by Susan Stoker
“I seriously doubt that.” Aimee smiled up at him. She could tell he was being completely honest, and his story was as amazing and awe inspiring as it was heartbreaking. The more she learned about this man, the more she liked him. They’d talked a few times over the last few months, but this was the most…intimate they’d gotten. And it felt intimate. Even though they were standing in the middle of a hallway with people all around them, she could tell that Tony seemed to enjoy talking to her. It made her feel a sliver of hope that maybe, over time, he might be interested in more.
The noise level in the hallway rose as more and more children began to arrive. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I was impressed with how well you were doing before, but now that I know a little more about you, I’m even more so.” She looked around, then back at Tony. “I have to get going. I have Mrs. Nooncaster’s kids this morning…you know how crazy they are,” Aimee said with some regret.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Tony told her, the hollow look in his eyes retreating at the change in subject.
“Thanks. You were going to ask me something before Annie interrupted us?” Aimee dared to ask.
“It was nothing,” Tony reassured her, not taking the bait.
Aimee was disappointed, but not that surprised. “Okay, I’ll see you later then?”
“Yup. I know you’ve got Mrs. Brown’s fourth-grade class before mine today, right?”
“Yeah. She’s always late picking them up, but if she takes too long, I’ll just get them to help me with your first-graders. Okay?”
“Of course. Whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” Aimee couldn’t help but ask with a gleam in her eye.
Instead of smiling and joking back with her, Tony said in a serious voice, “You’re the kind of woman a man would bend over backward to please. See you later.”
Aimee stood in the hallway, stunned into silence at Tony’s words. He hadn’t given her a chance to respond, but she had no idea what she would’ve said anyway.
Wow. Slowly she smiled. It was going to be a good day.
Two
By lunchtime, Aimee was exhausted, but in a good way. The obstacle course was a huge hit with the kids. She smiled to herself, remembering little Annie. She’d taken one look at what they would be doing and vibrated with excitement. She was an odd little girl, but not in a bad way. She loved all things “military” and “boy.” This obstacle course was right up her alley.
When the forty minutes of PE was over, all the kids were sad and begged to be able to do the course the next time they had gym. Figuring if the kids were happy, and exercising, it was a win-win, so Aimee agreed with no hesitation. Annie had given her a huge hug before leaving the gym, whispering, “This was the best day ever.” Moments like that were why Aimee was a teacher.
She usually ate lunch in the gym, stuffing her face between trying to set up for the next class’s activity, but since she was using the same obstacle course for all the grades, she didn’t have anything to do. Remembering the interested look in Tony’s eyes that morning, she decided to take a risk and see if he was eating in the teachers’ lounge.
Standing in front of the door, Aimee realized that she probably should’ve taken the time to make sure she was presentable before coming to lunch. She could feel some of her hair hanging around her face, escaping her ponytail. Putting down her lunch bag to free up her hands, she quickly tore out the scrunchie and re-did it. Looking down at her track pants and T-shirt, she noticed streaks of dirt on her chest and there was a small tear in her pants at the knee.
She’d fallen when she’d lunged to catch one of the kindergartners who’d tripped over a tire. The little boy would’ve face-planted, but she’d reached him in time. The tires were the hardest part of the course, and she’d learned to stand by just in case someone fell. The little boy wasn’t the only one she’d had to rescue that morning, but because he was heavier than the other students, she’d toppled over and had taken the brunt of the fall on her knees.
It was totally worth ruining her pants, but at this very moment, she wished that she looked a bit more put together. Aimee mentally shrugged. Whatever. This was who she was, and she wouldn’t apologize for it. It seemed as though Tony liked gym-teacher Aimee, so it wasn’t as if he was expecting her to waltz into the room wearing a prom dress or something. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she might, after all, have a chance with Tony, but made a mental note to always be herself. She didn’t want to change who she was to try to catch a man’s eye. She was just fine the way she was, and if he didn’t realize it, it’d be his loss, not hers.
