“Drew!”
A nudge from Annie made Drew lower her voice. “I’m not sleeping with Annie,” she whispered. “We just want to make Jake believe that there’s something going on between us.”
“Why would you want to do—”
“Oh, no!” Now Annie was the one to tug on Drew’s sleeve. “I think Rob has seen us! What do we do?”
Rob had stopped in the middle of his story and was staring at them.
“Relax,” Drew said. “This is our chance. Like Lynn said, Rob is a blabbermouth. If we can convince him that there’s something going on between us, he’ll run to Jake and tell him what he saw. That should be a nice preparation for Thanksgiving.”
She’s right.
Still, Annie wasn’t sure she could pull it off. They’d had no time to practice or to talk about what to do and what not to do. “But I’m completely unprepared. What if I freeze and ... Oh, great, now Rob is coming over!”
Rob strode away from the buffet table and would be with them in a few seconds.
Drew grasped Annie’s hand and rubbed it. “Do you trust me?”
For a long moment, their gazes connected. Annie nodded, her throat too tight to speak.
“Just follow my lead,” Drew said out of the corner of her mouth.
Annie took a calming breath. “Okay.”
“Hey, would you look at that!” Rob stopped in front of them. “If it isn’t Annie Prideaux, out and about on a Saturday night!”
Drew slid one arm around Annie’s waist and turned toward Rob with a smile. “Hey, Rob.”
Rob blinked. Even in the dim light, Annie could see that his eyes were glassy, probably an effect of the nearly empty cup of Zombie Punch in his hand. “Oh, hey, Drew. Jake told me that he introduced the two of you.”
His snickering made Annie clench her teeth as she imagined Jake and Rob laughing about her blind-date with a lesbian.
“But I didn’t know you still hang out with each other,” Rob said and turned toward Drew. “How did you manage to drag Ms. Annie to a party? She hates parties.”
“Guess it depends on the company,” Drew said and pulled Annie closer.
Lynn snorted.
Sweat broke out along Annie’s spine. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lynn smirk at her. The guests who had been in Rob’s group of fans were looking over at them too.
Oh, God. This was a bad idea. I’m not ready for this.
“Sorry, Rob, I need to steal Drew for a moment. She won first prize in the bobbing-for-apples contest,” Lynn said and again took hold of Drew’s sleeve.
This time, Annie was glad about it.
When Lynn dragged Drew to the middle of the room, Annie followed, not wanting to be left alone with Rob and the questions he might ask.
“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” Lynn shouted over the din of the party. “It’s time to award the prize to the victor. Drew here was the first one to snag an apple. We all know she’s got a talented mouth.”
The guests whistled and hooted.
Annie rubbed her cheek while Drew just rolled her eyes.
Why am I the one blushing?
“So she won one kiss from the second-best kisser in the room. Which would be ...” Lynn paused dramatically and then patted her nearly bare chest. “Me.”
More hoots and whistles.
Annie bit her lip.
Who’s the best?
She remembered Lynn’s comment about Drew’s talented mouth and swallowed.
Rob clapped, spilling the rest of his Zombie Punch in the process.
“Unless ...” Lynn turned and looked at Annie with a smirk. “Unless you want to do the honors.”
What? Me?
Annie’s mouth went dry.
No, I ... I can’t kiss her.
“Scared?” Lynn asked in a low voice. “Hmm, maybe you are straight after all.”
Annie met Lynn’s challenging gaze.
This is our chance,
she mentally repeated Drew’s words.
Rob is well on his way to being drunk. He won’t notice subtle glances and little touches. We need to do something big.
“Want me to kiss her?” Rob asked. He roared with laughter. “I could do it.”
“No, thanks,” Lynn said. “We want it to be a reward for Drew, not a punishment.”
Someone nudged Annie from behind, and she took a stumbling step toward Drew.
Drew stared at her. Her lips moved in an almost inaudible, “Annie.”
Lips that Annie would kiss if she went through with this. She couldn’t look away.
It’s just a kiss.
The thought did nothing to slow down her heartbeat or her breathing.
Just a kiss. You’ve kissed some of your dates without feeling anything for them. You can do this. Just one simple kiss.
She took another step closer. Her gaze darted from Drew’s lips to her eyes. The double-time beat of her heart hammered in her ears. When a wave of dizziness swept over her, she steadied herself with her hands against Drew’s shoulders.
Even through the fabric of her pirate shirt, Drew’s skin felt hot.
Drew stood stock-still. “You don’t need to—”
Annie didn’t let her finish. If she did, she knew she would lose her courage. Quickly, she leaned forward and bent her head.
For a moment, all she saw was Drew’s startled expression; then Annie’s eyelids fluttered shut as their lips met.
A tingle raced through Annie’s lips and down the rest of her body.
“Slip her some tongue!” someone called behind Annie, but neither of them tried to deepen the kiss.
Drew’s warm lips moved gently against hers, then retreated.
Annie stumbled back and pressed her hand to her lips. Her breath came in quick bursts.
I did it. I kissed her. And it felt ... Oh, God.
“Hey, you okay?” Drew whispered next to her.
“Yeah.”
Come on. Snap out of it. It was just a kiss.
Drew looked at her, her brown eyes darkened to almost black. “Want to get out of here?”
Annie nodded and glanced at Rob, who looked just as shell-shocked as she felt. With any luck, he would think they were hurrying off to do more than just kiss.
Chapter 9
Drew opened the passenger door for Annie and went to the back of the car to put the saber and eye patch in the trunk, glad to have a moment alone before she got into the car with Annie. Her lips still tingled, and all she wanted was to kiss Annie again.
