Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 34206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
“My dad was a mean drunk, and my mother came from money. My grandfather had an image to keep up. He didn’t want me around, and so he paid for my education.”
“Is your grandfather still alive?”
“Nah, he passed away nearly ten years ago.”
“Oh.”
Jaxson smiled. “I’ve confused you, haven’t I?”
“No, you haven’t confused me. Your mother was rich.”
He shook his head. “No. My granddad was rich. I’m not rich. I make a good living. That’s all. My grandfather gave his company to his eldest son. We get along, seeing as he’s my uncle, but that’s all. We don’t have any other contact. Random events cards. Birthday. Christmas. That kind of thing. As far as I’m, concerned, I don’t have a family.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You didn’t pry. I told you.” He winked at her and picked up his other slice of toast. “Let me see where you’re struggling.”
She nudged her books in his direction and tried not to watch him eat. This was hard. He finished his toast off in a few small bites, wiped his fingers on a piece of tissue, and then looked through all her books, one by one, while she sat there.
“Teal,” he said. “You don’t need tutoring.”
“I know.”
He tapped his fingers on the tabletop. “I looked at your file at school. A couple of the teachers from your previous school have even made reports that they don’t know what happened. You never failed in any areas that you tested.”
“I know. It’s— I honestly, it was like one moment, everything was fine, and the next, it was all a mess.” She shrugged. That was the truth. Her parents just saw her as a failure. They didn’t want to know why it had happened.
Jaxson tutted. “So I’m guessing you know how all of this works, right?”
“I do, to a certain extent. I’m not a genius or anything.”
“How about we start this tutoring session with a basic examination?” He got to his feet, and she watched him move. She hadn’t noticed his briefcase in the corner.
He twisted the lock, and she heard it click open.
Did he even notice that he hummed as he worked? She couldn’t help but smile.
“I printed off a past exam. It is math, but I have English, science, you know the drill.”
“Okay.”
“You have an hour and a half. This is the examination’s conditions.” He held up his watch, waited, and then told her to go.
Opening up the examination booklet, she saw it was one where she could write down all of the answers inside. No need for a second booklet or a notepad.
Math wasn’t one of her strongest subjects. Yes, she could memorize all the books, and it was easy for her to remember how to calculate, but that was based on sums already written down. These were new, so it required her to actually do the working out.
This was fine.
Only, the sexiest guy she had ever known sat less than a few feet away from her. His heavily inked arms were on full display as he folded them across his chest, and it was making it a little impossible to focus or think.
Why did Jaxson, her teacher, have to be the first guy she was attracted to? Life was so unfair.
Come on, Teal, focus.
With him watching her, she felt her pulse start to race, and a fire ignited within her stomach.
****
Jaxson shouldn’t be noticing how sexy the curve of her neck was. She’d pulled her long brown hair so it fell down one shoulder. That shouldn’t be sexy. That shouldn’t even be registering anything with him, and yet, as he sat there, he couldn’t help but watch.
She continued to nibble on her lip as she looked through her examination paper. He didn’t know what it was about her. For the past week, he’d been able to spot her in the crowd. Everywhere he went and looked out over the crowd, she’d been there. Her bag on her shoulder, moving out of everyone’s way, keeping to herself. She didn’t have any friends at the moment. She also didn’t seem to care to make any friends.
He waited as she came to a trick question, and she pressed the pen to her lip.
He’d been a teacher now for nearly twenty years. There had been a time he’d hoped to be someone different, an artist, or an actor, but then, he’d come to see how much he loved to help people.
Yeah, the guy with an attitude in class had suddenly loved to learn. It was stupid, but that was the path he’d come to find most rewarding. In all that time, he’d never once slipped. There hadn’t been a student he’d crushed on. They were all kids to him. Too young.
What was it about Teal that broke that freaking barrier?
He couldn’t get her out of his head. All he wanted to do was take her. To fuck her. During class, while the kids had ten minutes of study, he’d even fantasized about kissing her.