Marking Time (WeHo Series Book 4)

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  “Because she identified as straight until she met Quinn.”

  “But that was a long time ago, right?” Raine asked.

  “Uh, no, about a year, year and a half.” Cat clarified.

  “Really?” Raine asked, shocked, “They seem like they’ve been together forever.”

  Cat nodded, “That’s cause they’re a really good match.”

  Raine nodded.

  “So that’s one thought,” Cat said, “Let me ask you this, are you attracted to men the same way?”

  “No,” Raine said, “I mean, other than like movie stars and stuff, you know?”

  “Yeah, they don’t count,” Cat said, grinning, “Well, what about men you sleep with, does that do the job?” She asked, trying not to put too fine a point on it.

  “I’ve never slept with a man.” Raine said.

  Cat looked over at her, as she slowed down for traffic. “Have you ever been with a woman?”

  “No,” Raine said, “That’s why I’m not sure.” She said, her tone indicating that Cat should know that.

  “You’ve never had sex?” Cat asked, her look stunned.

  “Nope,” Raine said.

  “Holy shit!” Cat exclaimed, then gave Raine an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, but you’re how old?”

  “Twenty-five,” Raine said.

  “And a virgin,” Cat said.

  “Right,” Raine said, not sure what part Cat wasn’t understanding.

  “You said you grew up in New York.” Cat said then.

  “Right,” Raine said.

  “In the Manhattan area, right?”

  “Yes,” Raine said nodding.

  “Jesus I knew Manhattan was an island,” Cat muttered, “I just didn’t think it was a deserted island…”

  “Ma’am?” Raine queried.

  “Nothing, sorry,” Cat said, shaking her head, “I’m just kind of shocked here Mason, I really am. Okay, well, here’s my thinking,” she said then, “You’re probably just gonna have to find someone and jump in and test the water.”

  “Test the water?” Raine asked.

  “Yep,” Cat said, nodding.

  “How?” Raine asked, looking terrified.

  Cat couldn’t help but laugh at the look on her face.

  “Find someone you’re attracted to and go for it.” Cat said.

  “But…” Raine said, looking worried.

  “Okay, look,” Cat said, “Is there anyone you’re particularly attracted to at this point?”

  “A few…” Raine said, her voice trailing off as she grimaced, her look embarrassed.

  “Anyone I know?” Cat asked, grinning, thinking in terms of Natalia.

  When Raine didn’t answer, Cat looked over at her, the look on Raine’s face screamed, “Yes!”

  “Oh my God, who?” Cat asked, her eyes wide.

  Raine pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  “Quinn?” Cat asked.

  “No!” Raine said, wide eyed, “I mean, she’s nice and all, but…”

  “But she’s butch,” Cat said.

  “Butch?” Raine asked.

  Cat gave her another shocked look, “You don’t know that stuff either?” she asked.

  Raine shook her head, feeling like she was completely ignorant at this point.

  “I never had any lesbian friends,” Raine said, shrugging.

  “You didn’t watch the L Word like half the planet?” Cat asked.

  “No cable,” Raine said, grinning.

  “Criminal,” Cat said, grinning. “Okay, let’s make this easy… There’s two main types, there’s butches and femmes. Femmes use the sink, Butches fix the sink, femmes buy the furniture, butches put it together, femmes have their nails done, butches use nails to put up walls and shit…” She let her voice trail off as she grinned.

  “So butches are like the boys,” Raine said.

  “Like boys,” Cat said, her tone serious, “But don’t get it confused, there are no boys in the lesbian world, and if you call a butch lesbian a man, you’ll probably get decked.”

  “Okay,” Raine said, her eyes wide. “So Quinn is butch.”

  “Right,” Cat said, nodding, “So’s Jericho and Skyler, although neither of them fit the exact type, but they’re more on the butch side than they are on the femme side.”

  “And Zoey, Xandy and Jerry are femme,” Raine said.

  “Right,” Cat said, “Devin is too, she’s just a bit of a wild child.”

