Page 51 of Love Is…?

Jayde sat perfectly still, so Tessa decided to press her pelvis to the edge of Jayde’s stool, shift her hands farther up Jayde’s thighs, both actions bringing her face closer.

“Yes?” Tessa breathed.

“Yes.” Jayde’s voice trembled, then she brought her hands to Tessa’s waist.

Tessa dug her fingers into Jayde’s jeans, then, she pushed forward, her mouth claiming Jayde’s, pulling on her lips, tilting her head so she could touch more. Feel more. Then, she slid her tongue along Jayde’s bottom lip, and Jayde’s gasp was all-consuming.

Tessa wrenched her hands from Jayde’s thighs, bringing them up to thread her fingers through Jayde’s hair on either side of her face, pushing the strands behind her ears, all without breaking the kiss. The kisses.

The push-pull of two people who needed this, craved this, intensified until finally Tessa opened her mouth, and Jayde slid her tongue inside, and Tessa nearly passed out at how intimate, and erotic, and scorching, and perfect it was.

She felt her bones liquifying. Felt the wet heat gathering between her legs. That awareness forced her to step back.

Jayde was breathing shallowly, her chest heaving. “That message was loud and clear,” she croaked. “No misunderstanding there at all.”

Tessa smiled. She hadn’t removed her hands from Jayde’s shoulders, because it felt totally comfortable to leave them there.

“Did that kiss leap over tentative and say I want to take you home to my place?” Tessa poked out the tip of her tongue and licked her bottom lip. Jayde followed the movement, then she inhaled.

“You did take me home to your place.”

Tessa slapped Jayde’s shoulder. “Funny.” She slid both hands down Jayde’s arms, and cleared her throat. “We’re messing up our teaching schedule.”

“That’s okay. We can change it around. It’s just pretend.”

Tessa darted her gaze about, then she stared past Jayde into the kitchen. “Yeah,” she said nonchalantly, then brought her gaze back. “This is all pretend.” She swallowed her silly wish that the word ‘pretend’ didn’t exist.

But the word seemed to be the catalyst for Jayde to announce that she should go. They disentangled themselves and walked to the door, with much, “This was great,” and, “Thanks for the ice cream,” and, “Dinner was fun.”

Despite Tessa suggesting that she could drive Jayde home, she insisted on catching a tram.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you. You’re home already. Besides, I like the cool air, so I’ll walk for a bit. Thanks for the offer but I’ll tram it home,” Jayde said, and then she was gone.

Tessa leaned against the closed door long after Jayde had left.

It was just kissing. Lips. Mouths. That’s it. Just pretence.

Her stomach tightened. “But it’s not just pretend kissing,” she whispered, and her brain, having returned from Fiji, spun around to common sense and said, “This is your fault.”

Chapter

Twelve

“You’rescared because a woman kissed you,” Jayde muttered the next morning, glaring at herself in the bathroom mirror. “Oh no, Jayde,” she answered, pitch high, tone sarcastic. “You’re scared because a gorgeous, funny, kind, delightful, sexy woman named Tessa kissed you senseless, and now you’re freaking out.”

Jayde sighed, then jabbed a finger at her reflection. “I want more. Not the ‘I want more because then we’ll have sex’ kind of more, although that would be amazing. I just want more.” Perplexed resignation stared back. Changing the terms of the challenge, and announcing that the lessons were real, wasn’t fair on either of them, even though Jayde was convinced that Tessa was affected by the flirting and the kissing just as much as she was. It didn’t matter. They’d call it pretend until…Well, there wasn’t any ‘until’. It was always going to be pretend.

Therefore, Jayde was highly relieved to hear that Abby would be in Sydney for the next five days, which meant no interviewing, which meant Jayde didn’t need to go to the house, which meant that she didn’t need to see Tessa. Which meant that?—

“You’re chicken shit,” she growled and aggressively sat on her office chair.

Her phone pinged as she finished the email requesting an interview with Enrico Lassiter, the chef atHoraldo’s.He was well known in international culinary circles, therefore he was a superstar in Melbourne, the food capital of Australia. Enrico was bound to have an opinion about love, because food was love for many people.

She picked up her phone, and swiped it open.

Morning!

Warm fluttering filledJayde’s veins, and she pressed her palms to her stomach, staring at the message on the screen. Three dots bounced under the single word, and a smile lifted Jayde’s lips as she waited for whatever Tessa was going to add to the greeting.

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