by Jess Dee
“It’s my number one party biscuit. I get orders for hundreds of them every weekend.”
Jared tasted three other flavors before Ava finally allowed him one of the cookies from the oven. The hot, buttery treat melted in his mouth, white chocolate exploding on his tongue. The crunch of the macadamia nut finished off a perfect bite.
“This might well be better than sex,” he muttered around a large mouthful, mimicking her words from a few days ago.
Ava chuckled. “Then you, my friend, have been sleeping with all the wrong women.”
Of course he had. None of them had been Ava. “I’d sleep with this cookie if I could.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You give kink a whole new meaning.”
“Mmm. There’s an idea. Call this the Kink Cookie and promote it with the logo, One bite away from ecstasy.”
“You’re an idiot.” But she laughed as she said it.
“Seriously, this is better than Arlene Hemings ever was. At anything.”
She grunted. “You just had to bring up her name.”
He grinned. “Still jealous?”
“Oh, get over yourself.” Color tinged her cheeks a becoming pink. Even standing in the middle of her kitchen, wearing a white apron with the One Smart Cookie logo printed on the front, she looked beautiful.
“Don’t be. I’d put money on the odds Arlene can’t bake like you.”
Ava looked down her nose at him, a quirk he found totally endearing. How she managed to appear so pompous and cute at the same time, he had no idea. “There are many things Arlene can’t do like me.”
“And I—” Jared took the tongs from Ava and helped himself to another cookie, “—would like to find out about every one of them.” He devoured the cookie, humming his appreciation once again.
“I’m sure you would. And had you taken notice all those years ago, you would have.”
All those years ago, he hadn’t been interested. Now…
“I have a confession.” Jared handed back the tongs. He’d packed away at least eight cookies and was finally feeling full. And perhaps a little hyped up on sugar.
Ava raised a brow in question.
“I’ve been thinking about something you said to me on Monday night.” Thinking? More like obsessing—for the three days since he’d last seen her.
Ava’s gaze grew serious. “Which part?”
All of it. “The bit about you liking our kiss…”
Her cheeks turned pinker, and she worried her lower lip with her teeth.
“…and maybe wanting to try it again sometime.”
“Yeah?” Her gaze darted all around the shop before coming back to settle on his face. “What about it?”
“How about we make that sometime right now?”
She gave a nervous laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m at work. There’s a mob of people on the other side of the door.”
Jared glanced through the glass panel to the shop exterior. “A mob well looked after by Nessy.” He stretched his arm toward her. “Take my hand. Let’s try that kiss again, right here.”
“What if Nessy needs me?” The uncertainty of her words was downplayed by her actions. Ava reached for his hand.
He weaved their fingers together, his chest heaving at the feel of her. “Then she’ll come and get you.” He tugged her hand. “Come closer.”
Ava did, still holding the tongs, wielding them in front of her like a protective shield. “Everyone will see.”
“Easy fix.” Jared stepped back a few paces, taking her with him. He stopped with his back against one of the cupboards. She stopped a step away.
“Hard to kiss you when you’re so far.” Fuck knew he ached to feel the press of those luscious lips against his.
She breathed his name as she narrowed the gap. Her hand trembled.
“Don’t be scared,” he whispered, his gaze zeroing in on her mouth. “You never have to be scared with me.”
But Ava’s fear was palpable. And visible. He saw it in the tiny wrinkles at the sides of her eyes, and in the creasing of her forehead as her gaze narrowed. He heard it in the slight wheeze in her breath.
“I’ll stop anytime you want.” Jared waited, giving Ava the chance to pull away. He made no move, in case she freaked out again. The last thing he wanted, ever, was for Ava to be frightened. “You ready for this, baby?”
She looked at him with those big, green eyes and flushed cheeks and nodded once.
Jared expelled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Then kiss me.”
Slowly, so slowly, Ava lifted up on tiptoes and inched her face toward his.
Jared didn’t move a muscle.
She placed the tongs against his chest, much like she would have placed her hand there, if it were empty. Her lips were parted, her pink tongue moistening her lower lip.
“Kiss me,” he whispered again, his heart hammering in anticipation.
She pushed up higher on her toes, and, realizing he had no choice, Jared dipped his head.
Ava touched her lips to his, letting them linger for a few seconds.
He exhaled on a soft moan, his eyes closing.
She deepened the kiss, this time fitting her mouth against his, her lips clinging enticingly.
Desperate to hold her, to pull her in, Jared jammed his free hand in his back pocket. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was messing up this moment with an unexpected—and unappreciated—touch.
Ava moaned this time, and as she did, she parted her lips.
It was all Jared could do not to thrust his tongue between them. If she wished to deepen the kiss—and he prayed she would—she had to take the plunge.
Hesitantly, she touched his lips with the tip of her warm, moist tongue.
He opened his mouth. Not wide, just enough for her to explore further. Ava rewarded him for his patience, sliding her tongue between the seam of his lips.
Blood rushed to his groin so fast it made him dizzy.
She pulled back and murmured against his lips. “You taste like sugar. And chocolate.”
“You taste like heaven.”
