One More Kiss

“It’s been nice but I think I’ll be going,” she said.

“Why? What did I say?”

“It’s what you’re not saying. You ask me to give you a second chance. Telling me nice-sounding platitudes and then when I ask you for something real, it’s back to the smoke and mirrors.”

She stared down at him. And then, when he kept silent, she shook her head. “Good luck, Jay.”

“Wait. Let’s go for a walk … I’ll tell you what’s going on,” he said.

“Okay, but you asked me to trust you, and I’m not sure I can but I’m at least trying. I need to know that you’re doing the same,” she said.

“I’ll try, I’m not any good at this sort of thing, which is why I probably should have just stayed out of your life.”

“If you believe that, why are you back here?” she asked. “Why did you call Sweet Dreams and order dessert for a woman—me—to try to win her back?”

“I want something more,” he said. “I had a close call on my last deployment and I realized that I really don’t want to live the rest of my life alone—without you.”

She didn’t either, which was why she’d always been … waiting for the right guy.

For honesty, that was pretty much on the mark. And his words made her admit that she didn’t want him to be alone, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to be the woman at his side. Jay was difficult to get to know and it was only tonight that she was coming to understand how difficult. That week together had been almost a fairy tale and she’d seen in Jay only what she’d wanted to. A man who was enamored with her and as caught up in the whirlwind romance as she had been.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I have two weeks to figure it out,” he said. “I’m having lunch with some buddies who got out last year,” Jay said. “Something might come of that. If I can’t find work do you think you could use another cake-froster?”

“Cake-frosting is a delicate art. It requires a skill set you might not have.” He’d given her a little nugget of truth and then turned the topic to something safer and she let him do it. She wasn’t sure how much “truth” she could take tonight. Seeing him was enough of a shock, learning that he’d almost died before he could come back to her … Well, that was something she didn’t want to dwell on.

“What skills exactly?” he asked. “I have steady hands.”

He held his big hands out to her. They were tanned and had blunt-trimmed nails. They were the hands of a man who took care of himself. No metrosexual manicure, but looked after all the same.

“That’s only part of it. I’d have to see how good you are using them,” she said, flirting just a little because she wanted him. And to be honest, flirting was safe. She flirted with uniformed Marines every day and nothing came of it.

“I thought that would be the one thing you’d know I could do,” he said.

She shivered as she remembered his hands on her body. He was very good at using them. He was a thorough lover who had taken his time with her, every time. The attention he’d lavished on her had made her feel like the most fascinating woman in the world.

“That’s a different type of hand work,” she said.

“Really?” he asked in a teasing smile.

“I didn’t mean it that way!”

“Of course you didn’t,” he said with a laugh. It sounded rusty.

“You’d be bored,” she said. “It’s quiet and repetitive. Most of the stuff we do for decoration is simple flowers or candies. Staci and I do all the work ourselves because it’s our favorite part of the job.”

“I get your passion. You both have a stake in making sure the business is successful, I’m sure it shows in your work,” he said.

“Yes, it does. You’ll be able to tell when we have dessert,” she said.

“What did you make for my mystery woman?” he asked.

“Wait and see.”

“About working at the bakery, I don’t think I’d get bored. Plus, you’d be there … we’d have some frosting.”

“Okay, enough with that. This is a first date not—”

“Not what? Our last first date ended pretty well.”

“The date did, but what happened afterward is something I’m not looking to repeating.”

“Me, neither,” he said.

He took her hand, cradling it in his own. He ran his finger over her knuckles. She felt an electric charge go up her arm and then shivers across her shoulders and chest. Her nipples tightened and her breasts felt fuller.

She remembered how one simple touch could lead to much more. She pushed her fingers through his and held his hand in hers. He tightened his grasp on her fingers and lifted her hand to his mouth.

The warmth of his breath brushed over the back of her hand. He looked up at her as he kissed her hand and then her wrist.

She pulled her hand from his grasp and put it in her lap. She wasn’t ready to rekindle the sexual flame that had always been between them. Not at this instant. But to reclaim herself she knew that she was going to have to. And she was afraid that when she did she’d lose a little bit more of herself.

3

JAY LEANED BACK in his chair, lacing his fingers over his chest. Granted, she couldn’t see his eyes in the growing darkness, but still she felt the weight of his gaze on her. He looked aloof and dangerous and though she knew he wouldn’t hurt her she felt that he wanted to keep the world at bay.

“So … how did you start a bakery?” he asked.

“With a lot of loans from the bank,” she replied with a wry grin. Her parents had offered to help by cosigning but she’d refused. After the debacle of her “marriage” to Jay she’d needed to do something on her own.

“Was it hard?” he asked.

“You have no idea,” she said.

“That’s why I’m asking,” he said. “The woman I married was looking for a family and wanted to settle down.”

“Well, that didn’t work out, did it?” she asked.

She was starting to feel annoyed. She had enjoyed Jay’s company, but a part of her hadn’t wanted to. She wanted Jay to have turned into some kind of jerk so she could stand up and walk away. Instead he’d been nice and kept the conversation going when all she wanted was … well, some awkward silences.

“No, it didn’t. So tell me, what happened? I want to know what I missed,” he said.

She tried studying him. The new him. But memories of the old him were bonded deep within her. She felt vulnerable and unsure. She pulled her sunglasses off the top of her head and put them on.

“I started doing bakery competitions in the area and winning some of them. Then I was invited to be a part of Good Morning Los Angeles’s cooking segment and gained some notoriety that way. But there was another cupcake girl, Staci, and we kept bumping into each other. And one thing led to another until one night, after a few too many margaritas, I found myself agreeing to be her partner and open a bakery with her.”

He just continued watching her and she fiddled with her fork. She didn’t like his attention on her because she didn’t want to feel even a bit of attraction for him. But it was crazy to try to deny it. She did want him.