Page 69 of Sweet Surrender

“Becca,” Zane said suddenly, reminding her that he was still there, leaning against the classroom wall. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised.

“I’m sorry for the way I treated you in the meeting the other day,” he went on. “I haven’t known you long, but I know you well enough to know that you have the boys’ best interests at heart. And that you’re a really great teacher. I was out of line saying you were inexperienced. Obviously, you were able to see what none of the rest of us could see.”

“Especially Nick,” Cal pointed out helpfully. “Until he got his new glasses.”

She realized belatedly that the kids had gone quiet when Zane began apologizing. They were obviously listening to every word.

“Maybe we can talk about this another time,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat.

“I’d like that,” he told her. “Because the apology I just gave you doesn’t even begin to cover it. If you ever decide to forgive me, I talked to Allie, and there’s no rule against us dating.”

She blinked at him, stunned.

“Can I take you to dinner tonight to apologize some more?” he asked with a wicked smile she had never seen on his face before.

“Oooooohhhh,”the kids began to coo.

It felt so good to stand here, with a class full of wonderful children, with the respect of her coworkers, and with the man she had been dreaming about, the one who had made her feel awful in that meeting, apologizing and asking her out to dinner.

But a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered to her, reminding her of the words he had spat out in their meeting, words that still hurt every time she thought about them.

You’re a brand-new teacher. I want to put the boys back in separate classes.

This was a mistake…

He might like her, and he might regret his behavior. But when push came to shove, he hadn’t believed in her when she’d needed him to.

She was happy to hear his apology, but he was going to have to do a lot better if he wanted to convince her that he would have her back the next time things got heated.

“I accept your apology,” she told him. “But I’m not so sure about dating.”

The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. It suddenly hit her that all the kids were still there, just watchingand listening to this drama roll out.

“Go on and get your things, kids,” she said. “The bell will ring in a minute.”

They all scrambled to obey.

She figured that Zane would be resentful now. A lot of guys wouldn’t take a public rejection well. But when she glanced back at him, she saw that he was looking down at the floor.

“I understand why you wouldn’t want to date me,” he said softly. “I really, really messed up.”

“You sure did,” she told him, trying her best not to break immediately.

But seeing the big man willingly humiliate himself in front of a room of seven-year-olds was impressive. She felt her heart softening just a little bit already.

She turned her attention to her students, making sure everyone had taken their things from their cubbies, and that no one had left any gloves or scarves behind.

When the kids were all lined up with their coats on and bags in hand, she turned back to Zane, who was standing in line by his boys.

“Mr. Lawrence,” she said.

He turned to her.

“I would be happy to go to dinner with you so that we can talk more,” she said primly. “But it’snota date.”

“Great,” he said, his face breaking into a big smile.

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