Let It Snow(80)

“Love to, boss,” Tessa immediately replied, surprising even herself as she shot to her feet. Both Amanda and Levi looked shocked at the speed and enthusiasm with which she had answered, but Tessa didn’t care. All she knew was that, right now, she needed to get her mind off of the incredibly sexy man and well-endowed blond she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from. Dancing seemed like a better solution than wallowing in a glass of wine.

Levi led her out to the dance floor and placed his hand loosely on her waist, standing about a foot and a half back from her and taking her hand in his free one. Clearly he knew that this was a purely platonic dance. Unlike big-boobed blondie.

She and Levi moved across the dance floor with an easy grace, and he even dipped her. Although Tessa had originally only agreed to dance with Levi as a distraction, it was actually turning out to be pretty fun. In fact, she would go as far as to say it was the highlight of her evening. Levi was a great dancer.

Just as she as really beginning to let go and enjoy herself, Levi spun her around and Jake came into view again. What she saw made her cringe just a little.

Jake was staring at her with laser-focused intensity, and he did not look happy. Nope. Not one little bit. In fact, if anything, that man looked jealous.

Tessa didn’t want Jake to be upset. She’d only been dancing with someone else to get her mind off of him. Shoot. She couldn’t just walk away from Levi mid-dance. It would be incredibly rude for one thing, not to mention ridiculous.

As the song played on and she and Levi glided around the dance floor, she could sense Jake’s eyes on her every single moment. She had always been attuned to his presence and his attention, ever since they had met as teenagers. If he entered a room, even if her back was turned, she could sense him. The small hairs on her arms and the nape of her back would stand up as if shocked by static electricity. Now, thirteen years later, that bond had not been severed. In fact, it had not even been weakened. She felt Jake’s eyes on her like a physical touch.

When the music slowly faded out and the couples on the dance floor, including herself and Levi, began to wander away back to their tables, Tessa smiled up at him and said sincerely, “Thank you for the dance. I really needed it.”

“No problem,” he said as they arrived at the table that now held not only Amanda, but Nikki, Amy, and Karina as well. “Ladies.” He nodded before walking away.

“Dang, Levi can really move,” Karina observed as she sipped a glass of white wine.

“I know, right?!” Amanda agreed.

Amy sat down, joining them and holding the firefighter calendar Tessa had shot last week. “Wow, these pictures are… Wow.”

Nikki looked over her shoulder as Amy flipped the page and immediately recoiled from what she saw. “Oh my god! I’m scarred for life. A sister should never see that expression on her brother’s face.”

“I agree,” Amy said, looking a tad horrified herself.

Tessa hadn’t seen the final product but she knew the proofs she’d sent to the printers and Jake’s photo had been, well…hot. For his shirtless pose, she’d chosen one where he’d been straddling the chair, looking down into the camera.

She felt a blush rising on her cheeks as she remembered how hot the entire session was—and more to the point—how hot the after session was too.

Amanda and Karina scooted around so they could see what all the fuss was about. As soon as their eyes landed on the photo, Amanda’s jaw dropped as her cheeks turned bright red while Karina’s mouth turned up in a mischievous smile and she fanned herself, saying, “Holy hot tamale.”

Tessa didn’t think it could be that bad. He wasn’t any more naked than any of the other guys in the calendar. “Can I see it?” Tessa asked, and Amy nodded, handing it over to her.

Oh my.

She must have gotten desensitized by seeing frame after frame of Jake in all of his sexy glory because looking at him now, not in the context of editing, her entire body was engulfed in tingles. It wasn’t just his muscular body, which was amazing. It was the look in his eye. That was how he looked at her when he was buried deep inside of her.

“Okay, you know it’s a hot pic when it even makes the photographer blush,” Karina teased.

Tessa shook her head, smiling. As her friends took back the calendar and flipped through the other pages, Tessa’s eyes automatically roamed the dance floor. Jake was still out there with the blond draped all over him.

He’d texted her earlier and told her he was coming over after he dropped off B.B.B. She’d been a little confused about the B.B.B. part, but the one thing she knew for sure was that he might be here with someone else, but he’d be with her later tonight. In bed. She could hardly wait.