A Woman Like You: Book Two (The Woman I Love Series 2)

by G S Binkley

  “There’s no excuse for you.” Lacy mumbled loud enough for the disappearing man to hear her. “To think, I used to like him. Oh, he’s a dinosaur for sure but….”

  “Sometimes it’s hard to break away from something that’s been ingrained in you from birth. He’s so grounded in the physical aspects of life with all its boundaries and limitations that he can’t see love for what it is…. limitless.” Mark explained.

  “You’re around the same age. You don’t.”

  “My parents….. raised me to believe that love is love no matter what package it arrives in.” Smiling, Mark recalled when he announced to his prominent and well to do parents that he was going to marry Sharon McKenna. Instead of offering any signs of disapproval, they welcomed her with open arms. That reminds me, I need to check on her dead brother-in-law’s son.

  “Am I interrupting anything?” Gage asked.

  Lacy pulled her partner closer. “Never. Just in time as a matter of fact. Where were you?”

  “That Kussler guy is here. Michael and I were trying to find out what he’s up to.” Gage said before leaning closer and inhaling deeply. “God, I love the way you smell.”

  “What about me?” Mark asked with a wink.

  “You too. Oh, I saw Julie out on the balcony. She looked like she needed rescuing.” Gage hinted.

  “I’m on it.” Mark handed Gage his drink. “Take this.”

  Gage studied the wine glass for a few moments before sitting it down on a nearby table.

  “You want something to drink?” Lacy asked.

  “No. You?”

  “I noticed you haven’t drank anything…. alcoholic since the first party we were at.”

  “Neither have you.” Gage countered.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Smiling. “I know and as long as you are…. neither one of us drinks. Okay?”

  “I love you. You know that, don’t you?” Lacy surrendered to her partner’s benevolent wishes.

  “Well, just keep remembering that.” Gage watched Koda Kannon strut toward them. “Here comes Mr. Adonis himself.”

  Grabbing Lacy’s hand, Koda brought it to his vampire lips intent on seducing the reluctant woman. “Lacy, Lacy… the divine Levine. Here it is the movie’s finished and we’re left with…. unfinished business.” Koda completely ignored the blonde standing next to the beautiful woman now in his sights.

  Retrieving her hand, Lacy anchored it in the waiting port at the end of Gage’s arm. Smiling at Koda, Lacy said. “There’s no business like show business and that’s the only business we’ll ever engage in. Come on, Gage.”

  As Lacy passed the over confident, oversexed and quite drunk star he patted her behind. “How’s that for a little show business?” Koda beamed from his overture.

  Coming to an abrupt halt, Lacy’s cool blue eyes flared at the unwelcome act. Preventing Gage from retaliating against the rude man, Lacy spun around taking one-step forward and grabbed Koda’s crouch. Squeezing slowly with a vise like grip, Lacy caused Koda to ascend on his tippy toes, grimacing from her torturous gesture. “Well, it’s showtime. Shall I continue?”

  “No…no.” Koda screeched several octaves higher than normal.

  Watching from a few feet behind Lacy, Gage wore a satisfied smile. God, I love that woman.

  Chapter Seventeen

  A few days before Thanksgiving at Lacy’s parent’s house, they celebrated Derek’s fourth birthday with his father nowhere in sight. Having spent hours with his mother as they watched his favorite cartoon Derek was unconcerned. Yet, Dani’s usually exuberant personality was held in check favoring a more subdued attitude until Thanksgiving Day when her cousin came to visit with his new chemistry set. Both Dani and Derek stared intently as Jonathan dashed a pinch of yellow powder in the mixture causing it to foam over.

  “I’m thirsty.” Derek complained.

  Ignoring her brother. “Hold on a minute, will ya, Derek? Jonathan….” She said excitedly. “Can I do that?”

  Reluctant, he finally handed his younger cousin the powder. “Be very careful.”

  ************************

  “You must love her.” Lisa said as she cleared the table after the Lewis Thanksgiving feast.

  Lacy walked around her sister as she placed several dishes in the dishwasher. “I do.”

