Page 69 of Love Is…?

Having retrieved their first aid—caramel swirl—Jayde pointed the spoons at the couch, and they sat close so they could pass the tub back and forth.

Tessa summarised her interaction with Maz.

“I started with something about saving her from a deserted island.”

Jayde laughed. “That’s actually a great line. Go, you.”

“There was hardly any rehearsal. It fell out of my head,” Tessa said.

“Well, it must have worked.” Jayde paused, her spoon halfway to her mouth.

“I guess. Up until Maz informed me of her extensive range of sex toys and invited me to partake in experimenting with each one.”

Jayde snorted. “Oh, God.”

“Hm.” Tessa pulled the tub out of Jayde’s hand, stabbed her spoon into the ice cream, and shoved ice cream into her mouth.

“Okay. Well, as I said, tonight was weird. So let’s talk normal stuff, then. Anything normal coming up for you?” Jayde pulled at the tub, but Tessa held on.

“I haven’t had my second turn yet.”

Jayde laughed out loud. “You’re counting the number of scoops?”

“Absolutely.” Tessa grinned and they held eye contact, even when the grins faded to smiles which switched to lips parting so that the moment became thick and delicious and tense. “Jayde?”

“Yes?”

Tessa shuffled closer. “Can I kiss you? Since we’re not pretending?”

Jayde leaned forward and hovered close to Tessa’s mouth. “Yes,” she murmured, and pressed closer, pushing, pulling with her lips.

Tessa whimpered, then slowly bit Jayde’s bottom lip, which produced a similar whimper from Jayde.

Cold droplets of water on her thigh caused Tessa to jerk away, panting. She held up the tub as the condensation dripped from the bottom. “The ice cream’s melting.”

Jayde traced the line of Tessa’s hair with her finger. “That’s because you’re so hot.”

Tessa stared, then cracked up. “Oh my God. That was so cheesy.”

Jayde laughed, and took the tub from Tessa’s hands. “All the cheese.” They grinned at each other. “So, anything normal coming up?” Jayde put an enormous spoonful into her mouth.

Hoping to find another moment to ask for more kisses, Tessa answered. “I’m chaperoning a small group of girls with Grace included on their forty-eight hour hike. The Rawson Resilience Challenge. Felicity, the principal, implemented it last year. It’s been a hit, although probably not for the chaperones and teachers, or for the kids like Justine who’s discovered super glue and attached herself to her phone.” Tessa laughed at how Jayde shook her head in resignation. “Anyway, we leave tomorrow afternoon. It should be interesting to see how they cope.”

“Grace will be fine.” Jayde scraped at the inside of the tub.

“Oh God, yes. I think the only thing that would ever throw out Grace’s equilibrium would be if she was hurt by someone close to her. I think that emotional pain would take a while to heal.”

Jayde stared into the empty container, then tipped it to show Tessa.

“That last bit was at least four scoops, Jayde Ferguson! I’ll hold you to that repayment.” Tessa gave a mock frown, and Jayde laughed at its ineffectiveness.

They stared at each other in silence then Tessa stood. “Okay. I should get going. Thank you again for tonight. We’ll work on the romance curriculum next weekend.” She gathered her bag, and keys, then made her way to the door. “You’re doing well. Not nearly as appalling as me.”

Jayde followed her, put her hands on Tessa’s shoulders, and turned her around. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. It’s other people, not you.” Keeping hold of Tessa, she pulled back and appraised Tessa’s body, which produced all sorts of delightful tingles and swoops in Tessa’s stomach. The lower half of her stomach.

“Tess, you are funny, and caring, and smart, and you’re beautiful.”

Tessa’s tongue swiped across her bottom lip and held Jayde’s attention.

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