One Summer Night

by Gerri Hill

  "Dance with me," Kelly said softly, and Jo was powerless to refuse. She moved into her arms eagerly, refusing to think about what she was inviting. Kelly held her tightly, both arms behind Johanna's back as Jo slid her arms over Kelly's shoulders, pulling her close. They danced together slowly, feet barely moving, bodies pressed together. Jo closed her eyes and let the music wash over her, breathing deeply as she smelled the perfume at Kelly's neck. Her lips pressed there before she knew what she was doing, and she heard Kelly's sharp intake of breath, felt her arms tighten around her. It was the rum, she reasoned. Why else would she be acting so wantonly? Kelly moved her head, and her lips found Jo's in an instant. Her own mouth opened. Feeling the tip of Kelly's tongue, she thought her knees would buckle from desire. Her own tongue found its way into Kelly's mouth, and she moaned deep in her throat, forget-ting the other couples dancing around them. Kelly pulled her into a dark corner in the back and pressed her against the wall, her hand boldly cupping Jo’s breast. Jo leaned into her, her nipples hard and sensitive to Kelly’s touch. Their kiss was hungry, passionate, tongues dancing, desire growing.

  "I want you," Kelly whispered into her mouth.

  "Yes," Jo agreed. God, how she wanted her, too.

  "Let's get out of here."

  Visit

  Bella Books

  at

  BellaBooks.com

  or

  call our toll-free number

  1-800-729-4992

  Copyright 2000 by Gerri Hill C

  Bella Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 10543

  Tallahassee, FL 32302

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechani-cal, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

  First Published 2000 by Rising Tide Press First Edition

  Cover designer: Sandy Knowles

  ISBN 1-59493-007-4

  Acknowledgements

  I started writing One Summer Night in June of 1994. And it was hot, especially after having spent the last few years in the moun-tains of Colorado! The softball team is a tribute to the city league team I labored on every Monday and Thursday night (when I was much younger!). Bev, the pitcher, was the leader, but I'm not sure if it was because she was the pitcher or because her mother owned a beer joint at the edge of town. The locals all raised their eyebrows when the team came to visit! Thanks to all those gals who made playing ball so much fun, especially Lori, who liked her women "sporty" and not "fluffy"!

  I also want to thank Bella Books and Linda Hill for considering publishing One Summer Night, and thanks to those of you who have enough interest to pick it up again.

  Also, a quick thank you to Stephanie Solomon, queen of Academy of Bards, who has been "itching" to get her hands on One Summer Night for years! And thanks, too, to my good friend, Marquita, (whose husband will die to know this!), who found Kelly Sambino to be "hot"!

  I hope you all enjoy this, my first attempt at writing a little romance.

  About the Author

  Gerri lives in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her partner, Diane, and their two labs, Zach and Max. The resident cats Sierra, Tori and now Jordan, round out the household.

  Hobbies include any outdoor activity, from tending the or-chard and vegetable garden to hiking in the woods with camera and binoculars. For more, visit Gerri's website at: www.gerrihill.com

  Chapter One

  It was hot. Much too hot for June, she thought, as she pointed the air conditioning vent toward her face and sped down MoPac in her new black Mazda. Peering out the sunroof she saw nothing but blue skies, not even one puffy white cloud to shield the sun. She grimaced. Summer in Austin had hit with a bang.

  Again she wondered why she had let herself be talked into going to the softball tournament. Betsy, her best friend, had been calling all week asking her to come until she had finally relented. Summer was her time. Her time to be alone and catch up on all the things she had missed during the year.

  With no classes to teach until the fall semester, she wanted to spend the summer going to Lake Travis when the mood 1

  hit and catching up on her reading, not sitting in the hot sun watching women run around the bases. But Betsy had argued that if she was ever to meet anyone, she had to get out. Well, Johanna Marshall didn't want to meet anyone, she stubbornly insisted, but Betsy wouldn't hear of it.

  "You're only thirty-six. My God, you're acting as if your life is over and you've resigned yourself to being an old maid.

