“Are you kidding?” Laila said, standing up. “I’m coming with you.”
“I’ll have more wine,” Jess said.
“Not a chance,” Connie replied.
Her two friends left her sitting there with Will, who seemed to be waiting patiently for her to say something.
“Well?” he urged. “Does this have anything to do with you seeing me at Panini Bistro with a woman last week? You seemed upset.”
“I was not upset,” she said. “Why would I be upset? You mean nothing to me. Less than nothing.”
He didn’t look as if he bought her denial. “Then what’s going on in that head of yours? You’re obviously ticked off at me about something. More than usual, in fact. Just get it out in the open, so we can deal with it.”
“That’s your solution for everything, isn’t it? Talk it to death.”
“I find communication to be helpful, yes,” he said, fighting a smile. “Try it, why don’t you?”
She wanted really badly to wipe the smug expression from his face. “Okay, fine,” she said. “Why haven’t you matched me up with anyone on that stupid computer system of yours? I have half a mind to charge you with fraud or something.”
He lifted a brow. “Fraud?”
“You promise to find dates for people. I paid my money, and I haven’t had a single date! You haven’t even had the gumption just to tell me you’re never going to match me with anyone.”
“Right now there’s no one in the system who’d be a good match,” he said. “I’m adding new clients every day, though. The perfect guy could come along tomorrow.”
“Nice spin,” she said. “We both know it’s because you don’t think I’m good enough. You think I’m a messed-up scatterbrain, and you’re not willing to put your precious reputation on the line to recommend me to one single client.”
To his credit, Will looked genuinely stunned by the accusation. “That’s what you think?”
“It’s what I know,” she said stubbornly, unable to keep a hurt note out of her voice. “You’re supposed to be my friend, even though you know about the ADD. That doesn’t make me a bad person, Will Lincoln. You, of all people, should get that. It doesn’t mean I can’t have a decent relationship. Maybe I haven’t had one up to now, but if this system of yours were any good, you could find the right man for me.”
Will shook his head as her tirade wound down. “You are without a doubt the most exasperating, infuriating, mixed-up woman I have ever known.”
“See?” she said, seizing on his words. “That’s exactly what I mean. You have a very low opinion of me.”
“Hush,” he said, sliding his chair closer.
“Why?”
“Just hush,” he repeated, reaching out a hand to cup the back of her neck.
Jess was so startled, she simply stared at him. “Will?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “Do you not know how to be quiet for just ten seconds?”
He leaned forward and sealed his mouth over hers. The kiss did what nothing else had done. It silenced her. In fact, it pretty much knocked her senseless. Will’s mouth was firm, persuasive, tender.
When he released her, she blinked. “Will?” This time when she murmured his name, she sounded breathless. She was breathless. Talk about an unexpected turn of events! Who knew the man could kiss like that, with barely leashed passion simmering just below the surface?
Dazed, she asked, “What just happened here?”
“There you go again, talking,” he said, once again covering her mouth.
This kiss went on and on until her heart was pounding and she was just about two seconds from ripping the man’s clothes off right where they were. Will’s clothes! That thought had her breaking free and regarding him with shock.
“You kissed me!” she announced, as if he might not be aware of what he’d done.
“I did,” he said calmly, looking disgustingly unruffled by the encounter.
Her gaze narrowed. “Are you going to do it again?”
He smiled, most likely at the disgustingly wistful note in her voice. “I might.”
“When?”
“That remains to be seen.” He stood up.
She stared at him in shock. “You’re leaving? Now?”
“I think it’s best.”
“Why?”
“I’ll let you figure that out on your own. See you, Jess.”
She stared after him as he walked out of Brady’s, then blinked when Connie and Laila sat back down beside her.
“That was interesting,” Connie said, looking amused.
“That was hot!” Laila declared, fanning herself.
When Jess remained silent, Connie gave her arm a tug. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, shaking off the stupor she’d been in since the kiss. She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice when she told them, “Will kissed me. I mean, he really kissed me.”
Laila laughed. “We noticed. Everyone in here noticed. Kate even ran and dragged Dillon out of the kitchen to watch. I’m surprised there weren’t cheers. It was quite the show. If Chesapeake Shores had a TV station, that kiss would be on the eleven o’clock news.”
Still dazed, Jess said, “He said it might happen again.”
“Well, hallelujah!” Laila responded with enthusiasm.
Jess wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened here tonight, but she was pretty sure a few choruses of hallelujahs were definitely in order.
What she didn’t know was what on earth could possibly happen next. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be any more surprising than that kiss.
5
Kissing Jess had been everything Will had expected it to be and then some. Not even in his very vivid imagination had he expected such an immediate and total sensation of something being right, something finally, at long last, being exactly as it should be. And that scared him to death.
He was smart enough to know that he’d caught Jess completely off guard. Her emotions had been running high. She’d been a little drunk as well, and he’d taken advantage of the situation. It was a simple matter to turn one kind of passion into another. Any psychology textbook could have told him that. It didn’t mean Jess’s opinion of him had suddenly shifted. It certainly didn’t guarantee she’d turn her back on years of dismissing him and suddenly see him as boyfriend material.
But despite his very stern reminders to remain cautious, he couldn’t help thinking that just maybe the dazed look in her eyes had told another story. He hoped it meant she’d suddenly seen him in a new light. Maybe the kiss had been the start of something, after all.
Or not. As he waffled back and forth, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know which way things were truly leaning. Not just yet, anyway.
Stop with the analyzing, he told himself. Right now he wanted to bask in the sensations that kiss had aroused in him. He didn’t want to do what was instinctive to him and analyze it to death, or to risk running into Jess and having her shatter his fragile hope that their relationship might be on a whole new footing.
In a move clearly designed