“Mommy?”

Annie jumped, aware of the spatula in her hand and the pancakes browning on the griddle. She steadied her voice. “Yes, baby?”

“I think Hollis is here.”

“What?” Annie spun toward the screen door leading to their small back porch and postage-stamp yard.

“I guess I’m too early,” Hollis said through the screen. She leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb, one hand in the pocket of black jeans, a white shirt open at the neck, the sleeves rolled up her forearms. She looked sexy and a little dangerous. She looked gorgeous. “I’ll wait—”

“No,” Annie said quickly. Too quickly. How uncool could she be? “You’re not early. Come in.”

Hollis grinned, liking the way Annie flushed, liking her a little off guard and flustered. Guess she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. “I went to the front door first—didn’t see any signs of life. I don’t want to interrupt—”

“We’re having pancakes and bacon.” Annie gestured to the table and the plate of bacon she’d just placed there. “What did you have?”

“Um. Half a slice of cold pizza?”

Laughing, Annie pointed to the table. “Get in here. Sit.”

“Well, if you put it that way.” Hollis hurried inside and stopped a few inches from Annie. “Hi.”

Annie tumbled right into her eyes, went in over her head in an instant, and wasn’t sure she’d ever surface. When she came back to her senses, she brushed her lips over Hollis’s cheek, needing the tiniest taste to ease the urgency filling her chest. “Hi.”

Hollis’s eyes darkened and she stroked lightly down Annie’s side, her fingertips coming to rest just above Annie’s hipbone. “You sure this is okay?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“You look great.”

“Sit, Hollis,” Annie murmured, wishing like hell she’d put on something sexier than a plain old green tee. “Breakfast.”

“Right.” Hollis glanced at Callie, knelt by her chair, and said, “Hi, Callie. You ready to go bicycle shopping with Mommy and me?”

“Yes, we have been waiting.”

“Have you.” Hollis glanced up at Annie, then back at Callie. “Well. Let’s have breakfast so we can get going.”

Hollis rose, purposefully not looking at Annie until she’d made her way around to the far side of the table. If she looked at Annie another second, she’d have to touch her again, and as electrifying as that was, the little bit of physical contact was making her crazy. She wanted more. She made herself sit across from Callie while Annie finished cooking. Watching Annie was almost as good as touching her. She moved gracefully, with certainty, the confidence she displayed with her patients instilling her every movement, no matter what she was doing. And she looked fabulous in low-riding black pants and a white tank under a scoop-neck emerald-green tee. Hollis didn’t have to work hard at all to imagine sliding up behind her, tugging her firm, curvy ass against her crotch, and kissing the back of her neck. From there she’d tease the T-shirt from her pants and skim her hand…

Hollis jerked her gaze away from Annie’s ass. She was going to burst out of her skin if she didn’t stop thinking about sex. Sex with Annie.

Annie turned and stopped with a spatula holding a golden pancake poised in midair. She stared at Hollis. “What?”

Hollis shook her head. She couldn’t say what she was thinking. She didn’t know where they were going, but she wasn’t letting her hormones drive. She couldn’t. She didn’t trust herself to think rationally, not where Annie was concerned. “You need me to do anything?” When Annie’s eyes widened, Hollis added quickly, “For breakfast. Help with breakfast.”

“Oh. No. Almost there.” Annie pulled plates from a cabinet, flipped pancakes onto them, and carried them to the table. “Here you go.”

“Mommy, you forgot the syrup,” Callie announced.

“Would I do that?” Annie passed the bacon to Hollis, grabbed the syrup from the fridge, and settled at the end of the table with Callie on one side and Hollis on the other. “Okay, you two. Eat.”

Hollis’s knee bumped Annie’s and the ripple of heat that shot up her leg made her jump. She glanced at Annie, who was supervising Callie’s syrup pouring. “Sorry.”

“That’s all right,” Annie said, not looking at her.

Hollis concentrated on the very good pancakes. She was hungry, but her stomach was in knots. Maybe she needed a time-out. Maybe she should take her hormone-addled brain and her amped-up body for a walk around the block before she did something really stupid.

Annie smiled at her. “Everything okay?”

Hollis forgot why being unable to think of anything except Annie was a bad thing. “Everything is perfect.”

*

Hollis drained the last of her coffee and set the cup beside her plate. “That was fantas—”

The theme song from Sons of Anarchy played, and Annie looked toward her leather bag sitting on the far end of the kitchen counter. “I’m not on call, but I should probably get that.”