  "I'm not an old maid. I'm just not interested in a relationship right now," she told her.

  "Who's talking relationship? You never go out, Jo. I hate to think of you always being by yourself. It's been three years, you know."

  "I'm well aware of how long it's been."

  "Then come out with us. We'll drink a few beers and cheer them on."

  So, she had agreed finally. After all, it had been over three years since Nancy left her to return to New York. A job transfer, she had said. Johanna laughed bitterly to herself. Three years had not squelched her anger. When she found out Nancy had been secretly seeing someone else for nearly six months before she and her new girlfriend had both up and moved, Johanna had been devastated. How could she have been so blind that she hadn’t noticed? Had she grown so complacent in their relationship that it just never occurred to her that Nancy had become distant? That Nancy had another lover? They had spent four years together, the last two sharing Jo's house on Bull Creek, and she had been naive enough to think things were perfect between them.

  She shook her head, not wanting to dredge up those old memories. Instead, she concentrated on driving, hands tight on the wheel as Saturday traffic zoomed by around her. She was still protective of her new car, and had not yet reverted to her usual habit of cutting in and out of traffic. Spotting her exit, she was soon just a few blocks from the large 2

  complex of ball fields in South Austin. An acre of cars filled the parking area. Johanna remembered Betsy had said it was the largest women's tournament Austin had ever hosted.

  Teams from all over Texas, as well as a few from other states, were there.

  She finally found a parking space on the back row and opened her door to the heat. She scowled again. Summer in Austin was not her favorite time of year. Oh, she loved going to the lake and floating in her tube on Bull Creek, but each year the summers seemed to last longer and longer. She was thankful she had worn a tank top. The slight breeze was not helping much. She pulled the top away from her breasts, fanning cool air inside. She rarely wore a bra, one benefit to being small-breasted, she thought. Probably the only benefit. Taking her lawn chair and her small cooler of beer from the trunk, she walked to the fields.

  There were ten softball fields here. She headed to field number three, where their team was playing. She spotted Betsy and Janis and made her way through the crowd to them, excusing herself as she bumped into people with her chair and cooler.

  "You came!" Betsy exclaimed, standing up and making room for her.

  "I told you I would," Johanna said, forcing a smile. She was already crabby as she felt sweat trickle between her shoulder blades.

  "Yes, but you're late. It started a half hour ago."

  Johanna shrugged, opened her chair and shoved her cooler under it. "Hello, Janis. Hot enough for you?"

  Janis laughed at Jo's usual comment and introduced her to the others sitting with them.

  "This is Kerry and Shea," she said, pointing to two older women sitting next to her. "I'm sure you've heard me mention them."

  3

  "Yes," Jo said and smiled.

  "And that's Lucy.” She
motioned toward a younger woman who looked up and smiled, then turned her attention back to the game.

  "Lucy works with Deb," Janis explained.

  "I haven’t seen Deb in ages,” she said, plopping uncer-emoniously into her chair, her eyes closed against the heat.

  "God, I could be sitting in the water right now," she murmured.

  "Oh, give me a break," Betsy said. "It's not that hot."

  "Ninety-five and June's not even half over. What's August going to be like?"

  "One hundred, like always," she said. Reaching under Johanna's chair, she took a beer from the ice and handed it to her. "Here, cool off."

  "Thanks.” Jo twisted the top off the bottle, drank nearly half of it, then rubbed the cold bottle on her face. "Oh, that's so good, " she sighed.

  "Yeah."

  "So, what's the score?" she asked.

  "We're up by one," Janis replied and yelled at Cindy to get a hit.

  Betsy and Janis had never played softball. In fact, Jo doubted Janis had ever played any sport. Nevertheless, they made every softball game, and Betsy jokingly referred to themselves as the team’s mascot. They made an odd duo.

  Janis, short and pudgy. Betsy, tall and thin, with a head full of red curls. But they were the happiest couple Jo had ever met, still going strong after thirteen years.

