Cat knelt and placed her hands on Dylan?s knees. “I?m sorry.”
“What,” the tall woman gasped. “What kind of chilies did you use?”
“I when to the farmer?s market and told them I needed red, yellow and green chilies?”
“Oh God?” Dylan blew out a long slow breath. “Cat, Roasted Chilies, don?t actually have chilies in them. They have bell peppers?it?s just called Roasted Chilies.”
“That?s stupid, why not call it Roasted Bell Peppers?”
“I have no idea.” Dylan wiped the tears from her eyes. “God, that was hot.”
Cat?s shoulders slumped. “I?m so, so sorry.”
“These things happen.”
“Yeah, but why do they have to happen to me?” Cat slumped on the floor next to Dylan and placed her hand on the tall woman?s leg.
“Just lucky I guess.”
“So now what are we going to do for dinner.”
Dylan removed her cell from her hip. “I have it covered.”
Dylan took the wine glasses to the living room while Cat cleaned up the remnants of their delivered dinner. The coach had taken pity on her player and ordered from a place that would bring her something with meat.
Cat enjoyed a nice chicken and rice dish while Dylan had eaten a passable vegan lasagna. It wasn?t what Cat had hoped for, but Dylan seemed to take it all in stride and they had a nice evening.
As the blonde considered her disaster in the kitchen, Hamlet watched from the edged of the tile floor. Cat gathered up the souffl� and dropped it into his bowl. “Here you go pal. I?m sure you?ll enjoy it.”
The dog wandered over to his bowl and sniffed. Then he sat down and looked at Cat with a whine. He almost seemed to be shaking his head no.
“Oh come on, it wasn?t that bad!”
Hamlet whined again.
“Was it?”
The dog barked this time.
Cat relaxed as she felt strong arms encircle her from behind. “You never can go wrong with dessert,” Dylan purred into her ear.
“You can if you don?t have any,” Cat replied over the heartbeat thundering in her ears.
Dylan?s resulting chuckle, deep and sensual, turned Cat?s mouth into a desert as all the moisture in her body headed southward for the summer.
“There?s more than one way to defur a feline.”
Her hand was gently clasped and she followed Dylan blindly into the living room, spending the duration of the short trip simply bribing her legs to work properly.
She then found herself blinking owlishly down at Dylan who had appropriated much of the couch and was lounging there like a well fed cat, long arms resting against the back. “Care to join me?” She flashed a sexy grin that had Cat seeing a whole galaxy?s worth of stars. “I don?t bite. I promise.”
“Not even if I ask?” Cat asked finally, sliding down to sit closer to the tall woman.
“Well now, that a horse of a different color.” Dylan lifted her hand and palm Cat?s cheek. “You?re a beautiful woman, Catherine Hodges.”
“Think so?” Cat could feel her face heat as a blush traveled from her collarbones up into her hair.
“Oh, I know so.” A long thumb brushed against coral lips, soothing and exciting them at the same time. “And I also know if I don?t kiss you soon, my had may explode.”
“We can?t have that,” the blonde sighed and leaned forward. “You need your head.”
“I?m pretty attached to it actually.” Dylan smiled and leaned forward, tenderly kissing Cat?s lips.
Cat moaned softly, drowning in the almost overwhelming emotion of the gentle exchange. Warmth spread outward from her heart, traveling through her body and back again in a never ending cycle. She blindly followed Dylan?s lips as they pulled away, and when a gentle tongue drew itself across her highly sensitized flesh, she welcomed it inside her, drinking in the taste, the essence of the woman who had caused this powerful hunger to well and rage within her.
Dylan finally pulled back and leaned against the back of the couch, bringing Cat with her and keeping her close within her tender embrace. Cat could hear her powerful heart thumping double time, and she smiled, knowing Dylan was just as effected as she.
“We needed this,” Dylan said quietly, a husky undertone coloring her voice. “Just a quiet night without homophobes or crashing planes.” She cocked her head slightly, effortlessly capturing Cat?s rapturous gaze. “Unless you?d like to go somewhere else?”
“I don?t think we should risk it,” Cat reached up and unfastened the top button of Dylan?s shirt, pressing a kiss to the hollow of Dylan?s throat. “We should just stay here.”
Another button, and another kiss. Dylan?s scent rose up to greet her, and she felt as if she were falling. “Until at least tomorrow,” she continued in a voice she didn?t even recognize as her own.
As a third button loosened, Dylan felt herself quickly begin to lose what little control she had left. Her hand came up of its own volition, cradling the back of Cat?s head as her fingers threaded themselves through the incredibly soft hair. The sensations rushing through her body easily melted her self-imposed restraints and her mind, whirling with emotion and need, struggled to remind her of the promises she?d made to them both.
With a great amount of reluctance, her body screaming at her every millimeter of the way, she pulled again away from Cat. Looking into the glazed and passion-dark eyes almost trumped her resolve. She took in a very shaky breath, and eased it out slowly, demanding her body to calm itself.
“Did?did I do something wrong?” Cat asked in a voice that almost broke Dylan?s heart.
Gathering the younger woman closely to her, Dylan strokes the fine blonde hair in a soothing manner. “God, no. No, Cat. You did everything right. Everything, believe me.”
“Then why??”
“We?um?.” Dylan cleared her throat. “We agreed to take this slowly, remember?”
Cat blinked once, then nodded, almost timidly. “Yeah. We did.”
Closing her eyes, Dylan gathered the younger woman against her as fully and as tenderly as she could. “Cat, believe me when I tell you that there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that I would rather do right now than to make love with you right now.”
“There?s a ?but? in there,” Cat mumbled against Dylan?s cloth covered chest. “I just know there is.”
“There is,” Dylan said sadly. She sighed. “Cat, the truth is, I?m so damned attracted to you that I can?t see straight some days.”
“Well, that?s a good thing. Isn?t it?”
Dylan laughed softly. “A very good thing,” she agreed.
“But?.”
“But we need to take this slowly. Not just for us, but for our careers. We have a lot to focus on with the team, and to be completely honest with you, Cat, if we make love now, here, tonight, I?m afraid that my focus on my job will suffer. And that?s not something I can afford to let happen right now.”
Cat was still for a very long time. Dylan continued softly stroking her hair, content to let the young woman process her words and draw her own conclusions from them.
Finally, Cat sighed and pulled slightly away, tilting her head to meet Dylan?s eyes. “Even if the rest of me doesn?t agree, my head knows you?re right.” Lifting a hand, she stroked the sharply etched planes of her coach?s beautiful face. “Since it?s our night for confessions, I?ll tell you that from the moment I saw you in my dorm room that day, I?ve known that I could lose myself in you so very easily, Pallas Dylan Lambert.”
“You have, huh?”
“Oh yes. But I also know that you?re right. We?ve both put our life?s energies into what we do on the court, and I guess we need to make that our first priority.” She looked up, a little guilty. “And I?m not sure I could do that once I made love to you for the first time.”
The hug she received was worth every aching hormone in her body, and she sunk blissfully into it, praying with one corner of her mind, that it would never end.
It was well after midnight when Dylan said her goodbyes for the evening. The accompanying kiss left Cat?s entire body feeling like Jell-O, and she stood on unsteady legs waving goodbye until Dylan?s taillights disappeared down the street.