  The shorter sister leaned against the counter. “And she must really love you… and the kids.”

  The older sibling twisted around, cocked her hands on her hips and asked. “Okay. What’s going on? Why do you say that like it’s…. something amazing?”

  Lisa pulled back a chair and sat at the clean table. “I noticed when we started to eat that you asked Gage if she wanted you to fix her a plate….”

  “Lisa, she does things for me, too.” Lacy felt the early signs of an up and coming battle about to ensue.

  “No..no. It’s not that. It’s….” Lisa fondly remembered the incident. “She said she’d get it herself then went on to help Derek eat his dinner all the while watching his favorite cartoon. Like it was the most important thing in the world for her to do at that moment.”

  Lacy covered her sister’s hand lying on the table. “That’s Gage for you.”

  “Lacy, this thing with Gage and you… it’s really going to last, isn’t it?”

  “Is that a needle about my first two marriages?” Lacy teased her sister then said seriously. “Yes… forever.”

  The shorter woman placed her hand over Lacy’s and squeezed. “Good.” Then Lisa carefully treaded down a path she’d been meaning to approach with her sister. “Though both Jason and David were absolutely gorgeous.”

  “They were.. are.” Lacy confirmed. “Gage though… she takes my breath away. When I think of her, look at her… when she touches me.” Lacy inhaled a very deep and satisfying breath as she thought of her lover in the next room having to fend for herself with the rest of the Lewis family as they watched football.

  Seeing her sister practically salivate at the thought of the blonde, Lisa said. “All right, Lacy. I get the point.”

  Lacy laughed.

  “So, you and Jason…and David.” Lisa quickly added. “It’s over… there’s no going back.”

  “No, Lisa. No way.”

  “Even if Gage and you…..”

  “That’s not going to happen.” Lacy stated firmly. “Why all the questions?”

  “Just wondering.” Lisa turned away not wanting to reveal her true intentions regarding this subject. Lacy could read her too well if she allowed her sister to studied her hazel eyes. “You deserve the best….and it looks like you have it with Gage.”

  “I do. And, so do you, Lisa.” Concerned now. “Is this about Chris James?”

  “No. I haven’t even heard from him since…. that day.”

  “Lisa, there is someone out there for you.” Lacy assured her only sister.

  “Mmmmm. But, he’s out of my league. He still loves someone else. I’d only end up as second best.” Lisa would not meet her sister’s worried blue eyes.

  “That is absolutely ri..dic…u… lous.” Lacy enunciated the word with fervent belief to dispel her sister’s low self-esteem.

  “Ri…dic…u…lous.” Dani repeated from the doorway. “You’re the best.” Dani scooted close to her aunt. “You’re my godmother and that alone makes you number one.”

  Lisa hugged her niece. “Thank you. That means a lot coming from you.”

  When her aunt winked, Dani returned it. “Mom, Derek wants something to drink.”

  Lacy pulled a small carton of juice from the refrigerator then handed it to her daughter. “Here. Are you guys down in the basement?”

  “Yep. Jonathan’s got some new chemistry set. He’s showing off.” Dani turned to leave but spun around before she did. “Aunt Lisa, maybe you should get someone like mom did.” Without another word, Dani hurried out of the kitchen returning to the basement where her eleven-year-old cousin promised to show her several other experiments.

  B
oth sisters laughed at Dani’s remark. “She’s that good, huh?” Lisa asked.

  “Mmmmm.”

  “I didn’t know you were into women.” Lisa quizzed.

  “Not really. But, I do love her.” Lacy leaned in conspiratorially toward her sister. “If I could only make love to her once… just once or have sex on demand with all the great lovers of the world….” A broad lascivious smile beckoned with her next words. “I would take that night with her and……”

  “As your father says TMI.” Lynn stood behind her two conspiratorial daughters. “Sex talk at the kitchen table. I guess things never change. Come on, Crystal. You might as well get in on this, too.” Lynn sat next to Lacy as her daughter-in-law took a seat alongside Lisa.

  A very timid shorthaired woman asked. “Is it really that good…. with her?”

