Popcorn Love (22 page)

“I’m not a team sport, dear. I have no league.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do,” Elena conceded. She rubbed her thumb over
Allison’s bottom lip and cupped her cheek. “Allison, please don’t
put me on a pedestal. I am only a person.”

A soft breath slipped through Allison’s lips. “You
really
like me?”

Those familiar flutters returned to Elena’s stomach
as a slow smile slipped across her lips and she nodded against the
pillow. “I
really
do.”

Allison mimicked Elena’s nod. “Okay. So then, I guess
maybe I should go sleep in a guest room or something.”

“What?” Elena asked. “Why?”

“Because I feel like if I stay, I might maul you or
something.”

One of Elena’s eyebrows shot up as another wave of
heat curled through her abdomen and pulsed between her legs. She
blew out a slow breath as she laughed. “I never knew a mauling
could sound so thoroughly appealing.”

“Oh God, could you not?” Allison groaned. “My whole
body already feels like it might explode, and I’m trying to be
respectful here, woman—take it slow and all that.”

With every word from Allison’s mouth, Elena’s
confidence only grew, despite her lack of experience with women.
She slipped her hand around the back of Allison’s neck again before
tilting forward and pressing her lips to the slender column.
Allison sucked in a shuddering breath at the sensation.

“Or you could just make it so much worse,” Allison
said through gritted teeth. Elena’s hot breath scorched up the
length of Allison’s neck, and when Elena’s tongue dipped into the
hollow of Allison’s ear, her entire body jolted and she moaned.

“Oh my God, Elena. That is so unfair. Seriously?”

Allison grabbed Elena by the shoulders and pushed
back, looking into the other woman’s eyes. “What did I just say?”
she teased, poking at Elena’s stomach. “You’re making it
worse.”

Elena smiled mischievously at her before moving to
close the distance between them once more, but Allison quickly
stopped her. “Wait, is that supposed to be a hint?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, is this your way of saying you
don’t
want to take this slow?” Allison asked her. “Because I mean, I
don’t mind sex early on, except when I’m really invested, and I
really am, so I’d like to take this slow, unless…Well, did you just
want this to be about sex?”

“Oh,” Elena whispered, her heart clenching at the
tremble in Allison’s voice. She cupped her cheek once more as she
inched her body closer and shook her head slowly. She kissed
Allison’s lips. “No.”

Allison let out an obvious sigh of relief that had a
smile blooming across both of their faces. She leaned forward and
kissed the tip of Elena’s nose. “Well okay then. I need to go.”

“Really?” Elena asked. “You are really going to leave
me here alone?”

Gentle hands ran down Elena’s body once more, then
pulled back. “Yup, yup. Have to. I guess I’m just old-fashioned
like that.”

“Allison, we are both adults. I’m sure we can behave
ourselves.”

Allison narrowed her eyes in the dark. “Nah.” She
clucked her tongue. “I don’t think you can control that devil mouth
of yours.”

“
Devil
mouth?” Elena gasped, arching a
brow.

“Mhm. Devil mouth, as in hot as the fires of hell.”
Allison crawled off the bed and ducked down to feel around on the
floor. When she found her clothes, she balled them up in her hands
and held them against her chest. “So, I’m going, because—”

“Because my mouth is the devil.” Elena was still
laying on her side and peering up at Allison through the dark.

Allison shook her head and groaned. She shuffled a
little farther from the bed, her eyes never leaving Elena. “Yup,”
she said, “and I gotta go because goddamn if it doesn’t make me
wanna be a sinner.”

Another wave of heat rippled through Elena’s body and
burned between her legs. She clenched her thighs tightly to
alleviate the throb as she watched Allison walk toward the door.
“Are you sure?”

“Stop talking!” Allison hissed from across the room.
“Your voice is the devil too. Right now, pretty much all of you is
the devil. So, shh, and just let me go in aching, throbbing peace,
woman!”

“Do you know where the guest ro—”

“There’s gotta be like fifteen in this house,”
Allison grumbled. “I’ll find one.” She slipped out of Elena’s
bedroom, clicking the door closed behind her.

