Turning Point

by Lara Zielinsky

  “So, I got out. Custody was tougher. He was working; I wasn’t. I knew that without Thomas and James, something in me would die.”

  Cassidy brushed her cheek against Brenna’s. “Mitch did the same to me. I’m so sorry.”

  Soft lips traced over her brow, and Brenna turned into the touch. Finally she felt surrounded by someone who honestly could understand. Their lips met; Cassidy’s mouth soothed over hers. Waves of desire washed over her, through her. There was no shooting to interrupt them, no script demanding rehearsal. No time constraints at all.

  Putting aside the pictures, she curled into Cassidy’s body and murmured, “I’ve thought about you, about this. If you have time,” she went on, tilting her chin to bring her lips into contact with the smooth curve of Cassidy’s jaw, “I’d love one of those lessons you promised.”

  Cassidy nuzzled her ear. “If you like.”

  Beneath her hands, Brenna felt Cassidy’s heart rate pick up, confirming her interest. She turned around and straddled Cassidy’s knees, resting her hands on the slender shoulders, looking down into an upturned face. “I’d like.” She ducked her

  head to capture full lips. Cassidy’s hands remained on her hips as Brenna balanced her weight onto her knees to either side.

  “You said you’ve done this before,” Brenna pointed out. She trailed her fingers under Cassidy’s top, watching Cassidy’s eyes drift shut as Brenna warmed her hands against tight muscles and delicate skin. “You’ll have to tell me if I’m doing it right.” Cassidy’s eyes opened as Brenna found a spot along Cassidy’s ribs that made the other woman jump. She moved her hand away from the ticklish spot, and her fingerŹtips grazed the soft weight of another woman’s breasts for the first time. She inhaled, entranced by Cassidy’s direct and intensifying gaze.

  Cassidy’s hands moved from resting on her hips to resting just below Brenna’s bra. Brenna felt the difference in touch like an epiphany. The fingers were slender, soft, and smooth and made her arch into the contact. Cassidy moved her hands around Brenna’s back and undid her bra, moving it aside. The edge of the fabric abraded a nipple, hardening it. Silk soft fingers moved over the outline of her breasts, while Brenna maintained eye contact. Slim fingertips trapped her nipples as she did the same to Cassidy’s. The intense connection she always felt around Cassidy, and had never quite understood, strengthened as they both tweaked sharply.

  Brenna was startled by the intensity of the shock that shot to her groin. Her fingers flexed unconsciously, and Cassidy arched into the contact, encouraging exploration. She felt the nipples harden against her palms and huskily asked, “Will you take it off?”

  Cassidy smiled. Her marvelous hands left Brenna’s skin for a brief moment as she tugged off the top. When her arms came down, she found Brenna studying her torso. “The costume changes the look,” she explained bashfully.

  “You’re beautiful.” Brenna was surprised by her sharp desire to taste the nipples hardening under her fingertips. She met Cassidy’s eyes. “Please tell me they’re as sensitive as mine.”

  Cassidy laughed, and there was a sign of patience and restraint in the catch of her voice. “As sensitive as yours, I can’t say, but you’re welcome to find out.” CoverŹing Brenna’s hands with her own, Cassidy moved their hands together over her breasts.

  Brenna considered what turned her on and tentatively followed imagination with action. To her delight, Cassidy writhed, offering up moans of pleasure that Brenna stole away with kisses. The textures were familiar, yet not. She was surprised how much she felt deep in her own groin as Cassidy continued to voice her appreciaŹtion. The gentle scent of arousal, both hers and Cassidy’s, rose between them. Slowly she pulled one hand away, and down, feeling Cassidy’s stomach muscles constrict as she passed over them. She captured an abandoned nipple in her mouth as her fingers pulled at the waistband of Cassidy’s pants.

  Massaging Brenna’s scalp and hair with languid pleasure, Cassidy’s hands left tingles in their wake. Despite the definite wetness between her thighs, Brenna felt no need to rush, only to indulge. Cassidy’s body was responsive, but again there was no push from her to move faster, nothing like she had experienced from men who wanted to get down to business.

