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“Like that?” I frowned, mind replaying over a decade worth of kisses. “I don’t think so.”
No. My first kiss with Emily had been a disaster, her braces smashing my teeth and leaving us both in tears.
We lapsed into silence. Thea felt as familiar to me as my reflection, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like we were in uncharted territory.
“Should we test it?” Thea finally said, drawing out the words as she straightened the already straight silverware.
“Test it?”
“Yeah.” She glanced up, cheeks pink. “To make sure it was a one off. An experiment.”
“For science?” I asked, breaking some of the tension between us.
She grinned. “Something like that. It’ll probably be terrible, with just the two of us here. I think having an audience changed it.”
“That’s your hypothesis?” I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced by both her hypothesis and the prudence of her plan.
“It’s a working hypothesis, but yeah. I think we both got a little overwhelmed by our surroundings and then by pretending we were engaged.” She sharpened the last word. “You couldn’t help yourself, could you, Mr. Tylenol?”
“Maybe I went a little overboard,” I admitted. “Just a little.”
She stood up, sliding into the booth beside me. “A lot overboard.”
“You think this will fix it?” I asked, all the normal comfort and innocuousness of Thea nearby me gone. My body felt hyper aware of her: the pressure of her knee against my thigh, the gentle curve of her breasts on my arm, the warmth of her ass against my hand.
She trailed a hand down my jacket, tugging the soft wool before slipping her hand inside, running her fingers along my stomach and back up my chest.
My breath caught in my throat as she shifted closer, lifting her leg over my knee, her body angled toward mine.
I traced a finger down her arm. “Just a test, right?”
She nodded, honey brown eyes locked onto my face, exhaling softly before I dipped my head and our lips met.
Unlike the unexpected kiss in the bar, this kiss felt more exploratory and tentative. Thea stilled in my arms, her hand light on my chest, barely touching the fabric. Her body tensed.
I tightened my grip on her waist, pulling her closer. I set my other hand on her shoulder, my fingers slowly working their way up over her jaw. With one hand, I cradled the back of her head and wound my fingers through her hair.
She relaxed, kiss by kiss. Her fingers clutched the fabric of my shirt as she opened her lips, a soft moan at the back of her throat beckoning me to keep kissing her.
Not that I could have stopped. Whatever attraction that had been there before had only increased without a crowd. I slipped my tongue into her mouth and she let out a shuddered breath.
The clatter of plates hitting the table jolted us apart. Our server, red faced and eyes on the table, murmured out a brief description of each dish before slinking away. An older woman took the servers’ place.
“Um, sorry about the interruption,” the woman said. “Keith, at the front desk, said you drove up, so I missed you at the train station, but I’m Barb Lewis, the events coordinator at Mount Pierce.”
Thea pulled herself off my lap, running her hand through the back of her hair where my fingers had been. “Yeah, um, we’re having a really great time. The resort is gorgeous.”
“I can see that,” Barb said with a raised eyebrow. Thea’s cheeks flamed in response. “Well, we’ve organized a few events for this weekend, outside of the mixers. Just some light entertainment in the early evening. Tonight, we’re doing a newlywed-style game show. I met Robin and Jared and they suggested you both take the stage. What do you say?”
I shrugged at Thea’s questioning look.
“What’s the prize?” she asked, shaking off any residual embarrassment in the name of competition.
Barb’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh! You’re interested. I thought we’d have to pretend two of the servers are dating to make this work.” She rustled through her clipboard. “The prize tonight is, oh, it’s a good one, two bottles of wine delivered to your room, one a night, and tomorrow, a special dessert sent to your room after dinner.”
“Chocolate?” I asked, warming up to the proposal.
“Chocolate dipped strawberries.”
