Read Online Stirred Up by Isabel Morin - Free Book Online

around,
whistling theatrically.
    “Okay,” she said, and he turned back to face
her.
    An apple green bucket hat covered her red
hair, little pink and blue flowers peeking out from the underside
of the brim. She looked adorable, kissable, her eyes shining from
underneath the brim, her lush pink lips smiling ruefully.
    “So?” she asked. “Middle-aged or not?”
    “Not. Definitely not.”
    He must have been a bit too emphatic, and
maybe he was kind of staring, because her eyes widened and she
quickly looked away.
    “Oh, that’s good,” she said, and started
walking again.
    Jason let out a breath and matched his stride
to her smaller one. He’d been making a herculean effort to rein in
his feelings, but she wasn’t making it easy. The woman could wear a
sack and still look sexy. All it took was her bare arms and a cute
hat and he was a goner all over again. A
hat
, for God’s
sake.
    They walked the rest of the way in silence.
When they got to the café and looked inside it was clear they
wouldn’t be getting a seat anytime soon. Every table was full, many
of them with students at their laptops, a sure sign the occupants
were there for the long haul.
    “Want to try across the street?” he asked,
nodding toward the bar he sometimes frequented.
    “I’m game. In fact I could use something to
relax me.”
    “Oh? Why’s that?” he asked, letting her
precede him inside.
    Taking her hat off, she waited until they
were seated at the bar before answering.
    “I’m just stressed, that’s all. Between
teaching and my classes and getting ready for the Praxis exam, I
tend to lie awake at night, imagining nightmarish scenarios that
lead to ruin. Sometimes I do it during the day, too.”
    He laughed at her self-deprecating eye roll.
“This one’s on me then,” he said raising his hand to get the
bartender’s attention.
    Unfortunately, the bartender tonight was Kim
and she didn’t look happy to see him come in with a woman. They’d
gone on exactly three dates last year, nothing more than a few
drinks and one long goodnight kiss he’d tried to dodge, but she
still seemed pissed that he’d ended things. She didn’t usually work
Fridays, but obviously this was just his lucky day.
    “Well, fancy seeing you here,” she said,
sauntering over. “I thought you were avoiding me.”
    Perfect.
    “Not at all. You must have changed your
schedule.”
    “Yeah, I went back to school.”
    She’d complained about her dead-end job
without seeming like she’d do anything about it, so this came as a
surprise. Mostly though he just wanted her to get their drinks and
leave them alone.
    “That’s great. Good for you.” He waited a
beat and then turned to Cheryl. “What’ll you have?”
    “A glass of the house merlot would be great,”
she said, her gaze moving back and forth between him and Kim.
    “I’ll have a Steel Rail,” he said, smiling
his thanks.
    Kim gave him a narrow-eyed look and walked
away. Sighing, he turned on his stool so he was facing Cheryl.
    A small smile was playing at the corners of
her mouth.
    “You going to tell me what that was all
about?” she asked.
    “I wasn’t planning on it.”
    Cheryl laughed, the amused, husky sound going
straight to his gut.
    “I guess that pretty much says it all.”
    “We should probably get to work, don’t you
think?” he asked, all innocence.
    “I guess we’d better.”
    Leaning over, she reached for her bag, the
movement exposing the smooth white skin above her pants. She sat
back up, holding her notebook, and smiled absently as Kim set their
drinks in front of them.
    “I’m kind of bummed about today’s class. Not
enough kids participated, and I thought it was a great reading. So
now I’m worried because I’d planned on doing “Bernice Bobs Her
Hair” the next time around, but maybe I need to do something more
modern. Mix it up a little, you know? One thing I feel really
strongly about is teaching contemporary material they can relate
to, but then we