by E. L. Todd
“I don’t know if beer is considered presents.”
“It is to me.” He carried it into the kitchen.
“Hey.” Natalie wore a Yankees jersey, and she welcomed me with a hug. “We’ve got pizza.”
“I’m not hungry right now, but thanks. Just ate at Buffalo Wild Wings.”
“Man, I love that place.” Jared wore a Yankees jersey as well, and that’s when I noticed Natalie was wearing the same exact one. “The teriyaki is the best—hands down. Who’d you go with?”
“My friend Sara.”
“Who’s Sara?” Natalie asked.
“She’s my best friend. We’ve known each other since…” I couldn’t even recall when we met. “Forever.”
“I didn’t know you knew anyone else in the city,” Natalie said. “That’s good you have someone to show you around.”
“Yeah, she’s great. She went through a breakup a while back, and she’s still not over it quite yet.” She was so devastated when he left her that I wasn’t sure if she would ever recover. It’d been a year, and she still wasn’t the same.
“I’ve been there, done that.” Natalie grabbed a beer and handed it to me.
The guys were together on the couch, and I found myself disappointed when I didn’t see Volt there. I refused to ask about him because that would just feed my interest. I already decided he was off the table and not worth the heartache, so I needed to stick to that decision. “Hey, I have an idea.”
“What’s up?” Natalie asked.
“How about the two of us go out tomorrow night? Just us.” Not Jared and the rest of the guys.
“And do what?” she asked.
“Let’s hit the bars and pick up some cute guys.” Or at least she could pick up a cute guy. If she kept hanging around Jared, she would never find anyone else.
To my sadness, she glanced at Jared. “Uh—”
“It’ll be fun. You’re the one who said I needed to loosen up a little. You do too.” I knew I should tell her what Derek said to me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Any woman would be humiliated if the guy she loved knew exactly how she felt and why she hung around all the time. I didn’t want to say the words, so getting her to meet someone else was a better way of accomplishing my goal.
“Well, I—”
“Then it’s settled.”
“What’s settled?” Volt walked into the apartment with a bottle of whiskey.
Right on cue, I squirmed. I felt the butterflies grow to the size of flying watermelons. My eyes immediately went to his, falling into the deep chasm of solid blue. I was trying to stop my friend from embarrassing herself, but I realized I was doing the same exact thing. I needed to get it together and not let him affect me like this—no matter how hot he was. “Natalie and I are going out tomorrow night. You know, picking up some tail.”
“Yeah?” he asked with a playful grin. “Why don’t the two of you just pick me up instead?” He walked past us and greeted the rest of the guys. “I’ve got whiskey to make manhattans.”
“Sweet.” Jared walked with him into the kitchen.
And there it is. The reminder I needed that he’s just a player. Ready to sleep with anyone—no strings attached. No heart involved. No chance of a future.
No, thank you.
Why was I attracted to a man like that? Instantly, my lust died away, and I finally stopped thinking about him that way.
Which was a relief.
***
Jared and Natalie sat on one couch while I sat alone on the other. Derek just left to get more beers, and Volt hovered behind the back of the couch, sipping his manhattan slowly. I noticed he never had a beer—always hard liquor.
Volt eventually took the seat beside me and rested his glass on the end table. “Is this seat taken?”
“Nope.” I didn’t take my eyes off the TV, even though only a commercial was on. My fingers were wrapped around the Heineken I was drinking. The glass was cool and wet from the condensation, but the crisp temperature was welcome in the heat.
His gaze turned my way and was directed onto the side of my face. I could feel his stare, slowly burning with every passing second. “How was work this week?”
I wanted to push him away so my attraction would die for good, but when he was being a nice guy, it was difficult to keep my walls up. The second he came knocking, they were down. “Good. I’m not challenging my students enough, and I’m trying to figure out a way to change the curriculum without deviating from the quarterly lesson plans.”
“Bristol Academy is a private school. You should be able to do pretty much whatever you want.”
“Not really,” I said. “Common Core is still being shoved down our throats.”
His eyebrows rose, and somehow, even that was sexy.
“Bristol Academy accepts some federal funding for students who need scholarships to attend. Therefore, we’re at the government’s mercy.”
“I didn’t realize that.”
“It’s something they introduced this year. So, I have to stick with the lesson plans but keep them engaged at the same time.”
“Have you tried Teach and Go?”
“What’s that?”
“Have the students do literature-based activities in science, such as presentations, plays, interactive games, etcetera.”
“But that’s a problem because—” I halted in midsentence when I realized something I never noticed before. “How do you know so much about this stuff?” Did he have a kid in the school system? Were his parents teachers? He didn’t strike me as an instructor himself, so that wasn’t possible.
“I used to be a teacher.” He said it nonchalantly, like this information wasn’t a revelation. The whole time I’d been talking about my teaching experience, and he never mentioned his once. But then again, I never asked what he did for a living.
