"Is everything okay?" I ask the second I see Talia's name on my phone and answer.
"Everything is fine, unless you count burning popcorn in the microwave." Talia laughs.
I chuckle, relieved that she's fine. I walk over to my couch and have a seat, glad that she called me.
It's only been a day since I left her at my beach house and we kissed. Once the storm let up, I showed her how to make sure all the doors were locked and the security code. I felt bad about leaving her here alone but at least I knew she was safe and far away from her mom and Otis.
"What distracted you?" I wonder.
"I was sketching and didn't realize I pressed the number four instead of two." She explains.
"Do I need to call the fire department?" I joke.
"No. Maybe a delivery boy again." Talia jokes.
"So how's the new place treating you?" I wonder.
"Great. I still can't believe it's mine. Well, mine adjacent." She admits. "If you need me to leave just say the word. I'm sure Rhonda won't mind me on the couch."
A tic works in my jaw at the idea of her sleeping on a couch or in a motel while I'd be sleeping in my big house.
No. She wasn't going anywhere.
"You're staying." I tell her firmly.
"Thank you again. You have no idea how grateful I am."
"You don't have to keep thanking me Talia."
"So, what were you doing before I called? I hope I didn't interrupt anything."
Was that her way of asking if I had someone over?
"You interrupted me grading papers and watching terrible reruns." I tell her.
"Sounds boring. Is that really what teachers do on vacation breaks?" She accuses. "You should be picking up women from bars or something."
"And you should go savage your burnt popcorn."
She laughs. "Oh, come on."
"How do you know I'm not lying to you? I can have a woman with me right now." I taunt.
"You don't. You wouldn't be on the phone with me right now if you did."
"What if I told you I'm not a pillow talk kind of guy?" I retort.
"That's ashame." Talia replies.
"I do go out from time to time, but no, I'm not seeing anyone right now." I admit. I'm not sure why I told her that. It's not like it's her business, but I needed her to know. "Should I be worry that I just gave you a place to have Jackson over?"
"What makes you think I'm interested in Jackson?" Her voice turns seductive and I can feel it all the way to my stomach.
My blood starts to boil. "Are you?" I ask.
I mean, I didn't want to actually know the answer.
She's young. She's allowed to date how many guys she wants. But I'd hate to feel like I'm competing with an eighteen year old for her attention. I already like that I'm the person she turns to when she needs help or just someone to talk to. I'd be a little jealous if she started going to someone else.
"It's been a rough few days," She continues. "Maybe I need someone to distract me from all of it. Someone to make me feel good."
Feel good. My jeans suddenly feel tight. An image of how she looks when she feels good pops into my head. I push it away.
Don't even go there.
All of a sudden she laughs. "I'm kidding." She says. "While a distraction from everything sounds amazing, Jackson wouldn't be the one I go to. I'm actually not interested in any of the boys at Kerrington." She tells me. "So you don't have to worry about me inviting anyone over."
It's a relief. I knew she wasn't that type of girl and I was even more happy that no one at school seem to have caught her eye.
"Caitlin has told me that Isabella won't quit asking about you." I tell her once I catch a glimpse of the photo of Isabella and me on my desk.
"Aw, really? I miss her too. She's a great kid." Talia says.
"If you're interested, you could come over to dinner Friday night? Caitlin wouldn't mind and Isabella would be happy to see you too."
"Yeah, that would be great."
"Cool. Well uh, I'll let you go back to sketching." I tell her.
"Okay. I'll see you on Friday."
There's silence but neither of us hung up. "Bye Talia." I finally say.
"Bye Nick." The line goes dead and I place my phone down my desk. I run a hand over my face and exhale loudly.
We were trudging on dangerous water and by the indent in my pants I knew that I had to stay away from Talia these next few days and clear her out of my head.
I couldn't touch her. I wouldn't.
•••
When I pick her up for dinner on Friday, she reminds me once again that she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Her hair is sleeked back into a ponytail, her skin glows and she's dressed in a caramel brown tank top underneath a matching light sweater with light colored jeans that hug her thighs.
