Chapter 4

4

LAYLA

A s I stood on the sidewalk helping my students into their parents’ cars on the last day of school, I experienced a weird mixture of emotions. Although I was happy to have navigated my first year as a teacher without any major issues and looking forward to a relaxing summer, I was also sad to be losing my favorite students to their first-grade teacher next year.

Like Timmy, who held my hand after the rest of his classmates had been picked up. His mother was late. Again . On the last freaking day of school.

“I’m sure your mom will be here soon,” I reassured him with a forced smile.

He scuffed the toe of his shoe against the sidewalk, looking unconvinced. “Uh-huh.”

I ruffled his hair before reaching into my pocket to pull out a sucker. I didn’t use candy to motivate my students during class—I had a desk drawer full of stickers, bookmarks, and fun pencils for that. But I’d found that giving them a special treat tended to lighten the sting of disappointment in situations like this.

“Isn’t green your favorite color?” I asked, showing him the piece of candy. “What a coincidence!”

Timmy’s frown curved into a smile as he stared up at me. “Can I have it?”

“Definitely,” I confirmed as I gave him the sucker.

I’d become more emotionally attached to my students than I’d expected, especially the ones who didn’t have the best home life. I had a feeling that not seeing them every day would be a difficult adjustment, but I knew from student teaching that I needed the time to recharge so I was ready for the following year.

The low rumble of an engine pulled me out of my thoughts, and my breath caught in my throat when I looked up and spotted a man on a motorcycle pulling into the parking lot. It was a rare sight during student pick-up, and something about him made me think of the biker who’d flirted with me at Luther’s graduation. When he pulled into a front-row parking spot and tugged off his helmet, I knew why. The guy was Roman.

And he headed straight for me as soon as he got off his motorcycle.

Holy cow!

“Whoa! Who is that?” Melissa, one of the other kindergarten teachers, whispered.

“I don’t know, but for the first time ever, I’m thrilled that one of my parents is running late.” Stacy flicked her hair over her shoulder and tugged on the hem of her shirt so it showed off her boobs more. I wasn’t one to listen to gossip, but I’d heard plenty about the pretty first-grade teacher who was rumored to hit on her students’ fathers on a regular basis.

The possibility of her flirting with Roman bothered me more than it should when I didn’t have any claim on the man. Especially when I’d have to see it all go down. With her blond hair, blue eyes, hourglass figure, and clothes that pushed the school’s dress code to its limits, she was probably more Roman’s type than I was.

My hand tightened around Timmy’s as the sexy biker approached, and the boy looked up at me with narrowed eyes. Then his gaze darted toward Roman, and his little chest puffed out. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from giggling at his adorable attempt to look bigger next to the man who towered over both of us.

Roman ignored Stacy’s attempts to get his attention. Instead, he turned his back toward her as he lifted his chin at me and murmured, “Hey, Layla.”

“Umm…hi.” My brows drew together as I stared up at him. “What’re you doing here? Do you have a child in school?” My heart squeezed at the thought of Roman having a baby with another woman. Which was ridiculous since I had no claim on him and the likelihood that he would want to have a baby with me was basically zero.

He shook his head and muttered something that sounded like, “Not yet,” but I was sure I’d misheard him.

“I was hoping to catch you before you left.” He flashed me a sexy grin that had my inner thighs clenching. “You didn’t give me your number, so I had to track you down somehow.”

Timmy muttered, “Why?”

I wanted to hug the curious boy for asking the question that was on my mind, but I was too busy glaring at Stacy for her hissed, “I don’t get it. Why in the world would someone as hot as him want Layla’s number, let alone take the time to find her? She’s so…”

Melissa elbowed Stacy in the side with a whispered, “Shh, there are still students here.”

“Whatever.” Stacy rolled her eyes. “Like I really care when I’m not even coming back next year. I got a job at Henderson Academy, which is so much better than this place. As soon as my classroom is cleaned up, I’m out of here for good.”

