by Radclyffe
Aware of the bare skin against hers, Bri was silent. Allie touched a lot.
“Where are you living?”
“Don’t know yet.” Bri shrugged. “There are usually a lot of single rooms available for summer help—hovels mostly, but I don’t need much more than a place to sleep. I figure I’ll get something tomorrow.”
“You know, I’m moving into a two-bedroom place between Wellfleet and Truro this weekend.” Allie sipped her beer and considered Bri contemplatively. “And that’s just about halfway between your job and mine. You could always share it with me.”
“Uh…” Bri blushed, happy for the dim lighting. “That’s…real nice of you, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t afford it.”
“I’d bet you could. How does a hundred dollars a month sound?”
Bri laughed. “It sounds like charity, or else you’ve lost your mind. A room for the summer will go for three or four hundred a week anywhere on the Cape.”
“Not charity.” It was Allie’s turn to shrug. “Consider yourself…um…company for me.”
If it hadn’t been said with such lightheartedness, or if Allie’s smile hadn’t been quite so captivating, Bri might have been offended. But for one insane moment, she found herself considering the offer. It would be nice not to be alone, and Allie was good company. Then an image of Caroline flashed through her mind and what it was like living with her—waking up to the sounds of her moving around in the apartment, going to sleep with the heat of her skin under my fingers. Bri’s throat suddenly got tight. “Look, Allie, I really appreciate it—”
“Hey.” Allie put her fingers on Bri’s arm just under the edge of her shirtsleeve, high on her upper arm. “We’re supposed to be celebrating tonight. Don’t worry about it. I’ll give you my number, and if you don’t find something, or you change your mind, the offer’s always open. Okay?”
“Sure,” Bri said with a smile. Allie was hard to resist. Bri leaned down, fished another beer out of the cooler, and opened it. For the first time in many weeks, she felt almost good.
Forty-five minutes later, the party was in overdrive, with everyone talking too loudly, most everyone drinking too much, and more than a few forgetting whatever social inhibitions they might once have had. Bri and Allie had migrated to the far corner of the deck where they stood beneath an overhanging branch of a nearby magnolia tree. There must have been seventy-five people in a space designed for twenty.
“Let’s dance,” Allie shouted close to Bri’s ear, grasping her hand at the same time.
“Here?” Bri looked around at the partygoers, almost all of whom were her colleagues-to-be or, in some cases, her superiors. She wasn’t much of a drinker, and she hadn’t had all that much, but she felt loose and relaxed. Still…“I don’t think this is a great time for us to do that.”
“Why not?” Allie moved her hand to Bri’s waist, hooked her thumb inside Bri’s jeans where they rested on the crest of her hip, and ran her fingers back and forth on Bri’s side under her T-shirt. She leaned so close that their thighs brushed. “Do you think they might get the wrong idea?”
Bri could smell her perfume, the same scent she’d noticed that day in Allie’s cottage. Even more disconcertingly, she could feel the light press of Allie’s breasts against her chest. They were both wearing T-shirts, and neither apparently had anything on underneath. Allie’s nipples were hard, and Bri’s tightened instantly in response. Totally involuntarily, her stomach clenched and a thrum of pleasure shot down her spine. When the jolt of excitement hit home, she got stiff in the space between one heartbeat and the next.
“What idea would that be?” Bri didn’t recognize the low, husky timber of her own voice. Or she did, and she didn’t want to think about what it meant. Christ, I’m getting so hot.
“Well, if any of them are half the hotshot investigators they think they are,” Allie murmured, stepping even closer now, edging one thigh slightly between Bri’s legs, “they’ll figure out that I’m trying to get you to kiss me.”
“I don’t…think…”
“Good. Don’t then.” Allie nudged harder with the leg resting against Bri’s crotch, smiling when the unexpected pressure on Bri’s rampantly hard clitoris drew a soft groan from her. “And after you kiss me for a long, long time, I’d really like it if you’d make me come.”
