The sight made Susanne long to kiss her again. She took a step back to resist temptation until the wall stopped her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I didn’t mean to… I had no business kissing you, and I promise it won’t happen again.” She rushed out the words in one breath, then paused and stared at Anja, who stood in the middle of the hall, nibbling her lip.

God, what would it feel like if she bit Susanne’s lip like that?

Stop it, dammit! Usually, she had no problems keeping her libido in check, but at the moment, all she could think about was kissing Anja again. She peered over at her, half hoping, half fearing that Anja would say it was no big deal; it had been just a kiss after all.

Anja regarded her with a frown. “Why are you taking all the blame? I can’t even remember who started it. Maybe I was the one who kissed you first.”

“Then I shouldn’t have kissed you back.”

“Do you…” Anja swallowed audibly. “…regret it?”

She should have said yes and left it at that, but she couldn’t get the words out. “Getting involved makes no sense, Anja.” She tried to inject certainty into her voice, but she mostly sounded resigned. “Our lives don’t mesh—yours is here, and mine is in Berlin. You should focus on Paper Love and I on finding a new job and getting my career back on track. Neither of us needs the complication of a relationship right now, especially a long-distance one.”

Anja sank against the wall next to her, and Susanne could only hope that she wouldn’t touch her because she knew that would make her resolve melt like ice cream in August.

“But maybe we could…” Anja trailed off as if realizing that there really weren’t any good options.

Susanne turned toward her and leaned one shoulder against the wall. “I wish it were different, but I can barely make a relationship work when I live in the same city as my girlfriend, and you are not the one-night-stand type.” She searched Anja’s face. “Or are you?”

In the silence between them, Susanne’s heartbeat pounded in her ears. What would she do if Anja said she was? But, of course, that was wishful thinking. She knew Anja well enough to have a good idea of the answer before she even opened her mouth.

“No, I’m not.” Anja lowered her gaze to the floor as if not having one-night stands was something to be ashamed of. Then she glanced up. “I think I’d better go wash off that lipstick before I can no longer remove it.”

“Lipstick?” Susanne had trouble following, her brain still focused on things other than processing words.

Anja gestured at the smeared mess on her cheek.