Fan the Flames (3 page)

Sheldon was right. He was attracted to her, and the thought of asking her out on a date had crossed his mind at the school more than once. However, he had to find a way to make Ja’Nael overlook his connection to Timothy and get her to at least accept one date with him.

Would she really hold the sins of his young, immature brother against him now that she was an adult, or had the years spent away from Market diminish some of her memories?

Chapter Five

Brody paused in the open doorway of the classroom. He watched as Reid played on the floor with another little boy. His nephew was oblivious that he was even standing there waiting to take him home for the day. All during his shift at work, he had worried that Reid might still be upset with him for leaving this morning.

He was more than pleased to see Reid interacting with another child and having a little fun. It was a tiny step, but it was something he would take any day of the week. No mater how small the improvement might actually be, this was a huge step for his usually shy nephew.

“Mr. Wagner, it’s good to see you again,” a soft voice said next to him.

Turning his head, he found Ja’Nael standing a few feet from him, looking more gorgeous than she had this morning. He had been so engrossed with the smile on Reid’s face, he hadn’t notice her coming up to him.

“Nice to see you too, Ms. Haughton,” he answered, smiling down at her. “How did my nephew’s day go after I left?” He couldn’t get over how good she still smelled…like warm vanilla. He noticed it early this morning and it still lingered on her curvy body.

“Well, I’m happy to tell you that as the day wore on he started getting a little more comfortable. He stared out the window for about twenty minutes after you left, and it took a little encouraging from me, but I finally got him to join the rest of the kids on the carpet.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Brody flashed Ja’Nael one of his winning smiles that had most women staring at him in awe. However, as he waited for her to react, it never happened. It slowly slid from his face as disappointment settled into his body. She wasn’t going to be easy to win over with his usual charms. He would have to think of something new to get her to fall for him.

“You must know some kind of magic to make Reid that comfortable with another kid. He usually stays away from playing with other children his own age. I was beginning to think it was an only-child thing.”

Ja’Nael gave him a brief smile that lit up her face and made his cock stir inside the confines of his pants, but it was gone too soon for his liking. He made a vow to himself to see it again.

“No, I don’t think I know any kind of magic. I just think he and Mason hit it off. They both love Superman and cars, so Reid fell right into talking to him over snacks.”

“I have to disagree with you. I think I’m right. I’ve never seen him play so intensely with another little boy with me this close to him. Usually, when I try to set up play dates with my co-workers kids, he never wants to go. But look at him after only one day at preschool with his beautiful teacher, Ms. Haughton.”

Ja’Nael shook her head and folder her arms underneath her perfect breasts, unconsciously drawing his attention to their natural fullness. He had always been a breasts man, and hers was a pair of the best he had ever laid eyes on. He couldn’t deny that the sight turned him on. He hadn’t been with a woman in over a year and a half. Ja’Nael’s scent, body and presence had his body on high alert.

Yet, sadly, she didn’t even show him any kind of interest beyond being a parent with a child in her classroom. He wasn’t sure how to approach her as Sheldon suggested.

“I think he’s doing it because I told him earlier that you wanted a good report about his first day at preschool,” she confessed, giving him a glimpse at another one of her captivating, dimpled smiles. “Are you planning to bring Reid back tomorrow? I think it would be really good for him, especially now that he seems to have made a new friend.”

Looking away from her beautiful face, Brody glanced over at his nephew who still hadn’t noticed him standing there. He couldn’t remember the last time Reid was so engrossed with anything. This was the first time he believed Reid might actually have the ability to be away from him more than a few hours at a time.

He nodded his head. “Yes, he’ll be here tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on taking him out of preschool. I was worried about him when I left earlier, but now I’m not with you as his teacher. One thing does give me a cause to worry, though, and it shouldn’t, but it’s still in the back of my mind.”

“What is it?”

“We both know that my brother bullied you horribly during high school,” he said, dropping his voice a little. “Timothy wasn’t the kindest person to you, so I’m a little worried you might unintentionally take some of your past resentment about Timothy out on Reid.”

Brody instantly regretted saying anything and wanted to take the words back as the smile vanished from Ja’Nael’s face. But it was
way
too late for that, so he would just have to deal with the consequences, whatever they might be.

“Mr. Wagner. Unlike your vicious brother, I know how to not bully or single out someone because of their differences. Reid has nothing to do with my past with his father. I can definitely see that being a jerk runs in the bloodline though.” She hissed the final part of her comment at him from under her breath.