“Jesus.” Bri blinked to clear her suddenly hazy vision. Then she found herself staring into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. Eyes so warm, so deep, that just looking into them was like the most tender of embraces. Her voice was a mere whisper. “Carre.”
Bri had never believed it when people used the expression time stood still, but for that brief instant when her eyes met Caroline’s, before Caroline turned with a small cry and pushed hurriedly away through the crowd, everything simply stopped. The blood ceased to rush from her heart, the air halted its journey through her lungs, and every thought just…vanished. There was nothing left in her world. Nothing at all.
“Oh my God.”
“What?” Allie exclaimed in confusion as Bri suddenly took her by the shoulders and pushed her aside.
*
By the time Bri managed to force her way through the crowd on the deck into the roiling mass of people in the bar and, finally, to the front door, Caroline was nowhere in sight. Once outside, Bri stood on the gravel path and looked frantically around. The highway was fifty feet away and shrouded in darkness. Caroline didn’t have a car.
Fuck, where could she have gone? Feeling the effects of the alcohol and not thinking entirely clearly, Bri hurried to the street and peered up and down the deserted road. Nothing. She couldn’t have walked very far. Oh you dumbshit—James! She must have borrowed his car. How else would she have gotten here?
Bri turned around and sprinted, or rather tried to sprint, toward the adjacent parking lot. She was a little unsteady and realized that she’d inadvertently had more to drink than she’d intended. Plus, it was hard for her muscles to work when there was no blood flowing through her veins. Everything was frozen inside. She’d never been so damn terrified in her life.
The lot was just a gravel-covered patch of dirt, with very little in the way of illumination. Hazy red light filtered out through the beer signs hanging in the dirt-streaked side windows of the bar. Cars were parked haphazardly, and it was still nearly as full as it had been when she’d pulled in earlier on her bike. Then the cough of an engine turning over caught her attention, and, turning in the direction of the sound, Bri saw taillights flicker. She raced toward the car as it backed out from between two trucks, and without even giving it a second thought, slammed both palms down on the trunk.
“Carre! Wait!”
The car came to a jerking halt. The force of the bumper as it rocked against her legs bounced Bri back a step. It hurt but she didn’t care. The door flew open and Caroline jumped from the car. Quicker than Bri would have thought possible, Caroline was in front of her, her hands fisted in Bri’s T-shirt, shaking her violently.
“Bri, are you crazy? Are you completely nuts? I could have killed you. God damn you, what is wrong with you?”
“Carre, listen…” Bri began desperately.
“No, you listen. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of you pushing me away, and I’m sick of you running away.” Caroline was nearly a head shorter than Bri and slender where Bri was all muscle, but anyone watching would have thought that she was the stronger of the pair.
Bri stood with her hands loose at her sides and allowed Caroline to manhandle her. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care. That’s not good enough. What were you doing in there?” Finally, Caroline stepped back, staring at Bri with wounded eyes and fury in her face. “Is she why you moved out? Didn’t you even have the guts to tell me?”
“She…? No! God, no.”
“Never mind. I didn’t have to hear what she was saying to figure out what was going on. I know what you look like when you’re hot, Bri.” Caroline ran a trembling hand through her hair. “You want
to tell me that she wasn’t making you—” Her voice broke and she turned away.
Bereft, bleeding at the sound of tears in Caroline’s voice, Bri took one tentative step forward. She raised her hand but for the first time in their lives together, she was afraid to touch Caroline. “Babe, she’s just a friend.”
“You’re such an idiot, Bri. She was all over you, and you looked like that was just fine with you.” Taking a deep breath, Caroline turned back and studied Bri’s face as if she were a stranger. “I thought you left Manhattan because of this job. Because you needed something for yourself—something that would make you feel better about yourself. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it’s her—or someone like her—that you really need.”
“No. Jesus, no. You’re wrong.”
“Maybe I’m not wrong, and you just haven’t figured that out yet.” Caroline shook her head unhappily. “I’m going ho—back to Manhattan. Don’t call me for a while, okay?”