  “What about you?” Raine asked.

  “Ah, me…” Cat said, grinning, “According to Quinn, Jericho and Sky I swing both ways.”

  “What does that mean?” Raine asked.

  “It means I’m both femme and butch,” she said. “I can be very femme, or I can be very butch. I think it’s the cop thing,” Cat said, “I don’t think too many women can pull off being a cop without being a little bit butch.”

  Raine nodded, thinking that Cat was probably right about that. “Okay, so let’s get back to what’s important here,” Cat said, with a grin, “Who in the group is your type?”

  “Well, I think that Zoey is really cute,” Raine said, biting her lip.

  “Ah, so the femme girls are your thing,” Cat said, nodding.

  “Well, and you.” Raine said, shocking Cat again.

  “Uh,” Cat stammered widening her eyes.

  “Oh God, I’m sorry.” Raine said, shaking her head.

  Cat chuckled, shaking her head, “It’s okay, just don’t tell Jovina.”

  Raine blanched, “I wouldn’t do anything…” She said.

  “Raine, it’s okay!” Cat said, laughing, “Really! So, like I was saying you should find yourself someone who’s not attached, especially not someone who is attached to a very hot tempered Latina,” she added with a wink, “And just give it a shot.”

  Raine looked hesitant, but nodded.

  “I really think you should talk to Xandy,” Cat said. “I’ll send her a text and have her call you, okay?”

  The very next day, Xandy showed up at the office to talk to Raine.

  “You didn’t have to come all the way here,” Raine told Xandy.

  “It’s okay,” Xandy said, “Quinn had to come down to talk to BJ anyway, so I thought I’d just stop by to talk.”

  Raine stood up, looking around, then gestured toward the patio where team members usually smoked. It was empty at the moment.

  “So Cat told me what you were asking about.” Xandy said, smiling at the other girl.

  Raine blew her breath out, nodding, “She thought you might be able to offer me some insight into what it’s like to try to decide if you’re gay or not.”

  Xandy rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah, that was a trial.” she said, her tone serious.

  “How did you figure it out?” Raine asked.

  “Well, I can tell you that I was attracted to Quinn the moment I laid eyes on her.” Xandy said, “But I just thought I was infatuated with her because she was so different to me.”

  “Different how?” Raine asked.

  “Well, she wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before, you know, with all the tattoos and the really butch look that she has…” Xandy’s voice trailed off as she grinned, “Oh and the Irish, oh my God, so hot…” She said, biting her lip.

  Raine nodded, knowing she was seeing someone who was very much in love and almost aching from just seeing it.

  “What made you sure?” Raine asked.

  “Well, for sure when she kissed me the first time.” Xandy said.

  “How’d that happen? I mean if you don’t mind me asking.”

  “Well,” Xandy said, her look fond, “She’d just come home all scratched up from breaking up with her girlfriend and I was trying to clean up the blood streaks…” She smiled, “And our eyes just kind of connected and she kissed me and oh my God the whole world lit up when she did, it was like fireworks going off in my body.”

  “That exciting, huh?” Raine asked, her eyes practically glowing.

&nb
sp; “Oh yeah,” Xandy said, “It was followed by a lot of bad stuff, but that very first kiss I knew that I was in love with her, and that no matter what I wanted to be with her.”

  “You weren’t worried about what people would think?” Raine asked.

  “I didn’t care,” Xandy said, “I had found the person I was meant to be with, and once I convinced her of that I was never letting her go.”

  Raine sighed, smiling almost sadly, “That’s really cool,” she said, sighing, “I just have no idea where to even start.”

  “Well, I think Cat’s right, you need to find someone that you’re attracted to and just give it a shot.”

  “That’s what she said,” Raine said, “But I don’t even know how to act or how to approach things with a woman.”

  “Well, you can ask her to coffee, or dinner…” Xandy asked, then gave Raine a narrowed look, “You have someone in mind, don’t you?”

  Raine bit her lip, nodding, but then shook her head, “But it’s crazy.”

