Teaching Mr. Graham

Chapter Thirty-Seven

    Kenya and Eric excitedly greeted Aubrey, and he returned their warm greetings.

    "And here I expected you to be punctual," Tatiana said flippantly as Aubrey lowered himself into the seat beside her.

    "Oh, so you wanted me to punctually bump into you at the game, then?" he asked jokingly. "You should've said so."

    She rolled her eyes. "You look nice."

    "Do I?" Beard trimmed to perfection, lips full and ready to be kissed, and if she dared to lower her eyes, a pressed white dress shirt worn over dark jeans, topped off by a pair of black Timberland boots. A simple gold chain was looped around his neck. The watch around his wrist more than took up the slack from that chain, with a bunch of diamonds circling an equally as sparkly watch face. Yeah. He looked "nice" all right.

    Tatiana had to remind herself of Kenya's advice not to ride him in front of an entire stadium; that's how "nice" he looked. She cleared her throat and turned away from him. It was both thrilling and unnerving to sit this closely to him. She couldn't help but feel like people would take one look at them and know that there was something between them. For this reason, she made sure not to stare at him for him too long or smile at him too much. I can never be too sure who's watching, especially with Aisha buzzing around, she thought.

    "You're looking pretty nice yourself," he complimented, fingering the sleeve of her frilly, navy blue top.

    Her cheeks heated up. "Thank you."

    "You've changed up your style a bit this week, I've noticed."

    "Kenya took me shopping."

    "And she's been doing your makeup?"

    Feeling a bit self-conscious, she looked away from him. "Yes."

    "She did an amazing job. You look stunning."

    She beamed at him.

    "But..."

    Her smile faltered a little. "But?"

    He continued stroking the satin blue material between his index finger and thumb. "You don't need it. The fancy clothes, the makeup...you're absolutely beautiful without it. I just want to make sure you don't think you have to wear clothes like this or make up your face to impress me. Because you don't."

    Kenya nudged her in the ribs.

    Tatiana reached up and covered Aubrey's hand with hers. "Do you ever not know when to say the perfect thing at the perfect moment?"

    He smiled.

    With great reluctance, she moved his hand away from her sleeve and placed it on the armrest separating them. "We probably shouldn't be so touchy-feely."

    "Right..." Deciding to go for a change of topic, he asked, "So...did I miss anything interesting, any good plays?" His tone was so casual.

    Meanwhile, the scent of his cologne was making it difficult for her to think clearly. "The game is off to a good start," she said.

    "Marquette won't give us this win easily," he predicted. "They're a really good team, really solid. There's a kid on the team who is like a little brother to me. I'll point him out when the team is back on the floor. Do you follow basketball at all?"

    She shook her head.

    "Have you been to any basketball games? Or is this your first one?"

    "My first real basketball game."