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CHAPTER1
DEACON
“He’s here again,” my colleague Julia tells me in a conspiratorial whisper as she sidles up to me.
“Who is?” I ask a little distractedly. It’s pick-up time so I’m a bit preoccupied with all the five-year-olds whizzing around me with all that end-of-the-day energy their parents will have the pleasure of dealing with now.
“Duh. Mr Sexy McSexypants.” She bobs her head toward the door, displaying no discretion whatsoever as she hungrily drinks in the man currently helping his daughter with her backpack.
“If you could stop drooling, that’d be great,” I say dryly. Not that I can really blame her. The guy is gorgeous. Actually, I’d go so far as to call him beautiful. It’s not a word I use all that often, but it definitely fits here. He’s a fair bit older than both Julia and me—around fifty, I’d guess—but that just makes him even more attractive. With neatly styled silver hair, strong facial features, and piercing blue eyes, not to mention the tall, fit body wrapped in a designer suit that fits him like a glove, it’s easy to see how Julia came up with her nickname for him, as ridiculous as it might be.
“I can’t help it,” she practically whines. “Is there anything hotter than a gorgeous guy who’s also a good father? My ovaries are exploding over here.”
“Okay, I think it’s time for you to go back to your own classroom.” I give her a gentle nudge toward the door that connects my room to hers. “You’ll get all the gawking opportunities you can imagine next year when Isobel moves up to the first grade.”
“That’s almost a year away,” she says with a pout, but returns to her room anyway.
Once she’s gone, I make my way over to Mr Sexy—I mean, Mr Grimsay—so I can provide him with an update about his daughter.
I know teachers shouldn’t have favorites, but let’s face it, we all do. And Izzy is definitely one of mine. She’s such a beautiful little girl, and while she’s definitely capable of the odd temper tantrum, for the most part she’s so happy and warm, it’s just impossible not to adore her.
She’s the first child with Down’s syndrome I’ve ever taught, so I’ll admit that before she started I was nervous as hell, but fortunately I was able to connect with her therapists and doctors to work out the best plan for her this year, and her family are very involved which makes things so much easier.
Frankly, the most difficult aspect of having Izzy in my class is the effort it takes not to spring a boner whenever I catch sight of her dad’s ass. Which basically makes me the biggest creep on the planet.
I push those thoughts as far out of my head as I can get them as I approach the pair where they’re standing by Izzy’s hook.
“Hey Mr. Grimsay,” I say with a smile.
“Deacon, please, how many times have I told you to call me Tanner?” He offers a bright grin that almost makes me swoon.
“Right. Tanner.” I give a nod and manage to shake myself from my daze before I go all weird on him. “Izzy, did you tell your dad about the painting we did today?”
A bright smile flashes across her little face and she holds up both hands to Tanner, scrunching them open and closed. “My fingers.”
Tanner’s eyes widen with amazement. “Wow, finger-painting! That must have been fun. Did you use lots of colors?”
Izzy nods and then takes Tanner’s hand, leading him over to where the kids’ finger painting masterpieces are all drying on a wire that stretches across the room in front of the window. She points out her own, which is actually one of the better ones. Most of the kids just went crazy with smearing every color paint imaginable over every inch of the paper’s surface, but Izzy took her time, carefully matching colors together. There was a moment of great frustration for her when she kept unintentionally mixing the colors together, but once she learned how to rinse her fingers before selecting each new one she was on a roll.
“Wow, that’s beautiful, baby girl,” Tanner gushes as he bends down to collect Izzy and hoist her into his arms. “What do you say—you want to take this home and put it on the fridge so Jazz and Piper can see it?”
Izzy grins and nods eagerly, so I step toward the wire and carefully unpin the painting.
“It might still be a little wet,” I warn Tanner as I hand it over.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He carefully rolls up the paper, and without any concern over getting paint on his designer suit, tucks it into his inside pocket. “Alright, we’d better get going. Don’t want to be late for Dr. Mandy, do we?”
Izzy shakes her head in agreement. “Can Dr. Mandy see my painting?”
“I’m sure she’d love to see it,” Tanner says, voice full of affection. “Okay, say ‘bye’ to Deacon.”
“Bye, Deacon,” she says, offering me a wave.
I smile at her, waving back. “Bye Izzy. See you tomorrow.”
As Tanner and Isobel leave, I can’t help recalling Julia’s words from just before. And, yeah, I have to agree—there’s nothing hotter than a sexy guy who’s also a great dad.
***
