She was only kidding of course; something told her that even when Mary seemed innocent, she was hardly a fool.

Mary looked down at her cup of tea with a shy smile on her face. It made her even more attractive to the artist.

The time had come for Jodi to ask that all-important question. It usually didn’t take her this long, but she was having such a good time just talking to Mary that she had barely noticed that it was close to 2 in the morning. It was now or never.

The redhead stretched her hand over the table and gently grabbed Mary’s own hand. She noticed how the young woman’s breathing changed, and felt the pulse grow faster under her thumb.

“Do you want to come with me tonight?”

Her eyes still not meeting Jodi’s, Mary replied “Lucy warned me about this too.”

‘Fuck.’

“Really? I’m curious.” Still holding onto Mary’s hand, Jodi asked, “What exactly did she say?”

She could barely make out the words being formed in Mary’s lips. “That you were a bit of a player… that I should be careful because… you had a reputation for moving very fast.”

Jodi thought maybe Lucía didn’t like her as much as she originally thought. “You know? Your sister-in-law is a woman of few words, but it seems that once she starts talking, she can’t stop.”

“True,” Mary replied with a big hearty laugh. She looked up, and Jodi recognized something in those green eyes that hadn’t been there before a minute ago: desire. “Still… I have to admit that I’m extremely tempted.”

Mary started to caress Jodi’s hand with her fingertips, tracing small, lazy circles over the roughened knuckles.

“Temptation is good,” the artist replied without thinking, completely unaware that her voice had hoarsened considerably. The fact that Mary’s chaste contact had aroused her had caught her completely by surprise.

“I know… but I can’t. I have to get home soon.” Mary said, her nails now digging slightly into Jodi’s skin. As abruptly as it had started, the contact ended as Mary leaned back on her chair and crossed her slender arms over her chest. With a smile, she added, “Plus, I don’t believe on sleeping together on the first date.”