Abruptly, Gard rose and searched around on the floor for her pants. She pulled her jeans on and zipped them partway, not bothering to close the top button. She stalked to the other side of the room and braced an arm on either side of the window. From where Jenna sat, all she could see was the sunlight splintering around Gard’s head and dusting her shoulders, leaving the stark planes of her back in shadow. She was so beautiful.

Jenna threw the sheet aside and went after her. She wrapped her arms around Gard’s middle and rested her cheek between her shoulder blades. “Gard?”

When Gard didn’t answer, Jenna caressed the tight muscles in Gard’s stomach and kissed her back. “I don’t care, Gard. What matters to me is this moment with you. The moments that we’ve shared. I’m sorry I asked for more.”

Gard covered Jenna’s hand and held it hard against her stomach. “You didn’t ask for anything unreasonable. I just…I’m not used to talking about things.”

“And you don’t have to.” Jenna held her more tightly. This was better, to leave the secrets where they belonged. They had the now, they had this.

“Are you still going to come to the barn dance tomorrow night?” Gard asked.

“Of course I’m going to come.” Jenna gave Gard a little shake. “First of all, we have a date, and I don’t take kindly to being stood up.”

Gard chuckled and Jenna’s heart eased.

“Furthermore,” Jenna said, “you promised me a dance.”

“I’ll dance with you.” Gard turned and cupped Jenna’s face in her hands. “I’ll do anything you want.”

Jenna brushed her fingers through Gard’s hair and caressed her until the shadows left her her eyes. “What I want is this.” She kissed her. “And I’d like very much to see you smile.”

“Jenna,” Gard murmured, kissing her back. When she drew away, she smiled.

Jenna nodded, satisfied. Enough. Enough for now.

Chapter Twenty-five

“You want to explain to me again exactly why you’re going to spend the night in a non-air-conditioned barn filled with scratchy hay and smelling like horse poop?” Alice stood with hands on hips in the middle of Jenna’s bedroom.

“I already told you—twice.” Jenna turned slowly in front of the full-length, wood-framed mirror hanging on the inside of the cedar closet door, trying to get a view of her ass in the new jeans she’d picked up that morning. “It’s a community thing. People get together and help put up a barn, and then they party. The barn’s brand new, so it’s not likely to be filled with hay or poop.”

“Just sweating people. And your ass looks fine.” Alice plopped onto the end of the bed and leaned back on her elbows. “Remember, Diane is coming tonight.”

“Bring her to the dance. You don’t have a date.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Alice snorted. “First of all, she’s completely not my type. Second of all, she owns an art gallery in Soho and a condo off Central Park. A barn dance?”

Jenna pulled a sleeveless white shirt from the closet and turned to Alice. “You can’t really be this much of a snob. You are kidding, right?”

“Mostly. Although, really. You know how hot it’s going to be in there tonight?” Alice grinned. “Do you think the sheriff will be there?”

Jenna buttoned the cotton shirt and tucked it in. “Undoubtedly.”

“In that case, I suppose I could live with the heat. Your nipples show through that shirt.”

Jenna looked down at herself. “A lot or just enough?”

Alice pursed her lips. “Just enough to drive a certain someone crazy if she happens to be looking. Is that what you want?”

“Of course that’s what I want. I’m sleeping with her, aren’t I?”

“About that.” Alice plucked at the pink chenille bedspread as if the small cotton nubs peppering the surface were the most fascinating items she’d ever seen. “Where are you going with it?”

“Why do I have to be going somewhere?” Jenna eyed the cowboy boots she’d purchased on a whim. Maybe her feet would get sore if she tried to dance in them all night, but damn, they were sharp. Glossy black, slightly pointed toes, chunky heels. She felt a little wild and sexy wearing them. What the hell, a few blisters were a small price to pay for looking, and feeling, hot. She sat on the window bench to pull them on.

“I’m just not used to seeing you so…into someone,” Alice said.

