A Younger Man

Fifteen minutes later she pulled up in front of the boys’ elementary school and couldn’t help but notice what a difference a day made. Unlike yesterday, when they’d begged her to stay with them, this time, they hardly took time to kiss her goodbye before they grabbed their backpacks and burst from the car with huge grins on their identical faces. Their two new twin friends ran to meet them, and Natalie realized with amusement that she was all but forgotten.

With two hours to spare before she had to report for work, all she wanted to do was go to the university library and begin researching possible topics for her term paper for her archeology class. Unfortunately she still had a flat that had to be repaired, all because Derek was nowhere to be found. She hoped he was enjoying his life in the Caribbean with no responsibility, she thought grimly. She and his sons were doing just fine without him.

The old resentment stirred at the thought of his abandonment of them, but as she finally stepped into the university library, she was relieved to discover she wasn’t nearly as angry as she’d once been. And there was only one reason for that—after all these years, she was finally in college.

Still unable to believe it, she hurried into the library with a light step and a smile on her face. When Max Sullivan had told the class about the term paper that was due at the end of the semester, her younger classmates had grumbled about the amount of work they would have to do, but she’d been waiting for eighteen years for the chance to do just such an assignment, and she couldn’t have been happier. Finding a small alcove close to the archeological section, she went to work.

Lost in an ancient tomb filled with fascinating details about a dig in Peru, Natalie didn’t even notice the other students who quietly passed her alcove. Then she felt the touch of eyes. Glancing up, she gasped in surprise. “Professor Sullivan!”

A pained look wrinkled his brow. “Please…call me Max. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not hung up on titles.”

When his mouth curled into that quick, engaging smile that always seemed to knock the air right out of her lungs, she couldn’t seem to drag her gaze from the sensuous curve of his mouth. Lord, he was good-looking! If only he wasn’t so young…

The thought shocked her. What was she doing? She didn’t care if he was forty and as dependable as the sunrise. He was her teacher. And she wasn’t looking for a man! How many times did she have to remind herself of that?

“Natalie?”

She blinked, and her gaze flew to his. She took one look at the amusement dancing in his eyes and realized too late that he obviously knew exactly what kind of effect he had on her and every other woman who had any estrogen in her veins. Mortified, she just barely held back a groan. What was it about him that had her acting like some kind of starstruck teenybopper? She had to stop this!

Cursing the hot color in her cheeks, she straightened her shoulders. “I beg your pardon, Professor. Did you say something? I was up late last night working on my homework and my brain’s not working very well today.”

“You’ve found my secret hiding place,” he said, grinning. “Do you mind if I join you? Feel free to tell me to take a hike if you need the space to yourself. You were here first, and I don’t want to intrude.”

She should have sent him on his way. It certainly would have been the wise thing to do, considering the way her heart seemed to skip a beat every time her eyes met his. He knew exactly what she was doing by insisting on calling him Professor, and she had a sneaky feeling he was just biding his time. For no other reason than that, the last thing she should have done was share a table with him in a secluded nook of the library. But when she opened her mouth to tell him she worked better alone, she heard herself say instead, “Of course you’re not intruding. I just didn’t expect to see anyone I knew.”

“I always come here when I need to jump-start my creativity,” he said as he pulled out the chair directly across the table from her. With an animal grace that was incredibly sexy, he dropped into the chair and stretched out his long legs.

Underneath the table, his foot innocently brushed against hers. Just that quickly, the air in the alcove grew much more intimate. If he noticed that she’d gone as still as a post, he gave no notice. Instead he nodded at the book open before her on the table. “Are you working on your term paper already?”

“I can’t afford to get behind,” she said simply. “I have to be at work in an hour, but I thought I’d at least get started.” Cocking her head at him, she frowned. “What about you? What did you mean…you come here to jump-start your creativity?”

He grimaced. “Writer’s block.”

“Are you serious?”

“Hopefully, it’s not a permanent condition,” he retorted in disgust. “Though it certainly seems like it. Every time I sit down to write, all I do is stare at the screen and get nowhere.” Suddenly realizing how that sounded, he grinned crookedly. “Wah! Feel free to call me a crybaby. Sometimes, the truth hurts.”

She had to laugh. “Well, now that you mention it…”

“No more whining,” he promised her. “You’re here to study and I’m just rambling on, bothering you. I’ll shut up now.”

“You’re not bothering me,” she said.

“Shhh,” he whispered, grinning as he pointed to a sign on the wall. “No talking. Can’t you read?”

