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He stopped walking.
She moved forward to grab her phone from the floor. Then before he could stop her, she rushed towards the door. A second later, the door slammed behind her, and he was alone in the room.
Damn!He wiped his hot face with his palm.Damn!
He’d forgotten just how much damage she could do to him with one kiss. His body ached, his lips were tingling, and his brain was frantically racing with ideas to make that kiss happen again. Whoever this Jay guy was, he needed to watch his back because Tazeem wasn’t ready to give up the fight for Chess.
9
N
O MATTER HOW MUCH OF a rock Tazeem claimed to be, the incident at Casa de Flores had exposed his weakness. Chess was his Achilles heel. Even if he could resist all the women in the world, it was clear that she was the exception.
Ten days later, Chess was still brooding over how to use this information to her advantage. And then it hit her; if he slept with her, it would still count as losing the bet, right?
Her traitorous senses danced at the thought of ‘helping’ him lose the bet.
She wished she could say that she’d hated the kiss they’d shared, but that would be lying. She’d loved every second of it, and it had taken everything in her to stop it. Every night afterward, her dreams had been filled with scenes of them taking that kiss much, much further.
Maybe seducing him wasn’t the worst idea. It would certainly help to assuage some of the pent-up desire that he’d awakened. It would also save her time because she didn’t have to leave her fate to the whims of other women. She could scratch her itch and get rid of him at the same time. One stone – two birds. Not the worst idea, right?
Should she do it?
“Miss Winters!” A voice cut into Chess’s thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”
“Sorry.” Chess immediately sat up straighter. “What were you saying?”
“I was saying-” Mrs. Evans, Jay’s teacher, cleared her throat. “- Jason has the potential to be a very good student. However, these pranks are keeping him from reaching his potential.”
Chess had received a phone call the previous day asking her to come to school because Jay had done something bad – again! Honestly, she was surprised and almost impressed that he’d lasted this long without causing trouble. Usually, she was seeing his teachers within the first week. If he kept this up, they might make it to fifth grade without an expulsion on his record.
“I’m really sorry, Mrs. Evans. I’ll make sure he gets punished for the whoopee cushion.” Though Chess was speaking to the teacher, her eyes were on Jay. “Apologize to your teacher.”
Jay, who was seated next to Chess, kept looking at his swinging feet even as he mumbled an insincere, “Sorry!”
“Apologize like you mean it.” Chess scolded while glaring daggers at her son. “Sit up, look her in the eye, and apologize like you mean it.”
Reluctantly, Jay sat up in his seat. He evenly met Mrs. Evans’ bespectacled gaze. But no apology came. Instead, he scowled at her. “I don’t want to.”
“Jason Winters Khan.” Chess almost slapped the back of his head. “Apologize now.”
“Why should I be sorry? She deserved it.” Jay turned in his seat to face his mother. “You’re the one who’s always telling me to stand up to bullies. And she-” Scowling fiercely, he pointed to the teacher. “- is a bully.”
“Bully?” Mrs. Evans sputtered in indignation. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not a bully.”
“Yes, you are.” Jay’s little face was scrunched up fiercely as he reminded her, “You told my mom that you’d let me draw during class, but every time I draw, you pick on me. You keep saying about how bad my drawings are and that I’ll never make it as a drawer. Then you said that if I had a dad I wouldn’t be naughty and I wouldn’t think that I’m special. That’s mean.”
Chess, who’d come in all ready to whip Jason into shape, turned her wrath to the teacher, “Is this true? Did you say all that?”
“No, no, no. Of course not.” Mrs. Evans rushed to defend herself. “I may have made a few comments or so about his drawing skills but that was only an attempt to help him improve. I was encouraging him.”
“I wonder if the principal will think it’s encouraging too.” Chess stood. “Get up, Jay. We’re going to see the principal.”
“Yes, Mommy.” With a grin, Jay clambered off his seat and took his mom’s hand.
“Wait, we don’t need to involve the principal.” The teacher frantically tried to stop them. “It’s not what you think.”
But Chess was already storming out of the room with her son by her side. Sure, Jay was trouble incarnate, but that didn’t give teachers a pass to pick on him. And mentioning his lack of a father? That was just below the belt.
