Crossroads

Chapter Twenty-three

Hollis worked on the house while the light lasted, sweating in the warm evening air as she nailed up trim, replaced floorboards on the porch, and scraped siding in preparation for repainting. She wasn’t working to fill the time or exhaust herself enough to sleep as she often did. She was sawing and hammering and carrying stacks of lumber to keep her mind off the way her body hummed with the aftereffects of Annie’s kiss. The rhythmic hum of the saw and steady cadence of hammer hitting nails crowded out her thoughts for moments at a time, but always when the physical exertion waned, the fire ignited by that kiss came surging back. Under the surface of her skin the stirrings of desire persisted like the bass line pulsing beneath the melody of a familiar song.

She stepped back, squinted at the 45° angle joining the two pieces of trim she’d just set around a porch column. Looked good. She rubbed her hand over her chest, massaging an ache she couldn’t touch. Even as she struggled for balance, for a little distance, she replayed the exhilaration of the moment she’d pulled Annie into her arms. Annie. She wanted her. No denying it, not when her body was strung tight, clamoring for more of the heady sensation. Going slow would be a challenge. She hadn’t craved like this since she’d first discovered sex, and those unschooled urges were only pale imitations of this consuming hunger.

She understood lust, but this wasn’t that. She wasn’t a hermit, or a monk. She dated a few women who enjoyed sex after a pleasant evening and who didn’t expect anything more beyond that, and that suited everyone just fine. But Annie wasn’t one of those women. Annie wasn’t someone she could touch casually, wasn’t a woman with whom she could share a few hours of physical pleasure and then leave with a quick kiss and an I’ll see you later. No, Annie was far more special than that.

Hollis put her hammer aside and sat on the top step of her back porch. Her yard bordered the street, separated from the sidewalk by a hedgerow and at the end farthest from the neighbor’s yard by a wooden fence. Even though she caught glimpses of cars passing and people walking by through the gaps in the hedge, she was invisible to them, alone in the slowly diminishing twilight. She rubbed the back of her neck. Her skin still tingled from where Annie’s hand had rested. The whole front of her body vibrated from the sensation of Annie pressed against her when they’d kissed—when she’d held Annie close. She hadn’t known she was going to do that, which was pretty damn surprising all by itself. She didn’t do things spontaneously. Not where women were concerned, not anywhere in her life. But Annie had been about to get into her car—about to disappear—and she hadn’t wanted her to go. She’d had more she’d wanted to say. Thank you for bringing me dinner, thank you for remembering what I like to eat, thank you for letting me share your daughter. Thank you for making me feel my heart beat for the first time in so long.

She hadn’t had the words, and the hunger had been riding her hard. She’d wanted the softness of Annie’s mouth against hers again, wanted to taste her again, wanted to hear the soft sound Annie made in her throat that she wasn’t even aware she made when they kissed. That little murmur of pleasure shot through Hollis like an arrow, and she wanted nothing more than to coax Annie into making it again and again. She wanted it now like an ache in her soul. Hollis propped her elbows on her knees, laced her fingers behind her head, and closed her eyes, torturing herself with sweet memories. A hurricane raged inside her as she recalled every second of their too-short kisses, every inch of flesh where their bodies had too briefly touched. What was she going to do about this need she had for Annie?

This need gnawing at her wasn’t going to be fixed by a few kisses or a night or two of hot sweaty sex. She wanted Annie fiercely. She wanted to be over her, she wanted to be inside her, she wanted Annie to open for her, to wrap her arms around her, to pull her deep, deep inside.

Hollis shot to her feet. The sun was gone, twilight had drifted away, and night had fallen. The kitchen light behind her glowed pale gold, casting molten shadows on the porch. She thought she might be looking at another sleepless night, but one far different than those that usually plagued her. She was restless and agitated, but not from some vague discontent. She willed the night to be over so she could wake up and go to Annie. Annie, a woman who had the power to leave her defenseless. Helpless. Vulnerable. She didn’t care—and that scared the hell out of her.

*

“When is Hollis coming?” Callie asked at nine on Saturday.

