Page 4 of Finding Happily Ever After
“Wow.”
It was Natalie’s turn to be surprised. She jumped at the voice behind her and turned around to find a man so tall, dark, and handsome like every single romance novel she’d ever read in her life that for a moment she thought for sure she was imagining it.
And then he spoke again. “I’ve never seen anyone who didn’t hold the power of their grades in their hands get them quiet so quickly.”
No way was he the teacher.
Men that good-looking weren’t teachers.
Natalie’s heart raced again. This time for a completely different reason. She smiled a little and tried to appear far more confident and casual than she felt. Because, on the inside, her stomach was doing some sort of acrobatic routine that left her breathless without even moving.
She needed to get control of herself.
“Okay, okay.” The man, who was most definitely the teacher, spoke to the class. He strode to the middle of the room and crossed his arms over his chest. Like magic, the teenagers, who only a moment earlier had resembled a pack of wild animals, calmed down and started settling themselves onto the mats that had been placed on the wood floor. “I understand we have first-aid lessons today,” the man said.
“Where’s Mr. Ivar?” a boy called out.
“I’m glad you asked.” The teacher smiled confidently. “Some of you may already know that Mr. Ivar had a bit of a ski accident on the weekend.”
A round of gasps went around the room.
“Or,” the teacher said, “you didn’t know.” He held up a hand to silence the kids again. “Sorry if it took anyone off guard. And don’t worry, Mr. Ivar will be fine. But he won’t be back this semester, so—”
A round of groans went through the group.
Mr. Ivar must be a popular teacher. But this guy, whatever his name was, must be pretty popular too. After all, he was definitely the hottest teacher Natalie had ever seen.Maybe if she’d had a teacher like—She stopped herself before she could go down that particular line of thinking.
“I’ll let him know he’ll be missed.” The teacher laughed. “But his loss is my gain, I guess, because I’ll be filling in for him.”
“You? Do you even—”
“Yes, that’s right, Zack.” He cut the student off smoothly. “And I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun together. Starting with our first lesson in first aid.”
Natalie had completely forgotten why she was there in the school to begin with.First aid.Right? That was her.
The teacher, whose name she still didn’t know, held out his arm to introduce her. “Class, meet…” He lowered his voice into a half whisper. “I’m sorry, I don’t...”
“Natalie Collins. You all can just call me Natalie.” She smiled, suddenly feeling self-conscious again as she was put on the spot.
“Well then, Natalie.”
It was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help but love the sound of her name on his lips.
“Take it away. I’ll be right over here if you need anything.”
There was definitely one or two things Natalie could think that she might need, but none of those things felt like anything that would be acceptable to say in a high school setting. Or at all to a man she’d just met.
It took her a second before she realized that the group of students, who were now settled nicely, were all watching and waiting for her to say something. Natalie cleared her throat and smiled. First aid was her thing. She’d taught it before and she enjoyed it. Besides, maybe if she pretended that she wasn’t having some sort of internal meltdown—first at the wholebeing in a high schoolthing and now because she was having some sort of intensely physical reaction to the man with eyes so deep and brown they seemed to look straight into her soul—she could get through this.
“Okay,” Natalie finally said. “Let’s get started. We have a lot to cover today.”
Who was she?
Aiden hadn’t been in town very long, but long enough to know…well, at least some people. And he definitely didn’t know the perky blonde with the long ponytail that bounced behind her as she walked around the gymnasium full of kids and supervised the splints they were creating on their partners.
From the moment he heard her whistle and take command of the students so easily, he’d been drawn to her. And if it hadn’t been that, it would be the way she so confidently led the group in the first-aid techniques. She handled their smart-ass comments with ease, and seemed to navigate it all easier than most people. Teenage kids were hard.Very hard.And a group of them…damn. It wasn’t for the faint of heart.
If she wasn’t sure of herself, she was a pretty damn good actress. Either way, Natalie Collins had all of Aiden’s attention.
