My head followed his fingers, chasing the touch. My heart rate was about to put me in the hospital, and things were starting to happen below my waistband. “No.”
“No? You’re not okay?”
“You stopped kissing me,” I answered, cracking a nervous grin.
Ozzie matched my expression by quirking up a corner of his mouth. “You sure you don’t want to go kiss that other guy again, just to make sure?”
“Who?” I asked, completely lost.
“Good answer.”
If the brush of lips could raise empires, this fucking kiss could build whole new universes. Raise the dead.
Ozzie’s mouth was firm and insistent, his hold on my body perfect. When he swiped his tongue against my lips, I opened up to him, no hesitation. He pushed me against the worktable, taking charge as he pressed his hard shaft against mine, kissing me like it was the only thing on the planet worth doing.
Even when we needed to pause for breath, we didn’t let go of each other. Instead, Oz took my face in his hands, pressing kisses into my jaw and cheeks, then spreading the sweetness along my eyelids, my hairline.
The familiar clacking of Dr. Gardner’s heels echoed down the hallway, coming closer. I stepped back hastily, even though it felt like pulling apart two buckets that’d been stacked together. Unwilling but out of time, I ran my hand through my hair and grabbed the dustpan.
Belatedly clocking the sound, Oz picked up the mop bucket.
“All right, now that we’re done here, we can take these back to the maintenance closet,” I said as Dr. Gardner walked in.
“Mr. Walker, how did it go today?” she asked, her eyes drifting to Ozzie.
“It went well,” I responded, pointing to one of the bed frames we’d leaned up against the wall. In other circumstances, I’d have gone over and shown her some of the details, but I was parked behind the worktable so she couldn’t see the Washington Monument in my jeans.
She walked up to the frame, examining it. “Impressive. Security said there were a number of students’ cars in the parking lot today.”
“More students showed up than I’d anticipated. And they were engaged the whole time.”
“So Leo’s theory about meaningful work was correct,” she noted with a satisfied look.
“It appears so. He showed real leadership today.”
“Excellent,” she said, glancing at Ozzie again.
Working to keep my voice steady, I introduced them. “Don’t know if you know Ozzie Cavanaugh, but he was one of Mr. Paige’s original Lost Boys. Ozzie, this is the principal of GCHS, Dr. Gardner.”
“Ozzie, welcome. Thank you so much for helping today,” she said, looking between the two of us.
Ozzie, way smoother and more put together than I was, gave her a charming grin. “Thank you, Dr. Gardner. I’m so excited to help Walker continue Mr. Paige’s vision. If anything, today taught us we could dream bigger.”
“Bigger?” she asked, raising her brows. “Mr. Hendrix was very generous, but I don’t know if we have the budget for bigger.”
“I’m good with finances and even better at getting international superstars to open up their wallets. Tell me your moon shot, and we’ll see what we can do to make it happen.”
“That’s a very kind offer, Mr. Cavanaugh. I’ll be in touch. I expect Mr. Walker here knows how to reach you,” she said, smiling and shaking his hand. Turning to me, she nodded. “Good job, Mr. Walker. This was an excellent pivot, and anything that encourages community engagement is wonderful.”
“Thank you, Dr. Gardner,” I responded, hoping she didn’t hear the shiver in my voice. “Ozzie and I were about to put away the equipment and lock up, unless you needed anything?”
Please say no, please say no, please say no.
“Not at all. I’m here with a coalition of area principals, so we’ll lock up the building,” she said with a smile. “Go on, enjoy the rest of your Saturday.”
With that she turned on her heel and left us to our own devices.
Once her footsteps receded down the hallway, Oz turned to me. “That was close. I thought you were pulling away from me because…”
