Popcorn Love (30 page)

“I get it. At least, I think I know what you’re
trying to say. You haven’t let anyone in in a long time, and maybe
you’re a little nervous about it, yeah?”

Elena straightened, her body tightening, and exhaled
deeply. She cleared her throat and nodded firmly as she coiled her
posture back into her typically composed self.

Respecting Elena’s space, Allison pulled back a bit.
“I am too,” she said. “Nervous, I mean. It’s been a while for me
too, and I don’t let people in easily, you know? I mean, I don’t
really get close to people. I don’t usually do emotions,
relationships. I just don’t trust people not to, you know, hurt me
or whatever.”

“Do you trust
me
not to hurt you?”

Allison swallowed. “I think so. I want to. It’s hard
for me.”

A firm nod was all she received as Elena simply
accepted her answer, respected it. Allison saw no disappointment in
the woman’s eyes, only understanding. She closed the distance
between them and pressed her lips to Elena’s.

The kiss was soft, tender, and almost hesitant at
first, but then grew and deepened. It was everything Allison had
always thought a kiss should be—powerful yet gentle, deep yet
light, emotional, and communicative.

Fingers wove gently into tangling hair, brushed over
cheeks and necks, behind ears, and down backs. Chests pressed
together, hearts thumping rhythmically beneath. Breath quickened.
Heat spread.

Allison pulled back, breath rapid on her tongue, and
smiled. Elena returned the smile, her supple lips kiss-swollen and
wet.

“So, maybe we don’t try to rush anything,” Allison
said. “Maybe we just do whatever feels right and try not to
overthink anything.”

Elena cupped Allison’s cheek and leaned forward to
kiss the corner of her mouth. “Okay,” she whispered against
flesh.

“Good. So, if we have sex, we have sex. If it’s a
while before we do, then it’s a while before we do. Hell, if we
don’t, then we don’t. Whatever feels comfortable and right.”

“Would this be a proper time to mention that I have
never actually been with a woman?” Elena blushed.

Allison’s lips parted as if surprised, but then she
merely shook her head and laughed.

Elena scoffed and smacked her arm. “Don’t make fun,”
she snapped, and Allison reached for her.

“I’m not making fun.” She slipped her arms around
Elena. “I’m just…you’re full of surprises, Elena, you know
that?”

Elena narrowed her eyes. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No. I love it.”

“Well then, excellent,” Elena said. “I’m quite the
overachiever, though, you know. I’m sure I’ll learn quickly.”

A ripple of heat rolled through Allison’s lower
abdomen and burned between her legs, so that she had to close her
eyes and bite her tongue to keep from moaning. The mere thought of
Elena being an “overachiever” in the bedroom was riveting.

“I’m sure you will.” Allison focused her gaze again
on Elena. “But for now, let’s start with something simple just to
take the pressure off. What do you think?”

“What did you have in mind?” Elena’s fingers twitched
over the tight denim material encasing Allison’s thighs.

Allison grinned like a fool as she threw her arms out
wide. “Hug?”

Elena laughed and sank into Allison’s embrace.

“You sure you don’t think this is totally lame?”
Allison shuffled through the contents of a cabinet in Elena’s
kitchen.

“I’m sorry?” The question put a halt to Elena’s
wine-selection process. “To what are you referring, dear?”

Allison stopped her own rifling as well. “This,” she
said, waving a hand through the air.

“Perhaps you could be a bit more specific.” Elena
chuckled. “I’m afraid I can’t read your mind.”

“Damn, and here I was really hoping we were going to
have one of those sweet telepathic connections or whatever like all
the weirdoes in movies.”

“Has that ever actually happened in a film?”

“Eh, I don’t know. But tell me that wouldn’t be
sweet. Lovers who can communicate with their minds? Pretty
awesome.”

“Lovers?” Elena arched a brow and leaned against the
counter.

Allison winked. “A girl can dream, Elena.”

Turning back to the cabinet, Allison began shuffling
things aside again. She could still feel the heat of Elena’s gaze
on her back, though, and knew she had yet to look away from her.
Her stomach flipped and her skin began to tingle, and all from only
a stare.

