Love Bite (Just One Bite #1) (4 page)

Lizbeth cut
in. “And you're pregnant and don't need to be hauling heavy boxes around.” She
grinned at Diandra's look of surprise. “I've been around you quite a lot
lately. You may not be showing yet but I can add two and two as well as anyone!
I didn't want to say anything coming so close to Jonah's death. I figured you'd
tell me when you were ready.”

Diandra smiled
a little through her tears at her friend's understanding. “I've wanted to tell
you but it's been so hard to talk about it. I found out for sure on the day
Jonah was murdered, and he never got to hear me say the words. For nine years
we tried to make a baby and he was gone before he knew he was finally going to
be a father. I guess since I was never given the chance to tell him the news, I
just couldn't bring myself to tell anyone else. You're the first to know.”

“Then I'm glad
to be the first to know, and congratulations to you. It's a small comfort, I
know, but with this pregnancy you have a part of Jonah with you, and you always
will.” Lizbeth got up and went to sit beside Diandra on the loveseat, hugging
her before asking, “So when's your next prenatal checkup? I'll go with you if
you would like the company.”

Diandra looked
at her feet, making a study of the polish on her toes while she answered.
“Well, I haven't gotten around to scheduling the first one yet. I know I should
have before now, but...”

Lizbeth just
shook her head and went into the den. There in the top drawer was a list of
phone numbers. She rifled through the address book until she found the number
for Diandra's gynecologist and placed the call for her friend. Returning to the
parlor she handed her a card with the information. “I'll tell Alexar I have
business next Tuesday and we'll go together. Afterward we'll go out for a
celebratory lunch at the restaurant of your choice. Then prepare yourself for a
whirlwind afternoon of baby stores!”

Lizbeth went
to hug her once again while Diandra was leaning in to place a kiss of thanks on
Lizbeth's cheek. The movement caused her lips to touch Lizbeth's, and the
reaction was instantaneous. Diandra froze, unable to believe it had happened.
Lizbeth, however, ignited under that chaste touch of lips. It was as though she
had been given something she had been desperately seeking.

Diandra pulled
away as though burned and jumped up off the loveseat, tears rolling freely down
her cheeks. “No,” she said simply. “Just... I can't... just
no
.”
Then she fled upstairs, leaving Lizbeth staring after her, a mix of sorrow and
confusion on her face. Outside, a fearsome growling came from the bushes, but
neither of them heard.

Diandra
wavered back on forth all week, debating on whether or not she should cancel
her prenatal examination. When she wasn't pondering that, she was wondering
whether or not to respond to Lizbeth's messages, or at least answer the phone
the next time she called. However, each time she made the decision to speak
with Lizbeth she chickened out. The phone went unanswered, the calls weren't
returned. Still, she drew the line at canceling the appointment. After all,
that
wasn't just about her, but the health and well-being of her baby.

On Tuesday
morning Diandra dressed in a gray wool skirt with a periwinkle blue long
sleeved tee shirt. She debated over earrings and how to wear her hair. Finally,
realizing she was being ridiculous, she skipped the earrings and left her hair
down. Her only jewelry was her diamond- studded white gold wedding band that
she wasn't ready to take off just yet. She grabbed the keys to the Lexus- she
really needed to make arrangements to sell this car, she thought absently- and
headed off to the obstetrician's office.

The whole way
there she couldn't get her mind off the innocent but unintended kiss she and
Lizbeth had shared. Was it her imagination or did Lizbeth really respond?
Diandra had feelings for her, but they weren't
that
kind of feelings.
She had never been into women. She was a recent widow, for God's sake! Diandra
decided it must have been her imagination. After all, what else could it be?

Arriving at
the doctor's office fifteen minutes early, Diandra parked right out front and
took a few deep, calming breaths before going inside. She checked to make sure
her insurance cards were in her wallet, and locked the doors to the Lexus
before dropping the keys in her purse and opening the office door. She walked
into the waiting room and over to the desk to sign in and get the paperwork she
needed to fill out. She turned around to find a space to sit down and wait for
her name to be called then froze where she stood, clipboard forgotten in her
hand. In one of the chairs in the corner, Lizbeth sat smiling. Giving in to the
inevitable, Diandra sat in the chair next to her. “What are you doing here?”
she hissed.

