That was another thing. Talia’s landlord, Danny, wasn’t just a landlord. He was her ex-boyfriend. They had been college sweethearts, and Talia had honestly thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. All her life, she’d wanted children, and she and Danny had worked so hard to get pregnant together. But when it hadn’t happened in a year, they’d gone to see a fertility specialist. To Talia’s shock (and horror), Danny was found to be infertile.
“Ms. Roberson! Ms. Roberson!” One of Talia’s students ran up to her, excitedly flapping his arms in the air. “I drew you a picture!”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Talia said, a little absentmindedly. “Thank you!” She crouched down to her student’s height and looked over the drawing. “Are these…bears?”
“Yeah!” The boy grinned. “Mom and me went to a wildlife preserve over the weekend! And we saw bears!”
Talia laughed politely behind a hand. “I think you mean a reserve,” she said softly. “preserves are like jam, what you put on toast.”
“Toast bears!” The boy laughed and ran back to his desk.
Talia stood up. Her head was beginning to ache, and something deep down inside her told her that this was going to be an unusually long Monday. She’d stayed up all night worrying about her situation.
When they’d found out that Danny wouldn’t be able to make Talia pregnant, Talia had been devastated. Danny wanted a second opinion, and a third, and a fourth, and Talia didn’t want to be the one to point out that the first doctor was probably right. They went to see other doctors, anyway, and they all had the same result: no biological children for Danny.
Talia was at a loss. She’d never expected to have this problem, and she felt like her time was beginning to run out. Even though she was only twenty-one, her own mother had experienced fertility problems later in life. Talia knew that if she wanted to have more than one child, she’d have to start immediately.
One weekend, when Danny was out of town, Talia went to a sperm bank. She spent hours poring over the profiles, and eventually selected sperm from an engineer with a master’s degree in astrophysics. I want great things for you, Talia had said to her lower belly, closing her eyes and wishing hard. I’ll do anything to make sure you succeed.
“Ms. Roberson!” One of the kids yelled, startling Talia out of her reverie. “Ms. Roberson, it’s reading time!” The rest of the kids cheered as Talia made her way to the front of the class. Each morning, she began with ‘reading time’ – ten or fifteen minutes of reading aloud from a chapter book. The kids loved it; this week the book was Swiss Family Robinson.
Suddenly, Talia heard the high-pitched whine of an alarm. Her breath choked in her throat as she gazed wildly around the classroom. No! Talia thought in a panic. We’re not having a drill today! I didn’t know anything about a drill today!
“In your special positions, class,” Talia called, struggling to be heard over the whine of the alarm. Some of her students were clearly terrified, with wide open eyes and their hands shoved in their mouths. To her relief, the more alert students got down on their hands and knees, crawling under their desks. Talia had to run around the room, helping the rest to their “places.” Secretly, Talia hated these drills. They didn’t do anything but make her students panic, and it was doubly hard to get the class back on track after they ended.
“And you just had to do this first thing in the morning,” Talia grumbled under her breath as she took her place towards the back of the classroom by the door. The alarm was still ringing a klaxon shriek and she winced as her head began to throb. Surveying the classroom, she tried to keep her eyes on all of the kids at once. To her immense relief, they were all taking the drill seriously: each one of them was curled up in the fetal position, and no one was goofing off.
From where Talia was standing, she could see that the lights in the hallways had been turned off. Fear and panic rose in her throat; that wasn’t normal protocol. Normal protocol called for the alarm to be disabled after only two minutes, and then a pulse would sound. That pulse was the teachers’ cue that all had returned to normal.
But the alarm was still sounding, and Talia was sure that it had been over two minutes. A sound was coming from the hall, a booming sound, almost like a tiny earthquake. Talia’s heart thudded in her chest. It almost sounded like – no! It couldn’t be! Talia was aware than she’d begun to shake, but she looked out over her class and forced a wide smile on her pretty face.
“It’s all right class,” Talia whispered loudly, cupping her hands around her mouth. “This will be over soon. I promise!”
Just then, Talia saw a flash of something in her peripheral vision. Before she had time to react, the door to the classroom swung open. The children all shrieked in unison, and Talia screamed, a loud, guttural sound. The intruder looked like a giant – he was a man with large hands, an incredibly tall stature, and eyes that almost looked like they were glowing in the semi dark.
“Help!” Talia screamed loudly. “Help! There’s someone in my classroom!” She took a frantic step backwards, her heel catching on the rug behind her desk. Talia almost tripped and fell but managed to stumble forwards, catching herself on the doorknob. Finally, her glance landed on a glassed-in case on the wall.
