Hissy Fit (Southern Gentleman 1)

And then he was pulling me into his office and shutting the door.

I looked around curiously, spying all the pictures of his family on the desk across the room. One of Moira and him caught my eye, and I smiled. “She doesn’t look happy with you, Ezra.”

Ezra followed my gaze to the picture and grinned. “Moira likes catching fish, but not touching them.”

In the picture, Ezra was holding the fish out to Moira, and Moira was full out screaming her head off.

The one beside it caught my eye, too, and I grimaced.

It was the coaching staff at Gun Barrel High School, and none other than Coach Casper was directly next to Ezra, holding on to him like they were best friends—or lovers.

I looked away. “Where are these sweatpants?”

Ezra walked to a drawer and pulled out a pair of sweats, then tossed them in my direction.

I contemplated looking for a bathroom for all of ten seconds before I shrugged and toed off my shoes, nearly falling over when one caught on my heel and knocked me off balance.

I caught myself on the corner of Ezra’s desk and cursed when his cup of pencils and pens fell down and scattered. “Oops.”

He chuckled, and I took that as a good sign that he wasn’t frustrated with my inability to be a normal person.

At least for now.

Eventually he’d get tired of my annoying ways and move on, just like every single man that showed even an iota of interest in me did.

Once I had my shoes off, I tugged the jeans down and stared at them with disgust.

“I paid a hundred bucks for those bad boys,” I muttered as I tossed them into the trash next to his desk.

My eyes caught on something silver, and I bent down and picked up the foil packet.

“Why do you have condoms in your trash?” I questioned, holding up the offensive object.

He looked at it and grinned. “It was in the bowl you knocked over with the pencil holder. My assistant coach thinks it’s hilarious to put a bowl of them on my desk so that the players will have easy access to them if they need to.”

As he spoke, he bent over and picked up a handful of them from somewhere beyond the desk where the rest must’ve fallen, and I looked at them with wide eyes.

“And the boys have no problem coming in here and taking them?” I questioned.

“Nope,” he said. “And I have no problem with them taking them. If they need them, I’d rather they come get them than to do anything stupid. Though, that day I first saw you and gave you a bloody nose at Target? I was buying my nephew them because I caught him in a car with his current flavor of the month steaming it up.”

I looked away, faced once again with how embarrassing that encounter had been.

“Ready,” I said softly, slipping back into my shoes.

They looked ridiculous with the too large sweats, but it’s not like I had a choice in the matter at this point.

“Let’s go grab the tea,” he ordered.

Five minutes later, Ezra was loaded down with four gallons of sweet tea, and I had two, as we walked back into the staff meeting.

Everyone and their brother looked up.

“Sorry it took so long,” Ezra drawled with four gallons of sweet tea in his beautiful hands. “Ms. Crusie caught her pants on the corner of the crappy staff kitchen counter and ripped them. I had to go find her a pair of my spare workout sweats.”

A few of the teachers snickered, and Coach Casper narrowed her eyes at me.

I flushed and looked away, placing the gallons of tea on the counter next to the cups that someone else had provided, and hurried to the seat I’d been previously occupying.

Nobody was surprised in the least that I’d ripped my pants.

I knew why.

I was that much of a klutz.

Nobody was surprised by the fact that I’d done something embarrassing, not even the new teachers.

Ezra took a seat next to me and crossed his legs extending them out in front of him, while also crossing his arms over his chest.

The stance screamed comfort, and I wanted to punch him in the nuts for his casualness.

He was acting like he hadn’t just rocked my world outside the auditorium where my peers and freakin’ boss were waiting for us to arrive.

But I was happy, too.

Why?

Because he didn’t sit by Coach Casper, and I knew she could tell that Ezra and I were something.

Hell, the way he leaned toward me said more than words alone.Chapter 13Let’s eat Grandma. Let’s eat, Grandma.

-Ezra explaining why punctuation is important

Ezra

Not only was her house covered in toilet paper, but the side yard trees were, too.

Hell, it even extended into the back.

And when I looked over her fence for a quick peek, I cursed.