Annie hung limply in her embrace, too surprised to resist.
“Maybe you should get a new crystal ball,” Drew said to Sue. “She’s already met a woman.” She rested her free hand on the grip of her saber as if she was prepared to challenge Sue to a duel should she refuse to back off.
Scowling, Sue looked back and forth between them.
Annie wrapped her arm around Drew’s waist and held on until Sue marched off, muttering something about having to check the time setting of her crystal ball.
“Phew.” Drew gave Annie’s shoulder a squeeze, then let go and handed her one of the glasses.
When Annie took a sip, she realized it was grape juice, not wine. She nodded appreciatively. “I thought we weren’t going to pretend to be a couple?”
Drew scratched her chin. “I didn’t plan to, but when I saw that gypsy chatting you up, I thought I should come to your defense.”
Did Drew think she was some kind of wallflower who needed to be rescued? “I’ve got a weapon too, you know?” Annie patted the phaser attached to her waist.
“I know.” Drew looked at her with a you-caught-me smile. “I guess this costume brings out the macho in me.”
Sipping her juice, Annie looked around. On an improvised dance floor, two cowgirls were slow-dancing with each other. “So, is this a gay Halloween party?”
Drew laughed. “You mean gay as in ‘cheerful’?”
“I mean gay as in women wanting to share a plate of gagh or read my palm.”
“Maybe I should have warned you about your costume.”
“My costume?” Annie glanced down at herself. “What’s wrong with my costume?”
Drew’s gaze trailed up Annie’s body and then snapped back to her eyes. “Oh, absolutely nothing. It’s just that women in uniform are chick magnets.”
“You mean women find me attractive, just because I’m wearing a uniform?”
“Not just because of that, but yeah.” Drew nodded and took a long sip of her juice.
Annie shook her head.
Lesbians are strange.
“Does it bother you?” Drew regarded her with a concerned gaze. “We can leave if you feel uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just not used to all the attention. The few times I’ve been to parties, I stood around, holding on to a lukewarm glass of champagne all night while no one bothered talking to me.” She snapped her mouth shut, surprised at how much she kept telling Drew about herself. And this time, she couldn’t even blame the wine.
“You’ve gone to the wrong parties, then.” The warm touch of Drew’s hand returned to Annie’s back. “Come on, there’s a table over there with food that doesn’t look like body parts.” After three steps, she slid to a halt. “Oh, no.”
“What?”
Drew pointed at something to Annie’s left.
When Annie turned, she saw Lynn and another woman place an inflatable children’s swimming pool in the middle of the living room. Some of the guests carried buckets with water, which they emptied into the pool.
“Lynn’s annual bobbing-for-apples contest. I won last year, so she’ll insist on me competing.” Drew sent Annie an entreating gaze. “Beam me up, Scotty.”
“If you want, we can leave.”
“Are you sure you’re ready to give up all your admirers?”
Annie nudged her with an elbow. “I’m sure I’ll manage without them.”
“Ah, there you are!” Lynn latched on to Drew’s arm. “Come on, you have to defend your title!”
The sudden urge to draw her phaser and defend Drew gripped Annie.
Maybe my costume brings out the macho in me too.
As Drew was dragged away, she sent a glance over her shoulder and said, “Too late, Scotty.”
Annie followed them to the bright pink swimming pool.
Apples bobbed up and down in the water. Four women and one man knelt in front of the pool.
“Would you hold this for a second?” Drew handed Annie her saber.
Lynn pushed Drew down between two of the women, and someone tossed her a pair of handcuffs, which she snapped shut around Drew’s wrists, shackling them behind her back.
“Is that really necessary?” Annie asked, still watching Drew. “If she or one of the others falls in ...”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Lynn pointed at the guests standing directly behind the contestants, hovering with their hands just above the kneeling people’s shoulders. “They will keep an eye on them. And I’ll keep an especially close eye on Drew.” She winked at Annie.
