Force of Nature Read online

  “I’m sorry. I was afraid it would freak you out and make you start acting weird around me.”

  “Well, I got depressed after that. Kind of shut myself away for a while, wondering what I was going to do. And then I got pissed at you for not being honest with me.”

  “Which is why you were so angry at me in the locker room, and didn’t answer my messages.”

  “Yeah. I guess I wasn’t done stewing about it,” Erin said. “You sure have left me all stirred up and flustrated, I can tell you!” The blush returned.

  Gable laughed. “So what made you come to the pharmacy?”

  “Well, I got to missing you somethin’ fierce. I played back your phone messages a jillion times just to hear your voice.”

  “You did?” Gable’s heartbeat filled her chest. She felt light-headed. This had to be a dream. Erin saying these things to her. Lord, please don’t let me wake up.

  “And I put your note on my refrigerator and read it about every two minutes! Anyway, I decided I was throwing away the best friend I ever had, and that I might have acted too hastily,” Erin continued. “I was just so sure that you did feel something special for me that I had to find a way to tell you how I felt, and really give us a chance.” She smiled. “Sorry it took a few days to work up the nerve to say anything, and even then I had to resort to song titles.”

  “Thanks for being brave.”

  “But I have to warn you, Gable. I want you like crazy—it’s all I can think about! But it’s still really scary to me.” Erin looked away. “I’m a mess with relationships anyway. And I don’t know how to…well…how to be with a woman, you know? I mean…” Her eyes met Gable’s. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  Gable relished the words. She wants me like crazy! She took Erin’s hand in both of hers. “Erin, I’ve not been great at relationships, either. If it makes you feel any better, I’m probably just as terrified and nervous as you are. I mean, I don’t want to disappoint you, either.”

  “Maybe we can just take this one step at a time, then?” Erin asked.

  “We can do that.”

  “But not too slow,” Erin added with a grin. Her blush deepened. “I mean, my fantasizing muscles have sure been getting a workout lately, and I’m afraid if we wait too long I might spontaneously combust!”

  Gable laughed, but her body felt suddenly overheated too. “I’ll let you set the pace, then,” she said. “How’s that?”

  There was a short silence, and then Erin met Gable’s eyes. There was mischief there, replacing the embarrassment that had tinted her cheeks. “In that case,” she said, “I’d like to make a date with you for Saturday.”

  “Saturday?” Gable whined. “That’s five whole days away.”

  “You didn’t let me finish,” Erin said, “I’ll see you before then, but I’d like to make a date for Saturday as in…a date. As in, your next day off? When there’s plenty of time?” Erin moistened her lips and Gable’s body heated up another ten degrees.

  “Plenty of time?” she repeated weakly.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Erin gazed into her eyes with heart-stopping candor. “I want our first time together…like that…to be really special. Unhurried.”

  “You mean?” Gable stuttered, as Erin’s face moved an inch closer.

  “Is that too soon for you?” Erin moved another inch closer, then two. Three.

  Gable shook her head vigorously, as her pulse quickened.

  Erin grinned. “You are so slow to take a hint, sometimes, Gable. Will you please kiss me?”

  She barely got the words out before Gable covered Erin’s mouth with her own, their lips meeting in a sweet, soft kiss. She wanted so much to remember that moment that time seemed to stand still. The kiss was tentative at first, a gentle pressing together—then barely apart for a millisecond to reposition before they came together again, this time with much more certainty.

  No one’s lips could be this incredibly soft.

  Gable extended the tip of her tongue to caress Erin’s lips—slowly, languidly. Memorizing every centimeter of that oh-so-inviting mouth. She had stared at it for hours and dreamed of kissing it for weeks. But the real thing far surpassed the fantasies she’d entertained.

  Soon, Erin responded to her moist, gentle caresses by meeting Gable’s tongue with her own, and the kiss deepened, igniting a fire in Gable’s lower belly and making her head swim. When they finally parted to breathe, Gable found it hard to focus.

