“That’s ingenious. When did you learn to do that?” Maria asked, glancing slyly over at the other woman. She felt guilty asking but it was a safer way to ask if she’d been here before under similar circumstances. Nothing about Stacie screamed at her that she was the love them and leave them type, other than her perpetual bachelor status. They hadn’t known each other long enough to quiz her about past lovers, but from Josie’s practically manic attempt at getting them together she had a feeling it had been a long while since Stacie had brought anyone home. That, or she was really, really good at keeping that part of her life away from Josie’s prying eyes.
“Years ago. It was too hard to drag a cooler down here, so Dee and his buddies would bring a net and store their beer like this.” Stacie made a pained face before continuing. “Which is a good thing since warm beer tastes worse than anything else I could think of.”
Maria chuckled, both at the sentiment and her expression. “I have to agree with you there. I thought maybe you didn’t drink since you didn’t take one earlier.”
“Oh, I drink on occasion,” Stacie said, flopping down on one of the beach towels.
“But not beer?”
“No. I used to,” she admitted.
“Until?” Maria pressed, sensing a story there.
“Until someone decided it would be fun to steal a bunch of beer from their uncle and drink it all before going to the local carnival.” The grimace returned, along with a memory laced pallor that gave Maria a pretty good idea how the day ended. “Cheap beer, crappy carnival food and too many turns on the tilt-a-whirl is not a good combination for any teenager. We were banned from the carnival for the rest of the summer and Dee’s buddy got his truck taken away by his parents. My mom had a cow, which is hilarious considering how much she can put down on a good night.”
“I take it Josie was involved.” Maria guessed.
“Oh, yeah. She was the instigator. I swear she was as bad as the boys were. Always daring them to do something stupid and dragging me along for the ride.” Stacie paused, then continued in a more subdued voice. “She’s not like that anymore, not since getting married and having the twins.”
Maria stilled. Stacie knew something was wrong, she just didn’t know what, but she knew. Maria had no doubt about that. It was now her turn to school her expression. It wasn’t her place to say anything, but she really wished Josie would make a decision soon. It wasn’t fair to keep her friend in the dark this way. She didn’t like being caught in the middle. She had come to know Josie over the last few days and she was hoping to have something more with Stacie.
“What are you thinking about? You’ve gone quiet all of a sudden.” Stacie’s voice broke into her thoughts.
There was no way Stacie could know what she was thinking, but she must have read something in her face that gave away who she was thinking about. That was the only explanation she could think of when Stacie made a wild guess that surprised her.
“You’re not worried about me and Josie, are you?”
“How could I? Not when she’s doing her best to push us together.”
“You’re right. I just wish I knew why.”
Damn. The conversation had gone full circle, right back to the one subject Maria was trying to avoid. She sighed and stared out at the water, wishing she was diving into its depths rather than the blind leap she was about to take.
“You would have to ask her,” she said, very carefully considering her words. She needed to bring the conversation back to them. “Actually, I was trying to imagine you drunk and out of control. Somehow that doesn’t match what I’ve seen so far.”
“Oh, really?” Stacie drawled, arching one eyebrow at her before gleefully taking up the challenge Maria had just thrown down. “Because telling a beautiful woman about how you got drunk one night and puked all over a carnival ride is so sexy, right?” Stacie said, discarding her sarcasm with a casual wave of her hand before turning serious again. “Besides, wild and crazy is overrated. I think it’s better when you know exactly what you’re doing and why.” Uttered in a low, throaty voice that was almost lost in the sound of distant thunder, Maria held her breath while an unexpected wind rose around them and whipped her hair into a frenzy. A small dust devil danced around, rippling the surface of the pool before jumping across the creek to play in a stand of wildflowers.
Stacie leaned in and carefully pushed aside a heavy strand of hair away from her cheek, then ran her fingertips along the same path, making her skin tingle. Maria turned into the caress and found herself falling, cradled in an arm that slipped around her shoulder and guided her down until she was caught between the heat of the stone beneath her and a pair of soft lips that captured hers and left no doubt that Stacie knew exactly what she was doing.
“Ay Dios mio,” Maria gasped. “I was not expecting that.”
“I hope you mean that in a good way.”
“Yes, in a good way,” Maria said, her voice trembling against the effort to regain control of her body. “But I think I may need help sitting up.”
“Are you sure?”
Her question wasn’t exactly an honest one. Maria knew that Stacie was looking for
