Unforgettable (19 page)

The waitress set down a lemonade for Rett and bustled away.

Rett knew her smile was devilish. “Which one are you talking about now?”

“Heya, Angel, Rett. Great to see you back in town.” Keith Jolafson passed the time of day and chatted about the weather in what Rett thought of as a peculiarly Minnesotan ritual of greeting. He left with his takeout when the waitress delivered Rett’s sandwich.

“It’s not possible to have a serious discussion here,” Angel muttered.

Rett bit the end off the huge dill pickle wedge. It was so sour — yum — the glands in her throat went gonzo. “Were you being serious? About in the water or later? You know, when we got to the trees.”

“Wipe that grin off your face, young lady.” Angel tried and failed to be stern. “We can’t very well talk about whether we’re going to —” She dropped her voice so low Rett almost couldn’t hear her. “Well, you know what. Not while you’re eating a pickle.”

Rett could not help herself. “What would you rather I was eating?” 

Angel’s fingers clenched on her lemonade, and Rett had the feeling she’d barely escaped having the contents dumped on her head. “We’ll go for a walk, okay? Nothing serious until then.”

Rett enjoyed a huge bite of the corned beef and sauerkraut. It was slathered with Thousand Island dressing and a dash of spicy mustard. It was as close to Kosher as food got in these parts, which was not very. “It sure is hot, but I think there’s been enough rain for a good harvest this year.”

Angel said nothing.

“I was at the store the other day and I just couldn’t believe the price of eggs. They’ve just gone up and up. I think I’ll have to give up custard at this rate.”

Angel glowered at her. She was very good at glowering. That expression must stop college freshmen in their tracks.

“Have you ever noticed that they can pass a law to make people pick up after their dogs but they won’t make people pick up after themselves? What’s this world coming to?”

Angel had a white-knuckled grip on her knife when she said, “If you don’t stop talking I’m going to kill you.”

“That knife isn’t sharp enough.”

“It is when you know precisely where to insert it.”

Rett grinned at her and ate in cheerful silence. The more she smiled at Angel the more Angel frowned. The waitress dropped off the check and Rett snapped it up. “I remember owing you for the, uh, you know.”

Angel looked confused.

“Accommodations? “ 

“Oh. Don’t worry about that.”

As Angel passed her on the way to the front door, Rett murmured, “You’re adorable when you blush.”

Outside on the sidewalk, Angel burst out, “Would you stop being so goddamned charming!” She set off toward the back road to town at a pace that made Rett breathless, and Angel had much shorter legs. Rett was glad she had switched to walking shoes.

She watched Angel’s hinder— her shorts fit so nicely, who wouldn’t? — as she hurried up the sidewalk. Her tank top left her shoulders nearly bare. Lovely shoulders. Now Rett, she admonished herself, remember that you agreed it was time to slow down.

They had left the wooden sidewalks of town behind them when Angel finally slowed. “You’re agreeing that we should maybe wait to go to bed again until we spend some more time together.”

“That’s what I’m agreeing to, yes.”

They walked in silence for several minutes, their footsteps crunching on the gravel shoulder. Angel turned onto one of the dirt roads. The afternoon air was much cooler in the deep shade, but Rett had walked as much as she wanted to. The blister was hollering at her to stop. “Can we sit — over here?”

They settled on the end of a log farthest from the buzzing activity of termites.

Angel rubbed her face with both hands, then swept her fingers through her hair. The short black curls were now in the same tumbled disarray they had been in when Rett had seen her at UCLA. “That first night with you I was so focused. All I could think about was how much I had wanted to be with you all those years ago. It was as good as I had ever fantasized. And then we didn’t see each other and I know you lost my number and you didn’t know my last name, but all the while I was imagining that you’d just gone on to your next conquest.”

“That’s not me.”

“I couldn’t know that. Half the news produced in L.A. is the sexual exploits of show business people. You could be the type of person who sees someone she wants, has sex and gets the desire out of her system in a single night.”

“Were you trying to get me out of your system that night?” Rett touched the back of the hand nearest her with one fingertip.

Angel made a twisty-frowny face that made Rett want to smile, but she controlled herself. It was hard. “Yeah. It didn’t work. All those years, you never thought about me, did you?”

