The Omega Team: Assisting Aimee (2 page)

“Good for you. The kids love PE. I’ve never seen anything like it. I would’ve guessed that most kids hate running around and exercising, especially in today’s digital age. But every single student I’ve talked to thinks you walk on water and they’d happily do suicides until they dropped if you asked.”

Aimee felt herself blush, but brushed over his praise. She wasn’t comfortable with it, feeling as if she was only doing her job. “Thanks. You were in the Army too, weren’t you?” Aimee regretted the question as soon as it left her mouth, because Tony’s entire demeanor changed. It was if a curtain fell over his expression, as it turned blank.

“Yeah. I did some time.”

Wanting to make it right, but not knowing exactly how, Aimee did what she usually did—jumped in with both feet. “I’m sorry if I brought up some bad memories, but still, thank you for your service. I know a lot of people had it tough…my time in was boring in comparison. I was never deployed and feel kinda like a poser as a result. But seriously, thank you.”

Tony ran his hand over his head and shifted uncomfortably in front of her. “No
, I’m
sorry. That part of my life doesn’t hold the best memories for me. I enjoyed the camaraderie and helping people who were simply trying to live their lives.”

Aimee tilted her head at him, considering her next words.

“Go on.”

“Go on, what?” she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

“Ask me whatever it is that’s knocking around in that brain of yours.”

Aimee laughed a little self-consciously, but asked what she’d been thinking, knowing she probably wouldn’t get another opening as good as this one. “How’d you go from there to teaching? I mean, I know how
I
did it, but I don’t expect you were mopping up pee from a party the night before in the barracks and decided enough was enough.”

She honestly didn’t think he was going to answer, classes were going to start soon and they both had prep they had to do, but finally he took a deep breath and looked her in the eye.

“I was in the middle of the most intense firefight I’d ever been in. We were pinned down in the ruins of a building by insurgents. One of my buddies was lying behind me with a bullet hole in his head. He had been talking to me one second, and the next he was dead. Bullets were flying, civilians were screaming, kids were crying…it was absolute chaos. I peeked out from behind the wall, and saw a kid, around ten or eleven, lying in the middle of the road. He was on his back, arms outstretched on either side of him, staring up into nothing. A leather satchel was next to him, with books falling out of it.”

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Aimee almost regretted asking, he was obviously stressed, but it was the relief she saw in his eyes at being able to talk about it that made her nod and put one of her hands on his arm in support.

It seemed to be what he needed to continue. “The kid was on his way home from school and got caught in the middle of a hail of gunfire. He didn’t care about the Americans or the political climate. He was going about his day, trying to learn, when his life was cut short. I decided right then and there, if I got out of that fight alive, that I wouldn’t reenlist when my time was up. I wanted to atone for that little boy somehow. I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to teach, but it seemed to be what I should do.

“I started taking online classes the second I got back in the States after that deployment. From the first time I stepped foot inside a classroom during my program, I knew it was what I was born to do. I love teaching…seeing a kid’s face light up when they finally ‘get it’ is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It won’t bring that boy back, I know that, but it helps to know that I’m helping shape kids in some fundamental way. Maybe they’ll look back and remember what Mr. Santoro taught them someday.” He shrugged a little sheepishly. “Or maybe they’ll look back and think I was the biggest dork of a teacher they’d ever had.”

“I seriously doubt that.” Aimee smiled up at him. She could tell he was being completely honest, and his story was as amazing and awe inspiring as it was heartbreaking. The more she learned about this man, the more she liked him. They’d talked a few times over the last few months, but this was the most…intimate they’d gotten. And it
felt
intimate. Even though they were standing in the middle of a hallway with people all around them, she could tell that Tony seemed to enjoy talking to her. It made her feel a sliver of hope that maybe, over time, he might be interested in more.

The noise level in the hallway rose as more and more children began to arrive. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I was impressed with how well you were doing before, but now that I know a little more about you, I’m even more so.” She looked around, then back at Tony. “I have to get going. I have Mrs. Nooncaster’s kids this morning…you know how crazy they are,” Aimee said with some regret.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Tony told her, the hollow look in his eyes retreating at the change in subject.

