The Dragon's Fate - Roxie Ray Page 0,26

dinner Friday night?”

“Smooth,” one of my cheekier students said.

I shot the class a glare. “You lot can hush.”

They erupted in giggles and laughter. I stepped forward. “I feel a little ambushed,” I said under the cover of the kids’ noise.

His eyes widened in panic. “Oh, no, that wasn’t my intent. This was supposed to be romantic and sweet.”

I burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, I had to give you a hard time. I’d enjoy going out to dinner.”

Holy shit. I didn’t know what might come of it, but I’d just agreed to a date. In my world, that was a monumental occasion.

His face went back to grinning from ear to ear, his smile almost blinding.

Damn, it was hard not to swoon a bit, though I’d never in a million years admit it to him.

“I’ll text you for an address,” he said. He leaned forward and put the sandwich on my podium, then waved at the class. “Have a good day, kids. Don’t give her too much trouble.”

The boys gave him macho little head nods, but the girls giggled and waved. And I was saved by the bell. The class filed out to go to lunch, and I dug into mine.

It was divine.

I couldn’t shake him for the rest of the day, especially when halfway through my sandwich, I got a call from the elementary school office asking if it was okay to give Hayden the lunch that was dropped off for her.

That sweet man. He hadn’t just brought me lunch. He’d brought some for my daughter.

When the day finally ended, I went down to the elementary school—all in the same building. The middle school was on the other side—and got Hayden from her classroom.

On the way home, Hayden chattered on about her day, telling me about something she and Tori did. I kind of tuned her out until she said everyone was so jealous of the surprise lunch she got from the office. “Did you get it for me, Mommy?”

I eyed her in the rearview mirror. “No, a friend of mine dropped off a sandwich for me. What did you get?”

“Ham and swiss. Like you usually get me at the deli.” She beamed at me in the mirror.

My chest pulsated with how happy Hayden was to have gotten the surprise treat.

“I should write a thank you note. Can you make sure your friend gets it?” she asked.

I beamed at my sweet girl, so glad she wanted to write the note. “I absolutely will.”

After dinner, Hayden played dolls in her room while I tucked myself into my bed at my parents’ house and video chatted with Kaylee and Skye.

“I’m feeling feelings and I don’t know how to deal with that.” I looked at them pitifully, and they both laughed in sympathy.

“What’s wrong?” Skye asked.

I sighed. “Jace.” I explained what he’d done.

Skye and Kaylee had both been very anti-Jace in the past. They kept telling me what a player he’d always been. I knew they just didn’t want me to get hurt. “Something seems different with him,” I said. “He’s not just flirting with me. It’s like he’s… wooing me.”

Kaylee rolled her eyes, but Skye had a bit of a change of heart. “I think people can change,” she said uncertainly. “Especially if the right person comes along and rocks their world.”

Kaylee’s disgusted face made me laugh. “Don’t try to play the player,” she said. “I know one when I see one. And you’re not the person for a player. You’re a settle-down-and-have-babies sort of person.”

“Yeah, but who’s to say Jace isn’t as well if he found the right person to settle down with? You should be open-minded. Don’t count him out just yet. You never know what you could learn about a person, but remember, they’re still a person.”

I stared at her image on the screen in confusion, but Kaylee interrupted to fill us in on her latest boyfriend drama and I forgot to ask Skye to clarify.

Early the next morning, I got a text. Good morning, beautiful.

Son of a bitch. I was sure it was Damon, but he’d been scarily absent since being locked up again. He was either moving on or plotting something heinous. But then a follow-up text came through. This is Jace, by the way.

I couldn’t stop the smile on my face. I replied to him and that began a text conversation that went on all day. I was like a teenager all over again, getting little butterflies every time a text came through.

This thing with Jace was