Page 8 of The Perfect Distraction

Chapter Four

“Thanks for dessert. I should probably get going,” Beth said. She suddenly felt uncomfortable now that Joey had left the room.

“Before you go, we should probably discuss this idea of you helping Joey with his reading,” Colton said, angling his chair to face her.

Crap! Now she had to look directly into those warm brown eyes and try not to notice that their legs were almost touching under the table. She’d wanted a distraction tonight but not this kind of distraction! She never should have said yes to dessert, although it had hit the spot.

“Like I said, I don’t mind. I have plenty of time on my hands.”

“But wouldn’t you rather use that time to…”

“Read? Relax? Explore? I can still do all that and help Joey.”

Colton eyed her closely, almost too closely, and she squirmed under his intense gaze.

“Why would you want to do this? I figured most teachers wouldn’t want anything to do with kids over summer break.”

Beth shook her head vehemently. “I’m not ‘most teachers.’”

“I see that,” he said with a slight smile.

She considered it a victory since the man seemed to dole out his smiles in small doses. “Look. If you don’t want my help…”

“It’s not that.”

“What is it, then?”

Colton looked down at his hands, which made her look too. They were a working man’s hands, strong, masculine, and calloused yet also capable of making a mean strawberry shortcake!

“I just don’t get why you’d want to do this. You’re young, and I’m assuming single, and it seems odd that you’d want to spend your time with a nine-year-old boy.”

Beth popped out of her chair so fast she almost knocked it over. Planting her hands on her hips, she said, “As opposed to a man? Is that what you’re insinuating?”

“I…”

But she didn’t wait for him to finish. “Why does everybody think that the only way a woman can be happy is if she has a man? Hmm? Answer me that. On second thought, don’t bother. I’m leaving!”

“Wait,” Colton said, placing his hand on her forearm. “Don’t leave.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” She felt like one of those cartoon characters who had steam coming out their ears, and her heart threatened to jump right out of her chest. She’d been offering to help Joey, and instead, she’d been insulted by his overly handsome and infuriating father.

“I’m sorry,” he said, maintaining a firm grip on her arm. “That came out the wrong way. God, I’m so out of practice with this.”

“Out of practice with what—being a decent human being?”

Nodding, he said, “I probably deserve that.”

Looking into his caramel-brown orbs, she saw that he meant it, and she lowered her defenses a little bit.

“I was just being neighborly. Joey told me he didn’t like reading, and since I’m a teacher and I love reading, I offered to help. And if I’m being completely honest, I could use the distraction this summer.” Adding that last part may have been a mistake, but it was too late.

Colton let go of her arm, and she found that she missed his touch. Damn it! This was turning out to be a mistake of colossal proportions. If only she’d minded her own business.

“I can understand that,” he said. “How about if we start over?”

She nodded.

“Tell me how you’d like to handle this. When would you want to meet with Joey?”