Bingo! Talia leapt across the room, faster than she’d ever run. Balling her hand into a fist, she slammed it against the case, shattering the glass. Her hand was bleeding and cut but she barely felt any pain. Reaching inside, she grabbed the fire extinguisher and wielded it in front of her like a weapon.
“Wait,” the intruder said loudly. He stepped towards Talia with a serious look on his face. “I just want to-“
There was a loud crack as Talia swung the fire hydrant over the man’s head and knocked him out. He crumpled gracefully to the floor. Blood was pounding in Talia’s ears and for a horrible moment, she felt like she was about to pass out. The wretched alarm finally stopped, and a crowd of police and school administrators rushed down the hallway, looks of panic written on their faces.
Talia stood with her lips in a small ‘o’ of surprise. When the crowd of police arrived at the door, she was still standing there, clutching the fire hydrant like a life raft.
“Ma’am,” one of the cops said, stepping forward and putting his hand on Talia’s elbow. “What happened here?”
“Ms. Roberson saved our lives!” One of Talia’s kids leapt up from the floor and mimed Talia swinging with the fire hydrant. “She’s awesome!”
Talia smiled weakly. “This was the only thing I could think of,” she said softly, dropping the hydrant on the ground. It fell with a dull clunk. Talia blushed bright red.
As the other cops were busy handcuffing the intruder and leading him out of the building, Talia’s adrenaline rush was slowly beginning to fade. For a few moments, she’d felt like a superhero. She couldn’t believe that she’d been able to think so quickly on her feet! It was like nothing she’d ever done before. Sometimes, Talia had nursed doubts about whether or not she’d be able to keep her kids safe in the event of an emergency. But now she knew better: she had done an amazing job.
“Sir,” Talia said to the police officer, clearing her throat. “If I may ask….what exactly happened? How did that man get in the building?”
She’d barely had a chance to look at him as they led him out of her classroom in cuffs. They had made eye contact for the briefest of seconds and Talia had been shocked to find herself captivated by the stranger’s golden-brown eyes. They had made her feel different, almost like her insides were melting. Talia shivered.
“Ma’am,” the cop said, leaning heavily on the desk. He was a large man, and it was obvious that the quick run down the school hallway had strained him. “We have no idea. The administrative assistant said that he came in, asking to see you. When she went to look in your file, you know, to see if he was a registered visitor, he slipped out of the office. Then she called the police to report an intruder, and well, here we are.” He gave her a folksy smile. “I
take it you don’t know this man?”
Talia shook her head nervously. She twisted her long brown braid in one hand. “No,” she stammered. “I’ve never seen him before.” She frowned at the police officer. “He was really looking for me?”
The cop nodded. “Maybe he had the wrong name,” he said with a shrug. “We’re gonna check him out, and if there’s nothing on record, we’ll have to let him go this afternoon.”
Talia nodded. Her feeling of anxiety and uncertainty was returning, stronger than ever. “I get that,” she said softly.
“You keep that fire hydrant handy, you hear me?” The cop winked at her and Talia blushed.
“Sure,” she muttered as the cops and administrators trickled out of her office. “Thank you.” To her surprise, she was already starting to feel slightly guilty for whacking the intruder over the head.
--
The rest of the morning felt like a wash after what had happened. Talia’s kids were being unusually unruly – they couldn’t stop leaping up from their chairs and pretending to whack each other over the heads.
“Don’t do that at home,” Talia cautioned, her tone full of anxiety. The last thing she needed was angry phone calls from parents, accusing her of exposing their precious children to violence.
By the time she left the building and headed towards the parking lot, she was a wreck. To her shock and horror, she saw the same man who had barged into her classroom prowling around the parking lot. He’d make a circle, pause, then do something that almost looked like sniffing the air. Fear trickled down Talia’s spine in an icy chill, but she knew that she had to get home as soon as she could. I’ll just walk to my car and get in, and then just drive away if he’s bothering me, she decided. I can always call the cops when I’m on the way home. I just have to get to my car, I just have to get to my car…
“Hey,” the man said loudly. Talia was attempting to scurry past him, but the deep sound of his voice made her jump. “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier,” he said in a rush.
Talia stared. She slowly backed away as sweat began beading on her pale forehead. “It’s fine,” she stammered. “I’m just going to go now,” she said in the same kind of voice you’d use on an angry dog. “I’m just going to get in my car and leave,” she added.
“Don’t go yet, please?” The man held up his hands in a gesture of goodwill. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Talia was suddenly captivated by how handsome he was. He was tall and muscular, with close-cropped brown hair and golden-brown eyes. His tan skin made him look like he spent a lot of time outdoors, and there was a playful twinkle in his eyes. Talia felt the same unnerving slipperiness in her lower belly that she’d felt earlier.
