Does She Love You? Page 2

  “No,” Davis said emphatically. “She’s attractive, but that’s not enough for me anymore. She could be a pervert or a drug addict or married. I mean, really, why’s a woman who looks like her in a gay men’s bar on a Tuesday night?”

  “I could ask you the same thing,” came the sound of a woman’s voice over her shoulder.

  Davis turned around slowly. “I’m sorry. Do you make a habit of eavesdropping on other people’s conversations?”

  “I do, actually,” the woman said with a maddeningly confident smile. “It’s rude, I know, but really it’s the least of my faults, what with being a drug-addicted pervert and all.”

  Cass snorted and raised her glass. “Well-played.”

  The woman turned to the bartender. “I called in an order to go. The last name’s McCoy.”

  “It’ll be a few more minutes. Want a drink?”

  “Sure, I’ll take an amaretto and Coke.”

  “You two have the same drink order,” Cass said. “I think it’s a sign.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” the woman said. “The true test would come if the bartender says, ‘We just have Pepsi.’”

  “Shut your mouth,” Davis replied forcefully.

  Prince Charming laughed. “Well, then, I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

  “No so fast,” Davis cut in. She wasn’t about to get swept away in another pretty face, even one with dimples. “You never answered my first question. Why are you in a gay bar at nine on a Tuesday?”

  “You mean aside from jonesing for an 8-ball?”

  “Obviously.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m staying at the Wyndham down the road, and I’m sick of eating in a hotel room.”

  That she could understand. She ate her fair share of bad food in lonely rooms, but that didn’t mean she was softening. “Why order the food to go?”

  The woman crooked an amused smile. “Now you’ve caught me in my big perversion. I intend to take my sandwich and eat it in Piedmont Park because I like the way the skyline lights up the darkness from there.”

  Davis frowned as she thought of a little grassy knoll where she liked to watch the sunset behind the high-rises. The idea of this woman she wanted to be suspicious of enjoying the same view made it much harder to keep her resolve.

  “Order for McCoy,” the bartender called from the other end of the bar.

  “Well, ladies, it’s been fun being interrogated by you. I hope you have a lovely night.”

  “Sure, and any time you need someone to sass you into submission, come on back,” Davis quipped with the last of her resolve not to be any easy mark.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with another beautiful smile, and walked away.

  Davis watched her go, wishing she’d made her invitation a little nicer. She’d just finished telling Cass she wanted to meet a woman she was actually interested in getting to know better, and yet she’d spent the last ten minutes pushing one away. Maybe her standards were too high, or her trust issues too deep. Was it so unreasonable to think single, attractive, socially adept lesbians still existed in Atlanta? There was really only one way to find out.

  Davis slapped a twenty on the bar and faked a yawn. “I’m calling it a night, too.”

  “Fine. Go. Both of you lonely bastards,” Cass said theatrically. “The night is young and so am I. I’m going to cuddle up to Diesel Dyke across the room and see how I like the smell of motor oil in bed.”

  “You have fun with that, and be careful.”

  “Me be careful? You’re the one about to go to the park at night with an admitted pervert.”

  Davis feigned shock.

  “Don’t deny it. Just go before she gets away.”

  Davis kissed Cass on the cheek and headed out the door.

  Prince Charming was only half a block ahead, walking slowly, and Davis took a second to enjoy the view before she caught up and fell into step beside her.

  “All right. Well, if I’m about to go to the park with a pervert at night, we should at least know each other’s names.”

  “Sounds reasonable, assuming I can trust you to give me your real name.”

  Davis grinned. “I suppose that’s a chance you’ll have to take. I’m Davis.”

  “Nice to meet you, Davis. I’m Nic McCoy.”

  *

  Nic could stop right now.

  She could tell Davis she was tired and had an early flight, or, better yet, she could tell her she had a wife of thirteen years at home. Women hit on her all the time, and she always said no.

  Well, she almost always said no.

