Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
He looked drawn and tired but smiled when he saw Mr. Proctor. The older man stood up and opened his arms to the younger one. They hugged, and I noticed both of them looked less tired and happier at that moment. This put me in the awkward and uncomfortable position of just sitting there waiting for the warm, familiar interaction to be over.
After they parted, Mr. Proctor held his hand out to me.
“Camilla, I want you to meet Alex King,” he said.
I couldn’t help but notice just how striking the man was. He was tall and gorgeous with dark hair and beautiful, intense eyes.
“Hello,” I said.
“Alex, this is Camilla Parker,” Mr. Proctor said.
Alex looked at me and seemed to do a double take, a look of surprise flickering briefly across his eyes.
“Hi,” he said.
I didn’t know what that was all about, and he didn’t say anything, so I put it aside. The two men sat down, and Alex opened the bottle of water in his hands. His sip drained half the bottle before he set it down on the table.
“Camilla is the student teacher I was telling you about,” Mr. Proctor said.
Alex looked over at me. The expression on his face was a bit less than impressed, and not at all surprised. Obviously, they had talked about me or at least about the fact that I would be coming in.
“How are you liking it?” Alex asked.
“It’s fantastic,” I said. “Obviously I’m going to have a lot to live up to, but I’m really enjoying it here, and I’m ready to step up to the challenge.”
“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Alex said. “It’s a great position, and the students really are eager to learn. Their whole world essentially is computer-based, so they know how important it is to absorb as much information and as many skills as they possibly can before they head to college. The ones who don’t have the right basis of knowledge and the skills to utilize computers and digital platforms, resources, and tools certainly won’t thrive and are at risk of truly struggling in some aspects of their education.”
I stared across the table at him. That was an unexpected response. Mr. Proctor laughed.
“Alex helped me out before you came,” he said.
“It sounded like he rattled it off out of a brochure,” I said.
It was all I could do to not visibly cringe when I heard the words actually come out of my mouth. They weren’t supposed to be out loud. That was a great way to make an impression. Fortunately, neither man called me out and just kept going with the conversation.
“He was one of my students,” Mr. Proctor explained. “And now he’s pretty much a computer genius.”
“Only because I learned from you,” Alex said. “You were always there to foster my fascination with computers and encourage me to learn everything I could.”
This was a lovely warm and fuzzy moment I seemed to be witnessing, and Alex was a nice guy, but I wasn’t going to let myself think on that any further. After the mess with Doug and all the nerves and anxiety that had burrowed in to make a home in my brain, I didn’t want to give another man too many thoughts.
The men had fallen into conversation with each other and were going back and forth as Mr. Proctor ate his lunch and Alex nibbled on a protein bar he’d produced from his pocket as if he was always prepared for just such a situation. After a few seconds, I stood and picked up my tray.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I’ve got to get back to the classroom and look into a couple of things.”
I didn’t wait for either of them to say anything before turning and walking away. They were obviously good friends, and I wanted to give them their time together without being the awkward middle person they had to try to include in the conversation. Or the woman staring at the gorgeous man and trying not to think any more about it.
As I headed for the door that led back inside the building, I might have heard Mr. Proctor call my name like he was trying to get me to come back to the table. I chose to ignore it and went inside to spend the rest of the lunch period alone in the empty classroom with my salad.
CHAPTER 8
ALEX
The gorgeous woman with the sexy legs completely screwed up my ability to think. Running into her again was unexpected to say the least, especially since I didn’t even really run into her the first time around. Being able to see that the rest of her was as delicate and sexy as her face meant that she was now in the center of my mind, and I couldn’t seem to get past it.