Page 27 of You Had Me at Merlot

“I need you,” Jamie said. Leighton knew exactly where, yet she withheld. She looked up.

“What is it you need?” Leighton asked innocently.

“You,” Jamie said.

“You might have to be more specific.”

“Your tongue. Make me come.”

Leighton nodded and captured Jamie in her mouth, swirling her tongue for only a moment before Jamie went still and called out. Leighton smiled and memorized the wonderful sound. She rested her head on Jamie’s stomach and brought her back from the orgasm with soft touches.

“Come up here,” Jamie said finally, opening her arms. Leighton slid beneath one and they shared a kiss. “I didn’t expect you, ya know.”

“I didn’t expect you either,” Leighton said honestly.

There was a lot to say. Much to discuss. But for now, Leighton opted to live in a land where she and Jamie were the only people who existed. They lay in each other’s arms and talked and laughed for thenext hour or two before Leighton dressed, this time in Jamie’s soft sweatshirt, for home.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Trust me when I say how badly I do. All I’m going to think about tonight is you. This. In fact…” She pressed Jamie to the wall and stole a searing kiss.

Jamie laughed when they came up for air. “You really know how to say good-bye.”

“Just holding on a bit longer,” Leighton said. “I wish we both didn’t have an early morning.”

“Me, too. The only reason I’m agreeing to this is because I’m hoping we have many more nights ahead of us.”

Leighton nodded. “That’s what I want so badly, too.”

Another kiss that gave way to another. When they paused, Jamie quirked her head as if remembering something key. “We didn’t talk about your work thing. You said you wanted to.”

“I do. But it can wait.” A heaviness came over her, a reminder that all of this wasn’t fully real. At least, not yet.

“Okay. If you say so.” She opened the door and leaned against the side. Leighton moved to the hallway, and when she turned back, Jamie was squinting. “Clarissa was asking me the name of the company you work for, and I didn’t know what to tell her.”

“Oh, it’s named after my family,” she said automatically. It was the best she could come up with.

“So, Morrow…?”

“And Associates. Yeah.” She blinked and took a deep breath. She’d shocked herself because that was an outright lie and it wasn’t like her. She’d panicked. “Um. I guess I better go before another storm hits. Probably any minute now.” She took Jamie’s hand and kissed the back of it. “It was a great night. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it. Good night, Leighton.”

“Night, Jamie.” Leighton stole a last glimpse of Jamie and her warm smile before turning and heading for home. Guilt-stricken and falling hard for the girl she’d left in that apartment, Leighton felt like a tornado attempting to find the path of least destruction. She wasn’t doing a very good job.

“What now?” she asked the dark clouds gathering in the sky. “What the hell now?”

Chapter Seven

Jamie was five minutes late to work that next morning, but she didn’t care in the slightest. She’d practically floated her way from the train to Bordeauxnuts and now hummed to herself as she prepped the point-of-sale station for opening. She was on a high from her night with Leighton and enjoying every second of it. Nothing could smother her mood, not even if Rude Latte Face showed up and demanded they make his drink three times until he approved.

“You’re humming,” Leo stated, stroking his chin in thought.

“I am doing that. You’re right. Strange.” She sent him a sweet grin.

He continued to study her. “You’re also moving with big gestures and smiling a lot.”

She lifted a shoulder. “So I am. Interesting.” She was being playful and reveling in it.

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