Jason Williams lonely?
She couldn’t even imagine it. Still, the conviction in the girl’s voice set off warning bells. "Kendyl. is that why you’ve been misbehaving in class? Because you think if you’re naughty enough in school and don’t do your work, you’ll be sent home to Black Jack Ridge where you can be with your father?"
Kendyl's big blue eyes opened wide and she looked so genuinely startled at the suggestion that Ashley knew she must be completely off the mark.
The little girl giggled. "No! That’s not why. You’re silly."
Oh, she certainly was, especially if she thought a gorgeous, compelling man like Jason Williams could ever be interested in a boring, naive schoolteacher like her.
"Will you tell me the reason?" she pressed. "I don’t think you really hate school, even though you pretend you do."
"I don’t hate it," she whispered. She looked down at the thick carpet of her room, digging the toe of her sneakers into the floral pattern.
Ashley paused, totally at sea to figure out what all this was about. "Is it me you don’t like? Perhaps we could switch you to the other kindergarten teacher’s class."
"Noooo!" Kendyl looked horrified by the very idea. "I don’t want another teacher. I have to be in your class. Please, Miss Barnes. Please don’t make me go to another class!"
She was trying to process that impassioned plea when she heard footsteps in the hallway and a moment later, Jason stuck his head in.
He looked incongruous in the girly room, dark and gorgeous and über–masculine and her heart gave a foolish little thump just at the sight of him.
Kendyl jumped into his arms. "Hi, Daddy. I’ve been telling Miss Barnes about all the fun things we do and how you’re such a good swimmer and a good horse rider. I bet she’d like to see you sometime."
He raised an eyebrow and Ashley refrained from commenting that she had seen his particular riding style when he had nearly mowed her over the day before.
"Oh, and Miss Barnes thinks the playhouse you made for me is cool," Kendyl added.
He managed a smile. "Good to know. Uh, dinner is ready. I just checked on Kasi and she said she’s feeling a little under the weather tonight so it’s just the three of us, I guess. I hope you’re hungry."
"I’m starving!" Kendyl said with so much pathos in her voice, Ashley had to assume she had inherited more from her father than midnight blue eyes and dark hair.
The little girl skipped ahead down the stairs, leaving the two of them alone.
She was intensely aware of Jason as they walked down the stairs. They didn’t say anything, but the thick awareness flowed between them, leaving her jittery and unsettled as they walked out into the moonlit nigh
YOU ARE READING
Starstruck
RomanceJason Willimas is a jerk! Sure, Ashley Barnes may have had his picture in her locker back when he was a Hollywood heartthrob. But now that the former idol’s daughter is causing trouble in the classroom — and Jason doesn’t seem to care one bit — kind...
