DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story belong to me or them or no-one, I'm not sure, but as long as they get to have a little fun I'm sure they won't sue.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I started this story for NaNoWritMo but real life kind of got in the way.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
THANKS: To Jillo for the beta.
Sex, Cars and Poker Nights
By ralst
Part Two
By the end of her first week, Candace had started to acclimatise to the change in her working hours, thanks largely to Lilly's suggestion that she take a nap in the side room after the 'girls' finished for the night, but she was no closer to working out the intricacies of her love life. She had been approached, repeatedly, by both Miriam and her daughter, the two women surprisingly similar in their single-minded pursuit. Tennison's advances had been easily rebuffed, but Miriam's claim on her attentions was a little harder to ignore. Not only had Miriam introduced her to Lilly and secured her a job but Candace still felt as if she owed her something for their interrupted tryst. Fortunately Miriam had been preoccupied and, although persistent, she had taken Candace's brush-offs with surprising ease, which did little for Candace's ego but was otherwise a relief.
When it came to approaching the women for whom she did feel a lustful attraction, Candace had faired much worse. Michelle was polite, flirtatious and, it now appeared, unavailable. A new transfer into the Ellisville Fire Department, a part time force made up of local townsfolk for the most part, had caught Michelle's eye and, according to Lilly, the two had been seen out together in Carlton. The gossip had yet to be confirmed, but the initial impression was less than favourable.
Her interactions with Anna had been even less promising. The diner owner seemed to spend most of her time working, either behind the counter or hunched over her books, chipping away at a mountain of paperwork. On the few occasions when they had managed to talk, Anna had been distracted and less than responsive to Candace's overtures of friendship. There were moments, brief looks and half forgotten smiles, that gave Candace hope that she wasn't totally wasting her time, but they were few and far between.
"Hello Candace," Jack called, dropping his schoolbag onto the counter. "I thought today was your day off."
"It is." She held up the newspaper she'd been scanning. "I'm trying to find a cheap car."
He nodded. You couldn't live in Ellisville without realising the need for your own wheels. The public transport system was a joke, and although the local shops were fine for everyday purchases, they didn't exactly have the widest selection of goods.
"You tried Daggert's?"
Candace looked confused until she remembered that Daggert was Emily's last name. "I'm on a limited budget."
"S'Okay, you're a friend of Lilly's, so she's bound to give you a discount. Plus, you're gay and everyone knows how much Ms. Daggert likes the ladies." At Candace's raised brow he had the grace to duck his head. "At least that's what I've heard."
Candace had run into Emily a couple of times since the poker game, and the woman had always been friendly enough. It certainly couldn't hurt to at least take a look and see if there was anything over at the garage she could afford.
"Thanks, Jack, I'll check it out."
The boy smiled and wandered off to pick up his cleaning supplies and, realising that Tennison would soon be making an appearance, Candace followed his example and headed for the street and the long walk to Emily's garage. She gave some thought to practising her flirting technique with the tall mechanic but couldn't take the risk of having her flirting acknowledged and acted upon. She might have shared the odd night of pleasure with a married woman, if approached, but she made a point never to get between female lovers. It was a small community and, as she'd seen first hand, gossip travelled faster than light, and she'd soon find herself on the end of Patrice's ire. She had the feeling that wasn't something to court.
Entering the garage Candace looked around at the cars lining the lot outside. She couldn't make out the price tags, but the number of digits didn't look promising.
"Candace?"
Emily appeared from beneath one of the cars, an oil stained vest sticking to her body in all the right places and making Candace reconsider her decision not to flirt. The tall woman had the kind of hard body that only came with manual labour, and the promise inherent in those muscles of a powerful ride left her feeling giddy.
"Jack said you might be able to help me find a car?"
Getting up off the ground, Emily wiped her hands on a rag before wandering in Candace's direction and pointing her towards the lot.
"How much do you want to spend?"
Candace felt embarrassed about the paltry sum. "Three hundred."
Emily looked at her askance. "You're not going to get much of a car for that kind of money."
"I know." The three hundred had been a loan from Lilly, who had quickly turned into a godsend, and would have to do until she had time to accumulate some savings. "I just need something that'll tide me over until I can afford something better."
"You fucking Miriam?"
Candace was caught off-guard by the non sequitur. "What? No. Why would you..."
"Anna?"
"No." Candace's cheeks turned pink and she averted her eyes. "What has this got to do with a damn car?"