It seemed Drew’s relationship with Lynn wasn’t all in the past.
“Ready?” Lynn asked, looking at the six contestants.
They leaned forward with their hands cuffed behind their backs and bent over the swimming pool.
“Go!” Lynn shouted and clapped her hands.
Chaos broke out.
Water splashed. A few drops hit Annie in the face.
All around her, women screamed and whistled, each rooting for a friend or girlfriend.
Jesus.
Annie took a step back.
A few of the contestants tried to snag an apple without getting their faces wet, but Drew dove in with her whole head. She caught an apple between her teeth, but when she tried to lift it out of the water, the apple slipped out of her grasp.
“Jen!” someone shouted next to Annie’s ear. “Come on, you can beat her!”
Annie nearly whacked her with the saber. “Drew!” she shouted in encouragement.
Drew came up, a green apple clenched between her teeth.
A loud cheer erupted from Annie’s mouth, and she pressed her hand against her lips.
The other contestants battled for second place.
Hands still bound, Drew stumbled to her feet and spat out the apple. Her bandana dripped with water.
Someone handed Annie a towel, and she stepped up to Drew without hesitation. “Come here. You’re a mess.” She pulled up Drew’s eye patch, untied the soaked bandana, and rubbed the towel over Drew’s hair, which fell into her face in wet curls.
Drew bent her head and held still.
“You’re really competitive. Did anyone ever tell you that?” Annie shook her head. “I don’t think you’re supposed to dive in with your entire head.”
“It’s the best technique,” Drew mumbled from beneath the towel. “You need to push the apple against the bottom of the pool to get a good grip on it.”
“Did you at least win some great prize?”
The towel swung back and forth as Drew shook her head. “Nope. No great prize. Tradition says that the first one to snag an apple will be the first to marry.” She snorted. “Big chance. Oh, and I get a victory kiss from our esteemed hostess.”
A picture of Lynn’s nearly bare breasts pressing against Drew as Lynn kissed her flashed through Annie’s mind, and she frowned.
Drew didn’t seem upset at the thought of Lynn kissing her. Was there still something going on between them?
“Something wrong?” Drew asked from beneath the towel.
“No, everything’s fine.” Annie gave Drew’s head one last good rub and then hung the towel around Drew’s shoulders.
Drew shook her hands, making the handcuffs rattle. “Where’s Lynn with the damn key?”
No matter how much Annie craned her neck, she couldn’t find Lynn in the crowd around the swimming pool. When she turned back toward Drew, she laughed out loud. Her eyeliner had run together, making her look more like Zorro, and her painted-on goatee was dripping down her chin. “Come with me, Blackbeard. We need to clean you up.” She grasped her upper arm with both hands and guided her through the crowd in the direction of the bathroom she has seen earlier. It felt good to take over and be the one to help Drew for a change.
The bathroom door was closed and locked. The sound of a flushing toilet came from the other side of the door.
A muscle twitched in Drew’s face. “Shit. My eyes are starting to burn.”
Annie rubbed her arm. “I’ll take care of it in a minute.”
The door opened, and a woman stepped out. A hatchet seemed to be buried in her head, and fake blood was running down her face. As she stepped past them, her gaze fell on Drew’s cuffed hands. “Ooh, kinky. Have fun.”
Cheeks burning, Annie held open the bathroom door for Drew. “She thought ...?”
“Yep.” Drew grinned broadly. “She probably thinks the Federation has some very pleasurable torture methods when they capture space pirates.”
Someone had replaced the lightbulb in the bathroom with a red one, so at least the lighting hid Annie’s blush. “Going to a party with you really is an adventure.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Drew searched Annie’s face, all hints of laughter now gone.
Annie felt her expression softening. “No.” With Drew by her side, the adventure didn’t feel as overwhelming. She tugged Drew over to the sink and wet the end of the towel hanging around Drew’s shoulders. “Close your eyes,” she said and smiled when she remembered that Drew had told her the same thing at the wine tasting.