“She certainly can,” Elena said. Her voice was an
octave lower than before, and Allison felt those words in every
part of her body. Her pants suddenly felt tight and uncomfortable.
The few kisses the two women had already shared had been enough to
nearly transform Allison into a puddle of goo; Allison thought she
and Elena might
actually
explode if their hands ever moved
below the waistline.
What a way to die
.

Allison laughed, the sound strangled as she cleared
her throat. “You seriously have to quit with the devil voice.”

“You seriously have to quit with the references to
sex.”

And then suddenly Elena was behind her, the heat of
her body radiating over Allison’s body and making her shudder.

“What
are
you looking for, dear?”

“Uh, nothing. I was
trying
to look for
something, but now I’m just fiddling with random stuff in the
cabinets because
somebody
keeps distracting me.”

Elena chuckled as she moved a little closer to
Allison, her hands extending toward her. She grabbed Allison’s hips
and squeezed. “I have been busy with my own tasks, Allison.” Her
breathy whisper skirted across the back of Allison’s ear. “It’s
hardly my fault that you can’t keep your focus long enough to
complete your own.”

“You are so mean.” Allison hoisted herself up on the
kitchen counter to reach the back of the cabinet, because she had
apparently hidden her stash farther back than she originally
thought. Elena’s hands never moved from her hips.

The new position put Allison’s ass right in Elena’s
face. Elena sighed. “And you say
I’m
the mean one.”

“Got it!” Allison’s hand finally latched around the
Reese’s Pieces and microwaveable popcorn she had stuffed in the
back of the cabinet for safe keeping. “Sorry, I apparently hid the
things in Narnia.”

“What things?” Elena asked as Allison pulled back
from the cabinet and started to turn to jump down.

“Momma!” a voice suddenly shouted from behind them,
and Allison jumped so hard that she lost her balance. “Whoa wh—”
Toppling down from her precarious perch on the edge of the kitchen
counter, she barreled right into Elena. Elena’s back hit the tile
floor with a hard thud, a loud rush of breath expelling from her
lungs in an echoing grunt, and Allison landed right on top of her,
her own knees cracking loudly against the floor.

“Ow.” Allison groaned as she forced herself up and
off of her. “Elena?” she asked, one hand on Elena’s stomach and the
other on her shoulder. “You okay?”

Elena finally sucked in a sharp breath and nodded,
and Allison let out a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t you catch me?”
She couldn’t resist the urge to rib her a little, even as Elena
wheezed and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

“I believe I am the one who broke your fall, am I
not?”

Allison grinned at her. “Good point, hero.”

“Momma.”

Elena and Allison turned to see Lucas standing just a
few feet away, a giant smile on his face and still clad in only his
pull-ups even after having been awake for a few hours. He clutched
his new stuffed monkey like his life depended on it.

“Yes love?” Elena asked.

Lucas bounced on his heels as he giggled. “Alson
falled.”

Allison burst into loud laughter as Elena chuckled
and nodded. “Yes, Lucas, I am well aware that Allison fell.”

He just continued to offer his cheesy, adorable smile
as he swayed from side to side and made his request. “Spicamal
me?”

“Despicable.”

“Spicamal,” Lucas repeated.

Allison literally had to bite her knuckle to keep
from laughing as Elena calmly repeated herself. “Despicable.”

Lucas narrowed his eyes at her as if mulling it over
in his mind before slowly saying, “Spicamal.” Allison’s shoulders
were shaking with silent laughter. She almost lost it entirely when
she felt Elena’s elbow nudge her side.

“Okay, baby.” Elena began again, smiling at her son.
“Listen to Momma very closely, okay?”

Lucas nodded and his gaze remained firmly fixed to
his mother’s lips as she then slowly and carefully sounded out the
word. “
Deeee
-spick-uh-bull.”

Both Allison and Elena watched as Lucas’s eyes
narrowed again and the kid’s mouth moved wordlessly, as if he was
working it all out before speaking. “
Deeeeee
.”

Elena had to nudge Allison again to keep her from
giggling.

“—spicamal.”

Allison’s face practically turned blue.

“Well,” Elena said, tilting her head and reaching out
to poke her son’s belly. “Perhaps we should work on that one
another time, munchkin.”

“Okay!”