"I like to know who I'm doing business with."
"Okay, not that it's any of your business, but I'm not fucking anyone right now." Candace said hotly. "I had a thing with Miriam before I got here and I'd give my left tit to have a chance with Anna but other than that I've been living the life of a nun."
Emily smiled. "You've got a thing for Anna?"
"So?"
"Nothing. She's a babe, and hell on wheels in the sack."
Candace wanted to leave but the knowing smile on Emily's face was almost daring her to storm out. She hated the idea of losing a battle of wills to the mechanic.
"Are you sleeping with Miriam?"
Emily shrugged. "I'm with Patrice."
"That's not what I asked." Turnabout was fair play, and Candace rather enjoyed the suspicious look on Emily's face as she tried to figure out exactly what she knew. "I heard that Miriam has a thing for threesomes."
Throwing her rag to the ground, Emily headed out onto the lot, the morning sun glinting off her well-defined muscles, momentarily distracting Candace from her annoyance. The tall woman appeared to have discarded their previous conversation as she turned her attention to the dust-covered vehicles circling the outside of the garage.
"That one." She pointed towards a dark blue Jeep parked in the corner. "It'll mean you'll have to stick to fucking in a bed, but it gets great mileage and I know Anna's always had a soft spot for them."
Candace refused to blush. "I can't afford that."
"But do you like it?"
Candace took a closer look at the car. Not that she knew anything about cars or engines but the paint work was rust free and the leather seats soft to the touch. It was the type of vehicle she'd always wanted to own but had never quite convinced herself to purchase.
"I can't afford it," she reiterated.
Emily shrugged, her hands thrust deep into her pockets. "We can work something out."
Candace took a step back. "Excuse me?"
"Relax." Emily smirked. "I'm not after your body."
Her arms crossed and a look of consternation on her face, Candace waited for Emily to continue, her feeling of distrust growing with every second.
"The car's a loaner," Emily explained. "Once you're on your feet, we'll talk about financing, but until then you can have it on loan." She held up her hand to stop the questions she could see forming. "No strings attached. No ulterior motives. Just a simple business decision."
"You'll be bankrupt within a week if you keep making business decisions like that."
Reaching into her pocket, Emily withdrew a set of keys and quickly extracted two before handing them over.
"We're a small community in a tiny excuse for a town. If we can't help each other out every now and then, what's the point?" She used her rag to wipe the dust from the door handle. "Not that I wouldn't have sold you a death trap if you'd been sniffing around Patrice." She smiled. "Hop in."
Candace did as she was told, the seat radiating warmth through her trousers and deep into her skin. It was a welcome feeling and one that made her feel instantly at home. Emily had been right, though; the car wasn't built for sexual shenanigans of any type, but then she'd had enough of front seat encounters for a while and, besides, she was pretty sure Anna had her own car.
"Thanks."
Emily brushed off her thanks and began rattling off a list of instruction for the car's maintenance, most of which went right over Candace's head, before practically shooing her out of the lot.
With a car at her disposal, three hundred dollars in her pocket, and an itch that she was determined to get scratched, Candace was a woman on a mission. Stepping into the diner, she bypassed Stella's bored greeting and headed towards the back where she knew Anna would be hard at work sorting through deliveries and fending off the driver's unwanted attentions. From what she'd been told during their first poker night that particular driver made a habit of propositioning Anna every chance he got, despite her repeated put downs and flagrant disinterest in all things male. Michelle had called him a stalker, her tone less than jovial, while Miriam had just laughed and commented on his driving.
Candace poked her head into the kitchen and immediately spotted the driver in question. A tall man whose beer belly had become his defining characteristic, he loomed over Anna with watery eyed fascination as she scribbled furiously on the paperwork before her. It was a strange scene, the tight space crowded and yet the distance between them noticeable and strictly maintained, the chair Anna had placed between herself and the driver making sure of that.
"Hey," Candace announced. "Am I interrupting?"
The driver's look screamed "yes" but Anna's smile was the most welcoming she'd ever seen it.
"Come on in." Anna pointed to the only available chair not being used as a shield. "I should be finished in a minute and we can get out of here."
Candace had no idea where they were supposed to be going but she wasn't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. She smiled at the driver who was looking at her as if she was something unpleasant he'd found on the bottom of his shoe. Definitely a keeper.
"I got new seat covers for the truck," he mumbled, earning twin looks of bafflement for his trouble. "If ya wanted t'see."
