“As a matter of fact, I do.”
“You gonna not sleep with someone again?”
“Do you think this is easy for me?” Joey whirled on her. “You think this is some laughing matter?”
“Turbo down. I’m just giving you shit. You don’t have to be so sensitive. It’s just so unheard of for you.”
“Right. And who knows how long it’ll last. Chances are, I’ll get bored and tired of waiting.” She hoped she wasn’t telling the truth.
“So answer me this, lover boi, if she’s not putting out, are you still allowed to get it elsewhere?”
The question stopped Joey cold. She hadn’t thought about that. Nobody had said anything about commitment or anything. Just that they weren’t sleeping together. She was about to answer that she could still sleep with someone else when it occurred to her she had no desire to do so. Regardless of what had or hadn’t been said.
“I suppose I could.”
“But will you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Damn, woman. You’ve got it bad.”
“So it would seem,” Joey admitted.
“Hey, all bullshitting aside, have fun tonight.” Mel slammed the side of her van shut.
“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
*
Joey was groggy when she turned off the alarm from her nap. It took her a second to realize she had to be somewhere. She checked the time and saw that she had an hour until she had to be at Samantha’s.
She took a quick shower and put on her khaki cargo shorts and black polo shirt. She hopped in her truck and headed for the liquor store for a bottle of wine. As soon as she parked, she realized the error of her ways, so she drove instead to Petals of Desire, the local flower shop.
“Joey Scarpetti in my shop?” Delta, the owner, exclaimed. “Why, I never thought I’d see the day.”
Joey smiled at the harassment. “Since I’m not too familiar with this, maybe you could help me out?”
“Sure thing, darlin’. What do you need? And more importantly, who’s the lucky lady?”
“I just want to get some flowers. Nothing major. No roses or anything like that. Just a nice summer bouquet to take to a friend’s house for dinner.”
“Nothing major. Don’t you be tellin’ stories to Delta. I know better. I could see it when you walked in here.”
“Really, it’s just a nice gesture is all.”
Delta cast a measuring sideways glance at Joey. “I’m just trying to figure out why I haven’t heard any mention of this. This kind of thing usually tears through Maybon Tir.”
“Seriously.” Joey was trying not to lose her patience. “There’s nothing to hear. Now will you help me out?”
“What’s your lady’s favorite color?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, Josephine, you’d better find that out. And soon. That’s important to know.”
Joey cringed at the sound of her birth name and quickly made another mental note. This one was to find Samantha’s favorite color. She thought of describing the colors of her house but figured that would give too much away to the nosy flower peddler.
“Those are pretty.” She pointed to some bright yellow sunflowers.
“They certainly are. But they don’t really send any message from the heart, if you know what I mean.”
“I’m not trying to send a message, Delta. I just want to bring flowers. So what can you do with those?”
Delta pulled a few sunflowers and added some daisies, finally putting some salal leaves in for contrast.
“That’s really pretty,” Joey said.
“I hope the lady likes them.”
“I’m sure she will.”
Joey paid Delta and glanced at her watch. Only five minutes to get to Samantha’s. She thanked the gods that Maybon Tir was such a small town. She arrived with a minute to spare and knocked on the door.
Samantha answered the door in a long yellow tank dress that hung to her calves. She smiled when she saw the flowers Joey brought.
“That is so sweet of you.”
“Well, I didn’t want to show up empty-handed. And I didn’t think a bottle of wine would be appropriate.”
“Thank you for realizing that.” She kissed Joey’s cheek and invited her in.
“You look amazing,” Joey said. “That color is great on you.”
“Why thank you. It happens to be my favorite.” She motioned to the sunflowers she was holding. “But I’d imagine you already knew that?”
“That was just luck,” Joey admitted. She sniffed at the air. “I’m impressed so far. Dinner smells wonderful.”
“I hope you like garlic.”
“With a last name like Scarpetti, I’d better.”
“Even though you didn’t bring wine, I bought some Chianti. I hope you’ll enjoy it with dinner.”
“That would be great. Thanks.” She followed Samantha to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine while Samantha busied herself with putting the flowers in a vase.
“I’m impressed yet again,” Joey said. “You’ve lived here one day and you already know exactly where the vases are.”
“I spent today unpacking and organizing the kitchen. The vases go under the kitchen sink, so there you go.”
Joey nodded and sipped her wine.
“How was work today?” Samantha said over her shoulder as she stirred the sauce. “You weren’t too tired, were you?”
Joey stared at Samantha’s back, admiring her figure and the way the dress clung lightly to her shapely ass. She walked over and leaned into her, lightly brushing her neck with her lips.
Samantha set the wooden spoon down and turned, linking her hands behind Joey’s neck. “You just gave me chills.”
“In a good way, I hope.” Joey bent and kissed her lips, tenderly at first, but Samantha tightened her grip and wouldn’t let her back away. Joey ran her hands around Samantha’s waist and down her back until she was cupping her ass, pulling her into her as their kiss grew more passionate. Electricity coursed through her, and she lost her resolve to go slow. Her tongue pressed against Samantha’s lips and slid quickly into her mouth. She continued to knead her ass while she ground her own hips into her. She moved one hand to the back of Samantha’s head, where it tangled in her soft hair, pulling her mouth closer yet.
