“Another excellent and always needed choice.”
“Alphabet blocks…” Alaina muttered. “Puzzles…”
Becca cleared her throat. “Do you even need me?”
Her tone was amused, but Alaina still felt bad for ignoring her friend, since she’d sought out her advice in the first place. “Sorry. Having money is a whole new world. I wish I could get them everything.”
“I know, hon. And I don’t envy you having to pick and choose. My school certainly doesn’t have unlimited funds, but I can’t imagine making do with what you guys have to. You know how much I admire you for that.”
“Thanks.” Alaina swelled with pride. She’d been offered a position at a school in a better district, but hadn’t been able to shake the feeling she’d do more good in a Buffalo public school. “Okay. I’m gonna keep looking. I’ll prioritize then e-mail you the shopping cart before I do anything.”
“Cool. Can’t wait.”
“And we need to figure out when we can have dinner or something.” With the school year starting a few weeks ago both of them had been busy, and it had been more than a month since they’d carved out time to see each other. Sometimes they went a few months, and Alaina always knew Becca would be there, but she didn’t like leaving it that long. It was easy to make excuses for a few more days when it had already been several weeks.
“We were going to try that new Mexican place out in East Aurora by my school, right?”
“Oh yeah. That sounds really good right about now.” And, of course, cheap, which Alaina was always a fan of.
“Text me with when you’re free, and we’ll figure something out.”
“I will. See ya.” Alaina hung up and added a cheap CD player to the list.
Already, she’d spent her money, theoretically, but she kept looking in case she found anything better. Plus she supposed she’d be getting more tomorrow that she’d have to spend.
She giggled. Yeah, had to spend.
Oh man! A set of brightly-painted wood cubbies for the kids to put their stuff in rather than the ratty dollar-store bins set out on the floor they were using now; that would be an unbelievable addition to the classroom by itself. Alaina’s elation deflated when she saw the price tag—nearly three hundred dollars, and the item was part of the website’s so-called “Value Line” of furniture.
Value line, my ass. Alaina put it on the list and found herself hoping Rob was bringing a very large check the next day. Stabs of guilt ate at her. He’d already done so much.
A teacher’s cabinet. Alaina practically swooned when she saw a couple of them on the site. But this money wasn’t for her, but for the kids, so she moved on. A rug with the alphabet and numbers zero through nine, plus a small square for each kid to sit in for something like story time caught her eye, but she couldn’t justify another expensive item. She groaned, a headache forming as she realized she hadn’t even gotten through about two-thirds of the website. Or begun to look for books. Or toys. Both were so important!
She glanced at the clock. Just after four in the afternoon. Too early for a glass of wine, but she could really use one. Shopping was far more nerve-racking than Alaina would have thought, considering she actually had funds, unlike other years. So many things were needed, and she couldn’t make heads or tails out of what was most important.
Finally she left off for the day and made dinner. A few hours later, she fell into bed exhausted, after yet more agonizing and not coming to any decisions.
The next day, Rob arrived as the last couple of kids were being loaded on the bus at the end of the school day. He’d texted to ask if he could be later than he’d originally thought, and she’d readily agreed, saying she’d stick around and work on lesson plans. She didn’t have a lot of other places to be. Who was she to dictate a schedule to a man who was acting as a guardian angel for her children?
Before school began, Alaina had spoken to Claudette and the other teachers, who were all excited about an influx of cash for their rooms. She thought about warning them that spending the money was harder than it looked, but didn’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, so she kept her mouth shut. Maybe her fellow teachers wouldn’t experience so much difficulty. After all, several were veterans of teaching, unlike her couple of years’ worth of experience. She’d hate to look like an idiot for being so wishy-washy if everyone else knew exactly what they wanted to buy with their money.
Spying Rob, Alaina put a hand over her suddenly racing heart. This was ridiculous. She could not act like a schoolgirl every time she saw the man. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice anything different.
“Hey,” he said, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans as he looked around at the chaos of teachers and students all scrambling for the door.
“Hi. Come on back to the classroom. We can talk while I clean up.” As soon as her kids had gone for the day she’d opened her laptop, chewing on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich absently as she then did more searching. Before she knew it, the sounds of the day wrapping up reached her ears and she hadn’t done a thing to straighten the room or prepare for the next day, much less put together even a single lesson plan.
“I’ll help.”
Well, that was a surprise. “Okay, sure.”
Alaina gave him the task of cleaning up the bits of construction paper all over the tables and floor from the art project the class had completed that day. They’d been learning about bugs, so she’d helped the kids make their own ladybugs out of red and black paper. In her meager stash of stuff, she’d even found googly eyes, which had elicited a giggle from the children as they shook their ladybugs and watched the eyes move. Simple things that brought her students so much joy were the reason she’d gotten into teaching in the first place, and she smiled at the memory, though at the time, her eyes had misted over.
“What’s so funny?”
Her head snapped up. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
He pointed toward her face. “You were grinning. I asked what was funny.”
“Oh. Nothing.” Alaina’s face warmed as she thought about his reaction to her tearing up about something so small. He’d probably think it was stupid.
