Man Fast: Bergen Brothers: Book One

by Krista Sandor

  Again—add it to the list of things she didn’t know about Whitmore.

  “Yes, I emailed you last night.”

  “I have a Whitmore email?”

  Cadence chuckled. “Oh boy, do you ever. Principal Ramos is a prolific late-night emailer.”

  “I had no idea!”

  Cadence gave her a sympathetic smile. “She probably emailed you about it. It’s a twenty-minute block for first and second graders to get a little extra help with any homework they had trouble with the night before.” She turned to Brennen. “Do you mind if I take her, Mr. Bergen?”

  “Brennen, please,” he said, shaking her hand.

  Abby gasped. “I forgot to introduce you two. Brennen Bergen, this is Cadence Lowry. She teaches second grade. And Cadence, Mr. Bergen is my community volunteer.”

  “I remember you from yesterday,” Cadence said, the twist back in her grin.

  Brennen’s gaze swept the floor. “It was quite a memorable day.”

  Cadence glanced at her watch. “We better go. The kids will start arriving in a few minutes.”

  “Gosh! Yes, sorry! I feel like I have a million things going on at once.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll get the hang of it in no time,” Cadence said.

  Abby handed the key to Brennen. “Are you going to be all right in the classroom?”

  Was she supposed to bring him with her? He wasn’t a puppy.

  His gaze grew playful. “I’ll be sure to take the hall pass if I need to use the restroom.”

  Flustered, she nodded. “Yes, it’s hanging on a hook next to my desk.”

  “Abby, I was kidding.”

  “Right! Of course, you were.” She blushed but not from acting like a chicken with its head cut off. She blushed because of the way he said her name.

  Abby.

  Two syllables never sounded so rugged. Or was that…so dirty? She shook her head.

  Man fast. Man fast. Man fast.

  Brennen unlocked the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine, Abby. And it was nice meeting you, Miss Lowry.”

  “You, too,” Cadence said, leading her down the hall.

  The door to room 104 clicked shut, and Cadence lowered her voice. “He’s early. Our volunteers aren’t scheduled to arrive until after lunch.”

  “He sort of drove me to school.”

  “He drove you here?”

  “We live in the same building, and my car got stuck in the snow right outside the garage. He saw me and insisted on driving.”

  “That’ll throw a kink into your man fast.”

  Abby felt her cheeks heat. How many times could a person blush in one day before their cheeks were permanently stained crimson? “Oh no! And actually, he’s on a woman fast, so he’s the perfect volunteer for me.”

  But the butterflies in her stomach weren’t flapping for a platonic volunteer.

  She followed Cadence into the library. “When do the students get here?”

  Cadence looked over her shoulder. Abby turned to see nearly half of her class filing in.

  “They’re all mine.”

  Cadence waved to a tall boy with spiky hair. “Nope, there’s one from my class.”

  “One! I have eight!”

  The children sat down at a large table and stared at her.

  “Hey, boys and girls! I’m so glad to see you.” She glanced over at Cadence who had moved to a table at the end of the library. “Before we start going over last night’s math homework, I have a few questions for you. I’m hoping you can help me with something.”

  The children nodded and started in on what they thought she wanted to know.

  “Did you leave your hamster in your sister’s room, and now you can’t find it?”

  Abby grinned. “No.”

  “Did you leave your brother’s baseball cards outside and then they got ruined by all the snow?”

  She bit back a laugh. “No, not that either.”

  Abby sat down and looked around the table. She needed to do a little covert Colorado fact digging. “I just moved to Colorado, and I was wondering if you could tell me a little about it.”

  The children started speaking in an excited flurry.

  “Sweet Cow has the best ice cream!”

  “I once peed my pants by the elephant exhibit at the zoo.”

  “I have to chew gum when we drive up to the mountains or my sister says my ears will explode.”

  Abby put up her hands and smiled. “All right, all right!” She looked around the table. “Thanks for the recommendation on where to get great ice cream. Sorry about the zoo. And I don’t think your ears will explode. But we should consult a doctor on that.”

  The children nodded, and she pressed on. “I was wondering what the state flower was? Or even the state bird?”

  She waited a beat. Maybe the state insect was crickets because that’s all she was getting from this group.

  After another stretch of silence, she pasted on a grin. “Okay, why don’t you take out your homework, and we’ll go over a few problems.”

  She drummed her fingertips on the table and glanced around the library. There was an entire Colorado section. She could grab a few books and start reviewing state facts today. But would it be enough? And Brennen? Could he really help? And what would she do if he reverted back to the sullen giant from yesterday? That B-word drop could have been a landmine. Luckily, the principal hadn’t mentioned anything which meant her crazy cackling witch cover must have worked.

  She moved around the group, checking answers and reteaching key concepts from yesterday’s lesson when the bell rang, and her stomach dropped another segment.

  Here goes everything!

  She gathered her tutoring students, and they went outside and picked up the rest of the kids standing patiently in line next to their cone. She waited for every class to enter the school and then led her group inside. The children hung their coats and backpacks on the hooks then filed into the classroom.

  Abby bent down to pick up a coat that had fallen from its hook when she heard Brennen’s voice.