When she gasped, then narrowed her eyes at him, he almost laughed. Damn, he liked her! Unable to resist the chance to find out more about her, he abandoned any idea of reading and sat back to openly study her.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, blushing.

Wicked mischief flashed in his eyes as he leaned forward and said in a whisper that forced her to lean forward, too. “Watching you. I was just wondering how everything’s going. What other classes are you taking besides mine?”

He watched in delight as she narrowed her eyes at him again. “I thought you came here to read.”

“No, I came to jump-start my creativity,” he corrected her. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“Oh, really? And how are you doing that? All you’re doing is asking me questions about school.”

He smiled. “You don’t have a clue how fascinating you are.”

“I bet you say that to all the women you find yourself sharing this table with.”

Uncaring of the sign asking for silence, he burst out laughing. “I like you, Mrs. Bailey.”

“Like I said, Professor, I bet you say that to all the women—”

Chuckling, he didn’t deny it. “Guilty as charged. Now that we’ve got that settled, what was that you were saying about your other classes?”

For a moment she gave him that look again, the one that made him want to laugh, then she laughed herself. “Okay. I don’t know why you’re so interested, but I’m also taking English lit and algebra. With your class, that’s nine hours. I’d love to take more, but with the boys and my work schedule and everything, that’s about all I can manage.”

“I think it’s incredible that you’re able to take anything when you have children,” he said honestly. “Do you have any time at the end of the day to just sit down and put your feet up and relax with your husband?”

Something flickered in her eyes, but she only said quietly, “The husband took a hike a long time ago, but yes, I do get to put my feet up once in a while.”

So that was what had put the shadows in her eyes, he thought. Obviously, there was more to the story, but he didn’t intend to push. “If you find time to relax when you’ve got sons, then you must be better organized than my mom was when I was growing up,” he said easily. “Most of the time she was running from daylight to midnight.”

“Oh, I can handle that.” She chuckled. “Algebra is another matter completely.”

He grinned. “Not your thing, huh?”

“God, no! The only math I’ve done in the past eighteen years is balance my checkbook, and sometimes, I don’t do that well. Give me your class any day. It’s a piece of cake compared to algebra.”

“Really? Maybe I need to toughen up the curriculum,” he said dryly.

Only just then realizing what she’d said, she gasped, “Oh, no! I didn’t mean—”

Laughing, he sat back to grin at her. “I was just kidding. The class is hard enough as it is. So tell me what else you’ve been doing besides taking care of your kids, working and studying. Have you joined a sorority yet?”

“Yeah, right.” She chuckled. “Somehow, I don’t think I would fit in very well with the eighteen-year-olds.”

“I think you’d fit in with just about anyone,” he replied honestly. “What about football games? Dances? I know it’s early in the semester, but you are planning to get involved in the social scene, aren’t you?”

“Oh, no,” she said, horrified at the very suggestion. “I’m thirty-six years old—”

“So?”

“I’ve got kids!”

His mouth twitched. “I know I sound like a broken record, but…so? And don’t say you won’t fit in,” he added quickly. “You’ve obviously waited a long time to go to college. It should be about more than studying, don’t you think?”

He had a point, one that Natalie hadn’t considered. She had waited years to go to college. Why shouldn’t she enjoy it? Just because she was a little older and had children didn’t mean she couldn’t be a part of university life like the rest of the freshmen in her class.

“I’ll think about it,” she promised.

“Good.” Glancing at the clock on the wall across from their alcove, he said, “I hate to break this up, but don’t you have to get to work?”

Natalie took one look at the clock and gasped. “Oh, my God! Where did the time go? I’ve got to go!”

“Time flies when you’re having fun,” he called after her as she snatched up her things and ran for the door. “Have a good day!”

Never looking back, she waved and disappeared from sight. Chuckling, Max sat back with a smile on his face. As a quiet stillness settled over the small alcove, he should have turned his attention back to the reading he’d come to do. Instead all he could think of was that he’d never be able to sit in his favorite alcove again without thinking of Natalie.

Racing down Main Street, every tick of the clock echoing in her head, Natalie groaned when the traffic light thirty feet in front of her abruptly turned red. She had no choice but to hit the brakes. She was going to be late. Resigned, she knew she had no one to blame but herself. She’d lost track of the time talking to Max.

No, she corrected herself as she raced into the parking lot of Finn’s, the restaurant where she worked. She hadn’t just lost track of time—she’d forgotten about it altogether. When Max turned his blue eyes on her and grinned, he made her forget her own name. Did he realize that? Just thinking about it mortified her.