"Not today, thanks Barry, I promised Candace I'd take her into Carlton for a treat."
He looked at Candace, his brows drawn together, exaggerating his Neanderthal-like appearance.
"She your girlfriend?"
Anna finished with his paperwork and handed it over, a quick look at Candace asking permission before she addressed the question.
"That's right."
He pulled on his belt. "She's too skinny."
"I am not," Candace disagreed, even though she knew it would be wiser to shut up and wait for him to leave. "I lost a few pounds after the fire but I've nearly put them all back on."
"Too skinny," he repeated.
Anna allowed herself a second to appreciate the surreal quality of the moment as she discussed her non-girlfriend's weight with her delivery man stalker.
"She's not skinny." Anna had never understood the appeal of the stick thin women who graced the covers of magazines, their bodies barely discernible from those of teenaged boys. Some women were naturally skinny, but the others, their bones protruding and eyes sunken into their heads, looked like they needed treating for some long forgotten disease or other. Candace, on the other hand, had the healthy look and soft curves of a woman who took care of herself. "She's gorgeous."
He didn't look convinced.
"Is that all? Only I did promise Candace," Anna prodded.
He lumbered past the counter and through the doors without comment, his exit provoking a sigh of relief from Candace.
"He'll be back," Anna warned. "He always comes back for one final try."
Candace looked towards the door, an idea forming and bringing with it a mischievous smile. "I could kiss you."
"What?"
"To prove we're together," Candace explained. "That way he might not bother you any more."
It was a pathetic excuse born out of watching too many romantic comedies as a child, but if it produced results Candace wasn't about to complain.
"I don't think so."
Candace wandered closer until she was leaning over the chair Anna had erected as a barrier. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"I'm a good kisser," Candace promised. "Never had any complaints."
Anna ignored the teasing smile, her face set in a grim line. "I said no."
Barry took that moment to push open the door and scowl at Candace's proximity to his quarry but his look of annoyance paled in comparison to Candace's own. The dark-haired woman's stormy eyes were aimed at Anna, and she barely acknowledged the driver as he made his feeble excuse and once again asked Anna to take a look at his truck's new and improved seating.
"What?" Anna asked, once they were alone.
"Am I some kind of leper?" Candace demanded. "Did they stamp my forehead with the word 'unclean' when I crossed the county line?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I've had women practically give themselves whiplash passing me in the street, they've been that interested, but since I've walked into this town, it's as if I've got a bag over my head with the words 'loser' written large across the front." She started to pace. "I don't expect every woman I meet to fall to her knees in worship but a little interest, when it's handed to you on a plate, isn't a lot to ask."
"I'm sure that Miriam's been -"
"To hell with Miriam! She doesn't count, and you know it." Turning, she stood directly in front of Anna, her finger pointing at the other woman's chest with every word. "I've been throwing myself at you since the day we met and all you can manage is the odd half smile. Am I hideous? Is that it? Does the idea of being with me fill you with distaste? What?"
"For Christ's sake, Candace, we've only known each other a week."
"And five minutes ago I offered to kiss you, and instead of taking me up on my offer, as any sane dyke would, you looked at me as if I'd lost my mind."
"You have lost your mind."
Candace's hand closed into a fist around the front of Anna's shirt, her fingers turned white as she pulled the other woman towards her.
"Are you going to kiss me or not?"
Anna pushed her away. "Not."
The fire in Candace's eyes dimmed as she realised just what she'd done. Anna had been right; she had lost her mind, and it was all the damn town's fault. Surrounded, night and day, by enough lesbians to start a commune she had been continually rebuffed in her attempts to get close to anyone. She might as well have accepted Miriam's offer and been done with it.
"Fine. I won't ask again."
Feeling like a complete fool, she turned and left the diner, her hopes of a quiet afternoon spent flirting going up in smoke.
Patrice tried not to notice the minutes ticking away as she listened to Michelle bemoan her latest "date" with the fire-fighter. She had promised Emily that she'd stop by the garage during her lunch break, but the chances of that happening were looking slim. Normally she wouldn't mind. Michelle was a good friend going through a bad time, but she knew that Miriam had planned on joining them and she didn't like the prospect of the two alone, in Emily's office, with nothing but time on their hands.
"I think I'm cursed," Michelle concluded.
"Don't be silly, sweetheart; you're not the first woman to accidentally date a straight girl."