  Brenna moved her attention up Cassidy’s body once again, capturing her lips briefly before returning attention to Cassidy’s breasts. The woman’s reactions thrilled her as she indulged both their desires.

  Cassidy’s pulse thrummed hard in her throat, but she only continued to stroke Brenna’s hands, cheeks, and hair as Brenna explored her breasts. Brenna found she liked the weight in her palm, lifting it and licking the hardened nub before returning

  il to between her teeth and sucking on it. Moans and cries of her name wrapped Brenna in more love than she thought she could hold.

  Brenna pulled back and met Cassidy’s gaze, finding the same hot blue gaze she had inadvertently caused in the gym shower. Slender fingers cupped her chin.

  “You…” Cassidy began unsteadily, pausing to moisten her lips with her tongue, “don’t need lessons.”

  Brenna rested her palms across Cassidy’s stomach and felt the quivering musŹcles. The sensation slowly dissipated, and Cassidy’s eyes stopped looking quite so glazed.

  “Is that good?” Cocky pride edged her voice as she realized that, even in her inexperience, she could move Cassidy to such an intense reaction.

  “Brenna, cockiness is very attractive on you.” Cassidy sat fully upright and stripped Brenna’s shirt off, along with the bra.

  “Must be why they made me commander,” Brenna teased back, trying to mask her anxiety as Cassidy looked at her, studying her body intensely. “Like what you see?”

  Cassidy loved what she saw. Brenna’s breasts were just a handful. Much to the other woman’s enjoyment, she tested their fit in her palms. Brenna closed her eyes and bit her lower lip endearingly. Freckles liberally dotted her upper chest. The nipŹples were taut, and a golden tan blended into wide areolas. “I was right,” Cassidy said, dragging her eyes up to Brenna’s face.

  Brenna’s eyes opened with surprise. “About what?”

  “You do sunbathe in the buff.” Drawing her fingertips down evenly tanned skin from sternum to stomach, she felt the muscles jump as she nudged her fingers under the waistband. “Don’t you?”

  “Yes.” Brenna’s blush spread down not only her throat, but her upper chest as well, making the freckles, which Cassidy now kissed, stand out.

  “How could you chain this free spirit for so long?” Cassidy asked, honestly curious. “It’s incredible. I only glimpse it when you’re beyond exhausted at the end of a day of shooting.” She lifted her chin to nibble Brenna’s lips as their bared breasts brushed together. Brenna’s open-mouthed moan slipped hotly between her teeth.

  Gasps of delight blew softly through the hair on Cassidy’s temple as she lowŹered her mouth to taste Brenna’s sun-kissed skin. She watched the muscles flex in Brenna’s shoulder as the woman’s arm encircled her neck. Cassidy nudged her nose into the tendons in Brenna’s throat. The jumping pulse under her palm on Brenna’s left breast told her she had found a ticklish spot. She kissed the skin more firmly and licked the mild salts.

  Moving Brenna off her thighs, she arranged the woman against the couch pilŹlows. She trailed a fingertip over Brenna’s throat, cheek, lips, and nose, drawing their gazes together. A low quiver started in her own stomach again, and she realized she wanted to go all the way — right now, right here. Aware of other limitations, though, she inhaled and exhaled, catching sight of a clock on the nearby table. “I’d better stop,” she murmured. “I have to meet with my agent in twenty minutes.”

  Rising onto her elbows, Brenna nodded. “Okay, but that gives us, what? FifŹteen?” She offered a searing, passionate expression.

  Cassidy would have willingly burned to a crisp had Brenna been actual fire. However, she did not want to explain to her agent that she was late for their meeting because she was having sex with her co-star. It would
cause far too many questions too soon. Cassidy acknowledged she was willing to face those questions eventually. She would have even escorted Brenna to the Pinnacle party and weathered the questions then, but Brenna was right to hold off. They did not want press, not right now when this was so new for the two of them.

  She indulged them both in the distraction of another absorbing kiss. Brenna’s mouth was flavored by her morning coffee and her teeth were pearl smooth. Her tongue…Cassidy sucked the little muscle into her mouth and felt her head spin when Brenna initiated a sensual duel. She broke the kiss, panting softly. “God, Brenna.” She found herself captured by a grin, seduction narrowing Brenna’s eyes and curving her wine-shade lips.

