The Lonely Hearts Club (14 page)

“The only thing I know for sure is that I’m going to apologize and explain to her why I cut and ran in the middle of a kiss I let go too far.”

“You don’t have to see her again, you know,” Candace said.

“Yes I do. She kissed me first, but I kissed her back. That’s reason enough to explain.” Liz felt better for having made the decision. “There’s a game tomorrow. I’ll talk to her afterwards. Parker is probably playing, Candace.”

“Probably,” Candace said casually, “but I don’t plan on seeing her again. We had our night of ecstasy. I’ll go to keep you company, though.”

“Me too,” Bren said, wondering if Jae, as she now routinely thought of the dark-haired stranger, would be there.

Liz took Candace’s hand and stretched the other out to Bren, who took it.

“Thanks. I think I’m going to need you two tomorrow.”

Liz tucked the Audi into a narrow spot between a Hummer and a Harley hog. “Gotta love lesbians,” she murmured.

“I’m doing my part,” Candace said from the passenger seat.

Bren leaned forward between the bucket seats. “Everybody’s on the field. Did we miss the start?”

“It’s warm-ups, I think,” Liz replied, cutting the engine and checking her watch. She’d wanted to arrive early enough to talk to Reilly. She hadn’t been able to think of anything else for the last twenty-four hours, and she’d slept poorly. Unfortunately, traffic had been backed up along the River Drive because of an early evening concert at the open air theatre in the park, and it had taken longer than anticipated to reach Belmont Plateau. Now, cranky and anxious to find Reilly, she exited the car and shaded her eyes as she scanned the playing fields.

“Can you see where the Angels are playing?”

“There’s a team with black jerseys right over there,” Candace pointed to her left.

“I don’t see…no, that’s not them. The Angels’ shirts have white lettering.”

“Parker’s team is straight across from us,” Bren noted.

Candace looked disinterested. “There’s Reilly’s team—on the far side, just down the hill from the building.”

“Right next to the field where Parker’s playing,” Bren added, searching the figures stretched out on the slope behind the playing fields and seated in groups under the scattered trees, hoping to see a familiar stranger.

“I’m going to see if I can catch Reilly before the game,” Liz said, starting onto the grassy expanse that stretched for a quarter of a mile in all directions.

Bren grabbed her arm. “You can’t cut across the fields, not while they’re warming up. You could get hit with a ball or run into by a fielder who isn’t looking where—”

“I can see,” Liz said irritably. “And the last time I checked, my legs were working. I can get out of the way.”

“Bren’s right,” Candace put in. “You need to walk around the outside of the fields.”

“It’ll take an extra ten minutes,” Liz griped.

Bren patted her arm soothingly. “Reilly is going to be here all night.”

“All right,” Liz acquiesced. “Fine. But can we get go—”

“Isn’t that Parker?” Bren asked, indicating two people coming toward them with a large cooler swinging between them.

“Go ahead you two,” Candace said. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Sure?” Liz asked.

Candace shrugged nonchalantly. “Go.”

Liz and Bren waved to Parker, then hurried off.

“Hey,” Parker said, slowing as she drew alongside Candace. “We’ve got cold beer here thanks to Mandy, if you’re ready for one.”

Candace glanced at the young blonde wearing skimpy shorts and a bikini top that barely covered her nipples, who she assumed was Mandy. “Looks like you’ve got a little bit more than beer.”

“Yeah well, maybe.” Grinning, Parker shrugged, but her eyes searched Candace’s intently.

“I’ll pass,” Candace said. It was always important to establish the rules, and the rule had always been one night, and one night only. Oh, she’d broken her own rule a few times and gotten away with it, but it was never smart. She had learned very quickly not to trust a woman who said she didn’t want anything other than a good time, because too often, the next morning she wanted more. Liz had been the only woman with whom she’d been tempted to change the game, but she hadn’t been able to. She’d fucked it up and almost lost one of the most important people in her life. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“You sure?” Parker asked. “I can save you one. Come collect it later.”