Brody opened his mouth to apologize for jumping to conclusions, but the sound of Reid’s excitement cut him off.

“Uncle Brody, you came back!” his nephew cried as he got up off the rug and raced toward him.

“Yes, I did,” he answered, picking up Reid. “Didn’t I tell you that I wouldn’t leave my favorite person in the world here? Who would help me decide what to have for supper?”

From the corner of his eye, he watched as Ja’Nael moved away from him and went over to Reid’s backpack. She grabbed it off the hook along with his jacket before turning back toward them.

He was even further from getting a date with her after his slip of the tongue. Of course, she wouldn’t hold a grudge against an adult and take it out on a child. What adult in their right mind would do something so mean?

She sure in the hell wasn’t showing any sings of interest in him now. He had taken two huge steps back by insulting her, which wasn’t something he’d tried to do with his stupid comment.

“Uncle Brody, are you listening to me?” Reid demanded, hitting him on the arm.

“Yeah, I’m listening to you.” Brody dragged his attention away from Ja’Nael’s hourglass body and focused on his nephew.

“Well, can we?” Reid asked, staring at him with hope in his young eyes.

“Can we, what?” he questioned, placing his nephew back on the floor. Brody realized that he hadn’t paid attention to one word coming out of Reid’s mouth a few minutes ago.

“You lied to me, Uncle Brody. You weren’t listening to me,” the tiny voice whined as Ja’Nael stopped next to him.

“I’m sorry little man,” Brody apologized. “Will you ask me again? I promise I will pay better attention this time.”

“Can we go and get ice cream when we leave?”

“No, we can’t. You know I never let you have ice cream during the week, and especially not on pizza night,” he answered, placing his hand on the tiny shoulder in front of him. “I’ll let you get some this weekend.”

Reid jerked away from him and went to stand next to Ja’Nael. “I don’t want to go home with you. I will stay here and sleep at the preschool like Ms. Haughton does.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, wondering where Reid had gotten the silly idea that Ja’Nael slept at the school. “Why would you think your teacher lives here?”

Soft laughter drew Brody’s attention back to Ja’Nael who was standing there, smiling down at Reid, who had his hand wrapped around her leg. The sound completely lit up her stunning face, drawing him to her even more. He liked how it brought out her chocolate eyes, adding a softness to her.

“I can answer that one for you,” she said, touching him on the arm.

His gaze shot down to her perfectly manicured hand then back up to her face. “Please, Ms. Haughton, tell me what I’m missing,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll be more than happy to let you help me find it.”

Ja’Nael jerked her hand and dropped it back down at her side, and she probably would have taken a step back if Reid’s arms hadn’t been wrapped around her leg like a boa constrictor.

“I tried telling the children earlier that I didn’t sleep here at the preschool, but after one child said it and Mr. Reid here got it into his cute little head, it was the gospel. There was no way after that I was going to remove it,” she said, holding out the backpack for him to take.

Reaching out, he removed it from her outstretched fingers, making sure to brush his against hers for a second too long. She acted as though she hadn’t felt the electric shock that occurred between them, but he knew she had. It was only a matter of time before she admitted it to him.

Oh, she was going to be a hard nut to crack. But he was going to love every single minute of stripping her tough exterior away to find the juicy treat waiting for him on the inside.

Sliding the backpack over his shoulder, he grabbed Reid by the arm and gently pulled him away from Ja’Nael’s leg. “I guess we better go,” he said. “Unless you want me to stay until Dexter comes to pick up Mason.”

He had recognized Mason the second he walked into the room, because last year for his third birthday party, his mother had gotten him a tour of the fire station. They had tried having play dates with Mason and Reid, but they never worked out.

“No, that’s all right, Mr. Wagner,” Ja’Nael answered. “You should go ahead and leave. I think Reid is dying to finish telling you about his day without me around.”

She glanced down at his nephew who was watching them closely with inquisitive eyes. Brody took a quick look at Reid from the corner of his eye and saw Ja’Nael was telling him the truth. Reid was ready to go home, probably because they were having his favorite supper. He knew how much the little boy loved eating out at the restaurant once a month. So, he couldn’t disappoint him.

“Hey, buddy, are you ready to leave? I need to stop for gas before we go home, then we can clean up and head out for dinner.”

“Yes, I’m ready to hit the road,” Reid said, grinning at him from ear to ear. He turned and started pulling him toward the opening door.

“I guess we’ll see you bright and early tomorrow,” Brody replied, watching as Ja’Nael turned and headed over to Mason who was picking up his toys off the floor.

