“Okay,” she said, “but the rules are back in effect. No talk of Misty, bullying or anything related to it.”
J.C. nodded, then gave her a wicked look. “What will we do?”
Regarding him with amusement, Laura tapped on the bag of take-out containers. “Dinner,” she replied at once.
“I’m a fast eater.”
“Then we can negotiate over dessert for what comes next,” she teased. “I have some thousand-piece puzzles if you’re interested.”
He looked into her eyes and held her gaze until the color rose in her cheeks. “The only puzzle I’m even remotely interested in is figuring out Laura Reed and why I can’t seem to stay away from you,” he said quietly.
A slow smile spread across her face. “Then that’s what we’ll work on.”
J.C. laughed. The end of the evening definitely promised to be a lot more intriguing and potentially satisfying than the beginning.
* * *
Laura closed her eyes and savored a bite of Erik’s triple-layer red-velvet cake. When she opened her eyes, she found J.C.’s gaze locked on her lips.
“Do you have any idea of how amazing that is?” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
She gestured toward the cake. “That,” she said. “It’s heavenly. Moist, delectable sex on a fork.”
“What?” J.C. asked, blinking. “Did you just compare that cake to sex?”
She nodded, grinning. “It’s pretty darn close.”
“Lemme see,” he said, motioning for her to share a bite.
She pulled her fork and the cake out of reach. “You have your own slice. This is mine.”
“But if you let me have just one taste of yours, I might be persuaded to leave that other slice here for you.”
“An intriguing offer,” she said, studying him. “How do I know you’ll do that?”
“It will take a certain amount of persuasion,” he told her thoughtfully. “I’m thinking a few kisses for starters, then we’ll see where that leads.”
She blinked, then chuckled. “You want to exchange actual sex for cake?”
“The way you were talking it would be a fair exchange. What do you think?”
“I think you’re nuts,” she said flatly, then shrugged. “But okay.” She offered him a taste of the cake. “Incredible, right?”
“Not bad,” he said, then gestured to his lips. “A kiss for comparison.”
Accepting the challenge, she leaned forward and touched her lips to his. He cupped a hand behind her neck and pulled her closer. What was meant to be a casual dare of a kiss turned into something deeper and far more compelling. She was pretty sure there was steam rising by the time he released her.
“No comparison,” he said, looking into her eyes. “That was way better than any cake ever made.”
“You have a point,” she admitted, setting the plate aside and reaching for him. “The cake can wait.”
She was pretty sure it would still be spectacular for breakfast.
* * *
J.C. walked into the kitchen the next morning and found Laura at the table wearing nothing more than his shirt, a cup of coffee in front of her along with the last few crumbs of the cake. The second slice, if he wasn’t mistaken.
“Was that on your mind all night long?” he inquired.
“Not all night,” she said with a grin. “You kept me pretty entertained most of the time.”
“Pretty entertained?” he repeated with a quizzical look as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Not exactly the rave reviews I was going for.”
She laughed. “Okay, it was a stellar performance. You drove every other thought completely out of my mind.”
“Better,” he said, leaning down to kiss her before peeking into the refrigerator. “Eggs? Bacon?”
“Sorry, not in this house. I have some bran flakes.”
J.C. shrugged. “That’ll do.”
When she started to get up, he pushed her back down. “I can track down a bowl, cereal and milk. You stay right there and look fetching.”
“Fetching?”
“My shirt becomes you. Come to think of it, are those bowls on a high shelf? It might be fascinating to see what happens if you have to reach for them.”
She grinned. “You wish. Get your own bowl.”
When he’d poured the cereal into a bowl and doused it with milk, he settled across from her.
“We never did have that clarity conversation last night,” he said.
“That’s okay.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not. I owe it to you to be honest about what I’m thinking.”
“Are you thinking that being good friends and having incredible sex isn’t a clear enough message?”
Startled, he met her gaze. “Is that all you want from me? Friendship and an occasional roll in the hay?”
She frowned at his sharp tone. Reaching for his hand, she said, “Hey, that’s not what I was saying at all. I just meant that what we have right now is good. It doesn’t need a label. I’m comfortable with where we are, if you are.”
“Well, I’m not,” he said, surprisingly irritated by her willingness to settle for what she’d made to sound extremely casual.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Then clarify.”
“Look, you know I wasn’t looking for a relationship,” he began.
“Abundantly clear,” she confirmed. “Almost from the very first words you ever said to me.”
He scowled at her snippy tone. This clearly wasn’t going the way he’d intended it to. “I’m trying to tell you that things have changed for me. The fact that I’m attracted to you is hardly a shock, I’m sure, but it’s a whole lot more than that. I like you. I really like you. And I enjoy being with you.”
“Still sounds a lot like friends with benefits to me,” she said, “which was all I was suggesting earlier.”
“We are not friends with any damn benefits,” he retorted, exasperated because she was making this all but impossible. “I’m falling in love with you, which you might know if you’d actually listen, instead of coming up with all these smart replies of yours.”
She blinked, though he couldn’t be certain if it was because of his tone or the import of what he’d said.
“You’re falling in love with me,” she echoed softly, looking stunned.
“Yes,” he said, his own tone softening. “Don’t ask me how it happened, because I really thought I was immune.”
“Can you get vaccinated for that?” she asked, her tone lighter.
J.C. chuckled. “Not that I know of, or, believe me, I would have.” He reached for her hand and twined her fingers through his. “I can tell I’ve caught you completely off guard, and it’s not as if I’m asking you to tell me you’re madly in love with me or anything like that. I just wanted
