Page 16 of Home to You
Cole blinked, totally unfazed by my outburst. “You guys moved a bunch of boxes and tables, right? For the fundraiser? He said my dad was complaining this morning about being sore, and he bet you were, too.”
I stared at him for a beat too long, then forced a laugh. “Well. Yes. Hauling all that stuff around was definitely a workout.” I couldn’t look him in the eye as I said it.
I felt a prickle of sweat break out on my nape as I recalled the way my quads had twinged this morning—not from moving boxes, but from the way I’d used them to brace my body as Jake fucked me from behind. The sting in my palm from pressing it against the old barn beam while his teeth found my neck, while his hands?—
I caught myself, horrified at the direction of my thoughts in a classroom full of children.
Cole grinned, oblivious to where my mind had wandered. “I can’t wait for the fundraiser. I’m gonna win bobbing for apples this year, I just know it. And Aiden and I are gonna decorate our scarecrow like a zombie cowboy. And did you know there’s a dunk tank? I’m totally dunking Mr. Marsh.”
“Sounds like you have big plans,” I said, ruffling his hair as I walked him back to his desk to check his assignment, though my heart hadn’t stopped racing since he’d first opened his mouth.
What the hell was I doing?
Cole was my student. Jake was his father. I had no idea what the Academy’s employee handbook said about hooking up with a student’s father, but honestly, if it didn’t forbid it, that felt like an oversight. It was a terrible idea, no matter how you framed it.
As I thought about all the ways this situation was ripe for disaster, a note in Cole’s file popped into my head: after the death of his mother, he struggled to form bonds with female authority figures. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case with me.
I’d been a teacher long enough to know when a kid felt safe. When they wanted to share their world with you, and Cole absolutely did. He genuinely liked me. And here I was, sleeping with his father.
This could only end badly … not just for me, but for this precious boy, too.
By the end of the day, I was a mess of nerves.
I kept sneaking glances at the clock, each tick bringing me closer to pickup time. I wasn’t even sure what I expected. For Jake to pull me aside? Smile at me like he had yesterday?
When I stepped outside, I scanned the lot, my stomach lurching when I didn’t immediately see the black truck with the Three Pines Ranch logo on its door.
And then I did, only it wasn’t Jake behind the wheel.
It was his brother Colt. Still handsome as ever, but sterner somehow. All traces of the young man who’d followed his older brother around all summer had been erased from his features. I didn’t want to say he looked sad, necessarily, but he didn’t look happy, either.
Cole ran to the truck as I followed behind, climbing in with a wave for me.
I watched as Colt said something to his nephew and then got out, shutting the door behind him, his jaw tight as he approached me.
“Hey,” he said, nodding.
“Hi, Colt,” I replied, suddenly hyper-aware of my posture, my tone, the slight chill in the air now that the sun was dipping low on the horizon.
“Mind if we talk for a sec?” he asked.
I hesitated, unsure how to answer. Had Jake sent Colt in his place to give me the brush off? No, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t have. Not after yesterday.
“Sure,” I said eventually, pasting a smile on my face.
He waited until Cole was buckled in and the door was shut before turning back to me.
“It’s not my business what goes on between you and Jake,” he said, his voice low and his eyes darting around the pickup line. “But I’m asking you to please not screw with him.”
My breath caught, and my throat tightened. “That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Maybe not on purpose,” he said, folding his arms across his broad chest. “But I didn’t think that’s what you were doing ten years ago either, and look how that turned out.”
I flinched, guilt washing over me.
“Look,” he continued, one hand flexing at his side. “I get it, okay? You had your whole life planned out when you met my brother, and it didn’t include getting tied down to some small-town cowboy after only three months. Hell, I probably would’ve run too.” He glanced back at the truck, then fixed me with a hard stare. “But you’re back, and a lot has changed since you left. Jake’s not the same guy you left behind, Eden. None of us are.”
He angled his body away slightly. “And Cole? That kid’s been through more than most adults I know.”
