If You Can't Stand the Heat

By Ginna Wilkerson

A chili cook-off at the local Pride Center sounds like fun for Reese and Kayla. But even the small act of deciding on a recipe to enter builds tension between the two women.

On the day of the event, free-spirited Jane enters the picture. Kayla is tempted by Jane’s striking pink hair and seductive ways.

Would she really leave Reese for a woman she barely knows? Will a simple pot of chili end in romance or disaster?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Sep 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781634864541

Ginna Wilkerson

Ginna Wilkerson has been writing almost since she could read, and often teaches writing as an adjunct professor. She has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and discovered a love of travel later in life. She has long been fascinated by the supernatural as it appears in ordinary life. Ginna has two adult children and one grandson, and lives with her partner and their cats.

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If You Can’t Stand the Heat

By Ginna Wilkerson

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2017 Ginna Wilkerson

ISBN 9781634864541

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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For friends at Gainesville, Florida, Pride Center.

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If You Can’t Stand the Heat

By Ginna Wilkerson

Chapter 1: Now We’re Cookin’

Hey, babe, said Kayla, Did you see this notice on the board?

Her partner of six years, Reese, poked her head around the corner of the Pride Center game room.

A chili cook-off—to raise money for the new big screen television we wanted to get for movie nights. We should do it, ya think? She looked at Reese, who was now by her side at the bulletin board. It’d be a hoot. And it’s two weeks away—time to try a few recipes.

Reese, a head taller than her girlfriend, placed a firm hand on Kayla’s shoulder. Reese liked to be in charge. Maybe…Depends who else is entering.

Kayla knew this meant are men allowed? Reese had only come out when they met, six years ago at the age of twenty-two, and she still had kind of a man-phobia thing going on. To Kayla, this was ridiculous. In fact, Kayla’s best friend was a gay man, Andres, whom she met in college. Reese had never really warmed up to him, even though he was at their apartment at least once a week.

Kayla solved this issue by pointing out the large words at the bottom of the flyer: All Women And Woman-Identified Members Welcome To Compete.

Reese moved her hand from Kayla’s shoulder to take Kayla’s hand. As they left the center, she grabbed one of the flyers on the lobby table. Kayla grinned silently, knowing this meant they would enter the cook-off.

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After stopping for a quick sandwich and a beer, the two women climbed the three flights of stairs to their apartment. Kayla remembered when they had moved in; how exciting it had been to be a real couple. Their dogs, Kayla’s Alvin and Reese’s Moto, were far from excited and hid from each other for days, before settling it with some general growling and butt-sniffing. Now they were like brothers.

Snapping on the light, Reese headed straight for the kitchen to get another beer. Want anything? she called to Kayla, who went to the bedroom to change clothes. She hated both shoes and bras. Alvin and Moto