“They indicated it was up to me to make the first move, that you’d never do it. But I was too shy, and you seemed to be having fun meeting new people.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it fun.” Izzy looked over at Jane, who glanced at her and then away.
“You seemed to enjoy it.”
Izzy couldn’t tell how Jane was feeling. “It’s for my book.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Mostly,” she said. But not this thing with Jane. Oh, no. The two kisses with Jane had flipped her for a loop. She was still buzzing with them. She wanted more, even if it was scary. She’d gotten carried away with Kelly all those years ago, and look where that had gotten her. It didn’t stop her from craving Jane, though. Not even a little bit.
They were heading back to the building, but Izzy wasn’t ready to go back to her desk. Not the way she was feeling. As they passed the parking garage, Izzy didn’t check to see if anyone was watching. She took Jane’s hand and led her to the gate, badging in.
“Where are we going?” Jane sounded surprised.
“Shortcut.” Izzy wasn’t sure why she was doing this. To the right, a stairwell led to the upper level. Izzy walked them to the first landing, where they had a little privacy. She backed into the corner. The lighting was dim, and the cement was cold against her back. The musty smell of the underground mixed with car exhaust was familiar as she pulled Jane against her and kissed her.
Jane immediately leaned into her, breast against breast, hip against hip, thigh against thigh. Izzy wrapped her arms around her, splayed her hands against her back. The kiss was impatient and deep. Izzy lost herself in it, her world telescoping to just the two of them. Jane’s skin was warm, her lips full and luscious. Izzy nibbled on Jane’s lower lip and then traced a path along the edge with her tongue before pressing her mouth firmly against Jane’s, pushing a hand into the thick strands of Jane’s hair.
When Jane untucked the bottom of her shirt and slid her fingers along the exposed skin of Izzy’s waist, anticipation coursed through her. A trail of heat flared across her skin as Jane slid her hand behind her and caressed her back. Izzy’s nipples swelled, and she dropped her hand to Jane’s ass, pulling her against her, wanting to feel the pressure of Jane against the ache erupting between her legs. Izzy wadded a handful of Jane’s dress in her hand. She wanted to pull it up and feel Jane’s skin, but somehow, she still had a grasp on decency.
Izzy had little to no sense of time or place as they kissed.
Music started to play. Izzy registered it as Jane’s phone but didn’t care. Jane didn’t seem to, either, and it silenced after a moment while they continued to kiss. Despite her earlier attempt at decency, Izzy found her hand under the hem of Jane’s dress and inside the back of Jane’s panties. Jane’s skin was smooth and warm under her hand. She ached to find Jane’s center.
Jane put her other hand under Izzy’s shirt, and both of her hands wandered across Izzy’s bare skin until they were just under her breasts. Izzy moaned, wanting her to move them up and possess her aching flesh.
The music started again, and Jane groaned, breaking the kiss. Izzy’s heart was racing. Jane eased back and reached into the top of her dress and pulled out her phone. God, she was so sexy!
She made a face. “It’s Hector. I’m late for a meeting.”
Izzy laughed. She tucked her shirt back in as Jane smoothed her dress and hair.
“Is it important?”
“It’s just a one-on-one. He’s supposed to walk me through some test outputs.”
“He’ll forgive you.”
“Not if he knew what we’re doing. Do I look as disheveled as I feel?” Jane laughed nervously and pushed her hair behind her ears.
“You look perfect. Beautiful,” Izzy said as she moved a single strand of hair from Jane’s forehead. It was true. Her naturally full and wavy hair was gorgeous, and her clothes were in place.
Jane smiled and put her fingers on her lips. “I feel like anyone could look at me and figure out exactly what we’ve been doing.”
“If they did, they’d be jealous of me for getting to kiss you.” Izzy smoothed her shirt into her waistband. “Is my shirt okay?”
“It’s fine, but I’m not sure people will think that’s your lipstick.”
