Chapter Nineteen
“Wait, you kissed him?” Juliette dropped the rose she was pruning in her garden and gaped at Emma.
“It just kind of happened.” Emma stooped to pick up the flower, placing it back in Juliette’s basket. It had been less than twenty-four hours since Hunter had shown up at her house. Since she had first kissed him right there in her attic. Just the memory of it gave her butterflies in her stomach. And then there was the kitchen thing. That had been mind-blowing. The butterflies started doing synchronized backflips. She took a deep breath and tried not to think about what it all meant. With barely two weeks left before the summer festival, Emma was all too aware her time with him was running short.
“What about the good-bye–forever plan?”
“I’m not changing the plan, Jules. I know what has to happen.” Emma fiddled with a rose stem, careful not to touch the thorns. “Go ahead and tell me. I’m being a fool.”
Juliette continued pruning. “Oh, I’d never say that. Everyone’s a fool for love.”
“I’m not in love. I’m just—”
“—lusting?” Juliette gave her a sly grin.
“I was going to say living. Look, you’re the one who’s always telling me I need to shake things up a little. I think this counts.”
Juliette sighed. “Oh, it counts all right. Lord knows it’s high time you did something. I bet even Mrs. Mooney’s had more action than you.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“We both know how this has to end, right? I just don’t want you getting in over your head and getting hurt.”
Emma flopped on the garden grass and stared up at the sky. “I’m not in over my head. Just, maybe knee-deep. Or . . .” She stole a sideways glance at Juliette. “Neck-deep?”
Juliette stopped cutting the roses and narrowed her eyes. “What exactly does that mean, ‘neck-deep’?”
“Well . . .” Emma stared back up at fluffy clouds, afraid to see her cousin’s face. “We kind of had sex, too.”
“What?” Juliette’s shriek sent a bird fleeing from a nearby tree. “Kind of? Okay, spill, you tramp. I want every detail. Was it what you expected? Is he as good as he looks?”
Emma couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across her face. “Better.”
Juliette gave a theatrical moan and landed in a heap beside Emma on the grass. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”
“I’m telling you right now.”
“Yeah, but you waited until today! That’s like, a bazillion hours of withholding important information from me, your dearest friend and relative.”
Why hadn’t she told Juliette after Hunter left yesterday evening? Maybe because she wanted to hold the memory close and keep it special, all to herself. It had been so unexpected, and he was like some exciting, unbelievable surprise. That morning he had called to tell her he was moving into a furnished waterfront condo down by the wharf. It rented by the month, which Emma thought was a good sign. He wanted to see her again tomorrow, and he seemed genuinely interested in the town, and her. Perhaps she didn’t tell Juliette right away because for just a little while, she wanted to pretend it wasn’t going to end.
“It wasn’t planned,” Emma said. “Just kind of an accident.”
“Yeah,” Juliette snorted. “Gotta watch out for those accidental sexcapades. How exactly did it start?”
Emma shrugged. “He helped me patch a window in the attic when the storm rolled in. Then we were in the kitchen and I had just told him about the house, and my baking magic. Then I made those ‘Summer Sunshine’ cupcakes again to chase away the storm, you know? And then he kissed me. And before I knew it, I was on the kitchen island kissing him back and it just sort of escalated from there.”
Juliette let out a whoop of laughter. “On the kitchen island. Very kinky of you guys. Did he say, ‘Gimme some sugar, baby’? Just tell me he did, even if he didn’t.”
Juliette was on a roll, talking so fast Emma could barely get a word in edgewise. She proceeded to grill Emma on every sexy detail she could think of, until both of them ended in a fit of giggles.
Finally, Emma sighed. “I can’t believe I did it, Jules. I’m going to see him in person tomorrow. We have a meeting after I close up. I’m going to have to tell him it was a mistake.”
“I’m sure that’ll go over like a lead balloon,” Juliette said wryly.
“No, he’ll understand. I’ll just tell him I’m not normally like that, and I don’t want to mix business with my personal life. He seems pretty reasonable, all things considered.”
“I’m not sure reason has a front row seat at the show when hot sex is on the menu.”
“There’s nothing on the menu, Jules. Not anymore. It was just one of those crazy things and I don’t plan on doing it again.”
Juliette gave her a look. “Uh-huh.”
“Shut up, I’m serious.”
“I believe you’re serious now. But what’s going to happen when Mr. McSexy is standing in front of you, all godlike, and all you can think about is your ‘accidental’ excursion in the kitchen? And speaking of that, one more thing. Did you actually do it on the kitchen island? Cuz that’s really the largest surface space and granite’s pretty cold, right? I mean, how was that? I guess with a hottie like him, the cold probably didn’t register. But seriously, Emma, you’re not going to be able to just cut it off that easily.”
“Look, yesterday was a fluke. It probably only happened because we were suffering from the residual effects of that jasmine potion you spilled on us in the forest. Every day that passes will only get easier.” Emma lifted her chin, trying very hard to believe it.
“I hate to break it to you, but that little jasmine spell wore off days ago. And even if it did set you two in motion, everything that happened yesterday and everything that happens next is all going to be your own doing.”
“Say whatever you want,” Emma said. “I’m going to lay down the law tomorrow evening and it’ll work out. It’ll be totally fine.”
Except it wasn’t.