  Jo turned her attention to the game. She knew nearly everyone on the team. Not that she made that many games, but they had been playing together for years, and since they were all friends of Betsy's, she had been out with them before. A few of the regular members couldn't make the 4

  tournament, and Jo knew Christy had come in from San Antonio to play.

  "Is Kay playing?" Johanna asked. Kay was a friend of hers from college who she had introduced to Betsy years ago.

  "She's playing second today," Betsy said. "Christy brought someone along with her from San Antonio to play third.”

  Christy was Betsy's cousin and, despite that, they were good friends. Betsy looked at her and frowned. "Didn’t you bring a cap?"

  "No," she said, squinting her blue eyes against the sun.

  "I left without sunscreen, too. Do you have any?"

  "I do," Janis offered, reaching into her bag for the sunblock. "God, it's hell getting old. Isn't it?"

  Johanna flicked her a wry glance and opened the tube.

  "I mean, remember when we would stay out for hours and not even think about wrinkles?"

  "Skin cancer, Janis," Jo told her. "Not wrinkles."

  "There was no such thing as sunscreen when we were young. I'm sure the damage is already done."

  "What do you mean, when we were young?" Betsy asked with a laugh.

  "I'm nearly forty, if you'll remember. My days of youth are past."

  "You've been nearly forty for three years," Jo teased.

  "Yeah, well, this time, it's for real," she said.

  Betsy winked at Johanna. "Three more months," she said quietly. "That's how long we'll have to listen to it."

  Cindy smacked a fly ball out to center field and the inning was over. Jo spotted Kay as she headed to second base and waved at her.

  "I haven't seen Kay in a while," she said.

  "Well, if you would come out with us more, you would,"

  Betsy retorted.

  5

  "You know I don't go to the bar during the semester."

  "Everyone knows you're gay. What's the big deal?"

  "I just would hate to run into one of my students there."

  The players ran to their positions, and her eyes followed a woman she didn't know. The woman was tall and lean and very tan. Jo watched as she jogged to third base. Pulling her cap off, the stranger ran her fingers through her short, dark hair, brushing it away from her face. She was very dark, one of those people who had a tan no matter what time of year it was, one of those people Johanna had always been jealous of. She had to work at her tan, being so blonde and blue-eyed.

  The woman pulled the cap back on her head and kicked dirt with her foot. She pounded her glove with her hand, and then crouched in the ready position while Johanna stared at her. God, she's cute, she thought.

  "That's Kelly Sambino," Betsy said, following her gaze.

  "Who?" Jo asked innocently.

  "Third base."

  "Oh.” She pulled her eyes away, embarrassed. She had never been one to stare.

  Sharon, the pitcher, was the youngest member of the team, not yet thirty, and she turned around, making sure her teammates were ready before tossing the first pitch. Johanna watched as it sailed high, then slid her eyes back to third base. The woman yelled something to Sharon, then moved in a little closer on the infield. The next pitch was hit high to the outfield, and the left fielder moved under it, caught it effortlessly and then threw it back to the infield.

  Johanna sat back in her chair to watch Sharon pitch but couldn't keep her gaze off third for long. Her eyes followed the ball bouncing up the third base line. Kelly Sambino charged it, picked it up smoothly and fired it to first base.

  The runner was out by three steps. Jo smiled as Kelly turned 6

  and walked back to third base. The next hitter flied out, and Jo’s eyes followed the dark woman as she jogged back to the dugout, accepting congratulations from her teammates.

  Johanna couldn't see her in the dugout so she purposely kept her eyes on the field. Kay was the first to bat, and Jo cheered her on when the first pitch was hit over the shortstop's head into the outfield. Then her breath caught as Kelly Sambino walked confidently to the plate, taking a few practice swings before stepping into the batter's box.

  "Come on, Kelly," Kay yelled from first base.

  "She hit a home run her first time up," Janis said.