“You wouldn't
answer my calls so I came anyway. I told you that you wouldn't have to go
through this alone.” Lizbeth reached for her hand, and then shrugged when it
was hastily pulled out of reach. “I'm your friend, Diandra, and I'll be here
for you. We can skip our plans for the rest of the day but you are not doing
this by yourself.”

Diandra
started to argue but gave up when a cheerful nurse called her name. She stalked
down the hallway to an exam room, keenly aware of Lizbeth behind her. She bit
back an oath as the nurse gestured for her to take off her shoes and get on the
scale. She set down her purse on a nearby scale, blushed a little in
embarrassment at having to be weighed, and did what she was told.

Diandra
refused to acknowledge Lizbeth while the nurse weighed her, took her blood
pressure, and jotted down notes about her medical history. She took the gown
from the nurse and went to change in the adjoining bathroom, leaving a urine
sample on the sink's edge. She reentered the exam room, hopped up on the table
and waited for Lizbeth to speak.

“Okay, I
realize you're upset about our kiss the other day. You're probably wondering
what it meant, whether or not it was on purpose, and what it may mean for our
friendship. It meant a lot to me but it truly was accidental. I turned my head
to talk to you and it just happened. This doesn't have to mean anything for our
friendship, and it changes nothing unless or until you want it to, but I'll be
damned if I'm going to apologize for it,” Lizbeth said.

Diandra was
frustrated. “You're my friend! That's all you're supposed to be. I was married
for nine wonderful years. My husband is
dead
! You should know that- you
found his body, remember?” She immediately regretted being that nasty as she
watched Lizbeth's beautiful face pale.

“How could I
forget? I still dream about the blood and the ice cream. I'll never forget
that, never, and you'll never let me! You constantly talk about him, sometimes
like he's still alive and just on vacation!” Lizbeth hated being cruel but
Diandra had pushed her too far for her to keep biting her tongue any longer.
Diandra started to speak but Lizbeth cut her off. “No, I'm sorry but you needed
to hear all this, and I needed to finally say it. I fell in love with you,
whether
either
of us likes it or not. I certainly don't. I didn't want
to fall in love with someone who is in love with someone else. I don't want to
compete with a dead man. I'm grateful that he made you happy, but he's gone now
and I'm still here.
You're
still here,” Lizbeth said vehemently.

Diandra's face
was flushed with anger and confusion. “I didn't ask for this either, you know!
I didn't ask to be a 28-year-old widow! I didn't ask for you to feel the way
you feel, the way you
think
you feel. You don't love me. The idea is
ridiculous. It's probably just gratitude for helping you get back on your
feet,” she concluded lamely.

Lizbeth got up
from the chair she was in to stalk over to Diandra. She got up close to look
her in the eye where she still perched on the exam table. “Grateful? Of course
I'm grateful, but I've worked hard to balance the scales with my friendship. I
know gratitude and this is not it. Hide your feelings all you like. Wrap them
about you like a shroud if it makes you feel better, but don't you
dare
belittle my feelings. While you try to hide from yourself, hide from this as
well.”

Lizbeth leaned
forward and put one hand on Diandra's low back for support, then twined the
other hand into her hair and made a fist. Diandra moaned, parting her lips a
little to let the sound escape and Lizbeth pressed her mouth hungrily against
those parted lips. This time Diandra gasped, and Lizbeth took advantage of
that, too, using the opportunity placed before her to slip her tongue inside
the waiting mouth and play, tongue against tongue.

Stricken,
Diandra could only sit there while Lizbeth passionately and persuasively
assaulted her mouth. Although new to Diandra, she knew no one had ever made her
feel so sexy, so alive, all with just a kiss. Tentatively she flicked her
tongue against Lizbeth's.