  “Later?”

  Regretting now that she really did have to go, Cassidy nodded. “Not too much later.” She sat up and reached for her top. Pulling it on, she watched Brenna do the same. “I’d like to take you on a date,” she said abruptly.

  “What? Where?”

  “Somewhere away from work, away from kids. Just you, me, and an open evening.”

  Brenna thought for a moment, “I don’t know when we could work that out.” They stood, with Cassidy at her shoulder bestowing a kiss behind her right ear. She leaned against the taller woman, feeling her breasts pillow against her back. Together they drifted into a zone of sensation as their body heat rekindled. “But I’ll come up with something.”

  “Your husband will be here Saturday.”

  Brenna’s hand slipped from the doorknob, and the door opened slowly. WithŹout thought, she turned hotly into the mouth and hands that drew sensation out of her every pore. She wrapped her arms around Cassidy’s neck and pressed wantonly against her. While tasting the full lips, she offered a hungry promise: “I’ll call you.”

  Cameron Palassis grumbled. He had to cross the whole lot these days to reach the sets being built for Pinnacle’s newest series. He was supposed to oversee the PR shooting they would use to entice the rest of the actors they wanted, now that their principal was in place.

  Looking up, he realized he had reached “trailer row” behind the Time Trails soundstages. He frowned, still angry about being pulled off the dramatic series. All because of that asshole Chapman, he bitched. The sound of a door opening, coming from the end where Chapman had his trailer, drew his attention. Cameron’s hands flexed. What he wouldn’t give to rearrange the man’s face. He walked closer.

  The open door was not Chapman’s trailer, but Lanigan’s, and she was not alone. It took less than a breath for him to identify the blonde standing with her. Cassidy? Stepping back in surprise, he saw Brenna’s arms slide around Cassidy’s neck and pull her head down.

  Cautious but curious, he edged around the trailer and looked on as Cassidy’s hands slid down Brenna’s butt. He had never thought of Brenna as attractive, really, but watching the long-fingered familiar hands stroking over the small ass, he grew hard.

  Son of a bitch! his mind screamed. Brenna and Cassidy, his Cassidy, were kissŹing! He could not deny the total turn-on as he reassessed his thinking that Cassidy was prudish. Obviously, he had been mistaken. What a fucking turn-on. Hmm. He wondered if Cassidy might be persuaded to invite him to their playtime.

  Not now, he thought with some sense. There will be a better time to make a deal. So he held his knowledge close and retreated quickly before either woman saw him.

  Chapter 36

  “Front and center,” Brenna called, standing by the front door. Still adjusting his bowtie, Thomas appeared first. James appeared at the end of the corridor, his shoes in his hands.

  “I’m not ready yet,” he protested.

  “Well, you’re going to have to be, young man,” Brenna teased. “Never keep a lady waiting.”

  He leaned against the couch arm and tugged the shoes on. Standing, he held his arms wide. “Better?”

  She grinned and held his cheeks between her palms, kissing him soundly. “PerŹfect.” Brenna turned to Thomas and looked him over with a loving, critical eye. She reached out and adjusted the lapel of his jacket. “There.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Thomas stuffed his hands in the pockets of the jacket. Almost immediately, his mother tugged his hands out. “This cummerbund is awful.” He griŹmaced but resisted adjusting it. “Mom, do men really wear this stuff?”

  “All the time. It’s not the throwback you think it is.” She patted his cheek. “I promise.”

  James straightened up and grinned at Thomas. Stockier than his brother, who had the lean build of a runner, James was considerably slimmed by the formal taiŹlored suit. “I like it. Thanks, Mom.”

  “Kiss up,” Thomas snorted.

  “Hey,” Brenna warned.

  “Sorry.”

  “You both look wonderful.” She lifted the camera pulled out for the occasion. “All right, line up.”

  Thomas and James rolled their eyes, but they stood in the entryway, in front of the door. Arms around one another’s shoulders, with the occasionally bunny ears over one another’s heads, they posed for their mother. Brenna snapped the shutter a dozen times and then finally set the camera aside.

