Bree laughed and pushed away from me. “I’ve always worried that people would think that, but I can assure you, she’s mine. She is an even mix of me and her father. Perfectly balanced.” Her eyes twinkled with a tenderness that felt like a punch in the chest to witness.

I didn’t want to think of the boy who had Bree, the one who gave her a child. I didn’t want to think about his genes merging with Aubrey’s, creating a perfect baby. But if I wanted to make this work between us, that meant Ayla would be part of the equation as well, and with that, I’d have to accept Aubrey’s previous union.

“Speaking of Ayla…I’m going to ask the office if they can move her into another class,” Bree said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I don’t think it’s right for you to be her teacher.”

“You can’t do that, Bree. There has to be a really big reason for them to pull a kid from a class and move them in the middle of the school year. Plus that would be really hard on her.”

“It’s not the middle. It’s only the beginning of October. And if you want us to be together, it’s only fair. I’m sure the school wouldn’t want you dating a student’s parent.” She spoke with very even-toned logic. However, it infuriated me.

“Doing that will ruin any chance I have at a permanent job here. One week in and a parent is already requesting a class change? No. Absolutely not. You’re right, they wouldn’t care for a teacher dating a parent, but it’s not against policy. What’s more damaging is if you request a transfer.”

“We’ve played with the lines once before, Axel, and we both got burned. This time, the situation involves my daughter, and I will not allow her to be caught in the crossfire. If you want this, then we have to play by the rules.”

I dipped my head and ran my fingers through my hair, attempting to calm down my racing heart and see her logic. “Fine. I agree with you. But you said yourself that you need time to figure it out. Can we just wait until that point before making any decisions regarding school? For all we know, her teacher will come back and then this will be a moot issue. You’ve asked for time and I’ve agreed. So now, I’m asking for the same thing.”

She pulled her shoulders back and nodded. Her pursed lips showed me that she didn’t like it, but at least she’d agreed with me. “Fine. But the moment we decide to take this thing between us seriously, and commit to being with each other, I’m going to the school office to request a change if you’re still in this class.”

“I’ll go to them myself.” It was a lie meant to make me look good. Just the thought of going to the school office and requesting a student’s transfer because I was dating her mom made me nauseous. But at least I didn’t have to make the call then. I still had time to figure out a way around it.

“Okay then. It seems like we’ve got everything figured out.”

“I still want to bend you over my desk, Miss Jacobs,” I teased, hoping to lighten the air around us. Although, I wasn’t really joking. I really did want to take her again, not sure I’d ever have my fill of her.

“Keep your thoughts to yourself, Mr. Taylor.”

“I think we broke those rules years ago.”

She winked and turned around to leave, stopping at the door. “Parent-teacher conferences are coming up. Make sure my meeting is the last one of the day.” And then she vanished, leaving me standing still in front of my desk with an impossibly hard dick.

Between Bree’s job and her father being released from the hospital, we hadn’t spent much time together since her visit to my classroom. Her dad was released Saturday, so she’d taken the night off work to help him settle in at home. She then spent the entire day on Sunday at his house, so I didn’t get to hear from her until she called later that night after Ayla had gone to bed.

“What’s the deal with your stepmom?” I asked, wondering why she needed so much help from Bree and her sister.

“Robin suffers from severe migraines. She has to get Botox injections every three months to calm them. When she has flare-ups, they’re debilitating. However, for a week after she gets the injection, she suffers from a continuous headache. It’s not quite a migraine, but it’s enough to knock her down. She doesn’t drive when she’s like that, and stress only exacerbates them. Because of the wedding, she pushed the treatment back, not wanting to chance the headaches that weekend. So Monday morning, she went in for the injections. Dad’s accident set off a massive migraine, and she’s been suffering ever since. That’s why she’s had to rely on me and Sarah, since Clarissa is still on her honeymoon. I feel bad because we haven’t even been able to get ahold of Clari.”

“Is there anything you need help with? Anything I can do?”

“No, but thank you. Timing just sucks really bad. My parents have been there for us—especially for me with Ayla—that I’m glad I can give it back.”

“Why does Robin get such bad migraines?”

Bree groaned, and I could tell it was a topic she didn’t care for. “We don’t know. She’s had scans done, but they couldn’t find anything wrong. They have no idea why she gets them or what to do for them other than the Botox.”

“Don’t tell my sister this…she might fake a headache to get Botox,” I teased.

“Oh no…this is nothing like that. She gets thirty-one injections. Seven in the forehead, four on each side of her head, ten in the back, and six in her shoulders—three on each side. It’s very painful.”

“Damn…all for a migraine.”

“It’s not just a migraine. It’s chronic.”

“That makes me never want to complain of a simple headache again. That’s got to suck.” I didn’t know what else to say, feeling as if I’d offended her without meaning to.

“Yeah, tell me about it. Imagine how I was when I first moved here. I felt like I couldn’t say anything about my pregnancy aches around her. She never held it against me, or played the ‘I’ve got it worse’ card. But I remember times when my feet were so swollen I could barely walk, and she’d help me raise them and bring me things to keep me off them, all while barely being able to see past her own pain.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman.”

“She really is. Apparently, she’d wanted my dad to get custody of me a long time before that, but he couldn’t. And I found out that they used to have a lot of fights over me. She’d get mad that he never called me very much, and he’d get mad that he couldn’t and take it out on her. It made me feel really bad to hear that.” Her voice was quiet, and the image of her lying in bed filtered through my mind.

“She told you that?”

“No. The girls did.”

“How was that? Suddenly having two sisters?” I wanted to hear every detail. I wanted to know everything about her and her life since us.

“Amazing. I was so scared before moving. All I could picture was Cinderella. I thought they’d be nasty, and that Robin would make me her bitch. But it was nothing like that at all. They all welcomed me in with open arms.”

“I’m really happy for you, Bree. It makes me really happy to know that everything has worked out for you.” And that was the truth.

“Thank you, Axel. I know it sounds really weird to say, but I don’t think I would’ve made it had you not left. It was a really shitty thing that happened, and I don’t like how it affected you, but I firmly believe that if one thing about us had changed, I wouldn’t be here right now. I wouldn’t have Ayla, I wouldn’t have my dad, Robin, or my sisters. My job sucks; I’m not doing what I want to do. And I’m living with my sister. I was a teen mom, money is tight, and sometimes I get lonely…but it sure as hell beats what I had to endure living with my mom. I was shown that there is an entire different side to life.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean. It doesn’t matter what I went through, just as long as you came out a winner. My poor choices damaged me…but it didn’t kill me. At least I’m still here, and we’ve found each other again.”