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Everything disappeared around Leah in that moment. Dakota’s natural scent enveloped her and she had this ridiculous urge to throw herself up against him and rub like her kitten would.
I should say something.The moment required her to say something before they ended up making out in front of fourth graders.
“I found it!” Avery yelled, breaking the spell Dakota had cast on Leah.
He backed up a step and took in a deep inhale. “Whose idea was it to bring all these kids along?”
“Yours.” Leah pointed at him, happy her brain was functioning again.
“Right.” He smiled and jogged over to Avery.
Leah followed and the other students gathered around. “What did you find, Avery?”
The girl pointed up into the big birch tree in front of them. “The unicorn!”
Sure enough, hanging from a low branch, a bright white unicorn piñata swung around its tether.
“You must actually have some troll DNA, Avery,” Dakota said, patting her on the back. “Good job.”
The girl beamed and jumped up and down when Dakota told her she’d be the first to have a good whack at the piñata. Quickly—and without Leah having to tell them—the students formed an orderly line behind Avery, all ready to take a swing at the unicorn.
“I wouldn’t do this to arealunicorn,” Avery said before choking up on the long stick Dakota had given her and taking her swing. “Real unicorns are like endangered species and I’d want to help it.”
“It’s just a piñata,” Luke said. “Whack it, Avery!”
“Now, now,” Dakota said. “We should respect what Avery said. We all know it’s okay to beat this piñata up because it’s a game. Real nature, however, needs our TLC.”
“What’s TLC?” Jonathan, standing behind Avery, asked.
“Tender loving care,” Dakota said, but once again, those sea-glass eyes weren’t on the students. They were laser-focused on Leah instead.
And yes, she could definitely use some tender loving care, but at what risk? Was she ready to shove her past in a box and hide it in a cellar somewhere? Could she move on? Could she move on with Dakota?
Avery—and every student in line after her—giving that piñata a severe whooping took command of Leah’s attention. Good thing. She was on shaky ground here after spending the day with Dakota. She needed some time alone to think.
With a final swing, Luke obliterated the piñata and the students went wild when temporary tattoos of superheroes came tumbling out.
“There’s enough for everyone to have two,” Dakota shouted over them. Then he turned to Leah. “This part was Krista’s idea. She told me these things went over big at Luke’s birthday party last month.”
“Can’t go wrong with tattoos or superheroes.” She motioned to his arm. “I’m guessing that one’s not temporary. What is it?”
The left side of his mouth turned up in a grin that made her legs a little wobbly.Must be dehydration. She grabbed her water bottle and guzzled which only made Dakota’s grin grow for some reason.
“That’s something you’ll have to investigate, Miss Greenstead. I’m sure you don’ttellyour students everything they want to know. You probably encourage a morehands-onapproach, right?”
Water went down her windpipe when she sucked in a gasp. She immediately erupted in a fit of coughing that had to be the ugliest thing Dakota had ever witnessed.
“Oh, crap,” he said as he rushed over to her side and rubbed her back. “In and out. Nice and easy.”
There was nothing easy about the way his hand felt on her body. Nothing.
She held up a hand and stepped away to be out of reach. “I’m okay,” she rasped after a few more coughs. “Really.”
“No one chokes on my watch.”
“You’ll tell me what that tattoo is then.” She cleared her throat. “Out of mercy.”
“Nope.”
