Right With Me: A With Me In Seattle Universe Novel

by Stacey Lewis

  Kids start filing into the room a few minutes later and I freeze. Literally, all I can do is stand here and stare at them all as they make their way to the desks with their names on them.

  Can I really do this? I’m not sure. I was confident about this before I saw all the kids, but now that it’s real, I’m actually going to be teaching kids, I’m panicking. Who gave me permission to shape young kids' minds? They were wrong.

  Mitchell’s daughter is one of the last girls to walk into the room and she runs right over to throw her arms around my waist. I instinctively hug her back, enjoying the feel of her warm body against mine as I take a couple of calming breaths.

  “Hey, Ms. Lucas,” she shrieks, voice shrill enough to shatter glass. “Look! This is my new outfit,” she pulls the hem of her dress to show me, “and I got a new backpack too.” Turning, she shows me the colorful bag on her shoulders.

  I run my hand down her hair, smoothing the wild brown strands. “Very pretty. I love your dress.” My agreement makes her smile get impossibly wide. Before I can tell her to take her seat, she turns her head and sees Sophie sitting at her own desk and shrieks her name too. She runs over to her and they start comparing each other’s bags but take their seats when the bell sounds.

  My first day goes by entirely too fast, and before I realize it, it’s already time for the kids to pack up to go home. They’ve got so many papers to take with them and I don’t envy the parents a bit for the cramps they’re going to have in their hands later.

  After dropping off the bus riders, I lead the rest of the class to the front of the school where the car pick up line starts and wait with them to meet up with their parents.

  I walk each student over to their cars and greet the parents quickly before they drive away. When it’s Sophie’s turn, Stacey is the one in the driver’s seat and she’s grinning when I open the door.

  “Hey Sophie,” she greets her daughter as she gets into the car. “How was your day?” Sophie immediately starts telling her about her friends and all the books she’s found on the shelves in my room. I had to pry her away from them when it was time to go home. If she was allowed, I think Sophie might sleep here just to be close to them.

  Once Sophie’s settled into the back seat, her attention turns briefly to me. “Hey Hailey, how was she today?”

  “She was great,” I assure her. “I’m going to love having Sophie in my class this year. She’s going to be a great help when it comes to picking out books for our class to read.”

  Stacey beams at her daughter before turning her attention back to me. “That’s great. I know she’s excited to be in your class, especially since she has Evie to play with too.”

  Evie’s standing beside me making faces through the glass at Sophie and giggling when she returns them. Stacey’s face is soft as she watches her daughter and it warms my heart to see a parent look at their child that way. So many kids don’t have that, and I’m so glad Sophie does.

  After waving goodbye, we go through the next few cars, and then a familiar truck pulls up. Evie gets so excited when she sees her dad, she starts to vibrate. Me on the other hand, I’m shaking, but not from excitement. I have to shove my hands in the pockets of my dress—and who doesn’t love a dress with pockets? —to keep my anxiety from being noticeable.

  Ignoring him is difficult, especially when he reaches across to open the door for Evie to climb in. I watch as she pauses on the console to give her dad a hug and a kiss before continuing into the back seat. As soon as his attention isn’t focused on her, it turns right to me.

  “Well hello, Ms. Lucas.” His eyes look my body up and down, and I can feel the blush popping up on my skin. Bright red with a pale yellow dress isn’t a good look for anyone, trust me.

  I’m not sure why him saying my name with such formality affects me this way, but god, it’s way more attractive than it should be. I have to clear my throat in order to greet him back. “Hi.” I consider saying “Mr. Anderson,” but that just makes me feel silly, so I don’t.

  “I like your dress.” The grin on his face makes me blush harder, but I manage to thank him in spite of it. Words are hard when you’re as embarrassed and out of sorts as I am right now. “How was the first day?”

  Finally, his focus is more on his daughter than on me. “You should ask Evie, not me.” I give him a little smile to take the sting out of my words, but he’s completely oblivious.