  Erin looked equally discombobulated. "I get it now,” she sighed happily.

  “Get it?”

  “Yeah. Golly!”

  Gable exhaled a long hum of contentment. “It is pretty amazing—how it can feel so different with the right person.”

  “No kidding! I can’t begin to tell you what you do to my body when you kiss me.”

  “I have a pretty good idea. Five days suddenly seems like an eternity!”

  Erin grinned. “It’ll pass before you know it. At least I hope it will. You know I have training tomorrow night and Wednesday night, right?”

  “Training?” Gable wailed.

  “Yeah, I had to reschedule those sessions I cancelled. I probably won’t finish until pretty late. And I have one on Saturday morning, but I’ll be done by early afternoon.”

  Gable stuck out her lip in a pout.

  “We can see each other on Thursday and Friday, though,” Erin offered. “Maybe go out to dinner one night?”

  Gable groaned. “Thursday and Friday are out too. We’re doing inventory at the drugstore after we close.”

  “Oh no!”

  “Yeah, major bummer. Gonna seem like a long time until Saturday afternoon.”

  Erin leaned forward to whisper in Gable’s ear seductively. “Well, there is something to be said for anticipation, you know.”

  The warm breath against her skin sent a shudder through her. “I’ve already been anticipating for weeks,” she said. “I’m not sure how much more anticipating my body can take!”

  “Well, I’m right there with you,” Erin admitted. “So much so, in fact, that if you don’t get headed home pretty quick I may be very tempted to ask you to stay the night.”

  Gable’s body temperature shot up several more degrees. “Oh, it is so not going to be easy to wait,” she said, getting to her feet. “All right, I’ll be on my way. It is getting late.”

  Erin walked her to the door, and drew her into a good-bye hug. They lingered long like that, reluctant to part, their arms wrapped around one another.

  “Thank you for telling me how you feel,” Gable whispered

  Erin nodded, her face against Gable’s chest. “Kind of felt like I didn’t have much choice.” She pulled back to look up at her. “Pretty powerful.”

  Gable dipped her head to kiss Erin again, a gentle and sweet kiss good-bye, brief enough that it wouldn’t leave them both any more stirred up than they already were.

  “So…Saturday?” she said as they parted.

  Erin smiled at her. “It’s a date.”

  The words bounced around in Gable’s head the rest of that night and all the next day at work, like they had a mind of their own. They became the words to any tune that happened to cross her mind, however ridiculous the fit. The William Tell Overture:

  It’s a date, It’s a date, It’s a date, date, date!

  It’s a date, It’s a date, It’s a date, date, date!

  It’s a date, It’s a date, It’s a date, date, date!

  It’s a daaaaaaaaaaate! Yes! It’s a date, date, date!

  Chapter Twelve

  Though they couldn’t be together during the few days, they spoke often on the phone—each call ratcheting up the sexual anticipation between them.

  On Tuesday night, the phone rang just after Gable got in bed, intending to read until she got drowsy.

  “Well, one day down,” Erin greeted her when she answered. “Only four to go.”

  Gable laughed. “How was training?”

  “I wore myself out rolling and unrol
ling hose, so I should sleep pretty good tonight.”

  “It took me a while to fall asleep last night, after everything,” Gable admitted. She had driven home in a daze. Is it really happening? she'd asked herself over and over ever since. Can you just wake up one morning and find that all your dreams…even the dreams you never knew you had…had all suddenly come true?

  “It took me a long time too,” Erin said. “I kept thinking about Saturday. Picturing us together. It kind of put every nerve ending in my body on high alert.”

  “Oh, thanks a lot,” Gable muttered. “Now I’ll never get to sleep!”

  *

  The next evening’s phone conversation turned up the heat even more.

  “I would never have believed a day could drag on like this one did.” Gable was in bed again, waiting by the phone, and answered it on the first ring. “I swear to God it’s like time stood still.”

  “I know what you mean. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Just three more days.”

  “So what time do I get to see you on Saturday?” Gable asked.

