Teaching Mia

By M.C. Roman

Fed up with her disheartening life in New York City, Mia takes a gamble and embarks on an invigorating journey abroad to business school in Spain.

When Mia Fuentes moves to Spain for graduate school, desperately trying to leave her past behind, the last thing she ever imagined was getting involved with Leo Durant, the hottest and most sought after guy on campus.

Leo is sexy, confident, and has the ultimate bad boy reputation. Something about him keeps pulling her in, when she knows she should be staying far away in the secluded world she has built for herself. Will she be able to overcome her fears and inner struggles that have brought her here? Or will Leo be able to teach her something about love and that not everything in life happens the way we expect?

Contemporary, multicultural, and deeply moving, this is the story of a young woman’s trials and tribulations of leaving everything behind and trying to create a new life for herself in a foreign country. It is a relentless journey of self-exploration, healing, and maturity, with a lot of romance, wit and humor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.C. Roman
• Release date: Dec 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311455062

M.C. Roman

M.C. Roman grew up in Mexico City and currently lives in Brooklyn with her funny sexy hubby. When she's not reading or writing, her hobbies include daydreaming, watching shows on Netflix, and cooking home cooked meals from Blue Apron.Her debut novel, Teaching Mia, has garnered millions of reads online and was featured on Indie Reader Insiders’ Next Picks. Since then, she has also written Stealing Emma, Chasing Sofia, Loving Olivia, and translated her books into Spanish.

Book preview

Chapter 1 – A Day in the Life

Mia sat waiting impatiently for the route 29 bus on Príncipe de Vergara. She took her phone out of her bag and checked it for the fifth time since she woke up thirty minutes ago. 8:45am.

Damn bus always takes forever, she thought. She proceeded to check the phone for any messages. Nothing. Why would there be something new? Defeated, she browsed through her Twitter newsfeed. She read a few headlines from The New York Times, CNN, and Business Insider before quickly getting bored and tossing the phone back in her bag.

She looked up and noticed some familiar faces surrounding her. A couple of gossiping teenagers, dressed in their private school uniforms. A Latina nanny taking care of young twin girls who wore round pink glasses. Teresa, she had overheard one of them was called, just like her sister. God, she missed her.

Somehow her morning routine felt so familiar, but it had only been a few months since Mia had decided to move from New York City to Madrid in order to pursue a master’s degree in International Management. She had enrolled in Madrid Business School, or MBS, as people usually called it.

Everyone had thought it was a careless and rash decision how she had dropped everything so quickly, but at the time she just desperately needed to leave her past behind her and get a fresh start. Why was it so reckless to pursue higher education anyway? Of course, going back to school had been her way of justifying the move, but she was beginning to think she wasn’t so sure anymore.

Moving to a foreign country yet again was proving to be more difficult than she thought. Besides the obvious culture shock, memories of her past still haunted her and the accelerated year program she had enrolled in was so demanding she barely had any time for herself or a real social life. Not that it was necessarily a problem since it kept her mind occupied, at least most of the time. After all, she wanted to prove to herself, her friends, and family back home that she had made the right decision. Lost in her thoughts, the red bus suddenly appeared and she was all too happy to push reality aside.

She arrived to school barely in time before the professor closed the door to class. Phew. They had a policy where you weren’t allowed in class after the door closed, which made her feel like she was in high school all over again. It was nothing like her typical auditorium sized classes at New York University where no one would even notice or care if you didn’t show up to class. As long as you passed the final exam, you were okay.

She cut through her row taking her usual seat, quickly stopping to greet the girls sitting next to her: Melissa from Venezuela and Victoria from Almería, the south of Spain. They had become her closest acquaintances and she had to admit they had always been really nice to her. She wouldn’t necessarily call them her friends though, especially since she had built a wall around others and mostly kept to herself.

Mia took a moment to look around the classroom. She sat in the second to last row, so she had a pretty good view of her surroundings. At that point in the term, she had already memorized everybody’s first and last name, as students were required to place name cards in front of them so that professors would be able to call on them. It had truly surprised her how international her classroom had been. Mia had gone to an American high school in Mexico City and living in New York always exposed her to an international crowd, but this was an entirely different playing field.

At MBS there were literally people from all over: not only Europe, but also North and Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The mix of different cultures and languages in a 50-person classroom sometimes made her feel like she was in the United Nations, and they each were a delegate representing their countries. It always made for interesting class discussions, to say the least.

The day’s lecture went as usual without a hitch. Mia hurried down to the computer lab as customary, the perfect way of avoiding socializing with others in between class breaks. She logged into a computer and really having nothing better to do, she decided to check her Facebook account and see what her friends back home were up to. As usual, most posts were not that interesting, but browsing through the newsfeed somehow made her feel closer to the world she had left behind.

