Thy Neighbor's Wife (17 page)

She didn’t seem all that angry, just a little sad and surprisingly mat-

ter-of-fact, like this was something she’d been dealing with for quite

some time. “What are you going to do?” she finally asked, her voice

soft.

Jennifer stared into her glass as if looking for the answer. “I

have absolutely no idea.”

They sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in the

moment. Alex slumped a little further into the leather, propped her

bare feet up on the coffee table, and gently rested her hand on Jen-

nifer’s shin in what she hoped was a show of support. She tried to

pay no attention to how good the younger woman’s flesh felt

beneath her fingers.

As she looked at Jennifer’s face, she realized that her neighbor

looked more tired than sad and she knew she should keep her talk-

ing in order to keep her awake, at least for a little while longer. The

Eric subject was definitely off-limits; she wanted to cheer her friend

up.

“Hey, how’s the decorating coming?”

Jennifer’s face brightened slightly. “Great. I think I finally have

all the little details ironed out for the master bedroom. And guess

what I did.”

The sparkle in her eyes had returned and Alex knew immedi-

ately that this was her friend’s passion. She found it endearing and

flattering that Jennifer chose to share it with her. “Bought new fur-

niture?”

“Nope. Not yet, anyway.”

“Ripped down a wall?”

“No.” She laughed.

“I give.”

“I bit the bullet and painted that wall.”

“That wall.” Alex furrowed her brow and shook her head, lost.

“That wall, what wall?”

“The purple wall.”

“The purple wall.” She shook her head again, but it struck her

before she needed to have her memory nudged along. “Oh! The pur-

ple wall! You painted the purple wall? Like, purple?”

“Yup.” Jennifer’s face was positively beaming. Alex found it

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intoxicating just to look at it.

“Like, dark purple? Like the purples we were looking at?”

“Yup.”

“Like, purple like your eye?”

“Hey! Shut up.” She kicked at Alex playfully. “It’s called Deep

Eggplant.”

“And? Are you happy with it?”

“It’s an unbelievably sensuous color. I love it.”

“Ooo, sensuous, is it? I’d say that’s rather appropriate for a

bedroom, wouldn’t you?” Alex waggled her eyebrows in mock flir-

tation.

“Yeah? Wanna see it?” Jennifer held Alex’s surprised gaze,

unmistakably flirting back, effectively beating Alex at her own

game.

Just how hard did she get hit with that ball? Alex wondered.

“Tomorrow.”

“Chicken.” Jennifer smirked, savoring her victory even though

her eyes seemed to swim slightly out of focus.

“Deep Eggplant, huh?”

“Uh-huh. The sales guy was great. Did you know there’s such a

thing as tinted primer?”

“Tinted? I thought primer was white.”

“It doesn’t have to be. He tinted it with the Deep Eggplant so

the paint would cover better. He was right. It looks really rich and

smooth. And it took fewer coats and much less effort than I

expected.”

“Then is it safe to assume that your most recent trip to Chase-

Pitkin was better than the previous one?” Alex knew it was a touchy

subject, but her friend’s I-just-got-whacked-in-the-head-and-I’m-

talking-more-openly-than-I-usually-do behavior was too tempting to

resist. She wanted to take the opportunity and see if she could find

out more about the mysterious Sarah.

“God, that feels good,” Jennifer muttered, almost to herself,

closing her eyes.

Alex crinkled her brow, wondering what she meant, then very

nearly gasped out loud when she looked down. To her horror, she

was gently kneading Jennifer’s calf muscles with her fingers. In

response, Jennifer was pushing her rear end down into the cushions

ever so slightly. Alex willed herself to stop, but her hands refused to

obey. Instead, she decided to keep Jennifer talking.

“So, no scary patrons sent you scampering to the check-out this

time?”

Jennifer chuckled, her eyes still closed. “Sarah. What the hell

was she doing there anyway?”

“She seemed happy to see you.” Jennifer snorted. “You weren’t

Thy Neighbor’s Wife 91

happy to see her, though, were you?”