“This is weird. Kissing my friend.”
“Not weird. Meant to be.”
She pressed her lips to his for a long second. “You taste like macadamia nuts too.”
“Kiss me, Torres.”
This time when she slid her tongue into his mouth, it wasn’t just the tip.
Jared couldn’t contain the low groan that erupted from his throat. How many years had he waited for this moment? Yearned for it?
Tentatively, he touched his tongue to hers, and Ava seemed to forget her fear. She sank into the kiss as she molded herself to his stomach and chest. The tongs pushed against his ribs, but Jared didn’t care. He thought only about the woman pressed against him, her tongue tangling with his, teasing, playing, delighting.
And when she moved their clasped hands, steering his to her neck, Jared disentangled his fingers and wove them through her silken locks. Gently, he tugged on her hair, tipping her head back to intensify the kiss.
When Ava withdrew her tongue, Jared almost did a silent dance of celebration. Not because she was pulling away, but because she was inviting him in, giving him control.
He took it, chasing his way into her mouth, and then it was him kissing her, his lips clinging to hers, his tongue teasing and tempting. He ached to haul her even closer, trap her against him and hold her in his arms, but he kept one hand in her lustrous locks and the other wedged in his back pocket.
Ava’s hand landed on his biceps and curled around it.
His heart rocketed, and his cock, already painfully erect, hardened further. Jared feasted on her mouth, tasting every inch of it, exploring her tongue, savoring the sweetness of her breath and the sway of her chest against his.
He bent his knees, aligning their bodies as she leaned into him. Yeah, the tongs and her hand were still in his way, but the more passionate the kiss became, the harder she pressed against him. Her breasts and nipp
les teased him through their clothes, and he swore she brushed them against him deliberately, swaying to the left first and then to the right. And then back and forth all over again.
The kiss that had started tentatively and progressed slowly was approaching fever pitch. As avidly as Jared kissed her, so Ava kissed him back. But what really blew his mind, what made him see stars, was when Ava curved her groin to the shape of his.
It took every remaining ounce of willpower to hold still and not grind his erection into her. Or rock his hips in the sweet simulation of sex.
The urge to lift her off the ground and swing them both around—so she was backed onto the cupboard—was ferocious. He’d tug her feet around his waist, bend his knees and all but fuck her where they stood, their jeans the only barrier to an intimacy Jared had long dreamed about.
But one wrong move and Jared’s balls would be on the line again.
He drew his mouth from hers, his breath coming in ragged pants. “I would sell my soul to make love to you now.” He pressed his mouth to her neck, just below her ear. “To make love to you anytime.”
“J-Jared…”
She smelled as decadent as the fresh baked treats she sold. “I’d plunge so deep inside you, I’d lose myself in your heat.”
She gasped.
“I’d make you come, baby. So many times you’d lose count. And then I’d make you come all over again.”
Nails dug into his arms.
“And I’d kiss you for hours. Learn every curve of your body, every inch of your skin.” A shudder passed through him, born of hunger and lust. “I’d discover you all over again, Torres. This time not just as my friend, but as my lover too.”
There was so much else he longed to whisper in her ear, so many dirty words that burned on his lips. But Ava cut them off with a soft whimper. Her mouth found his, and she molded their lips together.
There was nothing timid about her actions, nothing tentative. She kissed him like an aroused woman kissed a man. And when she cradled his cock between her hips, Jared didn’t try to still his instincts. He thrust up against her pussy, giving Ava just the slightest peek at one of the million and one things he wanted to do with her.
God help him, Ava thrust back.
His growl of male satisfaction echoed through the kitchen, reverberating off the walls and cupboards. The sound reached his ears, stunning him with its fervor. Given the chance, he’d take her, right here, at the back of her shop, while customers lined up outside.
With a ragged groan, he tore his mouth from hers. “Unless…” He had to clear his throat to talk. “Unless you plan on getting naked in the next three seconds, I suggest you take a big step back from me.”
It was Ava’s turn to nuzzle his neck. “Would getting naked be so bad?” She grazed her teeth over the side of his throat.
“It would be the best…damn…thing that ever happened to me.” Jared forced air into his lungs. “But Nessy and your customers might object.”
Her lips stilled. “Uh…ah. Oh. Right.”
“Yeah, my thoughts too.” How could he possibly think straight with her body contoured to his?
Ava stepped back, and the tongs hit the floor with a light clang. Jared barely noticed. He was too busy ruing the loss of his fistful of silken hair. He struggled to breathe as Ava stared at him from beneath heavy eyelids.
“Okay, wow.” She seemed to have as much trouble finding oxygen as he did.
“Yeah.” He laughed softly. “Wow.”
She ran a finger over her kiss-swollen lips. “I guess this time worked out better than last.”
He touched his own mouth. “And next time’s going to be even better.”
“There’ll be a next time?”
“Ah, Torres, there’ll be a billion next times.”
“It seems…I don’t know, wrong somehow.”
“That kiss felt wrong?” Not to him. It had felt more right than any kiss before it.