"Hi." She smiles brightly at me when she climbs inside my car.
"Hey. You're cheerful," I observe.
"I'm excited to be around other people." She confesses. I didn't even think she might be lonely in the house by herself all day every day. With it be spring break, she hasn't seen any of her friends from school and the only people she talks to are the people who bark orders at her at work.
I was proud of myself for putting some distance between us, but now that she's here with me it was as if all my efforts to keep her out of my system were useless.
Her scent was like a drug to me; every time I got a hit, I just wanted more and more until it completely consumed me.
"Well my niece is probably going to talk your ear off," I warn her. "So get ready."
"I can't wait."
Once we drive away from the beach house, Talia begins to tell me that despite all the time spent alone, she's actually grateful to have some place quiet and the time to sketch. She mentions she's working on a design for a dress she's really excited to see come to life and that she needs the fabric to make it a reality and because I can't seem to stay away from where she's concerned, we make plans to go out to the store tomorrow morning to pick some up.
Isabella and Caitlin are waiting outside the house when we pull up just like the last time.
"Talia!" Isabella sprints away from her mom and runs towards my car just as Talia climbs out.
"Hey beautiful." Talia quickly wraps her arms around my niece just as she throws herself at her.
"I have my tea ready for us in my room." Isabella tells her.
"Well then we better hurry, we don't want our tea to get cold." Talia says before turning to me and winking.
Isabella takes Talia's hands and pulls her towards the house, practically dragging her that Talia barely has time to greet Caitlin before Isabella is pulling her inside the house.
"Looks like I've been replaced." I say as I walk up to my sister, but I'm not all upset.
"Looks like it." Caitlin agrees. "I think Ryan will be pleased. He was starting to get a little jealous with how much Bella adores you."
"Where's my brother in law anyways?" I ask, stepping inside the foyer.
"Finishing up a business call in our room," Caitlin tells me. "Talia is even more beautiful than I remember." She says and I turn back to arch a brow at her.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, nothing." Caitlin raises her hand and says in an innocent voice. "I just hope that wasn't the deciding factor when you asked her to move in with you."
"She didn't move in with me," I argue. "I'm letting her stay in the beach house until graduation."
"The same beach house you bought for your future wife and family." Caitlin arches a brow at me.
"Let's be real; it's gonna be a long time before I have either. You and I both know I'm not the serious relationship kind of guy."
"You're wrong about that you know." Caitlin tells me. "I think you just haven't met the woman you're willing to go all in with." There's a pause because I'm not sure what to say, partially because I know she's right. "You don't have to say anything... but you know I'm right. "Now, lets go into the kitchen so you can help me take out the potatoes out of the oven. I need someone strong and since Ryan is upstairs, you'll have to do."
•••
"Checkmate," I tell Ryan once I have his king cornered.
"That's the second time in a row," Ryan complains, staring at the chessboard with contempt.
Ryan and I were currently in the middle of a game of chess while Talia helped Caitlin with the finishing touches for dinner.
"What can I say man, I'm just that good." I chuckle before reaching for all my pieces so we can go for another round.
"This is a bad idea man." Ryan tells me, exhaling loudly.
"Not in the mood to lose again?"
He leans backs in his seat. "Talia. Have you thought about how much trouble you can get in for haboring one of your students?"
I clench my jaw together. Talia has been living in my spare house for the past three days while we're on Spring Break. It's not like we're living together. I've called to check on her but haven't stopped by since the first day she moved in here.
"She was in trouble. She needed my help." I tell him, not leaving room for argument.
"You really care about this girl, huh?" Ryan asks.
I continue to arrange my pieces on the board, but don't look up at him. "Yeah, I do." I admit. "She's special. She sees me. Not the me that everyone expects me to be but the person I really am."
I look up and meet Ryan's gaze to find him still staring at me. "I've never heard you spoke about anyone like this before."
"I didn't meet Talia yet."