  “Crystal, it’s the very best. It’s about love not sex….” Lacy started.

  “No sex!” Crystal exclaimed. “I don’t know about you, Lacy, but… I’ve got to have it.” Those adamant words spilled unchecked from her mouth. Stunned by this admission, the thirty-five-year old woman cautiously looked at her mother-in-law.

  A few long decidedly awkward moments passed as each woman soaked in Crystal’s revelation. Blue eyes shifted back and forth from hazel ones to meet her mother’s hazel eyes then back to her sister-in-law’s brown eyes. “So do I.” Lacy finally said igniting an eruption of laughter from everyone seated around the table.

  *************************

  “Look at that. They had the ball….what are they doing?” Hank pulled his hair.

  “I believe that would be called a…. fumble.” Nate rubbed it in again now that his team had possession of the football. “Wouldn’t you say so, Gage?”

  “I should stay out of this. I don’t know that much about football.” Gage admitted.

  Mumbling. “It figures.” Denny sat off in the distance avoiding his sister’s ‘date’.

  As the four Lewis men and Gage watched a football player take a hard hit during the next play, Dan grabbed his own knee. “Ooooo… I know how that feels.”

  “Is it hurting now?” Gage awkwardly left the older man’s name out not knowing how exactly to refer to Lacy’s father.

  “Nah. When the weather’s bad… a little.” Dan added off-handedly.

  “You should get that surgery like mom said.” Nate offered with his eyes still glued on the game.

  Hank jabbed his brother in the side. “Wanna bet she gets him to have it before…. say, next summer?”

  Nate slapped his older brother’s hand. “You’re on. That’s another fifty dollars I’ll win from you…. easily.”

  “The game’s not over yet.” Hank hurled the youngest brother a grudging look. “Gage, you want to get in on the action?”

  “No. Leave me out of this.”

  Mumbling again only louder, Denny tossed his two cents in. “If only we could.”

  At that remark, Dan flung his oldest son a silencing glare.

  *************************

  “Anyway, as I was saying. It’s about love… making love. She takes me to places I’ve never been. A place where only true love can take you. It’s not about technique. Oh, she’s good.” Lacy smiled then sucked in a deep shuddering breath with that thought. “Very good. And it’s different than with men….”

  The now unrestrained woman asked. “That’s the part I want to know about. How?” The rest of the women at the table were no longer shocked as Crystal unleashed a barrage of questions. “I mean…. how do you do it not having the same….” Crystal rolled her eyes as if to say ‘you know’.

  “It’s about the way she makes love to me. With love, reverence… as if I am the most precious thing in the world to her. It’s the way she makes me feel…” Lacy’s blue eyes flared. “She sets my body ablaze.”

  Thoughtfully, Lynn agreed. “I know what you mean.”

  “Mother!” Lisa exclaimed.

  “Well, I do know what Lacy means. Honey…” Lynn reached across the table capturing her youngest daughter’s hand. “You have got to go for it.” Then Lynn supplied a knowing wink to Lisa.

  Lacy recognized something transpire between mother and daughter and held her suspicions in check for the moment. “Gage made an interesting point the other day. She said that hate has no boundaries. You can hate anyone. But, with love…. we, as a society, put up boundaries.. limits in search of that ideal relationship. Look at David and me. Except for religious differences… we were seemingly perfect together. All the ingredients for a happy couple according to society. It was the same with Jason and yet neither one of them made me feel whole… made me feel loved.” A tender soft look crossed her beautiful features. “No, only Gage does that for me. And, she loves me enough to change for me and not because I demand it or even ask it of her. Just because she loves me. Love is love no matter how it shows up in your life.”

  All heads nodded in understanding of Lacy’s profound words including her daughter standing at the doorway waiting patiently to deliver the bad news. “Mom….ahhh…” Dani hesitated, scrunching her face. “Jonathan is crying in the living room.”

  “Why?”

  “I… hit him?” Dani stated in a questioning way. Dani reluctantly followed the herd of woman from the kitchen mumbling. “Guess I’ve got some explaining to do.”

