"What?" Solley leapt to her feet, clawing her way out of the sand dune, photography and fl irtation instantly forgotten.

"Hey, wait up." Janie jogged after her. "Don't freak.

Marsha and Gin were there. Gin swam out and she's bringing her in right now."

Solley was only slightly placated. "Can't I leave my d.a.m.ned kids with her for fi ve minutes without something going wrong? That's every one of them she's managed to jinx.

She'll be accidentally burning down your AI clinic next. What happened this time?"

"Della thought she saw sharks and raised an absolute hullabaloo. There was never any danger. Well, except she may have broken her drama bone."

"What do you mean? Is she hurt?"

"You'll see soon enough. I knew you couldn't have gotten far, so I came after you." She managed to sound sarcastic even through her puffi ng. "Luckily, I heard your voices in the dunes.

I didn't know you were into photographic modeling."

a 108 a "Oh, shut up." Solley could hear her daughter's yells and squawks before they could even see the surf.

Rounding the last clump of dune gra.s.s, Solley registered the small melodrama before her. Marsha and the boys stood on the beach along with several onlookers. Out to sea about two hundred meters, Gin was skillfully redirecting a bodyboard back to sh.o.r.e. Astride it sat a semihysterical Della. Nelson dementedly dashed in and out of the surf, barking until Gin had maneuvered close enough for him to swim out and add to the chaos.

Finally Marsha paddled into the shallows to secure the bodyboard as Gin got to her feet with the wailing child in her arms. With Della clinging to her like a little monkey, she waded ash.o.r.e and headed directly for Solley.

"What on earth?" Solley reached for her daughter.

"Gin saved me, Mommy." Tears ran down her little face, breaking Solley's heart. "There were sharks..." Hiccupping started and her words were lost.

"Those weren't sharks, honey. They were dolphins. And they would never hurt you. And Gin got there fi rst."

"H...how do you know they weren't sharks?"

Solley chose not to reveal her up-close and personal dolphin photo shoot. "I've seen them on the Discovery Channel. They were defi nitely dolphins."

"It was a discovery, all right," Janie muttered from a few feet away.

Gin glanced up at the comment. Solley threw Janie a hard look and she backed down. n.o.body needed this right now.

"Let's get her into the house and calmed down," Gin said.

Looking around, Solley knew she was right. As long as there was an audience, Della's dramatics would continue until she was truly hysterical. She needed peace and quiet.

a 109 a Allowing Gin to carry Della to the house, Solley took her hand, and the rest of the family trailed after them. Covertly, she lifted her eyes to scan the dunes above. Somewhere up there, Sniper Jones lay secreted. Solley could only hope this domestic melodrama would be of no interest to the celebrity stalker.

Lunch was served on the deck. Della sat cuddling Nelson in the veranda swing, spoilt at being the latest victim of the Rayners' vacation of doom. Solley sidled up to Gin where she sat perched on the railings sipping a beer, looking peaceably out at the azure horizon.

"Thanks for hauling her back in. I take it she wasn't in any mortal peril, despite the stage school audition."

Gin grinned, shifting over to allow Solley to sit beside her. "Stage school would be worth considering. She's got more than her share of dramatic fl air."

Solley smiled back, watching the sunlight glint off Gin's dark, s.e.xy eyes. She let herself revel in a rush of pure undiluted l.u.s.t, when another more subtle emotion welled up. Tenderness.

She felt tenderness for the woman who had protected her child when she wasn't there. Who had reached out for her, at one of the loneliest, most lost times in her life. Gin was so kind and sweet, Solley really, really liked her. In fact she trusted her with the people she loved most in all the world. How was that possible after such a short time? Had having great s.e.x already demolished her common sense?

"What's wrong?" Gin asked. "You're looking at me strangely."

"Nothing, just some silly thoughts." Solley cleared her head and her throat. "What are you doing later, hot stuff?" She a 110 a lowered her voice, l.u.s.t rushing back like spring tide. "Want to sneak off to a sand dune tonight?"

Gin discreetly cupped the b.u.t.tock perched on the railing next to her. "Just come to my room?"

Solley hesitated, "No. Someone might see." She threw a quick glance at her sister and her partner.

"So? What's the problem?"

"There isn't one. I just want this to be our private business."

"But it's only Janie and Marsha-"

"No. Please. I just want it to be us, okay?"

Gin looked confused and upset. Solley wanted to reach out to her, to touch her face and look into those hurt eyes. To take her words back. But she had her reasons.