The fire-fighter had ended their last dinner date prematurely when Michelle had suggested they finish the night at her place. A boyfriend, who had never before been mentioned, arrived to collect his confused lover and the two had left Michelle with the bill and a heavy heart.
"She had a buzz-cut."
"Uh huh."
"And laughed at my jokes."
"Really?"
Michelle scowled. "I can be funny."
Patrice tried not to imagine just what Emily would be getting up to at that point. She had left her that morning, unsatisfied and desperate for her to stay, with only the promise of a lunch time treat to stop Emily from pulling her back into bed and refusing to let go.
"Do you think Miriam's more attractive than I am?" she asked, cutting into Michelle's second telling of the date from hell.
The automatic "No." didn't exactly instil confidence.
"But you do think she's attractive?"
Michelle wished she'd gone to see Anna. Her best friend always managed to shelve her own concerns until the baton of woe had been passed. Unfortunately Anna was stuck in a meeting with her accountant and from the red "do not disturb" sign she'd hammered into the kitchen door, she doubted she'd be in the mood to offer sympathy when she finished.
"Yes, she's attractive, but so are you."
"You don't think I'm too fat?" Patrice pulled at her sweater as if to emphasis her point. "I tried going on that low carbohydrates diet, but it made me feel light headed."
With some effort Michelle managed to refrain from rolling her eyes. Patrice had been on one diet or another ever since she'd know her, and in all that time she'd never looked anything other than beautiful. She might have been a size or two bigger than her friends, but she was every inch as gorgeous as they could ever hope to be.
"You're sex on legs," she assured. "Half the women I know are queued up to get into your bed, myself included, and what's even more attractive is that you're totally oblivious."
Patrice smiled, her eyes downcast as she tried to corral her emotions, the boost to her ego a welcome distraction from her earlier thoughts. She knew that she was prone to bouts of insecurity, and dating someone with Emily's well earned reputation had done little to bolster her self confidence. Their dalliance with Miriam had seemed harmless fun on the surface, but once the realities of the situation began to register, she had found it difficult to believe herself able to fight off the older woman's claim on Emily's attentions.
"Do you think Emily loves me?"
"I don't know." Michelle didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to crush Patrice's confidence either. "But I've never seen her as captivated by a single person as she is with you."
"Meaning she might cheat but she'd come back to me afterwards?"
Michelle shrugged. "I don't know."
Candace's first experience of a conference week came at just the right moment to take her mind off the disaster with Anna. Not that it provided any new prospects for her wandering libido, the conference seemingly made up entirely by the males of the species, but it did leave her so exhausted at the end of the day that she didn't have the strength to brood over just how big a tit she'd made of herself.
"Don't you just love the buzz," Lilly cooed.
The hustle and bustle of the motel had, apparently, defogged Lilly's brain and for days she had been acting like a capitalist little dynamo, intent on squeezing the last penny from her paying guests. Excursions had been arranged -- although why anyone would want to visit the mini geyser at Perrett Point was beyond Candace -- picnics packed and souvenirs sold. It was almost as if Lilly's high octane selling technique had leached the brain cells from her clients and left them open to one lame idea after another.
Candace tried to smile. "Is it always like this?"
Lilly waved at a couple of returning visitors. "Like what, dear?"
With a gesture at the milling bodies out front and stacked boxes by the door, Candace's answer came out as more of a sigh. "Chaos."
Somewhat missing the point, Lilly squeezed Candace's arm, her smile gaining in wattage as she surveyed all the activity. Early mornings were usually a quiet time at the motel, but that all changed when the conferences opened and every single one of their visitors had to be out and in their cars to the conference centre before eight. An indolent few stayed to sample breakfast at the diner before racing off to anywhere other than where their employers had paid for them to be.
"I love the busy times," Lilly continued. "It's when the motel feels most alive."
Candace had been handling drunken conference goers and exhausted prostitutes for over eight hours, and her tolerance of Lilly's little flights of fancy was at an all time low.
"The man in forty-two complained about the noise three times during the night," she recited, checking her notepad. "Both Mandy and the new girl, Sandy, threatened to castrate the man in number sixteen after he hired them to put on a show for his buddies and then refused to pay, and the water heater in number thirty-six is up the creek."
"What noises?"
It didn't surprise Candace that her boss had only listened to the first point, but she was rather surprised at her own stupidity for trying to lump all three complaints together in the same sentence. "The man next door was watching a football game at top volume for nearly an hour and then he was . . ." She shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "Being entertained by Christie for the next twenty minutes."