After spending the rest of the day in her study group, Mia went home later that night to an empty apartment. She quickly changed into her workout gear and grabbed her iPod before heading down to the ground floor of her apartment building. It had a small gym, if it could even be called that. It was more of a tiny room with a lone bicycle and a few weights in the corner. But it was sufficient for Mia. At the end of the day, a treadmill is a treadmill. Working out kept her physically active and it was a great way to blow off some steam after a busy day at school.

She grabbed a quick dinner afterwards, which consisted of heating up a prepared meal. She wasn’t one to cook much and she barely even had the time to do so. As such, the frozen foods section from Carrefour had been her salvation.

As she set her dinner down at the dining table, she turned on her laptop and watched last night’s episode of The Daily Show online. Thank God for Comedy Central! It was the only of her favorite TV shows she could watch online as the other networks blocked their access outside of the United States.

Jon Stewart was really something else. She loved the show because it not only made her laugh, but at the same time allowed her to keep up with the crazy world of politics more readily. Besides, watching Gossip Girls dubbed in Spanish on a local station was not her idea of a good time.

When the episode finished, she checked her class schedule and reached for the corresponding course packets from a bookshelf. She had to read three different case studies for the next day: Swatch, Southwest Airlines, and Microsoft. She was beginning to feel like a financial analyst after reading up on so many companies.

She spent the next two hours going over the cases, as she jotted down notes and highlighted important passages. She was grateful she was a fast reader, otherwise it would have taken her at least twice as long to go through them. She often wondered how most of her classmates who weren’t native English speakers could handle all the heavy reading. She could barely keep up herself.

Mia decided to call it a night and she headed over to her bed feeling completely exhausted. Yet, she felt a sense of contentment that she had precisely followed the nightly routine she had set up for herself months earlier. Something about the routine kept her sane.

It was similar to when a professional tennis player prepares to serve for a point during a match. He always goes through the same motions in the same exact order. Reaching for a towel to dry off the sweat, tugging a strand of hair behind his ear, bouncing the ball repeatedly on the court. Or in the case of Rafael Nadal, picking at his shorts continuously.

The routine somehow gives each point a sense of stability no matter the score. It forces the body to undergo the same physical reaction whether it’s 40-0 or 0-40, and thus the emotion behind each point is contained easier.

Despite her thoughts on keeping routine, as she fell asleep Mia couldn’t help wonder if in reality she should be going out to a restaurant or bar, and hanging out with other people. Maybe she had it all wrong, but for now her perfect routine seemed to work and accomplished what she needed to get done.

Chapter 2 – Surprise Encounters

Mia was at her usual spot in the computer lab. She had already gone through all the websites she normally browsed through and decided it would be a good idea to print the slides for her next class. She was standing at one of the printing machines when she felt someone approach right next to her. Deciding not to pay the person any attention, she pretended to concentrate on the printing job in front of her.

Do you know how these printers work?

Mia turned around to face the person that had asked her the question and met a pair of stunning dark blue eyes.

It was Leo, she remembered him clearly from orientation. They had never spoken before as he was in another section from hers. She remembered he had said he was half British half Spanish and everyone had burst out laughing. She didn’t really understand why others found that funny, she was half American and half Mexican herself, but had always introduced herself as Mexican having lived there during most of her upbringing.

I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Leo. You’re Mia, right?

He smiled slightly at her and she took in his image. Tall at clearly over six feet, tanned skin, and dark thick hair. Although his features were rather boyish, he screamed of sex appeal. He was wearing regular jeans and a white henley shirt, but she couldn’t remember the last time someone looked that good in simple clothing. He was the real definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Not to mention those piercing ocean blue eyes. All of which would clearly be off limits.

Um … yeah, she managed to say.

So she speaks, he responded, looking at her quizzically.

Mia was taken aback. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

You’re meaning to tell me we’ve been in school for three months and you don’t know how to work the printers, she stated coldly.

Where was the attitude coming from? Must be from all the solitary confinement.

Leo shrugged his shoulders. Well, I usually just print all this nonsense at home, but didn’t have a chance to this morning.

Dammit, she had judged him too quickly. Feeling incredibly embarrassed, she hurriedly showed him how to log his account into the printer. He had barely just thanked her, when she quickly grabbed her slides and fled the scene without saying another word.

Good job, idiot. Way to cause a first impression, she thought.

•••

After class, Mia headed towards her usual study room, where she met with her assigned work group every day for an hour between classes. She usually arrived 15 minutes early since she had a break between her last class and the beginning of study group hour. Most people took that break to get a coffee or have a quick smoke, but she was content using that time to herself.

As she entered the study room, she silently cursed under her breath. None other than Leo was in the room, utilizing the computer. After their awkward meeting earlier, he was the last person she wanted to see.

