Titus: Book Two of the Cantrell Brothers Series

Chapter Thirty-Nine

As soon as they were in the classroom, Anna stopped short at just the sight of her husband. His t-shirt clad back was turned to her, his rear end in the air as he hunched over a crying student who she recognized as Blake Halice. With gentle hands, he smoothed away the messy locks of the young boy's curly hair, searching around the area with caring fingers.

“I got her for you.” Anna heard Leesha say loudly above the ruckus in her classroom.

Titus slipped the boy a piece of candy that most definitely came from the little red bowl on her desk that was strictly only for her kindergarteners and then turned to her, a sheepish smile on his face. “You kinda forgot your lunch. Thought ya'd be hungry.”

Looking over to her desk, she saw the sack lunch that was packed with all different sorts of foods that were different from spaghetti. “Starving,” she told him.

Opening his mouth to say something, Titus stopped short when Blake let out another wail from where he was still on the ground, pressing a hand to his forehead while snot dripped from his nose. Anna went to the crying boy immediately and checked the spot where he was holding just as Titus had been doing.

She searched his head until she found a large bump. “How'd this happen?”

“It's my fault,” Titus said from behind her, guilt lacing his voice. “We were just playing catch, and I threw it a little too close to the table. He sorta...uh, tripped and hit his head.”

“Does it still hurt?” Anna asked Blake.

Her student nodded his head shakily and wiped his face with a tiny hand that held a peanut butter cup within. “Y-y-yeah.” He held the wrapped candy up to her. “Ca-can I eat it-t?”

“Of course.” She smiled more at the fact that Titus had knowingly just solved this problem with candy. “But first, we're going to go get some ice to make your head feel better, okay?”

Blake nodded and held her hand as they stood up together. Titus apologized to the boy once again, even though it wasn't his fault and was still there when they came back from the back of the lunch room with ice pressed securely onto the little boy's head.

“It's okay,” Blake told him and then sat down at his desk, sucking on the peanut butter cup with an intense look on his face.

Anna turned around just in time to see Titus dig his fingers into the covered candy bowl before unwrapping and popping a caramel cube into his mouth. “Are you in kindergarten?” she asked, teasing.

“No.” He smiled and ate another one, his lips sucking on the soft golden candy. “But I brought you lunch, so I think I should get a little somethin'.”

Walking around her desk, she dug through the very bottom drawer until she found the bag of caramel cubes. She dumped out most of the bag until the bowl was full and then walked around the tables until each one of her students had a piece.

“Thank you,” they all said to her and Titus before going back to their coloring pages and awaiting the bell for recess.

“And thank you,” she told him before digging through her lunch and pulling out the jelly and pear sandwich that would definitely curb her sweet tooth craving.

He made a face at her choice of sandwich condiments. “That's just gross, Anna.”

“Hey,” she said defensively. “At least I haven't combined pickles and ice cream.”

“Yet,” he finished for her and leaned back against her desk, his jean clad thigh right at shoulder level.

She couldn't help but stare at his lips as he sucked on another caramel. His arms were just as captivating as they moved over her desk to empty the wrappers into her tiny waist basket. While she ate her sandwich, the fresh apple, and then the carrot sticks with lukewarm ranch, he talked with her about the most random things, instantly brightening up her day with just his presence.

Her students asked him all sorts of questions about the baby animals and if he had ever wrestled bulls or not. Titus, in answer, entertained them with all sorts of tall tales about the biggest beasts he had taken down, knowing just what to say to appease her kindergarten class's interested scrutiny of him.

She watched as his mouth quirked into a smile and his brows moved according to the tone of his stories, each movement captivating her until it was as if they were the only two in the room. It didn't matter that there were twenty-four kindergarteners in the same classroom or that she knew Titus still had a long list of chores to do on this list, for in this moment it was just them and nobody else.

“I still got some work to do,” he said after awhile with a kind smile and then leaned forward off her desk to leave.

“Titus,” she said, effectively stopping him from taking the next step out.

He turned around, that smile still on his face. “Yeah?”

Her only answer was to practically throw herself into his arms, their child comfortably in between them. He tightened his hold on her, just like how it had been when they had been dancing at Tobias's and Jane's wedding. Pressing her nose into his chest, she inhaled his scent that still smelt of manure, sweat, and him.

“I'll see ya at home,” she mumbled into his soft t-shirt.

From behind them, Anna felt the stares that were on her back, the owners all probably trying to figure out why in the world a girl would voluntary touch a guy. She didn't care and stayed within the haven that was him until the bell rang a few moments later or that she could hear the kids muttering something that sounded like she was going to get cooties or sick.

“Can we go now?” a little one said from behind them and poked her leg.

Titus pulled back a little bit, his eyes connecting with hers. “I think that's my cue to leave.”

She was captured by everything she saw in those blue depths. His eyes were warm and holding a stream of emotions that she always saw in his eyes. Opening those lips she had been staring at for so long, he said something that she didn't quite hear through this haze she was in.

“I'll see ya at home,” she said again.

“See ya,” he replied and kissed her forehead before turning around on his heel and made his way through the classroom's doorway.

Anna grabbed his hand just before his work boots hit the linoleum floors of the hallway, pulling him back into the classroom. The pair of thin lips were right in front of her with the movement, and she stood up on her tiptoes to place a kiss.

Her own pair landed mostly on his cheek, but just a part at the corner of his lips. She felt him stiffen underneath her lips but closed her eyes all the same, just taking the moment in. It felt so good and so right that she didn't even think it was real. But when she opened her eyes, Anna knew it was real. Titus was standing right above her with a dazed expression his face, and she was still there with him and all her students in her classroom.

The bell signaling the official beginning of noon recess brought her out of this state she was in, and then Titus left with a kiss to her nose. All she could feel the rest of the day was Titus. 

And she fell harder.