Chapter Seventeen
Ali was jealous. She didn’t like the feeling.
She didn’t like watching JT flirt harmlessly with Hannah, but she liked the way it affected her even less.
What kind of childish nonsense was it to be irritated by someone she wasn’t even dating being flirty with someone else?
It was frankly embarrassing, and her annoyance was much more directed at herself than at JT.
JT was, as far as Ali could tell, simply being herself.
JT was a flirt, and it didn’t really mean anything.
Except Ali was still annoyed about it.
She was jealous and embarrassed about it. So, there was no way she was going to admit it. “No, I’m not jealous. You can flirt with anyone you want.”
JT cocked her head to the side. “That’s not true.” She lowered her voice and bent closer to Ali’s ear. “I can’t flirt with you.”
Ali turned, her face way too close to JT’s. She could smell the sugar and chocolate on JT’s breath. She was desperate to know if JT tasted like fudge or caramel or, more likely, one of the hundred marshmallows she’d eaten.
Instead, she wet her lips. “Who says you can’t?”
JT gave a wicked grin. “I believe you were the one intent on keeping us ‘friendly’ in public. Or am I mistaken?”
God she was annoyingly cocky, but it worked for her. Ali suspected JT knew exactly how charming she was. She wanted to lean forward, run her tongue along JT’s lips and taste every last bit of sweetness she knew she’d find.
Instead, she straightened up, pulling her face a reasonable distance from JT’s.
There were too many people here who knew her.
Too many people who would ask questions she didn’t want to answer.
Not because she was ashamed of being into JT, but because answering people’s questions, absorbing their shock or whatever other emotions they would express was exhausting.
Ali dealt with other people’s emotions all the time at work.
She was a teacher of teenagers, after all.
And on her vacation, she didn’t want to have to deal with Hannah or her mom or her stupid ex-husband talking at her, expressing their feelings about her to her face.
She simply wanted to kiss a cute girl and run her fingers through her fuzzy undercut.
So, she took a step back to a safe distance where she could trust herself to banter without climbing JT like a fucking tree.
“Contestants!” The mic screeched, bringing everyone’s attention to the front counter of the café. “Our judges have come to a decision. First, we want to thank all of you for your hard work and inventive flavor combinations. We enjoyed sampling everything you all made.”
There was a round of applause from the assembled crowd.
“We have prizes for best traditional, best nontraditional, best decoration, and best all-around team. Each winning team will receive a small prize. As a reminder, all teams will compete tomorrow, so the stakes for this round are just bragging rights.”
Ali didn’t think they were going to win anything. Their cocoa was fine but there was nothing about it that stood out. The only thing that stood out at their booth was JT. She was warm and made everyone feel welcomed. Ali was busy watching her when the judges called their names.
“Ali, come on!” JT said, her voice filled with excitement. She reached for Ali’s hand, and Ali, bewildered, gave it to her. JT pulled her to the front of the crowd.
“We have a special shout out to JT Cox and Ali Porter for their spectacular use of marshmallows in their nontraditional offering. Not all the judges agreed with your liberal use of them,” the woman said, looking at the grumpy older judge who clearly hated joy.
“But we were impressed with your ability to balance the flavors in your caramel, peanut butter cocoa. Congratulations!”
Ali blinked in surprise but allowed Hannah to hand her an envelope.
“We won?” Ali asked on their way back to their counter.
“Yes! Did you think they called us up there to say we sucked? They liked our over-the-top mug! We did it!” JT hugged her and picked her up off the floor.
Normally, Ali would have hated this. She generally hated feeling small or insubstantial.
But from JT, it was just an extra-amazing hug with their bodies pressed together from their chests practically down to their toes.
Ali was more than a little disappointed when JT set her down.
JT leaned down. “Open it!”
Ali slipped the envelope to show JT the gift card they knew was inside. “Do you want this? I can come here anytime.”
JT put her hand on Ali’s, ostensibly to push the gift card back to her. “You live here, so you’ll actually have a chance to use it.”
“Maybe we can come for coffee later this week? That way we both get to use it.”
JT nodded. “If you can stand to be seen in public with me.”
Ali swatted her with the envelope. “You are kind of high-maintenance, you know? But look, if what you really want is to buy—” she checked the amount “—twenty-five dollars’ worth of marshmallows to eat all by yourself, I won’t stop you.”
“That’s a great idea. Yeah, gimme that.” JT laughed. “It will be much better to share with you. Depending on the rest of the schedule, maybe we can come one morning? I can pick you up.”
“Can Toby pick me up?”
JT rolled her eyes. “Do you only like me for my puppy? Here I thought you would like me for my gold medal, but instead you’re just using me for my sweet Toby girl.”
Ali nodded. “I mean, she’s very handsome.”
JT leaned closer. “Are you telling me you prefer her kisses to mine?”
Ali’s eyes widened in surprise. “JT!”
“I’ll have to up my game, Porter.” She glanced around the room. “Looks like my siblings left already. Probably pissed we won a prize. May I give you a ride home?”
Ali raised an eyebrow. “Sounds a bit dangerous. But, considering you drove me here and it appears everyone else in my family left, I have few options.”
“You flatter me. But I’m happy to drive you even if you only want me to because otherwise you’d have to sleep in the café.”
Ali looked up at her with her eyes blazing. “I think you know exactly why I want you to take me home.” She rested a hand on JT’s forearm where she’d pushed her sleeves up for the contest, trying to make sure there was no mistaking her meaning.