Hot for Teacher, page 18
She heard a male voice and then another. From above, a bright light shone down on her head, blinding her eyes.
“What the?” then a delighted laugh. Then another.
“Dad, oh Dad,” called a familiar voice. The younger version of her lover.
“Da-ad,” called the second voice. “Come out here, we want you to see something.”
“Hi, Mrs. West,” Randy called down. “You look great. Are you taking my dad to a costume party or something?”
“Not quite, I’m not expected and I feel like a fool. Is your dad available? Will he talk to me?” she asked, smoothing down her velvet skirt with nervous fingers.
“He’s home,” said the other twin. “And he’s available. Hi, I’m Mike. I’ve heard a lot about you, Mrs. West.”
“Hi, nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you, too,” she said, hoping that the whole clan wasn’t going to show up to inspect her. “What’s your father doing?”
“Getting drunk and smoking cigars and talking about moving to Alaska,” said Mike. “Whenever he has a problem, he talks about moving.”
“But when it’s a real big problem he wants to sell everything and move to Alaska,” Randy said. “Congratulations, Mrs. West, ‘cause he’s got the maps out.”
She looked at the two young handsome men, shorter but very virile carbon copies of their father. She smiled, feeling her foolishness fading away. They looked like they liked her and were going to be her allies.
“I wonder if you wouldn’t mind calling him out here for a minute,” she said. “I’d like to talk to him.”
“Come on up,” Randy said with enthusiasm. “You don’t have to stand outside, we’d love to have you come in.”
His brother swatted his arm. “I don’t think that’s the point, Randy,” Mike said. “I’m guessing that Mrs. West has a little more in mind than just coming up,” he said, looking at her fancy costume.
“Oh, I get it, you want to say some poetry or something like out of a movie,” Randy said. “Gosh, Dad’s lucky. But he’s in such a foul mood, I hope he likes your costume.”
Mike smiled. “No worries, I know he will. I’ll go get him.”
She was left alone in the alley with her thoughts. She heard a barrage of male voices and then she heard footsteps on the deck. She saw a golden pirate head leaning over the side, peering down at her and she took a chance.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?” she said sweetly. “It is the east and James is the sun.”
“What the—why, could it be my Miss teacher lady, coming to call, real social like on a Tuesday evening?” he drawled down at her. “Why I can’t believe my whiskey-soaked eyes.”
“You shouldn’t drink so much,” she said reprovingly, “it’s bad for your health.”
“Lady, you are bad for my health,” he said, and looked down at her, his eyes widening in surprise and admiration. “Nice duds.”
“Tis but thy name that is my enemy,” she plunged on. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So James would, were he not James called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title.” She took the pink book out of her pocket and held it up for him to see. “Jim darling, doff thy name, and for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself.” She tossed the book up to him. “Here, catch,” she said. “You left this in school.”
“Are you the visiting bookmobile?” he asked, with a look that could melt a lesser mortal.
“Something like that,” she said.
“Is the bookmobile open for customers?” he said with a wicked look.
“Very open,” she said sincerely.
He took the book and raised it to his face. He inhaled deeply. “Ah, the smell of culture, refinement and you, Juliet. God, I was mad at you tonight.”
“I wrote those comments on your paper when I didn’t know you so well,” she said.
“We had made love,” he said.
“I know, I know, but I was mixed up and feeling vulnerable. I had never dated a playboy, you see—”
“A playboy?” he hooted with laughter. “Lady, you don’t know me at all. I’m not a playboy, I’m a old, tired Marine, trying to make a living, raise my kids and get over a broken heart. You were—are—a breath of fresh life to me. Newness and purity and hope,” he said, gazing down at her. What she saw in his eyes took her breath away. “I know I’m talking crazy, because I’ve been drinking and smoking cigars and cigar smoke makes me dizzy but believe me,” he opened the book and read, “I’ll prove more true than those that have more cunning to be strange. I should have been more strange, I must confess, but when I met you, honey,” here he lapsed into the now, “I felt my true love’s passion. Therefore pardon me, for being such a jealous jerk, and not impute this yielding to light love, which the dark night hath so discovered.”
