Reed’s sharp intake of breath was almost as satisfying as the rush Julia felt. She loved how she could turn Reed on—and turn the tables. Reed’s finger dipped inside and then a moment later she was on the bed, pressing her weight on Julia.

  If only this night didn’t have to end. If only Reed could stay exactly where she was, her hands doing exactly what they were doing, her lips covering Julia with kisses…

  Chapter Twelve

  “Mom, wake up!”

  Julia pulled the sheet up to cover her chest and quickly rolled on her side, away from the open doorway where Bryn stood. There was a slim chance Bryn hadn’t seen her.

  “Julia?”

  Julia opened her eyes, rubbing away sleep. Carly was inches away from her face, smiling as she teetered on tiptoe on her side of the bed. “Uh, hi, sweetie.”

  “Can you stay and have breakfast with us?” Carly asked.

  “Um, well…”

  On the other side of the bed, Bryn interrupted with, “Mom, you had a sleepover with Julia again?” She climbed onto the bed, pushing her way over Reed to see for herself. “Julia, can you sleep in our room the next time you sleep over? It’s not fair that Mom gets you two nights in a row.”

  “Yes, it’s fair,” Reed said, laughing as she playfully wrestled Bryn back to her side. “My bed is bigger. She’d fall out of your bed.”

  Carly climbed into the bed then as well, wiggling over Julia to get in on the wrestling. Reed had Bryn at arm’s length only long enough to have Carly sneak in from the side. At some point in the night, Reed must have gotten up and put her clothes on. She was wearing the tank top and scrub pants again, both decidedly more wrinkled now, and her hair was a disheveled mess. In short, Julia decided, she was sexy as hell.

  When they lost the wrestling match, the girls turned to tickling Reed. Julia watched the scene, carefully keeping hold of her sheet and laughing along with the twins when Reed nearly fell out of bed. Out of breath, Reed finally stood up and caught hold of Carly and Bryn. She kissed each kid on the head and planted them on the floor.

  “Okay, time out. Julia might stay and have breakfast with us if you two give us a minute to get dressed. Go on.” Reed pointed to the door. “Bryn, can you get the Cheerios out? And Carly, you know where the bowls are…Close our door for a minute. Julia’s shy.”

  Grumbling, Bryn and Carly filed out of the room. When the door closed, Reed sank back in the bed. She ran her hand through her hair and then looked over her shoulder at Julia. “I promised you a conversation about logistics, but if that changed your mind…”

  “It didn’t,” Julia said. “As long as I know morning tickle competitions are part of the deal, I won’t go to sleep naked.”

  “I should have warned you. Most of the time they call for me around dawn. I don’t often get to sleep in.” Reed stretched and then tried unsuccessfully to pat her hair into place, strands of which were sticking out in every direction.

  “I love how you are with them. By the way, you should stop messing with your hair. It looks good.” When Reed gave her a skeptical look, Julia said, “I’m being honest. The just-fucked look suits you.”

  Reed chuckled and then moved to straddle Julia. “I won’t mess with my hair if you stop covering up your sexy body. The just-fucked look suits you too.”

  “I need clothes. You have kids.”

  Before Julia could worry about having morning breath, Reed was leaning over her. “But they’re not here now.” Julia wiggled, laughing as Reed tugged down the sheet, exposing a nipple. Reed kissed the tip and her body’s response was immediate. She realized then she was still wet between her legs despite the fact it had been hours since Reed had touched her there. She fended off a second nipple kiss by messing up the section of hair Reed had flattened into place. When Reed tried to kiss her lips instead, Julia playfully pushed her back.

  “You should know I’m pretty good at wrestling,” Reed said, climbing on top again with a devious smile. She pinned Julia’s shoulders and then leaned over her. “What’s your plan now, sexy?”

  Julia reached up to tickle Reed’s armpit. As she fell back laughing, Julia sat up in bed. “You should know I’m very good at tickling.”

  Before Reed could plan a counterattack, Julia hopped out of bed. “So I hear you’re making me breakfast?”

