They’d agreed on a romantic comedy, neither of them in the mood for anything too intense or emotional.
“Nope,” Ashley said, waving away Lisa’s money for popcorn, just as she had for the tickets and at the restaurant. “I got this. Tonight is on me.” When Lisa protested, even throwing in a pathetic little pout for good measure, Ashley couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously. It was a good week in the cookie business. You get the next date, okay?” The way Lisa looked at her then, a combination of gratitude, hope, and a little bit of sex appeal, made Ashley all tingly and her stomach flip-floppy.
The old theatre nearest Lisa’s house had been in a constant state of renovation for the past year, trying to keep up with technological advances that were nearly impossible to keep up with.
“The best upgrade by far, in my opinion,” Lisa said, “is the new seats. They’re ridiculous. You can recline in them, raise your feet. It’s crazy, like watching a movie in bed.” They headed down the aisle, popcorn in hand. “You can’t come here if you’re at all tired,” she said as they wandered until they found a suitable seat. “You’ll drop off like an infant.”
Ashley laughed, and the second she sat down, she was astonished by the comfort. “Oh, my God. This is unbelievable.”
“Told you.”
The button on Ashley’s armrest begged to be pushed, so she fiddled with it and raised her footrest. Then lowered it. Then raised it. Up, down, up, down.
“Speaking of infants,” Lisa said with a grin. She adjusted herself into her own chair and seemed to notice the armrest was loose. When she tugged on it, she and Ashley realized at the same time that they had inadvertently chosen a loveseat instead of two separate seats. Their eyes met and held, and by unspoken agreement, they each scooted a bit toward the center so their hips and thighs were touching. Lisa held the popcorn bag so it sat between them. As Ashley reached for it, Lisa lightly slapped her hand away.
Ashley blinked in shock. “What was that?”
The lights dimmed. “Not until the movie starts,” Lisa whispered as the first preview began.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Man, you’ve got a lot of rules,” Ashley said with a shake of her head. But the truth was, she didn’t mind. Lisa kept her guessing and that was…exciting.
A moment later, Lisa tapped on her hand. “Hey, Ashley?”
When Ashley turned to look, Lisa was smiling at her. “Hmm?”
“I’m having a really great time.”
That smile was one of the best things Ashley had seen all evening…and it had been a pretty damn good evening. “Me, too,” she said quietly.
A packed theatre made for an even funnier comedy, as everything was more hilarious in a crowd. Once the popcorn was gone, Lisa snuggled in closer, tossing a leg over Ashley’s lap and linking their hands together. Lips at Ashley’s ear, she asked, “Is this okay?”
Her warm breath sent an erotic shiver along Ashley’s skin. Ashley turned, caught Lisa’s eye, and wondered if the woman had any idea how turned on she was just from Lisa’s warm breath tickling her ear, wondered if she could see, in the shadowed theatre, in the dark warmth of their cozy seat, how badly Ashley wanted her. With a hard swallow, Ashley simply nodded and squeezed her hand.
Stop it. You took sex off the table. You can’t change your mind now.
It was the right thing to do. Ashley was sure of it. They weren’t just good together in bed, they were a bonfire. They were fireworks. They were fluidity and pleasure and rhythm. Everything that could possibly be good about sex? They were it. Sex was not the problem for them. Their problems were internal. And if, in order to figure out and work through all that internal crap, they had to remove the possibility of sex for a while? Then damn it, they would.
Yes, Ashley realized the only person she was trying to convince with this long-winded explanation of her own decisions was herself, which made exactly zero sense at this point. God, just shut up and watch the movie. Which she did, happily and successfully, until the love scene came on and she surreptitiously glanced at Lisa out of the corner of her eye.
Mistake.
