The kids all leaned forward eager to hear more as Silas flipped the book so it faced him once more and started reading the next page. He continued to use the same voice for the little girl throughout and added different voices with every new character that was introduced in the story.
Sure, Miriam had seen him talk to kids after games on multiple occasions, but he was in his element when he was talking about soccer. She’d never thought anything of it. Seeing him now, she realized he was a natural. The thought of Silas being great with children did weird things to her stomach.
She smiled as he finished the first book and grabbed another. The kids were equally engaged as he read through it and then two more after.
When he was done, he looked over to Miriam.
That was her cue. She walked over to the carpet and stood in front of the kids. “Who loved listening to Mr. Silas read today?”
All their hands went straight up. “Me!”
“And who would like to see him play with the Storm for free?”
Miriam could see the eyes of those children in the front go wide. She started passing out cards with a link that would give all the kids in the class a free ticket to the game with the purchase of an adult ticket.
After every child got one, Miriam let the teacher know they were done. Silas and Miriam gave the class a final goodbye and walked out into the hall. Miriam was ready to go, but Silas grabbed her arm and stopped her in the empty hall.
She turned to look at Silas. The intensity of his stare made her look away, but she didn’t try to free herself from his gentle hold on her arm. His fingers uncurled and slowly rubbed up and down her arm.
It was all too much.
Miriam kept her eyes trained on the square linoleum tiles on the floor. “You, uh, did really great in there. The kids liked you a lot.”
“Miriam.”
She kept going. “You’re so good with them. I bet you have a lot of new fans at the next home game.”
“Stop.”
She pressed her lips together and looked up at Silas.
His eyes were stormy as they bore into hers. “I was the child on the see-saw.”
Obviously. She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
His fingers ran all the way up her arm until they reached her face. He cupped her cheek in his hand. Miriam didn’t pull away as he wiped away a tear that she hadn’t realized had fallen. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She closed her eyes. “But you did hurt me, Silas. You left Waterfront so fast, I didn’t even get a chance to argue.”
“I know.” He rested his forehead against hers. “And I’m so sorry.”
She kept her eyes closed and leaned into him. Her breathing sounded unnaturally loud to her ears as it came in short bursts, and she could feel Silas’ coming equally as fast. Warm air touched her lips with his every exhale.
It would be so easy to temporarily forget the pain that he’d caused her—to close the small distance between them and press her lips against his. She realized that she wanted to kiss Silas. With every second they continued touching like this, the voice in the back of her mind telling her all the reasons she shouldn’t do it got softer and softer.
Until it sounded like someone clearing their throat. When the noise repeated, the fog caused by being so close to Silas lifted. Miriam realized it wasn’t the voice in her head telling her this was a bad idea. It was the actual voice of someone standing next to them.
Her face burned as she jerked back from Silas, who looked as dazed as she felt, and turned toward the person who’d caught them in this intimate moment.
It was a teacher they hadn’t met during today’s visit, and she had a disapproving frown on her face. “This is an elementary school, not a brothel.”
Miriam took a shaky breath and wiped her hands on the front of her dress. While she didn’t like being compared to a prostitute, she and Silas had been way out of line. “Of course. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re lucky there weren’t any students in the hall,” the teacher said. “Can you imagine the angry phone calls we’d get?”
Miriam nodded. “You’re right.”
The teacher’s angry gaze went between Miriam and Silas, who was uncharacteristically silent. “Do I need to escort you to the office? Or will you be able to find your way off campus without shoving your tongues down each other’s throats?”
Miriam wanted to argue that they weren’t actually kissing but bit the inside of her cheek to keep the words from spilling out. They’d be lucky if the Storm didn’t end up on the school’s naughty list.
“We’re leaving right now,” Silas said. He pressed his hand to the small of Miriam’s back to escort her out. But he must have thought twice about any more contact between the two of them because he almost immediately dropped it. “Have a great day.”
The two of them raced down the hall toward the front office, and Miriam could feel the teacher’s eyes boring into her back for the entirety of their hasty retreat. They quickly checked out with the same secretary as earlier and promised to come back and read another time.
Miriam grabbed her keys from her purse as she practically ran to her car. She needed to get out of there ASAP.
Silas called her name.
She kept walking.
“Can we talk about what just happened?”
She spun around and held up her hand. “No, we can’t.”
Miriam needed some time away from Silas to think about everything before she tried to talk to him. Otherwise, they’d just end up kissing in the school parking lot. And that was the wrong course of action for a multitude of reasons. Without a look back at Silas, she got into her car and drove away.