  Reed swung a pillow at Julia’s backside as she skirted around the bed toward the bathroom. “Sure. How do you like your Cheerios?”

  * * *

  “We’ve got an hour to finish cleaning. That means finding all of the toys you two hid and getting our suitcases out the door. Checkout is eleven,” Reed said, handing out the last of the pineapple speared on toothpicks. The pineapple temporarily halted the argument between Bryn and Carly over a wheelie suitcase. They were taking turns pulling the suitcase around the condo until Carly discovered she could ride the suitcase. Then Bryn insisted the suitcase belonged solely to her.

  “You could leave your things at my place and stay a few hours longer. What time’s your flight?” Julia almost hated to ask. She didn’t want Reed to leave.

  “Not until six.”

  “Can we stay at Julia’s?” Bryn asked, hopping off the suitcase.

  “Well…” Reed glanced from Bryn’s face to Carly’s. Both kids were nodding in unison and then laughing as they faced off, trying to get their nods perfectly in sync. This was how the past two hours had gone—giggling and then fighting and then giggling again. It was exhausting, but Julia hadn’t once wanted to leave. Reed looked over at her, “What about your friends?”

  “Mo’s probably surfing already and Kate will be in a lounge chair by the pool. Besides, these two will want to play in the water one last time.”

  Carly and Bryn started their nodding in unison, laughing again. “Please, Mom,” they begged.

  “Okay. But no more fighting, you two, or Julia might change her mind.”

  “I won’t,” Julia said. She caught Reed’s hand and squeezed.

  Reed met her eyes. She leaned close and kissed her—it was only a peck on the lips—but as she pulled away, she said, “I don’t think I told you how much I enjoyed last night.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “I wish I could pull you back into bed now to explain…”

  Julia laughed when Reed pulled her into a tight hold. The twins had wheeled their suitcase off to the back bedroom and they finally had a moment alone. It wouldn’t last, Julia knew, but with Reed’s body pressed against hers she longed for one last session naked. Reed, she’d discovered, came quick whenever she sucked on her clit and the thought of getting one more time with her was almost worth asking about childcare options.

  “But this is my last day on vacation with them,” Reed said, letting go. She glanced down the hall to the twins’ bedroom. “Tomorrow they’ll go back to full-time day care and I go back to work.”

  “Then let’s get this place cleaned up so you guys can go play at the pool,” Julia said, forcing a smile.

  “You don’t have to help. You could go relax…”

  “This way I get more time with you.”

  Reed seemed to stop herself from arguing more at Julia’s determined look. She smiled and let go of her hand, heading to the kitchen table to clear away the remaining dishes from breakfast.

  The next hour passed quickly. Every time Reed looked over her shoulder at her or bumped into her—clearly not on accident—Julia longed to pull her back to the bedroom. Instead, she busied herself by tossing the remaining leftovers in the fridge and then gathering the crop of pool toys spread throughout the condo. Whenever she thought of sneaking a kiss, the twins wheeled through the kitchen holding up a new item they’d found. Everything from missing goggles to Legos turned up in their search. Their excitement almost made up for Julia’s frustrations. Almost.

  Eleven o’clock came too soon. The morning was slipping away, and Julia knew she wouldn’t be ready to wave Reed off that afternoon. As soon as they were back in California the fantasy life she’d been dreaming of, where she spent weekends in Davis and commuted back and forth to Oakland, would come face-to-face with reality. It wasn’t only the kids that had her worried. Reed had a career and a busy life—once she went back to that world, would she really want Julia to take time away from those things? She hadn’t mentioned any shared parenting or ex-wife, but that lingering question kept nudging at Julia’s mind as well. Every minute that passed without that conversation about logistics made Julia wonder if Reed was purposefully postponing it for some reason.

  “I think that about does it,” Reed said, tossing a hand towel onto the counter. “You ready for two little gremlins to drop in at your place?”

  “Can’t wait.”