  “Who likes cheeseburgers?”

  What was he doing? Her stomach dropped another segment. She hadn’t hit bottom yet.

  She entered the classroom. Brennen sat on a little chair with the children gathered around him, sitting on the carpet. Had she not been going back and forth between panic over keeping her job and the strange things this man’s voice did to her, she might have laughed at how silly he looked, balancing on the tiny piece of furniture.

  She pulled her gaze from the children and saw pictures taped to the dry-erase board. A bird, a fish, a flower, and a cheeseburger. He must have printed them out while she was tutoring.

  Her stomach did another drop, and…hit the bottom.

  At least she’d finally made it.

  She released a breath, irritation percolating inside her, but she pasted on a grin. “What do we have here?” she asked in her best sing-song teacher voice.

  He met her gaze. “It’s a cheeseburger.”

  The students pivoted on their little bottoms and stared at her.

  “Yes, I can see that.”

  “Do you like them?” he asked.

  The children shifted back, eyes now on Brennen.

  What was he doing?

  “Yes, I love cheeseburgers, but I’m not sure why we’re talking about cheeseburgers.”

  Porter raised his hand. “Miss Quinn, Mr. Bergen told us that cheeseburgers were invented in Denver!”

  Another stomach drop. This had to be the bottom.

  “Is that true?” she asked, meeting Brennen’s gaze.

  He gave her a wide grin. “Yeah, it is. On Speer Boulevard not far from Whitmore back in 1935, a man named Louis Ballast owned the Humpty-Dumpty Drive-in, and he was the first to add cheese to a burger.”

  A little hand shot up into the air.

  Abby pulled her gaze from Brennen. “Yes, Kia?”

  The little girl stood and touched the picture of a flower. �
�And this is the Colorado state flower. It’s called a Columbine, right, Mr. Bergen?”

  “That’s right, Kia!”

  “And the bird?” Abby asked, holding Brennen’s gaze.

  He turned to the children. “Let’s tell Miss Quinn the name of the Colorado state bird together, guys.”

  “Lark Bunting!” the class exclaimed.

  He looked up from the students, and his blue eyes captured her. The breath caught in her throat. The butterflies took flight. Who was this man—this sullen giant who had taken it upon himself to help her?

  “See,” he said with a triumphant glint in his eyes. “I told you, you might be better off than you thought.”

  She wanted to share in this small victory, but her enthusiasm dialed down a notch when that little voice inside her head came to life.

  How many times did you think things would be different with Tyler?

  How many times did your father promise that this was the last move, that this was the last upheaval, that everything was about to change for the better?

  She nodded, grateful for the help, but more certain than ever that she had to stick to her man fast.

  6

  Brennen

  “High five, Mr. Bergen!”

  Brennen chuckled and high fived a little boy as Abby led the first graders out of the classroom for dismissal. He eyed Porter at the end of the line. “How many fire stations are there in Denver, buddy?”

  “Thirty-eight!” the boy exclaimed, smacking him a high five.

  The day had flown by. He’d helped Abby infuse Denver facts into the entire day, and he’d loved every minute of it.

  They’d researched the height of all fifty-three of Colorado’s fourteeners, the mountain peaks with an elevation of fourteen thousand feet or higher, during math. They’d played a game identifying Colorado plants and wildlife during science. For social studies, he read them a book about the Unsinkable Molly Brown, the heiress to a Colorado mining fortune and a survivor of the Titanic. In Language Arts, the children broke into small groups and made-up stories using the facts they’d learned throughout the day. And the learning didn’t stop there. He’d accompanied the kids outside for recess and taught them the Colorado State dance. The always hip, square dance.

  Did he look ridiculous?

  Most likely.

  Did he care?

  Hell no.

  Why?

  Today was the first time in years that when he’d thought about his dad, he wasn’t flooded with gut-wrenching guilt. He’d let the memories flow, allowed the images of his parents to wash over him. With every fact he shared and every morsel of Colorado trivia he doled out, he opened up a piece of himself he’d closed off years ago. He’d felt more whole for the last six hours and forty-five minutes than he had in the last ten years.

  That was the trouble with trying to forget the past. In locking it all away, he’d kept the painful memories at bay, but he’d also deprived himself of the good times.

  He glanced out the window, gaze locked on Abby as she spoke with parents and waved goodbye to the children. This woman radiated everything he’d deprived himself. Yeah, he’d been with women. Lots of women. But there was no connection. It was fucking. Blind, detached, impersonal fucking. He’d never even taken five minutes to ask about their lives beyond where the next party was or where they’d get their next hollow high.

  For the last decade, his primary goal in life was to find the next meaningless fuck to fill the void.

  When he looked at Abby, he didn’t want to sleep with her. Scratch that. Of course, he wanted her. Petite frame. Curves he wanted to explore with his tongue and shiny hair he wanted to twist between his fingers. In just boots and a simple wrap dress, she looked like a goddess.

  But he wanted more than just to sleep with her.

  He wanted to know her. All of her. And he wanted to protect her. He’d be lying if he said that it was just the kids and warm memories of his father that had made this day so special.

