JENNIE

I quickly ran a brush through my hair and checked my teeth for lipstick stains before running out the door. I had to go into the city for a meeting with my editor this morning, which I was dreading. He'd already been on my case all week about finishing my column, and the last thing I needed was to be late. I'd been so distracted by moving and unpacking that I'd had a hard time sitting down to get work done. And if I was being honest, my attraction to Lisa wasn't helping one bit.

After our kiss, I'd been so hot and bothered that I'd tossed and turned all night. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to throw caution to the wind and see where this attraction would take us. After last night, the idea of giving in to the temptation of Lisa was too powerful to resist. Why not take a risk? She'd said so herself; it didn't have to lead to anything serious. We were both adults who had needs. And besides, I was never one to leave unfinished business.

Distracted, I weighed my options throughout my meeting. It was hard to focus on anything but Lisa's proposition. Had she been serious? Would she really want a casual fling? But my meeting went smoothly, and I took it as a good omen.

That night, after I'd showered and changed, I decided to stop by Lisa's place to talk to her for a few minutes. It had become part of my ritual, and one I looked forward to. As I swiped on some mascara, it occurred to me that she might have only made that comment about us casually hooking up because of the wine, or because she'd just been stood up. Maybe it sounded good in theory, but when it came down to it, she might decide she wasn't interested enough to muddy the waters of our relationship.

Annoyed at how my hand holding the mascara wand trembled, I put aside the mascara and took a deep breath. Calm down, I told myself.

This was so not like me. I never sat around wondering what a guy thought about me. In the past when things didn't work out with someone, I always knew it was for the best. Knew that I was moving on to the next chapter of my life, and did so with no regret.

In fact, I considered it a point of pride that I'd never had my heart broken. I'd never been the kind of woman who was afraid to say what she thought, or worried what a man thought about her, and I didn't intend to start now.

With new determination, I took a deep breath and pulled on my sandals. Pausing before I walked out the door, I hoped I was doing the right thing.

Lisa opened on the first knock. I was still taken aback by how sexy she looked every time I saw her, and tonight was no exception.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"Hey, Jennie. What's up?"

I sucked in a breath as I looked into her sexy, dark eyes, and watched as a smile transformed her face. I was about to open my mouth and spill everything I'd been thinking, but then Lily's head popped around the door.

"Oh, it's her," she said, turning to go back inside with a frown.

"Lily," Lisa said in a warning tone, but she'd already walked away. She turned back to me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Is everything okay?"

My smile faltered. I was such an idiot. Why did I think I could just barge in here and blurt out my feelings? Obviously, Lily was home. I needed to get it together; I was letting my desire for Lisa cloud all rational thought.

"Hey." I grinned, changing gears. "I just wanted to come down and ask if you'd be in for an after-work drink later tonight."

"I would, but we're kind of in the middle of a dilemma over here," she said, gesturing inside.

"Is everything okay?" Horrified, I frowned. Not only had I made a mess of this whole thing, but now I'd interrupted some kind of family emergency. Awesome.

"No, sorry, nothing like that. I didn't mean to sound dramatic. It's more of a kitchen emergency than an actual emergency." She laughed, and my stomach did a little flip of relief.

"I'm gluten-free now." Lily had come back, holding a cookbook. "But she doesn't know how to make anything." She pointed up at Lisa, who laughed.

"I've suggested at least five things, and you don't want any of them," she said, half amused, half exasperated. She shot me a pleading look.

"They all sounded bad." The little girl wrinkled her nose.

She was actually quite cute when she wasn't throwing daggers at me with her eyes. I could see the resemblance to her dada with her dark eyes fringed in darker lashes and soft brown hair that couldn't decide if it wanted to curl or lay straight.

"I'm actually gluten-free too," I said, hoping that maybe I could be useful for once. "I could help you guys. I cook all the time."

"That would be amazing," Lisa said quickly, the relief on her face obvious. "We've been going back and forth like this for an hour."

Lily gave her a skeptical look but didn't say anything. Lisa motioned me inside and I followed them to the kitchen, where a bag of groceries sat on the counter.

"I got a bunch of gluten-free stuff," she said, pulling a random assortment of items from the bag.

We looked it over. There was gluten-free spaghetti, a few potatoes, and a bag of quinoa. I raised an eyebrow at her. That was it?

"I have no idea what I'm doing," she admitted.

"Don't worry," I said, looking through what she'd bought. "I have a plan."

"Do what you need to do." She put her hands up. "I'll owe you big-time. Anything you want, it's yours."

I pulled things out of the cupboards and arranged them on the counter, coming up with a recipe as I went. I knew how difficult it could be to cook meals that were gluten-free, and I was impressed that Lily was willing to try something new. Secretly, I hoped cooking for them would score me points with both Lisa and Lily.

As I was searching their cabinet for honey, I realized they were staring at me.

"You two can go relax. I've got this," I said, turning to wave them away after grabbing chicken breasts from the refrigerator.