Elena rolled over and stuffed her face in her pillow.
The butterflies in her stomach had grown and transformed into
excited birds, crashing wildly around inside of her. She sighed
into her pillow, the sound bordering on a soft squeal, before
groaning and rolling her eyes behind her eyelids.

“I am behaving like a lovesick teenager.” She rolled
over and laid an arm across her eyes. Her entire body was thrumming
with an excitement that simultaneously thrilled and embarrassed
her. Flipping restlessly onto her side and bunching her pillow up,
she wrapped one arm around it. “I
feel
like a lovesick
teenager. This is ridiculous.”

Still, the smile on her face never faded.

* * *

Elena jolted awake with a yelp as music blasted
through her house. Jerking herself into a sitting position, she
blinked rapidly through the lingering haze of sleep and glanced
around her room. She could tell her hair stuck wildly out on one
side, and her lips were swollen and sore.

As her sense of awareness slowly kicked in, Elena
frowned in confusion. Lyrics spilled through the air and assaulted
her ears. Why was The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back” echoing
through her house like there was a live concert in progress?

Her blurry eyes widened as the events of the previous
night came rushing back. She gasped as her body flooded with heat
and she whispered, “Allison.” Her fingers came up and touched
gently at her lips. They were puffy and a bit chapped. Her cheeks
flushed a deep crimson as she shook her head and smiled against her
fingertips.

She glanced over at the clock on her bedside table
and was shocked to see that it was barely six a.m. Typically, it
would be another thirty minutes before she would be up and around
on weekdays. The same was true for Lucas, who usually woke around
the same time as his mother.

Slipping out of her bed, Elena grabbed her robe from
where it hung just inside the closet door. She checked herself in
the mirror and scoffed at her predictably wild hair. It was
incredibly frizzy on the top. She grabbed her hairbrush and ran
several fast strokes through it, taming it as best she could before
returning the brush to the vanity. She ran her hands down the front
of her robe, smoothing it out as if it were an elegant gown, before
sucking in a steadying breath.

Elena crept down the hallway as quietly as possible.
She peeked into Lucas’s bedroom and was unsurprised to see that his
bed was empty. There was no way her child, who was both a light
sleeper and an early riser, would be able to snooze through the
blaring tunes spilling through the house. No, he was assuredly with
Allison, wherever the two were.

She found them soon enough, and Elena remained tucked
partially behind the corner as a smile blasted across her face at
the scene playing out in her kitchen. She quickly brought a hand up
and cupped it over her mouth, containing the laughter that
threatened to spill forth as she watched Allison, clad in her jeans
and tank top from the previous day, dance all around the kitchen
with a spatula held to her lips like a microphone. Lucas sat in his
chair, bopping excitedly up and down and giggling and clapping as
Allison danced around him and sang into her spatula.

Even though Allison was singing several octaves
higher than what Elena would guess was her natural register, it was
still startlingly beautiful. God, Elena thought, how was it that
literally everything about this woman seemed so incredibly
attractive to her?

Elena felt her insides turn to mush as she watched
Allison hold the spatula out toward Lucas and let him babble
senselessly before turning back toward the stove and grabbing the
skillet. With a flick of her wrist, a pancake soared high into the
air. Elena snorted with laughter as Allison barely caught the
pancake again, nearly letting it tumble to the floor.

Lucas clapped happily as Allison then returned the
skillet to the stove and resumed her dancing. Elena watched every
second of it, completely absorbed in this precious moment. Thought
after thought spiraled through her mind, too rapid to pinpoint any
particulars, except for one. Elena was quite certain that she
wouldn’t mind waking up more often to find Allison Sawyer dancing
around her kitchen.

It was in that moment that Elena’s darling son
happened to glance over and see her. He threw his hands into the
air and squealed. “Momma!”

Elena’s breath hitched in her throat and Allison,
red-faced, whirled around at Lucas’s cry and nearly dropped the
spatula in the process. Her heart jumped into her throat and stuck
there as Allison’s eyes glittered in the sunlight streaming through
the kitchen window and her lips parted just slightly.

“Good morning,” Allison whispered so quietly that
Elena had to read her lips to understand her over the loud
music.

“Hi.” She mouthed the words with a smile as she
leaned her head gently against the wall.