  “You don’t think my being in love with my butch bodyguard who was dating a movie star wasn’t crazy?”

  “Maybe to you it seemed crazy,” Raine said, “But you’re famous and so beautiful, how could she not fall in love with you?”

  Xandy blinked a couple of times at the compliment, making Raine realize she’d said that out loud. Suddenly she was red faced with embarrassment.

  “I really didn’t mean to say that out loud,” she said, aghast.

  Xandy laughed softly, “It’s okay, I do that sometimes too.” “So who is it?” Xandy asked then.

  Raine shook her head, rolling her eyes.

  “Oh my God, it’s Natalia isn’t it?” Xandy asked.

  Raine grimaced, then nodded.

  “That’s fantastic!” Xandy said, clapping her hands. “You have got to go for it!”

  “No, I can’t,” Raine said, “If there’s a league I’m in, she’s in the league on the planet farthest from mine.”

  “Interesting description,” Xandy said, grinning, “But I think you underestimate how gorgeous you are.”

  “Me?” Raine practically squeaked.

  “Yes you!” Xandy said, giving her a look that said ‘duh!’. “And I think you don’t realize that she’s already in to you.”

  “No,” Raine said, her tone sure, “We’re friends, she said so herself.”

  “Maybe because she doesn’t think you’re gay, Raine.” Xandy said, “You’ve been jamming everyone’s gaydar in the group, I guarantee you that you’re jamming hers too.”

  Raine sighed loudly, looking like she was thinking about the idea, but then she shook her head again.

  “I just need to set my sights a bit lower,” she said, her lips twitching in disappointment.

  Xandy frowned, but said no more about it.

  After a couple of days of healing, Raine returned to Natalia’s class. Cat and the group, who’d discussed Raine’s situation at length when she wasn’t around, waited to see if the girl would make a move on Natalia. After a few days it was obvious that was not going to happen, so Cat took it upon herself to pull Natalia aside after class one morning after a Saturday class.

  Cat lead Natalia off to the side by the office, looking around to insure that no one was around that would overhear, especially Raine.

  “Got a question for ya.” Cat said, grinning at Natalia.

  “Yes?” Natalia asked, curious about the clandestine nature of Cat’s behavior.

  “What do you think of Raine?” Cat asked.

  Natalia’s lips twitched, in reaction to the question, “What do you mean?” She asked her tone cautious.

  Cat gave Natalia a deadpan look, “Seriously?” she asked, “You know what I mean.”

  Natalia pressed her lips together, “Why are you asking?” She asked then.

  “Well, it seems that our girl isn’t sure about herself.” Cat said.

  “How do you mean?” Natalia asked, not sure she was grasping the situation. Certainly Cat couldn’t mean in terms of the class, Raine was definitely the best student in the class, Natalia hadn’t been being facetious about that.

  Cat sighed, realizing she should have known subtlety wouldn’t work on someone like Natalia.

  “Look, she isn’t sure if she’s gay or not, and she needs to try things out, but she doesn’t seem to be brave enough to make the approach.”

  Natalia looked back at Cat, her mouth open slightly in surprised.

  “So what are you asking me?” Natalia asked.

  “If you were interested in her.” Cat said simply.

  “Because you want me to ‘make the approach’,” Natalia said, using Cat’s words.

  “Now you’re getting it…” Cat said grinning, “I mean, if you’re not interested, that’s okay, but I just thought that you might be.”

  “Why?” Natalia asked, her eyes narrowed slightly.

  Cat grinned at Natalia’s suspicion.

  “Well, I seriously doubt you ask about every student that doesn’t show up for your class, nor do I think you make house calls when they get hurt.”

  Natalia stared back at Cat, then quirked her lips in a sardonic grin, “I guess I shouldn’t let cops into my class,” she said, her tone joking.

  “Not if you want to keep things a secret, no.” Cat said, grinning.

  Natalia nodded agreement, “You are right, I do like her,” she said, “I just didn’t think she was gay.”

