Maizy the Bear Charmer(Diving Creek Ranch 16)(4)
Classic rock played on the coffee shop’s sound system and Maizy smiled when she recognized the intro to Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” finding it so very hard to resist moving to the beat. Her phone vibrated in her hand.
“Seriously? Yes. Tell her I’d like a coffee my usual way, and papas con huevos. You’re awesome!”
“I know. It’s a burden. One potato and egg breakfast taco and a coffee, Lucy’s way, coming up. See ya.”
While waiting for her turn in line, she checked emails on her phone and answered a last minute question from one of her new student’s mothers about the school dress code. A blush warmed her cheeks as she thought about what she’d put on that morning. Lucy had been so right. Sometimes, she needed to do things just to please herself and lingerie was one of those things.
She’d dressed in her favorite black lace and satin bra and boy shorts and slipped the catsuit on over them. She felt naughty and sensual with the rose-patterned lace sliding against her skin with every movement, knowing what her sensible black shin-length skirt and a fitted red blouse hid beneath.
She saved her more casual teaching attire for days where the class would be making messy arts and crafts. The school board and the principal preferred for teachers to present a professional appearance to their student’s parents. Maybe that little catsuit under her clothes was her thumbing her nose at the school board’s preferences.
Thinking of preferences brought Chaz’s phone call from the night before to mind. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d call because he was every bit as appearance- and status-oriented as her father was.
His voice grated in her memory and dampened her good mood a little as she recalled the cold chill she’d felt when she had seen his number in her caller ID. She wished she’d just let it go to voice mail.
He’d quickly cut through the pleasantries. “Maizy, I’ll keep it simple because I know you’re probably busy.”
“I am. What did you need?” Besides a tire iron applied to your head.
“I wanted to ask that you kindly refrain from discussing the reasons for breaking our engagement with any of your coworkers. The last thing I need is more rumors flying around, associating me with that perverted business your brother is getting tangled up in.” He said it as if the breakup had been a mutual agreement.
Several weeks before, he’d heard some particularly hurtful gossip through the Divine grapevine about her brother, Patrick, and his best friend, Beck O’Malley, and Lucy. Rather than questioning if the rumor was true or not, he’d gone to Maizy and broken off the engagement. As the new athletic director at the elementary school and middle school, Chaz had told her he couldn’t chance her family “drama” harming his advancement opportunities in the Divine school district.
“You’re a little late with that request,” Maizy began, secretly glad to give him a start before reassuring him. “I’ve been working every day at the school for the last two weeks, getting my classroom ready. But rest assured, I’ve had no desire to discuss why you broke our engagement with anyone, Chaz.”
“Thank you, Maizy. I just can’t have something like that fouling up my chances.”
If he kept doing selfish, cruel things like that, seeing him at school wouldn’t be as painful as she’d once thought. The breakup had hurt her feelings but she’d come to understand during the summer that she was better off without him. Being free of him might lead her to the life she was intended to have.
The line moved forward as customers received what they’d ordered and either left the coffee shop or took a seat in one of the booths. She bobbed her head as Heart’s “Magic Man” began to play. She had to physically refrain from moving her hips as the song swelled inside her. Music just did that to her. She smiled when she saw several other coffee shop patrons bobbing their heads. No one was standing behind her, or paying attention to her, and people were coming and going all around her in the crowded shop so she let the restraint go just a little bit as the waiting line progressed. A wave of happiness and warmth shimmered up and down her spine.
This is going to be a fantastic day. I just feel it.
* * * *
Spencer Ketchum sat in the booth at Divine Drip, opposite of Cody and Heath. His brain was barely functioning after another late night at the Twisted Bull and then an early morning working on their house. The three of them were seizing any chance they had to make progress. They’d ripped out the carpeting and put down ceramic tile and had finished the exterior renovations.
He was stoked as hell that they were finally painting the interior, erasing the bright color scheme. Several containers of paint in a calm off-white were in the back of his truck and they were tackling a room per day until they were all done.