Drew closed her eyes without hesitation.
Very gently, Annie wiped away the smeared eyeliner, careful to avoid putting too much pressure on Drew’s eyes in the process. With the dry end of the towel, she dried off the upper part of Drew’s face and then started removing the beard.
She laid one hand along Drew’s jaw to rub at a stubborn spot just below Drew’s full lower lip. “All done.” She stepped back. “You’re a clean-shaven pirate now.”
“Thank you.” When Drew opened her eyes, their gazes met. Drew’s eyes looked darker in the reddish light.
“You’re welcome,” Annie murmured.
The door opened behind them.
“Hey, why are you hiding out in here?” Lynn’s voice echoed through the bathroom. “It’s time to award the big prize.” She grinned and pulled Drew away from Annie.
Drew sighed. She turned her back with her cuffed hands toward Lynn. “Unlock these things, will you?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” The fluffy ears on top of Lynn’s head flopped to one side as she tilted her head. “Maybe I like you better this way.”
Jesus.
Annie narrowed her eyes at the annoying woman.
Why can’t she leave Drew alone? Or is Drew still interested in her too?
She wasn’t sure, but something about that thought bothered her. From what she had seen of Lynn so far, they just didn’t seem to fit together.
“Lynn.” The handcuffs rattled. “Unlock them. Now.”
“Okay, okay.”
After Lynn unlocked and removed the handcuffs, Drew rubbed her wrists. Reddish lines had been carved into her skin where the metal dug into it.
Annie glared at Lynn. “You call that keeping a close eye on her?”
Lynn reached for one of Drew’s wrists and rubbed it. There was an easy familiarity in her touch that spoke of their shared history. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t know they were that tight.” She turned to look at Annie. “You’re awfully protective of her. Are you sure you’re straight?”
“What, a straight woman can’t worry about a friend?”
Friend,
Annie repeated to herself. When had Drew become a friend? It had been a long time since Annie had made one of those, but she admitted that Drew had gone from being simply her partner in crime to becoming a friend.
“Of course,” Lynn said, “but—”
“Leave her alone, Lynn,” Drew said as she stepped between them. “Just because you switched teams doesn’t mean the whole world is gay.”
“Okay, okay. Guess my gaydar isn’t in full working order today. Must be the Zombie Punch.”
Gaydar?
Annie furrowed her brow but decided not to ask.
Lynn opened the bathroom door, and they followed her out.
When Drew stopped abruptly, Annie ran into her. She clutched two handfuls of Drew’s shirt to regain her balance.
“Shit!” Drew hissed. “What’s he doing here?”
Annie peered around Drew.
Rob, Jake’s best friend and business partner, was holding court in front of the buffet table, regaling half a dozen guests with one of his stories.
“Oh, Christ.” Annie pulled back her head and ducked to hide behind Drew. “I thought Jake didn’t know most of your friends?”
“Well, apparently, someone knows Rob. What do we do now?”
“Want us to beam out of here?”
Lynn gripped the wide sleeve of Drew’s shirt and tugged to get her attention. “What’s going on, guys?”
Annie glanced at Drew and then at Lynn’s fingers wrapped around Drew’s sleeve.
“I thought you liked Rob?” Lynn let go of Drew’s sleeve and glanced toward the buffet table. “He’s a really nice guy. Becky and I started taking rock-climbing lessons with him and his partner last month.”
“I like him just fine,” Drew said, “but ... it’s complicated.”
“Ah.” Lynn crossed her arms over her scantily clad chest. “Now I understand. I thought Annie’s last name sounded familiar. She’s Jake Prideaux’s sister, right?” Annie nodded, but Lynn ignored her. She was staring at Drew instead. “Rob is a blabbermouth, and you don’t want him to tell Jake that you’re fucking his sister.”
“Christ, Lynn! Stop it!” Drew’s voice grew louder. “I’m not f—”