Teacher's Pet

by Amanda Heartley

  Perfect fit. Just like us.

  “Darcy, will you marry me?”

  I collapse onto the beach next to him and throw my arms around him, not even caring that my brand-new designer jeans are now getting wet and stained from the sand.

  “Yes! Oh, yes! Yes!” I gasp, sobbing like a baby, and the relief on his face is obvious.

  “Holy crap, that was so scary asking you that,” he said. “Thank God it didn’t go the other way. I was so worried you were going to say no, it was too soon for us.”

  I laugh and hug him as tight as my arms allow me.

  “Thank you,” I say, wiping my eyes. “Thank you for making this the most amazing birthday ever, and thank you for making me the happiest girl in the world.”

  He kisses me, just as the heavens open. Neither of us move until the rain begins to fall with such force, it’s soaking our clothes and running down our bodies. Laughing, we hold hands and run toward the safety of the car. All I can do is keep staring at that ring and replaying the moment he proposed, over and over in my head. It’s like a dream, and I still can’t quite believe it’s real.

  ***

  I’m on cloud nine as we drive back through the rain, talking and laughing about the build-up for him to ask me to be his wife. Glad I’m not a guy and have to do the asking. He must have been so nervous. Yes, I was going to be his wife. Holy hell! I still can’t get my head around that.

  We arrive back at my house and he parks the car in the driveway. I’m still looking at my ring, sparkling back at me even in the dismal light. I can’t wait to share our news with my parents, but now it’s my turn to be nervous as to how they’re going to take it. Imagine my surprise when Lennon casually informs me that they already know.

  “They already know?” I questioned, my eyes wide.

  He shrugged. “Well, yeah. I respect your parents, so I couldn’t ask you without asking your Dad’s permission first. Wouldn’t be right.”

  “Oh, my God, Lennon. You are such a perfect gentleman, aren’t you?” I said in a low voice. “Of course, I should have known you’d do that, and thank you for thinking about their feelings.” I felt myself welling up again at how caring and thoughtful my fiancé was. That sounded so strange in my head—my freakin’ fiancé.

  As soon as we step out of the car, my parents are there waiting and embrace us. Mom’s crying more than I am, but I’m just relieved they’re okay with all of this. I think Lennon’s parents will take longer to come around to the idea, but that’s okay. It’s not like we’re getting married next week.

  “My little girl. Getting married,” Mom sobs. I laugh, wipe my own tears away and wrap my arms around her.

  “You still have me for a little while yet,” I tease. “We only just got engaged.”

  “What, like a whole six weeks?” she replies dryly. “That time will fly by in a heartbeat.”

  Wait, what? I turn to Lennon in shock.

  “Six weeks? We’re getting married in six weeks?” I ask incredulously, positive my mom must have misunderstood.

  He winces at the question. “Um, yeah. Didn’t I mention that part?”

  “No, you seem to have left that small detail out. So, when were you going to let me in on the secret?” I said, slightly annoyed at being blindsided by this bombshell. I mean, a girl needs time, dresses, makeup, flowers, photographers. What was he thinking?

  “Oh, well, that was the other thing I needed to tell you. From our conversations about love and life, I got the impression that a big wedding wasn’t your kind of thing, so I’ve booked everything in Hawaii for mid-December.”

  “You didn’t!” I say, my eyes wide.

  “Yeah, I did. Please don’t be mad, honey. I figured with college and everything, it made sense to do it after your exams and before the rush of the Christmas break… but if that’s too soon, we can change it—”

  “No.” I cut in, my heart racing and my annoyance long forgotten. I smile, because even though the thought of everything happening so fast has my head in a spin, I don’t want to wait a second longer to be his wife than I have to. “You were pretty darn sure of yourself though, weren’t you mister?”

  “What do you mean?” he says, frowning at me.

  “Well, what if I’d said no? Seeing as you’ve already arranged everything, you could’ve been going to Hawaii alone. Ever think about that possibility, sweetheart?” I smile sweetly, cocking my head to one side and batting my eyelashes at him.

