Indelible (10 page)

The air around them was heavy and hot. Luna loosed the cuffs and rolled up her sleeves. She wanted to take off her top shirt completely, let some cool air reach her skin. “That’s what you want?”

Angie met her gaze and nodded. “Yes.”

“Then I’m exactly your type.”

“Mmm.” Angie returned her focus to her lasagna without further comment.

When they finished the meal, Luna wanted to ask Angie to stay. She wanted to ease that flowing skirt up around her waist and explore for hours. Instead she led her to the door. “Let me walk you home.”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine.”

Luna started to protest. She wanted to extend her time with Angie even if it was just for the brief walk. Before she could fully form her argument, Angie stepped into Luna’s personal space and palmed Luna’s cheek. “Tonight was wonderful.” She kissed Luna gently, and Luna became lost in the glide of Angie’s lips against hers.

“When can I see you again?” Luna asked, her face inches from Angie’s, breathing her in.

“Soon.”

Luna kissed her again, letting herself go a little longer. She pulled Angie tight against her, amazed at the perfect fit of their bodies. “Tomorrow?”

“I can’t, I have work.” Angie spoke with their mouths still joined.

“Before work?”

“I’ll try.” Angie pulled herself away, and Luna focused on calming her breathing.

Luna kissed Angie one last time before she slipped out the door. She needed to be patient. “Try hard.”

She watched Angie until she was out of sight, certain that
soon
wouldn’t be soon enough.

Wednesday, August 19

The Cadillac was uncharacteristically busy for a Wednesday night, and Angie ran to keep up with her diners’ demands. The service might be irreverent, but that didn’t mean they were sloppy or inattentive. An empty water glass was the kiss of death for a tip. God knew Angie needed her tips.

“Angie, want to split the twelve-top with me?” Tori spun through the kitchen door with an arm full of empty plates and quickly entered three orders into the computer system.

“Absolutely.” Angie handed Tori a tray loaded with food, slid another onto her shoulder, and led the way back onto the floor.

Tori dodged a rambunctious businessman who had knotted his tie around his head like a bandana. “You still haven’t told me about your date.”

Technically, Angie hadn’t had time to talk to Tori. Tuesday Tori had spent the day in Seattle with her mom, and tonight hadn’t been conducive to conversation.

Angie offered the condensed version. “It was nice.”

“Nice? Nice ain’t gonna cut it.”

They arrived at Angie’s table, so all Tori got in response was Angie’s silent brow raise. They served the diners, refilled glasses and bread bowls, made a few inappropriate comments, and were off to Tori’s new table of twelve.

Angie picked up the conversation on the way. “Okay, it was
really
nice.”

“You need to start confessing.” Tori left the “or else” off the end of her sentence, but Angie heard it loud and clear.

Angie smiled at Tori and circled to the opposite end of the table as Tori gave her spiel welcoming the diners to The Cadillac. They bantered and played with the group of semi-reserved women, trying to draw them out. It was rare that a group of only women dined here, and Angie preferred to fend off grabby men than engage reticent women. She knew exactly where she stood with the louder of the two sexes. And they tipped better. With women, she was always unsure where her tip would land. If she was ever in doubt with men, she could undo another button on her shirt, but that simply didn’t work with women. Okay, not
all
women.

“Do you like working here?” A young blonde looked over the top of her glasses at Angie. It seemed silly to Angie. Why wear the glasses if you didn’t need them?

“It pays the bills.” Angie shrugged. “Do you like where you work?”

The blonde ignored Angie’s question and asked another. “Even when men try to grab you like that?”

Angie tried to remember someone trying to touch her in the last few minutes. She came up blank, but it happened often enough. Dodging hands was second nature for her now. “It’s not that big of a deal. Are you ready to order or should I come back in a few minutes?”

“But do you like it?”

Wow, she was a pushy woman. Angie seriously considered telling her to get fucked, but before the words could slip out, Tori came to her rescue.

“She’s a lesbian, honey, what do you think?” Tori asked, and Angie was grateful for half a second until Tori kept speaking. “A lesbian who goes on dates with hot tattoo artists and then doesn’t tell her best friend how they went.”

The table stopped talking and looked at Angie and Tori.

“Could we not do this now?” Angie offered Tori a saccharine smile. “I’m sure these women are ready to order.”

“No, this is interesting.” The blonde made a keep-going gesture. “We’ll wait until you’re done.”

Christ, Angie did not want to have this conversation like this. “It was
one
date, not dates, with
one
tattoo artist. And I told you, it was nice.” She started to leave.

“Nice? Well, that doesn’t say anything at all, does it?” another woman at the table speculated.

“No, I didn’t think so either,” Tori said.

“I will get you for this.” Angie chewed off each word. Tori was officially on her list.

“I don’t doubt it.” Tori smiled a little too big and Angie shook her head. Her friend was truly irritating at times.

“We had dinner at her place. She fixed lasagna.”

Yet another woman chimed in. “Ooh, she cooked? I love it when they do that.”

A fourth woman giggled. “Did she light candles? Candlelight has the strangest effect on my clothes. They just fall right off. It’s the damnedest thing.”

“What about music?”

Tori high-fived the two women who spoke up. “Good questions.” She crossed her arms and looked at Angie. “Well?”

“Yes, there were candles. No, they didn’t make my clothes fall off. And we listened to Al Green.” She didn’t point out that she had selected the music. She wanted the inquisition to be over as quickly as possible. “Now, who wants to eat?”

As the women ordered, Angie’s nerves calmed. She was still unsure how she felt about her date with Luna. She didn’t want to have an affair with no hope of real commitment, and even though Luna seemed to offer more, was she capable of keeping that kind of promise?