  “I’m supposed to be done at two. Why don’t you come over at two fifteen? That’ll give me enough time to get home and get changed.”

  “Can I bring anything?”

  “Nope. Got it covered. Just bring yourself. Oh, and try to get caught up on your sleep between now and then. You’ll need your rest.”

  “Will I?”

  “Mmm-hmm. And don’t expect to get home early. Or at all. I want to take my time finding out what turns you on.”

  Gable groaned as a rush of liquid heat infused her body. “You know what you’re doing to me, don’t you?”

  “I sure hope so, because I’m dyin’ here! I’m about ready to just come over there right now and ravish you!”

  “Ravish me?” Gable gulped. “Oh, great. Thanks for that mental picture. There goes any chance of me getting any rest tonight!”

  *

  Thursday night she got into bed almost as soon as she got home at ten. But though she was beat from her long day doing inventory, she still had to talk to Erin before she could sleep. And she found that despite her exhaustion, her body responded to the sound of Erin’s voice as soon as she came on the line.

  “Just two more days until you get to have your way with me,” Erin teased.

  “You can be a cruel woman, Erin. You really like getting me all hot and bothered, don’t you?”

  Erin chuckled. “Fair’s fair. You do it to me too. Guess what I did today?”

  “Tell me.”

  “I did some searching on the Internet.”

  “For?”

  “Lesbian literature. You wouldn’t believe the stories I found online!”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah, very explicit stories. Let’s just say I have some new favorite authors. And I picked up a few ideas for Saturday.”

  “You’re killing me, here,” Gable complained good-naturedly, throwing off the bedcovers to cool her overheated body.

  *

  “Just one more day,” Erin said the next night when Gable answered the phone. “Actually, only sixteen hours or so…not that I’m counting, mind you.”

  “Worth the wait,” Gable said.

  “I hope you think so. I hope I can please you…”

  “Don’t be nervous about that. I really don’t think that’s going to be a problem, believe me.”

  “You don’t?”

  “Erin, I get so incredibly turned on just thinking about being with you that I’m more worried that I’ll…uh…let’s just say I’m worried that it will all be over much too fast!”

  “Well, if that happens, we’ll just have to practice until you’re entirely satisfied with the timing.”

  “Oh God, girl, you’re making me crazy.” Gable couldn’t help it. Her hand strayed to her nipple, rigid and sensitive, and began stroking it lightly. She could feel the dampness building between her legs. It wouldn’t take much for her to relieve this sexual tension.

  “Good! It’s only fair that we suffer this deliciously torturous anticipation together.”

  Suffer is right. Gable forced herself to stop. She knew only Erin’s hand…or mouth…could bring her any real satisfaction.

  *

  Finally, it was Saturday.

  Gable was so excited she couldn’t sleep past seven. She got up and made coffee and showered and dressed. She went online and checked her e-mail, absently munching on a bowl of cereal. Then she decided she didn’t like what she had chosen to wear, so she went through her closet and tried on another half dozen outfits, finally settling on khakis and a caramel-colored shirt with a tunic collar.

  Glancing at the kitchen clock as she poured herself a second cup of coffee, she was appalled to discover it was only just eight. She tackled every mindless chore she could think of to pass the time. She did the dishes and laundry, made out a grocery list, fixed a broken chair, balanced her checkbook, cleaned out the refrigerator, and filled bird feeders. But the clock mocked her efforts and slowed to a crawl. Now I know where the expression killing time comes from. I’m about ready to throw that damn thing against the wall.

  She surfed through her entire roster of 100-plus satellite channels, but nothing could hold her interest. Grabbing her keys off the counter, she headed to the flower and gift shop in Pine River, where she stared at floral arrangements for several minutes before settling on a bouquet of long-stemmed red roses.

  That took up nearly another whole half hour.

  She fixed herself a fluffer-nutter sandwich for lunch but decided as she sat down to eat it that her stomach was in too much turmoil to get it down. By twelve thirty she was pacing, impatient as hell, unable to distract herself further from any thought but of Erin. Never in her life, she was certain, had she been so incredibly, unbelievably primed and ready to go. I won’t last two more hours.

