by Gigi Thorne
Hot For My Teacher
A Teacher & Student Romance
Gigi Thorne
Copyright © 2018 by Gigi Thorne
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover by Mayhem Cover Creations
Contents
1. Kara
2. Jackson
3. Kara
4. Jackson
5. Kara
6. Jackson
7. Kara
8. Jackson
9. Kara
10. Kara
Epilogue
Who is Gigi
Also by Gigi
1
Kara
“Cart three on the Ghost Chase needs a rescue at zone seven,” Rick, the midway night manager says over my walkie-talkie.
Unclipping the bulky device from the waistband of my tan colored yoga pants, I bring the mic close to my lips. “I’m a minute out,” I answer. “Be there shortly.”
Taking a shortcut behind the Zombie Snatcher, I enter the Ghost Chase from the blacked-out service door closest to location seven. Before my eyes can adjust to the darkness, I hear the hysterical cries and my chest tightens. The little boy sounds just like him. It’s times like these that I wish my parents had sold their chain of amusement parks with adjoining motels around our state, and gone into a different business. Every little boy’s cries remind me of Aiden. Every panicked child sends me into panic mode, and I can’t turn off the desperate need to make sure this little boy is okay.
But all the saving in the world won’t bring Aiden back.
Swallowing hard, I push down the thought, and flip on the zone seven switch just in time to see a little boy no older than four or five standing in his cart.
“Try not to move,” I shout, moving quickly beside the metal track that guides each cart separately through the glow-in-the-dark kids’ ride.
Somehow, the little boy figured out how to undo his seatbelt and lift the safety bar holding him and the girl around his age sitting beside him. He has one leg dangling precariously over the side of the cart, ready to make the three-foot jump to the floor. The height is not what puts him in danger. It’s the fact that depending on where he lands, he can fall or become wedged between the tracks, possibly injuring a finger, a limb or worse. Thankfully, the ride has an emergency stop safety feature that’s triggered when anyone in the cart removes their seatbelt.
“I want to get out!” the little boy cries, his deafening screams bouncing off the narrow walls as I make my way to get closer. “Let me out now!”
“Sit down, Nathan,” the girl beside him shouts, her voice matching his volume. She tugs at the back of his t-shirt. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“Hush up, Sofia. I don’t want to sit down!” he answers her, his voice slightly weaker. “I want Mommy.”
“The ride is almost over, Nathan. It’ll be okay, kids,” I hear the deep, calm, masculine voice rumble behind them. My head turns as I follow the sound, and when my eyes land on his piercing green eyes, all the air is sucked out of my lungs.
I have no idea why.
In my job here at one of the busiest amusement parks in the city, I see thousands of men of all ages. There’s no logic as to why this one man catches my eye, but he does, and for a long, distracted moment, I can’t look away.
I should be a lot more professional than I am right now, taking him in from head to toe as I stand a few feet from the little boy and girl that I assume are his.
The fluorescent track lighting overheard shines down on his thick dark head of hair, casting shadows down his face and sharp jawline to his unbelievably broad shoulders. The man exudes alpha maleness. He’s walking masculinity. Well, sitting at the moment. He’s all alpha male, yet his features have a calmness to them, or maybe it's the patience in his tone as he tries to coax his little boy back into the cart. I can tell he's really tall too, from the way he sits with his knees askew from having folded himself into the boxcart. It's made to comfortably fit two medium-sized adults, but his shoulders take up almost all the width, and his legs can only go in sideways. That's devotion, I say to myself. He must be so protective of his kids, not letting them out of his sight, not even for a six-minute indoor ride. But then again, I can't blame him when his son is in a panic, crying for his mother.
Heat spreads out from between my upper thighs as I look at the rest of what I can see of his body. He's ripped. His chest and torso strain the fabric of his plaid button-down shirt, hinting at every line and ridge of all those muscles. My eyes trail back up to his face, and he gives me a crooked smile. This time, when our eyes meet, I discover that just as I had a moment to take a good look at him, he’s doing the same, with me. Heat rises to my cheeks as his gaze drags slowly down my face and body, his eyes seeming to darken. They inch past my collarbone, pausing at my breasts, then jump to my waist, my hips and back up to my eyes. I’m sure my face turns a deeper shade of pink in reaction to his appraisal, which is when I snap back to my reason for being here.
“Hello. I’m Kara,” I tell the little boy. “Is your name Nathan?”
He nods but doesn’t stop stretching one leg down the side of the cart as he struggles to get out by himself.
"I need you to lift your leg back into the cart," I say to him. “Can you do that for me?”
Nathan shakes his head and points back where the carts came from. “I want to get out. I don’t like it in here.”
“The ride is so close to the end, Nathan. Really close.” I motion over at the only red flashing light ahead of us. “See that light? That’s where the ride ends. After that, you’ll be back outside.”
“Please let me out, Miss Kara,” he begs so softly, and his two hands reach out toward me. I can’t ignore his adorable plea for my help. The ride has been held up for several minutes and must have at least a few livid passengers in the carts behind, so I get the urgency.