I had a feeling she wasn’t talking about the higher pay and benefits at the private school, but instead the bank accounts of the men who sent their children there. My nose wrinkled as I pressed my lips together to stop myself from saying something that I would regret.

“So damn cute,” Roman murmured, his gaze locked on my face.

“Miss Holmes.” Timmy tugged on my hand, dragging my attention away from Roman. “We’re not s'posed to talk to strangers. Remember? You taught us dat.”

I smiled down at the boy. “I don’t know him very well, but Roman isn’t a stranger. We’ve met once before.”

“Oh.” He slipped his sucker back in his mouth.

“I’m hoping to make up for lost time since it’s already been a week.”

“Make up for lost time?” Stacy echoed with a screech. “The guy is in a freaking MC, and she’s a boring kindergarten teacher. Seriously, what does he want with her?”

Melissa slapped her palm over the other teacher’s mouth and dragged her away. I was just about to apologize for her behavior when Timmy echoed her last words. “What do you want with my teacher?”

There was no missing the thread of possessiveness in Timmy’s voice as he glared up at Roman.

“Well,” the sexy biker crouched so he was eye-to-eye with my student, “I was hoping I could talk her into going to dinner with me tonight.”

“What kinda dinner?” Timmy asked.

“Anything she wants,” Roman replied, tilting his head back to flash me a panty-melting grin. “Something you should know for when you’re older…you only have one chance at a first date. So you gotta do it right if you want to impress your girl.”

“Eww, girls are gross.” Timmy looked up at me. “But not you, Miss Holmes. You’re awesome.”

Roman chuckled as he straightened. “Gotta agree with you on that, little man.”

Timmy’s mom’s car finally pulled up next to us. As I led him over to the rear passenger door, he turned to look at Roman again before nodding. “She likes cheese pizza da best.”

As Timmy’s mom’s car pulled away, Roman and I were the last two people standing on the sidewalk. He moved closer and murmured, “I was hoping to take you somewhere that would impress you, but if pizza is your favorite food, I’m down for that instead.”

His confidence and good humor only made him more attractive, but I had a feeling that if I gave him an inch, he’d take a mile. Just like my most precocious students. “I don’t remember accepting your invitation. Or you even asking me, for that matter.”

Roman grinned at me. “Now that I’ve got the kid’s okay, will you go out with me?”

“For dinner? Tonight?”

He nodded. “No time like the present.”

I glanced down at my outfit with a grimace. Since the last day of school was hectic, the dress code was lifted and I’d worn jeans and a cute purple sweatshirt with tennis shoes—albeit really awesome ones that were pink and glittery with flowers embroidered to look like they were growing up from the soles, and silky, pale green ribbons for the laces. “I’m not exactly dressed for a date.”

“Trust me, beautiful. You’ll outshine everyone else at the restaurant, no matter where we go or what you’re wearing.” He twirled a lock of my hair around his finger. “That’s why that catty chick was so bitchy about you. Pure jealousy because you’re everything she’s not.”

I pressed my lips together and shuffled my feet. “I’m pretty sure you’re wrong about that since she’s gorgeous.”

His eyes darkened to a deeper shade of brown as he shifted his finger to press against the underside of my chin so I couldn’t escape his gaze as he muttered, “Which one of us has a dick?”

“You,” I sputtered with a laugh.

“Which means I’m the one who knows that you make me hard as a fucking rock without even trying.” He dropped his hand down to adjust himself, and there was no denying he was telling the truth based on the bulge in his jeans. “But she could’ve stripped completely naked, and I wouldn’t have even noticed.”

His statement was more blunt than romantic, but it still had butterflies swarming in my belly. “You seem to have an answer for everything.”

“If that’s what it takes to get you to come to dinner with me tonight…damn straight, I do.” He flashed me a sexy grin. “Did it work?”

“If you really meant it when you said you’re down for pizza, yeah.” Before he could tug me toward his motorcycle, I added, “But I need to go inside and grab my purse, and I’m going to drive myself since my car is here.”

“Deal.”