  ************************

  With his crying son in his arms, Denny’s face grew redder. “Is this the way your daughter acts now that….. that you’re with her?” His angry brown eyes shifted from Lacy to Gage.

  Inhaling deeply, Lacy pulled her daughter in front of her. Seeing that Derek was safe in the arms of her partner, she calmly asked. “Dani, what happened? Why did you hit your cousin?”

  The frown on the young girl’s face was unmistakable. “Because.”

  Lacy squatted in front of her daughter. Lifting Dani’s chin, she prompted her again. “Because why?”

  “Because of what he said. It wasn’t nice.” Then Dani declared. “And, it’s not true.”

  Twisting around to her nephew, Lacy asked gently. “Just what did you say, Jonathan?”

  Proudly, Jonathan recounted his words. “I said that she….” Pointing to Gage. “Was a freak and what goes on between the two of you is unnatural.”

  Crystal hauled her son away from his father’s protecting arms. “Why would you ever say that?” A revelation popped in her head. “Jonathan, where did you come up with that?”

  Looking from his mother to his dad, their only child responded. “Dad said it.”

  Slowly standing, Crystal seethed, glaring at her suddenly shrinking husband having never seen such a look of disgust on his usually placating wife’s face. “Denny. I know how you feel and you can keep it to yourself.” Looking back at her son. “Jonathan, go get your coat… but first I want you to apologize.”

  With the spotlight burning brightly on the young boy, he covertly looked to his father for a cue as what to do. Denny remained silent under his wife’s hard stare. “Okay, I’m sorry. But, I don’t know why.”

  Then Dani prompted by her mother spoke. “Me, too. I’m sorry for hitting you.”

  “Go on now, son. When we get home, we’ll talk.” Crystal pushed her son toward the door. She caught her husband with another angry glare. “We will not teach our son to be a…. bigot.” Leaning in very close to her husband, she continued. “I am putting my foot down this time, Denny. Mark my words. Do not cross me on this one.”

  Astonished, Hank and Nate, never having seen their oldest brother cower before anyone except their parents, looked on in awe holding a newfound respect for their sister-in-law. The football game forgotten now that they had witnessed history in the making.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I want that.” Derek stubbornly pointed at the toy on the store shelf.

  “What’s it called?” Gage asked.

  “Truck.”

  “What kind of truck?”

  “A Tonka truck.” The now
four-year-old said perfectly. Grabbing it, he ran to his sister who was plopped down on the floor trying to put on some skates in the store.

  “See. I told you.” Gage shook her blonde head. “He says every word perfectly now except my name.”

  Squeezing her partner, Lacy said. “You know why that is, don’t you?”

  “No. Enlighten me.”

  “Oh, I’ll do more than that. Later.” Lacy whispered then added. “Devlin, on his favorite cartoon, sometimes speaks funny especially when talking to his hero Gentry. The other day I was watching hours of it with him.” A bright smile bloomed on her face as she remembered spending this sacred leisure time with her son on his fourth birthday a few days before Thanksgiving. “It dawned on me that Derek picked it up from watching the cartoon.”

  “But why does he still call me Jage?”

  “Oh, he does that to annoy you.” Lacy walked ahead leaving a frustrated blonde behind.

  “Just like his mother.”

  “Gage?” A voice from behind called.

  Spinning around, Gage greeted the doctor. “Dr. Charles. How are you?”

  “Fine.” Spying Derek over the blonde’s shoulder, the doctor asked. “How’s his speech coming along?”

  “Perfect actually.” Gage stared at her family for a long moment before turning back around to the doctor. “The sessions with you really helped.”

  “I only got him started on the program. It was you that made the difference.” Dr. Charles smiled sweetly at the blonde.

  When a possessive hand clamped down on Gage’s shoulder, she heard. “I couldn’t agree more.” Lacy stepped beside her partner. “And, who may I ask are you?”

  Uh oh. “Lacy, this is Dr. Charles.” Gage introduced her lover to Derek’s speech therapist.

  Surprised, Lacy choose not to hide it. “I didn’t know you were a woman.” Then slowly twisted her head to her partner who melted under the intense heat.