A Longtime (and at one point Illegal) Crush Read Free

her lasagna. “It must be hard on him to be back home when most of his friends are gone.”
    Gorgeous, single, and lonely—even better. Well, not really. But sort of. It wasn’t that long until she graduated. Only nine months. And then she and Kye could have a romantic whirlwind summer. She could picture them walking hand in hand across the overgrown grass on his ranch, sunshine pouring around them.
    “ Kye always loved my homemade applesauce,” Elsie’s mother went on. “I’ll send a bottle with you tomorrow to give to him.”
    Strictly speaking, her mother’s applesauce was more like pie filling. That’s why everyone loved it.
    The next day, Elsie was the first one to reach Kye’s classroom. She had been looking forward to giving the bottle of applesauce to him all day—had spent extra time on her hair and makeup in anticipation of this event—but now she just felt nervous. Transparent. It was one thing to be an eight-year-old with a crush on him. Now, well, this was entirely different. He was a teacher and she was a student. This could turn into the most awkward hour of the day if he knew how she felt. She fingered the jar of applesauce hidden behind her books and wished her mother hadn’t sent it.
    Kye was sitting on the edge of his desk , flipping through the math book. His brown hair was mussed, and his button-down shirt a little wrinkled. Such a bachelor.
    He looked up when she c ame in, turning his evening-blue eyes on her. He held her gaze, perhaps because she was staring at him and walking slowly over.
    “Did you have trouble with the homework?” he asked.
    He had told the class yesterday that he offered tutoring in the morning before school. She had considered faking confusion so she could spend extra time with him, but the assignment was just a review of the stuff she’d done last year. And besides, she wanted him to know how smart she was. Kye, she was sure, liked smart girls.
    “No,” she said. “I brought something for you. An apple for the teacher.” She pulled out the bottle and handed it to him.
    He smiled in happy surprise. “Your mom’s applesauce?”
    “Yep. She insisted I bring it to you.”
    Kye turned the bottle in his hands. “This is the best stuff. Tell her she’s completely ruined me for store-bought applesauce.”
    “Well, t here’s more where that came from.” The Clarks had four apple trees in their yard, which meant there was a lot more where that came from. Suddenly Elsie was glad she’d always been drafted into applesauce duty—the way to a man’s heart and all of that.
    Kye put the bottle on his desk and surveyed Elsie. “I see how it is,” he said, teasing. “Your mom thinks she can bribe me into passing you. It might work. She should at least try.”
    Elsie smiled back at him, more comfortable now. “I won’t need bribery to pass calculus. I learned everything I know about math from Carson.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of. Remind your mom I like the cinnamon kind too.”
    Elsie had meant it as a compliment to Kye—he had taught Carson, Carson had taught her. Although strictly speaking, Carson hadn’t helped her that much with her math, so it was probably a convoluted attempt at a compliment to begin with. “I’ll be fine,” she said.
    Kye held out his hand, palm up. “Let’s see your homework.”
    She pulled it from her notebook and handed it to him, already feeling a glowing sense of pride. He glanced over it, nodded with approval, then set it down on his desk. “You obviously didn’t learn everything you know about math from Carson. I hate to disillusion you about you your big brother—especially since he’s one of my best friends—but Carson frequently couldn’t remember which order the numbers went in.”
    Elsie laughed. “I don’t think he was quite that bad.”
    “Seriously,” Kye said, lowering his voice because a couple more people had entered the room. “If you need help later on when things get harder, I want you to come