Mission For Love (Love By Design 6)

My phone beeped again and I knew it was the nurse from the office asking me to call. I would, just not today and maybe not until after the weekend.

I shouldered the door open and went inside the girls locker room getting my class together to walk-jog laps on the track. Groaning followed and I led them outside into the bright sunshine feeling the smile on my face grow. I was letting David in. Slowly like a flower budding before the bloom. I hoped he wouldn’t crush me under his boots, I was delicate underneath my thorns.

23

David

Kiara’s surprise visit to my class room had me smiling the rest of the day. My face hurt from the unusual shape my mouth took and I kept running my hand over my shorn head unable to believe she’d asked me out. It was enough of a change that even my students commented on it and in an attempt to get them off my back I told them they had the weekend to complete and turn in their current assignment. It worked temporarily, and I likely did a few of them a solid favor cementing me as their favorite teacher of the year.

When the end of day came I rushed out of my classroom and outside toward the staff parking lot. I saw Kiara’s car was still here, but I knew she had girls cross country practice. The football team was sequestered in the weight room under Coach Calloway’s strict supervision, and I was free to enjoy my night.

I jogged over to the field and stood beside the bleachers watching her coach the girls focused on shorter distances. She wore track pants with a teasing stripe that curved around her fine ass like a glove. I wanted to hop the fence and slip my hands in her pockets to see how much room I had to grip her hips. It was a perverse thought but I figured it had to be five o’clock somewhere in the world where adults enjoyed carnal pleasures without the worry of teenage kids milling about. The discomfort in my dress pants was all Kiara’s fault courtesy of my dirty mind.

“Hey, Mr. Easton.”

“Hi, Harvey.” I responded to one of my junior students who was dragging a water cooler toward the field. The poor kid had arms that resembled sticks and strained under the task. Apparently, he tried out every year for sports but never made the team. You had to be pretty bad to not even make the bench, so he worked closely with the physical trainer and ended up lugging the water down to the field. “You taking that by yourself?”

He glanced at the place where the girls stood in a group avidly listening to Kiara. A few of them were crouched down practicing how to push out of the starting blocks. A smile hinted on his face and I knew the feeling. I truly wondered if he really wanted to play sports or ogle the girls, and as long as he was harmless and behaved he was living the teenage fantasy. I’d keep an eye on him just in case.

“The trainer was going to come out in the golf cart with their water, but I figured I’d bring it over.” Harvey must have had a crush on one of the girls over there. I picked up the other side of the cooler and lifted i

t with him.

“It’ll take us half the time if we work together.”

His face blushed beat red and I was right. Teenage crush.

“Thanks, Coach.”

“No problem.” We walked over the rubber track dodging the joggers and onto the grass where a set of benches were set up. A few students were running laps in the far lane and some were busy setting up the 110 high hurdles. Fall track wasn’t a thing but Kiara took a few students under her wing who excelled. We propped the cooler on the bench and the girls stopped talking for a second.

“Thanks, Harvey.” One of the girls wearing a junior varsity tank shyly waved. Oh this kid was in for it. Her soft brown eyes drank him up as if we hadn’t brought any water at all and Harvey barely made his escape leaving me surrounded by ten young women and one I had the hots for myself.

Next time, I’d let him carry the water cooler by himself. The rules of war were simple, never leave a man behind in enemy lines. Harvey was young and I should have known better. Kiara crossed her arms over her chest pushing up her small breasts that strained against her sports bra and tank top making me sweat. Since when had November gotten this warm? Never I swore. I had to get out of there, we had a date set and I wasn’t about to screw this up. I did the only manly thing I could when surrounded by a pack of predatory she-wolves. I tucked tail and got out of there attempting to preserve my dignity.

“Ladies.” I saluted them and turned around walking away feeling their eyes on me the whole way. It took a lot to not break into a jog, but the smirk of Kiara’s face was worth it.

I made my way over to my bike which I rode today for kicks and threw my leg over the seat starting it up and rolling out. By the time I got to the pub and my apartment building, I had bigger problems to deal with. My brother and Remi were waiting for me in the office.

Andy voice mumbled, “I don’t know Remi.”

“I think the idea might pick up business on the slowest Monday of the month.”

I put my helmet down on the desk and took a seat opposite Andy. “What are we discussing?”

“Paint and sip.”

“Paint and what?”

Remi fidgeted and I hated seeing the shy girl struggle to express herself. “Well, Andy is inheriting that vineyard and I thought that maybe he could stock the bar with some of the wine and have a craft night for ladies once a month.”

“The Occho Vineyard?” I narrowed my eyes waiting for Andy to tell me he was selling it. That was the last thing he needed on his plate.

Andy held his hand up to stop me. “We don’t have to discuss this now.”

“Or ever.” I grumbled leaning back in the chair. Sierra Occho was a name you didn’t want to utter three times in a row because bad stuff was liable to happen. My brother’s one true love and life’s biggest regret haunted the air in the office.

Remi thumbed behind her walking back out of the office. “I’m going to uh, go restock the bar, again.” Before I could stop her she hauled ass out of the office leaving me to deal with the aftermath of Andy when he got into one of his moods. Melancholy was the only way to describe his quiet decent into barely passing as a human. Remi didn’t know the half of it, but she was smart enough to get out of the office.