I stared at her, feeling a smile spread over my face, before I fell back into sitting against the wall, looked up to the ceiling and laughed.
“You know I take my studies seriously. All right. It’s a deal.”
∞∞∞
My heart was still pounding after leaving, thinking about that kiss. The incredible power that had been between us. The way my body had responded to her.
She had power over me. I’d spent all my life trying to be the one with all the power, but for some reason, when it was her with power over me, I really liked it. Too much, as a matter of fact.
I had a whole list of calls to make before bed, but I made the most important one first, dialing my sister’s number.
She picked up quickly and responded right away with, “You’re not coming.”
“What?” She threw me off my game for a second.
“What, what?” she snapped. “You called me. You never do that unless you’re calling to tell me you can’t make it to something.”
“Trish—”
“Don’t beat around it. Just say it. I’m sick of—”
“She’s coming.”
She stopped. After a pause, she whispered, “You… your girlfriend?”
“To the shower. It’s confirmed. She’s coming with me.”
“Oh my god,” she said. “Shut up. You’re telling me she is real? All this time I thought you were making her up!”
I winced. “She’s real,” I said. “But you wouldn’t believe it if I told you about her. Wait until you meet her in person. You’re going to adore her.”
“Oh—oh, shit. I’m sorry I went off on you. I had a rough day and—forget that. Kayla? Right? We’re actually going to meet your girlfriend?”
“I’d tell you to get ready,” I laughed, leaning against the wall, “but I don’t think there is such a thing as being ready for this woman. So just keep that in mind.”
And as I reflected back to the way she’d felt pinned under me, kissing me back with everything she had, I couldn’t help thinking just how true that was.
Chapter 10
Kayla
I didn’t know what I’d agreed to, but I was going to have fun with it.
I got Alexa and Shay to cover the store for the three days I’d be out. It was only the morning after Melissa and I agreed on an arrangement that my tickets showed up in my email inbox. First class. Obviously.
It took a solid week and a half to get another few hours with her, and I managed to get her to the trampoline park after all. And that was the first time I got to see her in something else, as she made a pit stop at her place first to get changed into gym clothes, and I got to admire her arms were really toned. I mean, I’d felt it when she pinned me up against the wall to kiss me so hard my brain melted, but I was trying my best not to think about that.
Which I was doing a terrible job of. It kept me up at night. I’d even shared it with Shay in confidence.
I invited her over, bribing her with playtime with Leonardo, and she barely even got inside the door before I said, “Okay, I have something weird to share.”
She took her shoes off, not even looking at me as she said, “You have a crush on Melissa.”
“Come on,” I sighed, deflating. “At least let me say it.”
“You said it loud enough with the way you stared lovingly into her eyes at karaoke.” She still didn’t even bother looking at me, chasing Leonardo and dropping onto the floor to waggle a toy at him.
“Okay, okay, but! But!” I stamped my foot. “It gets weirder.”
“You don’t know if she has a crush on you and you’re overanalyzing everything?”
“We’ve been pretending to be girlfriends.”
She finally looked up at me, blinking slowly. “Seriously?”
“She saved my butt! When my ex-boyfriend came around, she pretended to be my girlfriend to help get him to leave me alone.” I clasped my hands at my waist, looked down, swaying. “You know, maybe because I asked her to, and maybe it had something to do with the fact that I thought she was super pretty. But anyway, she did it.”
“Wow.” Shay just shook her head. “You have guts.”
“And she asked me to be her pretend girlfriend to visit her family, too.”
“Seriously?” Shay stood back up, leaving Leonardo alone and upset about it. “You’re going to go meet her family? Are you sure you’re not dating for real?”
“She, she,” I started, my face burning, “I mean… okay, okay okay. You can’t tell anyone. If you tell anyone I’ll freak out. Okay?”
“You’re usually freaking out, but I get it.”
“It was just part of the act, but she kissed me.”
She didn’t say anything, so after a second I looked up away from my feet, up to where she was covering her mouth and laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes.
“How—” she started, her voice breaking with laughter. “How sure are you it was part of the act?”
“My stupid ex was standing right there and arguing we weren’t really girlfriends. So she… you know…”
She raised an eyebrow. “What kind of kiss are we talking? Like, on the cheek? On the forehead? Did she kiss you on the lips? Because that last one I think might be suspect.”
“Uh,” I mumbled, feeling my flush deepen. “You see.”
“It was on—”
“She pinned me against the wall and made out with me.”
She put a hand to her forehead. “Kayla, for crying out loud, she’s into you.”
“There is no way that’s true,” I laughed nervously. “She’s so, so, so far above my level. She’s got millions just invested in… I actually didn’t ask what it’s invested in. And she’s hot as hell. She’s not going to be into a failing candy shop owner.”
“Kayla, she pinned you against the wall and made out with you.”
“It was part of the act!”
She sighed, sat back down on the floor, and gave Leonardo the attention he was fussing for. “Where’s her family at?”
“Georgia.”
She choked, scaring Leonardo, and whirled on me again. “Wait, she’s flying you out of state to meet her family? As her girlfriend?”
“Pretend girlfriend.”
