Page 4 of Ruthless

He didn’t seem at all self-conscious when he said, “Romeo.”

Her eyes widened. “That’s… unexpected. It doesn’t really sound like a biker’s name.”

Jett chuckled. “I’m more than a biker, Ms. Lee, and I have a certain reputation.” He winked at her in a suggestive way.

She quickly looked away from him and not because his actions offended her. She felt too warm surrounded by these men, and she had to resist the urge to bring up her gradebook to fan her face. “So… grease princess?”

Ronan nodded. “They all adore Kayla, so she gets a title. The guys said that even though she tends to get greasy hanging around the garage, somehow she still manages to look like a princess.”

“She said you’re going to let her rebuild a carburetor.”

“After she does her homework.”

“I hear you’re quite the taskmaster.” Did she sound as worried as she felt? Maybe not, because he didn’t seem offended.

Ronan smiled. “I’m not the one who scheduled the upcoming math test. My job is to see that she is prepared to do whatever is required of her, Miss Lee. Any job worth doing is worth doing well—doing it the right way. And yes, she is going to rebuild a carb. It’s a practical exam. Before I showed her how to rebuild a carburetor, before she got to assist me with one, I insisted she learn the theory of carb design in combustion. She knows it cold, and that will let her work through any problems she encounters. Now, if you give her half a chance, she’ll talk your ear off about jets and the Venturi effect. Actually, it’s a great lesson in practical fluid dynamics.”

“I see. Well, I doubt I’d understand any of it myself, and to be honest I don’t see where I’d wedge that into the sixth-grade curriculum.”

“Well, you might want to explore doing that. It makes learning fun,” said Jett.

“I’ll pass that along to the school board, but it sounds too practical for their lofty goals.” Tessa gave a small smile to both of them.

“Okay, we tried.” Ronan glanced at Kayla. “I guess we’d better get her to the office now.”

“I want to thank you for introducing yourself, Mr. Vonn, and you as well, Mr. Saylor, and providing me with written permission. It saves a lot of concern. Besides, meeting you helps me understand Kayla and her situation better.”

She saw a twinkle sneak into Jett’s eyes. “Well, I’m delighted to meet you. Anyone Kayla approves of is okay in my book.”

Ronan rolled his eyes in an indulgent way, all directed toward his friend. “Don’t let Romeo fool you. He’s always delighted to meet new people.”

“Mostly women,” said Jett with a chuckle. “Especially one as… competent as you, Ms. Lee. Kayla already talks about you a lot despite school having just started. She likes you, so we will too.”

The idea that Kayla approved of her warmed her. She didn’t pander to the kids, and some of them thought she was tough. It was nice to hear that some appreciated her, even if they’d never say it to her face. She had mixed emotions about someone like Jett or Ronan liking her, though. They didn’t seem like the kind of guys with whom she could have anything as tepid as friendship.

As she watched them walk back to the bikes, where Kayla sat waiting, Tessa automatically glanced around the yard. Jimmy stood by the classroom door. He was one of the students who walked home. Normally he walked by himself, leaving right after the bell, but he was hesitating, making her wonder what he was waiting for.

“Can we go now?” Kayla asked Ronan.

“You bet. Let’s go get greasy,” he said.

“You’re already greasy,” the girl laughed. “Greasy Clutch Vonn.”

“And his lovely Princess Grease.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” asked Jett in a voice loud enough to carry to Tessa—who was blatantly eavesdropping.

Kayla said something the summer breeze stole before wrapping her thin arms around Ronan’s waist. He used his body weight to kickstart the engine. The throaty roar of the motor rasped, a harsh sound of the bike coming alive. Kayla gave Tessa a wave, then hugged her uncle’s waist again. The bikes moved smoothly out of the parking lot before slipping onto the road.

A twinge made Tessa aware that she was a bit jealous of the warm and obviously supportive relationship between the three. That didn’t seem right—it went against reason, that this smart and balanced little girl adored her uncles who were bikers. They probably had criminal records, and yet Ronan Vonn and Jett Saylor surprised her by coming across as totally reasonable men, albeit a total flirt on Jett’s part.

As she relaxed, she realized that she thought they were both sexy. Was it the enigma of their lifestyle? She doubted either was afraid to walk a bit on the dark side, or maybe a lot on the dark side. She’d seen a scar through the open neck of Ronan’s work shirt that suggested he didn’t take an easy path through life, and Jett had one that bisected his right eyebrow. Was she becoming a romantic? It seemed that those things made them even more intriguing. Both of them, and that was blowing Tessa’s mind because she wasn’t a woman who wanted to juggle multiple men and had never had a strong reaction to two men at the same time before.

Naturally, some of the attraction could be written off to the idea that they lived by some code she didn’t understand. Tessa had lived by the rules of the mainstream world her entire life. To be a teacher, to be respected, you abided by the rules. Even if she didn’t think they were reasonable, the fear of punishment had always been a deterrent for her. And here were men who didn’t necessarily feel that way at all.

Suddenly she realized that the twinge she felt when she watched the bikes disappear was an ache of loneliness and emptiness.

Where did that come from?

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