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“You look cute,” she said.

“Thanks,” Tessa replied. “Cute enough to close your laptop?”

“Can you give me like, ten more minutes? Then I’m all yours, Tess, I swear.”

She sat up a little and her jacket rode up, revealing her sculpted abs. Tessa’s mouth watered at the sight. An idea came to her, and she smirked.

“Oh, no, babe, you keep watching,” she said. “Don’t mind me.”

Jamie raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. I’ll. . . re-do your plaits. Looks like they came loose during your jog.”

“Alright, thanks,” Jamie agreed, and turned her gaze back to her screen.

Tessa stood behind her and tugged the elastic off the ends of Jamie’s dark brown braids. She worked them loose with swift fingers. Jamie muttered something under her breath, backed up the video, and watched herself take a diving header, only to miss the goal by inches. It skipped past the post.

“My form is shit here,” she said. “I should have gone earlier and put my body left. It’d have been a goal.”

“You made a snap decision,” Tessa replied. “Of course it’s clearer in hindsight.”

“I’ve got to be better.”

Jamie’s hair flowed in waves over her shoulders. Tessa let her fingers dance over Jamie’s skin, exposed by her jacket hangingoff her arms. She moved as if she was gathering Jamie’s hair up to do it into one plait, but she took her time. Gooseflesh followed her touch.

She didn’t quite have Jamie’s undivided attention yet. So, she started a scalp massage. Jamie’s eyes fluttered, and Tessa knew her plan was working.

“That’s not plaiting,” Jamie said.

Tessa shrugged. “Call it an added bonus.”

“Well. . . it does feel nice.”

Tessa smiled to herself. She let her hands wander south, toward the nape of Jamie’s neck, which she knew was sensitive. She brushed the pads of her fingers across Jamie’s hairline, adding the slightest pressure to give it the massage sensation. When that failed to get a reaction, Tessa pulled out the big guns. Her mouth.

She bent down and placed a feather-light kiss on Jamie’s neck. Jamie’s muscles visibly relaxed at the contact, so Tessa pushed her luck. She pressed her lips behind Jamie’s ear. She trailed down her neck to her shoulder, but stopped when she heard a rumble of laughter from Jamie’s chest.

“I believe you’re trying to distract me,” Jamie said.

“Is it working?” Tessa asked.

“Somewhat,” Jamie chuckled. “But Tessa, I don’t know if I can make love tonight. The doctor warned me about exerting myself too much, and I’ve already exercised.”

“Is that all?”

Tessa stepped around the chair to stand in front of Jamie and reached for the zipper of Jamie’s hoodie. Jamie’s eyes darkened as she looked at Tessa.

“What if I do all the exerting tonight?” Tessa said. “You stay right there in that chair, and if I make you come before that video is over, you have to put it away and make dinner with me. Deal?”

“Deal,” Jamie agreed, and yanked Tessa in close for a searing kiss.

Tessa moaned into her mouth, a fire that she’d thought long buried coursing through her body. It consumed her from the inside out. Her desire for Jamie overtook every thought, every doubt, every feeling she’d ever had. How had she lived the last three years without Jamie’s sweet lips? It shouldn’t have been possible to survive.

Her hands fumbled for Jamie’s zipper and she tugged it down. Jamie’s chest flushed pink beneath her black sports bra. It heaved with every panted breath. Tessa dragged her gaze back to Jamie’s, finding their usual blue much darker. Molten, even.

Slowly and seductively, Tessa slid Jamie’s jacket from her alabaster shoulders and let it drop to the kitchen floor. Jamie crossed her arms over herself and tugged her bra off. With her round, perfect breasts free, her pink nipples hardened as the fresh air hit them. Tessa only let a second go by before taking one in her mouth.

Jamie’s head fell back, exposing the long column of her throat. She had two freckles between her shoulder and her jaw that Tessa loved to kiss. Knowing what she knew now, she wondered if the old wives tale that freckles indicated where a lover kissed you in a past life was true. Perhaps they marked where Rosie or Aisling or Verity had peppered their affection before.