Because Ashley would swear on a stack of Bibles and anybody’s eyesight that she’d never seen a sexier image, a vision more beautiful. Lisa’s eyes were wide, rapturously watching the film. Her face was bathed in light blue from the screen, her lips parted slightly and glistening with the gloss she’d stroked on once the popcorn was gone. Her small chin led down to that sensual throat and it took every ounce of willpower Ashley possessed not to lean over a few inches and run her tongue along that warm column of flesh.
It wasn’t until Lisa looked down at their linked hands, then up at Ashley and gave her the sexiest grin on the planet, that Ashley realized she’d been squeezing.
Oh, very subtle, Ash. Way to play it cool.
Pulling herself together, she managed to relax and make it through the movie. When the lights came up as the credits rolled, neither of them made a move.
“I am really, really comfortable,” Lisa said, her voice a little dreamy. She leaned her head on Ashley’s shoulder.
“Me, too,” Ashley replied.
They stayed in place until the credits finished. “Can we just stay right here?” Lisa asked.
“Well…” Ashley glanced around at the various theatre employees weaving through aisles and picking up left-behind detritus. “Maybe…” When an acne-covered young man got to their row and looked at them with an expression that said he couldn’t be less impressed by them, Ashley sighed. “Okay, okay. We’re going,” she told him, and they slowly, reluctantly, gathered their things.
The ride home was quiet, the air inside the car supercharged and heavy, and Ashley realized three separate times that she was gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles had gone white. Forcing herself to relax, she said, “This was a fun night. You think?”
Lisa smiled. “It was great. Really great.” She turned to look at Ashley and Ashley could feel her gaze, the intensity of it, the heat, without even turning her head. “Thank you.”
Ashley nodded and breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she slid the car into a parking spot in front of Lisa’s townhouse. She’d made it through the evening without crossing any of the lines she’d drawn. Points for her.
Shifting into Park, she said, “I’ll see you tomorrow at the shelter.”
Lisa cocked her head ever so slightly as she asked, “Walk me in?”
“Sure.”
Pocketing her keys, Ashley followed Lisa up the walk, enjoying the view of her black capris hugging her perfect ass and providing an unobstructed view of her toned calves. Her eyes roamed the line of Lisa’s back from one shoulder to the other, the way her body moved under the red button-up blouse with the cap sleeves. While Lisa keyed the lock, Ashley tried not to stand too close as she quietly inhaled, taking in the heady scent combination of Lisa’s perfume, Lisa’s shampoo, and Lisa.
The door pushed open and Lisa glanced at her, then whispered, “Come in here for a minute.”
Not about to disobey an order handed to her by a beautiful woman, Ashley followed her in. It was dim, the only light in the townhouse being the subdued one above the stove in the kitchen. The animals made their way to the foyer, much slower at night than they had during the day, but Ashley had little chance to even notice them before Lisa grabbed her by the lapels of the boyfriend jacket she’d thrown on over her T-shirt and hauled her up against the wall.
“I have wanted to do this all night,” Lisa said, then crushed her mouth to Ashley’s.
Pinned between the solid surety of the wall and the soft, warm sexiness of Lisa’s body, Ashley’s head was spinning as she grappled for some kind of purchase. Lisa roughly pulled the jacket off Ashley’s shoulders to reveal the V-neck of the T-shirt underneath, which gave her better access to Ashley’s neck. Which she took, closing her hot, wet mouth over Ashley’s pulse point. A moan hummed up from Ashley’s throat as her eyes drifted closed and she lifted
her chin just a bit. As if they had minds of their own, her hands slipped around Lisa’s waist, down past the small of her back, and closed over her ass, gripping it hard and pulling Lisa closer as Lisa’s mouth found hers once again and she pushed her tongue inside.
The darkness ratcheted up the eroticism and Ashley was shocked by how quickly she’d become so turned on. Not that she hadn’t had a head start, but God, she’d never gotten so hot so fast in her entire life, and she wanted nothing more than to grab Lisa’s hand and lead her up to the bedroom. Like, now.
