Page 13 of Brewing Brilliance

Spencer is chewing her lip and I can’t stop myself anymore. I step closer so that we are flush, and I pull her lip from her teeth. She gasps at the closeness as I plant my hands on the desk on either side of her. Before I can say anything or do something stupid like sit her on the desk and devour her, I hear a throat clear behind me.

I turn and see Chayse standing there with a man and a sweet little blond. Not wanting them to hear me, I lean into Spencer’s ear and whisper, “think about it Sweets. I think we could make a hell of a team. You know where to find me if your answer is yes.”

And with that, I pull away and walk out the door. I planted the seed. The only thing left to do is see if Spencer will agree to my hair brained plan and to see where this fake relationship could lead us.

Chapter Seven

Spencer

“So,youwanttotell me why Maverick was here and crowding you like he had a right to be that close? He was all up in your bubble, Sis, almost as if he was comfortable being there.” Chayse is teasing as she arches one eyebrow and crosses her arms like she’s ready to wait out my answer.

Unfortunately for her, it’s almost as if she forgets that I’m the oldest and have perfected my “mom look” as she and Emerson call it. I pull up my posture and give her the stern look that I’ve come to master over the years and her cockiness deflates a little. We’re caught in a staring match until Penny gets tired and tugs on my hand.

“None of your business, Chayse. And don’t ask anything else, because there’s nothing more to say about it.” I snap before I turn to Penny to give her my attention. Her smile eases some of the tension that’s got me all tied up.

Thankfully, Cash picks up my mood and intervenes before Chayse can get on a roll. I love how fierce she is, but when that energy is focused on me, it’s absolutely exhausting, and she almost always wears me down until she gets what she wanted in the first place.

“Hey Spence. We were wondering if you would like to go get ice cream with us?”

“Yes, Aunt Spencer. You has to come get ice cream to celebrate since it is your first day, too! Can you tell me all about my teacher? She kinda seems like a stick in the mud.”

“Penny! That’s not nice.” Chayse chastises her, but I can tell my sister is trying not to laugh.

“What? That’s what daddy said to you, and I don't knows what it means so I think Aunt Spencer would tell me.” Penny looks up at them both with puppy dog eyes and I can’t help but think she’s going to put these two through the ringer over the years.

With a sigh and a glare towards Cash, Chayse crouches down and focuses on Penny. “Alright Punk, seems like your dad needs a few refresher lessons on how to be nice. Mrs. Clark is extremely lovely, if not a little quiet, but I am absolutely positive you are going to have the best year with her.”

“Oh, yes. Mrs. Clark is a fantastic teacher. Do you want to know a secret but promise you won’t tell?” Penny’s curls bounce up and down as she nods eager to hear what I have to say about her teacher. Kids love secrets even if what you’re telling them isn’t necessarily a secret.

“Mrs. Clark gets very nervous on orientation night. Some people find it very hard to stand up in front of a group and talk, let alone stay on task and give all of the information that is needed. Mrs. Clark is a great teacher and is super fun, but she just doesn’t like having to talk to all of the parents together at one time because she’s afraid she will forget to tell them something important. Just wait until you get to do some of her science experiments. And if your class is lucky, she may even bring in one of the robots she’s built.” Penny’s eyes light up the more I tell her about Mrs. Clark, and I’m honestly so excited to see how much fun she’s going to have this year.

Taking my distraction to his poor behavior as the win it is, Cash suggests we head out. There’s a super cute ice cream shop that serves ice cream in puffle cones and has shaved ice that’s delicious. The shop opened at the beginning of the summer. I’ve gone several times to appease my sweet tooth, but it’s a lot more fun going with Penny.

Chayse doesn’t bring up Maverick anymore and I’m glad. It’s impossible not to be happy when you’re around Penny. She’s so vivacious and feisty that there isn’t a dull moment when she’s around. But that conversation with Maverick is lingering in the back of my mind whether I want it to be there or not.

After the mad rush to get my room ready, and the actual orientation, I’m whooped. I spend a little longer with Chayse, Cash and Penny before I can feel the exhaustion weighing on me. My home is my sanctuary, and I can’t wait to curl up in my bed with a good book and decompress. I don’t even remember crashing, but before I know it, I’m waking up the next day and instantly have Maverick on my brain.

Last night was probably the most flustered kindergarten orientation I’ve ever experienced, and that includes my first year being a teacher and having no idea what I was doing. Never did I expect Maverick to walk in with Patrick. Sure, I knew ahead of time that Pat was going to be in my class, but I figured I would only run into Maverick every now and then.

He’s been stuck on my mind since that night we were together, but our run in at the grocery store the other month made it even worse. Turning him down was one of the hardest things I had to do. Sex with Maverick is the freest, most unrestrained I’ve ever been. He awoke something in me that I didn’t even really know was there, but now that I do, I crave that kind of release.

Seeing him saunter into my classroom last night about knocked me on my butt. All he had to do was tip his lips up in that devilish smirk and my mind’s only focus was on him. I’ve never struggled that much on keeping myself on task as we went through the paperwork during orientation, but that’s the effect Maverick has on me.

It didn’t help that I ran into Brant and Jasmine all week which has had me on edge. Having my classroom moved close to his was bad enough without having the stress of only having a few weeks to get it prepared instead of an entire summer. And most summers, I’m just picking a new theme. This year I had to get my entire room ready the way I liked instead of just updating whether I wanted to do Dr. Seuss or a different theme like the Rainbow Fish. I decided on Dr. Seuss, and I can’t wait to make the Truffula trees with my class to line the room.

Thankfully Chayse was able to come and help me get a huge portion of it ready last week. I never would have had my room ready for the orientation without her. Of course, I hated that her and Cash fighting was a huge reason why she had some free time and needed to seek out a sister day, but thankfully he got his crap together and they’re doing better now.

But now that they are happily together again, I know she’s going to team up with Emerson, our hopeless romantic, and push my happily ever after. And Maverick being there last night all up in my space is not going to bode well for me.

But oh my did that man smell good. It took everything in me not to climb him like a tree the instant he got close to me. My body lit up and leaned in as if he was a magnet pulling me closer. My hair on my arms were standing on end and I could feel the flush crawl up my neck towards my face.

You’d think him telling me about his past with Aileen would turn me off, but it didn’t have any bearing on my desire towards him. If anything, it made me a little jealous that she knew him that way, but I know he has a past, and I can’t hold that against him. But jealousy is a new feeling for me and I’m not sure what to do with it.

I was so angry that Aileen suggested he was unfit to be a caregiver for Patrick. Sure, I’ve barely known him, but it’s so obvious how important Patrick is to Mav. He practically spent the entire drive to his house and then the time spent in his kitchen telling me all about Pat and his mom, Olive. He adores his sister and nephew, and it makes me wonder if Aileen ever really knew Maverick to begin with.

I hate that she threatened his character and hope she doesn’t cause any grief for him. She’s a newer addition to the school, and I honestly don’t know if she’s my ally or not. She’s close to Jasmine and that shouldn’t matter, but it makes me wonder if she would do anything to cause him grief. Could I possibly fake date him to show that he is with someone who is responsible, dependable and within good standing at the school while also proving that I’ve moved on from the Brant debacle?

But there’s no way it could work. Sure, I could create rules and set boundaries, but for us to pull it off, we’d have to spend time together. And from the little time we’ve spent together in the past, I know that it wouldn’t be a stretch for me to fall for Maverick. Sex aside, I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations and found him extremely intriguing.

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