“I’ll be here. Don’t forget to check Reid’s backpack. I put a new list of things in there. He needs to have everything by the end of next week,” she said, without even looking at him.

Brody had hoped she would look back at him, but Ja’Nael didn’t do it. She told him that she wasn’t holding a grudge, but he secretly got the feeling or impression she was. He had to find a way to get his brother’s monkey off his back.

“Come on, Uncle Brody,” Reid complained. “I’m ready to go home and tell you about all the shapes I learned today with the cards. I love preschool and I can’t wait to come back tomorrow.”

He turned away from Ja’Nael and looked down.

“What?” Brody asked, stunned. He sure wasn’t expecting to hear those words coming out of Reid’s mouth. He didn’t say another word. He didn’t want his nephew to change his mind. “All right, let’s go so you can tell me more about your day.”

Walking toward the door, he took one final lingering look at the woman in the room, wondering if she realized what a miracle she had worked in such a short period of time. Smiling to himself, he went out of the classroom wondering if Ja’Nael understood that he wasn’t done trying to find a way to get her to notice him.

Most women found ways to toss themselves at him once they found out he was a firefighter, but she was the polar opposite. Ja’Nael acted as though she didn’t care at all, which only intrigued and made him want her even more.

Chapter Six

An hour later, Ja’Nael was still inside her classroom, going over her lesson plan for the next day, but only half her mind was focused on the task in front of her. She couldn’t get Brody Wagner out of her head. She honestly didn’t want to still be thinking about him because he was Timothy’s handsome older brother, but she couldn’t stop herself. She remembered being in high school and hearing girls ask him about his firefighter brother, but she never wanted any of them knowing she was listening to their conversation.

She wasn’t looking for another reason for those insecure teenagers to place her in their stupid radar. Truthfully, she hadn’t cared about Timothy Wagner or anyone related to his ass back then. If he had disappeared off the face of the planet, she would have thrown a good riddance party for him.

She’d never mentioned how he and his buddies treated her, not even to her Aunt Beverly, who would have been at the school the following morning, giving all of those kids a piece of her mind. The only person who knew was Mr. Shorty, and that only occurred because he had been there to witness one of Timothy’s tirades while she was working late one Friday night at the gas station.

No matter how many times Mr. Shorty threatened to call the police on him and his friends, Timothy held his ground and continued hurling insult after cruel insult at her. Yet, the harder he tried to make her cry, the more she kept her tears at bay. He never saw her shed one tear because she wasn’t ever going to give that bastard any kind of power over her.

He might have thought he had the upper hand when he was surrounded by his worthless followers, but that never was the truth in her mind. Timothy had been a coward who needed to make fun of her weight to make himself feel better. She wasn’t going to lie and say that his well-placed words hadn’t stung or caused her any pain. Most of the time they hit the right nerve and cut her deeply. However, she wasn’t about to allow him to know how perfectly his words hit all of her insecurities that she stared at in the mirror every morning.

Ja’Nael was always the fattest girl in class. She didn’t get asked out on dates. Hell, half the time she ate alone at lunch because no one wanted to be seen sitting with the wide-ass chick from the gas station.

Not once did a guy who looked like Brody ever give her a first, let alone a second or third, glance any time during her teen years or early twenties. So why now was Timothy’s older, hotter brother, out of all people, flirting with her?

Was it as a joke?

She was too damn mature to be playing these kinds of games with men. She’d decided a very long time ago to be happy with her life because marriage and kids weren’t a part of her future. She would just enjoy living out her dream of being a good teacher and leave it at that.

She wasn’t about to admit that being in the room with Reid’s uncle did things to her mind, not mention body, that had never happened before with any other man. He was absolutely gorgeous, but she couldn’t let on that she found him the least bit attractive.

What would that be saying about her?

Ja’Nael Haughton thought her former high school bully’s brother was hotter than… God, she needed to have her head examined. She hadn’t been back in town a week and she was already making bad decisions.

Tossing the pen down on the desk, she dropped her head into her hands and took a deep breath, blowing it back out, hoping to calm her racing nerves. After a few minutes, her body finally started to clear, making thoughts of the handsome Brody drift away and how his smile made his dark blue eyes shine even more.

Shit!
He was so hot that he belonged in the pages of a firefighter calendar for every lonely woman to drool over one month out of the year…shirtless, standing in front of a fire truck holding a hose. She could see him as clear as day.

Whoa
. Ja’Nael raised her head and hurriedly got her vivid imagination back under control. She couldn’t be having fantasies like that about a student’s parent.