cool, confident, assured stance—offered a multitude of possibilities.
She continued to observe him, cautiously, and he continued to hold her gaze. Fire Captain Hightower didn’t appear to know the meaning of the words back down.
Too bad.
Aisha shook her head with all the rejection she could muster lacing her stare and posture. She even put on her best don’t-even-try-it-or-think-about-it-brother glare and placed her hand on her hip, blocking his sensual assault with everything she could. It might have helped if she didn’t find herself so incredibly attracted to him.
And what did the man have the nerve to do in the face of her rejection? He saw her shaking head and smiled as he nodded! He even mouthed the word yes before winking at her and leaving the room.
The air seemed to return to the room with a gush. The kids were being taught what to do. She gasped as she wondered who in hell was going to save her?
He couldn’t just let her leave without asking her out. Could he? It wasn’t every day that he met a woman who piqued his interest enough to even bother with the effort it took for any kind of approach. And she already had his adrenaline going at high speed.
She didn’t seem particularly approachable or even open to his advances. That could be a problem. But he was never one to back away from a challenge. And something screamed in his head that she would be his biggest challenge yet. He just wanted to get to know her after all. What could be the harm in that?
“Excuse me, Ms. Miller.” He caught up to her just as she and her teaching assistant led the students out of the building. “Can I speak with you for a moment? I promise not to take too much of your time. I know you have to get the little ones back to school.”
He cleared his throat. He sounded like a sucker to his own ears. That wasn’t good. He straightened his stance and put on a mental cloak of confidence. No matter how ill-fitting it felt at the moment, he needed something if he was going to get this sexy woman to give him the time of day and he was woefully out of practice.
She let out a breath and nodded at her assistant before walking over to him.
“Look, Captain Hightower—”
“Would you like to go out on a date sometime?” They had started talking at the same time, but only he continued and actually finished his sentence.
She stood there looking at him. She swallowed before opening her mouth and then she paused.
He took her pause as an opening for him to make his case. “Look, I don’t do this kind of thing all the time, if that’s what you’re thinking. But I know for a fact that we’d both regret it if we don’t go out on at least one date. So how about you give me your number and we square out the logistics later?”
Smooth.
Her head reared back and her hands found her hips. Again, he wondered how she made a straight-leg pair of navy blue slacks so sexy. His eyes followed each movement and remained fixed on her hips for a second too long. He shook his head and found her giving him the Aunt Esther “You-fish-eyed-fool” slanted-eye glare. She glanced at her students and then seemed to think better of telling off the fire captain.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” She folded her arms across her chest, her entire posture daring him to say another word.
“But…” He wanted to say they’d be good together. That he could feel it after only knowing her for a few minutes.
Was he coming on too strong?
Probably.
Did he have a choice?
Probably not, especially if watching the first woman who had managed to work her way past his shield and make him want more than a brief affair without even trying was any indication.
She rolled her eyes at him before plastering on an overly bright smile and turning to her students. “Say thank-you to Fire Captain Hightower for opening up the firehouse for our tour, boys and girls.”
“Thank you, Fire Captain Hightower!” The boys and girls hollered. And with that they took off down the street and back to school.
He couldn’t help but smile. He fully intended to take the cute and sassy kindergarten teacher out on a date.
“He shoots. He fumbles. He’s outta here!” The rookie, Reggie Smith, had the nerve to be standing there grinning at Patrick as he chanted his little taunt. Then he added a little mock sympathy to boot. “Aww, better luck next time, Captain Hightower. Maybe if you got more practice, you’d have better game.”
“Get back to work, rookie. I think the coffee is running low.”
In addition to handling the student tours and anything else the more seasoned firefighters didn’t want to do, it was the rookie’s job to make sure there was always fresh coffee. It was not the rookie’s job to tease his superiors. But Patrick had other things to think about that were far more pressing. Things like: Why did she say no? And how could he get her to say yes? Those ranked high on his list….
“My, my, my, somebody has a big ol’ fine sexy admirer. A big ol’ fine sexy Hightower admirer! The single women at Mount Zion Baptist are going to mourn up a storm when the word hits that the last Hightower has bitten the dust.” Toni started running off at the mouth as they led the children back into the classroom.
Aisha shook her head. She should have known her nosy little teaching assistant wasn’t going to let the incident at the firehouse slide.
Toni was one of those long and lean sisters who wore style and fashion like it was her birthright. She had one of those chopped and blunt hairstyles that made her look like a rocker girl instead of a teaching assistant and part-time college student. She was in her late twenties and life was still an open book for her. And she apparently knew the fire captain, so getting her to give it a rest would be darn near impossible.
Impossible or not, Aisha knew she was going to try her best to ignore the girl.
“Nap time.” She readied her little munchkins for their naps. When they awakened, it would be exercise time, math time, then time for them to go home.
Watching them resting on their cots with their little blankets and pillows made her heart full. All of a sudden she felt so glad that she had finally followed her heart and become a teacher. It had been a long and circuitous journey but she’d made it, and her life was on the right track. No way was she going to let some sexy fire captain turn her head.
“Have you thought about the book club? We’re meeting this Saturday at my cousin Jenny’s house. Everyone is bringing at least one other person. So I’m hoping you’ll be my person. Be my person, ple-ase.” Toni grinned and it was all Aisha could do not to laugh.
Aisha straightened one of the lopsided construction paper turkeys that her students had made by tracing their hands. It was only mid-October, but they started making holiday decorations earlier and earlier. Soon they’d be making paper Santas and stockings with their names on them. She then turned her attention back to Toni.
“You know I only like to read romance novels. If I join a book club, then I’m going to have to read sad and depressing books and Lord knows what else.” She had seen enough sad and depressing
