8. A Craving That Starts as a Spark #4
She rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed on her mouth as he pulled away from the curb.
The drive into Brooklyn unfolded slowly beneath the fading daylight.
Traffic thickened as they moved through neighborhoods buzzing with weekend energy.
Restaurants glowed along the sidewalks. People clustered near doorways with their shoulders hunched against the cold.
Somewhere a group laughed too loudly as they hurried across the street, scarves flying behind them.
Eventually Trevor turned onto a quieter road that curved along the edge of Prospect Park.
Aniyah glanced toward the stretch of dark trees rising behind the stone wall. “Prospect Park?”
Trevor nodded once. “Trust me.”
He parked near one of the entrances and stepped out, the last threads of sunlight were slipping through the bare branches.
Aniyah followed him through the park entrance, her boots crunching softly along the gravel path. Winter had changed the park’s personality. The crowds were gone, replaced by quiet pockets of space where the wind moved freely through the trees.
They walked for a few minutes before Trevor slowed near a small clearing.
Aniyah noticed the setup before he even said anything.
Two low wooden chairs sat beneath a small canvas dining tent, the sides rolled down and zipped tight against the cold.
A small portable heater hummed gently inside, casting a warm golden glow across a low table set between them.
The whole space looked like a tiny pocket of warmth tucked into the middle of the winter park .
Aniyah stopped walking.
“You did not.”
Trevor’s mouth curved slightly as he stepped forward and unzipped the entrance flap, “I might’ve.”
She looked at the tent again, then at him, “Trevor Porter…”
He held the flap open, gesturing for her to step inside, “Come on before all the heat escapes.”
Aniyah ducked inside and the difference in temperature wrapped around her almost instantly. The heater warmed the small space comfortably, the canvas walls blocking the wind while soft lights strung along the frame gave everything a quiet glow.
“Oh my God,” she breathed.
Trevor zipped the entrance closed behind them.
Inside the tent sat a thick wool rug layered beneath the chairs, with blankets folded along the backs like someone had thought through every detail and wanted them to be cozy.
Aniyah slipped off her coat almost immediately followed by her shoes since the tent had a floor and the rug was on top of it, “Okay, this is actually genius.”
Trevor shrugged as he set the picnic basket onto the small table, “I wanted us to have a good dinner, but I’m also selfish and wanted you to myself. This is a good medium.”
She laughed softly, flexing her toes against the rug with a sigh, “This is the first time my feet have been warm all day.”
Trevor watched her settle into the chair across from him, the glow of the heater warming the cinnamon tone of her dress. For a second he said nothing at all.
Aniyah noticed the look almost immediately, “What?”
Trevor leaned back slightly, “Nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, “That was not a nothing look. ”
His smile deepened but he reached into the basket instead of answering, pulling out wrapped sandwiches.
The smell hit her before she even saw what they were.
Aniyah’s eyes widened, “No way.”
Trevor peeled the paper back slowly, “Yes way. I got Philly cheesesteaks.”
She stared at him like he had just performed a magic trick, “How in the hell did you get authentic Philly cheesesteaks and we’re in Brooklyn?”
Trevor handed her one and leaned back in his chair, “It pays to have a brother that’s famous.”
Aniyah laughed as she took the sandwich. “You used Jackson Porter’s connections for a sandwich.”
Trevor lifted his shoulders. “I used grandpa’s connections for you .”
“Your brother know you out here calling him grandpa?” Aniyah asked while laughing. Trevor looked at his watch.
“It’s seven PM, that geriatric is probably in the bed, the title is fitting.” They laughed in response. Aniyah finished opening her sandwich. The warmth of the bread and melted cheese hit her tongue and she closed her eyes for a second.
“Oh my God,” She moaned. Immediately she noticed Trevor shift and fix his jeans in his seat. Heat thrummed through her core at the thought of him getting hard just from the sound of her satisfaction.
Trevor chuckled quietly, “Still your favorite?”
She opened one eye at him,“You remember that?”
“You used to eat them every Friday after track practice.”
Aniyah paused mid-bite, Trevor would be around but she never knew he paid any attention to her. The realization of what that meant moved slowly across her face.
“You remember what I ate in high school? ”
Trevor shrugged lightly trying to play off his eagerness, “I remember a lot about you from back then.”
Something about the way he said it made her look down at her sandwich for a second longer than necessary.
Lord, this man was going to be her undoing.
