Jessa James - Kiss Me Again

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1. Cole 1

2. Lucy 2

3. Cole 3

4. Lucy

5. Cole

6. Lucy

7. Cole

8. Lucy

9. Cole

10. Lucy

11. Cole

12. Lucy

13. Cole

Epilogue - Lucy

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About the Author

Kiss Me Again: Copyright © 2020 by Jessa James

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, digital or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning or by any type of data storage and retrieval system without express, written permission from the author.

Published by Jessa James

James, Jessa

Kiss Me Again

Cover design copyright 2020 by Jessa James, Author

Images/Photo Credit: Deposit Photos: mjth

Publisher’s Note:

This book was written for an adult audience. The book may contain explicit sexual content. Sexual activities included in this book are strictly fantasies intended for adults and any activities or risks taken by fictional characters within the story are neither endorsed nor encouraged by the author or publisher.

This book has been previously published.

1

“You have to be kidding me. Jacob, are you seriously going to let Callie set up a dating app? Well, my friend, there goes your reputation for being a serious mover and shaker in the tech world!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at poor Jake’s desperate attempts to get Callie’s attention. He really would let her have whatever she wanted, the poor fool. I couldn’t deny that she was smart too and her hunches were usually spot on, but this idea seemed a step too far in my humble opinion. But Callie was also the only woman I have ever met who could out-code me, and even had the temerity to beat me at chess – every single time. Well, of course, there had also been one other person who’d been able to do that, but she was no longer in my life. And yet, even five years later, my one true love Lucy still managed to infiltrate my thoughts at the most random times.

I shook my head and tried to force myself to pay attention to the conversation at hand. Maybe Callie had a different angle on the new dating app, one that hadn’t already been done to death. Jacob grinned at me sheepishly and shrugged.

“Ha, ha, Cole!” Callie said sarcastically as she brought a pitcher of beer and three shots of tequila back from the bar. “You boys ready to celebrate? This is going to be the best idea we’ve ever put into production!”

We’d all met at UCLA, on the very first meeting of the year of the Tech Society. We had bunched around a table, admiring the new gadgets we had all been excited to receive to start college in true nerd style. We discussed every little improvement and flaw as if the world would end if they weren’t put right – and then Callie walked in.

Standing six feet tall, she was a vision of leggy, blonde-haired, blue-eyed perfection. Naturally we all assumed she was in the wrong room. Turned out she was just as bright and obsessed as we all were, and more so than many. Callie truly did deserve the term ‘wiz’ – everything she did was fast: she thought fast, she drank faster, and she could solve virtually any math puzzle in moments.

And though there was no doubting that Callie was attractive, my heart belonged to another. The three of us settled into a comfortable friendship that lasted throughout college and beyond.

Callie knocked back her tequila shot and gestured to us to do the same. The fiery liquid burned its way down my throat and I made a face of pure displeasure. It had never been my drink; I was more of a bourbon guy really. I shook my head and regained my composure.

I must have still looked skeptical because I couldn’t see it myself. Sure, dating sites and apps seemed to be big business, but surely there were already a hundred all doing exactly the same thing? I mean how many did the world truly need?

“Seriously guys, the market seems flooded, I know. But, I’ve done the research. Every site has a different angle – matching by compatibility; matching on hobbies; matching on lifestyle; even matching on pets. But none of them give you a chance to check out the entire pool of people out there looking for ‘The One’. I mean, when you meet someone in a bar, you don’t check out whether you have stuff in common. You go on attractiveness, do they make you laugh, does being around them make you go tingly – you know, all that kind of stuff.”

I could kind of see her point. I have never waited to find out if a girl had something in common with me to go and ask her on a date. That’s what first dates are for after all. There does need to be some kind of initial gut reaction that draws you in.

“I think I get it, but the point of internet dating is to cut out the selection process, to speed it all up for yourself, to be matched with someone you are likely to get along with right?” I asked, beginning to get genuinely curious but still prepared to play devil’s advocate for the moment.

“For some people yes, time is of the essence – professionals and the like, but college kids have all the time in the world. Think about how Facebook started. It was a way to check out people on campus,” Callie continued.

Jake nodded. “And let’s face it, so many of us just don’t have the guts to admit to the object of our desires how we feel.”

I almost choked on my beer as he said so; his puppy-dog eyes were trained on the face of the woman who held his heart. If it hadn’t been so hideously close to home I would have laughed out loud.

“Exactly. Look at us, bunch of geeks that we are. Not one of us has ever had the guts to go up to anyone and ask them out, yet we aren’t even the worst of our kind. Cole Kent here is even kind of hot!” Callie joked.

“I’ve asked girls out on dates, occasionally… sometimes. I’m just not looking for anybody right now. You two could try a little harder, though. Neither of you is cursed with horn-rimmed glasses or nervous tics,” I teased back.

“We know,” Callie said as she rolled her eyes, “you fell in love at, like, age five and never fell out again…”

I sighed and tried to avoid her gaze, wanting her to change the subject.

“At some point you’re going to have to accept that the constant weekend trips all around the country are not going to bring her back and just move on. When you do, my friend, you are going to be so glad that there will be an app that will help you find the perfect girl for you!”

I knew deep down Callie wasn’t being harsh, and that she was probably right, but it still stung to hear it. I knew I couldn’t let go, not yet at least. I’d spent the last five years searching everywhere, often with my stepfather Tom, for my stepsister Lucy. And it seemed like every time we went out I got neck-ache from the constant straining to see if her face was somewhere in the crowd.

She had been my best friend for as long as I could remember, and our mothers had been best friends too since high school. We’d grown up with each other; morning coffee for our moms turned into play dates for us and as we got older we became inseparable.