“Your point?” she asked him, laughing in delight.
“My point?” he repeated softly. “Lady, I’m in love with you.”
“I know,” she said in a whisper. “I know that now.”
“And I keep asking you to marry me and I keep getting hit in the chin,” he said, shaking his golden head in regret.
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to proposals of marriage from pirate Romeos. I’ve been very difficult, haven’t I?”
“Difficult? You’ve been one royal pain in the—”
“Do not swear,” she cut in, “or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self… and I’ll believe thee.”
“Your point?” he asked her, hand on hip, cigar burning in the dark.
“I love you, James, and I do want to marry you,” she said, feeling humbled by her admission.
“You what?” he half-shouted, eyes wide open with pleasure.
“I will marry you, if you still want me to, I mean if you think you do—”
“Oh, Lady Juliet, I can’t believe that you really love me!” he flew down the stairs and in a second was by her side. He grabbed her and kissed her passionately.
“I do love you, I’ve been afraid to admit it, everything happened so quickly,” she murmured into his searching mouth. “Gee, that cigar smoke stinks,” she gasped.
“I know, I’m sorry, I’ll take a shower real soon,” he moaned, as he covered her with kisses. “I want to hold you all night in my arms.”
“Where?” she asked with a smile.
“Good point,” he conceded, kissing her neck and face until she was breathless. “I can send my sons to a hotel, or over to a friend,” he offered.
“No, I don’t want to put them out of their home,” she said. “Come over and stay with me, tonight.”
“You sure?” he asked her huskily. “Because if I come over there’s no turning back.”
She knew that to be true. He had made an effort to romance her and to protect her and she could not turn down his offer of love again. His pride couldn’t take it and she wouldn’t expect him to. He was so strong and she would get used to his strength.
He nuzzled her ear and caressed her back.
“We’re going to fight all the time,” she said.
“I know it,” he whispered into her ear. “I like a good argument with a beautiful woman. It makes the making up after all the sweeter.”
“Why did you come to college anyway,” she said in wonder. “You seem to have all the poetry and refinement you could ever want. Classes don’t teach it to you. It’s something innate, something that blossoms,” she said, kissing his mouth tenderly.
“This bud of love really bloomed, didn’t it?” he asked huskily. “And much better than I thought.”
From above, the voices of his sons.
“What’s going on, Dad? Do you need help?”
“I can handle this myself,” Jim called up to them. “But boys, you’ll have to watch the castle alone tonight, I’ve got to go scramble up a balcony across town.”
“What?” Randy asked. “What balcony?”
Juliet and Jim walked arm in arm to her car.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Jim said to them. He put his arm around her tenderly; she melted into his embrace.
“I never thought I’d fall in love teaching Shakespeare,” she said, glowing with the anticipation of the night ahead of them.
PLEASE REVIEW
We hope you enjoyed Hot for Teacher - Shakespeare Made Us Fall in Love by Felicia Carparelli. If you did, we would ask that you please rate and review this title. Every review helps our authors.
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MEET THE AUTHOR
Felicia Carparelli is a public-school teacher and writer in Chicago. She has been published in FlexxMag, The Rhubris, Coping with Cancer, Cure Today, Chicken Soup, the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times. Gotham Writer’s workshops have helped shape her writing.
She belongs to the Romance Writers of America, Chicago Writers Association, and the Wacker Drive Writers Group.
She loves Jane Austen. She lives on the river with her Chin-Pin, Presley two parakeets and pictures of her family everywhere.
She enjoys writing books in different genres—romances, mysteries and YA novels.
PUBLISHER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The team at 5 Prince Publishing would like to give special thanks to the following people for helping make Hot for Teacher - Shakespeare Made Us Fall in Love the best that it can be:
Bernadette Soehner, Cate Byers, Marianne Nowicki, Sophie Jefferson, Cayla Rusielewicz, and Lindsey Haggerty. We would also like to thank our Brand Ambassadors, touring companies, bloggers, and influencers that help to promote the work of Felicia Carparelli.
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Felicia Carparelli, Hot for Teacher