Lisa’s warm hands were under her shirt now, she realized belatedly. When they slid up her stomach and cupped each breast, Ashley wrenched her mouth from Lisa’s so a small cry could break free. In a move so smooth Ashley could barely follow it, Lisa pushed her shirt up, dipped a hand into the cup of Ashley’s bra, pulled her breast free, and closed her mouth over the nipple, tearing yet another sound of joy from Ashley’s throat.
“God, I love your breasts,” Lisa whispered with reverence as she treated the other breast to the same attention.
Listen, the feeling is mutual, Ashley thought as she dug her fingers into Lisa’s hair and held her head tightly, never wanting Lisa’s mouth to leave her skin. At the same time, a niggling thought scratched at the back of her skull.
When Lisa looked up at her, Ashley said, “Wait…wait.” She paused, breathless. “We took sex off the table. Remember?”
Lisa responded by running her hands down Ashley’s bare stomach and then grasping the button of her jeans. “Good thing we’re not on a table then.” She flicked the button open, pulled the zipper down, and pushed her hand into the heat that waited. This time, the moans were tandem as Lisa pressed her forehead against Ashley’s, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Oh, my God, you’re so wet for me.” Her fingers never stilled and Ashley could do nothing more than hold on for dear life, knowing she was not going to last long.
“We weren’t going to do this,” Ashley whimpered feebly even as her hips picked up Lisa’s rhythm and they rocked together.
“We were always going to do this,” Lisa countered before covering Ashley’s mouth with her own once again.
Though not unexpected, Ashley’s orgasm still seemed to come out of nowhere and take her by surprise as it tore through her body. She dug her fingers into Lisa’s back and muffled her own cries against her shoulder as she held on and rode the most delicious of waves, Lisa’s other hand at the back of Ashley’s head as she murmured encouragement in her ear.
Breathing began to even out after several long moments. That’s when Lisa refastened Ashley’s jeans, kissed her on the forehead, and smiled. Ashley looked up at her, bleary-eyed.
“That was incredible,” Lisa said, then rubbed her thumb over Ashley’s bottom lip. “Thank you for indulging me.”
Ashley gave an exaggerated shrug. “Oh, hey, no problem. Anything you need, I’m here for you.”
Lisa chuckled, kissed her sweetly on the mouth, and took a step back, putting the most space between them that there’d been since they entered the house. Ashley righted her bra, pulled her shirt down, and picked her jacket up off the floor.
“You wasted no time,” she said with a grin as she pushed an arm into a sleeve. “My legs feel like Jell-O.”
Lisa shrugged as Keeler sauntered up next to her and she laid a hand on his big head. “I thought we’d try it with the jeans on. See what happened.”
“I’d say that experiment was a rousing success.”
“Me, too. I’ve made a note.” They held one another’s gaze for a beat before Lisa reached a hand out to stroke Ashley’s cheek. “Thank you for tonight. I’ll see you at the shelter tomorrow?”
“You will. And we’ll plan our next date.” Tipping her face up, she kissed Lisa softly. “Bye.”
The door clicked quietly behind her as Ashley walked down the front walkway to her car, legs still feeling a little weak. But in a delightfully sexy way. Nobody had ever just…taken her like that. She blew out a breath as she dropped into the driver’s seat, knowing she would be subjected to hot and sexy flashbacks for the rest of the night. Maybe the rest of the week.
There was still the issue of the kiss-off Lisa’d given her that morning, but after tonight, Ashley felt they were at least moving in the right direction. And she was going to see Lisa again tomorrow.
She couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Hey, Dad.” Ashley took a bite of her tuna sandwich as she sat in the break room of the bakery. Stella gave her a wave as she exited and Ashley focused on the call as she chewed.
“What’s new, butter ball?” Her father’s voice held a smile. Again. She was really digging this new positivity coming from him.
“Yeah, I’m almost thirty. You can stop with that nickname.”
“No way.”