“Now, can you go wait on the couch like a big boy?
Allison and I will be there in just a few minutes to start the
movie.”

Lucas shrugged and ran off toward the living
room.

Once he was out of sight, Elena and Allison slowly
turned to look at one another. The moment their eyes met, the
silence between them burst wide open with their shared
laughter.

“That was the best thing ever,” Allison said as they
sat next to each other on the kitchen floor. “Seriously, how is
that kid so adorable?”

Elena’s playful gasp feigned overdone shock. “What do
you
mean
how is he adorable?” She waved a teasing hand down
the length of her body.

“Oh right,” Allison said, “must get it from his
Mom.”

Elena arched a brow. “You disagree?”

“Not at all.”

They helped one another to their feet, and Elena
rolled her eyes as soon as she saw what Allison had been looking
for all along, items that had led to the likely bruise on her ass.
“How many stashes of that vile concoction do you have hidden in my
house?”

“More than you would think,” Allison said, sticking
her tongue out. “And again, don’t knock it until you try it.”

“I truly loathe that saying.” Elena moved to the
counter to uncork her wine selection.

“What saying?” The flat bag of popcorn kernels landed
in the microwave with a thud as Allison tossed it in. “Don’t knock
it until you try it?”

“Yes. It’s a poor motto.”

“How so?”

“Apply it to more than one topic, dear. Many have
never tried murder, and yet it is still widely considered vile.
Furthermore, do we not typically know ourselves well enough to have
an established idea of what we will likely enjoy?”

“Touché.”

“Thank you.”

“So, I guess that means that I’m not going to get you
try this stuff then, huh?” Allison asked as she pulled the now
fully-popped popcorn from the microwave, dumped it into a large
bowl, and then poured in her favorite little candies.

“I’m afraid not.” They walked toward the living
room.

“Allison,” Elena said as they swept through the
dining room and past Lucas’s playroom, “what were you talking about
earlier when you asked if I thought this was lame?”

“Oh. I just meant like this whole
me-being-here-all-day-long thing. I don’t want to overstay my
welcome or anything, and this date has technically been going now
for like a century.”

“On the contrary,” she replied, “it’s been a lovely
day, and I’m glad you stayed.”

“So,
not
lame?” Allison chirped as they
entered the living room.

“Not lame at all, dear.”

* * *

They began the movie with Lucas smashed between them,
Allison chomping on her popcorn and candy, and Elena sipping wine
while absentmindedly running her fingers through her son’s soft
hair. Allison laughed every time she caught Elena trying
not
to laugh at the little yellow minions.

“It’s so funny how they just speak constant
gibberish.” Allison said.

Elena smiled. “They sometimes speak Spanish.”

“Seriously. When? I thought it was all nonsense.”

“Various points. When they give Agnes the little
unicorn stick is one.”

“So, you speak Spanish?”

Elena nodded. “My father wanted to pass along the
language; that, and my grandparents, his parents, speak very little
English. I’ve been bilingual since I was Lucas’s age.”

“That’s so cool.” She then silently mouthed over
Lucas’s head,
And hot.

Elena laughed and shook her head. “I’m glad you think
so.”

“Have you taught Lucas any?”

“Some. My father teaches him more than I do. It’s a
wonderful bonding experience for the—”

The sound of the doorbell chiming interrupted
her.

“That’s strange,” Elena whispered. She then slowly
eased off the couch, moving Lucas over a bit from where he was half
on her lap. “I will be right back.”

“Want me to pause?”

“No dear, go ahead.”

Allison sighed as she leaned back into the couch and
glanced down at Lucas. The kid was entirely unfazed by all things
happening around him—his mouth hanging wide open, his hair stuck up
where Elena had been playing with it. His eyes remained glued to
the screen. It had always amused Allison that no matter how many
times kids saw the same movie, they could still be so enraptured by
it.

Muffled voices filtered in from the foyer, but she
couldn’t quite make out any words, and then she heard one loud
exclamation. “Oh, nonsense!”

Lucas didn’t seem to hear any of it. Even when the
sound of multiple sets of heels clicking in their direction reached
their ears, Lucas merely continued to gape at the large television
screen. Allison, though, grew nervous.