talking about working out at the gym?â He walked out of the door and left me tempted to follow. As good-looking as Doran was, there was something wrong about him, something about his sexy brown eyes I didnât trust, plus I had promised myself to never again get involved with anyone who worked at the school. But damn, Doran looked like heâd be one hell of a booty call.
I made my way from my classroom to the parking lot, and I received many interesting stares from the boys on the football team. When the short, husky player whistled at me, I stopped and turned toward the chain-linked fence.
âYou better watch your mouth, Justin McGregor.â
He smiled. âYou look good, Ms. Patrick.â
In total Iâd lost eighty-five pounds. It took me a year; however, the last twenty pounds were dropped over the summer, so what the students were seeing was still more of a shock than last year . . . It just kept getting better.
I hopped into my car and hit the Florida Turnpike north. Within ten minutes, my Acura went from pushing eighty to traffic âparking lotâ style, and I was in the center lane.
âShit. I shouldâve gone to the gym.â My phone was ringing. I dug around inside my purse until I saw the flashing blue light. âHello?â
âDonât get on the turnpike.â
âToo late for that. Iâm stuck.â I laughed. âYou shouldâve called me fifteen minutes ago.â
Toni giggled. âSorry, I just turned to the news.â
âNo problem.â I smiled. âWhatâs going on?â
âAn overturned tractor-trailer.â
âAgain?â It seemed to happen at least once a week now.
âYep,â Toni said. âSomeone in another car died. I was calling to make sure it wasnât you.â
âAw, what a friend,â I joked. âItâs not me, but if you want to call the credit card companies and tell them that itâs me, thatâll be all right with me.â
âCrazy girl,â she said. âAre you on your way to the gym?â
I looked around to see if there was any way around or backward to get free of this mess. âNo, I decided to skip out today.â
âWow! You missed an opportunity with Mr. Best?â she teased.
âHis last name is Bess, not Best,â I corrected her, but I knew what she was hinting at.
âWell, you damn sure act like heâs Mr. Best, as in the best damn thing period.â She laughed.
âWhatever.â I brushed her off. âBut he did flirt with me a little again today.â
âI told you that the man likes you.â
âI donât know about all of that, Toni.â
She asked, âThen why else would he say some of the things that he does to you?â
I confessed, âI know that heâd sleep with me, but I wonât say that he likes me.â I added, âThereâs a big difference between those two things.â
âOkay, he wants to do you,â she said. âSo, whatâs the damn problem? You wanna do him too, donât you?â
âThe damn problem is that thatâs not what Iâm in the market for,â I preached. âYes, I find him interestingly attractive, but he clearly just wants sex.â I continued. âDoran doesnât want or know how to be anybodyâs man from what Iâve seen.â
âWhat have you seen?â she asked, hungry for detail.
âHmmm.â I contemplated which example to use. âAll right, last week while we were working out, this chick walked past us and he, without ever looking away from her ass, said âDo you know what I could do with that?â â I paused. âWhy in the hell would he say something like that in front of me if he liked me? Iâm not one of his guy friends. We havenât even known one another long enough for him to be so comfortable. The man isnât ready for me because Iâm not one of those