Outrageously Yours

His touch broke the barriers she had carefully built. Claire returned the kiss with a hunger she hadn’t realized she had. The heat billowed inside her as she swiped the tip of her tongue into his mouth. His fingers tightened against her jaw as he captured her tongue and drew it in sharply. Claire felt the pull deep in her core and moaned with delight.

She wanted to be closer, to melt into Jason. She clutched the back of his head with her hands and greedily returned his kiss. Her skin felt tight and tingly as she ached for his hands to explore her body.

Claire had no idea how long the kiss had lasted when Jason pulled away slowly. She stared at him, gulping for air, not sure what to do or say. He looked as amazed as she felt. He dropped his hands as if her skin burned him.

Claire swallowed hard and reluctantly lowered her hands. She kept her gaze on his reddened lips. She couldn’t look him in the eye. She didn’t want him to see how much that kiss affected her. “I have to go.”

“You’re walking away?” There was an edge to his voice. “Again?”

“If I stay then we will have to continue this charade, and we don’t have a strategy in place,” she said hoarsely. If she stayed then she would cling to Jason and drag his clothes off. “Now is the time for me to leave.”

“Let me walk you to your car.” He bunched his hands at his sides and she knew he wasn’t going to touch her again. “And we will figure out our story along the way.”

* * *

MINUTES LATER, Claire walked into her apartment, wondering how she was going to get through the week when Jason could kiss like that. She flipped on the lights, closed the door and leaned on it. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to get addicted to his touch.

Her cell phone rang. Was it Jason? Her pulse galloped as she retrieved it from her purse. She felt a mix of relief and disappointment when she recognized her best friend’s number. Claire answered it quickly. “Kim?”

“I just got a picture of you and my big brother kissing,” her best friend said in a rush. “Tell me that it was edited.”

Claire covered her face with her hand. Someone must have captured them kissing at the party—and the photo had gotten around fast. Her friend lived across the state managing the Mountain Creek vineyards. “Where did you get a picture?”

“Oh, please. I still keep in touch with people in Woodinville.” Kim paused. “So it’s real?”

“Uh...yeah.”

“You and Jason?” Kim’s voice rose to a screech. “What is going on? When did this happen?”

Claire sighed. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“You always say that,” she said with a groan. “But this looks like a hot and steamy lip-lock. I swear he’s about to toss you over his shoulder and take you to the nearest bed.”

Claire’s legs wobbled as she imagined Jason doing just that.

“Wait...are you alone?” Kim misinterpreted Claire’s silence. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Is he with you?”

If she was alone with Jason after that kiss, she would not have answered the phone. “No, nothing like that,” Claire said with a sigh. “He’s helping me with a project.”

“Don’t give me that crap. I know you’ve always harbored a secret crush on Jason. You weren’t obvious about it, but I could always tell what you were thinking.”

“I’m serious, he’s helping me out,” Claire insisted as she walked to her sofa.

“And Jason has had a soft spot for you since the day he met you,” Kim continued. “Sure, he ignored us all through high school but he did watch over us. I thought that was a phase, but when he needed help with the wine bar’s marketing, he didn’t go with the big advertising companies or hire a public relations firm. He decided his PR person was going to be you, and he didn’t consider anyone else.”

“I didn’t know that.” Claire slowly sat down. She had always assumed it was Kim who had pushed for Mountain Creek to hire her.

“But you’re familiar with Jason’s bad relationships. He doesn’t date indiscriminately anymore—and I’m using the word date as a euphemism—but he still doesn’t get serious with women. He only hooks up with the ones who just want a good time.”

“I know.” But didn’t anyone think that she wanted a good time? That she could have a strictly physical relationship? Some might call her a little uptight, but that didn’t mean she required every part of her life to be serious.

“You’re familiar with all this and you’re hooking up with him? Honestly, Claire, how dumb are you to get involved with him?”

Claire closed her eyes and gripped the phone tightly.

Kim gasped. “I’m sorry, Claire! I didn’t mean that you were dumb! You know I wouldn’t mean that!”

“It’s okay, Kim.” Her voice was steady.

“No, it’s not okay! You hate that word. I have no idea why I said it.”

“I’m not sensitive about it anymore,” she assured her friend. The word didn’t cause her pain. Maybe a pinch but that was all. “I know I’m not smart. I’ve taken enough tests to prove it.”

“That’s not true.” Kim’s tone was firm. “Those tests don’t tell the whole story.”

She still remembered the battery of tests she’d had to take as a teen at the neuropsychologist’s office. It had been exhausting, as if the tests had sucked out everything from her brain. It wasn’t at all like the standardized tests she had struggled with at school.

But what she remembered the most was the outrage her parents had displayed when they were given the results. Not only had it turned out that she had several learning disabilities, but she had also scored below average on the IQ test. Her parents refused to believe it.

“It takes smarts to overcome those obstacles,” Kim insisted. “It takes smarts to make something out of yourself. To be a business owner.”

“To hide my low IQ score,” Claire added. Her parents had insisted that the family hide the results. They didn’t tell the school, doctors and relatives about anything, even the learning disabilities. Claire had agreed. She didn’t want anyone to know that she was flawed and defective. Different.

Her parents had believed the tests were wrong and went to another expert and then another until they finally decided to abandon the pursuit for answers. They hadn’t liked what they had heard. In their opinion, Claire just needed to apply herself and work harder.

“They are your parents and I’m sure you love them, but they were wrong in how they handled the situation,” Kim said in a grumble.

“They thought it reflected badly on them.” That something was wrong with them and it had transferred to their child. They couldn’t have that. Her parents were considered geniuses in their field. Their computer programming careers and their identities were based entirely on their intelligence.

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