  Every time he made Abby smile or laugh, he got the same rush as when he was the first on the mountain after a foot of snow had fallen the night before, flying down the slope, in harmony with nature, at peace with his demons.

  The feeling that everything was possible, and it was right there waiting for him to take the plunge.

  “Earth to Mr. Bergen.”

  He turned from the window. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “You looked a little spacey. That’s not an uncommon reaction after spending several hours surrounded by six-year-olds.”

  He gathered himself. He needed to pull it together. “I was thinking about ‘America the Beautiful.’”

  She cocked her head to the side.

  Christ! He was a tool!

  He tried again. “Katherine Lee Bates wrote it on top of Pike’s Peak.”

  “Which I now know is south of Denver near Colorado Springs thanks to you,” she answered, moving around the room, placing the tiny chairs on top of each desk.

  “Do you want some help?”

  She watched him carefully. “Sure.”

  They worked silently, placing chairs on desks and picking up forgotten pencils and scraps of paper from the floor, and he didn’t want this day to end.

  Abby walked over to her desk. “Are you hungry? I have some almonds.”

  He was starving. He hadn’t even thought to bring a lunch—idiot move—and ended up with the cafeteria’s Tuesday tuna special.

  News flash: it was not special.

  He glanced at the clock. It was a quarter past four. “We should go grab something to eat. We could get an early dinner.”

  Abby moved some papers around on her desk. “Oh, I…” she trailed off.

  “It wouldn’t be like a date. It would be a working dinner. We could go over more Colorado facts.”

  She bit her lip, thinking it over. He wanted to bite it, too.

  He tried not to think about her lips. “I’ll take you to a place with real Denver history. It’ll be like a field trip. You won’t be breaking your man fast.”

  He sounded like a moron.

  She put the bag of almonds back in her desk. “I would insist on paying for myself.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he lied.

  She glanced out the window. “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  Brennen Carl Bergen, you are not a parrot.

  “Yeah, I would love to see more of the city, and I’m starving. I’m always famished at the end of the school day.”

  “You should try the Tuesday tuna special. Then you’ll know the real meaning of hunger.”

  She laughed. God, he loved making her laugh.

  She filled her bag with papers and books and binders.

  “You’re going to do all that work tonight? You’ve just put in eight hours at school.”

  She chuckled, cheeks growing pink. “You don’t hang out with many elementary school teachers, do you?”

  “You’re my first.”

  “We bring home a lot of work. I haven’t watched a movie without simultaneously grading papers in ages. Well, except The Notebook. I put grading aside when that movie comes on.”

  He’d heard of it. Some chick flick.

  “What about the summers?”

  “We get those off, but I’ve always taught summer school. I’ve worked nearly full-time since I was sixteen. You ready?” she asked, lugging the bulky tote.

  “You’re going to need to let me carry that.”

  “I’m fine, Brennen.”

  Warmth filled his chest. He liked hearing her say his name.

  He got back on track. “No, I think your spine is going to get permanently crooked if you hold that much longer.”

  “I carry this much almost every day,” she answered.

  He held her gaze. “Today, you don’t have to.”

  She bit her lip again. Jesus! What that did to his cock! Then she handed him her bag—a good thing. It allowed him to hide his raging hard-on.

/>   “Where are we headed?” she asked as they left the classroom.

  He gave her a sly wink. “You’ll see.”

  It was dark as he parked the car near Larimer Square. An area not far from the Bergen Building in the heart of Denver, it offered some of the city’s best restaurants. He got out of the car and went to Abby’s side.

  “You know, you don’t have to do that,” she said as he opened the door.

  He offered her his hand. “Do what?”

  She glanced warily at it. “Help me out of the car. I’m pretty good at it. I’d dare say, I’m an expert.”

  He shrugged, not even realizing he’d pulled the chivalrous act. “There are still icy patches. Plus, I’d do the same thing if you were my grandmother.”

  It wasn’t a lie—but he’d never done this for any other woman.

  “I never expected you to be…”

  “What?” he asked.

  “Such a gentleman.”

  Neither did he.

  She rested her hand on his. Palm to palm, his hand engulfed hers. She stiffened for a moment, fingers rigid as a spark ignited between them.

  He felt it.

  Did she?

  He tightened his grip and met her gaze. Yesterday morning, if someone would have asked him if he thought his life would change in the next twenty-four hours, he would have bet his entire trust fund that it wouldn’t.

  Thank Christ that didn’t happen. Otherwise, he’d be broke.

  He helped her onto the sidewalk. His pulse raced—and this was just from holding her hand.

  She glanced down at the pavement. “I think I’m good.”

  Reluctantly, he loosened his grip.

  Abby gazed up at the buildings. “Where are we?”

  He’d almost forgotten that Denver was completely new to her. He knew this city like the back of his hand, but it was uncharted territory to Abby Quinn.

  “We’re about a block away from Larimer Square. That’s where I thought we’d grab some dinner.”

  “You promised me some history, Mr. Bergen,” she said, glancing up at him as they strolled down the street.

  “I did, didn’t I?”

  She nodded, and her lips stretched into a sweet smile.

  “How’s this for history: Larimer Square is considered Denver’s most historic block.”