  Davis struck her as one of those women she should definitely say no to. She seemed too smart, too together to settle for any half-worked excuses or easy outs. Even after a few minutes, she could tell Davis wasn’t like anyone else in her life, and while that excited her, it was a complication she didn’t need. She should end their little flirtation before it became something more. Instead, she took a seat on a park bench and pulled a double cheeseburger out of a paper bag. “Here, split this with me.”

  “Don’t offer me something to be polite,” Davis said. “I will not hesitate to eat your dinner. I’m not one of those girls who watches her figure.”

  “Well, I am, or at least I should be. Please, you’ll save me from just injecting the fat right into my love handles.”

  “When you put it that way, how could I resist? The first thing I thought when I saw you was, ‘She’s cute but a little pudgy.’”

  Nic laughed. Women didn’t usually talk to her like that, not at work and not at home. Annabelle certainly didn’t.

  Belle. Good. Think of Belle.

  Think of her blue eyes and her shy smile. Think about how lost you’d be without her, how much you depend on her to keep you steady. Think of her at home all soft and sexy in your bed. Think of her cooking breakfast and talking about a baby…and putting so much freaking pressure on you to live a perfectly orchestrated life.

  God, what’s the matter with me?

  “Hey, space cadet, you going to pass me that burger or not?”

  “Sure.” Nic tore the burger in half and handed part of it to Davis.

  “I like to come watch the sunset here sometimes, but I’ve never stayed past dark, you know, because only perverts go to the park at night,” Davis said, then looked around and softened slightly. “It’s really beautiful, though.”

  “Yes, it is.” Nic agreed, but she wasn’t looking at the city. She was captivated by the unexpectedly sassy redhead sitting next to her. Why did she have to be a redhead? That, combined with her hypnotic green eyes, made Davis even harder to resist. Still, she had to try. “Hey, Davis, there’s something you should know before we go any further.”

  “Oh, here it comes,” Davis said ominously, taking a big bite of the burger and swallowing, having barely chewed. “Let me guess, genital warts?”

  Nic coughed and sputtered part of her burger onto her lap. “What?”

  “You’ve got genital warts?”

  “No.”

  “You’re on a prison work release?”

  “I’ve never been in prison.”

  “You’re really a man who’s transitioning?” Davis kept eating her burger as if having a completely normal conversation. “Actually that’s not a total deal-breaker, but I’d have questions.”

  Nic chuckled. “Good to know, but no, all my plumbing is original.”

  “Are you carrying a concealed firearm?”

  “No, Davis, it’s just—”

  “You want to play blood sports?”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  Davis stood up. “Oh, shit, you really did bring me here to rape me.”

  “Jesus, no.” Nic rubbed her face. “Man, who screwed you up so bad your mind goes there so quickly?”

  “Ugh, you could fill a small phone book with the names on that list.” Davis sighed and flopped back onto the bench. “There’s no one person to blame, unless of c
ourse you want to blame me.”

  “Blame you?”

  “For believing them.”

  “Ah.” Nic rushed to tell this witty, beautiful, and funny woman that any woman who hurt her wasn’t worth her, and then she remembered she’d probably be one more name on the list of disappointments.

  “It’s a fairy tale anyway,” Davis said. “No one ever really has everything.”

  “Maybe that’s true.” I certainly seem to have it all, and yet here I am reaching for more. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t keep chasing it.”

  Davis polished off her half of the hamburger and drew her knees to her chest. “I don’t know. I’ve got a dream job, a great place to live, a little money in savings, and wonderful friends. Maybe that needs to be enough.”

  She was right. Nic should tell her so. They were both blessed beyond what the majority of the world could even wish for, and yet here they were both yearning for more, some intangible they both missed amid the seeming perfection. Were they greedy? Unrealistic? Or were they meant to meet tonight? They were clearly searching for something or someone to fill some unnamed need. And Davis looked like she knew how to fill a need with her sexy lips, tight blue jeans, and those green eyes. It really was her eyes that Nic couldn’t pull away from. Something deep and mischievous filled them, something that made her feel challenged, excited, alive. Or maybe the thrill of the chase stirred her emotions, but either way she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this.

