Page 27 of Troublemaker: The Big Picture Edition

“Sorry, Miss Stiles.” He twists his lips to one side.

She looks down at her chest and immediately grabs her shirt to hold it away from herself so it no longer clings to her perfect perky breast. I don’t think I’ve ever been so mad at my kid. But seeing her this frazzled when she’s clearly trying to take control of the situation is very entertaining. And hot. It’s weirdly hot. All that nervous energy. I have a lot of thoughts on how I can help her release it.

But I won’t think about it right now.

“I did—I spilled water. It’s fine.” She continues to casually hold that blouse away from her body. “Shall we get into it, then?” she says, still not meeting my gaze. “Into Ryder—the reason we—thank you for joining us to discuss this…Mr. Vega.”

“Thank you for including me in this discussion,Miss Stiles.”

She glances over at me finally, frowning and shifting around in her chair again.

“My dad is a director,” Ryder says. “It means he’s in charge of making movies. And sometimes TV shows and videos for songs. And he used to do things, like for on the stage—like big stages, not like the one here—but he doesn’t have time to do it anymore. He misses it.”

“Well, I’m not in charge ofeverything.”

Youappear to be in charge of my cock lately, Miss Stiles.

“That’s very interesting. It certainly sounds like your dad does a little of this and a little of that.”

So she does remember what we talked about that night.

“It sounds like you do too.”

She clears her throat. “Back to the topic of this meeting…”

Ryder’s hand shoots up.

I can tell Miss Stiles is trying not to smile at him. “Yes, Ryder?”

“I’m sorry I sometimes forget to put my hand up before talking.”

“Well, thank you for saying that, Ryder. It would be great if you could remember to do it all the time in class. I know we all make mistakes, and sometimes we even do things that we might regret later.”

As soon as she glances over at me, I raise my hand.

“Yes, Mr. Vega?”

“Some of us do not believe in having regrets. Sometimes we receive very urgent and important calls and texts that require us to immediately go pick up our offspring. No matter how muchwe want to stay where we are and continue doing what we were doing with the person we were doing it with. No matter how much we may wish that things had gone a different way and think about how great it might have been if it had.”

She nudges her black-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose, blinks quickly a few times before staring at me, rubbing her lips together, and pushing a few loose strands of silky blonde hair behind her ear.

I fucking love her with her hair up.

That neck.

I want to kiss that neck from her collarbone all the way up to that spot just below her ear.

I want to whisper filthy, filthy things into those pretty, dainty ears of hers.

“I think I know what you mean, Mr. Vega. Sometimes we return to the scene of the crime after…taking care of other urgent business…in the hopes that we might find the person we were…engaging with…but then we just get on with our lives and remember who we are and where we are and what we’re here to talk about.”

“Good luck with that, Miss Stiles.”

I’m aware that Ryder keeps looking back and forth between us. He raises his hand again, but it takes Sexy Teacher a moment to realize it because she’s so busy frowning and staring at my mouth.

“Yes, Ryder? You know what—I appreciate you putting your hand up, but it’s really only something students have to do in class or at assemblies or detention.”

He keeps his hand up in the air anyway. “When we’re finished having a meeting, can we all go get gelato? Have you had the Pazzo kind? It’s the really best in town. Right, Dad?”