They finished up, and as Angie made the rounds at her own tables she pondered the first woman’s question. Did she like working at The Cadillac? Angie did what she needed to take care of Oliver. Work was a means to an end. She needed money; this is how she earned it. In truth, she would like to do a hundred other things for work instead of wait tables, but until she finished her degree years from now, she couldn’t even think about it.

“Angie,” her boss bellowed from near the front door. “Delivery for you. Make it quick.”

A young man stood next to her boss, eclipsed almost entirely by a bouquet of white calla lilies. They were beautiful.

By the time she reached the front, her boss had signed for the delivery and stood reading the attached card. “Who the hell is Luna?”

Tori squealed from somewhere behind Angie. “She sent you flowers?”

Angie claimed the card and flowers and carried them to the back. This added one more ring to the circus the night had been already. The card read
Is it soon yet?
and was signed with Luna’s name and phone number. Angie tucked the card into her pocket.

“They’re gorgeous.” Tori reached around Angie and smoothed her finger over one of the flowers. “Did you sleep with her?”

Angie sputtered. “What the hell kind of question is that?”

“A legitimate one. I’m curious.” Tori shrugged.

“You really think I’ll tell you anything else after that little stunt out there?”

“Come on, Angie, that was a harmless bit of fun. They loved it.”

Tori had laid her bare to work a tip. Amazing.

“I didn’t.” She tried to pass Tori, who wouldn’t budge.

“I’m sorry, won’t happen again.”

Tori was incorrigible, but that was part of her charm. Angie loved her in spite of it. “Okay.”

“So,” the devious glint was back in Tori’s eyes, “did you have sex with her?”

“No.”

“No?” Tori’s face scrunched up. “Why not? There was candlelight, good food, some seriously sexy soul music. Don’t tell me you said no.”

“I definitely didn’t.” Angie was as perplexed as Tori. She’d been trying to figure out why their date had ended as it had. If she hadn’t been foolish enough to bring up Ruby, they surely would have had sex. The mood was set. All they had to do was take advantage of it, yet they hadn’t.

“You wanted to?”

“Of course I did.” Angie worried that Tori might be losing it completely. “Have you
looked
at Luna? She’s hot, remember?”

“I do remember. I also remember that you told her no when she asked you out. You had to be persuaded. For all I know, that same rule applies to your thighs. Maybe you need to work up to letting them open.” Tori moved to the servers’ station. It was time to get back to work.

Angie trayed up her next order and mumbled, “They were plenty willing to open.”

“Then why on earth didn’t you guys do it?”

“I don’t know.” Angie remembered Luna’s demeanor from that evening. After her admission about breaking up with Ruby, Luna seemed to hold back. Finally, Angie had given in and kissed Luna instead of waiting for her to make a move. It had been wonderful and over far too soon.

“You planning to call her?” Tori asked over her shoulder as she exited the kitchen.

Angie followed.

Would she call Luna? “Maybe.”

Friday, August 21

The mound of paperwork was back on Luna’s counter and it had grown. She had thought that sifting through the real-estate listings would reduce the looming pile of paper. Instead it seemed for every one she removed, three more magically appeared.

“So what do we put in this box?” Luna tapped the section marked Income with her pencil eraser. They agreed it was a bad idea to use ink until they knew exactly what they wanted to write. At this rate, pencil didn’t seem to be working out any better. She had erased so many times the lines on the form were blurred and fading fast. “Do they want to know my income from tattooing? Or the expected income from the other artists, too? Should I include the rent I’ll get from this building?”

“I don’t know.” Perez tugged at her short hair. She looked almost as frustrated as Luna felt.

The overhead bell rang and Luna looked up, glad for the distraction. It was too late to do another tattoo, but they could still schedule work if a client wanted.

Angie and Tori entered, Tori eating an ice cream cone, Angie a frozen yogurt. It was the first time Luna had seen Angie since their date, and her heart pounded.

“What are you working on?” Angie offered Luna a spoonful of her dessert, and Luna lowered her head and opened her mouth. Angie’s pupils dilated as she placed the plastic spoon between Luna’s lips. Her gaze remained focused on Luna’s mouth long after she’d finished the bite.

Luna cleared her throat, choking on the heaviness. “Nothing.” Her voice was rougher than expected. She collected her papers and handed them to Perez without glancing in her direction. She didn’t want her good thoughts about Angie being corrupted by the brain-cramp-inducing loan application.

“So we’re not interrupting?” Angie stopped walking just short of Luna’s personal space and offered Luna another bite of her yogurt.

All Luna could do was shake her head no. No to the interruption and no to the yogurt. She kissed Angie on the cheek, a polite, chaste greeting, when she really wanted to explore her lips. They were warm and inviting last time. What would they feel like cold and tasting of vanilla?

“Thank you for the flowers.” Angie spoke while her mouth was close to Luna’s ear, and her cool breath tickled Luna’s skin. Luna held her breath as Angie continued. “They’re beautiful.”

“I’m glad you liked them.” Luna fought to clear her head. She’d sent them for a reason. “Does this mean you’ll see me again?”

“I’m seeing you right now.”

Thank God Perez was entertaining Tori. She was not up to playing hostess. All she could focus on was Angie’s perfect, deep, deep blue eyes. Like the ocean, they invited her to swim in them for days, lost and not looking for land. The desire made her dizzy. She needed desperately to sit. “Come with me.” She tugged Angie toward the couch.

“Wait,” Angie resisted, “I need to use the restroom first.” Even though it was a statement, Angie’s inflection made it feel like a question. Luna found it irresistibly cute.

It took Luna a moment to realize Angie didn’t know where the bathroom on this level was, thus the question mark at the end. She recovered her senses long enough to give Angie directions.