Grabbing her lunch bag from the floor, Aimee pushed open the door and smiled at the animated conversation that greeted her. The teachers all seemed to be serious and studious when she spoke to them when they passed off their classes to her, but one-on-one and away from the children, they were sarcastic, loud, and more often than not, hilarious.
Tony was sitting at one of the tables at the back of the small space, and Marci was sitting next to him. She was leaning toward him with her hand on her chin, elbow on the table. At first glance it looked they were having an intimate conversation, but when Aimee looked closer, she could see Tony was sitting rigid in his seat and was looking down at his lunch, and not at her.
Aimee took one step into the room and saw Tony suddenly stand up and give her a chin lift. Ignoring Marci, who was now almost trying to plant herself in his lap, he called out to Aimee, “Hey, I’ve been waiting for you. I’m ready, I’ll just grab my stuff and be there in a second.”
Aimee stood paralyzed for a moment, wondering what in the heck he was talking about. She’d been known to be scatterbrained sometimes, but she knew she’d never forget making plans to be with Tony during lunch.
Never.
No way in hell.
It would’ve been tattooed on her brain.
She watched as he quickly gathered his uneaten sandwich and chips and stuffed them back into the fabric lunch bag he’d brought with him. It had Elsa from Frozen on it, and was most likely a gift from one of his first-graders. The fact that this manly-looking specimen would use it for his lunch was another punch in Aimee’s gut. He didn’t even look embarrassed to be carrying it either. Damn.
Marci pouted up at him, obviously unhappy their lunch together was being interrupted. Tony leaned down and said something to her. Marci stopped pouting and smiled prettily up at him. She put her hand on his hip, and Tony quickly took a step backward, dislodging her hand but pretending not to notice.
The other teachers in the room watched the little drama playing out, but Aimee couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Tony waved at the room in general as he came up to her.
Tony sighed in relief at Aimee’s presence. He’d been sitting next to Marci, wondering how in the hell he was going to extricate himself from her clutches, when Aimee walked in. Marci had been getting more and more aggressive in her pursuit of him, but he didn’t want anything to do with her. He’d heard the gossip; it was impossible not to hear it, as the other teachers seemed to love to talk. Apparently, Marci had a bet with another one of the fifth-grade teachers that she’d have him in her bed by the end of the school year. Tony didn’t know what the bet was for, but he didn’t want any part of the pretty-but-she-knew-it teacher.
He much preferred Aimee’s understated beauty. She took the girl-next-door to the next level. Tony could usually control his libido and desires, but something about Aimee got to him.
He shook his head and tried to concentrate on getting away from the teachers’ lounge without doing something embarrassing, like going down on his knees and thanking her for rescuing him from Marci’s grasp.
Aimee didn’t usually eat in the teachers’ lounge, but Tony took her presence as a sign that he needed to get his head out of his ass and finally ask her out. He’d almost done it that morning before they’d been interrupted by Annie.
But when Aimee had flat-out asked him what he was g
oing to say before Annie came up to them, the time hadn’t seemed right. It was ridiculous. He was a grown man, an Army vet, Special Forces at that, and he’d seen way too many horrible things in his life. Why was he hesitating about asking Aimee out?
Bless the woman, when he reached her in the doorway, she didn’t contradict him or otherwise make it obvious he’d made up the meeting to get away from Marci. She simply smiled at him and turned around and pushed the door open.
“Ready to go?”
“After you,” Tony gestured and held the door open. He tried not to peek at her ass as she walked in front of him, but couldn’t help it. She had an ass men would fight wars over.
When the door had shut behind them, she peered up at him mischievously. “Not that I don’t want to eat with you…but I’m assuming there’s a story behind this lunch meeting that I didn’t know we had?”
Tony sighed. “Yeah. Marci won’t take a hint that I’m not interested in her.”