Joey was lost in the kiss and dizzy when Samantha finally pulled away. She rested her forehead on Samantha’s as she fought to catch her breath.
“Well, it’s good to see you, too,” Samantha breathed.
“Sorry about that.” Joey took her hands off Samantha and moved back to the island to get her wine.
“No need to apologize. It was wonderful.”
“Yeah? Good. I didn’t know. I mean…I’m sorry. I guess I’m just confused.”
“I’m sorry I’m not making this easy.” Samantha leaned on the island opposite Joey and looked into her eyes. “It’s just that it feels so right and then feels so wrong.”
“I kind of get that.” Joey nodded slowly. “Unfortunately for me, there’s nothing wrong feeling about it.”
“And I get that. I wouldn’t blame you if you said you never wanted to see me again.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“Really?” Samantha smiled. “I like to hear that.”
“I guess I’m going to see this thing through, whatever that means.”
“I wish I knew what it meant, too.”
Joey kept hearing Mel’s voice in her head asking if she had to be faithful. Part of her wanted to toss it out there, just to be sure, but she didn’t want to bring up anything that might blow her chances.
She finished her wine and poured another glass. “Do you miss drinking?” she asked Samantha.
“Sometimes I wish I could have a glass of wine. But I’m not that big of a drinker, so it’s not a huge deal for me.” She turned to the oven when the alarm went off and pulled a loaf of garlic bread out.
“Oh, yum. Now you’re talking,” Jo
ey said. “Is there anything you need me to do?”
“You can grab the salad out of the fridge. That would be great.”
Joey did as instructed and set it on the island. Samantha grabbed two plates and put heaping piles of noodles on them, then smothered the noodles in sauce. She put two slices of bread on each plate and carried them to the table. Joey served the salad into the two bowls on the island and joined Samantha at the table.
“I’m starving,” she said.
“I figured you must be after working construction all day.”
“Speaking of that, it’s really coming along. I understand the grand opening is in a couple of weeks.”
“I know. You guys got it built fast.”
“Do you already have kids signed up for it?”
“I do. I have teachers and about twelve kids. We’ll see how it goes.”
“We have that many kids who need day care in Maybon Tir?”
“You’d be surprised. Plus I have some friends from Somerset who are going to bring their kids.”
Joey tried to think of who had young kids in town as she scooped up her spaghetti on her fork and twirled it into a spoon. She swore her taste buds had orgasms at the taste of the sauce. “Oh, my God. This is delicious.” She quickly scooped up some more.
“I’m so glad you like it. I hoped it wouldn’t disappoint.”
“Seriously. This is as good as my grandma’s, and she was full-blooded Italian. Where did you learn to make sauce like this?”
Samantha was silent for a minute. “Dee’s mother was Italian.”
“Dee?” Joey asked before her memory kicked in. “Oh, your partner. Got it.”
The silence was heavy and awkward. Joey searched for something to say but couldn’t come up with anything that she didn’t think sounded lame.
“At any rate, I’m glad you like it.”
“Very much.”
“It’s okay to talk about her, you know,” Samantha said.
“I know.” Joey weighed her words. “But I kind of feel like I’m with her woman, and that feels strange. Does that make sense?”
“It makes perfect sense. Now you know how I feel, to a degree.”
“Yeah. So it’s not like…I mean…oh, hell, I don’t know what I mean. I guess I know she’s part of this…whatever it is we’re doing, but at the same time, I don’t like to be reminded about her. I don’t mean to sound cold.”
“You don’t. And I don’t like to remind you of her. But she was a very large part of my life and still is, in some ways. We need to acknowledge that if we’re ever going anywhere with this.”
Joey nodded.
“Wow, not exactly the mood I was going for with the wine and the spaghetti,” Samantha finally said.
“I’m trying to shake it off.”
“Tell me more about your work today. What did you do?”
“Mel and I laid carpet. The whole place is carpeted now. It looks really good, if I do say so myself.” She smiled.
“I’m so impressed that your crew can do everything from foundation to finish. Brenda’s very lucky to have such a talented group working for her.”
“It’s fun building things. It’s a rush to start with a plot of land and watch a useable building go up.”
“I bet. Where did you learn construction?”
“Mel and I hired on with Brenda right out of college. She was nice enough to teach us all the tricks of the trade.”
“She speaks very highly of you both.”
“Don’t let her know you told me that.” Joey laughed. “She likes to pretend we’re just pains in her ass. Myself, especially.”
“I think she just likes to put on a good show of bravado as much as you do.”
“Funny, I don’t think we’re anything alike.”
“You both think you have images to uphold.”
“I’m not doing much about my image right now.”
“No, you’re not. Does that bother you? Will you tell people we’re sleeping together?”
