Page 58 of Couple Goals

Their smiles have become more serious now. Jacob steps towards Adriana, still sat on the kitchen counter, stepping inside her dangling legs so that she automatically wraps herself around him again. He touches the side of Adriana’s face softly. There’s a tenderness in his frown which makes Adriana’s chest ache.

‘I just… It’s so…’ She takes a deep breath. ‘I feel so good right now, Jacob.’

He kisses her and runs his fingers through her hair and Adriana feels herself falling more.

‘Wait.’ She pulls back, eager to put her cards on the table so there are no more misunderstandings between them. ‘It feels like things have felt really awful between us the last few weeks,’ she continues in a rush, ‘and it was so, so nice last night, and so lovely to be able to just… hang out. Like two normal people, getting to know each other? Right? So I’m not saying let’snevertalk about it again, but just please, not right now? Not today?’

‘But don’t you want to talk about–’

Adriana groans and feels her face fall into a pout.

Unexpectedly, Jacob barks laughing. Adriana blinks up at him, and he pinches her cheek, shaking his head.

‘Okay,’ he says. ‘I can’t say no to that face, it’s like kicking a puppy.’

Adriana feels the high of getting her way, like getting given seconds of a delicious meal when she thought the food was all already eaten.

‘I thought you’d love kicking puppies,’ she jokes.

‘I’ll leave the kicking expertise to you.’

‘Hey! No talking about work!’

He grins, mimes zipping his mouth. Adriana, playing along, mimes unzipping his lips with her own fingers. His lips are surprisingly soft, and at her touch, he stops breathing. Adriana lets the trace of her fingers slow, and then doubles back, at his lips parting at her touch so she puts her fingers in his mouth. He sucks and pulls her close towards him. Their kiss becomes more urgent, the heat between them rising again.

‘No, no,’ he says, pulling away, holding her hand to keep a distance between them. ‘We can’t have sex again, Adriana, not until we’ve both had some food. It’s not good for our blood sugar levels. You’re an athlete, we need to be looking after your body.’

Adriana feels as high as if she’d been having constant sugar all morning.

‘How would you like to top up your blood sugar then, Mr Astor?’

‘Well, you know, I am kind of craving honeycomb brownies…’

Adriana stares up at him.

‘Really? You wanna go back to Honey?’

Jacob looks nonchalant, shrugs. ‘If you want. I feel like we deserve a do-over after last time.’

Adriana squints at him. No, she realises, he’s justtryingto look nonchalant.

‘You’re practically drooling!’ she squeals with delight. ‘Iknewyou were eyeing up my brownie before.’ She kisses him. ‘Let’s go. Oh, but… I only have my going out dress with me.’

Adriana looks at the really wonderfully skimpy dress scattered on the floor by the front door from where he unzipped it last night.

‘Well,’ he says, pointing at his own shirt on her. ‘You’ve already raided my wardrobe. Want to see if I have anything else you can wear outside the house?’

Adriana squeals with delight, and lets him lift her down from the counter and guide her to his bedroom, where she looks with a practiced eye over the rails of his wardrobe. Jacob doesn’t have many clothes, clearly prioritising quality over quantity.

‘I mean, do you think I can get away with wearing your boxers as shorts? Itisthe summer.’ She asks, after only finding suits. Then she pulls on a plain white cotton t-shirt of his, the simple style she remembers him wearing so gorgeously at their last visit to Honey.

She steps out and poses for Jacob, who is dutifully waiting by the door. He’s wearing belted caramel shorts and a white linen shirt with a navy baseball cap and sunglasses in his hand. Jacob seems unable to do anything less informal than ‘smart casual’, but he does look incredibly handsome.

‘Do you think this is indecent?’ she asks, of her own outfit.

Jacob’s eyes fly up, taking her in in his t-shirt and boxers.

‘Honestly, Idothink it’s indecent,’ he says. ‘But only because it is… Well, you look very, very hot in my clothes. I don’t think anyone will complain, especially not me.’

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