“Really?”
He nodded. “English and history at Northgate Assembly. It’s a private school across town.”
I couldn’t hide the shock on my face. “Seriously?”
Instead of being offended, he had the grace to smile. “It’s shocking, I know. But yes, it’s true.”
After I realized just how rude I sounded, I tried to backpedal. “I’m sorry…you just don’t strike me as the teaching type.”
“I was. I really liked it.”
“You don’t teach anymore?” The fact he took two women home and had a threesome like it was no big deal didn’t make him a great role model. But then again, his personal life had nothing to do with the classroom, so it shouldn’t matter.
“I stopped a few years ago.”
“May I ask why?” Volt was suddenly fascinating to me—in a way he never was before.
“I opened an academic preparatory program in Manhattan. Its purpose is to prepare all students for their SATs. It’s a glorified tutoring program, but in this case, the students actually see results. Our pass rate is the highest in the country. We have students from private schools and public schools.”
“What’s it called?”
“First Chance Education.”
I’d heard of it before, but I couldn’t recall where. “Wow. That’s really cool.” Sometimes tutors were geniuses, but they couldn’t teach the material in a way the students could understand. Having a large tutoring program that truly prepared students at any academic level was amazing.
“Thanks. We have a lot of clients who can attest to its effectiveness. I’ve had students jump from a seven hundred to a twenty-one hundred. I’m not kidding.”
With scores like that, he seemed to be talking about two different kids. “That’s amazing.” I’d always heard students fall behind because they didn’t have the resources they needed. It was a story told too many times, and the ending was always the same. “How did that come about?”
He leaned back into the chair, his shirt fitting snugly against his powerful chest, and then took a drink. “It was an idea I had a long time ago. Students continued to stay behind after class beca
use they needed extra help—usually with English. After a few weeks, I had more students than desks. It was becoming too much work on me and too stressful for the students because they weren’t getting the attention they needed. That’s how the concept was formed. And frankly, there are a lot of teachers out there who don’t have their students’ best interests at heart. They get tenured and stop caring. How is that fair to the students?”
When I told people I wanted to go into education with my chemistry degree, they told me it was a waste of potential. I could make a lot more money working in a lab or doing research. But none of those things ever interested me. I was always passionate about educating—and even more passionate about kids. To listen to someone share those same views at such a deep level was comforting.
“Over the course of a year, I put everything together, and once it was open, it immediately boomed with clients. I have a lot of tutors and specialists working one-on-one with students who needed the attention. After a few years, the business became a corporation, and we have new locations in major cities.”
I couldn’t wrap my mind around everything he said. “That’s truly an incredible story.”
“It’s still hard to believe everything happened the way it did. It got off the ground pretty quickly, and it’s a resource that’s getting used thoroughly.”
“Will you implement this service to low-income schools?”
“Eventually. My goal is to receive government funding so all students can afford to attend if they want to go.”
Volt seemed like two different people. He was a cocky womanizer by night, and by day, he was an academic leader. I never would have guessed he was capable of this kind of contribution to society. But then again, I really didn’t know him. “You don’t teach anymore because you’re tutoring?”
“No. I have employees who do that. I’m the CEO of the company.”
What did that mean?
He must have seen the question in my eyes because he answered on his own. “I run the business side of things, but sometimes, I take students who aren’t getting what they need. There can be conflicts between certain students and the tutors, and I have to step in. But that doesn’t happen very often.”
He dropped a lot of information on me in five minutes, and I needed more time to process it all. I would definitely Google the company the second I could—when he couldn’t see me.
“I just realized how long I’ve rambled on for.” A slight grin stretched his lips. The kind that didn’t really affect his mouth but reached his eyes. “Sorry about that. When it comes to work, I have a lot to say.”
“It’s okay. I found it interesting.”
He turned back to the TV and rested one ankle on the opposite knee. His hand rested on his thigh, his large fingers reaching out. His hands intrigued me in ways I couldn’t describe. I couldn’t stop picturing them on me, gripping my hips or spanning across my back. Those hands could do so much to me, and I wanted to borrow them for the evening.
***
I said my good-byes then walked out the door.
Volt came behind me then caught up to me, his footsteps in stride with mine. “Can I walk you home?”
“I’m okay. But thanks.”
“Are you sure?” he teased. “You won’t get lost?”
I shot him a glare, but I never meant anything less in my life. “I can manage. My phone is fully charged.”
“Let me walk you home anyway.”
“Really, it’s fine—”
“I love walking in the city at night, so it’s perfect.” He placed his hands in his pockets and looked away like the conversation was finished. He was pushy in an antagonizing way. The kind that wasn’t worth fighting over.
Now I was back to being annoyed with him.
We reached the sidewalk then walked together down the street. When the sun was gone, it wasn’t nearly as warm. The humidity was still prevalent, moisture sticking to our skin in heavy drops. But the unrelenting heat had passed.