Glancing over at the striking face of his father—at least, I think it’s his father—I see him nod his okay. I take his son into my arms. Little Nathan clings to my side, his small arms around my neck, his legs tight around my waist, his blonde head of wavy hair buried in one side of my jet black ponytail hairdo. His whimpers and cries soon stop.
“Can you stay buckled up?” I ask the girl that was in the cart with him.
“Yes. I’m a good girl,” she answers, nodding her head so sharply that some of her long blonde locks fall into her face. She pushes her hair away from her light hazel eyes. “Not like my baby brother, Nathan.”
“Thank you,” I tell her, and quickly look back at the man again, ignoring the nervous flip my stomach continues to make. “Sir, I’ll be right outside the exit with your son, okay?”
“My nephew. And yes, that’s fine,” he answers, and that half-smile appears again.
I disable the emergency stop and switch off the zone light in a haze, and watch the carts jerk into its lazy motion along the rail behind him. Taking a breath, I retrace my steps to the service door with Nathan cleaved to me. He’s so calm as we wait. My mind transports me back to a time when I would hold my younger brother, Aiden this way. He was slightly older than this boy when the universe took him from us. For a moment, pain clenches my chest again, as though it only happened yesterday.
“You smell good,” Nathan mutters sleepily into my hair. “Like my mommy.”
“Um, thanks,” I answer. “Is your mom here at the amusement park with you?”
“No…Uh-uh.” He points upward. “She’s in heaven.”
I don’t have a response to
that. The ache in my chest rises to my throat from his answer. Seeing someone so small forced to face a loss so immense and all-consuming, warms me up to him instantly.
After a few minutes, I catch sight of Nathan’s big, broad, handsome uncle with Sofia in tow.
“Thanks for helping him back there,” sexy uncle says to me and holds his arms out to take Nathan when he’s close.
“No problem at all,” I answer.
His fingertips lightly touch my forearm as he lifts Nathan from my arms. I get all the butterflies. My skin tingles. And the pulsing at the top of my thighs catches me off guard. I press my legs together, hoping it’ll stop soon.
But it doesn’t.
Nathan has different plans for me. When he’s almost in his uncle’s arms, he tucks his left leg back to my waist, and his left arm curls around my neck. Using all the force his legs and arms can muster, he tenses his limbs and pulls his uncle and me into a kid’s version of a group hug. Neither of us adults moves to close our side of the embrace, and thank goodness for that. This close to his sexy uncle, my arms go limp, and I’m pretty sure every exposed square inch of my skin turns red from embarrassment. Or from the heat of being in such close proximity to the man who got my motor running with just one look. I can’t tell if it’s one or the other. Or both.
“All right, Nathan,” his uncle chuckles deep. “That’s enough for now. Let’s say goodbye to the nice lady so she can go back to her job.”
“Bye, Miss Kara,” Nathan says, sounding more tuckered out by the minute.
“Enjoy your shift, Kara,” sexy uncle tells me with a polite nod.
“You too.” I watch him walk away with his niece and nephew, and they merge into the dense evening crowd.
Too bad I didn’t ask for his name. Not knowing what it is, I’m left longing for the first time ever.
My disarming stranger is still on my mind at the end of my shift. I walk back to my place, the home I’ve lived in with my parents since it was the four of us. Aiden made four. I quickly try to push the thought away, but tonight, it’s so hard. Holding that little boy in my arms brought it all back.
On my way around the side of the motel we own next to the midway, I look up at the sound of the large, loud, outdated ice machine that motel guests use. I hear myself gasp under my breath when my eyes land on him.
It’s him again.
Sexy uncle green eyes.
There he is, a handful of feet ahead of me.
I notice him on the walkway before he realizes I’m watching. He leans against that pillar near the ice machine, looking a lot taller than I expected, and naturally rugged in only a white t-shirt, dark shorts, and loafers. And there are no nieces or nephews in sight. Under this light, the faint stubble on his jaw gives him an edge I didn’t notice before. I didn’t think he could be more handsome, but he damn well is.
“Kara,” he calls my name the second his eyes land on me, and I freeze.
It’s not fair. He already has a slight advantage over me, just from knowing my name. I want to know his, but my throat goes dry, and my mind goes blank. I couldn’t string together a proper sentence right now if I tried.
“Thanks again for helping Nathan out,” he murmurs. “You have a real gift with kids.”
“I… it was nothing,” I stammer out, staring up into his face. “I work here.”
“Yes, the uniform kind of gave that away. And the nametag.”
His smile disarms me yet again. All I can do is nod, and my hand nervously flies up into one of my ponytails, twisting the end.
“Kara… lovely name.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, and barely have the presence of mind to ask for his. “And you are?”
“It’s Jackson,” he answers, extending his arm from his spot against the pole for a handshake. “Good to meet you.”
