Free The Lonely Hearts Club by Radclyffe Page B

mind, but it felt good in a way she??d forgotten. Her enjoyment in fielding a ball or getting a hit had been heightened because Liz was watching. Foolish, maybe, but pleasurable, just the same.
    “I appreciate it, thanks.”
    “You’re welcome.” Liz walked around the driver’s side of her car and regarded Reilly with a smile. “Besides, I owe you for introducing me to the guilty pleasure of softball voyeurism.”
    “Hell, if you think tonight was good, you’ll have to come to the Tournament Ball at the end of the season.”
    Liz quirked an eyebrow. “You mean ball as in dance?”
    Reilly nodded.
    “You’re not kidding?”
    Reilly shook her head.
    “Candace is not going to believe this.”

    *

    “I guess this isn’t your usual Friday night fare,” Parker said, sliding back into the booth next to Candace and placing a martini in front of her.
    “Thanks,” Candace said, taking a sip. She’d been pleasantly surprised to find that the bartender did a nice job with the mixed drinks, even though almost everyone was drinking beer. “What do you think I’m usually doing on Friday night?”
    “Dinner, the theater, drinks after at the Chelsea Lounge.”
    Candace smiled at the reference to the city’s newest watering hole, where the in-crowd went to see and be seen. And Parker was right, it was one of her favorite places to end the evening if she hadn’t already found a companion for the night. The mix was refreshingly metro, and she never had any difficulty finding a female partner. She didn’t worry about marital status or even primary sexual identity, because she wasn’t in the market for a relationship. She was pleased that Parker seemed to be on the same wavelength. “Correct on all counts.”
    “So I should consider myself lucky you ended up here,” Parker replied.
    “Are you feeling lucky?” Candace teased.
    “I usually am.”
    Parker pulled on her beer bottle and stretched one toned and slightly dust-smudged arm out along the back of the bench behind Candace’s shoulder, looking nothing like the high powered attorney Candace surmised her to be. What she did look like was a very confident and sexy woman. About Candace’s height, putting her several inches above average, Parker had a rangy build with long lean legs, small breasts, and nicely developed shoulders and arms. Her medium length chestnut hair was in disarray but managed to look stylishly attractive nevertheless. Expensive haircuts would do that for you.
    “I’m surprised you didn’t have a cheering squad tonight,” Candace probed. Interest had been signaled, now it was time to set down the ground rules.
    “I don’t tend to cultivate the kind of relationships that generate fans.”
    “How about a wife who prefers staying home with a good book?”
    “Nope.”
    “No steady girlfriends?”
    “Not a one.”
    Candace laughed. “But a few not so steady ones?”
    Parker grinned. “It’s been my experience that repeat performances usually carry strings, and I’m more of a woodwind type myself.”
    “As in you blow hard and fast and then you’re gone?”
    “Something like that,” Parker acknowledged. “How about yourself?”
    Candace reached under the table and smoothed her palm up and down the inside of Parker’s bare thigh. She let her fingertips stop just beneath the edge of her shorts. “What would you say?”
    “Snare drum,” Parker said immediately, covering Candace’s hand and easing it a little higher until Candace felt the heat pouring from her skin. “A blast beat that takes your breath away.”
    “I’d say we’re well-attuned.” Candace considered sliding her fingers just an inch or so higher and investigating how much hotter, and wetter, Parker was. She hadn’t made a woman come in a public place in a long time.
    “I have very good control,” Parker said, as if reading Candace’s mind. Her voice had dropped what seemed like an octave at the same time as her hand had drifted from the back of the bench to