“Meaning you think I’m loose?”

“No, I just don’t think of you as getting attached.”

Attached. Jenna considered that word. Attached was what you got to a close friend, maybe even a fuck buddy. Attached was not the word for what she felt about Gard. “I’m not attached.”

“Then what are you?”

Jenna paused, one boot on, the other in her hands. Confession time. “I’m in love with her.”

Alice threw up her hands. “That’s completely impossible. That plotline is not going to fly. You’ll have to rework the entire sentence and whatever paragraph came before it. Possibly the entire chapter.”

Jenna smiled. “I’m afraid this is one story I can’t massage into anything else.”

“For God’s sake, Jenna! She lives in Vermont. She’s a vet. You live in Manhattan. You’re something of a star, and you spend half your life traveling. Not to mention the rest of your time working. And God damn it, she’s got a sordid past.”

“You don’t know what that’s about. And what does that matter anyhow? I never heard of her before. Probably no one else has either.”

“I Googled her the other day,” Alice said. “About five hundred hits came up, and some of them are recent. It’s pretty easy to find the story.”

“You…” Jenna’s whole body flared hot. “You Googled her? Do you want to look through her underwear drawer too? Jesus, Alice. Whatever happened to privacy?”

“There is no such thing as privacy anymore, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Do you think your readers won’t be curious about your lover? That they won’t do the same thing I did and find the same stories? Do you really want to field questions at book readings about your lover’s illicit past? And don’t even get me started on the publicity department.” Alice waved an arm dramatically. “We are not talking about a traffic ticket here, she—”

“No! You do not tell me anything.” Jenna tried to sit on her temper, but she hated Gard being attacked, even by someone trying to protect her. “Do you think I don’t know how to do an Internet search? If I’d wanted to look her up, I would have.”

Alice stared. “You’re just going to pretend this is a non-issue?”

“When Gard is ready, she’ll tell me. I know what I need to know. She’s a wonderful woman. People around here like and respect her. She’s…she’s gorgeous and funny and strong and…” Jenna closed her eyes. “And oh God, when she touches me I feel like the most precious thing in her life. Do you know what that feels like?”

The silence grew so heavy, Jenna half expected to open her eyes and find Alice gone. Instead, she was shocked by Alice’s stricken expression. “Oh, damn, Alice. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go off—”

“Hell, no, don’t apologize. I didn’t realize you didn’t know how special you are. How precious you are to me. You’re an amazing woman with incredible talent. And I’m probably going to kick myself for the rest of my life for not trying to seduce you before you ran into James Dean of the Cornfields.”

Jenna laughed. “She’s not like that.”

“I bet you five hundred dollars she picks you up tonight in her big ole truck, wearing dusty boots and faded jeans and a tight white T-shirt.”

“Oh God, I hope so.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t have any idea. But I don’t think I’ll be leaving right away. I just want to be with her right now. Can’t that be enough?”

“I don’t know, Jenna. How long can you put the rest of your life on hold?”

Jenna ducked her head, pretending to be busy pulling on the second shiny black boot. How long indeed.

Gard swung her truck up the drive to Jenna’s a little before eight. She hopped out and hurried onto the porch, but before she could knock, the screen door opened and Jenna was there, framed in the soft yellow light from inside. The day and a half since she’d last seen her felt like years. The second Jenna’d left the house she’d started missing her, and the missing wasn’t just from wondering if she’d ever see her again. She missed the way Jenna’s gaze made her feel centered and focused and a million other things she never thought she wanted or needed. Hell, when Jenna smiled at her she was instantly taller than tall, brave and bold, and so swamped with tenderness she wanted to cry. Jenna turned her inside out and she liked it. Liked it an awful lot. In the hours they’d been apart, she’d half convinced herself Jenna was only a wonderful dream. She traced her fingertips over Jenna’s face. Jenna was solid and real and smiling at her right now—and the churning in her stomach settled. She kissed her.