“Considering that the last time I saw her, she was ripping my

heart out, no.”

“Excuse me?” Whoa! What the hell?

Jennifer gingerly fingered her swollen eye, winced, then sighed

heavily. She hadn’t meant to get into this. She’d never gotten into

this with anybody, but the effect of being hit in the head left her

feeling almost drunk and she couldn’t seem to stop her mouth from

saying things it shouldn’t. And she did owe Alex an explanation of

some sort for what had happened that day. She took a deep breath.

“Sarah and I…there was this…we had a thing.”

“A thing?” Alex blinked at her.

“Yes, a thing,” she retorted, more abruptly than she had

intended. “I don’t know what else to call it.” She held Alex’s gaze,

her brows dipping together in tension. “What?” she snapped at the

shocked expression on Alex’s face.

“Nothing. Nothing. I’m just…” Alex’s voice trailed off.

“Surprised?”

“Well. In a word, yes.”

Jennifer shrugged. “Yeah, well, so was I.”

Alex sat quietly, absorbing the fact that Jennifer had had “a

thing” with a woman. Suddenly, inexplicably, and unexpectedly, all

her perceptions of Jennifer had shifted. She wanted so badly to

press the issue, to find out more. It was obviously a touchy subject

for her, though, and Alex didn’t want her to shut down completely

like last time. But Jennifer didn’t seem to be offering up more, not

at that moment. As much as Alex wanted to explore, she decided to

respectfully back off, at least for a little while. They sat in silence.

“How’s your head?” Alex finally asked.

“Still attached. I think.”

Alex chuckled, watching her still-traveling hands as if they had

little minds of their own. They moved down from Jennifer’s strong

calves, massaged over her ankles, and then settled on her feet,

kneading and rubbing, pressing strongly into the arch until Jennifer

groaned, squirming slightly.

“Too hard?” Alex asked.

“No. Perfect,” she whispered. “You have amazing hands.” The

tone of her voice was low and sexy and it made Alex swallow hard,

the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her head. She had a

sudden flash of Jennifer using that husky voice, rasping Alex’s

name in her ear as Alex ravished her body using hands, mouth, and

tongue.

Alex’s mind shrieked at her, warning her that things were get-

ting way too close and that Jennifer was enjoying the physical atten-

tion far too much for Alex’s own good. She shook her head slightly,

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then ran a fingernail up the sole of Jennifer’s foot, causing her to

jump with surprise and pull it away.

“Hey,” she gasped, slightly annoyed.

“Just making sure you’re awake,” Alex replied innocently, pat-

ting Jennifer’s leg in a gesture that told her she wanted to get up.

She needed to get up. Fast.

“I’m awake,” Jennifer yawned. “I don’t want to be, but I am.”

Alex checked the clock; it had been three hours since her

injury. “Are you still woozy or disoriented?”

“I feel okay. Really. A bit of a headache, but I think I’m fine.”

Alex studied her face for sincerity and found it. “Me, too. Still,

I don’t want you to be alone. How ’bout if I go feed Kinsey, then we

come back here for a little while longer. Is that okay with you?”

Jennifer smiled sweetly from the couch. “You don’t have to

stay, Alex, but I’m not going to turn away your company. I like

when you’re here.”

The endearing honesty of her statement warmed Alex’s heart

and she smiled at her. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be right here.”

Once outside, Alex took several deep breaths of the cool night

air, reprimanding herself and her wandering hands as she crossed to

her house.

Jesus, Foster, you might as well have just thrown yourself at

her and ripped her clothes off with your teeth. What the hell is the

matter with you?