“No,” Candace said, careful to keep her voice light and her smile friendly. “Something tells me you’ll have plenty of takers. Have a good game, Parker.”

“Thanks, I will.” Parker turned her grin on Mandy. “Ready to haul this across the field, baby?”

“Anything ya want, ya got it.”

Candace watched them go, Mandy’s tight little ass swaying with every step.
“Anything ya want.” I’ll just bet. God, Parker, have all your brains dropped into your crotch? Jesus.

Annoyed as much with herself as with Parker’s undiscriminating tastes, Candace headed off in the direction Liz and Bren had disappeared. A hundred women waited on the other side of the field, and one of them would be perfect to take her mind off Parker.

*

Reilly fielded a ground ball and underhanded it to second for the first out in a double play just as she saw Liz settle onto a wooden bench on the sidelines. Fortunately, it was only warm up and not the first inning, because her concentration immediately went all to hell. She hadn’t thought she would ever see Liz again. She’d been watching the parking lot and the adjoining fields for the last hour, and had eventually decided that Liz wasn’t coming. Why should she? Liz had made it pretty clear that Reilly had gone somewhere Liz didn’t want to go with that kiss.

There wasn’t any reason for Liz to come back to the field. Except she had. Reilly squinted, trying to make out if Liz was watching her.

“Reilly, heads up!”

A ball whizzed past her ear.

“Reilly, get your head in the game,” Sean yelled from center field. “You almost got it taken off.”

“Gonna get a drink,” Reilly yelled to no one in particular and hustled off the field. She sprinted down the outside of the third-base line, behind the backstop, and toward Liz.

Liz watched her coming, hoping she’d see a smile or some other sign of welcome. What she saw instead was worry and uncertainty. She hated knowing she put that look there. She’d had plenty of practice in court ordering her thoughts and speaking under pressure, swaying others to her opinion, but as she stood to meet Reilly, everything she planned to say went right out of her head.

“Hi Liz,” Reilly said.

“I was hoping I’d get here sooner.” Liz noticed several women watching them, and stepped a few feet further away from the bench. Reilly followed. “I need to talk to you. I want to explain about yesterday.”

“Liz,” Reilly sighed. “You don’t need—”

“Yes I do. It’s important to me. Please.”

“Hey,” Reilly murmured, reaching out as if to touch Liz’s arm, then drawing back. “Okay. Sure. That’s fine. We can talk.”

Liz wished Reilly would touch her. She didn’t usually crave physical connection, which is probably why she hadn’t noticed that she and Julia hadn’t shared much for months. But the memory of the barely restrained tension in Reilly’s body as she’d held her yesterday, the tight hard feel of Reilly’s arms around her, kept intruding on her thoughts. For all her gentleness, Reilly was physically commanding, and Liz liked it.

“Can I take you out for a drink after the game?” Liz asked, even though that hadn’t been her plan. Now that they were face to face and the game was about to start, Liz wanted, no
needed
, more than just a few minutes. She wanted to be alone with her.

Reilly rocked back on her heels, her arms folded across her chest. For a second, she gazed past Liz with a distant expression, and Liz was afraid she was going to say no. Liz held her breath.

“How about pizza at my place?” Reilly asked.

Liz felt her smile stretch across her face. “Yes. Yes, that would be perfect.”

*

Candace jostled the strangers who crowded around her in front of the Angels’ bench, trying to see over their heads to the next field where Parker’s team played. Now and then she caught glimpses of Parker on the mound, stretching her long body, rolling her shoulders, strutting. She smiled to herself, recalling the pleasure of that body moving sensuously over hers and just exactly what those long sensitive fingers could do to her hot and ready flesh. When she caught herself in the midst of an erotic daydream starring herself and Parker, she resolutely looked away.

