AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not getting paid, at all.” She didn’t laugh.
“Is this the attitude I should expect from my tutor?” I asked with a cocky smile.
Grace kept reading. “I’m going to ignore the fact that you’ve wasted twenty minutes of my life. She patted the ground next to her. “Sit.”
Seeing the chairs stacked in the corner, I had to ask, “Are those being saved for a special occasion?”
Grace didn’t respond, so I sat down and picked up one of her books because that seemed like something that might make her smile. The room was chilly, but I felt warm and knew it was because of her. Damn. Pretending to read, I caught quick glances at the glasses she had on that she didn’t earlier. Nerdy looked good on her.
“Jeez,” I groaned and set the book down to rub my lower back. “I’m gonna have to book an appointment with Karly.”
Grace took the bait and asked, “Is that your other tutor?”
I smiled, hearing a tinge of jealousy in her voice. “No, she’s my massage therapist.”
“Okay, old man.” She rolled her eyes. “We’ll start with trigonometry, considering that’s the lesson you ruined this morning.” She handed me our textbook and smirked. “Open it. I promise it won’t bite.”
A thunderclap belted outside and shook the basement walls. “Woah. Hope this place doesn’t fall on us,” I said, closing the book. “Maybe we should go somewhere else?”
“This building is over a hundred years old. I’m pretty sure it’s survived a few storms. Open your book, Mr. Walton.” She was trying to be annoyed, but I heard the flirting in her voice.
Then, lightning struck, and the flash through the tiny basement windows lit up the room. Grace jumped and dropped her book, which slapped shut when it hit the floor. “Open your book, Miss O’Connell.” I picked it up and handed it to her, laughing.
For the next hour, the rain came down hard, while we solved a few trig problems—probably slower than Grace hoped but faster than I’d ever worked.
“I gotta take a break. My back is dying,” I said, standing up to stretch.
“Okay, but only for a minute. Ms. Martin loves giving pop quizzes, and you have to be ready in case we have one tomorrow.”
Grace stood up and walked toward the row of small, square windows. The muted light from the lamps that lit the sidewalk outside glowed on her skin, making her look like a portrait in an art gallery. “You ever count the seconds between the thunder and the lightning?” she asked, without turning around.
“That’s more math so no.”
She shook her head. “You’re smarter than you give yourself credit, Henry.”
I looked down at the problems I’d been working on and realized she might be right. “Well, don’t tell anyone because then they might expect more from me than just this pretty face.” I smiled and patted the floor next to me. “Let’s go, Tutor Girl. Don’t want me to fail the pop quiz and make you look bad.”
Just as Grace went to sit down, another flash of lightning cracked outside so loud and bright it felt like it touched down right between us. “Holy crap!” She squealed and stumbled, falling down on my lap.
“Hey, there.” I said, exaggerating the low drawl as I caught her.
“Oh, shoot. Sorry!” She shifted in my lap and moved to get up. “You can let me up.” She laughed.
“Sorry, Grace.” I said, not realizing I was holding onto her. “I guess I just thought if we’re gonna die down here, it might as well be together.” I snickered and helped her to her feet.
“Did you just call me by my name?” Grace looked into my eyes, confused. “Did that lightning actually strike you, and I didn’t notice?” She laughed and pushed me playfully.
Crap. Why did I do that?
“Well, we have known each other almost all day.” I grinned, my stomach in knots and my legs shaking.
Grace noticed. “Are you cold?”
"I’m a lot of things right now.” I took a deep breath and exhaled—louder than I wanted to.
Grace started picking up the books. “Let’s go upstairs where it’s warmer.”
I leaned down to grab my textbook as she reached for it, our hands brushing against each other. Without thinking, I wrapped my hand around hers. We both stopped breathing, and everything went quiet. Slowly, we stood up, still holding hands and only inches from each other. Her lips looked glossy and smelled like strawberry. I couldn’t help myself and leaned in to kiss her. My lips grazed hers.