Cut it out! You’re just friends, remember? Get yourself together.
She wasn’t about to destroy her fragile friendship with Annie by giving in to her attraction.
After taking a deep breath, she climbed into the driver’s seat, started the car, and pretended to need her full attention for driving.
The silence between them was awkward.
Drew peeked over at Annie, who stared out of the side window. Passing streetlamps bathed her face in a succession of lights and shadows. Between glances at the road, Drew admired the gentle curve of her cheek and the shape of her li—
Stop thinking like that! Her lips are none of your business.
She wrenched her gaze away and turned on the radio to fill the silence between them.
A female singer sang about kissing a girl.
Jesus Christ! Can’t I get a break here?
Drew turned off the radio.
Tick-tick-tick. The rhythmic sound of the turn signal filled the car as Drew made a right turn. She glanced over at the passenger seat again, just as Annie peeked at her.
Their gazes met and then veered away like billiard balls bouncing off each other.
This is ridiculous.
Determined to clear the air between them, Drew turned back toward Annie. “I think we should—”
“I’m sorry if I—”
They spoke simultaneously and then looked at each other as their words trailed off.
The headlights of another car made Drew redirect her attention toward the road. “Want to come over to my place so we can talk? I don’t want things to be awkward between us just because ...”
Annie fingered the golden rank insignia on her uniform collar. “All right,” she said after a moment. “We need to decide what to say when Jake calls anyway.”
Jake.
Drew groaned.
Of course. That’s why she kissed you in the first place, idiot.
When Drew parked the car in front of the house, Annie got out before Drew could walk around and open the car door for her.
Drew sighed and followed Annie to the front door.
Cab bounded up to them from somewhere behind the fermentation barn. He circled Drew, then Annie, sniffing and whining excitedly, as if she were a long-lost buddy. When Annie returned his enthusiastic greeting by rubbing his shaggy head, Cab jumped up and planted his front paws on Annie’s chest.
“Cab, off!” Drew grabbed his collar and dragged him away from Annie, but the damage was already done.
Muddy paw prints covered the black pants and the red uniform top.
“Shit, Annie, I’m sorry.”
Annie rubbed at the mud stains with her fingers, managing to smear them even more. “It’s not that bad. I’m sure it’ll all come out in the wash.”
“Come on in and let me soak it for you before the stains set,” Drew said. “I’ll give you a pair of sweats.”
“Do you have something that will fit me?” Annie asked. A small smile darted across her face. “No offense, but you’re not exactly my height.”
“Hey, are you calling me vertically challenged?” Drew narrowed her eyes at Annie, glad to be able to lighten the mood and introduce some playfulness into the evening again.
Annie shrugged. “If the size-six shoe fits.”
“I’m not a size six, Bigfoot,” Drew said. Secretly, she was pleased that Annie felt relaxed enough with her to joke and tease. She led Annie through the house. When she stopped in front of the guest room and turned toward Annie, she had to grin. “You somehow managed to get mud on your chin.”
“Here?” Annie rubbed at the wrong side of her chin. Now a second mud stain covered her face.
“Um, no.” Drew’s fingers were itching to reach out and rub the mud off Annie’s face, but she resisted. “If you want, you can get washed up. The guest room has its own bath. I’m going to clean up Cab, soak your uniform, and change out of this costume too, so take your time. I’ll leave a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt in front of the door.”
Maybe a moment alone would help them both overcome the awkwardness.
* * *
When Drew returned to the living room, she found Annie on the couch with Cab next to her, his head and now clean front paws resting on her lap. The dog sighed contentedly as Annie ran her long fingers through his shaggy fur.
Lucky dog.
“Is he okay up here?” Annie asked.
“Sure. As long as he’s not bothering you.”
“Oh, no. He’s great.”
With Cab occupying the couch next to Annie, at least Drew didn’t have to decide where to sit. She settled in the armchair on the other side of the coffee table and glanced over at Annie. Despite the tension between them, Drew had to smile at how adorable Annie looked in her sweats. The pant legs stopped halfway down Annie’s calves, revealing smooth pale skin. Her hair fell into her face and partially hid her expression.
Silence settled between them, interrupted only by Cab’s contented groans.
“I’m sorry for ambushing you like that,” Annie said without preamble, her gaze still fixed on Cab.
Drew looked up from the hypnotic circles Annie’s fingers combed through Cab’s fur. “Ambushing?”
“Yeah. I mean ... just because you’re a lesbian doesn’t mean you want to be kissed by just any woman, right?”
“Right,” Drew said halfheartedly. But she wanted to be kissed by Annie, and that was part of the problem.
What the hell is going on with you?
She had been around attractive straight women before, some of them more classically beautiful than Annie, but she had always put them firmly in the “unavailable” category. She was not a fifteen-year-old boy, ruled by hormones, so why did her heartbeat pick up every time she remembered kissing Annie?
“I know I should have talked to you about it first, but there was no time, and Lynn ...”
“Hey, calm down,” Drew said when Annie’s face took on an unhealthy color. “I know you had to improvise, and I’m fine with it. It’s not like it was horrible for me or anything. Was it really that bad for you?” She tried to sound casual and not make a big deal out of it, but she held her breath while she waited for the answer.
Annie rubbed her lips with her knuckles while she thought about her answer, making Drew swallow. “Oh, no, it wasn’t horrible. No. It was—”
Loud pounding on the front door interrupted her.
Cab raced to the door and barked.
Not now.
Drew threw an annoyed glance at the door, but the hammering continued. “Cab! Come here!” When the dog came running, she told him “stay” before she strode to the door. She wanted to get rid of the unwelcome visitor and return to the conversation as quickly as possible.