Page 74 of Only You

As Jack approached her on his third or fourth time around the rink, he paused. “Are you okay?”

Kayla nodded vigorously. “Just resting. Keep going.”

He smiled sweetly and took off skating backward.

“Show off,” she called.

Jack chuckled, and smoothly faced forward again. Kayla sighed. Like it or not, things were different between them now. They could pretend they were on a friend date, but was it really? The memory of kissing him, their bodies pressed together, his hands on her breasts, wouldn’t go away. Kayla couldn’t be as open with him, for that very reason. The truth was, her feelings for Jack went beyond friendship. Furthermore, she’d had feelings for him prior to moving in with him. But this was just a game to him. After the holidays, it was game over for her and Jack.

He glided toward her and executed a perfect stop on the edge of his skates, sending a spray of ice into the air, and impressing everyone in the vicinity.

Kayla smirked at him. “Way to make all the women want you.” Me included.

“There’s only one woman I care about,” Jack said. Then he winked, reminding her he was only playing the role of a doting boyfriend.

They skated for a while longer until Kayla’s stomach growled.

Jack laughed. “There’s the lunch bell!”

He helped her off the ice and kept his hand on her elbow as he guided her to a bench where they changed out of their skates. Before long, they arrived at Rochester Village, an outdoor mall, and entered Bravo, an Italian restaurant. Jack talked her into ordering a glass of wine while they waited for their food.

“I’d like to make a toast,” Jack said, holding up his glass.

Kayla eyed him warily. “What are we toasting?”

“To our fun friend date,” he proclaimed.

Friend date. Right. Kayla picked up her glass and clinked it against his. Then she took a deep sip of wine.

Jack nudged the breadbasket toward her. “You should eat something,” he suggested.

Kayla’s face flushed at the reminder of the drunken encounter in his bed. Their make-out session on his couch trumped that, though. That night, she didn’t have the excuse of being intoxicated.

Jack smiled knowingly over his wineglass. Averting her eyes, Kayla took a slice of bread out of the basket, and liberally buttered it.

“Our company holiday party is coming up,” Jack said conversationally.

“Mmm-hmm.” Kayla set down the knife and took a bite of the soft garlicky bread.

“We should go together.”

Suddenly, the bread lodged in her throat, and it took a few tries to swallow it. “Why?” she asked.

“We’ll both be leaving from my place, so it makes sense to take one car,” Jack reasoned.

Kayla shook her head. “We can’t show up together. People will talk.”

“Everyone knows we’re friends,” he insisted.

“But we’ve never gone to the party together before,” she argued.

Jack sighed. “I hate to break it to you, but our coworkers already gossip about us.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. “They do?”

Jack nodded and calmly buttered a second slice of bread.

“What do they say?”