her with a look so cold it could have frozen water. It had certainly frozen any feelings she’d had for him. She buried them under layers of embarrassment, hurt over being used and, most helpful of all, anger.
The hell of it was that she was still attracted to him. Despite her upset and betrayal, she had lusted for his great face and gorgeous body almost nightly. Even after she had long moved past what she had assumed to be his “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” moment with her, she had used her anger like a shield to keep him at a distance and to remind herself that she wanted nothing to do with him.
Despite whatever had gone on between them in the past, she had new problems to focus on now. After her lunch meeting she had forgotten all about her problems with Noah, though. Forgotten their meeting entirely. She had bigger fish to fry than Noah Sellig. Like an entire change to her curriculum for the summer term and next school year. One that she was not happy about in the slightest. A change that had her hyperventilating in her classroom when she should have been preparing herself to see Noah.
She turned her attention to picking the chairs up and balancing the seats on the tabletops so that the cleaning crew could sweep and mop. As she moved through the aisles, Rory let herself do a little slamming. So much slamming that she didn’t hear Noah knocking on the open door.
“Hey, what did that chair ever do to you?”
Rory whirled around and saw Noah smiling at her from across the room. He had a grocery bag in his hand and his suit jacket draped over his arm. Which left him wearing slacks and a white button-down shirt with a tie. Did he know that a tie was her kryptonite? How come she had never thought of him wearing this kind of outfit? Maybe the fact that he looked so good in worn jeans and T-shirts had blinded her to the fact that he would look absolutely sinful in professional attire.
If he loosened that tie, she was in serious trouble.
“Noah. Hey.” Rory looked down at the chair that she had set down with a pretty noticeable amount of violence and decided that a half-truth wasn’t exactly a lie. “The kids were just awful today. I’m just giving myself a bit of slam therapy.”
He moved further into the room and surveyed her decorations. Rory tried to see the room through his eyes. She really tried to keep the inspirational sayings and the posters of kittens hanging from branches with the words “hang in there” emblazoned on them to zero. Instead, she favored interactive bulletin boards where the kids could make guesses about a scientific theory and then lift a flap to see if they had gotten the answer correct. At first, she hadn’t thought that any of them would be interested in the boards but she had seen several slip over before or after class and surreptitiously see how they had done. The boards were always on future lessons and she noted that a few students knew a little about the subjects when she first introduced them.
The back wall was covered with pictures of lab equipment with explanations of use and safety procedures. One-quarter of each year, the four biology teachers rotated their use of the lab; the rest of the school year was spent on lectures.
He had turned to the whiteboard and the notes she had written there for her classes. One-half of the board was for notes that they all got and the other half was erased every period so she could draw new diagrams and explain any concepts that they weren’t getting. Rory really tried to keep her classes on the same schedule so they could study with friends in different periods.
He turned back and smiled at her, nodding over his shoulder at the board. “I always wondered how teachers keep their handwriting so straight. If I try to write on even a piece of paper with no lines my handwriting slants straight up.”
“They teach us that in college.”
“Really?”
“No.” Rory smiled back at him and tried to focus on conversation as he took two
The hell of it was that she was still attracted to him. Despite her upset and betrayal, she had lusted for his great face and gorgeous body almost nightly. Even after she had long moved past what she had assumed to be his “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” moment with her, she had used her anger like a shield to keep him at a distance and to remind herself that she wanted nothing to do with him.
Despite whatever had gone on between them in the past, she had new problems to focus on now. After her lunch meeting she had forgotten all about her problems with Noah, though. Forgotten their meeting entirely. She had bigger fish to fry than Noah Sellig. Like an entire change to her curriculum for the summer term and next school year. One that she was not happy about in the slightest. A change that had her hyperventilating in her classroom when she should have been preparing herself to see Noah.
She turned her attention to picking the chairs up and balancing the seats on the tabletops so that the cleaning crew could sweep and mop. As she moved through the aisles, Rory let herself do a little slamming. So much slamming that she didn’t hear Noah knocking on the open door.
“Hey, what did that chair ever do to you?”
Rory whirled around and saw Noah smiling at her from across the room. He had a grocery bag in his hand and his suit jacket draped over his arm. Which left him wearing slacks and a white button-down shirt with a tie. Did he know that a tie was her kryptonite? How come she had never thought of him wearing this kind of outfit? Maybe the fact that he looked so good in worn jeans and T-shirts had blinded her to the fact that he would look absolutely sinful in professional attire.
If he loosened that tie, she was in serious trouble.
“Noah. Hey.” Rory looked down at the chair that she had set down with a pretty noticeable amount of violence and decided that a half-truth wasn’t exactly a lie. “The kids were just awful today. I’m just giving myself a bit of slam therapy.”
He moved further into the room and surveyed her decorations. Rory tried to see the room through his eyes. She really tried to keep the inspirational sayings and the posters of kittens hanging from branches with the words “hang in there” emblazoned on them to zero. Instead, she favored interactive bulletin boards where the kids could make guesses about a scientific theory and then lift a flap to see if they had gotten the answer correct. At first, she hadn’t thought that any of them would be interested in the boards but she had seen several slip over before or after class and surreptitiously see how they had done. The boards were always on future lessons and she noted that a few students knew a little about the subjects when she first introduced them.
The back wall was covered with pictures of lab equipment with explanations of use and safety procedures. One-quarter of each year, the four biology teachers rotated their use of the lab; the rest of the school year was spent on lectures.
He had turned to the whiteboard and the notes she had written there for her classes. One-half of the board was for notes that they all got and the other half was erased every period so she could draw new diagrams and explain any concepts that they weren’t getting. Rory really tried to keep her classes on the same schedule so they could study with friends in different periods.
He turned back and smiled at her, nodding over his shoulder at the board. “I always wondered how teachers keep their handwriting so straight. If I try to write on even a piece of paper with no lines my handwriting slants straight up.”
“They teach us that in college.”
“Really?”
“No.” Rory smiled back at him and tried to focus on conversation as he took two
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