“Come on,” he cajoled. “Share with the class.”
Rolling her eyes and knowing instinctively he wouldn’t leave the matter alone, she said, “I was remembering how tickled the kids were to have googly eyes for their ladybugs today. They kept shaking the poor things so the eyes would move.”
He cocked his head, crossing him arms in front of his chest. “You really love teaching, don’t you?”
Trying not to squirm under his scrutiny, she said, “Yeah. I really do. It’s the only thing I ever wanted to be. And the teachers here are amazing. They’re an inspiration to me every day.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
Rob turned to fully face her. “Why do you teach in the inner city? Is it just what you said before, or is there more to it? Surely you could get a job with another district.”
“I could, but these kids need me.”
“Pretty selfless.”
She shrugged. “Maybe so, but if not me, who?”
He resumed sweeping. “I brought my checkbook. I thought it might be easier if you told me how much you need rather than have me guess again and be too low.”
“I-I can’t do that. Whatever you want to give is fine.” The last thing she wanted was to come off as greedy. He’d already done so much.
“I want to give you what you need,” he said so slowly she feared he’d lose patience and rescind the offer if she didn’t decide soon.
How much could I possibly ask for? Ugh, why does this have to be so hard?
“Um, can you maybe do another five thousand?” She winced as she said the number.
Rob chuckled and those laugh lines she’d noticed the day before crinkled the corners of his eyes. They lent character to his admittedly gorgeous face, making his expressions even more attractive and interesting
. “Ah, that’s what I thought you’d say, though I applaud you for not making the number ridiculously small. We’ll make it ten then.”
“What? I didn’t—”
As he bent to write the check, he smiled. “I knew you’d never ask for what you actually needed, so I decided to double or triple whatever the number you gave me.”
Her hand flew to her mouth and tears welled in her eyes yet again. “Thank you.”
Rob speared her with a look. “Before I fill in the amount, are you sure this is enough?”
“Oh God, more than. I mean, a need is always lurking, but this will help so, so much.” Her stomach was tied in knots at how generous Rob was. She’d never be able to thank him enough.
“All right then.” With a flourish, he finished writing then tore off the check. “Here you go.” Looking around, he asked, “Do you need more help?”
“No, no. You surely have better things to do with your time than cleaning up after these guys.”
“Not really. Sad, but true.” He shrugged, but the movement didn’t look casual.
Stepping forward, she threw her arms around him, and he froze. Alaina immediately backed away and stammered, “I apologize. I shouldn’t have done that. I was just—I’m overwhelmed. By all of this.”
“I was surprised, but don’t mistake that for something else.” This time he advanced and pulled her into the wide circle of his powerful arms. He breathed in deeply. “Oh Alaina, you smell so good.”
She leaned back and looked at him. “I do?” God, he’s killing me. Does he even realize the effect he has? Surely he must.
Rob picked up a lock of her hair and sniffed. “What kind of shampoo is that?”
“A dollar-store brand.”
“Hmmm. What scent? I can’t place it.”
“Strawberry.” The conversation was getting weirder and weirder, and she fought not to squirm.
“Huh. Smells great, not so perfume-y like some of those more expensive shampoos. Suits you.”
His long, blunt fingers were still caressing that one piece, his gaze not leaving hers. Alaina swallowed past the lump in her throat, and he tracked the movement before slowly moving his gaze back to her face, briefly caressing her lips before meeting her gaze once more and holding it.
Her heart stuttered. Is he going to kiss me? A door slammed somewhere out in the hall, and Alaina scurried away then busied herself straightening some papers on her desk, turning her back to him. She needed to collect herself—pronto. Her face flooded with embarrassment as she considered what would’ve happened if they’d been caught cuddling in her classroom. The door was open—anyone could’ve seen and gotten the wrong idea.
What wrong idea? They’d have gotten exactly the right idea. I want him to kiss me. I shouldn’t, but I do.
“I should let you go. I’m sure you’re busy.” She glanced over her shoulder, finding him still rooted to the spot and staring at her with an unreadable expression. Alaina took a deep breath, wiping her damp palms on her brown skirt, and then started. “Oh crap.”
“What?” His voice didn’t sound entirely steady.
Was it possible he actually was attracted to her?
A few weeks ago she would’ve laughed in someone’s face at the very thought, but now? Now she didn’t know.
“I got glue on my skirt. One of my only unstained items of clothing. Well, it was one of my only clean outfits. Ugh.”
He approached, reaching out a hand before pulling it back, his fist clenching at his side. “Will it come clean?”
“Elmer’s. Happens all the time. Occupational hazard. It’s just annoying every now and then to know that everything I own ends up like this….”
You’re rambling.
At least she hadn’t mentioned she’d specifically worn this outfit because the style looked nice on her. That would’ve been admitting she cared about how he perceived her appearance. She shuddered at the thought.
“I’ll get out of your hair, er, out of your way. See you next week.” He’d hardly finished the sentence before he was running out the door.