A knock at the
door had the pair jumping apart guiltily. A moment later Lizbeth settled
herself in the chair once more as the doctor came in. They both knew they'd go
to lunch after the appointment was over and find a quiet booth. There was so
much to talk about. They also knew that kiss would not be their last. They
would continue that later as well. Both of them looked forward to this with
various degrees of excitement.

Diandra
received a clean bill of health, both for herself and her unborn baby. After
receiving her prescription for prenatal vitamins, she and Lizbeth decided to
walk to a nearby restaurant for lunch. When the hostess gestured for them to
seat themselves they chose a plush booth in the very back. Whatever was to be
discussed, they wanted privacy for it.

The waitress
brought the two women a couple of glasses of water and a basket of rolls. She
jotted down their drink orders and bustled off to get them the coffee they
requested. After she deposited the coffee mugs, carafe and little pitcher of
cream Diandra spoke.

“I guess we
should fill each other in a bit more about our backgrounds before we... well,
go any further in this relationship,” she stammered, turning a lovely shade of
red.

“Jonah was
three years older than me, and joined the force immediately following high
school. We met two months before I finished high school. I was lonely, and I
was very impressed by him the first time we met. I was isolated in high school,
no real friends, and hardly any acquaintances to speak of. I'd been raised in
an orphanage in New York. My parents died when I was four, and I don't really
remember them. I know that I got my hair from my father and my eyes from my
mother,” Diandra said with a smile.

Lizbeth
interrupted. “I don't understand why you weren't adopted. Most people would
love the chance to adopt a beautiful little girl.”

“The first few
years I cried all the time. No one was interested in a little girl like that,
no matter how badly they felt for my situation or how pretty they thought I was.
Anyone who acted like they wanted to take me home quickly lost interest when I
started screaming, kicking and crying if they got too close to me. By the time
I outgrew this behavior I was nearly eight years old and no one wanted to adopt
an older child. The orphanage had no shortage of babies and toddlers to adopt
so I concentrated on my studies. In the evenings I helped cook and clean and
tend the little ones.

“Then I walked
into a coffee shop one day after school and met Jonah.” Diandra smiled, and her
eyes were lost in the past. “He sat down next to me and started talking with me
about the book I was reading. We went out to dinner that night, then the next,
and so on. By my eighteenth birthday, the same day I graduated high school, I'd
forgotten all my dreams of college and becoming a social worker. We were
married in a courthouse two months later. His parents were gone, dead in a
house fire during his first year as a cop. There was no one I was close to, so
we skipped the big wedding. Alexar and another cop were witnesses. We were
married nine years, and I was never with anyone else. He was my first kiss, my
first love, and my first lover.”

Just then the
waitress returned with their lunch- juicy cheeseburgers, cooked medium well,
coleslaw and a side of cheddar fries. She left a pitcher of water to refill
their glasses and the check, and then retreated to the kitchen once more. They
ate quietly for a little while before Lizbeth spoke.

“I guess I
knew the truth about myself for a while before I acknowledged it. I spent more
time studying my female friends than I did admiring the guys in school. I
kissed my first girl at a slumber party in ninth grade. The girl turned on me
and called me a freak for enjoying it. Let's just say high school was a
nightmare for me from that point on.” Lizbeth gulped her water before
continuing.

“I joined the
force right after high school. I knew that was what I wanted when I realized
they could actually help people, could make things better. That went against
everything I was ever taught by my parents. The cops took me away from my drug-dealing
father and prostitute mother when I was nine. I went into foster care and was
placed with an ambivalent family that cared more about the monthly check than
my emotional well-being. They may not have given a damn about me, but I had
food, clothes and a stable roof over my head. There was no love, but there was
safety, and that’s important, too. I no longer talk with any of my foster
family members but I'm still grateful to them for taking me in. I was curious
so I looked at my record when I joined the force. A cop overheard my father in
a bar talking to a known pedophile. He was making plans to sell me. That cop
saved me, and I wanted to do no less for someone else.