Lily ran out the patio door into the backyard, where she started kicking a soccer ball around.

"Sorry, she's still a little on edge around you," Lisa said.

"It's totally fine." I waved away her concern. "She keeps me on my toes." If I was being honest, now that the mortification had worn off, I was starting to think it was kind of funny. I liked that Lily had a little spunk.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she offered. She was still wearing her work clothes—a dark blue suit with a white button-down shirt, which she wore very well. She'd been wearing a suit the first night I met her.

The only thing she could do to help put out this fire was to bend me over the kitchen table, but of course I couldn't say that.

"I've got it. I can get a little bossy in the kitchen, so it's probably for the best that you don't witness that."

Mostly, I just needed to get her out of here so I could focus on cooking dinner instead of thinking about spit-roasting her sausage with my tongue.

"Why does that not surprise me?" She chuckled.

I'm also bossy in the bedroom, but you already know that, I thought, but I bit my tongue. There would be plenty of time for dirty talk later. That is, if everything went the way I hoped it would.

I tried not to think about it as I cut the potatoes and fried the chicken. Luckily, I got so in the zone when I cooked that I was able to subdue my overactive libido. I was surprisingly comfortable in Lisa's kitchen, and it was nice to cook for someone else for a change. I loved trying a new recipe, but it was less exciting when there was no one to share it with. Cooking for one was just plain boring, so a lot of nights, I skipped it altogether.

An hour later, I'd prepared a full meal that I hoped would be kid-friendly enough for my little frenemy, at least. My version of chicken tenders seasoned with honey and garlic, roasted potato salad, and a flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

Lisa had insisted that I stay and eat with them, and I hadn't refused.

"This is amazing," she said after swallowing a bite of chicken. "This is gluten-free?"

"It is. I've been making it for years. And thanks." I smiled at her, our eyes meeting. My pulse jumped like I'd missed a step.

I quickly looked away, hoping Lily hadn't noticed. I was hoping she and I could move our relationship in the right direction, and her witnessing me drooling over her dada wasn't going to help. Luckily, she was busy eyeing her plate suspiciously. I watched as she dug her fork in and took a small bite. Her eyes widened as she chewed, and she took another bite.

"How is it, Lily?" I asked. She clearly didn't realize I'd been watching her, because she immediately stopped chewing and shrugged.

"It's pretty good," she said in a noncommittal tone.

I had to hold back a laugh. Maybe I could eventually win her over if I kept feeding her.

"So, Lily, how's preschool?" I asked.

"Tell her about your science-fair project," Lisa said.

Lily's eyes lit up in a way I'd never seen before as she described how they were learning about fossilized footprints of dinosaurs.

"We made our own fossils by putting our hands in clay, and next week we're going to the museum to see real dinosaur bones," she said excitedly, and her enthusiasm was infectious.

I grinned. "That's amazing."

She continued to describe dinosaur fossils with more passion than I'd ever seen. She even knew the proper names for dinosaurs that I'd never heard of.

After we'd eaten, Lily ran outside to continue playing. I watched her through the window for a minute and couldn't help but smile. She was practicing somersaults, and the look of sheer determination on her face was adorable. She might not trust me yet, but I patted myself on the back for starting to get through to her.

And spending time with them was more fun than I'd expected, which only made me more attracted to Lisa. I wasn't usually into the whole dad thing, but it definitely looked good on her. Her daughter was well-behaved, and she was affectionate with her, yet firm. She was a real man. One with responsibilities, a home and a child, and something about her having her shit together was extremely hot to me. It was some type of single-dad aphrodisiac I'd never experienced before.

I turned from the window so I was facing Lisa, only a handful of inches separating us.

"Lily's too stubborn to say it, but she loved the food. She never finishes her plate like that when I cook. Then again, I barely know how to make frozen chicken nuggets."

I grinned, more touched than I would have expected to hear that Lily liked it. "Hopefully this makes up for the trauma I've put her through."

Lisa laughed. "I'd say she's forgiven you. But seriously, thanks for this. You're a lifesaver."

There was a beat of silence. It was now or never, and I just had to hope she'd be on board. If she wasn't, at least I'd know I'd been honest. I sucked in a breath.

"So, listen. Maybe I'm reading too much into this situation, but in case I'm not . . ." I looked her in the eye, my pulse spiking. I tried to think of a tactful way to phrase it, then decided to just blurt it out. "We clearly have an attraction . . ."

God, why is my stomach suddenly in knots? It was like being a tenth-grader all over again, wondering if a girl liked me.

Pushing forward, I said, "Maybe it's a little unconventional, but I think we're both mature enough to handle something physical between us without letting it get too messy." Plus, it's getting harder and harder not to jump on top of you every time I see you.

My heart fluttering, I waited, unable to read her reaction. I told myself it would be fine if she wasn't interested. There were plenty of other men out there, right?

But her face remained impassive as she watched me, and I grew more and more worried.

There might be a lot of other men, but none of them were like Lisa.