Stop that, Talia ordered her body. You don’t know this guy! He could be anyone! He could be a serial killer, for chrissakes!
Talia took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to smile. “I really have to get home. I have a son, at home, and the sitter gets angry with me when I’m late.” She paused and blushed. “I’m sorry that I hit you, by the way,” she added. “I really hope I didn’t do too much damage.”
The man grinned lazily and knocked a fist against the side of his head. “I’m pretty solid,” he said generously. “And besides, you had to protect your kids. I get that, you know, those protective urges.” He cracked another smile and Talia was horrified to find herself reciprocating. “I would have done the same thing.”
Talia bit her lip. She knew that she should leave, but she couldn’t. There was something about the man’s eyes that was captivating her, making her feel rooted to the spot.
“I’m Alec, by the way,” the man said. He reached out with one of his giant hands. Talia hesitated, but reached out her own. She gasped when Alec touched her – his hand was so large that it practically dwarfed her own.
“I’m Talia,” Talia said. Alec squeezed her hand firmly and Talia felt a pleasant, warm shiver down her spine.
“I’d say nice to meet you, but…” Alec trailed off. “I think our first encounter was probably not all that nice.”
Talia blushed bright red. “It’s fine,” she said softly.
“Talia,” Alec said in a low, husky voice. Talia found herself captivated. She couldn’t stop staring at Alec’s wide, sensual mouth. “Talia, would you do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner?”
“What?” Talia gaped. “I mean,” she said, blushing. “I’m sorry. You want to go on a date? With me?”
Alec looked around, pretending to scrutinize the rest of the parking lot. “Well, as I see it, you’re the only woman here,” he said in a deep, humorous voice. “So yeah, I guess I am asking you on a date.”
“Okay,” Talia said before she could even think about it. “Yes. I’ll go with you to dinner.”
Chapter Two
The whole drive home, Talia’s mind was spinning. She couldn’t stop thinking about everything: her son, James, Danny, now Alec and the crazy day she’d had….it was enough to make her feel like she needed to lie down.
Talia was relieved to see the babysitter and James sitting together on the front lawn. The sitter, Amelia, got to her feet as soon as Talia’s small car pulled into the driveway. She ran over with a twisted grimace on her face.
“He’s doing it again,” she said quickly, before Talia had even climbed out of the car. “He’s chewing on the table legs.”
Talia frowned. “Didn’t the sour spray work?”
Amelia shook her head. “No,” she said. “I sprayed it on, but it was like he didn’t even notice. He crawled over there and just started chewing!” She looked disgusted. “I don’t know what to do anymore, Talia. Your kid is just nuts!”
Talia walked over to where James was sitting on the grass and scooped him up, gasping a little at her son’s weight. Even though he was slightly less than two years old, he weighed as much as an older child. He was bigger, too – strangers regularly asked Talia where he went to pre-school, or even kindergarten.
“There’s nothing wrong with him,” Talia said defensively. She gazed into James’s golden-brown eyes. He looked like he was in a good mood; his eyes were crinkled up at the corners. “He’s just bored, that’s all. Kids do weird things when they’re bored.”
“I never chewed on wood when I was a kid,” Amelia said in a snotty voice. She kicked at the asphalt driveway with the toe of her sneaker. “You really need to do something about him, Talia. He’s out of control.”
Talia rolled her eyes. “He’s fine,” she snapped. “All of the doctors have agreed.”
Amelia blushed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Talia nodded. “Amelia, would you be willing to stay late for an extra fifty dollars? I have….a meeting,” she lied. “I should be home by ten or so.”
Amelia frowned. “A meeting that goes until ten?”
“We always go out for dinner afterwards,” Talia ad-libbed. For some reason, she didn’t feel quite like disclosing about her date. Even though Amelia was young, Talia had the feeling she’d be judgmental about a single mom dating with such a young kid at home.
“Ah,” Amelia said. Talia couldn’t tell whether or not her lie had been convincing. “Sure,” she said. “Thanks.”
When Amelia left, Talia carried James inside. He seemed content to sit on the kitchen floor and bang against pots and pans. Talia perched on the counter and watched him. She hated to admit it, but part of her felt that Amelia was right about something. James had always seemed a little different, not bad, just….off, somehow. He was incredibly hairy for a toddler – he’d come out of the womb with a full head of hair, and now it was shaggy and long. Plus, he loved chewing on wood, and he had surprising strength for a child of his age.
Owen (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 2) Page 9