“Do you like the city so far?”
I kept my arms across my chest as we walked. “There’s no other place like it.”
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“I guess I’m still homesick.”
“For Nashville?”
“Actually, Washington.”
“Really?” he asked. “You made it sound like you haven’t been there in years.”
“But you never forget your first home.” I missed the lush greenery, the endless trees that stood everywhere you looked, and the fact Mt. Rainier was in the background no matter where you were. “I’m sure I’ll get used to this new place. And one day, I’ll love it.”
He kept a foot between us, but sometimes his elbow would brush across my shoulder.
“Have you lived here your whole life?”
“Born and raised.”
“Could you imagine living anywhere else?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“You know what I’ve noticed about New York?”
“Hmm?” He was nearly a foot taller than me, so when he turned my way, he always had to look down.
“People always seem to be in a hurry here, but they don’t have anywhere to go.” The statement was contradictory, but that didn’t make it untrue. People were always rushing to get to the next place, even if they didn’t need to be there. It was nonstop—always.
“I know what you mean.”
“In Washington, it’s slow. People take their time to get places because there’s so much to see. I miss that sometimes.”
“It sounds like your heart belongs in a small town.”
“I won’t make that decision until I give New York a chance.” It was beautiful in its own way, with majestic skyscrapers and brilliant lights that burned as far as the eye could see. The people were just as much a part of the city as colors to a painting. Neither one could exist without the other. Despite the maze of roadways and underground tunnels, it was an efficient city, getting people where they needed to go in a timely manner. There was always something to treasure if you looked hard enough.
“It’s good to keep an open mind.”
We passed a few food and newspaper vendors before we finally made it to my block. “I can take it from here.”
“Come on. Let me walk you to your door.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I can get there on my own.”
“I don’t know… I’ll never get the image of you trying to read that map out of my head.”
I wanted to roll my eyes but couldn’t manage it. “You’ll never let that go, will you?”
“You looked pretty ridiculous.”
Since he was going to get his way no matter what, I let it go. “You know what? I’d rather be weird than boring.”
“That’s very true. But I never said you were weird.”
“Actually, I think you did.”
He grinned at the memory. “Oh wait, you’re right. But I meant it in a good way.”
We entered my building then took the stairs to the fifth floor. He didn’t need to accompany me all the way there, but at least the evening was almost over. “Where do you live?”
“On Park Avenue.”
I wasn’t familiar with the city to know exactly where everything was, but I knew where Park Avenue was—and I knew what kind of real estate it contained.
“It’s close to the office, so that’s a perk.”
I was certain there were a lot more perks that came along with it.
He stopped when I reached my door and pulled out my keys. “Now I know exactly where to bring you when you get lost again.”
I wanted to throw down my keys and stomp my foot. “Give me a break.”
He chuckled but stopped when he realized it was really starting to bother me. “For what it’s worth, I thought you were cute standing there in your giraffe shirt looking like another lost tourist.”
“Cute?” That word was in his vocabulary?
“Yeah. Why do you think I stopped?�
�
I touched the metal in my fingertips and felt the strain from his gaze. His blue eyes were inviting and piercing at the same time. Sometimes, I thought he could swallow me whole, and other times, I thought he could spit me out after chewing me into tiny pieces.
He stared at me for nearly a minute, his eyes unreadable but his intention clear. I could feel the sting in the air, the rush just before a lover’s kiss in a doorway. There was no explanation for my prediction. It was just a feeling deep in my gut, an instinct that told me something was about to happen.
I wanted it to happen.
But I also dreaded it.
I wanted my attraction to die like a wet fire and never rekindle. But every time I thought I turned cold, he brought me to life once more. He said sleazy things, but then he said something unbelievably sweet.
He took a step forward, closing the distance between us. At lightning speed, he dug his hand into my hair and pulled me in for a kiss. He took exactly what he wanted without thinking about it, like he had every right to. He didn’t think twice about what I wanted or how it would make me feel. He just saw—and he conquered.
But I didn’t want that.
I pulled away just before his lips could land on mine.
Stunned, he dropped his hand. The confusion on his face told me this never happened to him before—that a woman had never rejected him.
In that moment, I realized exactly what I wanted. I wanted a man’s lust, but I also wanted his love. I wanted to be kissed like there was no one else he’d rather be kissing. I’d never been in love, and now that was all I wanted.
And I would never have that kind of future with Volt.
I was just some girl in that moment. I was a pair of lips he could kiss, and my bed was a mattress he could screw on. I was one of the many women he would forget the second the fun was over. He would see me again and pretend nothing happened at all, and then he would completely lose interest in me because he got exactly what he wanted.
“I’m not the kind of woman you’re looking for.” My eyes bored into his, showing him every ounce of sincerity I possessed. “And you aren’t the kind of man I want.”
Chapter Four