“Did everyone do their homework assignment?” Gabrielle asks.
We all nod. Lightning doesn’t strike Isabelle and me.
“All right, let’s warm up with an easy question. You won’t be sharing the answer with the class this time. Just with your partner. Which of the following gets you most worked up? A deep kiss, when your partner grabs your butt, or when they push their body against yours?”
Like the last time, Gabrielle is standing next to us, waiting to hear our reply.
“When you kiss me deeply,” Isabelle blurts as if she can’t say the words fast enough.
I go for something simpler. “I’ll admit the kisses are great, but so is the way you brush your body against mine.”
The truth is, I didn’t have to lie…much. I have no idea how great the kisses would be if we actually kissed, although I can imagine they would be good.
But I have experienced Isabelle brushing her body against mine. She wasn’t trying to turn me on. It was an accident, but the outcome was the same.
Gabrielle waits for everyone to finish answering the question. “Everyone stand up.”
We do as we’re instructed.
“Now, I want you to kiss your partner. But I don’t mean a quick kiss. I’m talking about a soul-stirring kiss. That magical kiss you used to give each other when you first started falling in love.”
Isabelle swivels her head to me, panic stamped all over her face.
“Don’t be shy,” Gabrielle says, not noticing Isabelle’s reaction. “When you were younger, you wouldn’t have thought twice about letting people see how crazy you were for the other person. You wanted the world to know you were in love.
“But over time, you become too busy with the kids, with your separate interests, with your careers, to take a moment to re-ignite the special magic you once shared. The result is the beginning of the end of what you have between you. You become more like roommates than lovers.”
This time when I look at Isabelle, she has steel determination on her face. She then smiles at me, and the same reaction I always get when she smiles at me like that stirs beneath the surface. Her smile isn’t forced. There’s an element of relief there.
“Okay, let’s do this,” she says, keeping her voice low so her words can’t be mistaken to mean something else.
She runs the tip of her tongue along her lower lip, and damned if I don’t want to do the same with my own tongue when it comes to her mouth.
“Are you sure about this?” I ask, also keeping my voice low.
“Absolutely.”
She places my face between her hands. Her fingertips are soft against my day-old scruff. I lean down, shortening the distance between her lips and mine.
And…we have contact.
I’m only vaguely aware of the sounds around us. I’m too lost in the sensation of Isabelle’s mouth against mine to care.
At first our lips touch and nothing more. But then she slowly parts hers, welcoming me, encouraging me to take things further.
And that’s precisely what I do.
I pull her against me and worship her lips, her mouth, her tongue with my own. Tasting her. Breathing her in.
My heart beats frantically in my chest; my skin tingles with need.
I always figured Isabelle’s kisses would be good. I never imagined they would bethisgood.
“That’s great, everyone,” Gabrielle says a minute or so later, breaking the spell Isabelle has woven over me.
We step away from each other, but my gaze is still on her face, searching for clues as to how she felt about the kiss, even though that’s probably the last thing I want to know.
The kiss was part of our cover, for the job we were hired to do.
