by Jae
“I am relaxed around you,” Annie said as she gazed at her hands.
Drew wasn’t so sure that was true—at least it hadn’t been true in the beginning. Annie rarely, if ever, seemed to drop her guard around other people. But now that she was taking care of Drew, she seemed less reserved. “Then our plans for Thanksgiving are still on?”
“They’re still on—if you’re okay with it.”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Drew asked.
For long moments, Annie stared into the nearly empty bowl and then picked up a piece of popcorn and studied it from all sides. “Kissing a friend ... kissing me and touching me in a way that makes Jake believe we’re a couple ...” She closed her fingers around the piece of popcorn and looked up. “It might be awkward. I mean, you don’t normally go around and kiss women you’re not attracted to.”
Lack of attraction is not the problem here. But she couldn’t tell Annie that. “No, I don’t,” Drew said and left it at that. She studied Annie’s nervous expression. “Are you really worried about it being awkward for me, or is this more about it being awkward for you?”
Annie sighed. “Both.”
“Hey, relax. You kissed me, and it wasn’t that bad, was it? I mean ... kissing a woman is not that different from kissing a guy.” Okay, that was a lie.
Annie didn’t look convinced either. She cocked one eyebrow and gnawed on her lip until she finally asked, “Have you ever kissed a man?”
“He was more of a boy than a man, but yes, I kissed a guy once.”
“And?”
Drew shrugged. “Nothing to write home about. Too much tongue and not enough emotion.”
“Hmm.” Annie finally put the piece of popcorn in her mouth and chewed it slowly.
“Just kiss me in front of Jake like you kissed me after the Halloween party. It was,” Drew swallowed, “very convincing.” At the memory of their kiss, her face flushed, and she could only hope Annie would attribute it to the residues of her fever.
Annie’s gaze flickered up to meet Drew’s. “It was?”
Drew nodded.
“Not too much tongue or not enough emotion?” Annie blurted it out, then blushed.
“Nope. It was a very nice kiss.”
Annie nibbled on her lip. “Nice? Isn’t that what people usually say to spare someone’s feelings when it was really awful?”
“No. No, really.” Drew hesitated. She hadn’t wanted to make Annie uncomfortable by letting her know how affected she had been by the kiss. But now it seemed she had made Annie doubt herself with her lame compliment. “If I hadn’t thought Jake was watching, it would have been downright hot.” I better not dwell on how hot it was. She got up and walked to the shelf that held her DVD collection. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
“Why not.” Annie sounded relieved, just as glad to drop the topic as Drew was.
Drew tilted her head to the side and read the titles on the DVD boxes. Movies like Better Than Chocolate, Imagine Me and You, and I Can’t Think Straight dominated the top shelf. But lesbian movies probably didn’t hold much interest for Annie as a straight woman. Drew let her gaze wander over the bottom shelf. “Do you like The X-Files?”
“I do.”
“Me too,” Drew said.
“Let me guess.” An amused smile settled on Annie’s lips. “You happen to think Scully is really hot.”
“Actually ...” Drew pulled the X-Files movie from the shelf and carried it to the DVD player. After she took the disk from its case, she turned her head and grinned at Annie. “I always had a crush on Frohike.” She fluttered her lashes and managed not to cringe at the thought of the bespectacled older man with the greasy hair.
“You!” Annie threw a piece of popcorn at her.
It bounced off her shoulder, and Drew caught the treat and ate it. “What? Don’t tell me his male charms don’t do anything for you.”
“No, thank you. I’m a nerd, but I’m not that much of a nerd.”
Laughing, Drew settled down onto the couch. A quick glance showed that the bowl now held just a few unpopped kernels, so she set it onto the coffee table and slid closer to Annie. “So, who would be more your type? Mulder?”
“No.”
“Doggett?”
Another shake of Annie’s head. She licked butter and salt off her fingers.
Drew’s blood pressure went up a notch. She forced herself to look away and handed Annie a tissue. “Let me guess. You don’t watch X-Files for the romance,” she echoed Annie’s words about Star Trek. She grabbed the remote control from the coffee table and started the movie.