"She's a screamer," Lilly agreed. "At least with her johns."
Candace really didn't want to think about Christie and her clients, at least not just before she was due to go to sleep. The 'girls' had been a regular fixture throughout the night. Their special arrangement with Lilly meant that they always announced their arrival and room destination to the night manager before they entered a room, and that way Candace would know there was something wrong if they didn't check back in within the hour and could call in reinforcements. At first Candace had assumed they meant the police, but after a scathing lecture from Jennifer she realised the error of her ways and agreed to call the number they had specially provided. Fortunately, so far, she hadn't needed to make the call.
"Do men like that?" Candace asked, intrigued despite herself.
"What?"
"Screaming?"
Lilly appeared to be giving it some thought. "It makes them feel as if they're getting somewhere, I suppose." She shrugged. "Why, haven't you ever made a woman scream?"
Candace blushed. "That's not the point."
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Lilly continued, "not everyone can be good in bed, and I'm sure you'll improve with age and experience."
"I'm fucking amazing in bed!" Candace glared at the two men who stopped to stare in her direction at the outburst. "And I don't need someone doing a scream-queen impersonation to make me feel good about myself."
Lilly patted her hand in a manner so patronising it almost cost her a black eye. "I'm sure you're very good, dear."
"I am."
It was obvious that Lilly was only humouring her and, because of the town's lesbians' refusal to jump into her bed, she had no one within shouting distance to back up her assertions. Miriam, her one and only conquest so far that month, had turned into a psychotic driver before she'd been able to demonstrate the art of her sexual techniques, and Anna had run in the other direction, figuratively speaking, before she'd managed to more than offer a hint of her expertise.
"Why don't you head off to bed, dear, and catch up on your rest?" Lilly had switched to mothering mode and was quickly ushering the fuming Candace towards the door. "We can discuss your little problem when you've had time to calm down and meditate a little on the joys of masturbation."
Candace's jaw dropped open at the last word and she rushed from the lobby and the genially smiling woman who had the knack of embarrassing her down to an art form.
Emily rolled over in bed and almost blackened her eye on Miriam's protruding elbow; the queen-sized bed proved less than accommodating to the new configuration, being, as it was, fifty percent larger than the previous one. She had always in the back of her mind assumed that sharing her bed with two other women would produce double the fun and excitement, but, so far, she had yet to be convinced of that assumption.
"Em, hon, you awake?"
Eyes snapped shut, Emily feigned sleep and hoped that Miriam would take the hint. She had always known the older woman was insatiable but, until recently, she had never realised quite what that meant. Quiet evenings that she'd hoped to spend alone with Patrice were turned into marathons of sexual gymnastics, where the search for sensation superseded everything, including the warmer feelings she was developing for her lover.
"Em?" Miriam gave a little shove. "Em?"
"Be quiet," Patrice slurred, her voice muffled with sleep.
Miriam's laugh was far too loud and grating for either of her companions, but she didn't appear to mind their twin sighs of displeasure. "Don't tell me I've worn you out," she chuckled. "What happened to the stamina of youth?"
"Pffff." Patrice would have happily kicked Miriam out of bed, but to do so would have meant kicking Emily out along with her. "Shut up, Mir, and go to sleep."
Miriam let her fingers wander across Emily's back. "What about you, honey, are you tired?"
Emily shrugged. "Don't you have to get home?"
Miriam thought it highly unfair that her pleasure was constantly being interrupted by the demands of her husband and daughter. Neither of her bed-mates had to worry about rushing back to hearth and home and missing out on all the fun that was bound to come once the stars came out and Emily caught her second wind.
"I wish I was single."
Both Emily and Patrice ignored the comment and, instead, waited for Miriam to choose between prolonging her stay and rushing back to appease the growing suspicions at home. It was a decision most adulterers would have found easy to make; the need to keep their secrets exactly that were normally of overriding importance, but Miriam didn't seem to give much credence the notion of being caught.
"I could stay for half an hour or so."
Patrice pulled the sheet more firmly around her body in a sure sign that she was less than interested in anything Miriam might have to offer. Emily, although less obvious in her actions, gave little indication of her interest in Miriam's continued presence.