"Please," she repeated. "You of all people should understand. I just want to keep this to myself...until I get used to it."

Gin nodded. "I understand. Your secret's safe. But my room is secluded at the other end of the house. If you need me, that's where I'll be." Though her posture was relaxed, her eyes sparked with challenge.

With a wink, Solley moved away, swaying her hips for Gin as tantalizingly as decorum would allow.

As she watched, Gin pushed down the burning fear rising in her chest. Solley wanted a dirty little secret. Nothing open, nothing honest. An affair conducted in the dark, with no light, no joy, to let it grow. The burning dropped to her gut and turned stone cold.

Gin came through from the bathroom, naked after a quick shower, beads of water snaking down her dark skin. She a 111 a hesitated. Solley stood in her room, leaning against the door, desire burning in her eyes. Gin approached slowly and lifted a hand to cup her face. They kissed softly. As the kiss deepened, they drifted onto the bed.

Gin started tenderly undressing her. Peeling off the T-shirt, she caressed and thoroughly licked the generous, lace-cupped b.r.e.a.s.t.s, pleasuring them until Solley squirmed. Gin unclasped the bra and eagerly gathered the creamy fl esh that spilled out onto her palms. She dived on a candy-tipped nipple, pulling on it hungrily before moving to the other.

Solley moaned under the sweet torture. Her panties were discarded next, her legs lifted and spread over Gin's shoulders.

A thick tongue broke through her folds and burrowed deep inside. She rocked on it as fi rm fi ngers rolled her nipples and ma.s.saged her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She lifted her hips seeking out the teasing tongue, demanding more and more. A ripple of savage heat rolled through her as she studied the midnight head buried between her thighs. Overwhelmed by raw need, she opened herself wider, offering all. Arching her back and wringing the sheets with balled fi sts, she begged Gin to f.u.c.k her.

Three fi ngers were thrust in deep, taking her breath away.

They were immediately clenched and swallowed up. Tipping her head, Gin sucked down hard on her c.l.i.toris, teeth gently encircling its base as she swirled and fl icked her tongue.

Solley's dance took her higher and higher, every nerve and muscle stretched and singing, until her o.r.g.a.s.m ripped through her with all the intensity of an express train, seen from miles away but there in minutes, fi erce, fast, streaking through her.

Exploding her in ecstasy.

It took several seconds before she could even speak. "Oh my G.o.d. I've never come like that before. I thought I was dying."

a 112 a Gin crawled up to lie beside her, grinning proudly at her ability to rock her lover's world.

"I don't know what you're looking so smug about," Solley warned with panting bravado. "When this arrhythmia stops I'm gonna f.u.c.k you till your eyes cross."

"Try me," Gin whispered in her fl ushed ear.

Without warning she was fl ipped over onto her back.

A grinning and remarkably recovered Solley hovered above her. "I think I will," she growled. "Roll over."

Gin trembled on all fours. She felt Solley's breath on her back. A small trickle of saliva pooled near her spine. A hot, wet mouth swooped to lick it away and bite her sweat-slicked fl esh.

Solley's fi ngers entered her from behind. Gin felt so exposed, so vulnerable. But longer thighs covered hers, rolling and rocking with her, forcing her rhythm, controlling her motion, blanketing her with care and desire. Two long fi ngers plunged in and out, in and out, their wet sucking audible above her low moans.

Her skin pebbled as Solley breathed words along her spine, making her tingle at the silken promises. That there would be more, always more. How she'd f.u.c.k her with fi ngers, and tongue, and toys. And stretch her slowly to fi t her and her alone. Because Gin belonged to her. Whispering dirty words that thrilled with their taboo. G.o.d, how could Gin survive more of this sweet aching, sweet longing, sweet togetherness?

Solley was in her blood like a virus, making her feverish, addicted, sick to the heart.

The fi rst wave of o.r.g.a.s.m rolled up from the depths of her belly and crashed through her like a thick, oily wave. With her head hung low and her body arched with pleasure, she convulsed on those long fi ngers that never ceased to play her.

Crying like an animal, she shuddered and clenched, holding a 113 a them in her as long as possible. Wave after wave rode over her until, at last, she collapsed, totally spent.

"I'm never going to get enough of you," she panted, wrapping her arms around her lover as she felt Solley's hand slip free of her. "That was fantastic. You're fantastic. We're fantastic. s.e.x with you is so fantastic."

