Page 9 of Beneficial Misfortune

Nathaniel takes a step into the classroom, crouching down to scoop Addison up in his arms as she runs at him full force, and he flings her up into the air. It’s the same way she greets him every day at pickup, and it’s so damn cute I could seriously melt.

Who knew I had a thing for good fathers?

Oh, nope—bad, Kat! I will not develop a crush on one of my students' parents, especially not when I don't know if he’s single.

At the thought, my eyes dart down to his hand, and while I don’t see a ring, that doesn’t mean anything. For all I know, he could be one of those guys who doesn’t wear it.

Besides, we’re not looking for a man, I remind myself.

“Hello, Katherine, sorry for the delay. One of my meetings ran over. It always does with that particular client,” he says, looking up at me, and I thank god he didn’t look a second sooner. He’s intimidating enough without knowing I’m damn near checking him out.

“It’s no problem,” I say, looking around to realize the one thing that had been an issue is gone.

Huh, I hadn’t even seen him go. He must have been in a hurry.

“He snuck out a moment ago. Sorry if I interrupted.” Nathaniel informs me, taking my curiosity as interest in him.

I bark a laugh before quickly covering my mouth. That was rude.

“Oh, no, not at all. Thank you actually, he’s been trying to get me to go out with him and, well, the rest of the staff. The bar isn’t really my scene, and the staff doesn’t seem so fond of me currently. Not to mention, I’d rather repaint my apartment with a child’s paintbrush and watch the paint dry than go out with him.”

I snap my mouth shut to stop my word vomit, but the damage is done. I feel the heat as it blooms on my cheeks, and embarrassment settles in with everything I just shared.

Wonderful Kat, very professional.

He stands watching me for a moment, and I can’t stop myself from fidgeting under his heavy gaze, wringing my hands together in front of me.

I expect him to be annoyed or maybe repulsed by my oversharing, but instead, a smile splits his lips. It’s not a real smile, more like a smirk, but holy hell, if I thought he was good-looking before… Now, he’s stunning.

Shit.

He chuckles, and the sound rolls over me, his deep voice making it sound like a rumble.

“Happy to be of service, then. I guess it worked out for the best. I don’t think that guy will give you much trouble anymore.”

He lets Addison down so that she can collect her things. Usually, I would go and help her, but right now, I’m stuck, standing as still as a statue, still reeling from the embarrassment that is my damn mouth.

“Unfortunately, I can’t say the staff will like you anymore. I probably owe you an apology for that,” he says, and his smile disappears, replaced by a scowl.

“Why would you need to apologize for that? It has nothing to do with you,” I tell him, because how could it?

“You know, at first, I thought you were simply being nice or pretending. When I picked Addison up and you said you needed to check her card. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried that.” He pauses for a moment as Addison runs over and hugs me before making her way back to him and grabbing his hand.

She’s in her own little world, humming a tune and hardly paying us any attention.

“Walk with us?” he asks, nodding to the door. I nod in response, turning back to grab my purse from my desk.

I lock up my classroom, and the second I turn around, Addison grabs my hand in one of her little ones, the other holding her father’s. She laughs and swings her feet off the ground, and I can’t help but smile as I watch her.

“Like I said, I might owe you an apology. Not only for them not liking you, but also for not believing you. It wasn’t until I saw how Barbara acted that I started to believe you. Not to mention you haven’t acted any different all week. Add that to the fact that you call me Nathaniel instead of Mr. Lawson, like everyone else. Plus, your reaction to the way Trevor all but ran from me, and I realized maybe you weren’t pretending after all.”

He says a lot, and it takes a second for me to wrap my mind around it all, but the thing that sticks out the most is the fact that he knows Trevor, and he knows him by name.

My confusion must be clear because he goes on to explain.

“I make a habit of knowing the people who will be around my daughter,” he says, and that makes sense, but this is also a huge school.

Is he telling me he knows everyone here?

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