Yes, Masters (Book 2 of Desire's Den)

Chapter 15 - Mateo

The sight of her sitting in the front of my classroom nearly broke my resolve to not out her to the class as the woman I was falling for.

God, she was stunning. I could feel my eyes wanting to soften as I looked at her. My hands itched to touch her—to hold her. I think a part of me had underestimated how difficult it would be to have her as my student, having to watch her a couple of feet away but not being able to do anything about it.

On Friday, when she'd told us she wanted a break, I had to be honest, it crushed me. I didn't know how it was possible to have such strong emotions for someone I hadn't known for long, but there it was. Emma had this ability to make anyone in her presence happy, and it was hard not to crave the type of happiness that she provided. So, while I didn't know how it was possible to fall for someone that quickly, it wasn't surprising, not with her.

My class hadn't begun yet; we still had ten minutes to go. Usually, I would show up right before we started, but this time, I was eager to find out if Emma would join us. She'd said she would, but it was something else to get the confirmation of seeing her in my class.

A boy sat down next to her and was quick to strike up a conversation with her. My jaw clenched when she smiled at him.

One look at the seating chart, I saw that his name was Liam.

Before the class on Monday was over, I'd told everyone that the seat they'd chosen would be their permanentseat through this semester. It wasn't something I usually did but could anyone blame me for making sure Emma would be close to me? Now, though, I realized I'd inadvertently seated this guy permanently with my girl, which I wasn't fond of.

Emma nodded at something Liam said, and my jaw clenched when I saw the guy start writing something down on the note before handing it to our girl. She accepted it.

As if she could sense my attention was on them, she withdrew slightly from him. That one action made me relax slightly. Our girl was still attuned to us, that had to mean something, right? But my eyes were zeroed in on the paper she was putting away in her pocket. There better not be a fucking phone number on it.

I started the class by reviewing the important parts we learned last Friday, summarizing the nature and essence of ethics before moving along. I enjoyed this, having my students' attention on me as I taught them something I loved. Ethics was probably my favorite subject; it was such an important thing to learn about and a vital part of life—no matter if it was used for business or in general. I think I enjoyed it the most because it was something my father lacked, and I strived to be the opposite of him in every way I could.

Throughout the fifty minutes I had them, my eyes flitted more than once to my girl. It was impossible not to. But the more I looked at her, the more changes I saw in her. 

At the start of the class, I'd been so blinded by my need to see her that I hadn't actually seen her. Now that I did, I couldn't unsee it. Her shoulders were tense and raised. Her eyes were dimmed a little; some of the light in them was gone. And her head was slightly bowed down. 

It hurt to notice those changes with her because I had a feeling me and the guys had something to do with it. We'd put her through a lot of heartache and betrayal this past week, and it was clearly showing in the way she held herself. She usually held herself tall, with her head high and shoulders relaxed.

When my fifty minutes were up, I sent my students off with assigned reading material that I wanted them to be done with before our next class on Friday.

Before the girls could bombard me with questions, I looked at Emma. "Ms. Fields, do you have a second?" Even if my stern voice wanted to mellow out for her, I kept my voice professional.