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Chapter 9

"It’s really bad to eat dessert first, you know," Stella co, but she couldn’t help the nervous chatter spilling fro exponentially during the past week, and the main event was just hours away now

Also, Michael was holding her hand

Her pal her, let alone act like it was thein the world Oddly, she’d handled foreplay better than this--up until the end, that was--and she’d been naked for that She couldn’t blame her reaction on her usual aversion to touch She liked Michael’s touch

As she and Michael walked down the busy San Francisco sidewalk hand-in-hand, passersby smiled at theht she and Michael were a couple

Stella would have laughed if she didn’t feel like she was sole of party girls in low-cut dresses flocked by, giving Michael double takes, then triple takes as they giggled into their hands and whispered to one another They glanced at Stella with open envy that she enjoyed even as she knew she didn’t deserve it Wearing a slate-gray suit and black oxford shirt, he was particularly scruht

"Here it is" Michael released her hand and held open the door for her as she walked into the old-fashioned gelato shop Black and white tiles checkered the floor Pink chandeliers illus "What’s your flavor?"

She could barely think about ice crea at the base of her spine like that Did he knoas doing it? She’d seen irlfriend

"Mint chocolate chip," she said

"Really? That’selse, then, so we can try soelato flavors, and her body heated with awareness

"Wait, what do you rin curved on his lips "You don’t want to share with irl behind the counter stared at Stella like she’d kicked a puppy

"No, that’s not it" Not entirely After all the kissing they’d done, she kneas silly to worry about germ transference The fact was she’d made a detailed analysis of ice cream flavors, and she’d decided this one was the best in existence "I just knohat I like"

"We’ll see about that" He tapped on the display case "Mint chocolate chip for her and green tea forbills out of his wallet before she could pry the credit card out from the bodice of her sapphire-blue sheath dress Once they were seated at a black wrought-iron table by the , he dipped his spoon into his gelato, tasted it, and grinned a sloide grin as he slipped the clean spoon from his mouth and scooped out more

"Oh, that’s just ridiculous," she said "You look like you’re auditioning for a H&au ice crearin was out in full force, and, God forbid, did he have a dimple?

"Now, I have to try it" She lowered her spoon toward his bowl

"Ah, ah, ah" Instead of letting her scoop up some herself, he held his spoon to her lips Her eyes juh her mind

She shouldn’t do it This was too inti a line of so--which they weren’t

It was just gelato Just his spoon He ht take it as rejection if she didn’t do it, and she could never, ever in a thousand years hurt him, not even in a trivial way

She parted her lips and let hielato Her heart knocked around her chest like a pinball as sweet green tea ue He watched her with expectation, oblivious to his effect on her

"Okay, it’s good" She tried to sound casual This didn’tThis wasn’t a date She was just another of his clients Keep a cool head She stabbed her spoon into her gelato

"I told you so"

"I still like mine best" She put a spoonful of mint chocolate chip in her mouth The complex combination of vanilla and mint exploded on her palate Bits of chocolate crunched between her teeth Perfection

"Let me try it"

She held her bowl out toward hiers over her jaw as he tipped her head back and sealed his lips over hers His tongue speared into her mouth, and the salt of him mixed with the flavor of the ice cream She didn’t know if she was mortified, shocked, aroused, or all three