Page 20 of Continuum

“I get that.”

“Do you remember the last time we spoke?”

“Yeah, outside of the library. After I was late for tutoring.”

I took a long sip. “Because you were with that girl you were dating. What was her name?”

Jayla Rose.

I knew her name. How could I have forgotten the name of the woman I spent so long wishing he’d forget? But I couldn’t let him know exactly how pressed I was at the time.

“Jayla.” He sat back. “And you didn’t have extra time to spare because you had a date or something.”

I giggled into my glass. “No, I had class.”

“I’d been working with you for a year at that point. You never got that dressed up for class,” he teased.

“Do you want to know something funny?”

“What’s that?”

“I was actually dressed up for you,” I admitted. “I was trying to get you to notice me.”

His thick eyebrows rose as he quietly assessed me. “You were trying to get me to notice you?”

With a short, dry laugh, I nodded. “I had the biggest crush on you.”

“Wow, I had no idea. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Well, you had a girlfriend. I didn’t want to make tutoring weird. And I was a little shy back then. But my girls hyped me up and I got dressed up for our session and…” I let the sentence trail off as I took a drink.

“And I was late.” He swiped his hand down his face. “Oh shit…”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, Aisha.”

I waved it off. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. It was forever ago.”

“No, I mean…” He poured the rest of his wine into his mouth and then sat the empty glass on the table beside him. “I’m sorry you thought I didn’t notice you. Because I did.”

“Stop,” I groaned before taking another sip. “I appreciate the sentiment, but you don’t have to say that. I’m grown.”

His eyes swept my body. “Yes, you are.”

My face heated as I shook my head. “Kwame.”

“After our first tutoring session I told my roommate I had a sexy tutor whose ass was looking right in that sundress,” he recalled, his tongue swiping his lips. “I would have to be blind to not see how good you look—then and now.”

I grimaced. “And yet, you called me your little cousin.”

He laughed. “I did. You’re right. But in my defense, I had a jealous girlfriend at the time. And even though I was definitely sneaking looks at you, I’m not a cheater. She didn’t like that I had a pretty tutor and she started tripping. I aced my first statistics quiz after two sessions with you, so I wasn’t going to stop seeing you.” He shrugged. “So, when I referred to you as my little cousin, she never said shit about me switching tutors again.”

My lips pulled downward as I contemplated what he’d said. “Hmm.”

“But now…” He shifted a little closer as he turned his body and rested his elbow on the back of the couch. “I have a question for you.”

“Okay.”

---