Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Her lips twitched. “Well, you quit my other job for me, so I don’t have a lot of options.” She rocked on him and he bit back a groan. “One thing, though.”
God, it was like she didn’t know how much she affected him. He’d promise the world at this rate. “What’s that?”
“Teach one of the art classes.”
He frowned. “No.”
She inched closer, dragging herself along him and making him lose track of the conversation. “Yes, it will be good.” She touched his cheek, her head tilting slightly to the right as she stared at him. “You have Mitchell doing basketball and computers. Tully is doing mechanics, football, and field hockey, ice when the rink is in. You are doing baseball.”
“And running the center.”
She flattened her lips and shrugged. “Yeah, that’s more my job now, so you have time to do your other passion and don’t tell me it’s not.”
God, he wanted to tell her that.
“If I teach, you take a class.”
She rested her forehead on his. “Deal. But I’m taking your class.”
“First one is painting nudes.”
Emma tipped her head as laughter burst from her. God, he loved hearing her laugh.
Linc sank his hand into her hair and kissed her.
…
“Where’s the form, Miss Emma?”
She hefted the stack of papers she needed to file by the end of the day as she pivoted on her toes toward the table at her left. Resting her chin on the top of the ones she held, she reached out her temporarily free hand to swipe one up for the boy asking.
“Right here, Richard. We told you this morning, when you should have been listening to the presentation.”
He grinned at her, showing off the missing front tooth. “I was distracted by your beauty?”
Behind her, Miss Yander snickered and muttered, “Oh boy.”
Emma lifted her brows at him. “Why is that a question coming from you, Richard? I think it shouldn’t be a question.”
He flushed. “Not a question, Miss Emma. Statement of fact, but don’t tell Linc.”
She shifted the stack of papers to her other arm and tucked some hair behind her ear. “Why am I not telling him this?”
The boy blanched and ran off with a “Thank you” before vanishing around the corner.
“Because,” a deep voice whispered in her ear, “your fiancé is a jealous man.”
It didn’t matter that the entire thing was a farce. Every single time she heard him mention it, her insides went to mush. It was pure dumb luck she hadn’t dropped everything she held onto the floor because this man, he was really good at turning her into a klutz.
She knew her face was red but she didn’t care. Honestly, it was nice, really freaking nice, to be known as his woman. Whenever he referred to himself as her fiancé, part of her melted.
At this rate, she wasn’t going to have anything left when this ended. She would be a pile of liquid on the floor. Her infatuation as a young girl had grown so much stronger. Following him from school, through the minors, and into the pros it’d only deepened. This Linc was no boy, he was all man and she wanted him with a fire that rivaled the sun’s heat.
“Really? Of a ten-year-old?”
“Male, so yes.” He nodded, then brushed a kiss over her cheek seconds before he plucked the stack from her with ease. “Where are we taking these?”
“Your office, please. I have to file all of them before the end of the day. Permission forms for the newest additions to the center from their parents and all the emergency contact information.”
She smiled at Miss Cynthia Yander. At first the young woman had been moody that she wasn’t working so closely with Linc anymore, but Emma believed she’d won her over, for she was helpful now. It had only taken a few days. And for all the things she could imagine about men who had professional sports money, she didn’t think Linc was the kind of man who would be interested in a high school girl. No, correction. She was positive he wouldn’t be.
Stepping into the office behind Linc, she closed the door as he bent to place the stack on his desk.
“Keep staring at me like that, Emma, and I promise these children are going to get an eyeful.”
She flushed as she pushed her hands into her pockets. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t staring.”
Slow, like he owned the rights to the universe’s time, Linc turned so he faced her. She swallowed hard and struggled to make it look like she wasn’t about to erupt into a ball of flame simply because he glanced at her.
“That a fact?”
Lifting her chin, she nodded. “Yes.”
He didn’t speak for a few moments, just stared at her. Unnerved, Emma didn’t move.
What is he thinking about and can he hear how hard my heart is beating?