I don't wait for him to respond before I stand up from my seat in search for the girl who's turned my world on its axis.
"Nick is pretty great, right?" I recognize Caitlin's voice as I draw near the kitchen.
"He's the best. I still can't believe he gave me his house until graduation." Talia replies.
"That's my brother for you. He's always been go big or go home." Caitlin tells her.
"Lucky for me." Talia replies.
"Can I be honest with you for a minute?" Caitlin asks and I debate if I should step in or not, getting a feeling I wasn't going to like what Caitlin had to say next.
"Of course."
"I love my brother. He's the best. But he does have a history with women. He's probably been with more women than we have elements on the periodic table." Caitlin tells her. "So I just think you should be careful."
"If you're done bad mouthing me," I enter the kitchen and glare at my sister. "Ryan could use you for comfort."
"I wasn't bad mouthing you," Caitlin defends. "I just think Talia should know what she's possibly getting into." She clarifies.
"Sounds like bad mouthing to me." I argue. "And there's no need to warn Talia because there's nothing going on between us." I look at Talia. "Right?"
"Right." Talia smiles nervously.
"See? There."
Caitlin holds her hands up in surrender. "Okay. I'll just leave you two alone and go check on my husband." Caitlin says before she walks out the kitchen, leaving Talia and I alone.
"I'm sorry about my sister." I say, while walking over to Talia.
"It's okay," She waves off my apology. "It's not like I thought you were a virgin." Talia pauses. She's in the middle of chopping the top off of bell peppers in half in order to stuff them with ground beef.
"Definitely not that." I chuckle nervously.
"So, it looked like you were upset when you first walked in. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, just Ryan giving me a hard time about me helping you out."
"Hey, you're the one that said it was okay! I don't want to get you in trouble. If you need-" I hold up a hand to stop her before she go into full out freak out mode.
"Talia, relax. It was my decision to help you and if I get in trouble, I'll deal with the consequences. Look, we're not doing anything wrong. We're both adults and we haven't done anything inappropriate besides have a few meals together and good conversation."
And one kiss that neither of us are willing to talk about.
"Still, some might say it's inappropriate for you to be helping me out with you being my teacher and all." Talia says.
"No. What would be inappropriate would be me saying that I'd like to put you on top of this counter with your legs wrapped around me so I can taste those sweet lips of yours again." I tell her. "But I never said that right?" Her eyes widen and I can hear her intake of breath. "Right, Ms. Davis?"
She blinks before pressing her lips together before answering. "Right." She agrees. "Just like it would be completely inappropriate for me say that I think about every inch of you at night." Remi says, but quickly adds, "But I've never said that... right Mr. Cross?"
Jesus.
"Right."
Both our breathing turns heavy and I don't even realize when I'm standing in front of her just a breath inch apart until I can feel the rise and fall of her chest, fell the fullness of her breast against me and her sweet scent takes over my senses.
I lean in, losing the battle to fight against the attraction that's been there since day 1, ignoring the voice in my head that tells me to stop, silencing the warning bells going off in my head and I tilt my head, more than ready to give my body what it's been craving.
"Uncle Nick!"
Isabella's voice is like a bucket of cold water poured over me, and I jump back just in time to catch her as she jumps in my arm. "Hey! Princess! I thought you were watching a movie?"
"I was. But then I got hungry," She looks at Talia. "Is dinner ready yet?"
"Twenty more minutes?" Talia pretend to pout.
Isabella sighs dramatically. "Okay. But that just means we're playing for an extra twenty minutes after dinner." She bargains.
"Deal." Talia giggles.
"You can put me down now Uncle Nick." Isabella orders me and I do as I'm told, placing her down on the ground. Her feet barely hits the floor before she takes off running out of the kitchen and into the living room.
I look back at Talia.
Something has changed.
We would've kissed again if Isabella hadn't interrupted when she did. I don't know if I should be thankful for the interruption or angry.
Either way, it was no longer about whether or not we would cross that line. It was now a matter of when.
Hope you enjoyed!
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