Well, the world wasn’t shining now. She shook her head, berating herself for her clumsy, premature moves the night before. The signs had been clear enough—go slow, use caution, take time to build trust. She hadn’t done any of those things. A couple of shared meals, a few conversations. That wasn’t enough to draw Annie out of her comfort zone. She’d let her wants cloud her judgment.

When was last time she’d done that? When was the last time she’d cared enough to even try? Well, she’d blown it.

A shaft of sunlight bounced off the water and the air ahead of her shimmered with tiny flecks of gold. Maybe not permanently, though. Maybe if she backed off and heeded the caution signs, she could work her way around to the right time to ask again.

Maybe. And maybe she ought to think twice about what she was doing. She sighed and rounded the circle in front of the Art Museum, halfway done with her morning ride. Maybe she’d be smarter to listen to Annie’s message—she’d been doing just fine with the casual relationships she had. Annie wasn’t the kind of woman she could treat casually. And really, anything else was just asking for trouble. She came around the parkway toward West River Drive and the return loop, her mind clearing. Maybe she should be grateful Annie had shut her down. Maybe she’d dodged a bullet. Maybe what she needed was a date with no strings, a pleasant night out to remind her of the priorities in her life. And what she wanted to avoid.

*

Annie parked in front of Hollis’s house at seven thirty, a good fifteen minutes early. She knew she’d be early, but she’d been too restless to sit in the park after she’d dropped Callie off at Suzanne’s and too distracted to make casual conversation with Suz until Suz took the kids to school. She’d just wait out front and review her case notes.

When she turned off the engine, the sound of hammering drew her attention from the notes she knew by heart, and she shoved them back into her bag. She got out of the car, locked up, and followed the rhythmic pounding along the stone walkway circling Hollis’s house to the back porch. Hollis stood on a wooden stepladder, nailing new trim around the porch windows. Her back was to Annie as she plucked nails from a leather equipment belt strapped low on her hips and quickly, efficiently drove in the nails. A navy blue tank top stretched across her sharply cut shoulders, and Annie followed the tapering lines of Hollis’s back down to her waist where the tank disappeared beneath the waistband of her khaki work shorts. The backs of her legs were corded with muscle. Her dark hair lay in delicate curls at the nape of her neck, as if they’d recently been stroked into place by teasing fingers.

Annie stood at the bottom of the wide dark green porch stairs, giving herself a moment before she announced her presence. She’d spent a good part of the previous evening and most of the early morning trying not to think about the almost-kiss in the car. She still wasn’t sure why the idea of Hollis kissing her alternately terrified and thrilled her, but anything that threw her off balance so badly came with a big warning sign. Still, she couldn’t forget the pull of Hollis’s piercing gaze or the way Hollis’s fingers had gripped her neck, gentle and possessive. She’d ached in a way that was more sweetly painful than anything she’d ever known. Annie swallowed, her throat dry. Her heart thudded with nearly the same intensity as Hollis’s rhythmic hammer blows. Just looking at Hollis brought the ache back, and she wasn’t sure she wanted that to stop.

Suddenly Hollis looked over her shoulder. She paused, motionless, the hammer gripped loosely in her left hand and her gaze moving slowly over Annie’s body. Finally, after what felt like an eternity while Annie stood as helpless as a forest creature under the eyes of a predator, Hollis said, “Hi. I’m sorry, I guess I lost track of time.”

“I’m early,” Annie said.

Hollis climbed down and slid her hammer into the loop on the side of her belt. The hammer swung against her thigh, reminding Annie of the gunslingers she had secretly admired in old movies as a child, only then she had imagined the rebels as wild, free women. The tank top clung damply to Hollis’s chest, highlighting the curve of her breasts and her muscular abdomen. Annie pulled her gaze upward to Hollis’s face.

“I’m early.” Now she was repeating herself. Wonderful.

“I just need five minutes to shower,” Hollis said. “There’s coffee in the kitchen. Go on in and help yourself.”

“All right, thanks.”

Hollis turned, unslung her equipment belt, and placed it on a low plank bench under the kitchen windows. She disappeared through the screen door and Annie slowly followed. Keeping a professional distance was going to be harder than she’d expected, and something she had no practice at doing. She’d never let anyone get close enough that she’d needed to draw lines. She took a mug from a hook hanging underneath the glass-fronted wooden cabinet and poured herself a cup of coffee. Upstairs, water ran, and she pictured Hollis stripping and stepping into the shower. An image of her own soap-covered hands gliding over toned muscles and tanned skin leapt fully formed into her mind. She saw herself cupping firm breasts and sliding her thumbs over hard, heat-flushed nipples. She tasted the sweetness of Hollis’s breath and quickened under the press of Hollis’s mouth to hers. Hands trembling, she carefully set the coffee cup down.

Never once had she fantasized about sex with Jeff. She’d thought at the time what they’d shared was all that it should be. Later she’d come to appreciate other women and experienced physical stirrings that were wholly different and far sweeter than what she’d known. But this. This she had not imagined. This was far from anything she understood.

“Have you eaten?”

Hollis spoke from behind her and Annie swung around, startled. She didn’t lose track of time, but today she had—fantasizing about a woman she hadn’t even kissed. The woman she’d said no to, for good reasons she couldn’t remember right now.

Hollis looked as good in dark pants and a light lavender shirt, set off by a narrow black belt and black loafers, as she had in a tank top and shorts. Her hair was damp from the shower and looked as if she’d just toweled it dry and carelessly run her hands through it. She probably had. She didn’t need to do anything else. The wild look suited her, just as the holster had. No doubt she wielded her surgical instruments with the same confident nonchalance. She stood in the doorway rolling up her cuffs, watching Annie, her eyes shadowed, guarded.