Annie placed a glass of orange juice in front of Callie. “I don’t know, baby. We have to wait until she calls. She might have to go to the hospital first, remember I told you that?”

“I know, but I’ve been awake for a long time already.”

“You woke up extra early, so it makes it seem like you’ve been awake even longer than usual.”

Callie pushed her glass around on the tabletop, her expression contemplative. “If I sleep longer, I have to wait less?”

“Sometimes.” Annie kissed the top of Callie’s head. Her hair smelled as sweet and delicate as freshly opened rose blossoms. “She’ll be here soon, baby.”

She hoped. She was as anxious as Callie. She’d been keyed up ever since leaving Hollis, and a good part of her agitation had been physical. She recognized it, despite how long it had been since she’d experienced anything even close to unrequited desire. The sensations tormenting her had been that and so much more. Pure physical longing was a new experience—she’d been dependent on Jeff, although at the time she hadn’t recognized her attraction for what it was. He’d been her guide in a strange and unsettling new world, and she’d mistaken need for something deeper. This fire in her blood was altogether different. She couldn’t stop thinking about Hollis’s mouth, her hands, the hard length of her body. Just the woodsy-citrus scent of Hollis’s skin made her twist inside.

She hadn’t gotten much sleep and had awakened at the first trill of birdsong outside her window. She generally rose with the sun, enjoying being up and about as the world awakened, but today the instant she’d opened her eyes expectation rushed through her, so intense she’d gasped out loud. Her thighs had tightened and her nipples had throbbed. The flush of instant arousal was so unexpected, so unusual, she’d clutched the sheet in both hands, afraid the slightest movement might make her explode. She’d gone to sleep imagining Hollis stretched out above her, and she’d awakened wanting her everywhere. She was a wreck.

“Mommy?”

Annie jumped, aware of the spatula in her hand and the pancakes browning on the griddle. She steadied her voice. “Yes, baby?”

“I think Hollis is here.”

“What?” Annie spun toward the screen door leading to their small back porch and postage-stamp yard.

“I guess I’m too early,” Hollis said through the screen. She leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb, one hand in the pocket of black jeans, a white shirt open at the neck, the sleeves rolled up her forearms. She looked sexy and a little dangerous. She looked gorgeous. “I’ll wait—”

“No,” Annie said quickly. Too quickly. How uncool could she be? “You’re not early. Come in.”

Hollis grinned, liking the way Annie flushed, liking her a little off guard and flustered. Guess she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. “I went to the front door first—didn’t see any signs of life. I don’t want to interrupt—”

“We’re having pancakes and bacon.” Annie gestured to the table and the plate of bacon she’d just placed there. “What did you have?”

“Um. Half a slice of cold pizza?”

Laughing, Annie pointed to the table. “Get in here. Sit.”

“Well, if you put it that way.” Hollis hurried inside and stopped a few inches from Annie. “Hi.”

Annie tumbled right into her eyes, went in over her head in an instant, and wasn’t sure she’d ever surface. When she came back to her senses, she brushed her lips over Hollis’s cheek, needing the tiniest taste to ease the urgency filling her chest. “Hi.”

Hollis’s eyes darkened and she stroked lightly down Annie’s side, her fingertips coming to rest just above Annie’s hipbone. “You sure this is okay?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“You look great.”

“Sit, Hollis,” Annie murmured, wishing like hell she’d put on something sexier than a plain old green tee. “Breakfast.”

“Right.” Hollis glanced at Callie, knelt by her chair, and said, “Hi, Callie. You ready to go bicycle shopping with Mommy and me?”

“Yes, we have been waiting.”

“Have you.” Hollis glanced up at Annie, then back at Callie. “Well. Let’s have breakfast so we can get going.”

Hollis rose, purposefully not looking at Annie until she’d made her way around to the far side of the table. If she looked at Annie another second, she’d have to touch her again, and as electrifying as that was, the little bit of physical contact was making her crazy. She wanted more. She made herself sit across from Callie while Annie finished cooking. Watching Annie was almost as good as touching her. She moved gracefully, with certainty, the confidence she displayed with her patients instilling her every movement, no matter what she was doing. And she looked fabulous in low-riding black pants and a white tank under a scoop-neck emerald-green tee. Hollis didn’t have to work hard at all to imagine sliding up behind her, tugging her firm, curvy ass against her crotch, and kissing the back of her neck. From there she’d tease the T-shirt from her pants and skim her hand…

Hollis jerked her gaze away from Annie’s ass. She was going to burst out of her skin if she didn’t stop thinking about sex. Sex with Annie.