  Reed came over to help squish the suitcase Julia was trying to zip. The girls had tried to add a T-shirt and a book on Hawaiian birds to the already jam-packed case and she couldn’t close it now. Reed sat down on the suitcase and managed to pull the zipper closed. She met Julia’s eyes, now sitting only inches away from her.

  “Since I’ve had them, I’ve never tried to be with someone,” Reed said.

  “I thought you said you’d dated…”

  “Well…by dates I meant…” She hesitated.

  “Hookups.”

  “Yeah.” Reed sighed. “It’s complicated with kids. Mostly I meet people at their place and…”

  “I get it.” Julia didn’t want details on Reed’s usual arrangement. She imagined the women Reed might have hooked up with and tried to ignore the swell of insecurity. Reed was confident, attractive, and smart—which meant she probably had women coming on to her if she was paying any attention. And the women she hooked up with weren’t going to be disappointed in bed.

  Reed continued, “I feel like I should have a disclaimer or a warning label whenever I meet someone—some flashing neon sign that says, ‘By the way, I’m a mom of four-year-old twins. I’ll probably disappoint you in more ways than one. Even if this is just about sex…’” She glanced toward the back bedroom where Bryn and Carly were bouncing between the two beds and calling each other poo-poo heads.

  “Between work and them, I don’t have extra hours in the day. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to cancel on going out because one of them is sick. It takes two weeks of planning to schedule in dinner and a movie. And I can’t do romantic weekend getaways. I can’t show up unexpectedly with a bottle of wine and flowers.”

  “I’m not asking for that.”

  “I know you aren’t but…” Reed shook her head.

  Maybe Reed had spent the morning thinking of logistics and decided that even hooking up wasn’t worth the trouble. Or maybe she only liked the thrill of someone new and had decided the past few days were enough. A week ago, Julia would have agreed she had no business letting herself get attached to someone with kids. “Part of me wishes I didn’t like you so much. Or that there was something really annoying about you.”

  “I could give you a list,” Reed said. “For starters, I can be a terrible communicator. Or so I’ve been told.”

  “I hadn’t noticed.” Julia smiled when Reed looked sideways at her, but her heart was beating hard in her chest. “Tell me what you want.”

  “If there’s a chance we could make this work—without pretending we’re actually dating—I’m all in. I don’t want to say good-bye to you today.”

  “Then we’re on the same page. Your kids come first. I get that. And I know I only get part of you. But I don’t want to end things before we’ve even started.” Julia felt shaky, knowing she was only admitting part of the truth. “Although I do have another week in Hawaii to find some attractive single butch to have mind-blowing sex with so if you need to pull out of the deal…”

  Reed didn’t laugh or say anything in response, and Julia felt the room start to close in on her. “I was kidding about finding someone else,” she added. “I want you.”

  “But are you really okay if this is only about sex?”

  “I think it’s what I need,” Julia said.

  Reed held her gaze with those gorgeous blue eyes. She had to be able to see right through her, had to know how bad she already had it for her. Julia held her breath, waiting for Reed to say something in response. She felt like a fool, still wishing that Reed would admit the past few nights had been about more than sex for her. The longer she didn’t say that, the more doubts and the more her crazy insecurities came back in full force.

  “Honestly now I just want the option for more time with you. These past few nights have been amazing and I don’t want to say good-bye.” They’d known each other for a week; she shouldn’t be ready to commit to more anyway. “You don’t have time for a relationship and the truth is, I don’t either. But maybe we could pull off a weekend every once in a while…or even a night here or there. Yeah, we’ll run the risk that it’d be about more than sex for me, but I don’t need a full-time relationship.”

  “A weekend with you sounds amazing.” Reed paused. She reached for Julia’s hand. “And I don’t want to say good-bye either. I’m just worried I’ll be a disappointment.”

  “It’s possible. And it’s possible the mind-blowing sex will get old.”

  “Anything’s possible.” Reed grinned. “Okay. This is gonna sound nerdy, but I’m going to send you my calendar so we can pick some dates. In my normal life, everything gets scheduled. I have categories for everything from dropping off kids at day care to eating meals.”

