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She crouched down and watched from an open archway as Chef Barrios worked meticulously on the dessert for the day—mini strawberry shortcakes with billowing homemade whipped cream.
“Should we steal one?” whispered a warm, familiar voice next to her.
She whipped her head around and covered Charlie’s mouth with her hand. “Be quiet or he’ll find us.”
To her surprise, Charlie kissed the center of her palm. She felt her cheeks flush as she pulled away. “Gross, Charlie.”
“Is it that gross?”
Her heart fluttered in her chest. She’d always thought Charlie was cute, but this felt different. Like standing on the edge of a cliff, feeling her body start to tip over. “That’s—that’s just—”
“Come on, Jessie, you’ve never thought about kissing me?”
She didn’t allow others to call her Jessie—only her family. But Charlie adopted the name quickly after her father had the Sullivans over for dinner two years ago, and the nickname stuck despite her protests. Yet now, with the way his sparkling blue eyes danced in her direction, the nickname on his lips didn’t seem so bad. Maybe the taste of his lips wouldn’t be so bad, either.
Charlie smirked at Jess’s silence, reaching for her hand and squeezing. “Kiss me, Jessie.”
She pulled her hand away. “You’re crazy.”
“You know you want to.”
She felt the tips of her ears turn pink and looked back into the kitchen. Chef Barrios was lifting a pan of strawberry shortcakes, heading in their direction.
She reached back for Charlie’s hand and dragged him into a tiny alcove, out of sight. Chef had a habit of reprimanding anyone who entered the kitchen without his permission.
Her heart was hammering in her chest as she listened to the metal doors leading to the dining room swing open, the small crowd applauding his entrance.
She didn’t take notice at all of the ways their bodies were pressed together, not until Charlie traced his fingers up her side then curled a hand around her back. Goosebumps flecked her arms as she looked up at him, his face dangerously close.
“Don’t you want to know?”
“Want to know what it’s like to be kissed?”
“Not just kissed,” he murmured, cupping her head with his other hand. “What it’s like to be kissed by me.”
The thudding of her heart grew louder in her ears as Charlie brushed her cheek with his thumb, waiting.
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I want to know.”
He smiled, pressed his lips to hers, and completely changed her world.
From that very first kiss, Jessica Valerie had been in love with Charlie Sullivan IV.
Yet now, as she relived the memory in her head, she couldn’t summon those tingling feelings it usually pushed to the surface. The way he so boldly grabbed for her and took the plunge, tipping over that cliff from friendship and diving into something more.
Instead, she felt hollow, and she wondered if she would ever feel that way again.
Chapter Three
Jess was in her happy place—hovering over an ice cream cake with a bag of yellow frosting in her hands. She was testing out a new design for the trim; tiny flowers made with yellow petals and edible pearls at the center. She knew it was probably excessive, but the lines at Scoops were slow and she had a few hours to kill before her shift was over and she was due at Post Road for the evening.
She sensed Melanie approaching her station, peering down at the cake but keeping enough of a distance so she wouldn’t be in the way. Melanie remained silent as she watched Jess create the last little flower at the bottom right corner of the cake.
“This one is stunning, Jess,” Melanie said breathlessly.
She huffed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with her index finger. “Probably won’t have time for something like this during the season.”
“Will you make one for my birthday?”