“Hi!” Lucas screamed at his mother, waving his arms
dramatically.

Allison’s eyes widened, and then she shook her head
and shot over to the stove to check on her now-burning pancakes.
“Crap,” she muttered as she threw one in the garbage and poured
another dollop of batter onto the skillet to start anew.

Elena laughed as she finally tore her gaze away from
Allison.

“Good morning, munchkin!” She crossed the kitchen and
bent to kiss Lucas’s forehead. “You are up bright and early.”

“Can’t hear you!” Lucas shouted.

“Oh!” Allison exclaimed, shooting past them. “I got
it. Just a sec.” She ran into the living room, and the volume of
the music went down. She then shot back to the kitchen to finish
cooking the pancakes.

“Sorry,” she said when she returned. “Lucas said that
it was time for you to wake up, so we figured music would be a good
replacement alarm.”

Lucas beamed up at Elena as she ran her fingers
through his soft and wild hair. “What you say, Momma?”

“I said you are up bright and early.”

Lucas nodded. “Momma, did you know Alson had a
sleepover?”

Moving to grab a glass from the cabinet to the left
of the sink, Elena chuckled. “Yes I did.” She crossed to the
refrigerator to retrieve the apple juice.

“Yeah,” Lucas sighed. “She didn’t sleep with me.”

“No?” Elena asked, biting her lip as she stood in the
open door of the refrigerator and poured her apple juice. Elena’s
breath caught in her throat when Allison placed a hand on her hip
before leaning slowly around her to grab the butter from the side
door. Turning to put the juice container back just as Allison
straightened from the door, their chests brushed gently, and they
both breathed sharply at the contact, their eyes locking again.

“No,” Lucas said, snapping Elena and Allison back to
attention. He let out a dramatic huff as he popped the straw of his
juice box into his mouth.

Elena smiled teasingly at the woman in front of her.
“She didn’t sleep with me either, dear.”

Allison turned a playful glare onto Elena before
returning to the stove so that she could transfer the final
finished pancake onto a plate. “Ha. Ha.” She shook her head.

“You’re sposta sleep with someone when you have a
sleepover, Alson,” Lucas said. “Like when Gram sleeps with me.”

“Yes, Allison.” Elena smirked. “You are
supposed
to sleep with someone.”

Allison’s cheeks burned a lovely shade of pink as she
carried Lucas’s plate over to him. “Sorry, little man,” she said.
“I didn’t know the rules.”

A bright smile greeted her as she set two small
silver-dollar pancakes in front of him. “Thank you!” He then jumped
right back to the topic of sleepovers. “Next time you gotta sleep
with me or Momma, okay?” Lucas looked over to his mother as he
picked up his syrup-less pancake and bit off a piece. “Right,
Momma?”

Elena pinned Allison with a smoldering look.
“Absolutely, darling.” She tilted her head and added, “Whichever
you prefer, Allison.”

Placing a plate of pancakes in front of Elena,
Allison shook her head. She lowered her voice to a whisper as she
said, “Just eat your pancakes, woman.”

“See that!” Lucas cried, pointing out the window of
the moving vehicle. Allison looked over her shoulder so she could
look out Lucas’s window. She didn’t have a clue what he was
pointing at, but she still gasped and pretended to be thrilled.

“Whoa! Yeah!”

“And that!” Lucas shouted again, still pointing.

“Yeah, what
was
that?”

“I don’t know!” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned
like he was on top of the world. He seemed even more pleased with
himself as both his mother and babysitter laughed loudly.

“Is he always like this in the car?” Allison asked
Elena.

Elena shook her head and kept her eyes fixed on the
road. “Not typically, no. He has occasional mornings when he is
more energetic, but he usually sleeps or repetitively sings the
dinosaur song.”

“What?” Allison asked, her grin widening. “There’s a
dinosaur song?”

“Oh yes.”

“Like from a TV show or something?”

“No.” Elena rolled to a stop at a red light. “It’s
his
song.”

“
His?
” Allison glanced back at Lucas again.
“As in he made it up?”

Elena confirmed with a proud nod. “He is rather
creative, that son of mine.”