  “Oh, that scenario? Um, uh… I didn’t want to even consider that, so I took a chance. Seems it all worked out, though,” he says, grinning back at me.

  “Well, surprises are nice, and this is the best, but don’t be making decisions without me when we’re married,” I say, tapping my finger on his hard chest as a lighthearted warning. “Six weeks is fine… in fact, more than fine. It’ll be wonderful,” I say, planting kisses all over his face.

  “Now, hold on, you two. You’re not married yet,” Dad says jokingly, obviously embarrassed by my public show of affection.

  Lennon looks down at me and says, “Good, that’s settled then. Besides, most of the big, important stuff is already arranged. The rest should be a breeze.”

  “Sure,” I say, stifling a laugh. “What could possibly go wrong?”

  Chapter Two

  Darcy

  Five weeks later.

  “Now this is what I’m talking about.”

  Cindy brushes past me and rushes off the plane, taking a deep breath of fresh air before allowing the poor hostess to finally hang a lei around her neck. She turns to me, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. I groan at her enthusiasm, because she’s more excited about this than I am. You’d think it was her getting married in a week, instead of me.

  “Yay,” I mock, rolling my eyes.

  To be honest, I could skip the whole wedding and go straight to the part where we were married. I know how important it is for Lennon to do this right though, which is why I’m standing here with a smile plastered on my face, pretending I love Hawaii, three weeks before Christmas.

  “Come on, Darcy, crack a smile for me,” Cindy teases, throwing her arms around me. “How can you be stressed with all of this?” she asks, waving her arms around.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I retort. “Because I’m getting married in a week and I feel like the most disorganized person in the world?”

  “No. That would be Casey,” Cindy giggles.

  “What are you saying about me?” Casey brushes past us, her sunglasses still lowered over her eyes, probably to hide the copious amount of alcohol she’d consumed during the six-hour flight over here from LAX. “Seriously, Darcy, you’ve been here less than five minutes and you’re already bitching?” she snaps. “Dude, I owe you. You asked me to be in your wedding party, and I graciously accepted, to help you out. Even though you chose the day before my own wedding anniversary to get married. Of all the days,” she adds, shaking her head.

  “Yeah, like I planned that,” I grumble. “I thought to myself, what’s the best way I can fuck Casey’s week up?” I mutter, rolling my eyes again at Cindy, giggling uncontrollably behind her hand.

  We’d almost missed our flight because Casey had decided to leave her packing until this morning. Her job, her life with Gary, even Christmas… everything else was more important to her than my stupid little wedding. That much she’d made clear to me. I have to hand it to her, she sure knows how to make everything about her. But then I already knew that, so it serves me right for listening to my mother and including her in the wedding party in the first place. The conversation still clear in my head.

  “You can’t just ask Gary to the wedding and not her,” Mom had argued. “But think about who she’s going to sit with.”

  “It’s not like she doesn’t know anyone, Mom. She’s related to half the guest list, remember? Besides, where did I fit into her wedding?”

  “Out stealing the car with Lennon? Oh, just do it, Darcy. For me? Or I’ll never hear the end of it from
Aunt Silvie.”

  “Fine, I’ll ask her,” I’d begrudgingly agreed.

  That decision is proving to be one of the worst of my life, but I refuse to let my overdramatic cousin mess this up for me, and taking a deep breath, I smile as Cindy loops her arm through mine and we march toward the airport exit. She tries to engage Casey, who just screws up her nose and backs away, and I do my best to ignore her attitude and focus on why we’re here.

  Holy shit, I’m getting married!

  Our entire relationship dynamic has changed since I graduated from school. We’ve gone from hiding how we felt about each other to going out in public and enjoying ourselves, just like a normal couple, and I’m so proud to have him by my side.