  “I’m not demanding a forever kind of let’s-go-pick-out-china-patterns relationship,” Davis whispered. “I’m just looking for a little passion.”

  “Passion.” Nic jumped up. “That’s it.”

  “What?”

  “I was sitting here trying to decide what you’re stirring in me. It’s passion.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you.” Nic reached for her hand. “I feel loyalty and duty and caring and responsibility, and even love, all the time, but I can’t remember the last time I felt passionate enough to do something against my better judgment.”

  Davis cautiously took Nic’s outstretched hand. “What’s that?”

  Instead of answering, Nic pulled Davis into her arms. Their lips met in an explosion of heat and need. It didn’t take coaxing. Davis opened up willingly, eagerly, her lips parting to welcome Nic’s tongue. Refusing to be a passive passenger, Nic returned the kiss with ferocity. There was no going back. Nic felt weak, and she didn’t care. How could something so wrong feel so damn perfect?

  She’d never been one to think clearly with a woman in her arms, so she chose to not think at all. She didn’t think about what she’d do in the morning. She didn’t think when they raced back to her hotel and fell into bed. All she let herself do was feel. She reveled in the softness of bare skin as she stripped off Davis’s tight shirt and thrilled at the hum of her own pulse as she peeled away Davis’s blue jeans. Aching to release the pressure building in her coiled muscles, she positioned herself over Davis’s body. She got lost in the realm of the physical, soaking up the sight of Davis’s lithe body arching up to meet hers. The subtle taste of sweat as she licked her way from one nipple to the other and the mingled scent of their growing arousal burned away her ability to feel anything other than lust.

  They panted, kissed, nipped, and sucked as Nic worked her hand between Davis’s legs until she was positioned perfectly to push inside her. Davis wrapped her strong thighs around Nic, trying to pull her in, but Nic summoned all her fortitude to hold off. She was able to assert some semblance of self-control as she teased around the edges of where she really wanted to be, intending to draw the encounter out as long as she could, but Davis dug her fingernails into Nic’s back and, thrusting up, panted, “Fuck me now.”

  Being wanted was a drug to Nic. She lunged forward and crashed into Davis. Hammering into her, their bodies rocked in a primal rhythm. She flicked her thumb across Davis’s clit and attempted to keep it there as they continued fucking. Thankfully they were so turned on by that point it didn’t take any great coordination to send Davis over the edge. She came loudly, clutching tightly and trying to muffle a shout with her mouth against Nic’s neck.

  She shuddered and contracted around Nic’s fingers, pulling every last bit of pleasure she could from the body against hers, but even as the tremors subsided, she started to kiss and suck her way up to Nic’s ear. “Let’s see if you receive as good as you give.”

  Nic’s clit begged to answer that question, but she generally basked in the afterglow as a courtesy to her lover. “Don’t you want some time to catch your breath?”

  “My, someone has a high opinion of herself.” Davis laughed and pushed Nic onto her back. “Or are you one of those dykes whose ego is going to crumble if I flip your script?”

  “Flip my script?”

  Davis straddled Nic’s hips, her naked body looming firm and deliciously touchable. “You know, if I top you, rock your world, fuck you like a piston, and turn you into a big ol’ pillow queen.”

  “Considering how turned on I got at that explanation, I’m pretty sure I don’t have a problem with it.”

  Nic sat up and took a nipple between her lips, giving it a playful suck, but Davis pushed her back at arm’s length. “Good, then turn around.”

  “Why?”

  “You ask too many questions.”

  Nic bit her tongue. She wasn’t used to being bossed around in any area of her life, especially in bed, but she did as she was told and rolled onto her stomach, then pushed up on her knees facing the hotel-style headboard. Davis pressed up behind her, nipples hard against Nic’s back as she snaked one arm around her shoulder and the other around her waist. With the upper hand she went to work squeezing and caressing Nic’s breasts, and with the other she began to draw delicate circles around her clit, getting a little firmer with each pass.