“Thanks. You were going to ask me something before Annie interrupted us?” Aimee dared to ask.

“It was nothing,” Tony reassured her, not taking the bait.

Aimee was disappointed, but not that surprised. “Okay, I’ll see you later then?”

“Yup. I know you’ve got Mrs. Brown’s fourth-grade class before mine today, right?”

“Yeah. She’s always late picking them up, but if she takes too long, I’ll just get them to help me with your first-graders. Okay?”

“Of course. Whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?” Aimee couldn’t help but ask with a gleam in her eye.

Instead of smiling and joking back with her, Tony said in a serious voice, “You’re the kind of woman a man would bend over backward to please. See you later.”

Aimee stood in the hallway, stunned into silence at Tony’s words. He hadn’t given her a chance to respond, but she had no idea what she would’ve said anyway.

Wow. Slowly she smiled. It was going to be a good day.

Chapter Two

By lunchtime, Aimee was exhausted, but in a good way. The obstacle course was a huge hit with the kids. She smiled to herself, remembering little Annie. She’d taken one look at what they would be doing and vibrated with excitement. She was an odd little girl, but not in a bad way. She loved all things “military” and “boy.” This obstacle course was right up her alley.

When the forty minutes of PE was over, all the kids were sad and begged to be able to do the course the next time they had gym. Figuring if the kids were happy, and exercising, it was a win-win, so Aimee agreed with no hesitation. Annie had given her a huge hug before leaving the gym, whispering, “This was the best day
ever
.” Moments like that were why Aimee was a teacher.

She usually ate lunch in the gym, stuffing her face between trying to set up for the next class’s activity, but since she was using the same obstacle course for all the grades, she didn’t have anything to do. Remembering the interested look in Tony’s eyes that morning, she decided to take a risk and see if he was eating in the teachers’ lounge.

Standing in front of the door, Aimee realized that she probably should’ve taken the time to make sure she was presentable before coming to lunch. She could feel some of her hair hanging around her face, escaping her ponytail. Putting down her lunch bag to free up her hands, she quickly tore out the scrunchie and re-did it. Looking down at her track pants and T-shirt, she noticed streaks of dirt on her chest and there was a small tear in her pants at the knee.

She’d fallen when she’d lunged to catch one of the kindergartners who’d tripped over a tire. The little boy would’ve face-planted, but she’d reached him in time. The tires were the hardest part of the course, and she’d learned to stand by just in case someone fell. The little boy wasn’t the only one she’d had to rescue that morning, but because he was heavier than the other students, she’d toppled over and had taken the brunt of the fall on her knees.

It was totally worth ruining her pants, but at this very moment, she wished that she looked a bit more put together. Aimee mentally shrugged. Whatever. This was who she was, and she wouldn’t apologize for it. It
seemed
as though Tony liked gym-teacher Aimee, so it wasn’t as if he was expecting her to waltz into the room wearing a prom dress or something. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she might, after all, have a chance with Tony, but made a mental note to always be herself. She didn’t want to change who she was to try to catch a man’s eye. She was just fine the way she was, and if he didn’t realize it, it’d be
his
loss, not hers.

Grabbing her lunch bag from the floor, Aimee pushed open the door and smiled at the animated conversation that greeted her. The teachers all seemed to be serious and studious when she spoke to them when they passed off their classes to her, but one-on-one and away from the children, they were sarcastic, loud, and more often than not, hilarious.

Tony was sitting at one of the tables at the back of the small space, and Marci was sitting next to him. She was leaning toward him with her hand on her chin, elbow on the table. At first glance it looked they were having an intimate conversation, but when Aimee looked closer, she could see Tony was sitting rigid in his seat and was looking down at his lunch, and not at her.

Aimee took one step into the room and saw Tony suddenly stand up and give her a chin lift. Ignoring Marci, who was now almost trying to plant herself in his lap, he called out to Aimee, “Hey, I’ve been waiting for you. I’m ready, I’ll just grab my stuff and be there in a second.”