  Nobody except Cindy, Mom, and a few of Lennon’s friends know we got together while I was still his student. Even Dad didn’t know the whole story. He knew Lennon was my teacher, but the story Mom and I fed him was that, even though we were attracted to each other while he was my teacher, it wasn’t until I’d graduated that anything happened between us. I hated hiding the truth from him, but I only did it to save breaking his heart.

  Understandably, he wasn’t thrilled, but he accepted we had deep feelings for each other that weren’t going to go away. Dad had told Lennon that he respected him for waiting until after graduation before starting anything with me, and I know that bothers Lennon a lot. He likes my mom and dad, and they like him. He invests a lot into making sure his relationship with them is strong since his relationship with his own parents doesn’t seem so good.

  ***

  Cindy flops down next to me and Casey at the bar and giggles. She’s always giggling, and to be honest, her love of life is quite infectious. I glance at her, taking in her glazed eyes and vacant expression. No sooner than we’d unpacked, she’d insisted we all go out and get drunk. I personally would’ve rather had my teeth pulled than down shot after shot in a crowed bar, but Cindy has a way of getting what she wants.

  “Remind me again why I agreed to this?” I ask with a small smile.

  “Because you’re getting married,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe not even a tiny little part of you wants to enjoy your last few nights out as a single woman. No drawbacks. You can do what you want for the last time in your life before you belong to someone else.”

  “Belong to someone else?” I repeat with a snort. I don’t even bother to point out that I haven’t been a single woman in a long time. “I’m not a used car, Cin. He’s not buying me—”

  “Good, because that car got written off a long time ago, right?” Casey pipes up, glancing up from her phone for the first time since we got there. I’d almost forgotten she came out with us, she was so detached. Hell, why did she even bother since she’d barely said a word to us since we arrived at the resort? I glower at her and she rolls her eyes. “Fine. I’ll be in my room.”

  “Which is exactly where I should be,” I say, getting to my feet. “I have so much to do tomorrow, Cin. I have to meet with the minister, go to the restaurant to work out the menu, pick up Lennon from the airport—”

  “Get ready for your bachelorette party,” Cindy chimes in.

  “Yeah, that too,” I mutter, trying not to wince.

  “Gee, sound a little less impressed, Darcy,” she says. “I’ve gone out of my way to make sure you get a night you’ll enjoy at least a little bit, so the least you can do is pretend to care.”

  “I didn’t ask you to do that,” I point out softly. “In fact, I specifically remember begging you not to throw me anything. Remember?”

  “Pfft,” she says, brushing me off. “Like you really meant that. And it’ll be fun. Trust me. Lennon is going to be out getting drunk and doing God knows what, so why can’t you? Do you really want to sit around, wondering what he’s getting up to?” She shakes her head. “You’ll be thanking me for this. You should be allowed to have some fun, too.”

  “Nobody said I’m not allowed to,” I laugh, wishing she would get it. “Well, except for the law, because we’re not twenty-one yet.” Thank God for fake ID. “I would’ve been fine if it were just you and me, a bottle of wine and a few sappy movies.”

  “Tragic,” she says with a shudder. “I’m so embarrassed to call you my friend right now.”

  I laugh, Cindy’s such a fun-loving girl and I give up on fighting an argument I know I’m not going to win. If nothing else, it will take my mind off thinking about everything that could potentially go wrong over the next week.

  Planning this wedding in six weeks has really brought out the insecure, anxious side of me. I’m glad that by the end of the week it will all be over, and we’ll be married. That is, if Cindy doesn’t kill me first.

  ***

  After a few drinks, we walk up to our rooms together with me holding onto Cindy’s arm to steady her. Along the way, I manage to catch her from falling at least a couple of times. I glance at her six-inch heels and shake my head. If you’re going to drink so much you can barely stand, at least wear sensible shoes!

  After I unlock the door to her room, I wait until she stumbles over to her bed before I close it and disappear into my own room. I peel off my clothes and lay down on the bed, unable to keep my eyes open. I let out a yawn, frustrated and pretty sure I’m still going to be awake in a few hours. I’m so tired, but I just can’t turn my brain off enough to sleep.

