It Was Only a Kiss

Luke summoned up the last reserves of his self-control and slowly felt his self-restraint returning. When he felt his big brain had the edge over his little one, he stood up straight and wordlessly pointed to the door.

Jess nodded as she straightened her shirt. ‘Right—time for me to leave.’ She rocked on her heels, then dug in her tote bag and pulled out a large envelope which she placed on his desk. ‘A marketing strategy—an alternative to what you have now. Maybe we can discuss it another time?’

Un-frickin’-believable.

Had she heard anything he’d said before he’d kissed the hell out of her? Obviously not.

Luke shook his head. ‘I don’t think so.’

A tiny frown appeared between her arched brows. ‘Why not?’

Luke walked around his desk and flopped into his chair. ‘Because you’re fired. Pack up your stuff and get off my property. Immediately.’

ONE

Jessica

I seem to be missing one of my Shun knives. A boning and filleting knife. If you do not return it I’ll be forced to ask you to replace it as I bought it during our trip to the States. They retail for around 200 US dollars.

Grant

Jess Sherwood dropped her head as the e-mail on her screen winged its way to the deleted folder. Grant was smoking something very green and very strong if he thought that she had any intention of paying him another cent. Who had supported him and his extravagant lifestyle when he’d lost his job and while he’d struggled to get his fledgling catering business off the ground?

And, while she’d dished out the money and the sympathy, every day when she’d left for work he’d found something else to do. Or perhaps she should say someone else to do...the blonde living in the simplex opposite them.

Jerk.

The door to her office opened and Jess watched Ally enter, her iPad in her hand. Jess counted her blessings that her stunningly efficient office manager was also her best and most trusted friend.

‘What’s the matter?’ Ally asked, dropping into the chair opposite Jess.

Jess waved at her computer. ‘Grant. Again. Looking for something called a Shun knife. Um...what’s a Shun knife?’

Ally, well acquainted with Jess’s lack of culinary skills, smiled. ‘It’s a brand of expensive kitchen knives. Nice.’

‘Well, if I find it in my kitchen it’s yours,’ Jess said glumly.

‘What else is the matter?’ Ally placed her iPad on the desk.

Jess waved at her computer. ‘Grant’s trying to yank my chain.’

Ally’s bold red lips quirked. ‘Judging by the scowl on your face, I’d say “mission accomplished”.’

Jess wrinkled her nose. ‘He’s the larva that grows on the dung of...’

‘Yeah, yeah—heard it all before. It was over months ago, so why are you still so PO-ed?’

Jess rested her elbows on her desk and shoved her fingers into her hair, considering Ally’s question. It had been a year since Grant had lost his high-powered job as brand manager for a well-known clothing chain, and six months since she’d caught him in their bed with what’s-her-name with the stupid Donald Duck tattoo on her butt...

Since she’d been on top when Jess had walked into the bedroom the image was indelibly printed on her mind.

Okay, so the incident had also catapulted her back to that dreadful period in her teens when— No, she wasn’t going to think about that. It was enough to remember that she now knew the pain infidelity caused—first- and second-hand.

She was now wholly convinced that any woman who handed over emotional control to another person in the name of love had to be fiercely brave or terminally nuts.

She was neither.

‘Well?’ When Jess didn’t speak, Ally shook her head. ‘We’ve shared everything from pregnancy scares—yours—to one-night stands—mine—and everything in between, so talk to me, Jessica Rabbit.’

Jess managed a smile at her old nickname. ‘I’m angry, sure, but at myself as well as him. I’m livid that he managed to slip his affair under my radar—that I wasn’t astute enough to realise that he was parking his shoes under someone else’s bed.’

Ally stood up, walked over to the credenza and shoved two cups under the spout of Jess’s beloved coffee machine. After doctoring them both, Ally handed Jess her cup, put her back to the window and perched her bottom on the sill.

‘I spoke to Nick on my way to work.’ Jess couldn’t help the smile that drifted across her face. It was wonderfully good to have an open, relaxed relationship with her brother again, after years of him operating on the periphery of her life. ‘He’s so damn happy with Clem, and I know that they have something special. The last of my brothers—all of whom sowed enough wild oats to cover Africa—has settled down.’

‘And you’re wafting in the wind?’ Ally placed her hands on the windowsill behind her. ‘And that bothers you because it’s something your brothers have got right and you haven’t. Love is not a contest, Jess. Do you know what your problem is?’ Ally continued.

‘No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,’ Jess grumbled. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what she had to say...Ally seldom pulled her punches.

‘You raised the topic,’ Ally pointed out. ‘Do you want me to tell you what you want to hear or the truth?’

‘That’s a rhetorical question, right?’ Jess took a deep breath. ‘Okay, I’ll take a brave-girl pill...hit me.’

‘One sentence: you’re so damned scared of being vulnerable that you try to control everything in a relationship.’

Hearing her earlier thought about control so eloquently explained floored Jess. Did her best friend know her or what?

‘Being single suits you and not being in love suits you even better.’

‘Can I change my mind and ask you to tell me what I want to hear?’ Jess protested. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear any more about her romantic failings.

‘To you, being in love means losing control—and to a control freak that is the scariest thing in the world.’

‘I am not a control freak!’ Jess retorted, heat in her voice.

Ally’s mouth dropped open. ‘You big, fat liar! You are all about control. That’s why you choose men you can control.’

‘You are so full of it.’ Jess sulked.

‘You know I’m right,’ Ally retorted.

This was the problem with good friends. They knew you better than you knew yourself, Jess grumbled silently. Deciding that Ally was looking far too smug, she decided to change the subject, vowing to give their conversation some more thought later.

Maybe.

If she felt like digging into her own psyche with a hand drill.

Right now they needed to work. She nodded to the iPad and listened and made notes as Ally updated her on the projects she wasn’t personally involved with. Jess gave her input and instructions and ran through some office-related queries.