“I came in the back. My company installed the security system when Hannah started kindergarten last year.”
Of course. Of course they had.
I would ask him what he was doing here, but I figured I had a good idea. He probably had the same questions I did. Like, was it a good idea that I was his daughter’s teacher? I knew we needed to talk but this was not the time or place.
“So this is quite the coincidence.” He straightened from his leaning pose. “Or maybe fate?”
My door opened and I turned to see Principal Soto, or um, Michelle. She looked surprised to see Maddox. Her eyes danced between us and I could see her wondering what he was doing in my room and why the atmosphere seemed so charged. Or I could just be projecting.
“Mr. Cruz, nice to see you.”
He nodded. “You too, Principal Soto.”
“How’s Hannah?”
“Great.”
She nodded politely but behind her intelligent onyx eyes I could see her trying to puzzle out if there was an issue or not. After a few moments of silence, she blinked and directed her attention to me. “I was just stopping by to let you know the faculty meets every Monday in the lounge after pickup.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll be right there.”
She gave both myself and Maddox a smile/nod combo before stepping back into the hall. When the door closed behind her I turned back to Maddox.
“Look, I know we need to talk. But I can’t do this now. This is my job. It’s my first day.”
His nostrils flared as he inhaled. “We do need to talk. Soon.”
“I know. We will.”
“When?”
“Tonight. I promise.”
He walked toward me and the closer he got the faster my pulse raced and my heart beat faster. My hands and lips tingled as my chest constricted. When he stopped a mere foot away, I was scared I was going into cardiac arrest.
“Tonight. I’ll hold you to that.” His deep voice rippled through me.
There was nothing sexual about what he said but that didn’t stop my sex from throbbing at his words. My mind filled with images of all the ways I wanted him to hold me. Up against a wall. Down on the floor. Under him in bed.
I could feel my cheeks heating and he must have noticed because his lips curled in his trademark sexy grin, before he leaned down and kissed me on the forehead and whispered against my skin, “Tonight.”
With that promise, which my brain processed as an erotic threat that I wanted him to keep, he sauntered out of my classroom.
As I stood in place, my head swam with confusion as my hormones dove off the high dive ready to plunge into the pleasure pool. Maddox had barely even touched me and yet my core was filled with an achy tingle. I found myself squeezing my thighs together and closing my eyes picturing him holding me up against the wall and…
The door flew open, and my eyes did as well.
“We’re all going to the lounge,” Bianca announced as she stuck her head in. “You coming?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
At least, I almost was.
25
MADDOX
My headlights shoneon the front of Lizzy and Ryan’s 1920’s Craftsman as I grabbed Hannah’s ballet bag from the back seat. I’d been preoccupied all day by two things. The first, Peyton, of course. Seeing her after school had only confused me more. The look in her eyes. The hitch in her breath. The flush on her cheeks was not saying that what we had was in the past. So, I had no idea why her words were.