As Solley stroked her sweat-saturated hair, Gin sighed contentedly and pulled her big bundle of fl aming love closer, cradling her tenderly. They snuggled up in the after-bliss, content and sated. And yet Gin was troubled. She'd greeted Solley's appearance in her room with relief, unsure if Solley's wishes for their affair to remain clandestine would limit their time together. And though Gin wanted no limits, she understood Solley's hesitancy, her fear to commit at this stage in her life.

How could she alleviate Solley's worries and show she would be there for her?

She scoured her mind for a way to share her thoughts.

"You know how we've only known each other about two weeks-"

"Two weeks. Is that all?"

"And you know how the kids accepted me in no time at all." Gin was rambling a little now.

"Mmm." Solley cuddled in further.

"Solley, I believe in karma." Gin tried again. "It's a cultural thing. It brings the people and circ.u.mstances I need into my life, so my spirit can evolve and I can live well and help others. I know you've got to go back and deal with unpleasant things, with Dan and all-" She stopped as Solley touched her cheek.

"Don't talk about that, baby," Solley murmured softly.

"It's awful out there in the real world and I don't want to go back. I want to stay here at La Sirena Verde where nothing is a 114 a real and it's all just a beautiful fairytale." Her words drifted off.

Gin frowned, this was harder than she expected. "Fairytale?

Like being rescued and living happily ever after in a magic kingdom sort of stuff?"

Solley mumbled something, but she'd slipped back into her cozy coc.o.o.n.

"Sol, I really do care for you, and I know it's a confusing time for you and the kids. I can't offer you a fairytale, but maybe I can give you some security, at least. And who knows, perhaps we'll fi nd a happy ending after all this custody mess?"

This was diffi cult, but Gin soldiered on. "Marsha and I want to open a stunt academy. That means I'll have to be around more, maybe even rent here in the bay for the rest of the summer.

You and the kids could-"

A gentle snore alerted her that she'd lost her audience.

Solley had drifted off to sleep midramble. Gin sighed. Her growing love for this crazy woman sprouted more tendrils at every opportunity, binding her closer and closer. Deep down, however, she had the nagging feeling that what she wanted to offer was not what Solley needed right now. Her fear of losing her children had frozen her. Gin could see she was afraid to move in any direction in case Dan pounced. She was scared of every scratch the kids acquired. Scared of saying or doing something wrong. Scared to take a lover.

Gin felt bitter, and deeply angry with Dan for doing that to her partner. For using Solley's love for her family as a weapon in an ugly divorce. And for trying to cheat her of her home, her children, her future.

a 115 a a 116 a

CHAPTER TEN.

Mommy?" Della asked, "Why are you wearing Gin's PJs?"

Solley froze in the act of sleepily pouring her morning coffee. Her face fl amed. Janie's eagle eyes narrowed as she took in the blush and the midthigh silk kimono that would have been knee-length on its real owner.

Gin shuffl ed clownishly from one foot to the other. "I lost it in the wash," she blurted.

"I must have grabbed it out of the dryer without looking,"

Solley gushed immediately, despite the improbability of this claim. The d.a.m.n thing was a heavily embroidered eggsh.e.l.l blue and not the sort of garment to be mistaken for the cotton shifts she usually favored. She had only just poured a cup of coffee, and already the day was going to h.e.l.l.

There'd been no time to shower before she and Gin had to leap out of bed, scrabbling for clothes and alibis when they heard Janie yelling from the kitchen. Solley made sure to keep her distance from her sister, avoiding the customary hug. She didn't normally exude the smell of sweat and s.e.x fi rst thing in the morning, and Janie had already wrinkled her nose with a puzzled air a couple of times.

a 117 a "Where's Marsha?" Gin attempted a masterful change of topic.

"She went down to Main Street to pick up her prescription.

I swear, she's getting addicted to those painkillers," Janie griped. "I'm going to replace the next batch with placebo breath mints and see if she even notices."

"That seems kind of harsh if she's still in pain." Solley hadn't realized Marsha was being so stoic, playing with the kids and trying to get back to work.

Janie rolled her eyes. "It'll help her adjust. Besides, she gets all h.o.r.n.y when she's pain free, and while I'm not complaining, I do need my beauty sleep. She can go all night if she gets the dose just right."

Solley spluttered into her coffee mug at this revelation.

"Must we? It's kind of early for your aI married a s.e.x addict'

confessions."