Rett took a deep breath and kept her voice gentle. “I think if we’re ever going to go forward, that should be the last time you bring that up. I never thought about you. I never thought about anybody else. High school was made up of her and not her. You were not her. Everybody else was not her. I was so miserable that, to tell you the truth, I have never consciously tried to think about high school at all. A photographic memory is near-perfect, but not flawless. As I’m sure you know.”

Angel kicked at a hummock, then shook the dirt off her sandal. “I’m sorry. I keep telling myself to move on. I will not bring it up again.”

“For the record, for now and all time, I will think of the first time I met you as the night I did karaoke — the night you seduced me.”

Angel’s chin lifted in outrage. “I did not — it was extremely mutual, remember?” 

“If you say so. I just remember who was on top of who first.”

“Stop it.” Angel’s plea was half-hearted. Her voice quavered slightly.

“Okay.”

“So we’re agreed. Let’s get to know each other.”

“Right. No sex for a while.”

“Right.”

“It’ll be good for us.”

“Absolutely.”

Rett watched Angel get to her feet to ostensibly study one of the nearby pine branches. “So what shall we do to get to know each other better?”

Angel was sighing. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I’m taking my folks out to dinner later. Even though most of the family is staying at Honey Lake in cabins, my mom has been cooking nonstop for a week.”

“So we have an hour or two to do something to get to know each other. We could go shopping.” Rett stood up.

Angel turned to gaze at her. In a low voice she said, “We’re agreed, right?”

A wave of desire made Rett close her eyes for a moment. “Yes.” When she opened her eyes all she could see was Angel’s lips. Her breath was coming in short gasps. “I love shopping.”

Angel swallowed so hard Rett heard it. “My desire to have life follow a logical path can be utterly irrational sometimes.”

“I’m not going to argue with that.” Rett was hardly breathing now. She had to keep her arms at her sides with a conscious effort, but nothing would stop her fingers from curling as if to cup Angel’s face. 

Angel made a face and turned away. “I’m in no mood to argue.”

Rett staggered once Angel’s gaze left her. She had felt frozen by the burning desire in Angel’s eyes.

“Shopping,” Angel said weakly. She looked skyward for a moment then spun around to face Rett. “Shopping. Fuck shopping.”

In less than a heartbeat Angel was in her arms. Even as their lips met, Rett pulled Angel down to straddle her lap. She had not forgotten the way Angel tasted or the smell of her hair. Sensation evoked and reinforced memory as Angel returned her kiss.

Shoulders … the hollow at her throat. Rett bent Angel back in her arms to relearn the texture of the soft skin with her teeth and tongue. She slipped the straps of the tank top out of the way. Beautiful olive skin pulsed with the beat of Angel’s heart. Angel yanked the tank top down with an earthy groan of desire. Rett filled her mouth with Angel’s breasts and trembled with an ache between her legs that could take a lifetime to ease.

“Not here … oh …”

Rett’s fingers slipped past the hem of Angel’s shorts, remembering the way to welcoming heat and wetness. She put her other arm around Angel’s waist to pull her closer.

Angel groaned out her name as Rett’s fingers slipped inside her, then she burst into tears. Rett murmured, “Hold on to me, it’s okay.”

“I didn’t want to love you again.” Her hips moved convulsively. “Don’t stop.” Angel put both arms around Rett’s neck and hid her tears in Rett’s hair. “Don’t stop.”

Rett could feel the rapid beat of Angel’s heart against her cheek. She let Angel set the pace, listened for the cues she remembered so vividly. Slower, deeper, right… there.

Rett was hypnotized by the thumping of Angel’s heart. She jumped slightly when Angel tipped her head back for a languid, satisfied kiss. She slipped her hand free and Angel made a little moan.

“We’re not done,” Rett whispered.

“Oh, I know.” Angel brought Rett’s wet hand to her breasts and sighed as Rett caressed her. “I’m only just beginning.”

“Not here,” Rett said hoarsely. “We can’t possibly do what I want here.”

“Slow down? I was insane. Promise me you won’t slow down.” Angel bit Rett’s lower lip, then gave her a hard, thorough kiss. “And tell me your motel is close.”

Rett didn’t want to stop kissing. She murmured between their pressed lips, “It’s most of the way to Litchfield.”

Angel groaned in disappointment. “You mean I’m going to have to wait a half an hour to strip you naked and have my way with you?”

