Page 23 of Fight for You (Flirting with Forever 2)

I wonder why the poor girl is so nervous she’s stumbling over her words. I’d made a point to talk to her a few times since that day I’d seen those other kids pick on her, so it’s not like she doesn’t know me.

Hadleigh grins, putting the poor girl out of her misery. “Thin Mints are my favorite. One time I ate a whole sleeve in one sitting.” She leans forward conspiratorially. “Don’t tell.”

Sadie’s face lights up, her shoulders rising as she giggles. “I’d never.” She smiles shyly, happy to be trusted with a little secret.

Hadleigh sure does have a way of putting kids at ease. She holds her hand out. “Let’s see what you’ve got.” Hadleigh scans the form. “You need money now, I assume?”

“Um. Oh, yeah. It’s four dollars a box.”

“Great. Looks like I owe you twenty.” She’s just about to hand the form back when I snag it from her hand.

“I can always use some cookies.”

“Really? Oh, that would be great.” Color tints Sadie’s cheeks, and I shoot her a quick smile as I jot down my selection. Satisfied that I have enough Samoas to last me a month, I pull my wallet out, and hand her the order form with enough cash to cover my purchase.

Hadleigh gives me a quick wink of thanks and nudges me. “Can you hand me my wallet out of my bag? It should be right on top. It’s black.” She points to the huge purse under the desk at my feet.

“Yeah, sure.” I reach inside, used to rummaging through my mom and sisters’ purses at their request. I see Hadleigh’s wallet right on top, just like she said it would be. I pluck it from the bag, but freeze when my eyes land on what’s directly underneath it. It’s a book. A very sexy book. Holy fuck. This is what Hadleigh reads in her free time? I don’t honestly know why I’m so surprised, but I am.

I come to my senses and hand her the wallet. My gaze drifts back down to the book as Hadleigh pokes around in her wallet for the money she owes for her cookies.

Goddamn. I peek down at the book again. The cover is seriously hot. A man and woman are all wound up in each other, passion exploding right there for anyone to see. The guy on the cover is shirtless and sweaty, muscles popping out in all the right places. And the woman … well, she’s damn near close to naked, with some sort of filmy, sheer blouse concealing the naughty bits. I look from the book to Hadleigh and back again. Wow. I wipe my now sweaty palms on my pants and realize Sadie is thanking me.

“Sure thing. I’m a huge Girl Scout cookie fan.”

Sadie grins, showing off a mouthful of braces. “I will remember that. Thank you.” She draws in a deep breath and lets it go before waving her goodbye.

From beside me, Hadleigh smiles and gets up to see her out. “Thanks again, Sadie. See you in class tomorrow.” She closes the door and leans back against it, her lips curving into a broad smile. “That girl has a serious case of hero worship going on. What the hell, Sawyer?”

“I just had a conversation with her before class the other day in front of those two girls who had been picking on her. Kind of ignored them on purpose.” I chuckle with a shrug. ”And I bought cookies just now.” I pause. “That’s seriously it.”

“You are going to be just fine when it comes to dealing with kids of this age level. I can see that already.”

I shake my head, exasperated. “I just did what anyone would have done.”

“Nope. Don’t even try to deny it. A lot of teachers just ignore issues when they crop up in class. I see you won’t do that.”

“Yeah, now I just have to figure out how to deal with the other two girls. I’m working on it. One kid at a time, I guess.”

She nods. “Sometimes that’s the best approach.” The bell rings, interrupting our conversation before I can ask about the book in her bag or get any further clues about whatever she wants to discuss later over coffee.

Chapter 16

Hadleigh

After school, Sawyer and I stay to get some work done before we head out for coffee, but he’s acting all twitchy. I can’t say I’m much better, knowing what’s on the agenda for later. I nudge his arm and give him the side-eye. “What is going on with you? You haven’t stopped flipping that pen around in the last ten minutes.”

He laughs and carefully sets it down. He glances at me and then back to the stack of papers he’d been grading. “I, um, I kind of saw the book in your purse earlier.”

My eyes dart to him,

my brow furrowing. “You kind of saw it or you saw it?”

“Okay, I saw it.” As I watch him, his teeth scrape right over his soft lower lip.

I narrow my eyes at him. “And?”

“I was kind of intrigued.”

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