“Oh my god she likes you. I know you’re dense, Kayla, but… you have to realize how obviously she likes you.”
“No way. I wish she did. Ugh, she’s so perfect. I just wish I got more chances to be with her… I always feel guilty because she’s so busy.”
“Well, maybe if you tell her you like her too, she’ll make more time for you.”
“Oh, never,” I laughed. “I’d die of embarrassment and you know I would.”
And even after I finished spending a good hour telling Shay that Melissa wasn’t into me, I couldn’t help lying awake that night wondering.
Melissa wasn’t into me, was she? No way she was into me. That would be ridiculous.
It was echoing in my mind all through the next month before the trip, and eating me alive every time I met up with Melissa for anything. The way she looked at me. God, I just felt like she was claiming me as hers with her eyes. And I really wanted to let her.
I think it went without saying how much I freaked out when Melissa picked me up to take me to the airport. She’d pulled up outside my place and stepped out to help me with my suitcase, hoisting it over my shoulder like it didn’t weigh a thing.
“Hey,” she said, giving me that smirk that left me weak in the knees. “Fancy meeting you here. Want to come meet my family?”
Bowl me over with a feather. And not even a big feather. “I can’t wait,” I said. “What are they like?”
“My sister’s name is Trisha, she’s sweet. A little motherly even though she’s younger than me, but she’s about to be a mother, so I guess that’s ideal. My mom’s pretty fierce. She looks at you like she’ll take your leg off if you wrong her children, but she’s really cool. My dad is the most chill human being on the planet. He’
s going to offer you a beer, and you can say no if you want, he really won’t mind. My brother-in-law, Brett, is pretty straitlaced, but he’s nice and he loves Trish. Those are the main players. The extended family? Forget it. I don’t know a single name. I think there’s a Drake somewhere? At any rate, I can guarantee you’ll be the most colorful family member there.”
I flushed. Her helping me into the car, doing that same thing where she leaned against the side and raised an eyebrow at me, didn’t help my self-consciousness. “I don’t think I’m a family member.”
She closed the door so I had to wait the entire time for her to walk around the car and get in her side before I heard a response.
“You are in their eyes, my beloved.”
I melted into my seat. “This is going to be so embarrassing. What am I going to say when they ask when and how we met?”
“I prepared a story,” she said. “Check the glove compartment. I took pains to keep it as close to reality as possible. I changed dates, and of course, I left out the part about us fake-dating for your ex. Study up so we’ll be on the same page.”
I didn’t know how I managed to even find that kind of thing romantic when it was coming from Melissa. I actually kind of appreciated the read. It helped keep my mind off of things like the incredibly gorgeous woman right next to me, and… that was actually it.
I couldn’t hold still once we got to the airport. I never flew much—never really had a reason to travel around, and I had enough fun here, but the thought of flying with Melissa next to me made things a lot more interesting. I checked my bag at the front, but Melissa just brought a briefcase through security, her heels clicking and ringing through the airport.
I made a beeline automatically for the security line, but she hooked her arm in mine and pulled me over to the pre-approved line. My heart jumped a little, but it wasn’t for joy at the convenience of a short line.
“Oh,” one of the agents said as he checked her through. “Morning, Melissa.”
“Morning, Dwayne.”
My girlfriend was on a first-name basis with the TSA agents at the rich-people line. Was there anything about her that wasn’t cool?
Pretend. Pretend girlfriend.
We showed up just as boarding started, which of course started with us. All in all, we were probably in the airport less than twenty minutes before we sat down in a pair of cushy seats in first-class, my head still spinning.
“Wow,” I said. “Can’t believe you didn’t charter us a private jet.”
“I feel bad using them. Bad for the environment.”
I stared. “Wait, like you’d just do it otherwise?”
She shrugged, leaning back in her seat. “They’re a little pricy, but time is money sometimes.”
Jeez. This woman was the real deal.
I spent the better part of the flight thinking back to what Shay had said very insistently. That maybe, just maybe, Melissa had some of the same feelings I did. That maybe that kiss was a sign of something more.
Of course, thinking that just brought me back to the kiss, and I ended up staring at her lips a lot more than I should have been.
And she noticed halfway through the flight, glancing over at me with a smirk, and I yanked back into my seat.
“Is there something on my face?” she said. “Or are you just giving another thought to that whole feeding me thing?”
“No, no, no,” I blurted, feeling my face burn. “Oh my gosh. Why do you tease me so much?”
She leaned in towards me and ran a hand down my arm. I shivered, the sensation a jolt down my spine. “Maybe it’s because you’re adorable, Kayla.”
A steward showed up behind Melissa, smiling sweetly at me. “Can I get you a drink?” she said, pulling Melissa’s attention away from me.
“I’m—” I started, but Melissa cut in.
“We’ll try some champagne.”
“We will?” I flushed.
We did. And I swear to god, it came with grapes. I tried not to pay any attention to them.
“I appreciate you doing this for me, Kayla,” she said after we were served, holding her champagne flute up for a toast. “Really going to owe you one.”
“I still think I’m the one who owes you,” I mumbled, clinking glasses with her.
“Well, I could always ask you more favors if you want,” she laughed breathily. “Maybe some grapes.”