Annie turned and stopped with a spatula holding a golden pancake poised in midair. She stared at Hollis. “What?”

Hollis shook her head. She couldn’t say what she was thinking. She didn’t know where they were going, but she wasn’t letting her hormones drive. She couldn’t. She didn’t trust herself to think rationally, not where Annie was concerned. “You need me to do anything?” When Annie’s eyes widened, Hollis added quickly, “For breakfast. Help with breakfast.”

“Oh. No. Almost there.” Annie pulled plates from a cabinet, flipped pancakes onto them, and carried them to the table. “Here you go.”

“Mommy, you forgot the syrup,” Callie announced.

“Would I do that?” Annie passed the bacon to Hollis, grabbed the syrup from the fridge, and settled at the end of the table with Callie on one side and Hollis on the other. “Okay, you two. Eat.”

Hollis’s knee bumped Annie’s and the ripple of heat that shot up her leg made her jump. She glanced at Annie, who was supervising Callie’s syrup pouring. “Sorry.”

“That’s all right,” Annie said, not looking at her.

Hollis concentrated on the very good pancakes. She was hungry, but her stomach was in knots. Maybe she needed a time-out. Maybe she should take her hormone-addled brain and her amped-up body for a walk around the block before she did something really stupid.

Annie smiled at her. “Everything okay?”

Hollis forgot why being unable to think of anything except Annie was a bad thing. “Everything is perfect.”

*

Hollis drained the last of her coffee and set the cup beside her plate. “That was fantas—”

The theme song from Sons of Anarchy played, and Annie looked toward her leather bag sitting on the far end of the kitchen counter. “I’m not on call, but I should probably get that.”

“I’ll get the dishes.”

Annie dashed for her cell and Hollis stacked plates. As she carried them to the sink, she heard Annie say, “No, that’s all right. When? Yes, I’ll take care of it. Thanks.”

Annie lowered her phone and sighed. “That was the service. One of my patients called and thinks she’s in labor. I need to call her.” She glanced at Callie, who was looking anxiously from Annie to Hollis. “Baby, why don’t you go grab one of your coloring books while Mommy makes a call.”

Callie swiveled and said to Hollis, “Are you staying?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.” Callie hopped down and bounded from the room.

“I’ll wait outside,” Hollis said, heading for the back porch.

Five minutes later, Annie joined her. “I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to see her. This is her second baby, and her first labor was short. If she’s started, she might go fast.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Hollis said.

“Callie is going to be disappointed.” Annie smiled wryly. “Me too.”

“Look,” Hollis said, “how about if I take Callie to look at bikes. Then, when you’re free, you can decide if you approve of her choice.”

Annie looked toward the kitchen where Callie colored at the table. “Hollis, she’s a handful sometimes. I could be gone half the day, maybe more.”

“So tell me who you’d get to look after her, and if it gets really late or Callie wants someone more familiar, I’ll take her there. But I think we’ll be fine.”

“She’d love it if you took her bike shopping, but it’s a lot to ask.”

“I volunteered, remember?” Hollis took Annie’s hand. “Really. I want to. I’m not going to do anything except hang around over at my place and probably end up pounding in a few more nails.”

“You’re sure?”

Annie’s fingers slipped through Hollis’s, and the action was so natural and felt so right, Hollis’s heart gave a little jolt of happiness. She tugged Annie closer and looped an arm loosely around Annie’s waist. “I’m sure.”

Annie’s eyes sparkled and she kissed Hollis swiftly on the mouth. “Thank you.”

“Maybe you can do that again, later,” Hollis said, refusing to listen to the voice of caution roaring in her head.

“Maybe.” Annie’s smile widened and she brushed her free hand over Hollis’s chest. “Maybe I will.”