Free First Lady by Blayne Cooper, T Novan

fact, the kids and Lauren are due back soon. How about if we sneak back to the residence and rustle up some lunch before they get here?”
    “Sounds great.”
    But neither woman moved.
    Sarah continued to stare straight ahead, gazing into the embers in the fireplace while Dev openly observed her, struck again by how much Sarah Turner resembled Samantha. The nose was a little different, not quite as delicate in its slope, but the dark blonde hair and cornflower-blue eyes were so similar it was eerie. Even her voice made Dev shiver a little.
    For the first time the silence between them was decidedly uncomfortable. It was Sarah who broke it first.   She sighed. “I didn’t handle Sam’s death very well.”
    Dev suddenly felt as though a weight was pressing against her chest. Some types of pain would never completely go away. “None of us did.”
    Sarah sighed again. “But I should have tried to stick it out for you and the kids. Mom and Dad were already gone, and then Sam too.” Her chin quivered a little. “I just—”
    “Shh…” Devlyn pressed a tender kiss against Samantha’s cheek. “I know.”
    Sarah turned back to Dev and gently grasped a lock of hair. She couldn’t meet her eyes. “No grays yet?” Her attempt to move to safer ground was painfully obvious. “Or is Ms. Clairol on the payroll?” she joked weakly, running her fingers through Dev’s silky strands, not seeming to notice what she was doing.
    “It really is okay, Sarah.” The tightness in her chest was making it hard to speak. But this was something that needed to be said. “We all needed time. Some of us more than others. I love you. And I’d wait a hundred years if that’s what you needed.”
    Sarah gathered her courage and glanced up at Dev. Those soulful blue eyes had always been her undoing. She’d spent years envying the relationship Samantha had with Devlyn. And years more mourning the loss of someone irreplaceable in her life. But her sister wasn’t here anymore. And if Samantha’s death taught her anything, it was that life was short and that sometimes you didn’t get second chances.
    Sarah lifted her palm and cupped Dev’s cheek. She could see tears shimmering there and watched compassionately as several finally spilled over. With her thumb, she brushed one away. Then, on impulse, she leaned in and removed the second with her lips. Before she could lose her nerve or think about what she was doing, she ducked her head and kissed Devlyn softly on the mouth.
    It began as chaste, and for a second or two Devlyn was frozen. She didn’t return the kiss, she didn’t move at all, unsure how to interpret what was happening. This was Sarah, for God’s sake!
    Then two things happened simultaneously. The door to the Oval Office opened, and Sarah moaned lightly as she leaned forward and tried to deepen the kiss.
    Devlyn grasped Sarah’s hands firmly and pushed her away. “Sarah—” She looked up at Sarah’s face, but the younger woman’s attention was elsewhere.
    Sarah’s eyes were riveted on the door and two very shocked women: Beth and Lauren.
    Dev’s head snapped around. “Lauren.” Uh oh. She jumped to her feet, nearly knocking Sarah off the couch. “I didn’t expect you and the kids for a while.”
    Lauren’s lips thinned and she was surprised that the words came out as evenly as they did, considering her mind was reeling. “I can see that.” No. No. No. I did not just see that! Devlyn loves me! She’s not like Judd. But even the possibility that she’d been wrong about Devlyn’s feelings for her was suddenly too much to bear.
    The pressure-cooker of emotion that Lauren had been living in bubbled dangerously close to the surface.
    “I’m so sorry, Dev,” Sarah told the President. “I know you wanted to sneak back to the residence before they got home.”
    Lauren and Dev’s eyebrows nearly popped off their foreheads.
    “Sarah!” Devlyn screeched. “That’s not what I meant.” She chanced a glance at