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She had trees down…everywhere.
And one of those trees had a branch that had busted in her back porch and patio roof.
My eyes scanned the rest of the yard surveying all of the damage.
None of which she could clean up on her own.
I growled low under my breath and then sighed as I walked up to the front porch.
I didn’t bother knocking, though.
Instead, I dropped my phone and keys on the first step, downed half of my water, and then set it directly next to them.
Then I went to work gathering toilet paper, going as far as to climb up into the tree to get most of it.
I was shirtless in blue jeans and my work boots when Raleigh finally came outside at ten that morning. By that point, I’d been working non-stop for over two hours, and I was definitely ready for a drink.
“Hey,” she said huskily. “You want something to eat or drink?”
Was it bad to say that I wanted her to eat?
“You make any coffee yet?” I asked, coming up to stand with a hand at both hips.
She nodded.
“That and a cup of ice water,” I said. “And I need some trash bags, too. The trash cans are full, and we’re going to have to start stuffing these sticks into something else.”
She turned and hurried back inside, and I swallowed as I got a load of her shorts.
They were so short that she might as well be wearing only underwear.
And they were so tight that I knew for a fact that she likely didn’t have anything on underneath of them.
“Hey, Coach!”
I turned and saw one of my first period students, Mark Simpleton, standing there with his dog on a leash.
I raised a hand. “Hey, Mark. How are you?”
He grinned. “A lot better than you, it looks like.”
He took a look around the yard. “Mackie struck again.”
“What?” I asked, heart starting to thunder in my chest.
“Uhhh,” he paused. “You…Mackie…shit.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him my best teacher stare.
“Talk,” I ordered.
Mark’s shoulders drooped. “Everyone knows Mackie does this to people that piss him off.”
My brows lifted. “I didn’t.”
“It’s all over the school. It’s not a secret. Just listen.”
With that, he rushed away, the poor little dog with his too-short legs barely keeping up.
I felt anger stir in my belly at hearing that and wished I wasn’t the ‘cool’ teacher. What Mark just said wouldn’t have slipped out if it’d been Raleigh he’d been talking to. It was hard because I had to be careful of what I shared since the students treated me as one of them, which served my purposes most of the time.
However, now I needed to listen to word around the student body when it came to Mackie, and I didn’t want to throw any of the students under the bus when I had to eventually confront the little fucker.
It’d been a long time coming but something needed to be done about that kid.
It didn’t matter how good of a player he was. The little shit needed to learn that his behavior wasn’t acceptable.
“Ezra?”
I turned to see Raleigh standing there, a cup of coffee in one hand, and a glass of water with two trash bags stuffed in the other.
I stalked toward her, my need for her starting to curl in my gut.
This woman was too good for words.
How had I never noticed her before this year?
I felt like an utter fool.
Reaching her, I took the coffee, and then leaned forward and took her mouth.
“Whew!” I heard exclaimed from behind us.
I broke the kiss and turned only my head to glare at the person over my shoulder. Another student—this one a girl.
I rolled my eyes. “Good morning, Ms. Chance.”
Layla Chance waved her hands, her best friend Mindy Kreed next to her. “Hello, Ms. Crusie. Coach McDuff!”
I turned back around and looked down at Raleigh.
“What the hell? I’ve already seen three students this morning,” I muttered, looking down at her.
Raleigh’s cheeks were flushed with pleasure. “This is a popular walking area since we’re so close to the trail, plus it’s a family neighborhood. I think half the student population lives in this neighborhood with their parents. You’ll see a lot more before the morning is over.”
She was not lying.
I saw nearly the entire freakin’ school, and I had a teeny-weeny inkling that the only reason I saw as many as I did was because I was shirtless working on Raleigh’s lawn.
The only reason I saw the females, anyway. The male student population was around because the student female population was.
Grinning, I got back to work. At least until the cry of Mother Nature came calling.
I knocked on Raleigh’s door where she’d disappeared about an hour ago and waited for her to appear. She did about a minute later, covered head to toe in flour and what looked like chocolate.
