child in her class climbed onto the bus. She checked each name and smiled at the kids, who were all wearing bright yellow shirts that they'd decorated in art class earlier in the week. The shirts were all the same color so the kids could be easily identified as part of the group.

She'd been subbing for the first grade class for a few weeks, after getting called in by the school district when their regular teacher had a family emergency and needed time off.

This was Maggie's last day subbing for the class. She was bummed because she really enjoyed teaching kids, but she was also looking forward to her next adventure. There weren't many subs in her district, so she was sure she'd have another job soon enough, and if she didn't, she could always go work at her parents' plant nursery, which was super busy in the height of spring planting.

She clicked the last kid on her list of fifteen and turned to the bus driver.

"That's all for my class, Kevin."

"All right," he said with a nod.

She climbed onto the bus and sat behind the driver. The other teacher, Jenny, had been the other first grade class teacher for two decades, and she didn't look nearly as ecstatic about a trip to the Amazing Adventures Safari Park as Maggie was.

"Let's roll out," Kevin said cheerfully.

The kids cheered.

Maggie said, "I haven't been to the park since I was a kid."

"This is the first time our school has been able to take advantage of the park's school tours. I took my kids when they were little," Jenny said.

The scenery blurred by as they left the school behind and headed to the park, where a private safari tour, lunch, an hour of time on the brand-new carousel, and a meet and greet with the animals in the petting zoo were on the schedule. She was most looking forward to the safari tour because she loved seeing the wild animals.

"It's going to be a great day," she said.

"Oh?" Jenny asked with a curious look.

"I can just feel it. Something good is going to happen today."

"So long as nothing bad happens, I'll call it a win."

Maggie smiled. She was a positive person by nature, even when life had been super crappy, like when she'd found out a year ago that her boyfriend had been cheating on her for nearly the entire time they'd been together. She might not be the most trusting person in the world, thanks to her philandering ex, but she'd been determined not to let that affect the rest of her life.

Somewhere out there was a guy she could trust.

Heck, maybe she'd find him at the park!

She chuckled to herself. That was a little too positive, even for her.

But she was sure it was going to be a great day. The kids were excited, and she was going to fully enjoy the last day she got to spend with them before their regular teacher came back.

The bus let them off at the gate, where two women met them and handed out badges on lanyards for the kids that labeled them as Very Important Visitors. Maggie and Jenny, along with two other parent volunteers, were given lanyards as well.

The first woman, who identified herself as Rhomi, said, "Okay, kids! We're going to start off our tour at the petting zoo, and then you'll get to see a private show at the bird pavilion by our bird handlers, Auden and Jess. Are you ready?"

The kids cheered.

The other woman, Lucy, smiled and said, "Let's go!"

Maggie followed, keeping an eye on her class and their yellow shirts to ensure no one wandered off.

They spent forty-five minutes at the petting zoo, where the kids asked questions of the workers, Tarquin and Lucy, as well as the park's resident vet, Cael. Maggie got to feed a baby pygmy goat, which was the very cutest thing she'd ever seen in her life, and then she noticed one of the lambs was trying to eat her jacket.

"You stinker," she said as she gently pushed the lamb's head away from her jacket before it bit a hole in it.

They moved on to Angel's Sanctuary for Birds, where there was an aviary hospital as well as the pavilion. The kids enjoyed a private show with the birds, which called the park home because they weren't able to be released into the wild.

After a tour of the aviary hospital, they headed to lunch at a sectioned-off group of picnic tables. Several park workers gave each kid a tray with a burger and fries. The adults all got the burger of the day—a bacon cheeseburger with the most amazing bacon jam smothered over the top.

"I can't wait for the ice cream later," Maggie said as she marveled at how amazing the food was.

"Oh my gosh, me too," Jenny said. "I'd have come here ages ago if I knew the food was so amazing!"

Something panged in her heart and Maggie wondered if she was getting heartburn.

She took her bag from next to her on the bench and looked inside to see if she could find some antacid pills.

"You okay?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, my heart is burning. I swear, now that I've turned thirty-seven, everything gives me heartburn."