“I had Cheerios with Callie about an hour ago,” Annie said.

Hollis smiled. “Then you’ve got to be hungry. How do you feel about eating bagels in the car?”

“Our first stop is only a few blocks from here. We’ve got time to actually eat like civilized human beings.” Annie laughed. “Well, like medical people anyhow. Ten minutes should be plenty of time.”

“Good. Cream cheese?”

“Sure.”

Hollis brushed by her, opened the refrigerator, and passed Annie a container of cream cheese. “Knives are in the drawer by the sink.”

“I remember,” Annie said, opening the utility drawer.

Hollis took a bag of bagels from the counter, opened it, and asked, “Cinnamon raisin, oat bran, pumpernickel, or everything?”

“Cinnamon raisin,” Annie said.

“Coming up.”

A minute later Annie followed Hollis out onto the porch and leaned against the railing. The bagel was fresh, the day was bright and beautiful, and Hollis was the most stunning woman she’d ever seen. She concentrated on her bagel. “You’re up early working on the porch.”

“I got up to ride, and when I got home…” Hollis shrugged, looking out over the yard. “Restless.”

“You’re a serious cyclist.”

“It usually relaxes me.” Hollis set her coffee cup down and brushed crumbs from her hands. “Do you ride much?”

“I did, when I was younger. I didn’t have a car and it was a lot faster than walking. I never really rode for pleasure, though.” Annie put her cup beside Hollis’s on the railing. “Callie wants a bike. Any recommendations?”

“There’s a good local bike shop on Germantown Avenue—I could take you over…” Hollis’s jaw tightened. “Well. I can tell you where it is.”

Annie knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. She lightly gripped Hollis’s forearm. “I’d love it if you could consult. I want to make sure she gets the right thing, and honestly, I have no idea what kids’ bikes are like these days.”

Hollis stared at Annie’s hand on her arm. A touch didn’t necessarily mean anything, but tell that to her body. She’d been revved since she’d turned around and seen Annie watching her, and the look in Annie’s eyes hadn’t been saying stay away. Her skin was about to blister from the heat of Annie’s fingers. “I’d like that.”

“Hollis, I’m sorry if—”

“No. We’re good.” She hated knowing she’d made Annie uncomfortable. She cupped Annie’s jaw and traced her thumb over her cheek. “It’s okay. I got a little ahead of things last night. My fault.”

“No fault,” Annie whispered. “I’m just not—”

“No more apologies. It’s all right.” Hollis picked up both cups. “I’ll take these inside. We should probably go.”

“Yes, we should,” Annie said, knowing it wasn’t all right at all.

Chapter Nineteen

“My first patient—Emmie—is a stay-at-home mom, so her schedule is flexible. Linda is right on the way, and I thought we could check in with her and Robin first.”

“Good idea,” Hollis said. “Just do whatever you’d usually do. Pretend I’m not here.”

Annie laughed. “I’m a midwife, not a magician.”

“What—you’re saying I’m a distraction?” Hollis grinned when Annie’s milky skin turned rosy, the way she imagined it would when Annie was aroused. Hollis shifted, stretching her legs, her trousers suddenly feeling too tight. Not a good way to start the day, but she liked the twinge of arousal a lot more than she had the dull ache of disappointment she’d awakened with. She liked how Annie made her feel. She liked feeling again, wanting again.

“A distraction? Not at all.” Annie flipped her blinker crisply and turned down School House Lane. “I’m simply noting that you are not the type to be ignored.”

“Oh yeah?” Hollis murmured, enjoying the game. “What type is that?”

Annie pulled to the curb and shut off the engine. “The forceful, commanding type.”

Hollis almost choked. Geez, she hadn’t expected that and definitely hadn’t expected to get a rush from the way Annie sounded saying it. Like she might enjoy Hollis being in charge. “Thanks. I think.” She jumped from the car as Annie got out and pulled her bag and a med kit from the backseat. “Was that a compliment?”

“No,” Annie said, turning to stride up the stone walk. “Just an observation.”

“Huh. Sounded like a compliment,” Hollis muttered as she hurried after Annie. She grinned when Annie’s laughter drifted back to her. She glanced up. The sky hadn’t changed since her ride a few hours earlier—still crystalline blue and cloudless—but the day seemed brighter. Beautiful.

She’d cleared her schedule for the morning in preparation for shadowing Annie. She was looking forward to the experience—that probably explained her sudden upturn in mood. Professionally, she was intrigued. The home-birth movement was well-established in Europe—had been for centuries in some countries—and was growing in the U.S. by leaps and bounds. Articles for and against the practice were appearing in lay publications and medical journals. Thousands of mothers proclaimed the many advantages. She didn’t feel threatened or competitive, but she was acutely curious. If she was missing something, she wanted to know. Maybe she’d learn something spending time with Annie. That was likely the cause of the anticipation churning in her belly.

Annie climbed the stairs and rang the bell. Looking at her started an ache in Hollis’s chest she really didn’t want to think about. She hurried up the stairs to join Annie, glad for the diversion of work.

Robin smiled when she opened the door and saw Annie and Hollis. “Now everyone’s here. Come on in.”

“I know I said late morning,” Annie said, following Robin down the hall, “but you were on our way, and I figured with the kids, you’d be up.”

“Been up, got the crew off, and was just making some breakfast. You two eat?”

Annie looked at Hollis. “We’re good, I think.”

“Yeah, thanks though.” Hollis slowed a little, letting Annie take the lead. She considered Linda her patient now, but this was Annie’s turf, and she was just here to observe. Funny, the role didn’t bother her as much as she would have thought a few weeks ago.