Page 30 of Taming Her Temptations

“Excuse me?” He says, brows knitted.

I do a small curtsy and I repeat myself. “Bow.”

He laughs. “Sure, Ruby Rivers. I’ll bow to you.”

He bends forward, but not before taking my hand in his own and planting a kiss on it, his eyes locked on mine.

Oh god, what have I gotten myself into with these men?

The crowd starts giggling and clapping and I turn to them, almost having forgotten we have twenty middle schoolers watching our every move.

“Okay,” I clap my hands together. “Now, who can do that better than Levi Wilde?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ruby

“Miss Rivers, who’s coming next week?” A soft-spoken boy named Toby asks me as he fidgets with the napkin on his lap. Currently, we’re in the dining etiquette phase of the lesson and I’m happy to be seated across from him. I always try to boost his confidence at our lessons but I’ve quickly realized that bonding with a teacher is never the way to feel cool in middle school.

“What do you mean, Toby?” I ask after waiting for him to recover his napkin from the floor after dropping it.

“Well, if Midnight Sons is coming again, then I’d like to prepare a letter. I’m not very good with words, but I want them to know how much their songs mean to me.” He says with his head tilted down, watching his lap instead of looking at me.

My heart warms at the idea of Toby sitting in his room listening to their music and connecting to it. I look up at Asher, Levi, and Dean, who are all seated nearby chatting with the students near them. I’m surprised by my first instinct- that Toby chose right to idolize them. It turns out they’re not bad guys. Not even by a long shot.

“Write the letter and I’ll make sure to get it to them.” I smile at him.

This makes him look up at me, his eyes bright with excitement. “Thanks, Miss Rivers.”

I give him a warm smile. Maybe I’ll get through to him yet. Knowing rock stars is a lot cooler than being a teacher’s pet.

I stand up and announce that the class has come to an end and Levi, Dean, and Asher need to leave now. A chorus of complaints echoes back to me. Not the usual response when I end a lesson.

“But who won?” A girl named Anne shouts from the end of the long table.

I forgot about Levi’s offer. I haven’t been paying attention to who did the best today. Only trying to make sure another mob doesn’t start and, okay, still reeling a bit over my dance with Levi.

I pause and stay perfectly still as I decide what to do.

“Miss Rivers will have two tickets for every single one of you next week,” Asher interjects. “You all did great today.”

I nod at him, thankful for the save. Yep, not bad guys at all.

We move quickly before the tweens get any ideas and decide to hold Midnight Sons hostage in the auditorium.

Driving in Levi’s car, he makes a quick stop to drop Asher and Dean off at the hardware store to get equipment to customize their music studio.

That leaves only me and Levi in the car and the silence is the loudest of my life. Levi knows what happened between Dean, Asher, and I and I’m still feeling a bit mortified about that.

But more than that, he suggested that he’s jealous? What’s going on here? Is there some kind of band competition that I don’t understand, like who can sleep with the same woman?

“Sorry about the chaos,” I finally say while looking out the window. “I didn’t think they would react like that.”

“It’s okay, Ruby Rivers. I know it’s hard for you to believe we actually have fans out there.” Levi always says my full name like it’s a chorus in one of his songs. I look at him. Why do I like the way he says my name so much? He takes his eyes off the road and I dart my eyes away.

“What?” He asks with a smirk.

“Nothing,” I shrug. “I just don’t find it as hard to believe as you think.”

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