“Carre, please,” Bri begged. It felt like her legs were going to go. In another second, she’d be on her knees. She didn’t even care. She’d do anything. “Please, I love you.”
“You know what the worst part is?” Caroline slipped back into the car. “I believe you.”
As she watched Caroline carefully back the car out again and drive slowly away, Bri thought she might actually die. Caroline didn’t look back, not even once.
*
Bri had no idea how long she’d been sitting on the ground with her back against the rear tire of her motorcycle, her arms wrapped around her knees, her forehead cradled between them. The soft voice finally drew her back to awareness.
“Bri? Hey. Are you sick?”
“No,” Bri mumbled without looking up.
“You left in such a hurry, and I couldn’t find you anywhere. I thought maybe you came outside because you were gonna be sick.” Allie crouched down, resting one hand on Bri’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”
Finally, Bri raised her head and struggled to focus. “Nothing.”
“Jesus, Bri, are you crying?” Allie moved her hand to beneath Bri’s chin and lifted it, brushing at the moisture on Bri’s face with her other hand.
“No.” Roughly, Bri swiped at her cheeks, then got unsteadily to her feet. She was uncertain whether it was the beer or the shock of Caroline leaving that had left her feeling as if she could barely walk. With effort, she swung her leg over her bike and searched in her pockets for her keys. “Listen, I gotta go.”
“Uh-uh. No way.” Deftly, Allie plucked the keys from Bri’s hand when she pulled them from her jeans. “The rules are none of us drive tonight. I mean it, Bri. If you get stopped anywhere tonight for any reason, you’ll get busted right out of the academy. Come on, get off the bike.”
For a second, Bri hesitated, almost not caring what might happen. But the working part of her brain finally took over and, with a weary sigh, she dismounted. “Okay, fine.” She looked around the parking lot as if seeing it for the first time. Most of the cars were still there. “I guess I might as well go back inside and get another drink.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Allie slipped her arm around Bri’s waist and said, “Let’s go. I’ve got a ride for us with a designated driver.”
It was just easier not to think. Thinking meant remembering, and remembering meant watching Caroline drive away. It was too hard, and she was too tired, and everything hurt so much.
“Okay.”
*
Bri opened her eyes, blinked in the bright sunlight, and immediately closed them. She lay very still, aware that she was in a strange bed and that she was not alone. The crisp cotton sheets felt oddly rough against her bare nipples. Her shirt was off. Her jeans were on. Her fly was open.
Fuck.
She hadn’t been too drunk to remember now what had happened.
“Come in with me, Bri,” Allie whispered as the car carrying the two of them and several of their friends pulled to a stop in the lane in front of Allie’s rented bungalow. “You can stay here tonight.”
She couldn’t ride back to Reese and Tory’s. And the prospect of being alone with her pain was more than she could handle. Allie’s hand on her thigh was soft and reassuring. “Yeah, okay.”
They said nothing as they walked down the path to the front door, but Allie had her arm around Bri’s waist again. It felt strange. Good, though. Solid. Firm. Alive.
Once inside, Allie directed, “This way.” She held onto Bri’s hand and led her through the dark living room.
Bri followed, because it seemed the thing to do. She let Allie draw her down onto the bed, saying nothing as Allie lay beside her, facing her in the dark. A hand came to her cheek and stroked her tenderly, then moved around to the back of her neck and pulled her head close for a kiss.
She wasn’t thinking of anything. The tongue running lightly over her lips was supple and warm. When it moved inside her mouth, it was the only thing she could feel. There were no thoughts of the past or the future, only that moment and the firm anchor of hot flesh filling her mouth. She sucked it, breathed in the heat, clung to the taste of passion.
Dimly, she was aware of Allie’s rapid breathing and soft moans. When fingers tugged at the bottom of her T-shirt, Bri shifted and, in the next minute, another barrier was gone. A hand drew her fingers to a full breast and again she heard a small cry in the darkness. Her fingers were closed around a tight nipple, and when she squeezed, Allie whimpered. Bri was sure her heart was beating quickly, but she still couldn’t feel it.