“I’ll get the dishes.”

Annie dashed for her cell and Hollis stacked plates. As she carried them to the sink, she heard Annie say, “No, that’s all right. When? Yes, I’ll take care of it. Thanks.”

Annie lowered her phone and sighed. “That was the service. One of my patients called and thinks she’s in labor. I need to call her.” She glanced at Callie, who was looking anxiously from Annie to Hollis. “Baby, why don’t you go grab one of your coloring books while Mommy makes a call.”

Callie swiveled and said to Hollis, “Are you staying?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.” Callie hopped down and bounded from the room.

“I’ll wait outside,” Hollis said, heading for the back porch.

Five minutes later, Annie joined her. “I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to see her. This is her second baby, and her first labor was short. If she’s started, she might go fast.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Hollis said.

“Callie is going to be disappointed.” Annie smiled wryly. “Me too.”

“Look,” Hollis said, “how about if I take Callie to look at bikes. Then, when you’re free, you can decide if you approve of her choice.”

Annie looked toward the kitchen where Callie colored at the table. “Hollis, she’s a handful sometimes. I could be gone half the day, maybe more.”

“So tell me who you’d get to look after her, and if it gets really late or Callie wants someone more familiar, I’ll take her there. But I think we’ll be fine.”

“She’d love it if you took her bike shopping, but it’s a lot to ask.”

“I volunteered, remember?” Hollis took Annie’s hand. “Really. I want to. I’m not going to do anything except hang around over at my place and probably end up pounding in a few more nails.”

“You’re sure?”

Annie’s fingers slipped through Hollis’s, and the action was so natural and felt so right, Hollis’s heart gave a little jolt of happiness. She tugged Annie closer and looped an arm loosely around Annie’s waist. “I’m sure.”

Annie’s eyes sparkled and she kissed Hollis swiftly on the mouth. “Thank you.”

“Maybe you can do that again, later,” Hollis said, refusing to listen to the voice of caution roaring in her head.

“Maybe.” Annie’s smile widened and she brushed her free hand over Hollis’s chest. “Maybe I will.”

Chapter Twenty-four

“What do you think?” Hollis said, “Black or purple?”

Callie marched between the two bikes, studying them intently. She glanced at Hollis. “I bet I can ride without the training wheels.”

“If your mom says okay, we can try it and see what you think.”

“Which color do you like?”

“Hmm.” Hollis folded her arms. “The black is pretty cool with the silver letters, but purple is pretty. Do you like cool or pretty?”

Callie giggled. “Pretty.”

“Then I’d definitely do the purple. But I think you have to ask Mommy too.”

“Mommy likes pretty.”

Hollis laughed. “Okay. Well, when you come back with her—”

“Mommy,” Callie cried and raced away.

Hollis turned. Annie was just coming through the door, the sunlight behind her making her hair shimmer with red-gold highlights. Annie bent down, wrapped her arms around Callie, and gave her a big swinging hug. The joy in Annie’s eyes when she looked at Callie pierced Hollis’s heart, and the afternoon suddenly took on an amazing glow.

Annie looked her way and smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Hollis said, striding up to her. “That was fast.”

“Her contractions stopped. I’m not sure she won’t start again, but she’s got a good support system, and they know to call me if they need me to come back.” Annie’s eyes drifted over Hollis’s body and returned to her face. “How have you two been doing?”

“Great.” Hollis leaned forward and kissed Annie’s cheek. She was just so happy to see her. “Glad you could make it.”

“Me too.”

Hollis wanted to whisk her out of the store, away from people, away from everything, to someplace where they could be alone. Where she could take the clasp from Annie’s hair and let the shining mass of curls fall loose around her shoulders, where she could slide the shirt off her pale, smooth arms, where she could guide her down and lie beside her and stroke her soft skin. She clenched her hands to keep from touching her. She hadn’t yet been invited to do any of those things, and the sharp edges of her own lust sliced like razors beneath her skin.

“Find a bike?” Annie’s voice was husky, the expression in her eyes making Hollis think Annie could read her thoughts.

“She’s picked out a couple.” Hollis dropped her hand on Callie’s head. “Why don’t you show your mom the two you like?”

Callie tugged on Annie’s hand. “Come on, Mommy. Hollis says I don’t need training wheels.”

Annie raised a brow at Hollis. “Does she now?”

Hollis coughed and shook her head slightly. “I believe what I said was we could see how she handled a bike with no trainers. If you agreed.”