Disappointment flooded her. She shook her head. Yeah, a guy like that is really gonna want to get with you…
~ * ~
THREE
When the regular season began, Rob was in high spirits. Getting back into the swing of things, the routine of games and practices, plane rides and hotels, always soothed his restlessness. That the Storm won their first three games, all against division rivals, also contributed to his good mood.
The only thing marring his sense of contentment was how long it had been since he’d seen Alaina. He hadn’t been able to make it to the classroom to read to the kids that week and felt badly. Even worse, though he truly looked forward to seeing the students, he was more interested in spending a little time in Alaina’s company, despite it not being the quality alone time he was beginning to yearn for.
Some of his teammates hated bussing to Toronto for games, especially so this time because it was the fourth game in five nights, but Rob looked at it as a way to hang out with all the guys. The games against Toronto were always emotionally charged, since Toronto and Buffalo had a long-standing, nasty rivalry. The atmosphere in the Air Canada Centre couldn’t be beat, no matter where else they played throughout the season. Obviously storied places like Madison Square Garden were cool, but the level of animosity, both between the players and the fans, wasn’t present. Toronto was the perfect situation for Rob to operate in.
The ride up was raucous, with guys yelling over one another to be heard. Seb and Rob were sharing a seat, since Sarah always sat with the coaching staff. Rob tried to pay attention to his teammates, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Alaina.
“Dude.”
Busted. Rob looked up as Sebastian waved a hand in front of Rob’s face. How long has he been doing that?
“You are not yourself. You’re distracted. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Just thinking about the game. You know how crazy they can get.”
Sebastian looked dubious, but let the subject go, and Rob blew out a slow, relieved breath. Soon after, they arrived at the Air Canada Centre and Rob put his game face on.
His line, the team’s checkers, was chosen to start the game; not entirely surprising since the Storm was the away team, and Jon, the head coach, almost always went for Rob’s line in a game like this to set the tone and make sure the other team didn’t think they could physically out-man the Storm.
Rob skated to the left wing position against Toronto’s leading scorer, Magnus Araleous. Frankly, he was baffled about why the Toronto head coach would start his scoring line against Rob’s line, which was obviously the Storm’s strongest defensively. But he wasn’t paid to second-guess the actions of opposing coaches, so he settled in to do what he did best.
Trash talk time.
“Hey buddy, how was your summer?” Rob asked. Magnus ignored him, having played against Rob long enough to know something else was coming. And Rob couldn’t disappoint the man, so he continued, “Tell your lady I said hi and sorry about breaking that lamp.”
Now the other man glanced at him, hatred and competitive spirit doing its best to transfer from his eyes in an attempt to melt Rob where he stood. Yep, Rob had him now. Magnus was so focused on him he didn’t notice the puck coming their way, and Rob had pivoted around him and passed off to Marc, his center, before Magnus could even react.
“Son of a bitch!” Magnus screamed at Rob’s back.
The sniper was many things, but a great skater wasn’t one of them, and getting caught flat-footed didn’t help. Rob held in a chuckle and streaked to the front of the net. He’d get pounded, but his job was to screen the goaltender with his big ass, or so Jon kept telling him. His line didn’t score, but a good first shift in a game could get the entire team going, and it appeared to work since Buffalo beat Toronto on their own ice by three goals. One of Rob’s favorite sounds in the world was hearing opponents get booed in their own building, a
nd he reveled in the night.
The team straggled onto the bus. Most of the guys were quiet, nursing sore muscles or trying to catch a little sleep, a much different story from the laughing and joking that went on during the bus ride up. After a two-and-a-half-hour drive, the bus pulled up to the Barn, the Storm’s arena. It was shortly after one in the morning, and he’d be back here in a little over seven hours. Sometimes it seemed silly to even go home, despite living only a few miles from the away. The next day would be long with lifting and practice then reading to Alaina’s class.
He was excited to see the kids again. When he’d first found out he’d been chosen for this reading program, Rob had been sure some of his teammates would’ve been better selections—guys like Ben, who were quieter and more serious—but now he enjoyed his time at the school. Of course, the fact he was inexplicably obsessed with Alaina might’ve had something to do with that too.
Normally he’d talk to Sebastian about something like this burgeoning lust, but he felt kind of dumb confessing an attraction to the schoolteacher. She was the polar opposite of his type. Not that Rob went for Barbie-like bimbos, but he wasn’t usually taken with women who wore drab, shapeless clothes covered in paint and glue.
Well, the skirt with the glue debacle certainly hadn’t been shapeless, but some of her other clothes begged the question of why she was trying to hide her body. He couldn’t explain what it was about Alaina, but he’d been scant seconds from kissing her the last time they’d seen each other. As he continued on his way home, Rob wondered what would’ve happened if they hadn’t been interrupted by the noise outside the classroom?
He couldn’t wait to see what Alaina had gotten with the money. While the team had been out of town, the checks had cleared, so she’d at least cashed them. By his calculations, each teacher would have around sixteen hundred dollars to spend if Alaina had split the second check as well. Rob didn’t need confirmation to know she had. That was the kind of person she was.
Underneath It All (Storm Series) Page 4