Page 65 of Second Start: Family
He wanted to explore her lips forever. He needed to be deeper. To taste her. To let her know…
Her lips parted and he was there, stroking into her mouth, touching her tongue as it met his.
Pushing her jacket back, it fell from her shoulders. She shimmied slightly — a motion he felt in every atom. The jacket dropped to the floor and her arms came around his neck.
He cupped the back of her head with one hand as the ever-deeper kisses bent her back. His other arm circled her, giving him the pressure of her against his chest.
The promise of what it would feel like without the clothes separating them and with gravity pressing them tighter had him turning them toward the desk.
Kenzie stepped back. “I can’t. This is wrong.”
“Wrong?” At this moment neither the word nor the concept made the least bit of sense to him.
“I’m your daughters’ teacher.”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t … dothis—”
Something in her eyes changed even at that oblique reference to their kissing and holding each other. His arms tightened, his gaze went to her mouth. He leaned in.
She sucked in a gasp.
“No. I can’t. Not with a parent. Even if they weren’t in my class like— But they are.”
She pressed her palms against his chest, not pushing him farther away, but not letting him any nearer.
“It’s a conflict of interest. Other parents would see favoritism, no matter whether it was there or not. Not to mention confusing your girls and—”
He loosened his hold slightly.
“It wouldn’t be the first time a teacher and parent…”
He let the specific parallel that came to mind drop, remembering it led to marriage a few years ago. Talk about getting ahead of yourself…
So he kept talking, but he also let her go. “Around here, with people spread out, other people don’t make a big deal of it the way you’re used to.”
She had her head lowered. She shook it. “No, Hall. I can’t. We can be friends and I’ll talk to you about your kids as much as you want, but not…”
Not kissing. Not holding. Not touching. Not loving.
As they stood there in front of each other, without touching, without looking at each other, he squeezed his eyes closed a moment.
For himself, he might say, then no friends, no talking. It would be easier.
For him.
Not for his kids.
What about Kenzie? Which would be easier for her?
Would she have offered friendship if that was hard for her?
Hell, yes, she would. If she also thought that would be easier for his kids.
And he’d let her.
For his kids.