  “Oh, believe me, I’ll be hearing about her day all evening.” I was wrong to think he was concentrating more on his daughter, and that should irritate me to no end, but I’m enjoying the attention way too much. “Right now, I want to hear about yours.”

  We stare at each other, him waiting to hear and me struggling not to engage with him until a horn honks a couple of cars back from his. A stormy look fills his face, but before he can unleash the temper I can tell he has, I take a step away, putting more distance between me and his truck. “Now’s not a good time.”

  The look he gives me says this isn’t over, but he doesn’t have much of a choice. I can’t stand here in the car line and carry on a conversation with him, no matter how much I want to. Deliberately, I turn my attention to Evie who’s watching us in the back seat and give her a small wave and a smile. “See you tomorrow, Evie.”

  Even though I know I shouldn’t, I look back at Mitchell and the smoldering look he’s giving me makes me shiver. “Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Anderson.” His eyes fill with an emotion I can’t decipher, but he nods slightly, accepting the loss of whatever game he’s trying to play with me.

  “See you later, Hailey.”

  Gah… I love the way he says my name.

  After all the car riders from my class are gone, I head back into the building so I can get my stuff together and get home to see Connor. That’s the only thing I don’t like about going to work. I’m so used to being with Connor every day and loved being a stay-at-home mom when Seth and I were still married, but I also know I’m going to love teaching. Just today has shown me that. Plus, he’s loving what he calls “school” too, so I’m just going to count it all as a blessing. Things could be so much worse.

  Picking Connor up doesn’t take long. He’s more than ready to go home after playing at daycare all day. The only fight we have when we walk into the apartment is what he’s going to eat for dinner. The only thing he ever wants is chicken nuggets and fries, while I’d like to eat something a little healthier. Unfortunately, we compromise—he has chicken nuggets…I put together a salad from the limited offerings in the fridge.

  Once he’s bathed and in bed, I settle down on the couch with a very large glass of wine and the series I’m currently binge-watching. There’s a lot of angst, and some very sexy vampires and I’m really enjoying it. In fact, I’m so engrossed in what’s happening on the screen I let out a short scream when there’s a knock at my door.

  Who on earth would be showing up here at almost ten at night? Walking warily over to the door, I sneak a look through the peephole and almost scream again.

  Mitchell? What is he doing here? I step away from the door, debating on whether or not I should answer it, and he knocks a second time. If I don’t answer, he might start knocking louder and that could wake up my son.

  I hurry to open the door and gasp when I see him. The peephole did not do him justice. He’s wearing a pair of gray sweatpants—help me Jesus—and a black Anderson Automotive t-shirt that is stretched taut across his broad shoulders and muscled chest. Even the sleeves are struggling to contain his biceps.

  Crossing his arms over said chest, he looks down at me and I start to fidget when his eyes darken. I look down at myself too and wince when I remember what I’m wearing. My dress was cute, but Connor tends to be a messy eater and both of us end up wearing about as much as he gets in his mouth sometimes. I changed into a tank top and shorts when we got home, and that tank top is still damp from his bath. White tank top plus water equals almost see-through, even if there’s a built-in bra inside it.


  My hair is also up in a messy bun now with pieces hanging down in my face and on my neck thanks to the wrangling I had to do to get him in and out of the tub. He loves it when he’s in there, but Connor definitely does not like to give up playing time to get clean.

  “Hey,” I finally manage to say, crossing my arms over my chest in a futile attempt to keep him from seeing my nipples which are standing at attention now that he’s in front of me.

  The word barely leaves my lips when he lunges forward to grab me, pushing me into my apartment and somehow managing to close the door behind us before his mouth slams down on mine.

  All I can do is hold on. Mitchell completely takes over when his mouth touches mine. His arms wrap around my waist, pulling me into the hard warmth of his body as his tongue demands entrance to my mouth. I’m helpless to resist him, and the first touch of his tongue to mine has a moan escaping my lips. He swallows it with his kiss and my knees buckle as his tongue strokes mine.

