CHAPTER THREE

Chase Tucker

HE WAS IN HIS CAR, TRYING NOT TO look around at the somewhat empty parking lot like some impatient kid. He was never impatient. But there he was, the sitting and breathing definition of the word, oddly nervous and excited.

Kenzie Mason.

Not that any of his buddies would blame him if he told them about her and the way he had uncharacteristically been waiting almost an entire school year to make his move.

Waiting around to make a move wasn’t in his blood. You should keep waiting, a voice in the back of his head whispered, but he ignored it. He was done waiting. The closer the end of the school year had approached, the more difficult it had been to avoid her. No, that was wrong. Avoiding Kenzie Mason was like trying to avoid the damn sun in spring.

Her light shone too brightly to avoid.

Kenzie Mason was an incredible woman. Watching her this school year had only made his interest in her grow. Usually, he grew bored with women, finding something that turned him off.

Her ex-husband was an idiot. What kind of man in his right mind would willingly let go of a woman like her?

Chase was forty-one, not some sixteen-year-old trying to get his dick pet for the first time. Yet there he was in the parking lot of the school he taught at, waiting for one of his students’ moms to show up to help him with something. But who could blame him? His self-control was shit when it came to Kenzie Mason.

He shouldn’t be there. He should be home, grading papers, have a beer, then pick up a basketball game with one of his buddies at the local park. He just couldn’t get himself to leave.

Maybe it was the fact the school year was ending, or the fact he had heard one of the other male teachers he worked with talk about wanting to ask her out. It didn’t matter. He was done waiting. Something about the way her warm brown eyes had looked up at him, he knew. He knew whatever he was feeling had to do with more than the fact he hadn’t touched a woman since the beginning of the school year. Not that he hadn’t had the opportunity; he had. He just hadn’t been able to go for it. Not when the image of her sweet, dimpled smile popped up in his head and killed his erection whenever he was near any other woman.

He was single, and she was divorced. He liked her boys. They were cool and funny and damn smart. They had a love for learning he knew, deep in his gut, she had sparked in them. He had watched her and them this year. Taking in every opportunity he could to learn, to try and find something, anything, to get him to stop his admiration and fucking crush on the woman. He had promised himself he’d wait until the end of the year.

Then she had been smiling brightly at her youngest, and then her eyes had popped to his, and it was the last strike. The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

Mr. Tucker was done waiting, and Miss Mason was going to see class was in session.

Kenzie

“I am so sorry!” I yelled out and winced as I grabbed my purse from the passenger seat of my car and got out. “Have you been waiting long?” I asked in his general direction as I hurried toward his car. “Jim’s coach called and needed me to drop off water bottles. I thought I had time, but I got caught in traffic and—” Not another word slipped out of my mouth.

How could it?

There was no way my brain could possibly come up with how to make a noise, much less say a word. Not when his hands swiftly reached out and grabbed me, pinning me up against his car. Though, it wasn’t a car, not like my little sedan. He had a black SUV. Much like him, his vehicle was big and strong with lots of power and height.

“Hey,” he said, his tone low and slightly raspy.

“Hi,” I breathed, trying not to get lost in the mossy depths of his eyes. “I, umm…” I lost what I was going to say, suddenly aware of the way one of his hands rested on my waist.

“Have you had dinner?” he asked oddly.

“Umm, what?”

“Dinner?” he repeated, and I shook my head.

“No. I can just make a sandwich when I get home later—” I explained, but he cut me off.

“Let’s go.”

“Go?” Go where? Dinner?

“Babe, you going to repeat everything I say?” he asked me, and I stilled, still aware of the way his fingers stroked my side, the sensation oddly comforting even though with anyone else, I was usually ticklish.

“Mr. Tuck—”

“Chase,” he corrected, and my breath hitched in the middle of my throat when his free hand cupped my cheek so damn tenderly, it shocked me.

His hands were huge, and I had always imagined they would be soft because of his profession, but they weren’t. Far from smooth, they were slightly calloused, though he still held my face gently. How the hell was that possible? Then my mind moved to all the things he could use those calloused hands for. All involved me and him mostly nude. Where did that come from?

“Chase.” I softly said his name, and I liked the way his green eyes darkened, almost to olive, as if he liked the way I said his name.

“Kenzie,” he said, and now it was my turn to enjoy the sound from his lips. My name was spoken deeply, full of awe and warmth with a hint of unadulterated grit.

“I thought you needed help with something in your classroom.”

“Later.”

“But—”

“You need to eat, and I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I didn’t feed you. Especially if you’re going to help me with my room.” Something about his voice made me shiver. He hadn’t said or insinuated anything dirty. God, my poor hormones were out of control. I was seriously going to have to make a stop for some fresh batteries at the drug store on my way home. I couldn’t remember the last time I used my poor battery-operated boyfriend or when was the last time I had added batteries to it.

“I’m fine, though, and I think I have a granola bar in my—” I started to ramble on, but he quickly quieted me.

“Shhh…” His finger went up to my lips, and my heart rate spiked. Holy crap. Mr. Tucker, no, Chase, was touching my lips.

“What’s going on?” I found myself asking. Could it be possible my sister was right? Had he been eyeing me like I had him? No.

“I think you know.”

“I, umm… Call me clueless.”

“That’s the last thing anyone could ever call you, Kenzie.” It was sweet he thought that, and I wished I could be the type of woman to let myself believe sweet words, but I wasn’t.

“Trust me. I know a couple of people who would disagree with that statement.” His lips twitched, and I bit down on the inside of my lower lip.

“I like you. I thought I had made that abundantly clear, but in case I haven’t this year and you didn’t know, I do.”

“Oh.” He liked me. My cheeks warmed even if I was slightly confused. “You mean, you like me as the mom of one of your best students?”

“That.” He nodded, and I swallowed. Lead infiltrated my stomach. Of course, he saw me as the mom of one of his students. That’s all I was. “But I also like the woman you are,” he confessed, and my head quickly popped up, meeting his eyes head on, trying to decipher if I had heard things wrong.

“You don’t know me,” I stupidly muttered without thinking.

“I know more than you think.” Holy crap.

“Umm. I don’t know what to say.” What was there to say? I think you are the best thing since glazed donuts.

“Nothing to say. Well…” His lips stopped twitching, and he gave me a sneaky grin as his thumb stroked my cheek. “Other than saying you will let me take you to dinner, so we can get to know one another better.

“Get to know one another better.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“So?”

Holy crap! I was going on a date with Mr. Tucker.