Page 3 of Tattooed By Her Silver Fox

I nod and step out the door, but before closing it, I turn to her for one last glance. “You do that, Ms. Catto, and if you have the time, why don’t you give me a call after. I’d love to hear more of your ideas on how I should be spending my nights.”

2

Vi

As soon as the front door closes, I drop to a chair in the office. My legs are shaking, and my heart is racing a marathon in my chest. Moreover, my panties are sopping.

I’ve never rubbed my thighs together so hard in my life, but that man...I want to scream. I’m afraid he might hear me through the cement bricks of the building walls and come back. I can’t have him see me like this. He’d read what he’s done to me the second he walked in the building, and I’d be ashamed of myself for it.

I was prepped to read him the riot act over leaving Bash at school late again. I’d gone over what I was going to say in my head half a dozen times in the hour I waited after the rest of the staff left. Bash is a cool kid. One of my favorites, though I’m not supposed to have those, so when every attempt to contact a parent had ended in phone tag and text messages, I got a little heated. How was I to know that solid wall of a man in jeans and a button-up with sleeves rolled to his elbows wasn’t Bash’s father? He fit Claire’s description perfectly. I began to doubt myself when I looked at his hands. Clean fingernails should have been a dead giveaway, but I didn’t put it all together until...did he say grandfather?

The word doesn’t feel right on my tongue. I keep picturing balding men with soft pot bellies and wrinkled skin. Fox had none of that. Except for streaks of silver at his temples and peppered in along his hairline, I’d never have guessed he could have a kid old enough to have a kid. Hell, I could be his kid.

Oh, that thought makes me drop my face to my hands. He could be my father, and oh my God, I’m so turned on by him. I’m still hot and bothered enough to need a cold shower and a drink.

He let me go on believing he was Bash’s father. He let me accuse him of not taking care of his child. God, I really want to scream. Is it possible he’s left the parking lot yet? I can’t go out to my car until he has. I can’t risk another second with him. Instead, I walk back to my classroom and prep for the next day, knowing I’m as prepared as I need to be. I need something to take my mind off the man who just made me soak my panties just by being alive.

What would he even see in me? I’m young by comparison. Twenty-five next month, and my experience with guys can be summed up in a one-word paragraph.

Limited.

Fox makes me want to do something about that. He’d never go for a girl like me. I’m too new. Need too much breaking in. Too much coaching. Nope, he’s not the tree I should be fascinated to climb. I need something more stable and less challenging. A lovely Christmas pine, maybe. I don’t even know what I’m thinking, comparing men to trees and dreaming of Fox’s roped arms wrapped around me. I bet he could also pick me up. Most guys can’t. I’m a solid girl with curves that throw most men off my trail fast, but Fox...I saw the way he looked me up and down, and that wasn’t an escape plan I saw flashing in his eyes.

I’m sure he’s gone by the time I waste an hour making every copy I’d need for the next month. With the coast clear, I return to the front of the school to leave and spot Bash’s blue coat out of the corner of my eyes. It’s chilly already out, and by tomorrow morning, it will be freezing. Surely, he has another jacket or something warm enough he can wear.

Just in case, I should really take it to him. I did just chastise the man for not taking care of Bash, and the shop he mentioned is on my way home. I could run it in, and hopefully, Fox will be too busy to even notice me.

Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I’m dying for a chance to make things right with him after what I said. I grab the jacket and walk out toward my car. It’s already dark out with the recent time change, but the street parking is almost empty, and I score a spot right in front of the Silver Fox Tattoo shop.

It’s a small brick building with a barbershop on one side and a vacant storefront on the other. I never come to this part of town, especially after dark. My skin prickles as I leave and head to the front door. The walls of the shop are the same brick as outside and are covered with framed pictures of fascinating drawings.

My gaze lands on one in particular. A delicate rose on a stem with two leaves.

“Looking for something in particular?”

I turn to a bald man in a leather vest who seems to have materialized out of thin air behind the counter. He makes Fox look kind. I breathe in deeply and approach with the coat. “I’m Vi Catto, Mr. Fox’s….I mean Fox’s grandson’s teacher. He left his coat at school today, and I thought it might be too cold in the morning to go without it.”

The guy eyes the coat and takes it from my hands. He holds it up and laughs. “A bit too small for Fox, but if you say so.”

“No,” I reach out my hand as if I can actually stop the man from thinking what he thinks. “The coat belongs to Bash, his grandson.” It still feels so strange to think of Fox as a grandfather.

I’m about to attempt another explanation when Fox steps out from a curtain behind the counter. “Ms. Catto.” He says my name and my knees soften again, and I’m already beginning to feel my temperature rise.

“Bash left this in the office and…” I freeze. Fox is looking at me like he could eat me alive, and the burn in my belly is telling me I want him to. “I wanted to come by and apologize. I made some pretty rough assumptions without knowing anything about your situation.”

Fox takes the coat and stashes it under the counter. He turns to his employee and gives him an order to check on something in the back, then he steps out from behind the counter, and nothing is standing between us.

“You could have called to apologize.”

“Well, there was the coat and I…” I’m tripping over my words like I’ve never been near a man in my life. What the hell is wrong with me.

“And you thought, given the circumstances, I’d send Bash to school tomorrow cold?”

He steps closer, and I can’t breathe. My chest won’t move. My lungs forget how to work. I’m dying for air, but he’s taking it all away just by standing there.

“I really just wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”

Fox reaches for me and cups my face in his palm. I should pull away, but I don’t. “Cut the crap, Sweetness. You really just wanted to see me again.”

---