  “I want to know what category you’re going to put me under in your schedule.”

  “Oh, you’re going in under the heading of mind-blowing sex.”

  Julia laughed and Reed pulled her close. The kiss she got in return sent a rush through her. Why did she have to love kissing Reed so much? She nearly whimpered when Reed pulled away from her lips. She didn’t want to think about logistics or the fact she’d only get Reed for a weekend every once in a while. At the moment she wanted to take Reed back to bed and not think at all.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I can’t believe you haven’t figured out the kid thing yet.” Kate handed Mo her carry-on bag and then dropped into the window seat. “With as much time as you two were together, she must have dropped some clues.”

  “We didn’t spend a lot of time talking,” Julia said.

  Mo chuckled until Kate gave her a side eye.

  “Well, you could text her and ask. You’ve had that phone in your hands an awful lot this past week.”

  That much was true. She’d felt like a teenager with as many times as she’d been caught checking her phone. Kate and Mo had taken turns teasing her. If only they knew how often she was thinking of Reed and longing to see her…Unfortunately the texts from her had been few and far between.

  Mo hefted Kate’s bag into the open space in the overhead compartment and then jammed her own bag alongside it. “We’ve already been through this. You can’t ask a queer mom how she ended up with kids.”

  “She can if she needs to know,” Kate shot back. “And now that they’re going to keep up seeing each other—”

  “Turns out I still don’t need to know.” Julia sank into the middle seat. They’d agreed on rock-paper-scissors to determine their seating for the return flight and she’d lost both rounds. She settled in, squishing her purse under the seat in front of her, and then decided to pull her phone out, knowing she’d want to send Reed one last text before takeoff.

  “Can I ask her for you?”

  “What does it matter? It’s not like the kids are going anywhere.” Mo settled into the aisle seat. “Besides Julia says she actually likes them. And although that’s hard to believe given how that one kid with the curls whined nonstop—” Mo waved off Julia’s defense of Bryn. “I understand.”

  “Understand what exactly?” Kate asked.

  “You can like something you’ve never liked—kids, in Julia’s case—if it’s part of the person you’re really into. You accept it as part of the package. Maybe you even start to love that about them.”

  “Mo, you’re completely missing my point,” Kate said. “I’m not saying she doesn’t like Reed’s kids. All I’m saying is that she deserves to know if there’s another woman involved. If she’s divorced and—”

  “And what? Julia likes Reed. She’s going to accept that part of Reed as well. Anyway, who cares if she’s divorced?”

  “All right. That’s enough you two. Reed doesn’t want to date—we’ve been through this. We’re meeting up for sex. I don’t need to know everything about her.” Julia motioned to one of the flight attendants passing their aisle. “We’ll be needing three rum and Cokes as soon as you start the drinks.”

  “No problem,” the woman said, glancing briefly at Julia and then settling her gaze on Mo. “Anything else I can get for you?”

  Mo smiled up at her. They began to chat about Hawaii and Julia heard Kate murmur, “Here we go again,” under her breath. Julia had always found it endearing that Mo could flirt with any woman she met and Kate’s jealousy wasn’t always so obvious. Now she felt decidedly uncomfortable sandwiched between the two of them.

  The mood between Kate and Mo had turned cool over the last few days. Something had happened the last night Julia had gone to Reed’s condo, but neither wanted to talk about it. Mo insisted nothing was wrong, and Kate simply waved off Julia’s questions. They’d been spending more time apart; Mo had the excuse of surfing and Kate had signed herself up for more snorkeling day trips. Both of them were happy as long as they weren’t talking about each other. When they did try to interact over dinner or at breakfast, the tension between them had been impossible to ignore.

  Aside from the spats between Mo and Kate, the second week in Hawaii had passed for Julia in a slow blur of unimportant moments. As much as she’d enjoyed relaxing by the pool and snorkeling in the ocean, she’d caught herself thinking of Reed nearly every free moment. She wanted to see her again so much that she had trouble concentrating on anything else. She was ready to be home. Or, more close to the truth, she was ready to see Reed again.