“It might help. It helps me to throw pillows.”
“No.”
“Suit yourself.” She resumed eating ice cream.
“I'll need to report what just happened.”
She cocked her head. “From where I'm standing, that seems like an overreaction. It was just a peck on the lips. Pretty chaste, actually.”
It had not felt chaste to him.
“And I'm the one at fault,” she continued. “You did nothing wrong. I didn’t plan to kiss you, but I did. It was an impulsive type of thing and I take full responsibility—”
The doorbell sounded. They both stiffened.
“Who's here?” he asked, low.
“No idea.”
Gemma knew better than to have company over while he was at her house. This must be a friend or family member stopping by unannounced.
Gemma couldn’t pretend not to be home because when Jude had arrived, he'd seen her scooter parked out front. No doubt, this visitor had seen it, too. Thankfully, his car was, as usual, parked blocks away.
“What should I do?” she whispered.
“Answer and make them go away as quickly as possible. I'll wait over there.” He nodded toward the section of wall separating the foyer from the living room. Standing behind that, he'd be out of sight of the door.
“All right.”
The person on the threshold knocked again. Jude and Gemma moved into place.
Jude heard the door pull open. Gemma gasped. Was that a happy gasp or a frightened one? He was on the verge of going to her in case she needed him when she said, “Chaz?”
ChapterFifteen
“Gemma!” Chaz said.
“This is a surprise.”
“Good! I wanted to surprise you.”
A rustling sound followed that had to be the sound of them hugging because the thought of them kissing was flatly unbearable to Jude. Two minutes ago, Gemma had been kissinghim.
He grabbed Gemma's laptop from the coffee table. Silently, he took a seat on a chair, laptop open on his legs. If Chaz spotted him, he didn't want Chaz to spot him hiding.
“You look great,” Chaz said.
“Thank you . . . What are you doing here?”
“Do you remember me mentioning my business trip to Boston? It wrapped up earlier today and Teddy encouraged me to take a few days off. I was already halfway here so I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to drive up and see you.”
“Um—”
“I'm hungry and dying of thirst. Can I hit you up for a drink—”
“Actually, let’s go out. I hardly have any food in the house. I’ll just grab my purse and coat and we'll be off.”
Gemma appeared in Jude's line of sight as she scooped her purse off the table. Chaz came into view behind her. He swept up her coat and held it for her while she pushed her arms into it.
