It Was Only a Kiss

Piers sighed and shook his head. ‘My late wife would be jamming her elbow into my side now, telling me to keep my mouth shut. God, I miss her.’

‘How long were you married?’ Jess asked, changing the subject.

‘Forty-five years. Five kids.’

Wow. The mind boggled. That was what he’d wanted...one woman, one life, one marriage. Lots of kids. Now he knew that some dreams weren’t supposed to come true. He didn’t know how to do marriage and family—after all, he hadn’t any experience of one and his father had been an anti role model.

Piers looked over Jess’s shoulder and smiled. ‘And here comes one of my favourite shopkeepers, purveyor of some very fine wines.’

And Luke’s some-time, part-time lover.

Oh, crap on a cracker. Since Jess’s arrival he hadn’t given Kelly much thought—okay, any thought—and the notion that she might be at this wine-tasting hadn’t even crossed his mind. They’d had an easygoing, no-hassle...thing...going for many months; Kelly was his go-to person when he needed a date, or sex—or even on occasion an ear. He’d meant to contact her and explain things, but with one thing and another—mainly Jess—he’d forgotten. And the thought of introducing a woman he’d recently slept with to a woman he wanted to sleep with made his skin prickle.

It was so Jed.

Luke, thinking that this day couldn’t get any worse, quickly excused himself and stepped up to Kelly. Gripping her elbow, he steered her away from Jess.

‘Kel, I—’

Kelly laid a hand on his arm and sent him a warm smile. ‘Luke, sweetie, take a breath. It’s all good.’

‘You don’t understand. I need to—’

‘Call it quits?’ Kelly’s warm blue eyes crinkled up at him. ‘Luke, when I heard via the grapevine that you had a blonde staying with you I kind of caught a clue. Honey, I’m ten years older than you. I’ve been expecting this for a long time. Besides, didn’t we agree that we’re just friends who occasionally sleep together?’

Luke shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. ‘Uh...okay, then. Well...’

Kelly laughed. ‘You are looking very flustered. Tough day or tough girl?’

‘Both. She drives me nuts.’

Kelly stepped forward and dropped a kiss on his jaw, holding her cheek against his to talk into his ear. ‘Good. You deserve a girl who will drive you nuts. It makes for very interesting sex.’

If we ever get anywhere near the bedroom, Luke thought darkly as Kelly drifted back to Piers and Jess.

Piers took Kelly’s hand and pulled it into the crook of his arm. ‘It’s so nice to see you, Kelly, and if these two lovely people don’t mind, I’m going to steal you away to taste a rather nice Cab from Chile. Not as good as yours, dear boy, but palatable.’

When they’d left, Jess tipped her chin up to look at him and Luke felt like a bug under a microscope. She sipped her wine and just went on looking at him, her brown eyes wary.

‘So, that was interesting.’

Jess’s voice was so bland and so even that Luke knew she was seriously ticked. Joys of joys. Would this day never end?

He resisted the urge to tug at his collar. ‘Uh...’

‘How long have you been sleeping with her?’

Luke took a deep breath as he prepared to explain that he wasn’t sleeping with her any more, that they were just friends, that he had no intention of resuming their arrangement.

Smart girls. Dammit, you just couldn’t get anything past them.

* * *

Jess, with Ally asleep in the passenger seat, turned into the gates of St Sylve and steered her SUV down the long driveway. She’d deliberately not thought about Luke while she was away, and being insanely busy had helped. There’d been decisions to be made at work, projects to give input on, meetings to take. She’d had drinks with a potential client and dinner with another, and had returned to the office around ten to put in another couple of hours’ work.

Luke and St Sylve had been put on the back burner, but now she was back and she had to deal with them. Luke had told her he wasn’t sleeping with Snow White... The woman looked exactly like the popular children’s character: black hair, white skin, blue eyes. Curvy. He had been, but he wasn’t any more. That was all the explanation he’d given her and she admitted that it was all she was entitled to. But she wanted to know more. How long had they been together? How had they met? Had he ever loved her?

Why did she even care? It wasn’t as if she had any claim on the man—she wasn’t in love with him. She liked him—a lot—but she liked a lot of men... She just didn’t want to have hot sex with any of them but Luke. She couldn’t possibly be thinking about him as being something more, someone important...could she?