“I’m not someone who gets all moony-eyed about some actor.”
“No,” Drew said. “I guess you aren’t.” She had a feeling Annie didn’t get moony-eyed about anyone, and she wasn’t sure whether she should pity Annie or envy her.
Annie turned her head and looked at her. The opening credits threw flickering shadows over her face, contributing to her vulnerable look. “Do you think that’s strange?”
“It’s perfectly fine.” Drew stopped herself before she could pat Annie’s knee. “Do you think it’s strange that I’m about to drool over Scully?”
The movie’s opening scene began before Annie answered. “No. I’m fine with it.” She cracked a smile. “As long as you’re not dripping on me.”
Drew laughed. “I’ll wipe my mouth.”
* * *
Annie had seen the movie half a dozen times. When Mulder and Scully hugged, then moved closer, about to kiss, Annie knew the bee would sting Scully before their lips touched. Still, she held her breath as the sexual tension between the characters rose.
When the bee attacked, she looked away from the flat-screen TV and turned her head to see Drew’s reaction to the almost kiss.
But Drew wasn’t watching the movie. Her eyes were closed, her head rested against the back of the couch, and her chest rose and fell with deep, even breaths. In the flickering light of the TV screen, Drew’s face was still pale and shadows lurked beneath her eyes.
A wave of protectiveness swept over Annie, surprising her with its intensity. She took the comforter from the end of the couch and spread it over Drew.
Drew stirred but didn’t wake. After a moment, she snuggled more deeply into the comforter.
Annie’s gaze flickered back and forth between Drew and the door. Should I tiptoe out and leave?
But she didn’t want Drew to wake up in the dark living room, all alone and disoriented.
She’ll probably wake up when the next action scene comes on, then I can see her off to bed and say a proper good-bye.
Drew’s head slid off the couch and came to rest on Annie’s shoulder. Her breath warmed Annie’s arm even through the material of her shirt. Goose bumps traveled along Annie’s arm and over the rest of her body.
Annie sat frozen to the spot, not sure how to escape—or if she wanted to. Having Drew resting against her in such a trustful way felt good, but at the same time, a voice in her head shouted at her to put some distance between them. Slowly, she craned her head and watched Drew sleep. She lifted her hand, about to finger one of the soft curls that fell onto Drew’s face, but then pulled back and let her hand drop to the couch.
Are you crazy? Where is this need to touch her coming from?
Her breathing had picked up, and she struggled to control it so she wouldn’t disturb Drew’s sleep.
The movie played on, with no one watching. Annie sat motionless, looked at Drew, and tried to figure out what was going on. She felt protective of Drew and strangely honored that Drew was so comfortable with her that she had fallen asleep. That’s not all, though, is it?
In college, she had stayed up all night with her roommate and held her hair while Claudia threw up half a dozen margaritas. But being there for Claudia had felt nothing like this ... this tenderness inside of her.
Yeah, but with Claudia, it was self-inflicted. She drank like a fish while poor Drew has the mother of all colds. Yes, she thought, t
hat must be it.
Her analytical mind screamed that wasn’t it at all, but Annie focused on the screen. The scene in which the car bomb exploded was just a few minutes away, then Drew would wake up and Annie would go. She needed some time alone to get her head back on straight.
* * *
The first thing Annie realized when she woke up was that she was no longer sitting up. She was stretched out on her back along the length of the couch. Her neck screamed at her and her glasses pressed against her nose, but the rest of her felt relaxed and comfortable. Something warm and soft covered most of her body.
When she opened her eyes, her relaxed muscles stiffened.
She wasn’t alone on the couch. In the dim light coming from the TV screen, she could make out Drew’s shape resting half on top of her. Their legs were entwined, and their hips pressed together beneath the comforter they shared. Drew’s head rested against Annie’s breasts. To her horror, Annie found that one of her hands had slipped beneath Drew’s T-shirt and was now lying against the bare skin of her back, while her other hand cradled Drew’s head against her breasts.
