Page 20 of Burn for You (Flirting with Forever 3)

“Ooh, cookies. Who brought these?”

I clear my throat. “That’d be Piper.” I shoot a faux-disgruntled look in her direction as I bite off a huge chunk of cookie and chew. Fuck, she makes a damn good cookie. My gaze doesn’t leave hers until Jake gets started with the meeting. It’s almost like I’m issuing her a challenge. My eyes say, Bring it. And her pretty brown ones come right back with a very distinct, Pretty sure I’ve already brought it.

“Kent and Damon.” Jake holds up a piece of paper. “You’ll be seeing kids collecting signatures for their permission slips over the next few days. I want to make sure the two of you are agreeable to welcoming any of the students who decide not to go with us on the trip next week into your classes that day. It’s Wednesday. We were really very lucky that Mrs. Smith helped us get approval so quickly.”

What trip?

Jake must see the unamused look on my face because he’s quick to say, “It should only be a handful.” He stumbles on. “Most of them are really excited to go see the screening of Hamilton with us.”

Well, of course they are. My irritation level begins to rise. Not because I can’t watch some extra kids for a day, but because she’d purposely planned this without me knowing.

My gaze swings to Piper, who is grinning as big as the Cheshire Cat. I give her a what the hell is this? look, to which she responds with a smile, her berry-colored lips pressing together as if she’s trying not to laugh.

I glance over at Jake with as much of a smile as I can manage. “Sure. No problem at all.”

After we finish other business, I collect my things. I’m not bitter, or at least, I’m trying not to be. Field trips are a pretty big deal, and a surefire way to impress. Especially since she’s gotten Jake to go with her. I just can’t believe I didn’t hear a word about it until now. I shake my head as I walk out the door.

Piper follows right behind me. I give her a quick glance, realizing she’s on her way back to the workroom, too, so I can’t even be alone to wrap my head around this … this … subterfuge. Fuck.

She hurries right along next to me. “It’s a field trip, Damon. It’s not a big deal.”

“Don’t play coy with me. You know it’s a huge deal. Hamilton? Why didn’t you tell me about this trip?” Ugh. I mean, we bicker pretty much nonstop, but we also talk quite a bit since we have planning and lunch together nearly every damn day. How had this not come up? Except—I shake my head. She must really want this position badly, which is really terrible because I have no choice but to go for it. My family’s future depends on it.

“Oh, well, we had already planned it out.” She tilts her head to the side, studying me as she sets her things onto her desk. When I don’t immediately respond, she pulls the cookie container open and proceeds to break a piece off of one.

I watch that damn cookie as she puts it into her mouth and force a growl back down before it can escape. I could watch her eat cookies all damn day. Fuck. She’s toying with me. I close my eyes, and my breath puffs out in a short burst. “We, who?”

Her slim shoulders lift quickly to her ears and back down. “Hadleigh wanted Sawyer to have the experience of planning a field trip with her before his student teaching is over, and I asked Jake if we could join in to help chaperone. Half of our kids are in the history classes that are going, so we didn’t even have to get another bus, we just added a few extra kids and got some extra tickets. There wasn’t even much of an expenditure for our department.” She turns and bends over to pick up her school bag from underneath the desk.

Despite how irritated I am about this fucking field trip, my gaze roves over her full hips and ass in the sexy pencil skirt she’s wearing. I swear, she’s a sneaky she-devil in disguise. Feeling annoyed by how much I like the view, I take a second to rearrange things south of my belt while she’s packing her bag.

“Hadleigh and Sawyer are, of course, taking on the histo

rical aspect of it, while we are going to be discussing scripts for plays and musicals in our classes. It’s straying a little bit from the curriculum, but—” She whirls around to face me.

“I bet Jake liked that. Too bad there’s no room for anyone else to join in.” My chest rises and falls quickly as I take a step toward her, effectively forcing her to back into the desk behind her. “Did you do that on purpose?” My brows lift in question and I smile, but it doesn’t quite reach my eyes. I already know the answer.

Her eyes flick to mine, then down toward my body as I take another step forward. Slowly, her gaze drifts from my chest to meet my eyes. I don’t know whether it’s seconds or minutes that we stand like that, breath coming fast and strangely labored by being close together—probably too close together. Her gaze drops to my lips, and as I watch, her tongue darts out to wet hers.

My dick twitches in my pants. As if to remind me he’s there and would very much like to meet the pretty lady in front of me. Dammit. This has got to stop happening.

She shrugs, then reaches behind her, and before I realize what she’s doing, she picks up a cookie and shoves it between my parted lips. “We’ve got it handled, Damon.” She wrinkles her nose and sidesteps me. “Thanks for playing, though.”

Chapter 12

Piper

I’ve been on cloud nine since my big win this week with the field trip. Damon had been fairly ticked off. The look on his face when he’d realized I’d gotten the drop on him with it had been comical. So funny. He should never, ever assume I’m not a worthy adversary. I’m Sherlock, dammit.

He’s been avoiding me the last few days, ducking out of the workroom whenever I’m there and not showing up early, like we are both known to do. It’s not enough to make me change my plans, or ruin my natural high, though. I owe Sophia big time for the initial field trip idea, and Hadleigh, too, for jumping onboard with the plan. It’s put me right back in the running for the coveted chair position, and I no longer feel like a big loser who is just struggling to keep up. Things are looking up.

And things are good with Prof.M., too. I think he’s finally got me figured out. Push me too hard, and I dig my heels in. He seems to have backed off, slowing things down. We’ve had several days of relaxed conversation, returning to our Sherlock roots. I’m willing to wager he’s trying not to scare me away. And, really, it’s not that I wouldn’t like to meet him. I’m just nervous. Taking the step to download the Tryst app in the first place took almost everything I had. I never expected to find someone I clicked with right off the bat. Never expected to start feeling things … wanting things.

I pull up to the school and park my car for the big dance, knowing I’m about ten minutes early. My phone’s been pinging with notifications for a few minutes, so I decide it can’t hurt to take a quick few minutes to engage in a verbal battle with Prof.M. Because, yep, opening up Tryst, I see that’s exactly who it is.

Prof.M. to Sherlock4Love: So, do you think Sherlock actually has Asperger’s or is he really a high-functioning sociopath like he says he is in the show?

Sherlock4Love to Prof.M.: I don’t think it matters. Back when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, there was no such designation as Asperger’s. I mean, I guess it’s possible that he’d be on the autism spectrum.

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