Joey stared thoughtfully at Samantha. “That never occurred to me. I’ve never had to lie about it before.”
“And now?”
“No, I won’t say that. We’re not. And it’s not like you’re just jerkin’ me around and deserve to have rumors spread. You’ve got valid reasons why we’re not in bed yet, and I respect that.”
“You’re a special woman, Joey Scarpetti, even though you do your damnedest to make people think otherwise.”
“I don’t really. I just don’t care what people think, so I don’t correct misconceptions.”
“I don’t know about that. I think you like your bad boi image.”
Joey grinned, feeling the blush start on her chest and work its way up.
“Aha! I knew you couldn’t deny it.”
Joey pushed back from the table and stood, collecting plates.
“That’s not necessary,” Samantha said.
“Sure it is. You cooked; I clean. That’s fair.”
Samantha helped her clear the table and joined her in the kitchen. “At least let me do the dishes.”
“Nope. Go get a chair and get comfy while I get these done.”
Samantha leaned against the island and smiled as she watched Joey make short order of getting her kitchen clean. “Do you cook?”
“Hardly.” Joey laughed. “I mean, I can if I have to, but I really don’t have any reason to.”
“Not even for yourself?”
“No, I generally eat out.”
“I’ve heard that about you.”
It took Joey a minute to catch what she’d said. “Touché.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“No problem. Did you at least hear I was good at it?”
It was Samantha’s turn to blush. Joey turned and smiled at her. “You mess with the bull…”
“Lesson learned.” Samantha grabbed a dishtowel and started drying the pots and pans as Joey washed. “We’re a pretty good team.”
“That we are.” Joey set the last clean pot in the strainer.
Samantha left it there as she put the towel down and took Joey’s hand. She led her back to the couch and sat leaning against her.
“You’re very easy to spend time with.”
“As are you. I could get used to this.”
“Except for the going home part?”
“Oh, no.” Joey laughed. “Going home is one of the things I do best.”
Samantha playfully swatted her on her arm. “So I shouldn’t take it personally that you won’t stay the night.”
“Not at all. That’s about the only thing you have in common with the other women in my life.” She pulled Samantha to her and kissed her.
Samantha broke the kiss. “Just so I know, how many other women are there in your life?”
“You mean now? I meant in general.”
“Okay, but I mean now.”
“There aren’t any other women.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
“I’m not the type to keep women around for long. I thought you knew that.”
“But surely you’ve got some that you’re sleeping with.”
“Not at the moment. I kinda thought I’d take a break from that and see where this goes.”
“I appreciate that. More than you could know. But I don’t know that I could ask that of you.”
“Okay. You’re confusing me again. You mean the idea of me sleeping with someone else doesn’t bother you at all?”
“Of course it does. I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Then don’t tell me it’s okay to do.”
“But you have needs. I get that.”
“Look, let’s just get this out in the open. Either you like me or you don’t.”
“I do. Very much.”
“Then you don’t want me sleeping around. Even though you may get why I would, you wouldn’t be okay if you found out I was.”
“I’d have to be.”
“No. You think y
ou would, but deep down, you’d resent it.”
“I suppose you’re right. But that makes me a horrible person, doesn’t it?”
“Not as horrible as if you tell me it’s okay to do something, then get upset when I do it.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying let’s make some rules here. You don’t date other women and I don’t sleep with other women. Fair?”
“And you won’t resent me?”
“I’ll try not to. So far, it’s okay.”
“It’s only been two days.”
“Oh, my God! Is that all?” Joey laughed.
“You are such a brat!” Samantha leaned Joey onto her back and lay across her. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”
“I have several suggestions.”
“I’m sure you do.” She kissed Joey as she hiked up her dress so she could straddle her.
Joey was lost in the kiss until she ran her hands down Samantha’s back and down to her bare ass cheeks. She started to move her hand around to the front but stopped herself.
“You can’t do that.” She squirmed out from under Samantha. “That’s not right.”
“But my dress was in the way.”
“As far as I’m concerned, all our clothes are in the way. But you can’t go offering stuff to me that I can’t have.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s okay.” Joey tried to calm her racing heart. “Just please be careful.”
“So what are we allowed to do?”
“Kiss. That’s it. Until you give the go sign, there’s nothing but kissing because anything beyond that is too painful for me.”
“I wish I didn’t want you so desperately.”
“You’re not helping.”
“I get confused, too, Joey.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. But if you want me to respect your wishes, you need to respect my boundaries. Don’t go waving the candy in front of me, then tell me I can’t have it.”
“Fair enough,” Samantha said.
“Now walk me to the door and tell me good night.”
“I don’t want you to go away mad.”
“I’m not mad, babe. Just frustrated. And that shouldn’t surprise either of us.”
Chapter Thirteen
The next two weeks passed quickly for Joey. She and Samantha had settled into a routine of seeing each other most nights. Joey’s libido was in overdrive, and she spent much of the time lashing out at Mel or anyone who happened to be nearby on the jobsite.
Escapades Page 12