As he was facing the wall, she almost turned around and walked back out the door hoping he wouldn’t notice her, but then reasoned she would look ridiculous if he did. After all, it was her study room he was invading, although not technically for another 15 minutes.

Instead, she slowly made her way to the study room table and set down her belongings, as far away from him as she possibly could.

Hey, she mumbled, in some form of semi greeting.

He did a half turn, looking behind his shoulder for a moment, and then turned around again without saying anything. Great.

Deciding it would be best to ignore him, she took out one of her course packets and began reading one of the assignments she hadn’t gotten to yet for her next class.

Unfortunately, the topic was financial accounting and she was having a really hard time concentrating. She had already taken accounting in college, so she at least remembered the basics. Still, it was a hard subject for her and she found herself sighing frequently.

She kept trying to convince herself she couldn’t concentrate because of the subject matter at hand and not the fact that she was somehow sharing a study room with Leo, alone.

Nope, it had nothing to do with her unexpected, yet very welcome visitor. It had nothing to do with her being pleasantly surprised by it. It had nothing to do with her wondering if he knew she usually occupied this study room. It had nothing to do with her trying to think of something witty she could say to him.

Why was she even pondering these things in the first place? She had absolutely no business thinking about any of it. Lost in her thoughts, she heard someone say her name from the hallway.

Mia?

She turned around to see Luis, one of the guys in her study group, leaning against the doorway. He was from Portugal.

What was that? she asked surprised.

I said, I’m gonna go grab a quick bite but will be back in time for our study group.

Oh okay. Yeah, that’s fine. I’m just catching up on some reading for financial accounting I didn’t finish last night, she said.

Oh, that’s good. I didn’t get to it either so maybe you can fill me in later? he asked with a hopeful expression.

Well, I can try. I’m not really up to speed on this stuff, so it might be like the one-eyed man leading the blind, she admitted.

Luis laughed at that, and she thought she heard Leo laugh too, behind her. She was too shy to turn around to verify it.

That’s okay. At least it’s something. Do you want me to bring you anything from the outside world? Luis asked.

Mia paused a second, thinking the way he phrased that last question was odd. No, I’m good thanks, she answered.

Okay. See you in a bit, Mia … Later Leo, he said, acknowledging him before exiting the room.

Later, Leo called back.

Mia couldn’t help but look in his direction. The elephant in the back of the room was now front and center. Apparently, Leo had been checking Facebook but was logging off at the moment. Oddly enough, that made her feel better. She was glad to know she wasn’t the only dork checking that stupid site between breaks.

She was still staring at him, when he turned around and stood up, looking straight at her.

Mia blushed that she had been caught staring right at him, and immediately looked down at whatever it was she was reading. LIFO, or was it FIFO? She couldn’t tell because at the moment the letters in front of her were a gigantic blur.

Sorry Mia, I didn’t realize this was your study room.

She looked up and he was standing across the table, looking down at her curiously. No, don’t worry about it. I’m early anyway, she said automatically.

Well, I’ll get out of your hair so you can study, he said.

It’s not a problem at all. You can stay if you want, Mia said surprising herself at the offer.

No, it’s okay. I was just killing time and checking Facebook, that kind of stuff, he shrugged.

Anything interesting? she asked. Realizing she was prying, she quickly added, I mean … you don’t have to answer that. It’s none of my business, she said blushing again.

Leo looked at her puzzled for a moment, but then he laughed. It had been his laughter she had heard before. She found it very … soothing.

He took a seat directly in front of her and looked at her with an amused expression on his face.

Well, let’s see. I had two friend requests, four birthdays, a few party invites in London, and I got tagged in some ridiculous barbeque pictures. Oh, and Joey Hunt is now single again after breaking up with his girlfriend for the third time, he added, like it was the most important news in the world.

That bastard, Mia joked.

I know, right? Unbelievable, he said smiling widely.

Mia was about to say something, but got caught up in his smile. It was so warm and inviting, all she could do was grin back at him like a moron.

They continued smiling at each other for a few moments, when their stares suddenly turned serious. Mia knew she should look away, but Leo steadily held her gaze and she couldn’t drop it. Time stopped. It was as if he was seeing through her, peering into her soul. Those incredible blue eyes seemed to get deeper and deeper by the minute.

Oh, what was he thinking? Starting to feel nervous, Mia bit her bottom lip.

Leo’s vision dropped to her mouth and lingered on her lips for a few seconds before returning back to her eyes. It happened so quickly, she thought she had imagined it.

But then his tongue brushed against his own bottom lip and he slowly dragged his teeth across it. His eyes smoldered, then burned into hers.

Mia gasped at the sight. His look was so intense, she felt it in the very pit of her stomach. It instantly spread, tingling throughout her body. That feeling had been securely locked away for so long, it confused her at first.

Dios mío. Impossible, she thought.