Rolling her eyes, she was distracted from her self-deprecation

by the shrill, staccato barks of her Westie. She bent over the little

fence and scooped him up. “Hey, buddy,” she cooed affectionately,

accepting his kisses. “Miss me?” She unlocked the door and set him

on the kitchen floor. His furry, white tail wagged continuously as he

playfully scolded her for being so late with his dinner, admonishing

her with disapproving woo’s. She would have genuinely felt bad if

he weren’t so damn cute with his little black lips in the shape of an

“O.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” She filled his bowl, rambling on

with her explanation as if talking to an irritated parent. “I would

have been here sooner, but Jennifer got hurt and we were worried

that she might have a concussion, so I offered to stay with her for a

bit.” Kinsey eyed her suspiciously as he ate. “To keep her awake,

you know. Just to make sure she was okay. Stop looking at me like

that.” She looked away guiltily and busied herself with the breakfast

dishes she’d left in the sink, her mind wandering back to the earlier

conversation.

We had a thing.

A thing. That could only mean one…thing, right? The phrase

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“having a thing” was a pretty standard euphemism, wasn’t it? Jenni-

fer and Sarah had been lovers. Jennifer had been with another

woman.

“So what?” Alex said aloud, annoyed at the path her mind was

taking, but unable to stop it. A lot of women had been with other

women. What was the big deal if Jennifer had? But she smiled as

she felt a familiar warmth spread through her body, followed by a

slight tingle in her belly. She had always thought there was some-

thing incredibly sexy and erotic about a “straight” woman who

occasionally went to bat for the other team. She chuckled, shaking

her head to rid herself of the thought, and went into the bedroom to

change out of her sand-infused clothes.

Someday, I’ll get her to tell me all about Sarah. In great detail.

“Come on, Kins,” she called and snapped on his leash. “Let’s

go check on your girlfriend, make sure she hasn’t kicked off on us.”

Alex was sure she hadn’t been gone for more than twenty min-

utes, but when she slid the door from Jennifer’s deck open, she

could do nothing but smile affectionately.

Jennifer had fallen asleep, her breathing deep and even. One

arm was tossed carelessly over her head and hung limply over the

end of the couch. The other was draped across her stomach. One leg

was bent so her lower body looked like the letter ‘P.’ Alex stood still

and studied her for what seemed like a long time. She looked differ-

ent in sleep and it took Alex several minutes to figure out why. She

finally realized that Jennifer looked infinitely more relaxed. She’d

never thought of her young friend as a tense woman, but she must

have been if the change while she was sleeping was so dramatic.

What’s got you so stressed out? she thought, wishing she could

make it better.

She bent to unhook Kinsey’s leash and let him roam. “Stay out

of trouble,” she warned softly as he set to work with his sniffer.

She debated waking Jennifer up. She laid the backs of her fin-

gers on Jennifer’s forehead, then her cheeks. She felt perfectly nor-

mal—cool and soft—and Alex exhaled a relieved breath she hadn’t

realized she’d been holding. She pulled the afghan off the back of

the couch and draped it gently over the sleeping form. Without

thinking, she bent forward and placed a tender kiss on Jennifer’s

forehead, and flushed with embarrassment when she stood back up

and recognized what she had done.

Watch yourself, Foster. This one’s gotten in deep…

She grimaced at the voice in her head, wondering why she

wasn’t panicking at the prospect of falling for a straight girl, and

decided it would probably hit her full-force later on and send her

into a horrified tailspin of some sort. She looked longingly at her

previous spot on the couch, but knew returning to that place was

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not an option. She narrowed her eyes into a glare as she watched

Kinsey hop up onto the leather and curl himself into a ball. He set-

tled in the crook of Jennifer’s knee and possessively rested his head

on her thigh. Alex was certain that if he could have teasingly stuck

his tongue out at her, he would have.

“Little bastard,” she muttered, finding a second afghan and set-

tling herself across the room in the oversized chair. She curled her

feet underneath her, propped her head on her hand, and watched

her friend as she slept, feeling a frustrating mixture of arousal,

affection, and sadness.

Chapter

Eleven

God, my head hurts.

It was the very first thought that crossed Jennifer’s mind as she

clawed her way up from the depths of a deep, deep sleep. The ray of