When she wandered into the kitchen, she saw that he’d made himself at home. The table had been set, the wine poured and the aroma of the pizza filled the room.
“You are very handy to have around,” she said, catching him off guard as he rinsed off the cutting board he’d apparently used to chop a few additions to Rosalina’s traditional house salad.
“It’s my aim to please,” he said as he turned, then blinked. “Holy-moley!”
She smiled at that. “Interpret, please.”
“Did we have sex and I missed it? Because that’s how you look, as if you just crawled out of my bed.”
“Not yet,” she said softly, holding his gaze. “And my bed’s closer.”
Even as the bold words came out of her mouth, she realized this was exactly the moment she’d been hoping for, the chance to shake things up between them, to take the relationship to the next level. It was risky, but what was life without risks? Boring and dull, that’s what, and she’d had a whole lot of that for way too long. She absolutely refused to let a long-ago mistake shape her entire future.
A questioning look crossed his face. “Laura? What exactly are you saying?”
“If you can’t tell, I must not be saying it right.”
“It sounds as if you’re no longer hungry for food,” he hedged.
She smiled. “I am, but I have this other hunger. It caught me by surprise. How about you?”
He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “You’ve been surprising me since the day we met.”
“And the hunger thing? Where do you stand on that?”
He took two steps until he was right in front of her, then leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “Same page as you, apparently,” he said with feeling, then pulled her into his arms for a kiss that was longer, deeper and more amazing than anything Laura had imagined in her bathtub fantasy.
When he released her after what felt like a knee-quivering eternity, she blinked. “For a man who’s supposedly out of practice, you kiss really, really well.”
He laughed at that. “Shall we see if there’s anything else I can remember how to do?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” she said, reaching past him to turn off the oven. “And, remember, I’m a teacher. I know the value of doing something again and again until you master it.”
“Laura Reed,” he murmured. “You are a tease. Who knew?”
It was her turn to laugh. “Not me, that’s for sure. You seem to bring out a side of me I never knew existed.” Or one she’d determinedly tamped down until it no longer put her heart at risk.
He studied her. “A good thing?”
She nodded. “Yes. I think it probably is. Scary, though.”
“Tell me about it,” he said wryly. “Have you tested your limits for tonight, or is that bedroom of yours still an option?”
“Not an option,” she said thoughtfully, then grinned at his disappointed expression. “More like a necessity.”
He swept her into his arms before she could change her mind and headed down the hallway.
“I knew it,” he said, just inside the door. “Frilly, girly decor.”
She patted his cheek. “It’s okay. I think you’re man enough to handle it.”
He looked deep into her eyes. “I’ll give it my best shot,” he said as he lowered her to the bed, then tossed all the pillows aside.
As it turned out, his very best shot was mind-numbingly, impossible-to-catch-her-breath amazing.
* * *
It was nearly midnight when Laura looked at J.C. as they devoured the now-cold pizza and warm wine. She was wearing an oversize T-shirt. He was wearing only his boxers.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be like that,” she told him candidly.
He smiled. “Like what?”
She searched for the right word. “Easy, I guess. Comfortable, as if we’d known each other in some other life and got it exactly right.”
He seemed a little startled by her words. “You felt that, too?”
“I kept expecting to wake up and realize we’d made a terrible mistake, reached for something that would change things between us and maybe ruin the friendship we have.”
“I think I can safely say we’ve moved well beyond friendship,” J.C. said wryly.
“How scary is that for you?” she asked, studying him with a considering look.
“Not half as terrifying as I anticipated. How about you?”
“I’m a little shaky, but in a good way. Isn’t that the way it always feels when you step outside your comfort zone and walk into new territory?”
“What do you see happening next?” he asked.
Laura bit back a smile at the edge of panic he couldn’t quite hide. “More of the same,” she suggested. “Tonight, tomorrow, whenever.”
“And that’s all?”
“I’m not rushing out first thing in the morning to book a church, if that’s what’s worrying you. Nor am I hurrying over to Wharton’s to find out who won the pool.”
“There’s a pool on when we’ll sleep together?”
“More than likely, but I was thinking of the one that has us getting hitched. We’re not there yet.” She shrugged in a casual way she hoped would reassure him. “We might never be there.”
Instead of looking relieved, J.C. frowned at her determinedly light tone. “Then this is just a fling to you?”
“No,” she said patiently. “I told you I’m up for more of the same. I think that implies something that continues for an indefinite period of time.”
“Until someone better comes along?” he prodded.
For an instant, she was taken aback by the bitter note in his voice until it hit her that leaving was exactly what he expected the women in his life to do. It’s what his mother had done, what his wife had done. She reached for his hand.
“J.C., tonight was amazing. The past few weeks have been really good. I’m hopeful that there’s even more good, possibly even great, and a whole lot of amazing on the horizon. I’m not anticipating an ending before we really get started. You shouldn’t, either. That’s not to say it couldn’t end, but it won’t be because I’m not giving it all I have to give. If you