Ashley laughed. “Not much is new since the last time I talked to you. Which, weirdly, wasn’t that long ago. What’s going on with you?”
“What, can’t a man call his daughter from time to time?” He played it off as casual, but Ashley could detect a tiny sting in his tone, so she backed off.
“He absolutely can and his daughter would love it. How are you?”
She listened to him talk about mundane things, but found herself really enjoying it. Ashley and her dad had a perfectly fine relationship, but they’d never been terribly tight. When one parent leaves a relationship and the kids stay with the other parent, Ashley was pretty sure it was inevitable that the kids would end up closer to the parent they lived with. It didn’t mean she didn’t love her dad. She did. A great deal. It just meant that they weren’t what you’d call close. But now, with this new relationship, she’d seen a change in him.
“And maybe this weekend, I can come over and fix that pipe in your bathroom,” he was saying.
“That’d be great.”
“So, how’s my daughter’s life?” His voice was gentle and genuinely curious and Ashley found herself answering before she’d thought about it.
“I’m seeing somebody.”
“Yeah? That girl Kelly mentioned? Carrie? Something like that?”
Ashley shook her head at her sister’s big mouth. “Carly. And no, not her. That’s over. Well, it never really started, to be honest.”
“No? How come?”
And suddenly, she was talking to her father about relationships, something they’d never really done. “It’s so hard to describe, Dad, but…it just wasn’t there for me. And I didn’t think it was fair to Carly to keep her hanging on while I waited to see if it ever would be there. Does that make sense?”
“It makes perfect sense. I’m sure it was hard to break it off, but you did her a favor, really. You have to look at it that way.”
Ashley took the phone from her ear and looked at it for a beat before replacing it and answering. “You’re exactly right.”
“And who’s the new girl?”
A flash of recall hit her at that moment and she could almost feel the solid hardness of Lisa’s foyer wall against her back, Lisa’s eager, skilled fingers slicking through her hot, wet—
Ashley cleared her throat and blinked quickly several times. “She’s a…coworker of sorts and I’m not quite ready to go into detail about her because we’re still working some things out. But, I really like her, Dad.”
She could hear the smile in her father’s voice as he said, “That’s great, butter ball. I’m really happy for you.”
Her cheeks warmed. “Thanks.”
“Listen, though. I’m calling for a reason. Diana and I are going to McCurdy’s for happy hour on Wednesday. Why don’t you join us? And bring your girl. It’ll be nice. Informal. Casual. We can all meet without any pressure. What do you say?”
Again, Ashley was stunned, but in a good way. Whoever this Diana was, Ashley wanted to meet her and shake her hand. “That sounds great.”
A minute or two later, she hit the End button on the call, then immediately scro
lled through her contacts to Kelly’s name and hit Call. She wasted no time at all when her sister answered.
“I think Dad’s been body snatched.”
“I know, right?” was Kelly’s instant response.
“What is happening?”
“It’s so weird. Did you get invited to happy hour?”
“Yes!”
“Steve and I are so there. I need to meet this woman. Mom was not kidding when she said he’s smitten.”
“I hope we don’t hate her. What if we hate her?”
Kelly laughed. “How could we possibly hate a woman who makes him so…present? Do you feel that?” Her voice held an edge of wonder. “I mean, he was never a bad father, but he was never a great one. He just kind of…did what he could manage. Now? He’s called me three times since last Wednesday.”
“Me, too!” They compared notes for a few more minutes. Ashley decided not to mention bringing Lisa to drinks just in case Lisa decided against going. After all, introducing her to family was a big step, and the last thing she wanted was to shake the foundation of something that was already precariously balanced. A glance at the big clock on the wall that reminded her of her high school cafeteria told her lunch was just about over. As she signed off with Kelly, Stella came sauntering in, doing an exaggerated model-like walk across the room.
“New aprons just arrived,” she said as she strutted like she was on a catwalk and sang to Ashley how she was too sexy for this apron. “What do you think?”
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