Izzy laughed and wiped her mouth. Jane grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her hand away. With her other hand, she rubbed a spot at the corner of Izzy’s mouth. When Jane’s eyes landed on hers, their gaze locked. Izzy was sure she was about to kiss her again.
“Your meeting?” Izzy reminded her.
Jane seemed to gather herself.
“Oh, yeah.” She looked at her phone. “I am so late. I’ll text him.”
As Izzy and Jane made their way out the garage, the sunlight made Izzy squint.
“I won’t need any sugar or caffeine to get me through the afternoon slump,” Izzy joked as they neared the main doors to the office building.
Jane laughed and ran a hand down Izzy’s arm, sending tingles throughout her. She was in trouble.
The air-conditioning was chilly against Izzy’s hot skin when she keyed the card reader and opened the doors to let them inside. Without a word, Jane peeled off toward a conference room on the first floor as Izzy pushed the button to summon the elevator.
A sudden shot of panic hit Izzy as the door slid open. She looked over at the front desk. Rhonda was talking to a delivery driver, and Cliff was nowhere to be seen. That meant no one was watching the live camera feeds from around the campus—especially the parking-garage stairways. Thank God!
* * *
Third base is a tricky base. It’s where a lot of action occurs, but the players can still officially retain their amateur standing, if you catch my meaning. There’s a certain gravity or weight to the situation when you go past third base, but if you stay there, it’s easier to remain uncommitted. Even so, people often have a hard time knowing when to stop there or keep rounding toward home plate. The thrill of motion can send a player rounding toward home before they know what they’re doing. Third base has always been more about preserving some sort of purity while also getting away with something titillating.
Third base is exciting. You’ve gone past passionate kissing and tentative touching, and you’re exploring each other with crazy abandon. Some among us will want to debate the “penetration equates to sex” aspect. “Penetration of what with what?” some may ask. Others will want to consider the multifaceted nuance of gender identity and sexual orientation. The bottom line, third base tends to be a place where you haven’t quite gone all the way in whatever fashion you prefer to have sex. For some, it will be genital manipulation, even orgasm. For others, that constitutes home plate.
Either way, third base is a pretty wild place.
Chapter Twenty-one
Thoughts of kisses and residual tingles of hands on bare skin kept Izzy from concentrating on her work when she got back to her desk, and although she kept an eye out for Jane, she didn’t see her the rest of the afternoon. When five o’clock came around, she decided to go home. She took the long way to the elevators so she could swing by Jane’s desk. No laptop. Her chair was pushed in.
She popped her head into Hector’s office, and he looked up from his computer.
“Hey, Iz. I’ve been meaning to tell you sorry about last night. Audie called me just as I was leaving to go pick up Jillian for a date. You were right about making it all about her.” He winked.
“No problem. Jane saved the day. Speaking of, have you seen her? Did she leave?”
“She got a call during our one-on-one saying her mom was in the hospital.”
“Is she okay?”
“I’m not sure. I guess she took a fall. Jane left so quickly, I didn’t get many details.”
Izzy said thanks, pulled out her phone, and was dialing as she got on the elevator. The call went directly to voice mail, so she left a message.
She had no idea what to do next except wait for Jane t
o call her back. So, she went to the underground garage to get her car. The smell of the garage evoked memories, and Izzy shivered. She’d never enter the garage again without thinking about Jane’s hands on her.
Izzy pulled into her driveway without recalling the drive home. Jane’s lips occupied all of her senses. She was lucky she’d navigated the famous traffic mess of San Jose’s rush hour without incident being so distracted.
A quick look at her texts while walking into the house showed that Anaya had sent her a message. Dread filled her chest. She had to let her know she couldn’t see her anymore, but how was she going to do that? Yet when she read the message, she found that Anaya had solved the issue for her, saying Izzy’s life seemed too complicated, and while she enjoyed their time together, maybe they should just be friends. The tightness in Izzy’s chest disappeared instantly.