  “Now,” she picked up the Mountaineer’s keys, “one a.m.?” Thomas nodded as his hand closed around the fob. “I’ll be waiting up,” she promised.

  “Yes, Mom.”

  She feathered her fingertips through his hair, setting it to rights. She turned her gaze to James, combed her fingers through his hair as well, then trailed them down his cheek and chucked his chin. “You look really handsome,” she said, pride and love filling her chest. She swallowed it down and patted his cheek. “You’d better go. You don’t want to be late.”

  She hung at the door, watching Thomas back them out of the drive and head off to pick up the girls. Dinner would be first. The boys had reservations at Michael’s. The dance would be at the Radisson ballroom starting at eight p.m.

  Offering up a prayer for their safety, she sat down on her couch and reached for the script from England. With a soft exhalation, she pushed her slip-ons off her feet and sank deeper in the cushions seeking a comfortable position. She tried to concenŹtrate on the pages of dialogue, but they blurred. Rubbing her neck, she let her head drop back to rest against the couch arm.

  Brenna’s body told her loudly exactly what was missing. Or, rather, who was

  missing. Not going to the set for four days had felt terribly strange. Before, set breaks had simply induced boredom. The additional duress of not seeing Cassidy each day had brought her close to stir crazy. The boys were going to be gone almost seven hours. Looking longingly at the phone, she asked herself if it would really hurt anyŹthing to spend those hours with Cassidy. Conversation, a movie maybe? She nodded, agreeing with herself, and picked up the phone.

  As it rang, she wondered what to say. What if Cassidy can’t find a sitter? She would enjoy having Ryan, but she recalled Cassidy’s request for a date, just the two of them.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi.” Pleasure filled her voice at the sound of Cassidy on the other end of the line.

  “I just finished reading to Ryan. What’s up?”

  “I just sent Thomas and James off to their dance. You, um, don’t have to, but…I’ve got movies, or popcorn?” She shrugged at the phone as her nervous tongue stuttered to a stop. “I would love to see you.” Brenna bit her lip, waiting.

  “I’d love to see you, too.” There was relief in Cassidy’s voice. “How’s seven sound?”

  “Think you could arrange it?”

  “I’ll be there,” Cassidy promised.

  Cassidy hung up the phone, dazedly considering her good fortune. The series was on hiatus until after New Year’s and she had heard nothing from Brenna since their tryst in her trailer. Nearly a week had passed, and Cassidy had begun to wonder if she’d dreamed their mutual explorations or if perhaps Brenna had simply decided it was all too much.

  Looking down at the coveralls she had worn while refreshing the all-weather white paint on her back porch, she decided s
he’d better change. She had come inside on a break from the project, and Ryan had asked for a book, leaving her only the chance to pull off the paint-spattered smock. She reached for the phone again and took it with her when she went into the bedroom to search her closet. It had been two weeks since Gwen had last looked after Ryan. She hoped the time away had setŹtled the Talbots’ situation. “Gwen,” she greeted as the line opened.

  “Hello, Cassidy. What’s up?”

  “I need a sitter.”

  “Going out?”

  “Yes, can you? I don’t know how late I’ll be out. I know it’s last minute, but I’d rather he be with you for the night rather than ask one of the Treacle girls down the street.” Cassidy waited, counting her heartbeats in the silence.

  Finally Gwen responded, “We’ll keep him all night. I’ll return him in the mornŹing.”

  “I’ll call tonight around ten.” Feeling butterflies in her stomach, Cassidy realŹized she was nervous about seeing Brenna. She, unlike Cameron, would have no problem at all if Ryan had to come along, but honestly, what would he do at Brenna’s with her boys gone? She wanted time with Brenna, and the woman had made a point of reminding her that her own sons were at a dance for the night.

  “No problem,” Gwen assured her. “I’ll deliver him in the morning. You have a good time.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Leave an emergency number?”

  “My cell is always on.”

  “All right.”

  “See you in a few minutes.” Cassidy hung up the receiver and looked through her open doorway into Ryan’s room. “Ryan?”

  “Yes, Mommy?” He appeared at the doorway, Legos in hand.