“Yeah,” she answered sweetly, stepping back into the shower.

“Save me some cold water…pleeeeeeease.” Trying to regroup her shattered resolve, Brooke cleared her throat before asking, “Would you like some coffee to take with you? I can go make some.”

Sam found herself laughing quietly at the pleading tone of Brooke’s voice. “Sure, if you have the time.” Sam washed the shampoo out of her hair and knitted her eyebrows in confusion when she realized that Brooke’s voice was no longer muffled through the door. “Hey, Brooke…” she called out. “What are you doing out there?”

“Just sitting here,” came the answer through the door.

“Are you done foaming at the mouth?”

Foaming at the mouth, she mouthed to herself with a perplexed look on her face. “Huh?”

Sam laughed as she lathered up her body and proceeded to rinse off the suds. “Did you forget what you were doing?”

“No. I uhm…” the tall woman made an awful face, “swallowed the toothpaste. You kind of caught me off guard when you grabbed my arm and well, I uh…I mean when you said that…I uhm…” The confusion of the moment wasn’t helping her clear her mind and Brooke quickly decided to distance herself from the situation. “I’m gonna go make that coffee now.”

Brooke got up from the floor and ran a hand down the bathroom door, picturing the woman unadorned by clothing on the other side as warm drops of water were buffeting her. She shook her head to try and clear the images from her mind’s eye as she turned to go downstairs.

“I hope you don’t do that in bed.”

Stopping dead in mid step, Brooke turned her head and looked back at the door. “Do what?” She yelled out, not realizing that the water had been turned off in the shower.

“Forget what you’re there for.”

The tall woman could only groan as she repeated her previous statement. “I’m gonna go make that coffee now.”

Sam stood in the bathroom, drying off her body as she heard Brooke run down the stairs. She was rather proud of herself at having rendered the older woman senseless. She walked up to the sink, glancing into the mirror, and wiped off the accumulated condensation for a better view. Well, you have to admit for a first date, last night was…the blonde stared at her own image, while the image of a tall, dark-haired woman came to her mind, fabulous…dreamy. She took in a breath and made a wish of her own. By the gods, let her want this as bad as I do. I could be happy as a clam waking up next to her for the rest of my life. And having sex…She shook her head when the words sank into her brain. Nope…making love, Sam nodded as the shy grin grew into a blushing smile, would be icing on top of the cake.

Standing with the towel now wrapped around her body and brushing her teeth, the blonde heard a knock at the door.

Gingerly cracking open the door just barely enough to hand Sam a cup of coffee on a small white saucer, Brooke spoke up. “Thank God for automatic timers on coffee pots. I went ahead and poured you a cup. I wasn’t sure how you like it, so I put cream and sugar in it.”

“Thank you,” Sam responded as she took the cup from Brooke’s hand, unable to resist the temptation to run her fingers along the smooth skin in the process.

Feeling the delicate fingers against her skin Brooke whined through the door. “Are you dressed yet?”

“Almost, I just need to put my clothes on.” Sam took a sip from her mug when she heard a loud thud come from the wall and jumped. Placing her mug on the back of the commode she asked, “You didn’t fall did you Brooke?”

“Uh… no, just uhm…hit something on the wall. I’m okay.” Suddenly remembering that her friend still needed something to wear, Brooke hurried into her room to grab a shirt for the younger woman.

Oh, that really sounded like her head. I’m gonna have to be careful if I frustrate her any more. “Good, I’ll be out in a minute. I just have to put my pants on.”

Once again Brooke’s arm was thrust through the door, this time holding a shirt for Sam to borrow. “Here’s that shirt.”

“Thanks, Brooke” Sam slipped it on, amused at how it seemed to swallow her body from sight. Outside she could hear the sound of footsteps on the carpeting as Brooke paced back and forth in front of the door waiting for her turn at the shower.

A moment later the door opened and Sam walked out; the large blue rayon shirt covering her body to mid thigh. Her jeans were in her left hand while the small overnight bag was in the other. “It’s all yours. I’ll put these on out here,” Sam held up the jeans in her hand, waving them for the tall woman to see.

Brooke stopped pacing at the sight of the blonde emerging from the bathroom. Suddenly it felt as if her feet had developed roots, deep roots, like the kind that hold redwood trees in place. She stood there, her mouth gaping at the sight of the young woman in front of her, so much so, that she dropped her own boots and clothes onto the floor.

