She glanced at him in surprise. “You really want to know?”

“Well, you can’t just leave me hanging. How does the story end?”

If he was just humoring her to be polite, she couldn’t tell. His attention was centered entirely on her, which was such a departure from her last six months with Judd, she realized how much she’d just let slide because it had become their norm. Having an intelligent, attractive man’s total focus made her feel a little giddy.

“Well, I had individual sit-downs with each of them, explaining why they were in the wrong. By the time I’d exacted less than sincere apologies from both, we were in the last hour of the day, and I admit my heart was not fully in our discussion of The Indian in the Cupboard. Which is disappointing, because it’s one of my favorites.”

Chad brightened. “I remember that one! The Indian action figure the kid got for his birthday was brought to life by the cupboard. Something about a special key, right?”

“That’s the one. We’re finishing up this week, in time to watch the movie on Friday. Which is really just a devious plan on my part to occupy them for a couple of hours so I can get a jumpstart on grading.”

“Sneaky sneaky. I approve.”

“A little deception is necessary when wrangling herds of tiny humans. A huge portion of my job is fooling them into learning stuff, while making them think they’re just having fun. It’s not reattaching fingers, but it’s a different kind of challenge.”

“Hey, teaching is one of the most important jobs out there. And often one of the most thankless. You’re the front lines with those kids, and you never know which ones you’ll hav

e a profound effect on. I think you should be hella proud of what you do.”

“Thanks.” Faintly embarrassed, she shoved back from the table to take her plate to the sink. “I know you’ve had a crazy long day. If you’re not up to dealing with the list tonight, I completely understand.” Mary Alice turned to find him right behind her.

Chad leaned past her to add his own plate to the sink, close enough she could smell the lingering traces of soap and antiseptic, and somewhere beneath that, hints of man. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?” He was inside her personal bubble, and she couldn’t think straight.

Chad didn’t step back. “Creating an out for me. Like you think I’ve got one foot out the door.”

“I’m just trying to be considerate of your other responsibilities.”

“I manage my responsibilities just fine, and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be.” He took a half step closer, so she had to lift her head to keep his gaze.

Awareness hummed along her skin, something she hadn’t felt in far too long. It relieved her to know she could feel that for a guy other than Judd, to know she wasn’t irrevocably damaged. But she wasn’t sure what else she felt about it.

Chad brushed the hair back from her face, his fingers skimming over her cheek. “I’m a patient guy, Mary Alice. If you’re not ready, I’m cool with waiting until you are.”

She meant to step back, to put some space between them, so she could breathe and think. Instead, she moved into him, as if his touch were magnetic. Her pulse beat slow and thick as she lifted a hand to his chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear her friends cheering her on for getting back out there, but she shut their voices out, focusing instead on his mouth. It was a really nice mouth.

Chad’s hand came back to her cheek. “You sure?”

She looked up into his eyes and found them dilated. “Not a bit. But I’m curious.” Okay, that might have been a bit more honesty than she’d been going for.

His lips curved. “In the name of science, then.” He closed the distance between them, curving his free hand around her waist and lowering his head.

Mary Alice revised her opinion almost instantly. Chad Phillips didn’t have a nice mouth. He had an amazing mouth. He didn’t rush, didn’t push. Instead, he applied all that exceptional focus to the play of his lips over hers. The man had said he had patience. He showed all that and then some as he took his glorious time, as if he had no other purpose in life than learning every millimeter of her mouth. She relaxed into him on a sigh, her body going pliant and her traitorous knees turning to jelly in a level of surrender she hadn’t planned, hadn’t expected. And that surrender seemed to shift something in him, a spark to bone-dry tinder. He slanted his mouth, tracing her lips with his tongue. She opened for him, relishing it as he took the kiss deeper. The body that had been lax went taut, her hands fisting in his shirt as she caught fire.

What seemed like moments after he’d lit the flame, Chad eased back, leaving her dizzy and wanting. “I’d say that proves our hypothesis.”

Her heart beat an unsteady tattoo in her chest, and it took her a moment to find her voice. “Which hypothesis was that?”

“That we have chemistry.”

“Oh, that hypothesis.” Yeah, he’d proved that pretty conclusively. And she didn’t know how she felt about it. Willing tension back in her knees, Mary Alice made herself uncurl the fingers that were white knuckling his shirt and step back from him. “That’s certainly something to think about.” She suspected that little experiment was going to be playing on repeat in her dreams for the rest of the week, at least.

His smile was understanding, even as banked heat lingered in his eyes. “Take all the time you need. And consider me available for any further experimentation you deem necessary.”

Mary Alice laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Meanwhile, we should get started on that list.”

“As you wish.”

Tags: Kait Nolan Wishful Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net