Just His Taste by Candice Gilmer Page A

your minions away.”
    â€œYou are no fun.”
    â€œCupid, I mean it.”
    He smiled and disappeared.
    That was rather foreboding .

Chapter Eleven
    Thursday Morning
    Jason cranked the level up on the elliptical. Tension increased on his jog-swing-run-step thing. Didn’t care. It was his favorite cardio machine. Strong workout, minimal stress on his bad knee.
    All good.
    At least something was good, normal and routine right now. Because he needed normal. Challenge the crazy obsession that had hit him out of nowhere. This insane attraction to Tessa. Just thinking about it brought images of her, and he wanted to stab his eyeballs out to make them go away.
    Overkill, probably.
    Erase the images? Not likely.
    It didn’t make any sense. It hadn’t started when he pretended to be her date. He didn’t remember any attraction at all.
    He’d even told—
    Shit.
    Who had he gone for drinks with?
    He couldn’t remember.
    Damn!
    He couldn’t remember whom he’d been out with after the wedding. He knew he’d gone out, and had taken her—it had to be a her —back to the car. After arriving, he sort of recalled a conversation, and whenever he thought about it—though he couldn’t remember a word of it—he felt that lump in his gut that signaled distress. But it still remained fuzzy.
    There’d been a motorcycle…and mile-long legs wrapping around that motorcycle. Who those legs belonged to, though, remained a mystery.
    Then the van had a flat tire.
    Tessa showed up.
    Lust. Lots of lust. Innuendoes. Kissing. But even in the heat of the moment, something about it didn’t feel right. Somehow, with the blessing of a tiny bit of rational control, he’d pulled away.
    Sunday, he’d tried to write the whole thing off as drunken hormones getting the best of him. He was slightly hungover—unusual for him—and felt like a total ass all day. He had considered entering a one-day cook-off, but decided not to because it was right after the wedding.
    As crappy as he felt today, he was glad he hadn’t. Though barbecuing always made him feel better. Hell, maybe if he had, he wouldn’t feel so shitty.
    Jason assumed his sudden interest in Tessa would blow over, and his head would clear up. Yet it hadn’t. Even when he was working, it didn’t fade, and he couldn’t find any perspective.
    If Tessa was having the same problems, she kept it to herself. He hadn’t gotten one text/email/call from her since Saturday. Probably a good thing.
    His head was so cloudy—maybe it was best if he didn’t remember.
    The elliptical beeped, and Jason realized he’d been in his head for the entire session on the machine.
    Sad.
    â€œRoutine, that’s what I need,” he muttered. Climbing down from his machine, he wiped the sweat from his brow, and realized his hair was getting precariously close to needing another buzz. He padded into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, repeating the mantra in his head.
    Routine.
    Routine.
    Back into my routine.
    His smartphone lay on the counter, and he pulled up his day’s schedule.
    â€œOh yeah. The job for Bruce.” He needed a few more photos—he’d already gotten a few of the subject entering and leaving her work.
    Jason shook his head.
    This was not the kind of stuff he liked to do. It was one thing to follow a cheating husband or wife around. At least then, there was purpose.
    Bruce’s request, however, didn’t sit well with him. Especially after he’d learned why the gal didn’t post pictures of herself. She had a reason. One that, if she really was good friends with Bruce, she’d tell him when she was ready.
    Things were never what they appeared.
    He shook his head, downed the rest of his Gatorade.
    Time to—
    His phone started to ring.
    Jason cringed. It was Tessa. And immediately he was torn—part of him was happy to hear from her; the other