Page 81 of Whisking It All

He hooked one of her legs with his elbow, pressing her thigh back until it rested flush on his chest. The new angle drove him deeper, harder into that spot on her front wall, the one he pressed down on from the outside. She swore and her head fell back between her shoulders.

He captured one nipple between his teeth and growled against her skin, “Louder, Tess. Be a good girl and scream for me.”

She cried his name as she came, her pussy clamping down around him so tightly that it pulled his own orgasm from him as well. He roared as his cock kicked within her, wave after wave of ecstasy buried in the heart of her, white hot heat singeing his spine and driving his hips into the cradle of her thighs over and over until his knees nearly gave out. He braced his hands on the edge of the counter to keep from collapsing.

When he met her eyes, she wore a lazy sort of satisfied smile. She pulsed around him a final time and he grunted at the overwhelming sensation. He turned his face to the leg propped against his chest, pressing an open-mouthed kiss just below her knee, then gently lowered her leg. She hooked it around his waist again, holding him inside her even as he began to soften.

He groaned into the curve of her neck. “I’ve gotta take care of the condom,” he said.

She sighed and released her hold on him, planting her hands on the counter. He withdrew and turned his back to her to clean up. As he dropped the condom in the trash, she said, “Maybe next time we should skip the condom.”

He spun around to find her still seated on the counter, her legs still parted so he had a clear view of every part of her. “Fuck, Tessa,” he said, stepping back between her thighs and resting his forehead against her. “You can’t say shit like that.”

“Why not? I have an IUD. I was tested just before I left Vegas, and there’s been no one but you—”

He kissed her and reached between her legs, cupping her pussy just to feel the heat of her against his palm. His cock was already growing hard and heavy again at the idea of being inside her bare.

She broke the kiss, laughing. “I take it you like the idea.”

“Fuck yes, I like the idea,” he said, taking her face in his hands so she had to look at him. “But, princess, if you let me inside you with nothing between us, then you’re mine. Not just for a few weeks. Not just until you take off for whatever the fuck place is next on your list. Mine.” Her mouth dropped open as if she were going to argue with him, but he kissed her before she could say anything. “So you better be damn sure about what you want before you invite me inside your pussy bare.”

He pulled back to meet her eyes, anxiety making his chest tight as he took in her shocked expression. He shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have issued ultimatums to the one woman he wasn’t allowed to keep, and not just because she intended to leave.

But really, did it matter? Even if by some miracle he could convince her to stay, he still wouldn’t be able to keep her. Ethan was going to come home eventually and he wasn’t fool enough to think they could keep this up once her father was back in town. As it was, he needed to figure out how the hell he was ever going to look his best friend in the eye again. How he was going to welcome him back and fall back into trivia nights and late night burgers at the diner and all the thousands of other little moments where he’d need to pretend he wasn’t a hollowed-out shell without Tessa, that he didn’t lay awake at night as she slept beside him and try to triangulate some way—any way—that he could keep them both.

One way or another, in a few weeks, he would have to let her go.

Chapter 25

“Kyla, this is incredible!” Tessa scrolled through the website on the laptop in her father’s office at Nuthatch while Kyla sat beside her, biting her lip and looking like she was going to be sick.

“You don’t have to say that.”

“I’m not blowing smoke, K. This is amazing.”

Each page was beautifully designed, simple and easy to navigate with bright, bold images of the bakery and its desserts on every page. An events page highlighted the demonstrations and workshops Tessa would lead at the food and wine festival, some of the more playful shots Kyla had taken of Tessa and Jamie featured alongside links to buy tickets.

Kyla reached over and clicked on another tab. A clickable menu, each item displaying a photo of the dessert when you moused over its name, filled the screen. “There’s an option to take orders online. So the next time Mrs. Blumenthal wants four dozen cupcakes, she could place the order in advance.”

“Mrs. Blumenthal is never going to place an order online,” Tessa said, mousing over each item to see the gorgeous photos pop up on the screen. “But this is a great idea. With the holidays coming up, we could encourage people to order their pies and things in advance without having to constantly man the phones.”

She tried to click on the champagne and cream Swiss roll, but nothing happened. She tried again, frowning.

“The site isn’t live yet,” Kyla explained. “I wanted to be sure you liked it—”

“I love it.” Tessa swiveled in the chair to meet Kyla’s eyes. “Seriously. This is better than I ever could have imagined. You’re really good at this.” Kyla brushed off the praise, moving to log out of the test site. “I mean it,” Tessa continued. “Have you ever thought about doing more of this?”

“What, website design?” Kyla scoffed, shutting down the laptop.

“Yeah, sure. Marketing and branding and stuff. Between the photography—”

“I’m not a photographer. Not anymore.”

“Could have fooled me. And half of New England. Your photos are the reason Jamie and I are going to be on Sunrise in the City next week.”

Kyla shook her head, waving Tessa off as they locked up Ethan’s office and headed down the hall to Sugar Grapes. “I like working in the bakery. I only took those photos because Gavin asked me to.”

“All I’m saying is, you have options.”

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