  But the closer it inched toward two, the more nervous she got too. I don’t want to let her down. Please don’t let her regret choosing this. Choosing us.

  Her phone rang and she nearly jumped out of her skin. It’s her! I know it’s her! She leapt for the receiver. “Hello?”

  “I can’t wait any longer. I’m going to explode.”

  Gable laughed. “Oh Lordy. Me too. Where are you? Aren’t you supposed to be in the middle of something?”

  “I’m home. I fibbed and said I didn’t feel well and wanted to quit early. Wanna come over and make me feel better?” Erin’s voice was so incredibly seductive that Gable’s body was instantly atingle with anticipation.

  “Don’t think me rude, but I’m hanging up now.” As she fumbled to put the receiver in its cradle, she could hear Erin laughing.

  *

  Gable checked her reflection in the rearview mirror when she pulled up to the last stop sign before Erin’s cabin. Her pupils were dilated and she was grinning ear to ear, like she’d lost her mind. She hardly recognized herself. She ran a hand through her hair to smooth down an errant strand, and took several deep breaths to try to calm herself. Her stomach was doing somersaults and her senses all seemed hypersensitive, as if to fully appreciate the feelings swirling around inside of her.

  In her forty-six years, she could not remember feeling this happy. This excited. And certainly never this aroused.

  Erin was waiting for her in the open doorway, reclining against the frame, Earl Grey in her arms to keep him from getting outside.

  Gable had, from the first moment, thought her an incredibly attractive woman. But she’d never thought her more beautiful than at that moment. Erin was barefoot, clad in faded jeans that had molded themselves to her and a navy T-shirt, left untucked, that was thin enough to let Gable know she wasn’t wearing a bra. She had a glow about her, and Gable could see undisguised desire in her eyes.

  They watched each other, smiling shyly but not speaking, as Gable slowly mounted the steps with the roses held at her side. Her whole body was trembling.

  Erin moistened her lips as Gable neared, and in a mom
ent they stood two feet apart. Erin made no move to step aside so Gable could come in.

  Gable reached out with her free hand and scratched Earl Grey under the chin, but her eyes never left Erin’s. “You know that I just have to kiss you first thing, don’t you?”

  “I sure hope so,” Erin said, smiling up at her. “Because I’m not letting you inside until you do.”

  Gable lifted her hand to caress the side of Erin’s face, just before she dipped her head and brought their mouths together.

  Five days of anticipation fueled the kiss.

  Erin moaned and opened her mouth, inviting Gable in, and the heat in Gable’s belly became a bonfire. When their tongues met and began stroking…tasting…exploring…her head began to swim. Her body moved of its own accord toward Erin’s, and Erin’s moved toward her.

  Earl Grey rowled loudly when he got pressed between them, and struggled to get free of Erin’s arms.

  They broke apart, chuckling at the cat. Erin tried to calm him while Gable struggled to focus. She put a hand on the doorway and leaned against it. Her breathing was ragged and she felt unsteady on her feet.

  “Your kiss sure packs a punch,” she said.

  Erin blushed but she had a very pleased smile on her face. “Does it? I’d tell you something along the same lines but I’m finding it impossible to think coherently at the moment.” She nodded her head toward the bouquet of roses at Gable’s side. “Are those for me?”

  Gable held them up, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, forgot all about them. You turned my brain to mush.”

  “Flatterer. Get in here and I’ll find something to put them in.”

  Gable followed Erin to the kitchen on shaky legs.

  “Would you believe I found this in the rubble? It was my grandmother’s.” Erin held up a large crystal vase for her inspection. “It was buried under a collapsed wall. Not a scratch on it.” She ran her fingers over the etched surface. “It’s amazing how a tornado can take a whole house and break it apart, and yet spare something so fragile.” She loosely arranged the flowers in the vase and set it in the sink to fill with water.