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Phantom snorted. “I’m too fucking cynical for love. The only people who have my trust are my brothers, their old ladies, and my dad.”
“Bullshit,” I argued. “That’s what we all thought.”
It had definitely been my attitude. Until Layla. Now, I would stop at nothing to claim my woman.
It took Grey a couple of days to find out that Layla was a kindergarten teacher in the same town where her brother had graduated from high school. But the flu made the rounds through my staff, and I was stuck playing bartender, server, and manager for the next several days.
The first chance I got once everyone had recovered, I hopped onto my bike and left to go get my girl.
4
LAYLA
As I stood on the sidewalk helping my students into their parents’ cars on the last day of school, I experienced a weird mixture of emotions. Although I was happy to have navigated my first year as a teacher without any major issues and looking forward to a relaxing summer, I was also sad to be losing my favorite students to their first-grade teacher next year.
Like Timmy, who held my hand after the rest of his classmates had been picked up. His mother was late. Again. On the last freaking day of school.
“I’m sure your mom will be here soon,” I reassured him with a forced smile.
He scuffed the toe of his shoe against the sidewalk, looking unconvinced. “Uh-huh.”
I ruffled his hair before reaching into my pocket to pull out a sucker. I didn’t use candy to motivate my students during class—I had a desk drawer full of stickers, bookmarks, and fun pencils for that. But I’d found that giving them a special treat tended to lighten the sting of disappointment in situations like this.
“Isn’t green your favorite color?” I asked, showing him the piece of candy. “What a coincidence!”
Timmy’s frown curved into a smile as he stared up at me. “Can I have it?”
“Definitely,” I confirmed as I gave him the sucker.
I’d become more emotionally attached to my students than I’d expected, especially the ones who didn’t have the best home life. I had a feeling that not seeing them every day would be a difficult adjustment, but I knew from student teaching that I needed the time to recharge so I was ready for the following year.
The low rumble of an engine pulled me out of my thoughts, and my breath caught in my throat when I looked up and spotted a man on a motorcycle pulling into the parking lot. It was a rare sight during student pick-up, and something about him made me think of the biker who’d flirted with me at Luther’s graduation. When he pulled into a front-row parking spot and tugged off his helmet, I knew why. The guy was Roman.
And he headed straight for me as soon as he got off his motorcycle.
Holy cow!
“Whoa! Who is that?” Melissa, one of the other kindergarten teachers, whispered.
“I don’t know, but for the first time ever, I’m thrilled that one of my parents is running late.” Stacy flicked her hair over her shoulder and tugged on the hem of her shirt so it showed off her boobs more. I wasn’t one to listen to gossip, but I’d heard plenty about the pretty first-grade teacher who was rumored to hit on her students’ fathers on a regular basis.
The possibility of her flirting with Roman bothered me more than it should when I didn’t have any claim on the man. Especially when I’d have to see it all go down. With her blond hair, blue eyes, hourglass figure, and clothes that pushed the school’s dress code to its limits, she was probably more Roman’s type than I was.
My hand tightened around Timmy’s as the sexy biker approached, and the boy looked up at me with narrowed eyes. Then his gaze darted toward Roman, and his little chest puffed out. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from giggling at his adorable attempt to look bigger next to the man who towered over both of us.
Roman ignored Stacy’s attempts to get his attention. Instead, he turned his back toward her as he lifted his chin at me and murmured, “Hey, Layla.”
“Umm…hi.” My brows drew together as I stared up at him. “What’re you doing here? Do you have a child in school?” My heart squeezed at the thought of Roman having a baby with another woman. Which was ridiculous since I had no claim on him and the likelihood that he would want to have a baby with me was basically zero.
He shook his head and muttered something that sounded like, “Not yet,” but I was sure I’d misheard him.
“I was hoping to catch you before you left.” He flashed me a sexy grin that had my inner thighs clenching. “You didn’t give me your number, so I had to track you down somehow.”