Aimee stood paralyzed for a moment, wondering what in the heck he was talking about. She’d been known to be scatterbrained sometimes, but she knew she’d never forget making plans to be with Tony during lunch.

Never.

No way in hell.

It would’ve been tattooed on her brain.

She watched as he quickly gathered his uneaten sandwich and chips and stuffed them back into the fabric lunch bag he’d brought with him. It had Elsa from
Frozen
on it, and was most likely a gift from one of his first-graders. The fact that this manly-looking specimen would use it for his lunch was another punch in Aimee’s gut. He didn’t even look embarrassed to be carrying it either. Damn.

Marci pouted up at him, obviously unhappy their lunch together was being interrupted. Tony leaned down and said something to her. Marci stopped pouting and smiled prettily up at him. She put her hand on his hip, and Tony quickly took a step backward, dislodging her hand but pretending not to notice.

The other teachers in the room watched the little drama playing out, but Aimee couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Tony waved at the room in general as he came up to her.

Tony sighed in relief at Aimee’s presence. He’d been sitting next to Marci, wondering how in the hell he was going to extricate himself from her clutches, when Aimee walked in. Marci had been getting more and more aggressive in her pursuit of him, but he didn’t want anything to do with her. He’d heard the gossip; it was impossible not to hear it, as the other teachers seemed to love to talk. Apparently, Marci had a bet with another one of the fifth-grade teachers that she’d have him in her bed by the end of the school year. Tony didn’t know what the bet was for, but he didn’t want any part of the pretty-but-she-knew-it teacher.

He much preferred Aimee’s understated beauty. She took the girl-next-door to the next level. Tony could usually control his libido and desires, but something about Aimee got to him.

He shook his head and tried to concentrate on getting away from the teachers’ lounge without doing something embarrassing, like going down on his knees and thanking her for rescuing him from Marci’s grasp.

Aimee didn’t usually eat in the teachers’ lounge, but Tony took her presence as a sign that he needed to get his head out of his ass and finally ask her out. He’d almost done it that morning before they’d been interrupted by Annie.

But when Aimee had flat-out asked him what he was going to say before Annie came up to them, the time hadn’t seemed right. It was ridiculous. He was a grown man, an Army vet, Special Forces at that, and he’d seen way too many horrible things in his life. Why was he hesitating about asking Aimee out?

Bless the woman, when he reached her in the doorway, she didn’t contradict him or otherwise make it obvious he’d made up the meeting to get away from Marci. She simply smiled at him and turned around and pushed the door open.

“Ready to go?”

“After you,” Tony gestured and held the door open. He tried not to peek at her ass as she walked in front of him, but couldn’t help it. She had an ass men would fight wars over.

When the door had shut behind them, she peered up at him mischievously. “Not that I don’t want to eat with you…but I’m assuming there’s a story behind this lunch meeting that I didn’t know we had?”

Tony sighed. “Yeah. Marci won’t take a hint that I’m not interested in her.”

Aimee nodded as if she knew that was what he was going to say and understood completely. It wasn’t as if Marci’s pursuit of him was a secret. “I’m not sure
why
you’re not interested in her. She’s tall, skinny, and blonde. She has big boobs, and she obviously wants you.”

Tony stopped in front of the gym and pulled open the door, holding it ajar for Aimee once again. “Honestly? She’s so not my type.”

He laughed at the blatant look of disbelief Aimee gave him. “Seriously,” he defended himself, “she might be pretty, but she knows it. She’s spoiled and accustomed to using her looks to have men fall all over her. I’ve seen her in action. One of her fifth-graders’ fathers was upset over something, and she pulled her shirt down a bit and fluttered her eyes at him, and by the time the man left, he had no idea what had happened. Amazingly, she’s a good teacher, but I have no desire to get caught in her web.”

They walked to the bleachers and sat on the second row, propping their feet up on the first bench and tucking into their lunches.