“No.” Her voice was a whisper. “That kiss felt…perfect. But sharing it with my best friend? That’s the part that feels…not wrong. Maybe wicked?”
“I can deal with wicked.” There were so many wicked things he longed to do to her, he couldn’t begin to count. “I could get into it in a big way.”
She blinked, looking scandalized. “Not here.”
So, not, no? Just not here. “Your place? Tonight?”
“I have my sel…yoga class.”
“Your sel yoga class?”
“Just my yoga class. I go every Thursday night.”
“What time does it end?” It was greedy to want to see her tonight, but he lacked the patience to wait longer. Staying away these last few days had been hell, but after everything that had transpired, he’d figured she’d needed the space.
“Nine thirty, maybe ten.”
Okay, seeing her tonight would be logistically difficult. Especially as he’d want to keep her up all night. “Fine. Your place, tomorrow night. Eight o’clock.”
“Jar…”
“We can do wicked things together. Wicked and hot and…” lest he scare her, “…fun. The whole night long.”
She chewed on her lower lip.
“You ever done wicked things with a best friend before?”
“You’re my best friend.”
“Then brace yourself, Av. Our friendship is about to head off in a whole new direction.” And Jared, for one, couldn’t wait.
Chapter Seven
“You’re wearing a tie?”
“I am.” Jared tweaked the item in question. “With puppies on it. A gift from a patient’s owner a few years back. Like it?”
Ava stared at him, perplexed. “I like it fine…for a day at a vet clinic. But for now?” At eight in the evening? With a clashing, short-sleeve, button-up shirt hanging over a pair of chinos? It looked, well, ridiculous.
“A necessary evil,” he said as he walked into her lounge room.
“That explains nothing.”
“It will. Think of it as a wicked offering. Is Liv here?”
“Upstairs, at Jimmy’s.”
“So we’re alone?”
“It’s just the two of us tonight.”
“Thank God for small blessings.” He held out his hand. “Can you get over here and kiss me like you did yesterday? With tongue and all? I’ve been fantasizing about it since I walked out of the shop.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You weren’t wearing a silly puppy tie at the shop.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you looked a whole lot sexier then.”
His smile melted her resistance. “You think I looked sexy?”
Sheesh. Jared always looked sexy. “Don’t go getting all uppity about it.”
“Too late. My head just grew a size. Now get over here.”
The desire to throw herself into his arms warred with the instinct to keep her feet planted on the ground. At the shop, she’d been seconds away from yanking off her clothes and his. But after time to think, Ava found herself more tentative than she had been.
Yeah, Jared was the most trustworthy man she knew, but Anthony had also been trustworthy once. And remembering that made it incredibly difficult for Ava to throw caution, and perhaps her and Jared’s friendship, to the wind. “Tie’s still on,” she stalled him.
“You can remove it while you blow my mind with your lips all over again.”
Please. It was him who’d blown her mind. “You’re still talking about a kiss, right?”
His eyes flashed mischievously. “For now.”
“Pretty sure of yourself, Thurston.”
“No, Av. Just pretty sure you’re the only woman with the ability to blow me away with a kiss.”
Her belly fluttered. “Jeez, how do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Knock down my defenses with just a few choice words?”
“I’ve been practicing since I heard you and Anthony split up. Why would you need defenses around me anyway?”
Because
he was a man. “Immaterial question. I don’t have them anymore.”
“Then explain what you’re doing on the other side of the room, far away from me.”
Hiding.
Oops. So much for not having her defenses anymore. “Building the anticipation?”
“My anticipation’s been building for years.”
“Winding you up?”
“I’m already wound so tight, I might snap.”
Ava stared at him. Jared was indeed wound tight. His hands were jammed in his pockets and his spine was ramrod straight. Tension radiated from him in waves. Instinctively, she took a step back. “Why so tense?”
“Because…” He squared his jaw. “Because I’m doing everything in my power not to reach out and grab you.” His eyes blazed. “I want you so bad it hurts. I want to hold you in my arms and taste you in my mouth and make love to you until the sun rises…next week. Not touching you is making me crazy.”
Her tummy turned to goo. “Um… Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” He smiled wryly. “I’ll tell you what. Forget about the kissing part for now. Come on over and remove the tie. I’ll keep my hands right where they are. Promise.”
Reassured by his promise and confident Jared’s hands would stay in his pockets, Ava crossed the room. He sighed softly when her fingers found the knot at his neck.
“You smell good.”
“It’s my shampoo.” Her hair was still wet from her shower—yet another torturous effort to get clean. Ava was so hyperaware of her body, thanks to Jared, basic hygiene routines had become a massive turn-on. Standing this close to him only made matters worse.
“It’s you.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she said breathlessly, unsure—even as she spoke the words—if they were true.
“A man can only hope.”
The knot unraveled.
She pulled the tie loose of his collar and buried her face in his chest. “You scare me, Jar.” Something he’d never done before her marriage.
“I know I do, baby.” He kissed the top of her head. “Which is why you’re going to use that tie to bind my hands behind my back.”
“What?”
“If my hands are tied, you’ll know I can’t hurt you. I can’t even startle you. You’ll be completely safe.”