Split the Aces by Jove Belle

Author:Jove Belle
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: ! Yes
ISBN: 9781602820333
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2008-10-10T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The light pink paper crinkled in Rae’s hand and she smoothed the edges with her fi ngers. She felt silly carrying the bouquet of tulips and lilies up to Cori’s room, but she always took fresh cut fl owers on her Sunday visits.

Her mom’s one great regret about living in the desert was that gardens didn’t fl ourish with the same burst of color, spring or not, as in the rest of the country. So Rae tried to take her a seasonal bouquet on a regular basis. Granted, that didn’t mean she had to do the same for Cori, but she wanted to avoid awkwardness. Cori would notice the fl owers on the backseat and wonder if they were for her. She might feel put out that Rae had only purchased lovely blooms for her mother. That was what she told herself until the door opened and Cori’s eyes lit up.

“They’re beautiful.” She buried her face in the red and yellow blossoms and inhaled.

Rae felt the blood rushing to her face and hoped her tan would hide the blush. She’d never bought fl owers for a woman, other than her mom. She didn’t know what to expect, but Cori’s reaction was perfect. She dragged Rae through the door by her lips. Not the greeting she’d expected after their

• 99 •

JOVE BELLE

heated argument the night before, but she wasn’t about to complain.

“I’m glad you like them.” The sentiment was a gross understatement, but her brain couldn’t come up with anything else.

Cori looked around the room. “I don’t have anything to put them in.”

“Oh.” Rae cursed the oversight. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

In fact, she knew exactly what she’d been thinking. She wanted Cori to like her again. Simple. Practicalities, like a vase, had escaped her. She searched the room and offered the plastic ice bucket as a possibility. “How about this?”

Cori held the bouquet in front of her like a baton, or possibly a trophy, as she walked into the bathroom. She ran some water into the container and arranged the blooms carefully. Her fi ngers lingered on a waxy red tulip petal. “No one’s ever given me fl owers. It’s quite…lovely. A real…”

“Surprise?” Rae suggested with faint cynicism.

“What I meant was that I didn’t expect anything so…

romantic.”

Rae hesitated. Flowers were romantic, and given what they usually meant, the offering seemed unexpected to her as well. She smiled and shrugged, sure her blush was obvious now. “I don’t know what to say.”

Cori kissed her lightly on the lips. “Don’t say anything.

This is perfect as is.”

They stood, lost in each other, until the sound of the door being opened startled them into motion. Julie, looking worse for the party she’d attended the night before, stood in the entrance, her gaze moving from Cori to Rae, to the vase of fl owers, then back to Cori.

“I’m interrupting.”

• 100 •

SPLIT THE ACES

“No, we were just leaving.” Cori kissed her on the cheek and led Rae from the room.

“Be good,” Julie called after them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.