Page 4 of Fight for You (Flirting with Forever 2)

“I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how I do with them.” I rub my hand over my jaw, thinking. “Are these kids going to drive me to drink? Because that’s what my dad always says my sisters do to him lately.”

“Could be. Anyway, I’m sure your Ms. Beckett is just a busy person. I think once you

get to know her, everything will be just fine.”

Chapter 3

Hadleigh

The minutes tick by and I’m becoming increasingly anxious waiting for this guy to show up. I’d come right to Zoey’s office in the guidance department after school and parked myself in the chair across from her, the desk between us. Her seat faces the door, and she intermittently glances into the main office, keeping an eye out for Sawyer. Looking down at my phone, I’m surprised to see it’s only 3:25 p.m. Oh. He’s not even late yet, and here I am bitching at him in my head. I lick my lips and lean closer to Zoey as I whisper, “What if he’s a total idiot?”

She scoffs. “Then you’ll report back to the college and let them know there’s a problem. That’s totally not happening, though. We’ve had really good, positive experiences with student teachers from Roxford College.”

I press my lips together. “What if he’s just weird, Zoey?”

“Had, you are working yourself up for nothing. Absolutely nothing.” She looks just over my head in the direction of the door, her eyes widening as she mumbles, “Oh, boy.”

Our head secretary’s tinkling, singsong voice comes to me from the front desk. “Ms. Beckett, Sawyer Rivers is here to see you.”

My eyes lock with Zoey’s, which are still huge, like a character in a comic book. “What?” I hiss. “What’s wrong?” I can’t interpret her expression and begin an internal freak-out, squeezing my eyes tightly shut.

She whispers, “See for yourself. That guy is not who you were expecting.” I open my eyes just as she smiles at whoever is waiting on me and waves at him.

Swallowing hard, I stand and pivot on my heel, only to freeze in place. Oh. My. God. It’s tall, dark, and drool-worthy, aka Mr. Yummy. It’s totally the guy from karaoke night at the bar two weeks ago who I’d made the most bizarre eye contact with. I blink a few times and swallow again before regaining my good sense and walking toward him with my hand outstretched.

“Hi. I’m Hadleigh Beckett,” I murmur just as his big hand envelops mine. His firm grip makes my heart jump in my chest.

“Sawyer Rivers. I guess I’m all yours for the foreseeable future.” He spreads his arms out from his sides with a grin on his cute-as-fuck face, complete with a dimple on one side.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. How is this happening? This was not the problem I was anticipating, not in the slightest. He’s supposed to be a dork. Or old. Or weird. He’s not supposed to be this magnificent specimen of man. I hurriedly glance back at Zoey, who shrugs her shoulders and smiles sweetly back at both of us.

I clasp my hands in front of me, holding them tightly to my chest. “Okay. So, I guess I should show you around first. A little tour of the building? And then we can get you copies of textbooks and talk about what you’ll be teaching and how we’ll handle all of that.” And, oh my God, I’m rambling. Make the verbal vomit stop.

He nods, a smile twitching at the corners of his masculine lips. “Sounds great.”

Gesturing around the room with one hand, I continue with my ramble. “This is the office. Obviously.” I point at the little wall of mailboxes. “They’ll put your name on one of those.” My eyes flicker over to the secretaries still hard at work behind the big counter that separates us from them. “Make friends with the secretaries. They know everything and are a huge help.” I jerk my thumb to the hallway behind me, where I see Zoey still watching me with an amused look on her face. “That hallway is home to the guidance department and”—my gaze swings to the other hallway—“that’s where the administrators are, including Mr. Steele, who I guess you’ve had communication with already.”

His gaze slides down the hallway before it shifts right back to me. “Yep. He’s the one who gave me your contact info.”

Time to get the fuck out of the office and away from Zoey’s laughing eyes. “Come on. I’ll take you around so you can get your bearings.”

We do a fairly quick circuit of the school. I show him the main classroom hallways and the library, where we ducked in to say hello to my friend, Madison. From there, we continued to the cafeteria and the gyms. Sawyer walks next to me the whole time, seemingly at ease, and I try not to notice just how tall he is or how broad his shoulders are under his crisp gray button-down shirt. He nods at certain things I tell him and asks questions about others. How is it that he’s completely comfortable and I feel awkward as all hell? Does he not remember that our eyes locked on each other’s across that bar like it was kismet or something? I’ve never had such a strong, hunger-inducing reaction to anyone in my whole life.

“And this is our workroom.” We step through the doorway so he can look around. “All of the history and English teachers have desks in here where we can work during our planning periods. We’ll get them to bring an extra one in for you so you have somewhere to set up shop and a place to keep your things. I eat lunch in here a lot, too, because we really don’t have much of a break for that.”

I force myself to exhale when I realize I’ve been holding my breath for a few seconds. “So. Other things you may need to know: Brian Schmidt is our department chair, and Lauren Lands and Tom Edmund are the other history teachers in our department. They’ve all already gone home for the day; you’ll probably meet them tomorrow. We don’t all have the same lunch shifts or planning periods, so you’ll see some people more than others.” I shift my gaze to the far side of the room where my friend Piper sits at her desk, working through grading some essays. “Like I said, we share the workroom with the English department, so there’s pretty much always someone else in here with you if you happen to need something and I’m not here.”

“Sounds good.”

My nerves are getting the best of me. Introduce him, you dummy. “Sorry, that’s Piper Mathison, one of the English teachers, over there, and Jake Jones, the English department chair.” Both turn at their names and wave. “This is Sawyer Rivers. He’s a student teacher from Roxford College.”

“Welcome aboard. You’ll learn a lot from Hadleigh. She’s a good teacher.” Piper gives us a smile and sends me a wink. She glances at the other two desks for their department. “Damon Madero and Kent Burgess are the other two English teachers, but they’ve gone for the day already.”

Sawyer returns her smile. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted.”

I laugh beside him and give myself a mental shake when I remember just how long I’ll be working with this man. “Eight weeks. That’ll be long enough to get to know everyone. Do you have plans to teach locally once you have your license?”

“I don’t really have a fully-formed plan yet, but it’s an option for sure.” He holds my gaze, and I hear a whooshing in my ears. What the ever-loving hell is wrong with me?

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