  "Really?” Jo murmured, trying to sound nonchalant, all the while watching intently as Kelly waited for the first pitch. It was low, and she stepped back and took another practice swing. Johanna saw the muscles in Kelly’s arms stand out as she clutched the bat. She strained to hear as Kelly spoke to the catcher, smiling briefly before turning her attention back to the pitcher. The next pitch was perfect, and Kelly sent it flying to the outfield. The left fielder turned and ran toward the fence but the ball sailed over her head.

  Kay was already rounding third. Kelly ran past second base and raced for third, diving headfirst to the bag, just beating the throw.

  Jo found herself cheering along with the rest of the crowd, watching with interest as Kelly stood up and dusted off her pants and shirt, her hands moving over her breasts and stomach absently as she grinned, teeth white against her tan. Johanna stared at her, unable to look away as Kelly chatted with the player from the other team, all the while a smile firmly in place, as if she was surprised at her hit.

  "She's quite a player," Betsy said. "Christy said she used to play college ball in California."

  Jo nodded and again forced herself to look away. It was becoming embarrassing, the way she was staring. It was so 7

  unlike her to have such an instant attraction to someone, especially someone she had yet to meet. Besides, she doubted she would even like her. Women like her had girls falling over them all the time. Kelly probably had a string of women littering the streets of San Antonio at this very moment.

  The next two batters struck out, and Kelly still stood at third, clapping her hands, urging Deb to bring her home.

  Deb hit the first pitch, and it rolled between first and second, just out of the other team’s reach, and Kelly trotted home, stepped on the plate and picked up Deb's discarded bat.

  "Way to go, Sambino," someone yelled from the dugout, and Jo watched as Kelly walked in front of them, still smiling. For a second, she looked their way. Jo froze as dark eyes settled on her briefly. Then Kelly went into the dugout, accepting handslaps from her teammates, now out of Jo's view, who turned her attention, with effort, back to the field.

  The game ended twenty minutes later, and Jo stood to stretch her legs. The heat she hadn’t even thought about during the game now settled
around her again. Grabbing another beer from her cooler, she took a long swallow and wiped her brow. The teams were on the field shaking hands and talking. She forced her eyes away from Kelly Sambino and settled them on Kay, who was walking toward the fence.

  "Jo! Glad you came," Kay called.

  "Hi. You had a good game, Kay."

  "Thanks. We've got another one at three. Are you staying?"

  "Yes," she said immediately.

  "Good. I'll talk to you in a minute," Kay said and walked to the dugout.

  Jo waved at Deb as she walked back to the dugout and realized that she had not spoken to Deb since Christmas. Or was it New Year’s? They had been good friends once, sharing meals and movies. When they had both been single, they’d 8

  spent many an evening together. But then Jo had started seeing Nancy and Deb had disappeared from her life, except for group holidays, it seemed. She sighed. Wasn’t that how it always was? Give up your friends for a lover, and when the lover leaves, your friends are gone, too. Jo sighed again.

  It was as if they were strangers now, and Jo made a mental note to invite her to dinner some night soon.

  Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she realized where she was, looked away from the field, and followed Betsy and Janis as they went to meet the players. Johanna was acutely aware of her nervousness as her eyes searched for Kelly Sambino. She spotted her talking to Christy and knew that Betsy and Janis were heading that way. She briefly hung back, almost afraid to meet her, but Betsy turned around and motioned for her to follow.

  "Are you kidding? I was lucky to make it to third," Kelly was saying to Christy with a smile, and Jo caught her breath as Kelly looked around and rested those dark eyes on her again.

  "Great game!" Betsy applauded. "A shutout."

  "Yeah. They were picked to win the tournament, too,"

  Christy grinned. She turned to Johanna then. "Jo, this is Kelly Sambino, a friend of mine from San Antonio.” She turned to Kelly and pointed at Jo. "Johanna Marshall."

  "Hi," Kelly said and stuck out her hand.

  Jo was forced to take it, to feel Kelly’s fingers wrap around her hand, to feel her firm grip. She kept her eyes down as their hands clasped, then raised them to meet Kelly’s deep brown eyes directly.