“You keep surprising me, Porter. I like it. For the record, I remember you from back then too.”
They ate slowly, conversation drifting between easy laughter and comfortable pauses. They talked about her best friends and his life as the youngest.
“Man, it was rough as hell. Having a brother that’s twelve years older than me was damn near like having a second father. And don’t factor in Lou who is ten years older than me. He used to say mom and dad found me on the sidewalk and decided to bring me home…asshole.” That made Aniyah cackle.
Trevor pulled strawberries and wine from the basket after a while, pouring two small cups while the heater hummed steadily beside them.
Aniyah leaned back in her chair, stretching her legs out beneath the small table, she took in her surroundings again, “You really did all this.”
Trevor handed her a cup of wine, “You’re more than worth the effort.”
The sincerity in his voice landed somewhere deep in her chest.
“Can I ask you something?”
Aniyah glanced up from her wine, “You’ve been answering my questions all night. Go ahead.”
Trevor rested his elbows on his knees, studying her with quiet curiosity. “Why teaching?”
The question caught her off guard. She sat there for a moment, the answer forming slowly in her chest.
“I love kids,” she said finally.
Trevor waited for more. Aniyah smiled softly, looking down at the cup in her hands before continuing, “But it’s more than that.”
Her voice grew quieter, more thoughtful.
“When I was growing up, my house wasn’t exactly… easy.” She shrugged lightly. “Everything was so strict, as we talked about in the car earlier. I hated coming home. That was not a place I felt at peace in.”
Trevor watched her carefully taking in the way her hands nervously moved together.
“School was the only place that felt different,” she continued. “There were teachers who saw me for who I truly was, a human being.”
She lifted her eyes to his.
“I remember this one teacher in fifth grade who used to keep her classroom open during lunch for kids who didn’t want to sit in the cafeteria. Some days there’d be five of us in there just sitting on the floor reading while she graded papers.”
Aniyah smiled faintly at the memory.
“She never made it a big thing. Never asked questions we didn’t want to answer. She just… made space.”
Trevor felt something tighten quietly in his chest.
“That stayed with me,” she said. “The idea that a classroom could be a safe place for somebody. That a kid could walk in and breathe for a few hours before going back to whatever was waiting for them at home.”
She lifted one shoulder gently.
“That’s what I try to be. A safe space. A soft place to land if they need it.”
The warmth in her voice made something shift behind Trevor’s ribs. He studied her for a long moment.
“That makes a lot of sense,” he said quietly.
Aniyah tilted her head, “Why? ’
Trevor’s mouth curved slightly, “Because Zara talks about you like you hung the moon.”
Aniyah blinked, clearly not expecting that, “She does not.”
“She absolutely does.”
Her cheeks warmed instantly and she looked down at the table, “Zara is a very special little girl. You definitely hit the jackpot having her as a daughter.”
Trevor beamed at the mention of his baby girl, “I did. I tell myself that every morning. That little girl is my world. You saying that means a lot.”
Trevor watched the way the soft light caught the curve of her face, the way she tucked a loose curl behind her ear when she got shy. Something about that small movement made the air between them shift. The easy flow of things was now charged.
He reached for another strawberry and held it out to her.
Aniyah raised an eyebrow, “You feeding me now?”
Trevor’s voice dropped just slightly, “Depends.”
“On what.”
“Whether you’re going to behave.”
She took the strawberry anyway, her fingers brushing his as she did. The contact lasted less than a second. Still, heat shot up her arm like a spark finding dry wood. Aniyah chewed slowly, pretending she hadn’t noticed.
Trevor leaned back in his chair, watching her in that quiet way he had that made her feel like he was memorizing something.
The tent suddenly felt smaller.
Warmer.
Too warm.
Aniyah shifted in her seat and stretched her legs toward the heater, trying to ignore the way Trevor’s gaze followed the movement.
“So,” she said lightly, clearing her throat. “You take all your dates to heated tents in the park? ”
Trevor’s eyes lifted to hers, they were darkened, “No, just you.”
The answer came too quickly to be casual. The laughter from earlier had softened into something heavier now. Something slower. The space between them seemed to thicken, the quiet inside the tent pressing gently against her pulse.
Trevor leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on his knees. Taking in Aniyah’s shallow breaths.
“You nervous?”
Aniyah met his eyes. “Should I be?”
His mouth curved slowly, “If you knew what just went through my mind…Probably.”