  Kissing a man with a beard is a new experience for me. Seth was always clean-shaven, even a little anal about it. He didn’t like scruff and would shave first thing in the morning and again right before bed. It was a little nuts.

  Mitchell and his beard though? It’s a strange experience. The hair is scratchy, but soft at the same time. It rubs against the sensitive skin on my face and adds another dimension to the kiss.

  Our mouths move together like we’ve been kissing forever. There’s no clashing of teeth or both tilting our heads in the same direction. It’s kind of magical the way we come together.

  My arms reach up to wrap around his shoulders, and that’s what breaks his concentration on our kiss. Before I know what’s happening, he’s released me and is now standing a foot or more away from me.

  What just happened?

  “Fuck.” Mitchell is staring at me like he’s never seen me before and though my heart was just pounding because of our kiss, now it’s pounding due to the regret I can see in his eyes and I brace myself for what I’m sure is about to be his rejection. “I didn’t come here for that.”

  His words cause pain to splinter through my chest and I flinch. Mitchell takes a step forward but freezes when I take a step back. Meeting his eyes is hard, but I force myself to do it anyway. I’m not about to cower away from him when he’s about to break my already shattered heart.

  How does he have that kind of power over me already?

  It shouldn’t be possible. We barely know each other, but knowing he regrets what might be the best kiss I’ve ever had hurts something deep inside me and I snap.

  “Don’t.” His mouth opens like he wants to say something, but I don’t let him. “Just leave.”

  Instead of doing what I ask, he comes for me anyway, and even though I want to run from him, my body refuses to move this time. His hands come up to cup my jaw and he forces my eyes to stay on his. “No. I’m not going to walk away or let you walk away this time. You think I regret what happened, that kissing you wasn’t the highest point in my year thus far. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

  I feel like I should protest, but his words are so sincere I can’t even form the words to do it. The highest point in his year. Did he really just say that? Those words make me free like I’m floating, but I quickly come down to reality.

  “What did you mean then? How many other ways can you mean it when you say you didn’t come here for that?”

  His eyes narrow in either frustration or aggravation… maybe a combination of the two. “It means I didn’t come here to attack you, to force a kiss on you.”

  “You didn’t do any of those things.” His words have me so confused. Clearly, he didn’t see that kiss the same way I did, something that’s proven when he makes a disbelieving sound in reaction to what I say. Wanting to make him understand, I’m the one cupping his cheeks with my hands and forcing his attention to stay on me. “Mitchell, you did not attack me. Honestly, that was the best kiss I think I’ve ever had. I loved that you wanted to kiss me so much you couldn’t control yourself.”

  This time he smiles. Maybe what I’m saying is getting through to him. “Best kiss you ever had, huh?” Ugh. Smug is way too good a look on him. I narrow my eyes to glare at him, refusing to say the words a second time. Once was plenty for his ego.

  His arms slide down my back until they’re resting at the top of my butt and we stand in the middle of my living room holding each other until reality intrudes in the form of Connor crying.

  Chapter 15

  Mitchell

  Her son’s crying breaks us apart and Hailey looks up at me, conflicted. “I need… I need to go see what’s wrong with Connor. I’m sorry.” Her shoulders slump, and I know she’s telling me I need to go, but I’m not ready to do that yet, so I just nod, watching as she hurries down the short hallway away from me.

  While she’s murmuring to Connor and calming his cries, I walk around her small apartment, studying the pictures on the wall and the little accents that tell a lot about who she is.

  The wall is covered with pictures of Connor, from a picture of her holding him just after his birth while looking both exhausted and radiant, to a picture of her with what must be her parents and by the similar coloring, her brother. She’s smiling brightly in all the pictures she’s in, but there is a definite dimming to it in the photos that are obviously the newest ones.

