Free Falling for Summer by Bridget Essex Page B

the doctor ordered.  It's been a long time since I swam in Lake George,” I tell her, swallowing the eggs.  “A really long time,” I say again, with a frown. 
    “I honestly think it'll do both of us some good,” Summer says, then rises unexpectedly, crossing the room and placing her plate of mostly uneaten breakfast on top of the cupboard, like she's lost her appetite.  She wipes her hands on a towel, carefully avoiding my eyes again.  “I think I hear the roofer,” she says, her head to the side, her gaze pointed through the back window.  “I'll...see you later?” she asks me.
    “Sure,” I tell her softly, a lump forming in my throat.  It's then that Summer comes back across the room and leans over me, her hands planted firmly on the bed on either side of my hips, her mouth smiling, her full lips turned up warmly at the corners—but the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.  This alarms me...until Summer leans forward and kisses me. 
    By her quietness, the way she won't hold my gaze...I was worried that she might be regretting last night.  I was worried that she didn't feel the same way as me, and that maybe she wished it had never happened.  Maybe she was feeling awkward about the whole situation...
    But that single, perfect kiss erases all of my fears.  It is absolute, that kiss, and filled with so much emotion and passion.  She kisses me deeply, slipping her tongue into my mouth and tasting me; my toes curl under me, my arms go around her shoulders, and I'm almost drawing her down on top of me again, plate of eggs on my lap be damned, but she chuckles ruefully against me and pulls back a little, her smile dazzling.
    “ Later ,” she whispers, a brow up, as she reaches her fingers under the covers, brushing her hands over my breasts, cupping my right one with a warm palm and grazing the pad of her thumb over my nipple with a slow, sensuous touch.  I breathe out, my heart picking up speed, desire moving through me at the speed of light. 
    “Later, I promise,” she growls softly, then she presses her forehead to mine, closing her eyes, breathing out.  “I'm so glad you came here, Mandy,” she whispers to me, her voice catching, and then she's standing, gazing down at me with her warm, brown eyes.  Eyes that undo me, remake me in a single look.
    “I am, too,” I tell her then.  I'm surprised to hear myself say the words, but I mean them.  I really mean them. 
    Summer looks at me for a moment longer, then sighs, her lips curling up at the corners again as she nods at me.  “See you soon,” she murmurs, and then she leaves the back room, headed for the driveway with her thumbs hooked in her belt loops and whistling softly.  I watch her rear (I really can't help it; I'm pretty sure she's swinging her hips suggestively on purpose) as she walks out the front door, and then I fall back onto the bed for a moment, my head reeling, my pulse pounding...
    Yeah.  I'm falling for her fast .
    With a happy sigh, I get up, stretching overhead, the blanket falling to the floor.  It's then that I find my clothes on the chair by the door, already laundered.  Good Lord, how early did Summer wake up?  I press my folded shirt to my nose and inhale deeply; she used the fabric softener on my clothes that she uses on her own clothes, so the shirt smells like her, that warm, lavender scent.
    I dive into my gauchos and panties, bra and shirt with a smile, and then I'm sliding into my flip flops, throwing my hair up into a ponytail with the assistance of the little mirror on the wall, pulling a few strands of hair to hang down in front of my ears. 
    I find that I'm whistling, too, smiling at myself in the mirror as if I have a happy secret.
    The drive into town is much shorter than I remember it, but maybe that's because the town is more built up than it was when I was a kid; Lake George is sprawling now.  It isn't that there are thousands of new people living along the lake, but there are definitely a few