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The hardest part was trying not to curse around them. And getting up early. That fucking sucked.
I pulled my bike around to the service entrance and pushed it up the ramp. I locked it in one of the out of use old freezers and tucked my gloves into my helmet, taking it with me.
The kids always got a kick out of the helmet for some reason.
If they did well, I let them try it on sometimes.
I walked through the enormous inner room, my boot heels clicking on the old stone floor.
Toward the back was a hallway with large rooms on either side. Some were used as offices for social services now, but most were class rooms. It wasn’t a school exactly, but they did teach a lot of kids stuff that wasn’t provided by the local schools.
And in this neighborhood, they didn’t provide much.
I pushed open the door that I had walked through every Tuesday and Saturday for the past three months. The SAT tutoring room. We did other kinds of tutoring too, but the main focus was improving test scores. For some reason my parole officer had gotten fixated on that part of my high school transcript.
I was sort of good at taking those stupid tests for whatever reason.
Not that I enjoyed it. It was just like breathing. Easy.
The usual suspects were there. Some new kids. And a flash of red hair in the back of the room where Mrs. Kelsey used to sit.
I knew the head of the program had been replaced for the summer. I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was now in charge.
Speak of the God Damn Devil.
Or think of her. And I had been. Non-stop. Even after that weirdly impersonal text she’d sent me.
What the fuck had that been about?
Little Miss Frannie Turner stood by the back wearing the most erotic pair of pants I’d seen in my life. They weren’t skin tight exactly. They just showed a hell of a lot more than her jean skirt had. These pants hugged her curves in a way that made me want to toss her down over one of the desks and have my way with her.
I walked right the fuck up to her. Not that I had a choice. I had to check in or I didn’t get credit for the hours. I would have liked to think of something clever to say first.
Fuck it.
“Hey.”
She turned and her eyes widened. Those sexy lips parted and I had to fight the urge to scoop her up and let my tongue delve inside. She looked sexy when she was surprised.
“Jace. What are you doing here?”
“I work here.”
She glanced down at her list and back at me.
“Jace!”
One of my favorite kids, Theo, came up and high-fived me.
“What’s up, my man!”
“Just talking to this pretty woman here.”
“You gonna help me with my summer reading or what?”
“I’ll be there in a minute T.”
He nodded wisely. Theo was pretty fucking smart for a fifteen-year-old.
“Wow, I had no idea you were so civic minded.”
Frannie was staring at me. I could see I was gaining points with her. I hated to do it but I had to disillusion her.
The sooner the better.
Right fucking now.
“This is community service. But I like it. I will stick around when I’m done.”
Her eyebrows shot up.
“Community service?”
“I got arrested last year.”
She recoiled slightly. Shit.
“For what exactly?”
“Racing my car. My Uncle’s car actually.”
“Racing?”
“Drag racing.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
I gave her an even look.
“It is.” I smiled at her. “You should come watch.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Frannie
It was my first day on the job and I was thinking inappropriate thoughts.
Very, very inappropriate thoughts.
Why did he have to be here of all people? Not that I wasn’t happy to see Jace. In fact, it was a bit alarming just how happy I was to see him.
Way, way too happy.
Even if Jace was actual, bonafide bad boy. Especially since he was.
Arrested for drag racing? It was a victimless crime, which mattered to me. But it was reckless and dangerous and, well, a little bit bad.
I sighed, picking up another box of files. There was one for each kid but they were completely out of order. I gave up, deciding that was something I should do after hours. Right now, I had to focus on the kids that were actually here.
Not to mention the tutors…
I walked through the room, checking in on the students. I couldn’t seem to stop looking over to where Jace was sitting. His students seemed to adore him.
That didn’t surprise me.
I wasn’t surprised by his intelligence either. That had been obvious from the start.
What surprised me was his patience with the kids.
His kindness.
Uh oh.
I was starting to have those thoughts again. Those impossible thoughts I’d been having since the moment I met Jace.
Thoughts about kissing him.
Touching him.
Being with him.
And not just sexually, though that was a lot of it.