  In the end, I lay awake for half the night, drifting in and out of semi-consciousness. I listen to the sounds of Cindy’s snores floating though our thin adjoining wall and smile. Maybe she had the right idea to get drunk, after all.

  ***

  I arrive at the airport the next afternoon, so exhausted I nearly face plant into a badly-positioned Christmas tree. I regain my balance at the last second, steadying myself and the tree. I glance around to make sure nobody noticed. If they did, they weren’t showing it.

  Wandering over to the Arrivals lounge, I sit down and wait for Lennon. I’ve spent the entire morning with Rev. Kama, the minister, running over the ceremony, and now all I want to do is go back to my room and curl up in bed. But all that changes the moment I see Lennon. He walks toward me, his suitcase rolling behind him. My heart races as he reaches me, his free arm curling around my waist.

  “Hey, you,” he murmurs, his dark eyes twinkling. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too,” I smile. “How did it go?” I ask, referring to his job interview. That was why he’d flown in today, instead of last night with me.

  He shrugs. “I’ll find out for sure next week, but I have a good feeling about it.”

  “They’d be silly not to employ the best teacher I’ve ever met,” I murmur. I lean up and kiss him again, my lips pressing against his. He chuckles and stares at me with those big brown eyes.

  “No offence, Darcy, but they may think your opinion is a little biased.”

  “Pfft,” I say, dismissing his comment. “If I thought you were a shit teacher, I’d tell you so.”

  “Really?” he laughs. “I don’t remember you paying all that much attention in my class in the first place.”

  “I focused on what I needed to,” I grin, raising my eyebrows suggestively. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

  “You look wrecked,” Lennon says, leading me outside. “Don’t tell me you’ve been partying without me?”

  I groan. “Trust me, it was all completely against my will. How bad would it be to bail on my own bachelorette party?”

  He chuckles. “On a scale of one to ten? Fifty.”

  I groan again and bury my face in his chest. I breathe in and feel giddy. God, it’s only been two days and I’ve missed that smell so much. I’ve missed him so much. Everything about him intoxicates me. He takes my hand and entwines his fingers in mine, leading me through the parking lot.

  “What has Rick got planned for you?” I ask, suddenly realizing I have no idea what his own plans are for the night, and seeing as it’s Rick who’s arranged it, I probably should be concerne
d—very concerned.

  “With Rick, who knows?” he chuckles, echoing my thoughts. “But don’t worry, I’ll be good. I promise. Especially with the other guys not being there to egg me on.”

  “Right,” I nod slowly, still confused as to why he’s having his bachelor party tonight and not when the guys arrive. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have it when Gary and the others get here?”

  “That would mean the night before the wedding,” he explains. “And knowing Rick, I’d end up in the middle of the ocean, naked, tied onto a raft. I just want to get this over with, so I can relax.”

  I giggle at the thought of him naked, but he’s right. I wouldn’t put anything past Rick. Maybe having it tonight is the safer option. Besides, how much trouble can Rick get just the two of them and my dad into?

  I’m still a little disappointed neither of my brothers were able to make the trip over, but Murray was in Mexico on a pre-arranged vacation with his buddies, and Chris couldn’t get the time off work due to the short notice. I push it out of my mind, knowing they’d both be here if they could’ve made it. Not everything is going to go the way I want it to, but the main thing is, we’re getting married.

  “No strippers,” I warn him, not that I really think I have anything to worry about. He holds his hands up defensively.

  “Do I need to make the same rule apply to you?” he teases.

  “Oh, God, she would totally do that,” I say, cringing. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me, but if Cindy hasn’t organized a group of male strippers to embarrass me, I’d be shocked.

  We reach the truck I’d rented on the far side of the parking lot and get inside. My skirt rides up as I climb into the driver’s seat and I catch him glancing at my thighs. With a growl, he pulls me across the bench seat and into his arms. My hand snakes over his thigh, brushing past his erection. I arch my eyebrow and stare at him.