A Roll in the Hay, стр. 46
“What are we doing?” Tess asked, instantly on guard.
“I honestly don’t know. I’m a little giddy, and here we are in a quiet little nook, miles from home, just this little table between us… I know I was the one to hit pause before—”
“Still, it didn’t feel like a pause. It felt like you slammed the stop button, then standby, and unplugged the whole thing for good measure.”
“So you’re saying that you were up for more?” Susannah tried for some levity. “I know I totally tensed up and ruined the moment. Perhaps I could have explained better, but you were quite ready to damn me for it all the same.”
“Then fine. It’s possible I ever so slightly overreacted.” Tess replied, setting her glass down and rubbing her hands on her thighs as though they were cold. Her ponytail swung behind her head as she wriggled in her seat a little. “And I’m the first to admit I do have some sore spots around powerful women, specifically ones with power over me. The whole point of me leaving London and starting over was to get away from a compromised situation. I swore I wouldn’t get entangled in anything that affected my job or my living arrangements. You’d have even more control over those than Caroline did. In a way.”
“But the difference is I don’t want that power. I don’t have any bad intentions for using it that way. And you deserve better than that.”
“It’s just…” Tess seemed genuinely conflicted for a moment.
Susannah’s breath hitched when Tess rose from the comfortable chair opposite and came to sit on the same high-backed couch as Susannah.
“It’s just…”
“Just what?” Susannah almost whispered, not wanting to shatter the fragile moment. Her wine glass rested in her left hand, all but forgotten. A glance around the room confirmed they were still alone, not a single other soul in sight.
“I guess all of that is really important to me. So important. But then you kissed me, and I thought maybe it wasn’t that important at all.”
“I’m not your boss,” Susannah reminded her. “And your house—there’s a contract and an agency and all these layers. And I just want to state right now, that even if I hesitate for a second after I kiss you, I still intend to do it again, if that clears up any confusion?”
“I guess?” Tess slid a few inches closer across the soft seat.
This close, Susannah could see how shallow her breathing was, that her pupils were just that little bit bigger, and darker. The freckles were less hidden—no make-up for a day out in the fields. It was so easy for Susannah to reach across and brush Tess’s fringe aside where it had fallen over one eye.
“Maybe we just needed this little bit of privacy,” Susannah said, licking her lips quickly. She tasted the hint of oak and peach from her wine. “To work out what matters, and what doesn’t. Maybe you can’t get past who I am. Maybe I won’t get past the way you call me out at every turn. But maybe I’ll enjoy it.”
“It probably is a terrible idea. And maybe we should absolutely not act on this…spark between us. Especially since you’re the one who’s utterly impossible. And yet…”
“And yet?” Susannah could barely whisper the words.
Tess answered with a forceful kiss that knocked the breath from Susannah’s throat and her glass from her hand to the carpeted floor. She was vaguely aware of the splash of the remaining wine, but how could it register against the feeling of Tess’s fingers running through her hair?
Susannah pulled her closer, kissing back for all she was worth. She couldn’t remember the last time something had felt so intimate. The press of Tess’s lips was firm and sure, and the flicker of her tongue was teasing. Even clutching at each other, it didn’t seem to be close enough. They kissed, and kissed, and the bun in Susannah’s hair was no match for Tess and her insistent fingers. Just thinking what she might do with them elsewhere sent a thrill through Susannah that made her body jolt in anticipation.
Tess made an appreciative sound when she got a proper hold on the cascade of blonde curls, wrapping them once around her hand to keep Susannah close and slipping the other beneath her thin grey sweater.
“We should be careful,” Susannah said when they relented for a moment, her lips tingling and her breathing a little strained. “Not because of anyone seeing, which they can’t anyway. I really don’t care. It’s just when you get all forceful, tugging on my hair and kissing me like that, well, I’m not sure my self-control is a match for that.”
“So, you’re saying stop short of getting us arrested?”
“Sure, let’s go with that,” Susannah agreed.
Then Tess was quite deliciously on her again, pinning her back against the cushions and treating them both to a series of long, lingering kisses. It took considerable self-restraint for Susannah not to hook her leg around Tess’s hip. The limits of a public place were becoming more apparent, and there were so many soft surfaces just waiting for them back home.
Susannah didn’t even register the ringing at first. It was just a background annoyance, no more than the buzz of an insect. Then Tess pulled away with real reluctance, and Susannah groaned.
“I’m firing whoever this is,” Susannah said by way of apology. “Please hold that thought.”
Summoning the last scraps of her composure, Susannah took a steadying breath and picked up the call.
Chapter 17
They didn’t say much on the drive back. A few times, quite innocently while changing gear, Tess’s knuckles dragged against Susannah’s thigh. It wasn’t as if she needed to sit that close to the gears, and she didn’t move any of the times it happened.
Tess rode out a fresh surge