Teach Me (Love Me) - By Alla Kar Page 0,22

How can I get out of this? There wasn’t anything I could think of. “Okay, we’ll be ready.” I hung up the phone and tossed it in my truck. What a fucking dick.

I patted the seat and Layla jumped in and over into the passenger’s seat. I started the truck and spun out of the lake. I only had three options and all three were risky. I could call and cancel, but Dad would know I was lying. I could ask Shay to go, but I didn’t want to lead her on. Or, what I wanted, was to bring Sarah with me. Show her off to my dad. But that could get me fired or in jail.

“Fuck. Way to go, Liam.”

Sarah

Liam was perched on his desk when I walked in ten minutes early. His head snapped toward mine and blood rushed to my cheeks. God, I hope he can’t tell I’m blushing.

“Hey,” he said, sliding off his desk. I groaned because he looked utterly delicious. “You’re early.”

I nodded and played with the strap on my bag. “Ms. Shay knows,” I said.

“Knows…” Liam trailed off into silence. “Shit,” he mumbled, running his hand over his face. “What did she say? How do you know she knows?”

I gave him a quick recap. “She is creepy as fuck,” I said.

He laughed. “Well, she has no proof. So, that’s good.” He smiled down at me and I returned a half-hearted one. I hadn’t said what I needed to say yet, because I was chicken shit. “Why do I get the feeling you have something else to tell me?”

Shit. “Um,” I mumbled. “See, I think that we need to cool it. First off, I have a boyfriend. I’m not sure what I’m doing. I don’t know why I’m feeling this way, and I’m confused. Secondly, it’s against the rules and you could get fired. Thirdly, we have someone on to us.”

Liam’s face was unreadable. I wanted to grab him and shake some words from his mouth. God, his mouth. Stop, Sarah.

“You’re one hundred percent right, Sarah.” He nodded, looking at the ground. “We do need to stop. But, I’m not sure I can.”

Butterflies started to dance in my stomach. “But, I’ll try. If you do something for me.”

I swallowed a large lump in my throat. “What is it?”

“It’s kind of a long story. But, my parents are coming down this weekend. And I kind of lied and said I had a girlfriend. My dad doesn’t approve of me teaching and doesn’t think women will be attracted to me because of it.”

Has he looked at his son? Every woman in her right mind would want him. “Okay…”

“I want you to pretend, just for one night, to be my girlfriend. Please.”

How in the hell was I supposed to say no to that? His eyes were hopeful and he was biting on his bottom lip. “Sure. But, what if someone sees us?”

He shook his head. “They won’t. We’ll go out of town to eat. Does that sound okay? I really appreciate it, Sarah.” He reached over and touched my cheek. I leaned into the feeling but before I could appreciate it, he pulled away.

Disappoint sat in. But it was the right thing to do, I think. I sighed, and walked over to my seat.

Liam barely looked at me during class. We reviewed for our map test Wednesday and then I went out to work study.

Cody was waiting on me, two Sonic cups in his hand. “One strawberry slushy for you,” he said, handing me the drink.

I took a large gulp and closed my eyes. Heaven. “So, how did class go?” he asked, sucking on his straw.

I eyed him and shook my head. “I told him that we needed to cool it and he said okay. Then he asked if I could pretend to be his girlfriend when his parents came down.”

Cody chocked on his straw. “No fucking way,” he said laughing. “That should go over well, what did you say?”

“I said yes. Because, I’m a sucker for him. I wanted to pounce on him during class. Something is wrong with me.”

Cody smiled. “Something would be wrong with you if you didn’t want to pounce on the man, Sarah. You had a connection before you found out he was your teacher. Now you are both attracted to each other, you kissed, and done other things. Now, it’s hard to let that connection go. It’s simple math, Sarah. Hot plus hot, and chemistry plus chemistry equals something beautiful.”

I snickered behind