I meet his handshake, and his large, warm hand envelops mine. “Same here,” I answer. I try really hard to ignore the tremor of nervousness in my voice and the electricity that rockets through me when our fingertips touch.
“I didn’t realize the staff has to live on the premises.”
“They don’t.”
“You’re not staff?”
“No… yes. My parents run the park. I live in that house over there.”
He looks off in the distance toward the only single-family structure on the property, tucked away a few hundred yards from the motel. “Very nice,” he says, then turns to face me again. “Will they have a problem if I ask their daughter out for a drink or dinner as my show of thanks? Away from here, of course. Somewhere with a dress code.”
“Probably,” I answer, feeling more comfortable with him all of a sudden. “But that’s never stopped me before. Full disclosure…I’m eighteen. A meal might be a safer bet, in case I get carded by a bartender.”
He studies me again, looking down into my face with those piercing eyes. “Is that a yes?”
Nothing like this has happened to me before. Sure, A couple of the male staff and a few of the amusement park patrons have tried to make a move on me. The difference this time, well, it’s me. I didn’t find them interesting or attractive. I’ve also never felt my body react to anyone. I don’t know if I should run far away or give in to my undeniable attraction to him. But as he steps closer and smooths out some stray strands of my hair behind my ear, I know that if I stand here a second longer, my ability to choose will slip away, and I’ll be left with only one answer.
To give in to whatever this is.
2
Jackson
The second I saw her, I knew I was in trouble.
Then I heard her say her name in a tone as sweet and slow as molasses.
Kara.
When my nephew, Nathan leaned into her arms, I was sure she had to be different.
But when he pulled us into that group hug, drawing me close enough to touch her, to smell the citrusy sweetness of her shampoo, to feel her skin brush against mine, to hear her breath hitch, I was done for.
He hasn’t let anyone outside our family get close enough to touch him, let alone carry him. Not since my sister Tanya died suddenly. She took a piece of each of us when she passed away. Her husband, Sam is a wreck. Her kids are still coming to terms, still working their way to accepting the loss. As for me, I’m numb. It’s only been six weeks.
The only reason I’ve kept it together is for her kids, and to pick up the slack until my brother-in-law is more himself. There’s no indication on how long that’ll be, but I can only hope it’ll be soon. Next month, we’ll both be back in the classroom teaching History to our mostly disinterested high school seniors. Sam and I went to teacher’s college at the same time. He and my sister had been dating since high school, and got married shortly after graduation. Tania had Sofia right after Sam landed his first job here in our hometown. I was working in a contract teaching position two counties over until the end of last semester. Come next month, I’ll start teaching at a high school nearby. The small bungalow house I bought a few blocks away will be ready to move in by then too. I can look in on Sam and the kids a few times a week. Tanya would’ve wanted that.
And now, meeting Kara is a bonus.
She is exquisite. Beautiful, young, and perky, with kindness in her eyes that can’t be faked. I drink her in again, admiring her pale, porcelain skin, hair so dark and silky it shines under any shade of light, and riveting deep blue eyes. From her face, my eyes travel down to the undone button of her polo shirt. It’s not hard to picture what’s underneath. The rise of her full breasts. The imprint of her nipples that makes my cock hard in no time. The way her sides taper into her tiny waist, then flares out to perfectly wide hips. And those legs. It’s like she was made for me to hold onto, built for fucking, her body begging to be claimed.
She’s standing a few feet away from me, so close to my motel room, so close to my bed. My dick twitches in my pants, signaling its agreement.
I want her.
As I lean against the cool side of the ice machine, I want
to drag her into my room and watch her slowly undress just for me. I want to shove her onto my bed, and get between those long, shapely legs. My fingertips are tingling already, eager to grip her little waist as I sink balls deep into her. I just met this sweet girl, and I’m craving her like my next meal. She’s ripe for devouring. Perfect for me. It’s been a while since I let myself indulge in such thoughts. Even longer since I’ve been with a woman. Although, Kara is young. At eighteen, she’s around the age of the students I teach. I’m not much older, but the age difference holds some significance for me. But Kara seems different. She has this air of maturity about her. I should stay the hell away from this girl, but it’s already too late. It was too late when Nathan pulled this girl into my atmosphere. It was hopelessly inevitable the second after our eyes landed on each other. I didn’t just like what I saw, I craved her. And in her eyes, I saw the same thing reflected. She’s attracted to me. It’s crystal clear. Undeniable.
“What do you prefer?” I ask her again. She’s already agreed to dinner because just as she explained, going out for drinks might not be possible at her age. Though, drinks don’t have to be entirely off the table. There’s always the minifridge in my room. I made a point of stocking it with beer, wine, and whiskey to take the edge off.
Kara’s head tilts to one side, and her eyes flash up at mine. “Drinks, dinner…I’m fine with either.”
“Can we be honest with each other?” I ask, lifting a brow.
“I haven’t lied to you about anything. What do you mean?”
I step closer. “I don’t believe either of us would survive sitting across from each other for as long as it takes for a decent chef to whip up our meals. Do you?”