“Hi.”

“Hi, you.” Jenna slid her arms around Gard’s waist and kissed her back, long and slow and deep.

Awash with peace and excitement, Gard never wanted the kiss to end. She pulled Jenna onto the porch and walked her backwards into the shadows until Jenna bumped into the wall. Bracing her forearms on the clapboards, Gard spread her legs and boxed Jenna in between her thighs. She pinned her with her body and kissed her, hot and hungry.

Jenna gasped and clutched Gard’s shoulders, suddenly famished, her cool resolve of the last two days burning away at the first taste of Gard’s heat. She’d been so pleased with herself since she’d left Gard’s bed—keeping her head on straight, not letting the constant memories of being with Gard derail her. Oh, she got wet every time she thought about her, which was about a hundred times a day, so she walked around half turned on pretty much all the time, but that was all about good sex. Sex with Gard was great. So the horniness was a given. Normal. And she dreamt about her, or at least woke up with Gard on her mind, and started to call her cell twice for no reason at all, but she’d been cool. Really cool. Until right now, when she was incinerating. She yanked Gard’s tight white T-shirt out of her jeans. A second later she drove her hand down the back of Gard’s pants and palmed her tight, firm ass. Gard rewarded her with a low growl. Jenna feasted on her for a few more seconds, until she edged way too close to the cliff. She dragged her mouth away. “Stop. Stop it right now.”

“Fuck no,” Gard muttered and tried to kiss her again.

Jenna got a hand between them and pushed on Gard’s chest. “We’re going to the dance. You promised. No more kissing.”

“Jenna,” Gard said dangerously.

“Really, sweetheart, I can’t. I’ve wanted you to make me come since yesterday, and I really won’t be responsible if you kiss me again.”

“God damn it.” Gard’s throat worked convulsively and the muscles stood out like iron bands beneath the taut skin.

“Mmm,” she murmured, caressing Gard’s neck. She loved knowing she made Gard want her this much. She’d never enjoyed turning on a woman this way before. She kissed Gard’s throat. “Please? Dance?”

“You’re killing me, you know that, right?”

Jenna nipped Gard’s chin. “Oh, I certainly hope so.”

“I surrender.” Gard had to put some space between them or she was going to drag Jenna off into some dark corner and take her. She was so damned stoked her clit was jumping in her jeans.

Stepping back, Gard grabbed Jenna’s hands and pulled her into the light that shone down on the porch steps. Moths as big as silver dollars fluttered around the uncovered bulb. At the edge of the yard, fireflies flickered in the gathering dusk. Diamonds danced in Jenna’s eyes. “You look great.”

“So do you. Thank God Alice was right.” Jenna smoothed a hand over the tight white T-shirt clinging to Gard’s chest.

“Huh?”

“Never mind.” Jenna smoothed both hands over Gard’s shoulders and down her bare arms, her thumbs tracing the swell of her biceps.

Gard’s nipples hardened and her throat went dry. Her stomach tightened painfully. “Jesus, Jen, have a heart. I don’t know how much I can take.”

“Don’t be a baby.” Jenna smiled, the smile of a woman who knew her lover wanted her. “Besides, I like it when you want me.”

“Then you ought to be happy pretty much all the time.”

Jenna’s expression became suddenly solemn. “You know? I am.”

“Good.” Gard lifted Jenna’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “Hot boots, by the way.”

Jenna looked down and made a pleased sound. “You think?”

“I do. If I knew you were getting duded up, I would’ve changed mine. I’ve got some pretty fancy tooled leather boots.”

“Next time.”

Gard feathered her fingertips through Jenna’s hair, wondering how many next times they would have. She tried not to think about the future, just as she never thought about the past, at least not before Jenna came into her life. And she wasn’t going to think about lies, and betrayal, and broken trust now either. Tonight was about Jenna, and tonight they would dance.