Smiling with relief, she tossed a family-sized frozen chicken pot pie into the oven and went into her room to change into running clothes, Gus dancing around her feet. She was in the bathroom when her phone rang.
Hoping it was Jane, she was a little disappointed when she found a message from Audie.
“Hey, Iz, I know I said I’d come over for a beer to hear all about your miserable date, but I’m gonna be at work for another hour or so, and I’m tired from the Vegas trip. I’ll take you to lunch tomorrow so I can hear all the gory details. Hope we’re cool. Ciao, bella!”
Izzy was relieved. She needed time to think, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to talk with anyone, especially since she hadn’t even talked to Jane about what was happening between them. She still didn’t know where they stood. Jane had made it obvious she’d been thinking about Izzy for a while now, so it wasn’t one-sided. But what did it really mean? And was Izzy ready to explore where this could go? Also, where was her normal anxiety? She inventoried her emotions. No tight chest. No difficulty breathing. No racing thoughts…well, no negative racing thoughts. Instead, a pleasant sense of anticipation and excitement zinged through her body every time she thought about Jane.
As if to tell herself she couldn’t get away with coasting through this kind of shake-up, Izzy started to wonder if she was suppressing her normal emotions to avoid the sense of chaos that came with letting a person even slightly into her heart. Because that was what it was, right? She was playing with the idea of pursuing something with Jane. Familiar anxiety flooded her.
“For fuck’s sake!” she said to herself. She needed to get out of her head. “Come on, Gus. Let’s go for our run while dinner cooks.”
She finished getting ready, and Gus was already waiting at the door with his harness and leash in his mouth.
“I think you like running more than I do.” Izzy scratched his head and attached the leash.
They headed toward a nearby park that had a perimeter path just under a mile long. It was the perfect route, especially since Izzy had been on autopilot for much of the evening, and it was probably safer if she took a path that crossed only one street.
They made two laps and headed back home to check on dinner.
The house smelled great when she entered. With twenty minutes to go on the timer, Izzy jumped into the shower.
She was toweling off when her phone rang again. Expecting it to be Audie changing her mind about coming over, she felt her heart pound harder when she saw Jane’s name displayed on the caller ID.
“Hey, you.” She hoped she sounded relaxed.
“Hey, you.” Was that nervousness in Jane’s voice, too?
Izzy dropped the towel onto the counter and hand-combed her hair in the mirror. “I went by your desk on the way out of the office. Hector said your mom fell. Is she okay?”
“I just dropped her off at home.”
Izzy wanted to know more about it, but Jane didn’t offer, and she didn’t want to pry. “I’m glad she’s okay.”
“She’ll be okay in a few days.” Jane sighed, sounding tired.
“How are you doing?” Izzy asked.
Jane chuckled. “I’m a bit distracted, to be honest.”
“About your mom?”
“I’m angry about that. I’m distracted by you.”
Izzy wanted to ask what she meant by the first statement, but it didn’t seem like Jane wanted to discuss it, and the second statement made her heart pick up its pace.
“Me, too,” Izzy admitted. She was smiling into the phone, glad she wasn’t the only one in this condition. She could think of nothing other than feeling Jane’s warm skin under her palms and tasting her lips.
“What are we going to do?” Jane’s voice was almost a whisper.
Izzy leaned against the counter in the bathroom. “What do you want to do?”
“Tricky question.”
Izzy could almost see Jane’s raised eyebrow and half-smile as she teased her. She wanted to ask if she could see her right then, but she was afraid she’d sound too needy. Was it smart, anyway?
A siren sounded outside of Izzy’s house, and Gus, who was curled up on the bathroom rug, howled. It echoed through the small room.
“What’s all the commotion?” Jane asked.
“Sorry. An ambulance went by the house, and Gus likes to join in.” Izzy used her foot to ruffle the fur on Gus’s side. “Right, my protective boy?” He wagged his tail once and dropped his head to his paws.
“That’s cute,” Jane said, and a siren wailed on Jane’s end, too.