Ugh. I knew she would go there. “Jeez, you’re embarrassing. It’s not nice to tease someone like that when you don’t really like them that way.”
The smile vanished from her face, and she leaned back in her seat, taking a slow sip of her champagne. “I apologize,” she said.
Oh. I felt like my heart got twisted around like a licorice twist. That was the worst response she could have given. I really didn’t want her to stop. I didn’t mean to ask her to stop.
And the worst part was that her stopping meant she really didn’t like me that way. Which I knew already, despite what Shay said, but that didn’t mean I wanted to face it.
This was so ridiculous and so dumb. I couldn’t believe I had a crush on Melissa. I spent the rest of the flight eating my grapes myself.
I’m Kayla Spencer, and life is sweet.
I had to put on a smile. For her family. Had to be my very most Kayla.
Chapter 11
Melissa
Georgia was pretty. Nice, clean air. At least out in the countryside, where my family lived.
It was always weird coming out here from the city center. The sky looked blue enough it was unnatural, the grass a little brighter than it was supposed to be. The clouds were bizarrely white.
Oh yeah, and there were ranches. Lots of those. I hadn’t missed those.
Still, driving the rental car out to my parents’ house, with Kayla in my passenger seat—still dressed like a human gumdrop, mind you, not that I hadn’t come to love the look—I felt myself actually getting nerves.
I was Melissa Warden. I didn’t get nerves anymore. My nerves were something I’d seared out of myself through exposure over my career. But… I kept thinking back to what she’d said on the flight.
I had been teasing her—anyone could tell that. Was it because I had feelings for her? Did I have feelings for her? I felt an incredible pull, and god only knew that kiss would never leave me. I kept cutting meetings and canceling on business partners to squeeze in time with her. I was drawn to her. But did that mean I liked her? It had been so long since I’d felt anything like this, I didn’t know what I was getting into.
But one thing was clear. Kayla was hard to resist, as dangerously sweet as candy. And I was craving her in that same desperate, hungry way.
But at least for a minute when I saw the Tudor-style house at the end of a curved driveway, with big jade-green bushes outside, I let myself forget all the nervousness for a second and just experience the nostalgia. I hadn’t been since last year, when I’d managed a visit for my mom’s birthday in March.
I pulled up into the driveway, and Kayla’s eyes lit up. “This is the place? This is your family’s house? It’s so sweet! I love it.”
“Thinking you want it to be your family’s?”
Dammit. It slipped out before I could stop myself. She giggled.
“Melissa,” she started, but before she could say anything more, I stepped out of the car and walked around to her side.
I almost opened her door, but I stopped when the front door of the house swung open and my sister, a woman a little shorter and fuller than me and with her dark blonde hair worn long, came bursting out in a huff. My head spun seeing how far along the pregnancy was, and I got a stab of guilt thinking the last time I’d seen her she hadn’t even conceived.
“Melissa!” she shouted, stopping on the top step, her face red. “Where’s Kayla? I swear to god, if you tell me she didn’t make it—”
“Hey, Trish,” I said. “At least let me say hi before you start yelling at me.”
I opened the car door, and sure enou
gh, the girlfriend reveal had the intended effect. Trish’s jaw dropped as Kayla stepped out of the car, her dress flouncing around her, and just for maximum effect, I pulled Kayla into a side hug.
“Kayla, this is my sister, Trisha,” I said. “Trish, my girlfriend, Kayla.”
“Hi,” Kayla said, in that bright clear voice she always used to greet customers. “It’s so exciting to meet you!”
Trisha looked between the two of us, her mouth open, her brow furrowed, before she took the steps down carefully and crept closer, squinting at us. “Oh my goodness. Mel told me you really were the exact opposite of her, but I didn’t get just how much she meant it.”
Kayla giggled. “I think we have a lot in common, actually. We both love karaoke, for example.”
Trish shot me a look of betrayal. “You do karaoke? Oh my god. What did you do to my boring, deadbeat sister?”
“She’s been teaching me a few things,” I said, stepping forward and pulling Trisha into a gentle hug. Kayla hugged her next, and it was only once she made physical contact that Trisha seemed to accept Kayla as being a real person.
“Oh my god. This is so exciting. I really thought she was making you up. So what’s the retail? Mel said you owned a retail business but she didn’t say what.”
“Oh,” Kayla said, lighting up. “It’s a candy store. It’s called Life is Sweet. Because life is sweet. Especially with the right people in it.”
She looked up at me and waggled an eyebrow. I managed not to laugh, returning the eyebrow quirk, and she blushed a little but didn’t break eye contact.
“A candy store!” Trisha laughed breathlessly. “You’re perfect! I love you already.”
“Isn’t she, though?” I said, still looking into Kayla’s eyes. She gulped, but didn’t look away.
This was normally when she got embarrassed and broke eye contact. She was challenging me. And I always accepted a challenge.
“Melissa, I’m so surprised,” Trisha laughed. “I never thought you…”
She trailed off, noticing we weren’t paying attention to her. Kayla tried to match my smirk. It wasn’t close, but her effort was cute.
Life Is Sweet Page 7