Fingernails rasped down the center of her belly. Her thighs tightened and didn’t relax. She was panting. They both were. She jerked, then lifted her hips when fingers worked loose the snap on her jeans. The sound of her zipper sliding open was so loud in the still room. Soft breasts pressed against her chest, a slender leg slid over her thigh. Fingers pressed inside her jeans. The intoxicating aroma of desire was everywhere.
“Touch me, Bri,” the honey-smooth voice pleaded, nearly breathless now. “Please. Oh, make me come.”
She knew the words, but the voice was wrong. Make me come, baby. Caroline’s voice. But not.
A hand cupped her inside her jeans, fingers closed around her clitoris. The first gripping spasm shot a warning down her legs.
“Oh fuck,” Bri gasped, rolling away. “Jesus. Jesus.”
“What?” Allie’s voice was a choked cry, thin and desperate. “Oh, don’t stop now.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Carre, God, I am so sorry.
Fists clenched to her center, Bri turned onto her side. She kept her back to the woman beside her and curled in on herself, closing her eyes tightly. Maybe she slept. Maybe she just disappeared for a while.
“I can’t decide whether I’m mad at you or not,” Allie said quietly.
“You should be.” Bri turned her head on the pillow and opened her eyes. Allie was sitting up nude against the headboard, inches away. Her breasts, full and firm and rosy-tipped, were beautiful. Bri lifted her gaze to Allie’s eyes. “I never should have come here with you last night. I sure shouldn’t have gotten into bed with you.”
“Why did you?”
Bri hesitated. “I don’t know.” She was starting to get feeling back. Her body ached where the bumper had grazed her. Mostly, her heart hurt. “I guess I didn’t want to be alone.”
“Why did you stop when we were making love?”
“I’ve got a girlfriend.”
“Where is she?”
“In…” Bri stumbled on the words. “In New York City.”
“Serious?”
Bri nodded. “Yeah.”
“You were turned on at the bar. Here, too.” Allie smiled softly, her expression dreamlike. “You were so wet when I touched you. You got hard between my fingers. You would have come in another second.”
“Yeah.” Bri’s voice was a whisper. She was wet now. But that wasn’t the point. She couldn’t help what her body did. Only what she did about it.
Allie brushed Bri’s ar
m with her fingertips. “You make me crazy hot, you know.”
Bri said nothing.
“When you wouldn’t touch me last night, I thought I was going to die.” Her voice was husky, her eyes slightly glazed. “I had to make myself come. I couldn’t help it.”
Bri looked away. Her heart hammered wildly.
“Did you hear me?”
“No,” Bri rasped, her stomach clenched so tight it hurt.
“It only took one touch. I imagined it was your mouth.” Allie drew a trembling breath. “I came so hard—”
Bri sat up suddenly and swung her legs outside the bed. She was shaking. Hoarsely, she said, “I gotta go. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. Next time, though,” Allie rested a palm on the center of Bri’s bare back, “I want it to be you for real making me come.”
Chapter Thirteen
Reese came quietly down the stairs, mindful of the blanket-wrapped figure on the sofa. Moving carefully, she crossed to the kitchen and slowly began to assemble the coffeemaker.
“Can I help?” a sleepy voice asked from the living room.
Turning with a smile, Reese shook her head no. “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
“Not really.” Caroline’s eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and too-recent tears. “Is Tory up?”
“Not yet. She’s sleeping in.” Reese pulled coffee from the refrigerator and unfolded the bag. “I finally talked her into working only a half-day on Saturday. She’s going in this afternoon.”
“I’m sorry I showed up unannounced last night,” Caroline said in a small voice. She slid onto the stool and propped her elbows on the counter, resting her chin in both hands. “I didn’t think I could make it all the way back to Manhattan, and I didn’t know where else to go.”
Reese stopped what she was doing and came around to take a seat next to the young blond. “Don’t apologize, Caroline. I’m glad that you came. You can always come here.”