When she pulled open the back door of the restaurant and stepped into the kitchen, she wasn’t surprised when Sam Finnegan, her boss, immediately spied her. His office had a wall of windows that gave him a bird’s-eye view of the kitchen, and it didn’t matter how busy he was at his desk, he saw everyone who came and went.

Looking up from his paperwork, he drawled, “Well, as I live and breathe, if it isn’t my star waitress. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to put in an appearance today. What’s the matter? Couldn’t tear yourself away from your sorority?”

Well used to her boss’s caustic, teasing remarks, Natalie stepped into the open doorway of his office and said dryly, “I’m not the sorority type, Sam. You know that.”

“So where you been?”

“I had to do some research at the library before work and I sort of lost track of time. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, tossing her one of the company aprons that all the waitresses wore. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. You get your head stuck in a book and you’re on another planet.”

She couldn’t deny it. Everyone who knew her knew she loved to read. She never went anywhere without a book in her purse. “Isn’t it awful?” she said with a grin. “I’ve got a whole new library to explore. I’m loving it.”

When he just sniffed and gave her his patented scowl, she wasn’t surprised…or fooled. At first glance, Sam Finnegan appeared to be one of those men who didn’t have a soft bone in his body. He was gruff and sarcastic, and no one in their right mind would ever mistake him for a teddy bear…until they got to know him.

When Derek had suddenly walked out on her and left her penniless when she was pregnant, Sam had turned out to be her knight in shining armor. He hadn’t asked her why a woman who was big as a house needed a job or where the hell her husband was. He’d simply looked at her with those piercing brown eyes of his, told her he had an opening for a waitress, then asked her if she could start immediately. Then he sat her in a corner and had her do book work for him so she wouldn’t be on her feet all day. When the boys were born, he gave her maternity leave and refused to let her return to work until her doctor gave the okay. That kind of generosity in the restaurant business was unheard of in a college town where there were always students looking for a job.

She’d accused him then of being a sweetheart of a man, and he’d flat-out denied it. But over the years he’d given himself away time and time again. Whenever the boys were sick or had a doctor’s appointment or needed her for anything, he grumbled and complained…and let her off with pay. And when she’d approached him about going to college, he pretended to be totally against the idea, then he told her that he’d been thinking about changing her shift so that she worked every other day. He’d claimed that he was going to change everyone’s hours—it would make the running of the restaurant more efficient—but he never changed anyone else’s but hers.

“You know it’s all your fault,” she said lightly as she stepped further into his office and dropped into the chair in front of his desk. “If you hadn’t changed my hours and made it possible for me to go to school twice a week, I never would have had access to the university library.”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” he growled. “You’re not blaming this on me. I had nothing to do with you going to college. All I did was change your shift. And I’m going to change everyone else’s as soon as I have time to work out a new schedule.”

If Natalie hadn’t known him so well, she might have believed him. But she’d worked for him for over five years, and she knew from experience that when he decided to make changes around the place, he moved quickly. Once, he’d changed the entire menu and had the restaurant painted in a week. If he was going to change everyone’s shifts, he would have already done it.

“Okay,” she said, fighting a smile. “I guess I’m just a victim of coincidence and there’s no one to thank.”

“I guess so,” he grumbled. “Of course, you’re losing a lot of hours by missing two days of work every week. And I’m short-handed Saturday afternoon since Evelyn quit. I could really use some help if you’re interested in putting in some extra hours.”

Bent over his paperwork, he never looked up as he casually threw out the offer of more work. Watching him, torn between tears and laughter, Natalie could have kissed him. The rat! He didn’t need extra help on Saturdays—Evelyn had quit two months ago and he’d said on more than one occasion that he hadn’t really needed her, anyway! He was just trying to help her out financially.

If the world had been a perfect place, she would have sincerely thanked him for the offer and turned him down. She was spending too little time with her boys as it was, and she hated being away from them. But money was tight, and she had to make up the time and money she was losing wherever she could.

The boys would understand, she assured herself. And it wouldn’t be forever…just until she finished college and got a teaching job. Then she would be home whenever the boys were out of school, and she would no longer have to feel guilty for leaving them.

“I would love to work Saturdays or any other time you need me when I’m not in class,” she said huskily. “Thanks.”

Not surprisingly, he only grunted, “Don’t thank me. You’re doing me a favor. Now get to work before I dock you for standing around shootin’ the breeze.”

“Yes, sir,” she retorted, saluting smartly. “Anything you say, sir. I’ll get right on it, sir.”

Whirling, she stepped out of his office…just as he hit her in the back with a wadded up piece of paper. Grinning, she went to work.

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