Page 69 of The Dating Pact

“Jude,” I whispered, my nipples hard beneath my bra. “Please don’t.”

“Don’t what?” He tucked a few strands of hair behind my ear. “Tell you that I dreamed of your legs around my waist last night and woke up hard as a rock? Okay, I won’t.”

My responding laugh was more of a whimper, and I opened my eyes to push him away from me. “You can’t say things like that to me.”

He stood up straight. “Why not?”

“Because…” I coasted my gaze around the farmers market, searching for the right answer.

Because what we’d been doing wasn’t only fun and games for me.

Because we were more than friends, but I didn’t know what else to call us.

Because if he couldn’t follow through, then he had to stop.

I licked my lips and tried on honesty. “Because I think?—”

“Hey, Jude.”

We both whirled around at the voice, and he immediately backed away from me. “Hey, Emma.”

Emma? I didn’t know an Emma.

Jude dragged his hand over his hair a few times, splitting his attention between this woman and me.

“Emma, this is my friend, Brooke. Brooke, this is Emma.” When I stared indifferently at him, he filled in the blank. “We went out last weekend.”

Oh. This was her. His date.

With short blond hair and a fuller figure, she seemed…fine. Pretty, unfortunately.

“Hi.” She waved at me then smiled at Jude. “I had to come check everything out since you told me about it. Although, I don’t think I beat the rain.”

She held her hand palm up, and I squinted out of the tent to see a few drops hit the ground.

“Where are your kids today?” Emma asked, and Jude returned to packing.

“They’re with my parents. I didn’t want to bring them with the weather.”

She lit up. “My son’s with my ex this weekend too. Since we don’t have them, you wouldn’t want to grab lunch, would you?”

He paused, glancing at me, something settling over his dark eyes that I couldn’t read before facing Emma once again. “Yeah, sure. I’ve still got to pack up here, so do you want to meet somewhere?”

“You like Two Birds?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I could meet you there in about twenty minutes.”

“Perfect.” She waved at me, like she hadn’t ruined everything. “It’s nice meeting you.”

“You too,” I mumbled, thinking of the cute little café that served brunch, and how Jude and I had been there once, sharing stuffed French toast and an omelet. Because we liked to try each other’s food.

I swallowed hard as Emma jogged away, a knot forming in my stomach. When I stood, Jude narrowed his eyes on me, and I hoped he couldn’t see everything written on my face.

All of my hurt and anger. The clawing jealousy and devastating disappointment.

Jude and I were friends, only fooling around. What happened between us, it clearly meant nothing to him.

It was practice. That was all.

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