"If you don't have any, I do."

As quickly as the burning feeling started, it went away. She lifted her head and found herself staring at the most handsome man she'd ever seen in her life.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, and so muscular it looked like the shirt he was wearing was going to fall apart at the seams. Dark blond hair was shaved on the sides and cut short on top.

She realized she was staring at him, but he was staring at her too.

One of the men who'd brought their food to them walked over to the handsome man and talked to him.

But handsome-guy didn't take his eyes off Maggie for one second.

"You okay?" Jenny asked.

Maggie blinked a few times, her eyes stinging because she'd been staring at him without blinking. She tore her eyes away from the guy and looked at the other teacher. "Yeah, sorry. Did you say something?"

"I asked if you wanted an antacid." Jenny rattled a pink bottle.

"No, actually. It passed."

It was weird, though. One minute her heart burned like she'd eaten a taco with too much pico de gallo on it, and the next she felt perfectly fine, albeit a little warm. Probably because she was blushing from staring at the guy too long.

A shadow came over her, and she looked over her shoulder to find herself staring at the midsection of the handsome guy. She tilted her head up and saw he was looking down at her with a smile.

His eyes were storm-gray, and his smile was even better up close.

And holy hells bells, he smelled good.

Like fresh-cut grass and sweet spring air.

"Hello." His voice was deep, what she imagined honey would sound like if it could talk.

"Hi." Her voice squeaked. Loudly. She cleared her throat as her cheeks went hot from blush. "Hi," she tried again, this time without the squeak.

"I'm Alistair, one of the animal handlers at the park."

She wiggled from the bench and stood. He was a foot taller than her, and even bigger up close than she had imagined. Her fingers actually itched to trace the line of his biceps.

"I'm Maggie, one of the teachers."

He extended his hand, and when she took it, electricity zinged up her arm and straight to her heart. She sucked in a quick breath.

He inhaled deeply and she swore his eyes went gold for a moment, but she must be imagining things.

"Can I speak to you a moment?" he asked.

"Of course." She dropped her napkin on her nearly empty tray and followed him just a few feet away.

"I wanted to introduce myself because I'm going to escort you and the kids to the safari tour."

"That's great," she said. "The kids are really excited. We spent the week learning about the animals on the tour, so you might have some kids trying to test you on your knowledge."

"I'll do my best," he said with a smile.

Her knees went weak. Like honest-to-goodness weak.

She'd never reacted like this to being around a guy before, but she was definitely attracted to him.

Well, that was an understatement.

She was more than attracted, she wanted to run away with him and start a life somewhere, where all they did was sex each other up all day and night.

She needed to get a handle on herself or she was liable to say something really embarrassing.

Are you free tonight?

Would you mind taking off your clothes?

She forced herself to stop that train of thought. She was responsible for the kids and she couldn't let herself get distracted, no matter how good-looking Alistair was.

"We'll be ready to go soon," she said.

"I'll be waiting."

He nodded at her and moved away to stand with the women who'd been taking them around the park.

Sitting back next to Jenny, she picked up the remains of her burger, her hands trembling.

"He's cute," Jenny whispered. "What did he want?"

"To introduce himself. He's going to take us on the safari tour."

"I think he wanted to introduce himself to you ," Jenny said.

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't introduce himself to me or the other adults, just you."

She realized Jenny was right, but she didn't know what to do about it.

"Ask him out."

"What?" she whispered. "I've never done that in my life."

"You've never asked a guy out? Really?"

She shrugged. "I haven't had many boyfriends. And I haven't really dated since my last boyfriend either. I'm out of practice."

"It's like riding a bike." Jenny winked. "Dating, anyway. When we're done with the safari tour, slip him your number. You said it was going to be a good day, right?"

"I did. But I say that every day."

"Well, today you meant it and you turned out to be a little bit of a prophet too. You'll regret it if you walk away without at least getting his number. Trust me. Sometimes you only get one chance for something like that."

Determination filling her, Maggie nodded.

Maybe she was a little bit prophetic when she said it was going to be a good day.

Maybe the good day was going to be because of Alistair.