ME:
It’s about time. You’ve been crushing on that man for a while.
CHELS:
Hush.
ME:
Should’ve listened to me and asked him already.
CHELS:
You mean like you and a certain student and model of mine?
“Here you go.” Salem set my sticky bun and juice on the table in front of me.
“Thank you.” I hurriedly tucked my phone away, praying that he had not seen our texts. During one of our regular spa days, I had finally told Chelsea about the mutual attraction between Salem and me and the kisses we shared. She insisted that I should do something about it, pointing out that he wasn’t one of my traditional students.
At twenty-five, he was old enough to handle a mature situation like becoming involved with his professor, according to her, especially considering we had a past, no matter how brief. She said that she had interacted with him enough to know that he was on his grown man shit and was nothing like a regular college student.
I told her that it was all about the ethics. Although I couldn’t help but think about the debate he had with Devorah. Our situation was different, but still, he had made some valid points. I shook my head, realizing that I was trying to justify a reason to be with him.
“Well, damn.”
“Huh? Excuse me?”
“You shook your head no.”
“Uhm, I’m sorry. I was thinking about something. I didn’t hear you.”
He chuckled. “I asked you if you enjoyed the session tonight with the new model, Lourdes.”
“Oh, yes. Yes, I did.”
“What were you shaking your head ‘no’ about then?”
I glanced into his eyes and pondered if I should be honest about it. He reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Straight talk, no bullshit,Koi.” The smile he graced me with affected me deeply, causing me to want to share all my innermost thoughts and deepest secrets.
“I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, about us.”
“What about us?”
“You make me want to experience all the things that I shouldn’t want.”
He rubbed small, lazy circles inside of my palm, which turned me on. “Why shouldn’t you want them?”
“You know why.”
“I want to hear you tell me.”
“I just . . . I could be placing my career in jeopardy. Only when I’m with you, you make me forget all of that. I enjoy conversing with you, spending time with you, and I want to be pleasured by you. And I don’t know how to handle that.”
Shrugging, he replied, “Easy. Just do it. No one has to be all in our business, baby. Trust me to handle things.”
I glanced away, and he chuckled.
“I get it, li’l mama. You don’t trust anyone.”