Read Online You Can't Run From Love by Kate Snowdon - Free Book Online

up in their own thoughts for a while before Julie asked. “More wine?”
    Jess looked over at her. “Not if it’s going to make you morose?”
    Julie rose and kissed the top of Jess’s head. “No, that night made me save myself for much better men. And I couldn’t have found a better one than Tom.” She sat after filling their glasses. “I haven’t asked you about Rachel and her trip to Edinburgh.”
    Jess blushed at the rush of feeling that washed over her at the mention of the gorgeous brunette’s name.
    Julie raised her eyebrows at the response. “Is there something I should know?”
    “No. Of course not,” Jess grumped, and stomped over to the fireplace, turning her back on the room.
    “What have I said?”
    Jess glanced back at her friend and sighed. “Oh nothing. I’m sorry. I just thought...nothing.” Her behavior was becoming increasingly uncharacteristic over Rachel. Rarely had her feelings strayed past pleasure and friendship in the past because when they did, disaster always struck. That’s all she had to remember, it wasn’t difficult. You’re just being ridiculous. “She’s a bit of puzzlement to me.”
    “Why?”
    Jess sighed. “I can’t work out whether she’s gay or straight and for some weird reason, it’s bothering me.” Julie said nothing. She chuckled nervously. “I just hope for everyone’s sake she’s straight.”
    Julie attempted not to sound too excited. “Why is that so important?”
    Jess noted the tone, but chose to ignore it this time. “If I knew for certain she was straight, I could stop thinking about…”
    “What? What would you then stop thinking about?”
    Jess reddened and flopped herself back on the sofa. “I’m like a dog in heat! The only thing that’s keeping me in check is the thought she might be straight.” Julie couldn’t help it, she had to laugh. “It’s not funny,” Jess protested. “It’s driving me mad.”
    “All right. What if she isn’t straight and available? Why can’t you satisfy your desires and see where it leads?”
    “If I’d met her in a bar, it would have been perfect. We’d have had a wonderful night together and that would have been that. As it is, it would be a horrendous mistake.” She looked directly at Julie. “She has been coming here for years and loves it. What right do I have to spoil that, just to indulge some pathetic need of mine?”
    “You obviously think a lot of her to be getting yourself so worked up.”
    Jess narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, “What are you trying to say?”
    “It’s plain, you care for her.”
    “For heaven’s sake, I know where you’re heading, Julie. You’ve known Rachel for six years and not once have you suggested I stay a summer and check her out. It was Maddie a couple of weeks ago. And if she’s straight…” She shook her head. “What is your problem?” I know what my problem is. I don’t think she’s straight at all.
    Julie frowned. “Is wanting your friend to be happy and not alone a problem?”
    “How many times do I have to tell you, I am not unhappy and I am not alone?”            
    Julie sighed. “I’ve never known you to get yourself in a pickle over something you can’t have. You simply walk away, just like you did when you first met her.”
    Jess closed her eyes, not wanting to argue. “She is totally off limits and it’s due to that fact, I’ve become obsessed, that’s all.”
    “Then what are you going to do?”
    “Nothing. Admire her from a distance and satisfy my libido elsewhere.” That was another problem. Her night of noncommittal sex after a grueling seven months of work and stress only led to her feeling like she had betrayed Rachel. Totally irrational.
    “That’s cold. What if she has feelings for you?”
    Jess groaned. “Please, she hasn’t shown any interest in me, whatsoever.”
    “So you don’t know if she will reciprocate your feelings?”
    Jess glared. “Julie, listen to me. That doesn’t