“Uh…Sam?” was all that she could say.

“Uh…Brooke?” The little blonde couldn’t hide her amusement at the older woman’s reaction as she imitated her speech.

“Can I uh…” the woman stood there pointing toward the bathroom door and swallowed hard.

Sam sighed as she placed her bag on the hall floor with her jeans on top of it. Taking the few steps over to Brooke, the smaller woman placed her hands against the strong back and pushed her gently in the direction of the shower. “Shower? Of course you can. I left you plenty of cold water.” Then the sassy, little blonde leaned in and whispered softly in Brooke’s ear. “Trust me, Hon…you look like you need it.” Small hands gave way with an urging nudge and the older woman found herself walking mindlessly toward the bathroom.

Brooke didn’t argue with her guest, she did need a shower, a very cold shower indeed. With her back turned to Sam; she placed one hand on the material of her shirt between her shoulder blades and pulled it over her head in an almost trance-like state, mindless of the clothes she’d left in the hall.

Picking up Brooke’s things and placing them in the bathroom, Sam withdrew, letting her eyes roam as she retreated through the door. That was when she caught another glimpse of the tattoo on the small of Brooke’s back that consisted of a set of drums in the middle of a pool of flames with: ‘Tell Me What It Takes To Play With Fire…’ scripted above it. Smiling inwardly, Sam shook her head. She’d only seen one person with that tattoo…Brooke Loran.

Now that’s funny. Sam wondered why her Brooke would have the same tattoo? Being pressed for time, she didn’t give it much thought. She just shrugged her shoulders as she stepped into her jeans. She probably got it on a dare… the big ‘Loran’ fan that she is. I wonder…Nah, my back would be too small.

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard the muffled sound of Brooke’s shriek coming from the bathroom. “Guess I saved you the cold water that you wanted.” Sam chuckled and continued to get dressed, thinking about goose bumps on top of goose bumps. She found her head filled with images of little blue Brookes dancing in showers of ice cubes.

“Something wrong, Brooke?” Damn, I just have to do it, Sam thought as she tapped lightly on the door. “You don’t need me to wash your back, do you?”

She pressed her ear to the door to see what effect her words had on her now definitely frustrated friend. The only thing she heard in the form of a response was a groan, a long, agonizing groan. Finding it hard not to giggle, the blonde felt proud of her accomplishment as she sat in the hallway chair to finish putting on her socks and shoes.

After listening to several minutes of steadily streaming water, it abruptly stopped. A few short moments later, Brooke walked out of the bathroom giving Sam a dose of her own medicine.

The appearance of the tall, dark beauty caught Sam’s eye immediately when she noticed Brooke’s state of dress, or rather undress, to be more exact. Green pools of wonderment followed the contrast of the open black silk shirt as it moved seductively, gliding effortlessly over the golden hued expanses of flesh. The poor blonde couldn’t stop her eyes from drifting down the woman’s chest to the unbuttoned, unzipped black jeans that clung to the slightly rounded hips. The unbuckled belt dangling from the belt loops only added to her distraction as it swayed like a slow moving pendulum with each step, daring her to follow it back and forth as it moved from jean to boxers as its background.

Sensing that her efforts were not going unnoticed, Brooke rallied her troops and sent out her final assault on the small blonde’s mind as she leaned over to pull on her boots. Glancing upward, blue eyes watched the effect that all of this was having on the younger woman opposite her.

Sam’s eyes widened as the silky black material fell away from the tall woman’s body. Before she realized it, green eyes were filled with golden hued cleavage, outlined by the black bra as it held on tightly to the mounds. Thoughts ran rampant through the blonde’s mind and she found her feet mindlessly backing away from the vision. Her progress was halted only by the chair in the hall as the backs of her legs bumped into it and she sat down, her eyes still fixed on the mounds of flesh.

Looking up, Brooke noticed her friend’s odd behavior and she went over to kneel down in front of Sam. Blue eyes leveled into green and concern filled the woman’s voice as she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I…I was uh,” Sam tried to stutter out a response but couldn’t. Then it dawned on her. “Time…” and she glanced down at her watch instead. “Shit, look at the time,” she cried.

“Don’t worry. We’ll make it on time.” Brooke calmly placed her hand over Sam’s and flashed her a sincere smile. “I promise.” She stood up to button and zip her jeans.