Aimee nodded as if she knew that was what he was going to say and understood completely. It wasn’t as if Marci’s pursuit of him was a secret. “I’m not sure why you’re not interested in her. She’s tall, skinny, and blonde. She has big boobs, and she obviously wants you.”
Tony stopped in front of the gym and pulled open the door, holding it ajar for Aimee once again. “Honestly? She’s so not my type.”
He laughed at the blatant look of disbelief Aimee gave him. “Seriously,” he defended himself, “she might be pretty, but she knows it. She’s spoiled and accustomed to using her looks to have men fall all over her. I’ve seen her in action. One of her fifth-graders’ fathers was upset over something, and she pulled her shirt down a bit and fluttered her eyes at him, and by the time the man left, he had no idea what had happened. Amazingly, she’s a good teacher, but I have no desire to get caught in her web.”
They walked to the bleachers and sat on the second row, propping their feet up on the first bench and tucking into their lunches.
“So, what is your type then?” Aimee asked seriously. “I thought all guys liked that sort of thing.”
Tony’s hand halted halfway to his mouth and he turned to Aimee in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
“Well, yeah,” Aimee stammered. “I mean, I’ve seen it over and over again. First in the Army…anytime I went out with friends, the soldiers flocked to the women who were wearing high heels, skimpy clothes, and a ton of makeup. And if they had fake boobs, all the better. They never left the bar alone. Then after, in college, it was the same thing. The girls who went out of their way to be sexy always had boyfriends.”
Tony put down his sandwich and turned sideways on his seat toward Aimee. He waited until she looked up at him. She was being completely honest with him, not fishing for compliments or otherwise trying to flirt.
It was crazy.
It was unbelievable.
It was a total turn on.
She had no idea that he’d been drooling over her since the moment he’d met her at the beginning of the school year. Six months of him trying to drop hints and make her see that he was interested, and she still had no clue. It should’ve irritated him, but instead it made him understand that she was a woman who, because she played no games, didn’t understand the games. The best thing he could do was be upfront and honest. He might strike out, but at least she’d know straight off that he was interested in her.
“My type? I don’t suppose I have a body type that I’m always attracted to. I’ve been attracted to chubby women, tall women, short women…I once fell in love with an Indian woman I met when I was stationed overseas. It’s not the outward package that interests me, Aimee, it’s what inside her that matters to me.”
Aimee crossed her arms over her chest and scowled up at him adorably. “Are you telling me that you wouldn’t care if a woman weighed six hundred pounds as long as she was a good person?”
“No, not necessarily,” he returned immediately. “There’s a certain amount of sexual attraction that I need to feel toward a woman before deciding we’re compatible for something long term. But that sexual attraction is dependent on me liking her personality.” Seeing she wasn’t buying it, he switched gears. “Let me give you a concrete example. Let’s take Marci. I think we can both agree she’s pretty, right?”
Aimee nodded reluctantly.
“Right, so she’s good looking, as you said, tall, blonde, and stacked. But she uses people. Parents, the principal, other teachers, probably even the kids if she could. I don’t like that. I don’t do one-night stands, Aimee. I’m thirty-two, that’s not what I want in a relationship.”
“No one said you had to marry her. I’m sure she would be glad to date you, even if it didn’t end with a forever relationship.” Aimee put both hands in the air and finger-quoted the word relationship as she said it. Tony wanted to laugh, but knew they were in the middle of a serious conversation.
“I admit that if I was ten years younger, I probably wouldn’t have hesitated. I had my share of one-night stands and screwing any woman who threw herself at me. But, Aimee, that’s not me now. I want to find a woman I can talk to. Someone I can eat dinner with and laugh over the funny things that happened to us since we last saw each other. I want her to meet my friends and my family. I want to like her. I respect Marci for the teacher she is, but I in no way want to have her on my arm when we meet my friends. She’s manipulative, and I can imagine that the second she ‘gets’ me, she’ll be trying to find her next target. She tried to manipulate me into making a move on her in the teachers’ lounge before you got there.”
