Teach Me Tonight by Natasha Washington
Series: LA Teachers Series #1
Release Date: October 6, 2020
Subgenre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Synopsis for Teach Me Tonight:
Nic Moretti teaches kindergarten at Bridges Elementary, a private school in LA’s Santa Monica Mountains. He likes being a teacher, but he misses playing and writing music. Since he basically gave up on pursuing music as a career a year ago, he hasn’t been able to write anything decent, and it’s driving him crazy. Add to that the pressure he’s getting from his family and friends to find someone to date, and Nic’s feeling pretty frustrated.
Kim Junseo owns two Korean fusion restaurant he built from the ground up, and he keeps himself busy running it and taking care of his 5-year-old daughter, Hee-Young. Though on the surface he seems successful and happy, he’s also lonely – and terrified of relationships, since his marriage to his ex-husband Noah ended in disaster three years ago.
When Junseo comes to Nic’s classroom to throw Hee-Young a birthday party, sparks fly. Nic thinks Junseo is impossibly handsome, funny and sweet. Junseo’s drawn to Nic’s goofy, gentle spirit and thinks he’s beautiful. Junseo doesn’t even think twice about volunteering to teach Nic’s class about food and cooking. One thing leads to another, and soon they’re bonding over kimchi fried rice at Junseo’s restaurant and salami and cheese sandwiches at the Getty Villa as the heat builds between them.
Nic can feel himself opening up to Junseo, even telling him about his abusive father, a part of his past that he never shares with anyone. Nic’s writing music again, and Junseo is finally letting down his guard. Then Junseo’s abusive ex-husband Noah re-appears in his life, claiming good intentions, but Nic’s afraid that Noah’s going to try to worm his way back into Junseo’s life and hurt him. Junseo, struggling to deal with old demons he thought he’d buried, pushes Nic away. He doesn’t like anyone telling him how to live his life, whether it’s Noah or Nic.
Junseo bent down and unearthed a container of what looked to be chocolate ice cream from the small freezer below the bar. He opened it and slid a spoon into the velvety dessert, then held out the container for Nic.
This time he didn’t try to feed Nic, but when Nic swallowed a bite and a bit smeared along his lips, Junseo reached out and brushed his thumb along the curve of his mouth in a mirror of what Nic had done weeks ago.
Oh, no. Why couldn’t he have just given him a napkin like a normal person?
“I—I’m sorry,” Junseo said. Nic’s eyes were wide, and his cheeks were flushed with wine and the warmth of the room. “I didn’t mean—”
“God, you’re so beautiful,” Nic blurted out.
“What?” Junseo said, his voice pitched higher than usual.
“Fuck,” Nic cursed. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
He looked so flustered, but Junseo’s heart was racing. He wasn’t reading this wrong. He wasn’t projecting. Nic had meant what he’d said at the diner, and from the way he was panicking right now, he meant this too.
Do it, he told himself. Let yourself have this.
He lifted his hand and cupped Nic’s jaw, and this time he didn’t move his hand away.
“But you did,” Junseo said. “You did say it.”
“God,” Nic whispered.
“You look so good eating my food,” Junseo murmured. “I can’t handle it.”
Natasha Washington lives in Philadelphia, where she writes queer love stories in both YA (as Sonia Belasco) and romance. When not writing, she is likely cooking, taking long, meandering walks, or listening to dance music or 90s hip-hop.