Nine games. Eight Wins.
Parent-teacher conferences were the bane of my existence, however tonight, Hannah was on my meeting schedule. And it was the last timeslot of the evening too, which meant more time. It would be the two of us in my classroom—one on one. I was hoping we could have a conversation, not just about Luke’s progress. He was doing very well, considering we lost in the first round of sectionals.
Smiling at parents in the hallway, I wished them well and told them to have a good evening. Some of the dads stopped in my classroom offering congrats on the season. Others offered me the tough break speech and told me we’d get them next season.
Ducking out of the copy room, I came around the corner and my feet brought me to a stop seeing Hannah striding through the doors. She wore white denim jeans that made her legs go on for days. The navy blue blazer amplified her eyes. I missed those eyes. They owned a piece of me, probably all of me.
She stepped into the hallway that led to my classroom, sucking in a sharp breath. “Hello, Mister Hamilton. Are you ready for our meeting?”
Pain stabbed at my heart, her tone cold and formal, but the rasp in her voice was still music to my ears. Her blazer fell open revealing a lacy tank top and silver necklace that fell just above the rise of her breasts. I wanted to take her in my arms and feel her skin against mine.
“Please have a seat, Miss Richman,” I offered, hating the formal sound of my voice. I closed the door behind us and walked to my desk.
She lifted one leg over the other and then leaned forward. “I understand Luke is working on a paper for the Industrial Revolution in Western society?”
I eyed her, folding my arms on top of my desk. “Yes, that’s correct. It’s his final project for this trimester. He’s focused on Germany and the trend to big business.”
“He’s enjoying all the research very much. He can’t stop talking about the subject matter.”
Jesus. My stomach turned, we were acting like complete strangers, as if we hadn’t run our tongues all over one another and fucked each other mindless.
“I want to talk to you. I’m miserable without you,” I said.
Her expression turned emotionless. “Please, Wyatt, don’t do this.”
“Hannah, give me one conversation.”
“Does this have anything to do with my son’s academic progress in your class?” she asked, stiffly.
I sighed. “No, Luke is doing exceptionally well, in fact, he should probably test for AP placement.”
“That’s good to hear. Do you have anything else for me?”
Walking around to the front of my desk, I shook my head. “Can we just talk? Hannah, can you please give me more than five minutes?”
“Like I said does this have anything to do with any projects or my son’s test scores?” she pushed.
I slid into the chair next to her. “No, it does not. I want to talk about you. How are you doing?”
“I’ve said goodbye to you, Wyatt.”
Needing to feel something, I reached for her, brushing my hand down her arm. When she didn’t push me away, I took that as the ice thinning between us just a fraction. I knew Luke was her kid and he was her priority, but what we had . . . have, isn’t a fling. I needed to convince her of that.
“Let’s put goodbye aside for the moment and say hello.”
She blew out her cheeks, pinning those blue eyes on me. “That’s a corny opening line.”
I smiled. “Yeah, but it got you to relax your shoulders and actually look at me for a moment. Now that we have that out of the way, how about you admit to me that we were more than just a fling?”
“What does it matter, Wyatt?”
My fingers drummed against the desk. “I think I’d like to know what your exact thoughts are here.”
I wanted to tell her how much I’d missed her. Tell her that I’d thought about her every day, nearly all day. She crossed my mind all the time.
“We knew the risks—all of them, and we chose to act selfishly and sneak around. Luke had to come first. Your job and reputation had to come first. You’re both important to me, but being a grown-up means making choices, the right choices no matter how much it hurts.”
My thumb skimmed over her cheek. “Tell me that you miss me. Tell me that it wasn’t just sex. Tell me that you think about me as much as I think about you.”
Meeting my eyes, she took my hand off her face. “It doesn’t matter, Wyatt. The cold hard truth is that I would take every risk to be with you, but I can’t risk my relationship with my son.” She stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “It wasn’t just a fling. It wasn’t just sex for me. Is that what you want to hear?”
I nodded and my fingers dug into her hips. “Yes.”
“Well, I’m glad you got what you wanted and now what has changed?”
“Hannah,” I whispered, my hand shoved beneath her tank top needing to seek contact. Feel her skin.
“Wyatt, please don’t do this,” she murmured. “All we’re doing is drawing out the pain. We can’t be together.”
My lips brushed against hers and I felt my misery dissolving in an instant. Needing her this way, I couldn’t seem to let go. It was risky. It was crazy.
“This is cruel,” she breathed. “Being this close to you is killing me. You have to let me go.”
My lips brushed over hers. “I’m so lost, Hannah,” I said. “My brain is screaming at me to listen to you, but I want to run full speed and fuck everything even if I crash.” I moved my hand to the back of her neck, pulling her mouth to mine. My tongue stroked over hers tasting cool mint.
Hannah relaxed into my body and kissed me back. Then before I could formulate a thought, she twisted out of my arms and walked out of the room, leaving me drowning in the wake of our kiss.