Therefore, finding herself surplus to requirements, Miriam left the bed and began collecting her clothes from the floor. She did enjoy her little trysts with the couple but, as of that moment, that's exactly what they were, a couple, and any threesome where two of the party were already involved always left the third person feeling something of a fifth wheel, a feeling that Miriam disliked quite intensely. This meant she had three options: she could either find two new people to warm her bed, settle for just bedding one person at a time, or persuade Emily and Patrice to give up their foolish couple idea and embrace the single life once again.
She just had to work out which option would provide her with the most fun.
By employing one lame excuse after the other Candace had managed to avoid the last three poker games, and with her boycott of the diner it was nearly a month before she was forced to cross paths with Anna. In that time she'd managed to avoid alienating any of the town's other inhabitants or forcing anyone to question her sanity, but she was still no closer to finding someone to share the odd night of bliss.
Miriam had been permanently removed from the list of possibles after she'd run into Stanley, Miriam's husband, at the bank. The other married women she'd slept with, and admittedly there had only been two, had each been married to boorish men who made their lives intolerable. Stanley, on the other hand, had been sweet, friendly and not the least bit lecherous. In fact, she was forced to admit that she much preferred his company to his wife's, and the two had met frequently since then, mostly at the motel where he was helping Lilly with her taxes, and were starting to build a steady friendship.
Stanley and Lilly were the only ones she'd told about her little breakdown of sanity with Anna, and although they both agreed with her insanity plea, they'd encouraged her to bite the bullet and face Anna.
Candace had beseeched Stanley to accompany her on her first mission into enemy territory, but he'd been adamant that it was something she had to do alone, and when Lilly had flaked out on her, a not uncommon occurrence, she'd been forced to gird her loins and enter the diner solo.
"We not good enough for ya?" was Stella's greeting, the harsh words possibly the nicest thing she'd ever said to Candace and producing a strangely calming effect.
Candace took a seat at one of the tables, her back to the counter, and plastered on a transparently fake smile for Stella's benefit. "Not in the least."
Stella paused until she was sure she'd been insulted before letting loose a catarrh-infected bark of laughter and slapping a menu onto the table. "The special's not so special, so stick to the regular menu," she advised before leaving to wipe down another table.
Quickly perusing the laminated list of fat-drenched carbs, Candace failed to notice Anna's appearance at the door to the kitchen. The young woman looked more harassed than normal, her short blonde hair unkempt and poking out in every direction, as if she'd literally been trying to pull her hair out by the root. Her eyes were watery, the normally crystal blue irises dull and lifeless, her skin pale and in harmony with her general air of misuse.
Talking quietly with Tanya, the second waitress, Anna almost missed Candace, but something out of the corner of her eye prompted her to look in that direction. Stanley had told her more than once how embarrassed Candace had been by her little outburst. She still couldn't quite understand where the diatribe had come from, but she didn't want there to be any hard feelings, so she determined to meet Candace half way and clear the air.
"I wouldn't have the special," she warned, her voice low so as not to startle.
Candace opened her mouth to reply but Anna's weary state stopped her before she could form the words. "You look like shit," she finally managed.
"So much for being friendly," Anna sighed.
"No. I didn't-- I meant-- I--" She reached out to stop Anna's retreat. "I'm sorry-- I didn't mean-- I just--" She took a deep breath and tried again. "Thanks for the warning."
Anna shrugged. "It wouldn't do business any good if we poisoned the locals."
"Is business bad?"
Arms crossed and head lowered, Anna's irritation was answer enough.
"I'm sorry." She could now add putting her foot in it to her list of offences. "Is there anything I can do?"
"No." Anna looked towards the kitchen. "I'd best get back."
"Anna." Again, she held onto Anna's arm, the skin warm under her fingers. "I'm sorry about how I acted before. I'd blame the time of the month or inhaling some of Lilly's strange concoctions, but the truth is I was frustrated and lonely and I took in out on you. I'm sorry."
For the first time, Anna smiled. "I know a thing or two about being frustrated. Why don't we forget about it, and that way you can join in the weekly humiliation at the poker game and I'd be guaranteed at least one more paying customer from time to time."
"Sounds good."
"I really do have to get back." Anna lingered for a moment. "And I wasn't joking about the special."
Candace avidly tracked her movements back to the kitchen; despite the obvious weariness in her stride, Anna filled out her jeans in a most pleasing fashion, and Candace could feel her interest being revived. Not that she'd make another advance, she did have some pride after all, but that didn't mean she couldn't take pleasure in the lure of the forbidden.
To Be Continued