“Sounds like emergency vehicles are deploying all over the city,” Izzy said. “Are you still near the hospital?”
Jane exhaled loudly. “This is embarrassing. I’m in my car. Just down the street from your house, actually.”
Izzy chuckled. “Are you stalking me, Jane Mendoza?” There was a big sigh on the other end of the line, and Izzy imagined Jane burying her face in her hands.
“Kind of. God. You’re going to get a restraining order. After I dropped my mom off, I took Lester to the dog park and knew you lived around here. I got curious and googled your address and saw how close I was. So, the next thing I knew, I was going past your house and—” Jane blurted out one quick sentence.
Izzy heard her take a deep breath. A buzz crept across her skin. Jane was so close. She realized she was still naked from the shower. “Why didn’t you stop?”
“At your house?”
“Yeah. Why didn’t you knock on the door?”
Another sigh came across the line. “I chickened out.”
“Why?” She was pretty sure she knew.
“I’m not sure. That’s a lie. I’m nervous about what’s going on between us.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Izzy glanced at herself in the mirror. “Do you want to come over and talk about it?”
Jane paused, and Izzy wasn’t sure what answer she wanted to hear more.
“Yes and no.”
Izzy didn’t expect that answer and laughed. Well, she’d already offered, and she could smell dinner was nearly done. “Come over. I made dinner. Nothing fancy but enough for two. Are you hungry?”
“I am.”
“So, you’ll come over?”
“I’m already parking in front of your house.”
Izzy walked into her bedroom, suddenly in a hurry. “I’ll be at the door in a couple of minutes. I have to put some clothes on.”
Jane gulped on the other end of the line. “See you in a few, then.”
Minutes later, clad in shorts and a T-shirt, Izzy opened her front door and found Jane and Lester standing on the stoop.
Gus ran circles around them.
“It smells incredible in here.”
“I can take credit only for turning the oven on and taking the pot pie out of the box before tossing it into the oven.” Just as she spoke, the timer went off, and Jane followed her into the kitchen. Izzy silenced the timer and opened the oven to take a look. A wave of delicious aroma billowed into the kitchen. “It looks like it’ll be about five more minutes,” she said as she closed the oven again. Nervousness pinged around in Izzy’s stomach. �
�I don’t have much to offer along the lines of beverages, but do you want some water or a cup of coffee?”
Izzy leaned against the counter and twisted the corner of the dish towel she’d picked up when she opened the oven.
“Water’s fine.”
Izzy draped the dish towel over her shoulder and poured them each a glass of water from the filtered tap, and they walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Izzy was careful to sit at the very end to keep some distance between them, although she was totally aware of Jane on the other end.
“So, your mom is okay?”
Jane’s brow furrowed. “Okay is a subjective word.”
“You sound angry.”
“I’m pissed that she lies to the doctors when they ask what happened. I’m pissed that my dad just stands there, acting like he’s concerned when she leaves the emergency room in another cast with an eye swollen shut. He had the nerve to call me to come pick them up because they were taken to the hospital in an ambulance. That was a first. He must have freaked out because she was unconscious.”
“What happened?”
Jane frowned into the hand she placed over her eyes. She looked angry, exhausted, scared, sad…and a whole lot of other emotions. Izzy wanted to hold her.
“He pushed her down the back steps when she asked him about mowing the lawn.”
“Oh…” Izzy didn’t know what to say.
Jane put her water on the table and stared at it. “I don’t know why I’m telling you. I’m just mad. At both of them. I really came over here because I wanted to get my mind off it.”
“It’s okay. Can I do anything to help you feel better?”
Jane looked up at her, and a shy smile played across her lips. “Just being near you helps.”
Izzy smiled back when a volley of squeaks came from the corner of the room. The dogs were playing with Gus’s toys, including a canvas Darth Vader squeak toy and his prized unicorn.
Izzy sipped her water. “Gus definitely likes Lester. The unicorn stuffy is his favorite. He sleeps with it.”
No Experience Required Page 14