  It makes me wonder exactly what her ex has done to her, and what he’s still doing to her. Based on what she told me before, he must’ve cheated on her, and that makes me feel like an ass because I know she thinks I was going to use her to cheat on my now ex-wife. I have to figure out how to make her understand that until I met her, I had no interest in any type of relationship with another person. Helping me cheat on my wife isn’t something I would ever ask of her… or anyone else for that matter.

  Listening to her singing quietly to Connor has me feeling like I’m intruding, but I can’t leave until I make her understand. I’m not sure how I’ll do that, but if there’s ever going to be any hope of us moving on together, I have to.

  It doesn’t take very long for Connor to settle, and Hailey is soon coming back down the hallway towards me, freezing when she sees me standing in front of the many photos on her wall.

  “I thought you left,” she says quietly, clasping her hands in front of her body like she’s not totally sure what to do with herself.

  As much as I want to go to her, I stay where I’m standing and give her the chance to come to me. If I go to her, this relationship—or whatever it is—is going to move to her bedroom long before she’s ready. And that thought has me needing to adjust my pants. Wearing gray sweats around a girl who turns you on as much as Hailey does me is never a good idea.

  When I don’t immediately explain myself, Hailey tilts her head to one side and studies me for a minute before going into her kitchen. I’m helpless to do anything but follow because I don’t know what’s going through her head.

  Stretching high enough to lift the hem of her tank top to show a small strip of skin, she reaches into one of the upper cabinets and pulls down two wine glasses. After setting them on the counter, she goes to the fridge and grabs a bottle of wine and lifts it for my approval.

  At my nod, she pours us both a glass and I grab them before she can, then follow her into the living room and take a seat on the couch beside her. She takes one glass from me and gulps some of the liquid down like she’s hoping it will give her courage.

  “So,” she finally starts, looking down at the glass in her hands and avoiding me as much as she can, “if you didn’t come here to kiss me, why did you come?”

  I want her to look at me, but I don’t want to force the issue. The whole reason she’s avoiding my eyes is to protect herself and I get it. Now that I’ve got the chance to explain myself, to tell her exactly how I feel, the words are escaping me.

  Hailey’s waiting for me to speak, to tell her what’s going on in my head, but I don’t know how to start. Needing to say s
omething, I blurt out the first thing that comes into my head. “You make it impossible for me to think rationally.” As soon as I say it, I regret it because Hailey closes in on herself. “Shit. That’s not what I meant.”

  “What did you mean then?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper of sound.

  I fun a hand through my messy hair and try to think of how to explain it to her. “When I’m around you, my brain just stops working. All I can think about is touching you, the way your hair smells, the way you feel against me.”

  Her face softens, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Now I’m finally getting somewhere. “I came over here tonight to find out about your day. Hailey, I find myself wanting to know everything about you. I want to know what you’re thinking and why, how you feel about things, what your opinions are. Being around you is intoxicating.”

  The smile she gives me lights up the entire room along with every corner of my soul. “Oh Mitchell,” she sighs. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has said to me in a long time.” Her smile falls as she thinks of something and she doesn’t make me wait to find out what it is. “But I’m your daughter’s teacher. We can’t have this type of relationship. It’s not right, or fair to the other kids in my class.”

  “I don’t think the kids in your class will care who you’re dating, Hailey.” She’s crazy if she thinks I’m going to give her up now that I’ve found her again. That’s not going to happen, no matter how much her being my daughter’s teacher upsets people. I don’t think it will though, as long as we aren’t flaunting the relationship during school hours, which wouldn’t happen anyway.

  She huffs out an aggravated breath and I grin, loving that I’m getting to her. “It’s not the kids I’m worried about, Mitchell, and you know it. It’s the parents.” Biting down on her lip, she thinks about what she wants to say next and I wait impatiently, wanting to hear what excuses she has for why we can’t be together so I can dispute them. “This is my first year teaching. I can’t risk my career just because you’ve decided we should be together.”