She had plenty to occupy her right here in front of her. The woman crouched at third base for Reilly’s team looked yummy. Short and compact and a little scruffy, she was exactly Parker’s simmering, sophisticated opposite. An ice cold beer to Parker’s aged, single malt Scotch. Yes indeed, what she needed was a little changeup to shift her fantasies onto the next encounter. Cocking her hip, she smiled at the cutie, who grinned back and gave her a leering once over. Candace made a bet with herself that they wouldn’t make it out of the parking lot. Ms. Tough Guy would probably come while she was fucking Candace—the butch ones like her often lost it too soon. Parker hadn’t though, she’d held back her own pleasure until Candace was ready. There hadn’t been anything particularly submissive about Parker, but she had been content to let Candace lead. Except…except when she had been teasing her, holding her and making her beg to come. There weren’t many women who could make her beg.

Candace shook herself when she realized she was back in bed with Parker again. Damn it, what was it about that woman? All right, she was good-looking. She was great in bed. She wasn’t afraid to look Candace in the eye, to search for more than Candace was content to let people see. But really, was that all that special? Candace shied away from that line of contemplation and searched for her girl du jour on the field.

The game came to an abrupt halt when a woman ran onto the field shouting for Reilly. Like everyone else, Candace crowded up to the sideline to see what was going on.

“Reilly,” Candace heard the woman wheeze between pants, “sorry. Sorry. We need you…on field five. Parker got hit with a…line drive. Can you come?”

“Sure.” Reilly tossed her glove in the general direction of the Angels’ bench and dashed off with the still-gasping woman.

Candace didn’t give it a thought. She raced after them. By the time she reached the next field, a small crowd had gathered around the pitcher’s mound and she couldn’t see anything.

“Excuse me. Excuse me,” she said sharply, shouldering her way closer. “I need to get through. Could you move please.”

Maybe it was her tone of voice, or possibly her sharp elbows, but no one challenged her. After a minute of not-so-subtle shoving, she reached the center of the throng. Reilly knelt by Parker’s shoulder, murmuring something Candace couldn’t hear. Parker lay on her back, her arms and legs frighteningly still. Candace stepped over Parker’s inert form and knelt opposite Reilly, who gently probed Parker’s face.

“What happened?” Candace whispered.

Reilly didn’t look up. “She caught a line drive in the cheek.”

Parker’s right eye was completely swollen shut and already turning purple. A thin trickle of blood ran down from the corner, and a host of butterflies took flight in Candace’s stomach. She wasn’t ordinarily the queasy type, but seeing Parker hurt threw her more than she expected. Candace tenderly touched the top of Parker’s head and discovered her hair was wet. She gasped, thinking it was blood. When she realized it was sweat, the relief made her shaky.

“Is she unconscious?”

“No,” Parker muttered. “It just hurts like hell to move.” Her left eye flickered open. “Candace?”

“Hi.”

Parker grinned weakly. “Some stunt, huh?”

“Impressive. Be quiet now.” Candace stroked her forehead and glanced at Reilly. “Should I call an ambulance?”

“Someone already did.”

“Don’t need one,” Parker said, closing her eye again.

“Your cheekbone feels okay,” Reilly said, “but you ought to be X-rayed. You could have an orbital fracture and I’d never be able to tell.”

“Can it wait until tomorrow?”

“Probably,” Reilly said, “but you should do it tonight.”

“Don’t be an ass, Parker,” Candace said sharply. “Go to the ER like Reilly says.”

“What happened to you being all comforting and nice?” Parker asked.

Candace snorted. “That was before I knew you were faking most of it.”

Eye still closed, Parker grinned. “Damn.”

“Someone should go with you,” Candace said. “Which one of these little groupies did you settle on?”

“The blonde.”

“Got a thing for blondes,” Candace muttered, searching the crowd. Mandy and at least six other blondes stood around, all of them looking like they’d love to be in Candace’s position. That was enough to make her say, “Never mind, I’ll go with you.”

Sounding oddly serious, Parker said, “You don’t need to. I’ll be fine.”