  Nic groaned and leaned forward, bracing herself with one arm against the headboard. A flush spread across Nic’s face and chest as a by-product of her arousal and the heat of their bodies pressed together. A sheen of sweat covered them both from the exertion of increasingly erratic movements, and Nic’s focus blurred. She lolled her head back onto Davis’s shoulder and gave in to the sensations building between her legs. Davis’s breath pulsed heavy and heated against her neck as she continued to stroke. When Nic’s legs shook with her impending orgasm, Davis held her up and whispered, “Come on, let go, come for me.”

  Nic tipped into oblivion, the release rattling through her core and radiating through her limbs until they both collapsed onto the bed. “Wow,” Nic said, after a few stunned moments, “you’re very good at that.”

  “You’re not bad yourself,” Davis said with a little grin, then rolling onto her back added a little bit more seriously, “so much for being careful and taking it slow.”

  “Yeah.” Nic rubbed her eyes. This had been an epic failure of restraint on both their parts. The regret would seep in soon enough, but she tried to shut it out for a few more minutes.

  “What were you going to tell me back at the park? You know, the thing I should know before we did what we just did.”

  So much for holding off the guilt. “Oh, yeah, about that.”

  “The room is filled with webcams, and you broadcast the big event all over the Internet?”

  “Geeze.” Nic rolled onto her side. “Why do you assume I had something awful to tell you?”

  “Because I make bad decisions quickly and always get the awful news too late. Go ahead and lay yours on me.”

  Nic sighed. She should just say she had a wife, rip off the Band-Aid, go ahead and be a disappointment to Davis and Belle, and to herself. Davis expected it from her. Why couldn’t she say the words? They could have a big scene and never see each other again, or was that why she couldn’t bring herself to confess? She wanted to see her again.

  “Tell me, Nic.”

  “I have to catch a flight to Boston at five thirty in the morning.” She glanced at the clock. “I hav
e to leave in a few hours.”

  Davis sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “Oh, well, that’s convenient. I guess it could be worse. I mean, really, you’re staying in a hotel. I should’ve seen the whole one-night-stand coming.”

  Nic watched Davis collect her clothes and put them on.

  Keep your mouth shut. Let her go.

  “I’ll be back in town late Thursday night.”

  Davis stopped and turned to face her. She was in her jeans and her bra but hadn’t found her shirt yet. She had a beautiful body, and her eyes were even more alluring. “You’ll be back in town and…?”

  “And if you don’t mind giving your number to a perverted drug addict like me, I’ll give you a call when I get in.”

  Davis smiled a little half smile that seemed to suggest she wanted to be happier but still held something back. “Why don’t you give me your number, and I’ll call you Thursday if I’m up for a late dinner in the park?”

  Shit. Nic hadn’t thought that through. She didn’t need women calling her at home. “Uh, yeah, sure, but just to warn you, I’m terrible about remembering to carry my cell with me.”

  “Uh-huh.” Davis pulled on her shirt. “I get it. If you ‘forget to carry it with you’ on Thursday, I’ll get the message.”

  She was challenging her again, and Nic couldn’t resist a challenge. She grabbed a pen and a hotel stationery pad off the nightstand. She scribbled her cell number on the paper, folded it in half, and held it out for Davis.

  “All right, Nic McCoy.” Davis took the paper. “We’ll see what happens Thursday.”

  “You don’t have to leave, you know? I’ve still got a few hours.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not ready for a sleep-over yet.”

  “I understand,” Nic said with a mix of disappointment and relief. “Can I walk you home or at least get you a cab?”

  Davis rolled her eyes. “I’m a big girl.” She took two steps toward the door before turning around and walking back to Nic and placed one searing, open-mouth kiss on her lips. Nic cupped her face, their tongues sweeping and searching as she fought the urge to pull her back into bed. Before she could, Davis stood and said, “There’s a little something to miss until Thursday.”