Oh, Jesus, how did this happen?
Inch by inch, careful so she wouldn’t wake Drew, Annie pulled her hand out from beneath Drew’s shirt.
Drew mumbled something that sounded like a protest. Her lips moved over Annie’s T-shirt-covered breast.
Fire flared along Annie’s skin. She squirmed, trying to crawl out from under Drew, but that only managed to press Drew’s pajama-clad thigh against her crotch.
Her heart stuttered, then hammered a panicked beat against Annie’s ribs. Her clit pounded too, and that made Annie scramble up from beneath the comforter in blind panic.
“Wha...?” Only a quick grab for the coffee table prevented Drew from falling to the floor. She sat up, rubbed her face, and stared at Annie through half-lidded eyes. “Annie? What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Th-the movie is over and we ... we fell asleep and now it’s nearly morning, so I need to go home and change or I’ll be late for work.” Annie realized she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Late for work?” Drew blinked, got up from the couch, and looked at the DVD player. “But ... but ... it’s not even three o’clock. Dawn is hours away. Why don’t you just stay here and try to get some more sleep?”
Sleep? Annie paced the length of the living room. Her pulse was racing. No, there wasn’t any more sleep in the cards for her. Oh, God, what’s going on?
“Annie.” Drew stepped in front of her and reached out a hand but pulled back when Annie flinched. “Please, calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”
Easy for you to say. You’re used to reacting like that to another woman. But did her body’s reactions really mean anything? Wasn’t it just a reflex, a totally physical reaction to stimuli—any stimuli, no matter whether it was coming from a man or a woman? Maybe it’s just been too long since I had sex. She tried to remember how long it had been. Three years? Four? Anyone would have reacted like that under those circumstances. Right?
“Come on.” Drew turned on the light. “Let’s sit down. Please tell me what’s going on.”
Annie didn’t want to talk about it; she didn’t even want to think about it, but she followed Drew back to the couch.
Keeping a respectful distance, Drew sat at the other end of the couch. “Did I do anything to scare you?”
“No, of course not.” Annie sat on the end of the couch farthest away from Drew, pulled up her knees, and hugged them to her chest.
“What is it, then? And don’t tell me it’s nothing.”
“It’s just that I woke up and you were ... we were ...” Annie pressed the knuckles of her fisted hand against her mouth. She couldn’t tell Drew; she just couldn’t.
Drew cocked her head. “We were doing what?”
“We weren’t doing anything,” Annie said quickly. Too quickly. She sighed. “We were just sleeping very close together.”
“Ah. And that made you uncomfortable.”
Probably not the way Drew thought, but Annie didn’t want to admit that, so she nodded.
“Annie ...” Drew slid to the middle of the couch and made eye contact. “I admit that I find you attractive.”
Familiar heat shot up Annie’s neck, but this time, she was more flattered than embarrassed. The thought that Drew liked the way she looked was strangely pleasing.
“But we’re friends,” Drew said, “and I would never touch you in an inappropriate way. You’re safe with me.”
Yeah, but the real question is whether you’re safe around me. Annie’s right palm burned as if she had touched fire ants instead of Drew’s bare back. She had never cuddled up to someone in her sleep before, so why had she done it with Drew?
Drew reached out slowly, giving Annie ample time to retreat, and nudged her knee with the back of her hand. “At least now, if Jake asks, we can honestly say we slept together.”
Grateful for Drew’s attempt to lighten the mood, Annie managed a small smile. “Will you be okay on your own now? I really should go home. I called my neighbor earlier to make sure she fed Amadeus, but I’m probably still in the doghouse for being gone all weekend.”
“Oh, damn, I totally forgot about your cat. I’m sorry I kept you for so long.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry.” Annie realized that despite Drew being sick and despite the shock of waking up with Drew half on top of her, she had enjoyed the weekend. “One can of tuna and I’ll be allowed back into the apartment.”