Suddenly overwhelmed, she frowned, not knowing what to make of it. It shocked the hell out of her. It terrified her.

Leo looked like he was about to say something and then cleared his throat. I … should probably go now, he said quickly standing up. Nice … talking to you, Mia.

You too, Leo, she said quietly as he walked out the door.

He was almost out of sight when she saw him slightly shaking his head as he walked down the stairs.

Mia slumped down in her chair. She shook her own head in response, and then buried it somewhere between her arms, her course packet, and the table.

Chapter 3 – Saving Mia

Mia had just finished having a quick bite at Barril y Botella, a tapas joint near school. Time to head back to her daily 4pm study group. Oddly enough, the study group sessions had become the favorite part of her day. It was where she felt most comfortable. Something about working with others without having the true pressure to socialize.

She had just crossed a traffic light when she felt light footsteps behind her. She turned around to see three men approaching and staring right at her. Instantly, fear shot through her as she tried to dismiss it. Had she seen wrong? Imagined that look? It couldn’t be. Could it?

"Ey sexy, a dónde vas?" one of the men growled.

No, it was definitely real. Mia simply kept walking and soon enough felt them at her heels. This time she picked up the pace and took in a big gulp of air.

Keep it together. They’re probably just messing around, she thought.

"Sólo queremos hablar. We just want to talk for a second. Get to know each other better," another of the men said.

Eeek! Mia scanned her surroundings and noticed they were alone, the streets were completely deserted. Spaniards always took their mid-day siestas seriously, most shops didn’t open again until 5pm. Just my luck, she thought.

"Ey, que te estamos hablando. Your ass is pretty enough, but I wanna see that sweet face of yours."

Time to panic! At those last words, Mia’s flight instinct took over and did what she knew best.

Run.

She hadn’t gotten far when she felt her arm being jerked back abruptly. Pain coursed through as she tried to pull away, feeling like her shoulder was being ripped out of its socket. Instantly, she started kicking her legs when she felt a huge blow to her head causing her to come crashing down on the floor. The impact of hard concrete on her small frame was awfully painful.

"Quieta! Stay still bitch. If you cooperate, this won’t take long." The snarl in his tone was sickening.

"No me toques!" Mia managed to blurt out once the realization hit. But it was too late. One of the men pinned her tightly to the floor while the two others stared at her with pure vulgarity.

Oh God, think Mia. Flashes of a conversation she had with an old Israeli friend came to mind. Itay had been in the army and worked in secret service for the Israeli consulate in New York. What had he told her to do in these situations? Desperately trying to remember, it came to her. It’s now or never.

You don’t want to do this. I have AIDS and will infect you. Mia’s words distracted him enough to loosen his grip on her.

Time for act two. With all her might, she punched him right in the throat and he instantly crouched over, gasping for air.

Oh my God, that actually worked! She scrambled off of the floor and started running with all of her might.

"Joder!" She heard one of the thugs yell from a distance, but nothing would stop her now. She managed to cross the street over the traffic and continued running up the path toward school, as fast as she could.

She risked a quick glance over her shoulder to see if they were following her but nothing came into sight. Before she could straighten her view again, she felt herself crash into hard planes of muscle.

•••

Leo, thank God you’re here! A frightened girl yelled out, and instantly clung to his arms, hugging him and burying her face into his chest.

He was completely taken by surprise, yet instinctively held her tightly against him. All he could see at the moment was a long mane of dirty blond hair that trickled down the length of his body. He grabbed her face, lifted her chin, and looked into a pair of big brown eyes he instantly recognized. It caused him immediate pause.

Mia? What’s wrong?

Her eyes were teary, she had a panicky face, and could barely speak. Some … guys … attacked me, she said shuddering.

He looked over her and noticed three men approaching across the street. They were older and appeared to be in their 40s. They were dressed in poor looking black leather jackets and beaten up jeans. He recognized them to be Spanish gypsies. He had heard stories of them looming around the school’s bars and restaurants and apparently they were making a profitable business out of stealing student backpacks and laptops.

He quickly spun Mia behind him, holding onto the small of her back. Delicate hands gripped against his arms, and he could hear her breathing heavily behind him. Her small frame felt tiny against his torso. Evidently, they had found their next victim in her. Not today boys, he thought as he flexed his biceps. God knows he had been itching for a good fight and this would provide the perfect excuse.

He noticed something flash and his vision honed in on it. One of the men had discreetly pulled out a switchblade and held it menacingly at his side.

Jesus Christ. Who the hell are these guys? Leo responded by griping Mia closer and was overwhelmed by this strange feeling that was overcoming him. Protection?

That’s right assholes, she’s with me. So keep dreaming, he shouted back at them. He cracked his knuckles and balled his hands into fists. Adrenaline shot through his veins. He was ready.

The men continued moving towards them at a faster pace and Leo started contemplating his next move. He could fight