“I’ll speed.” From Angel’s lips to her shoulders to her breasts — Rett’s mouth explored the landscape of Angel’s body again. “In the car, that is. After that I’m taking my time.”

Angel shivered. “It’s been a long time since I’ve — I’ve felt quite like this. If I ever have before.”

“Like what?” Rett tipped her head back so she could gaze into Angel’s eyes. Fiery flecks of yellow circled her brown irises. 

“When we were together the first time all I wanted to do was …”

“Was?”

“All I wanted to do was fuck,” she said all in a rush. Her ears turned red.

“That’s what we did.”

“Stop smiling.”

“I can’t help it.”

“You’re making me feel like a small-town virgin.”

“Sorry.”

“Well, it wasn’t like me. I don’t usually let myself go like that.”

“Me neither.”

“It feels different now.”

“To me, too.” Rett kissed the side of Angel’s mouth. “Are we convinced now that neither of us is looking for a quickie?”

“I just wanted you to know how I felt. I want more than this.” Angel opened her mouth to Rett.

“How greedy …” Rett felt as if she was falling. There was no blood left in her brain. It was all pounding through the rest of her body, every inch of which clamored to be touched.

The next thing she knew the ground slammed the breath out of her and Angel’s elbow drove hard into her solar plexus. They’d gone over backwards onto a not very thick layer of pine needles and oak leaves.

“Jesus, are you okay?”

Rett couldn’t inhale. Angel put a hand on Rett’s stomach. “Did I get you here?”

Rett nodded.

“Just relax. Don’t fight it.” Angel’s hand lightly massaged the area just below Rett’s sternum. “The muscles will all unlock when you need the air the most. Don’t panic, it’ll take longer.”

Suddenly Rett could breathe again. “Shit, oh that hurts.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault.” Rett found she could inhale more and more deeply. The pain was receding quickly. “I lost my balance.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Don’t go doctor on me. I just had other things on my mind.”

Angel’s hand was still on Rett’s stomach. “I could play doctor. Give you a thorough examination.” Her hand slid higher under Rett’s shirt. Fingers explored her ribs, then lightly brushed over her bra.

“I think we should head for the motel,” Rett said shakily. “I’m not hurt.”

Angel kissed her way from Rett’s navel to her shoulders, pulling Rett’s shirt up as she went. “In a minute.” She bared Rett’s breasts and caressed each with the tip of her tongue. “Just one more minute.”

Rett had nothing to hold on to. Angel was making her body float. There was nothing to keep her on the ground. She no longer smelled the pine needles all around her, or saw the lace of leaves and branches against the summer sky. She felt as light as a balloon, tethered to reality by Angel’s hands on her breasts, now at her waistband. One of her hands helped Angel unbutton her shorts while the other clung to Angel’s shoulder to keep from floating away.

“There, there, please.” Her shorts were around her knees. Angel was pausing — she put her head on Rett’s stomach. 

A car passed on the road, and as the engine’s drone faded Angel’s fingers slid hard inside of her. Music filled her ears — it was as if cellos played in her blood. Angel’s moans against her stomach and breasts were the harmony to the pounding of her heart. It felt so good, so unbelievably good, and knowing that it was Angel holding her brought more tears to Rett’s eyes. It seemed as if the ground under her rumbled for a moment as two fields of energy that had long resisted merging gave up the fight.

Rett wanted to doze longer, but the ground was too hard. Angel lifted her head from Rett’s stomach. “Hello, sleepyhead.”

“I’m only dozing,” Rett mumbled.

Angel cleared her throat meaningfully and held out the wrist with her watch on it.

“It’s nearly four?”

“I think I wore you out.”

Once had not been enough and it had taken deliciously longer the second time. Rett felt her neck and cheeks stain with red.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” she lied. She tidied her clothes without looking directly at Angel.

They sat with their backs against the log.

“I’ll have to go home in a little while to get dressed for dinner.”

Rett kissed Angel’s fingers. “I am not going to wait until Thursday night to see you again.”

“I have to go up to Rochester tomorrow for a meeting.”

“After that?” 

“No plans until the following morning.”

“Spend the night with me, then.”

Angel made a low sound that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but anticipation. “I’d love to. But I will have to be up bright and early Wednesday morning for breakfast with the old Science Club.”