Drew laughed. “Oh, so that’s the way it is. Amadeus owns the apartment.”
“The apartment and its inhabitant.” Annie found her shoes and put them on. Not looking back at the couch they had shared, she walked to the door.
Drew followed.
They stood in front of the door and faced each other in silence.
Despite her urge to flee, a part of Annie didn’t want to go. “Promise you’ll take good care of yourself.”
“If you do the same, I’ll take it easy tomorrow,” Drew said.
“Not just tomorrow. You should take a few days off and—” The words trailed off when she saw the grin on Drew’s lips. “Sorry. I have no right to tell you what to do. You survived just fine before I came along.”
“Yes, but it’s still nice to have someone worry about me.” Drew took a step closer. Then another. “Thank you, Annie.” Slowly, she leaned up on her tiptoes.
Oh, God! What is she doing? Her heart thundered, but Annie stood rooted to the spot.
Drew’s warm lips brushed over Annie’s cheek before Drew retreated. “Good night. Please drive carefully.”
“Good night,” Annie whispered through a dry throat. She opened the door, letting the November air cool her cheeks, and fled to her car.
Chapter 12
Drew took her keys from the hall table and headed toward the door with Cab at her heels. “No, Cab. You stay.” At the last second, she remembered Annie’s instruction to take good care of herself and snatched a jacket from the hook next to the door. She slipped outside, leaving behind a whining Cab.
She climbed down the stairs to the barrel cellar beneath the fermentation barn. Even through her stuffed-up nose, she could detect the heady fragrance of wine and oak. Drew walked between the rows of French oak barrels. From time to time, she put her ear to one of the sixty-gallon barrels. The crackle and pop of the fermenting wine reminded her of the popcorn Annie and she had eaten last night.
Everything reminds you of Annie lately. Pathetic. A crush on a straight woman. Haven’t you read the handbook? No straight women, dammit.
The heavy doors opened and closed behind her, and Martin walked over. “Morning, boss. I thought you were still out sick.”
“I’m doing better, but I’ll go back inside in a minute and do paperwork for the rest of the day.”
“It seems your girlfriend took good care of you,” Martin said.
Drew turned and glanced at him over the top of a barrel. “Gi
rlfriend?”
“Enrico and I saw her when she was walking Cab.”
Great. My friends think there’s something between us, Martin thinks she’s my girlfriend, and my goddamn hormones dance a rumba every time she’s near. Only Jake stubbornly refuses to believe it. “What makes you think she’s my girlfriend?” Had Annie told him that to practice convincing people that they were a couple?
Martin shrugged. “Not hard to figure out. I’ve known you for all your life, but you rarely, if ever, have a woman stay overnight, not even now that your parents are ...” He cleared his throat. “Guess she must be special.”
“She is, but she’s just a friend.” Drew turned away with a sigh and continued down the row of barrels.
“That’s how all good relationships start,” Martin said as he followed her through the barrel cellar. “Your parents knew each other for two years before they started dating.”
“Martin.” Drew gave her voice a warning note. After working for her family for over thirty years, Martin was much more than an employee. As far as Drew was concerned, he had earned the right to ask personal questions, but she didn’t need him to give her crazy ideas. Annie was straight, so she couldn’t afford to let herself hope for more than friendship.
He took off his baseball cap and ran his fingers through his graying hair. “All right. I’ll shut up. Do you want us to test the acid levels of the reds today?”
Drew calculated quickly. “No, let’s wait until tomorrow. I’ll come over and help.” After she said good-bye to Martin, she crossed the yard and returned to the house.
In the living room, the comforter was lying on the floor between the couch and the coffee table, where it had fallen when Annie had jumped up from the couch last night.
She was really freaking out. God, I hope I wasn’t groping her in my sleep.
She picked up the comforter and folded it, groaning when she realized that the fresh floral scent of Annie’s perfume clung to the fabric.
The house was too quiet as she made herself a sandwich and went to the office. She stared at the paperwork for ordering bacteria cultures but couldn’t bring herself to focus enough to fill it out.