“How?”
Seeing the way Aimee frowned when he’d admitted the other woman was trying to get to him made him feel better. She didn’t comment on his relationship remark, but he could tell she was pleased with his answer. Tony wasn’t sure it was jealousy he was seeing in her eyes when he’d mentioned being with Marci, but he’d work with what he could get. “Just now, she leaned against me reaching for the salt, making sure her tit pressed into my arm. Other instances include how she usually wears enough perfume to choke a horse, thinking it’ll turn me on. She even once claimed her car was acting up and asked if I would check it for her at the end of the day.”
“Bitch,” Aimee murmured under her breath.
Tony smiled, but once again, didn’t comment on it. He had a point to make. “You want to know what kind of woman I’m attracted to?” Not giving her a chance to respond, he made his move, wanting Aimee to know without a doubt that he wanted to date her. “Petite women who fit snugly against my side. There’s something about the thought of being able to look down at a woman and seeing her rise up on her tiptoes to reach my mouth, that turns me on. I don’t usually care about hair color, but long brown hair is sexy as hell, even when it’s up in a ponytail.” His eyes went to her head, knowing she was watching him.
“I can’t help but think about taking it down and seeing it fall against her back, and maybe my own skin.”
Aimee opened her mouth to say something, but Tony kept going. He was neck-deep in it now, he might as well go all the way. He’d chickened out that morning, but Marci’s actions in the lounge made him realize he needed to suck it up and make a move. If Aimee wasn’t interested, she wasn’t interested, but he thought he saw something in her eyes that hinted that she was.
“As for clothes, I’ve never been a fan of high heels. They look painful as all get out and I’ve seen way too many women roll an ankle wearing them. And while I admit to enjoying and appreciating seeing a woman all dressed up, making an effort for her man, I know that’s not a twenty-four/seven reality. I’ve been around enough females to know they’re much more comfortable in sweats and a T-shirt. I’d take comfortable and relaxed over stressed, anxious, and made-up any day. And when I start dating someone, I’ll see a lot more of her in comfy clothes than dressed to the nines. If I’m attracted to her while she’s dressed down, I know I’ll have my socks knocked off when she puts in the effort. And I have no problem lettin
g her know that her effort is more than worth it.”
Tony took a deep breath, then continued, winding down. “It’s like this. If I have filet mignon every day, it gets old. It loses that something special. So when I do order it, I appreciate it more and it’s a treat. Does that make sense?”
“Did you just compare a dressed-up woman up to a slab of meat?”
Tony chuckled. It figured she’d call him on his bad choice of words. “I guess I did. It probably wasn’t the best analogy, huh? In case you haven’t figured this out, in my bumbling way of trying to say it, I’m attracted to you, Aimee.”
The words lay between them and he saw Aimee swallow hard once. Then twice.
“I don’t think I own a dress,” she finally blurted out.
“I don’t care.”
Aimee looked away for a long moment, then turned back to him. “I’m attracted to you too.”
“Well, whew!” Tony pantomimed wiping his brow. “That makes this a lot less awkward.”
She smiled at him and rolled her eyes. “As if I wouldn’t be.”
“You’d be surprised,” Tony told her, pausing to take a bite of his sandwich. He felt much more comfortable now. He’d told her he was attracted to her, and it was out in the open. It was even better that apparently she felt the same, and wasn’t afraid to tell him. “The long hair and beard isn’t exactly the most popular thing among elementary school teachers these days. Not to mention, have you seen those posts online where they talk about how many germs can be hanging out in facial hair?”
Aimee laughed. “Yeah, although the one about ‘glitter beards’ seems right up your alley.”
“Evil. Glitter is the devil,” Tony returned, somehow keeping a straight face. “I wouldn’t let anyone, no matter how much I wanted to impress her, get near me with glitter.”
