AudreyI groaned internally as I heard Jesse knock on the front door. I was still in my bedroom, which meant that by the time I made it to the door, moving slowly and doing my best not to hurt my ankle anymore, Mom would have had plenty of time to reach the door and start interrogating him. He should have just texted me that he was here; I could have met him outside.But on the other hand, there was something about him meeting me at the door that made me smile. It was almost like we were going out on a date.I tried to remember that I had been the one to say, the day before, that we were just enjoying the time that we had. Tried to remember the fact that as soon as six months were up, if not sooner, I was headed right back to Paris where I belonged. It wasn’t a good idea to start thinking of this as dating. Even if that was what I sort of wanted when I let myself think about it.I didn’t know if we would last forever, but I did know, now, that I had feelings for Jesse. And not just in

JesseAs much as I wanted to take Audrey out and show her off, despite the fact that she and I weren’t dating, there was a deeper part of me that just wanted her all to myself, no distractions, for as long as we had. Luckily, with the fact that she had to stay off her feet, our options for going out were pretty limited anyway. I was a little afraid that she would call me out for being too forward by taking her straight home with me, but then again, she had been the one to hint at all the ways that she’d like to be kept off her feet tonight.Besides, we would eat better at my place than we could out in town, and I liked the idea of snuggling with her on the couch.She had been the one to say that she had missed me, but I had to admit that I was feeling it too. Like I just couldn’t get enough time with her. It was like my body was already reacting to her return to Paris, even though she was right here in Aberdeen for the next five months or so.It seemed like we were already saying good

AudreyI tried to figure out the expression in Jesse’s eyes as he sat me down on the bed. There was an unmistakable tenderness there, and a certain level of amazement too. He slowly ran his hands down my sides, the touch gentle and soft. He kissed me as he worked to undress me, baring my breasts and then helping me out of my pants as well. I arched against him, feeling the drag of his soft flannel shirt against my naked skin. I sucked in a breath as he nibbled at my earlobe.He grinned against my skin, his fingers tracing lines of fire along the waistband of my panties. He rocked against me, and I could feel how hard he was already. My fingers fumbled with his belt, pausing as he nibbled at my neck, my train of thought gone out the window.He laughed and pulled back, helping me out as he stripped off his own clothing, letting it fall in a heap on the floor. Then he pulled me close again, pressing his lips insistently to mine, his tongue slipping easily inside my mouth as I moaned, hea

Jesse“I guess he could,” I said, feeling even more agitated. I had been so sure that she wouldn’t ask me to give all of this up. Just like I wouldn’t ask her to give up her dancing. Did she think that my work here was somehow less important than hers in Paris?I knew that wasn’t what she was asking, though. She was just trying to come up with some resolution, the same way that I was. We were hurting one another, I knew. There didn’t seem to be a way to stop it, however.I sighed again, even more heavily. “It wouldn’t be a long-term solution,” I explained to her. “Joe could look out for things. But short of turning over the whole business to him, well, it just wouldn’t be fair. Anyway, what the hell would I do with myself in Paris?” I tried to turn it into a joke, but I could barely manage a smile, and Audrey didn’t look like she was laughing either.“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I guess it’s stupid for me to even ask. I just, I don’t know, I keep thinking about all the

JesseI frowned as I scrounged around on Joe’s desk for something that I could open a box with. Unlike my desk, which was neat and tidy, always organized to perfection, he seemed to keep pretty much everything out where he could see it. He claimed he knew exactly where everything was at any given time. That didn’t help when he was out front with a customer and I was trying to open up the boxes with the new equipment that we’d received that morning.Finally, I gave it up as a lost cause and headed for my own office to grab my box cutter, grumbling under my breath as I went. Should’ve just had the boxes delivered straight to my office, but Joe had been the one in the back at the time that the delivery came in, while I tried to explain more of the opening procedures to Chance before he left for the day, since he was only part-time on Tuesdays.The kid still wasn’t getting the opening procedures, but he had made a little progress in checking out customers, getting more efficient all the t