  “Don’t worry, she was jamming all of our gaydar readings too.” Cat said with a grin.

  “Ah, si,” Natalia said, nodding with a wide smile.

  “You need to know something, though,” Cat said, putting her hand out to touch Natalia’s shoulder, “She’s completely new to this,” Cat said, then make a circling motion with her hand, “All of this,” she said, her look pointed.

  Raine had just finished showering and towel drying her hair and was walking out of the master bathroom wearing nothing but another towel when her bedroom door opened. She was surprised when Natalia stepped through the door, looking around. Natalia saw her, and turned to walk toward her even as Raine was continuing forward.

  “Hey what–” Raine started to say, but Natalia walked right up to her, and taking her face in her hands, kissed Raine’s lips.

  For a few long moments, Raine couldn’t even think past the sensation of Natalia’s lips on hers, and the feel of her hands in her still damp hair. Then as Natalia moaned softly stepping impossibly closer and pressing her body against the length of Raine’s deepening the kiss, Raine regained her senses. In regaining her senses, she had the sense to close the bedroom door and then slide her hands around Natalia’s waist gathering her closer still, her hands at the back of the smaller woman’s thighs. Natalia pushed upward as she felt Raine’s hands supporting her weight, causing Raine to pick her up, to which Natalia responded by wrapping her legs around Raine’s waist, during which their lips never parted.

  Natalia reveled in the feeling of Raine’s hands on her legs, and the feel of Raine’s hair in her hands. Pulling back she looked down at Raine, whose face was a couple of inches below hers at that point, her eyes taking in the sight of Raine with her hair down for the first time. Raine’s dark auburn hair, always up in some form or fashion, fell all the way to her waist in tight corkscrew curls.

  “Maravilloso,” Natalia exclaimed, even as she moved to kiss Raine again.

  Raine moved to her bed, sitting down on the edge with Natalia’s legs still wrapped around her. They kissed for what seemed like forever, things getting more and more heated between them. Natalia reached up at one point stripping off her tank top, breaking the connection between their lips momentarily, but as she moved in again, her lips moved to Raine’s neck, her hands smoothing down Raine’s arms, pulling at her, her teeth grazing Raine’s skin making her shudder. Raine’s hands grasped at Natalia’s shoulders, she had no idea what to do, but her body wouldn’t let her think for long.

  Natalia’s hands reached between them pulling
at the edge of the towel Raine wore, and in moments the sides of the towel fell away. Raine gasped loudly as Natalia’s hands moved expertly, making her writhe and finally cry out in an earth shattering orgasm. She found herself grasping Natalia’s back, in an effort to regain her breath. Before she could do that, however, Natalia moved to stand, and slid off the shorts and exercise bra she wore, kicking off her sandals. To Raine’s surprise, she moved to push Raine back on the bed, laying over her and within minutes Raine was orgasming again.

  Without warning, Natalia moved to lay on the bed, pulling Raine over her as she did.

  Suddenly Raine was completely unsure, she started to shake her head.

  “Talia, I don’t know how…” She began, not even sure how to say what she meant.

  Natalia shifted her body, moving it seductively under Raine’s, “Yes you do.” she said, her tone sure.

  Raine thought about the way that Natalia had moved over her, and moved in a way similar to what had excited her so much when Natalia had been over her. Her movements were hesitant at first, but Raine gained confidence as Natalia moaned, grasping her arms excitedly. Within minutes it was Natalia who orgasmed, her hands pulling Raine’s body flush against her, her movements matching Raine’s. It was definitely an exciting first experience.

  Afterwards, Raine easily lifted Natalia’s smaller leaner frame to move them onto the bed more comfortably. She lay propped against the pillows at the head of her bed, her body literally wound around Natalia’s, her leg bent possessively around Natalia’s waist, her foot flat on the bed. Natalia lay with her upper body angled so she could look up at Raine, and the lower half of her body intertwined with Raine’s.

  “A dancer’s pose,” Natalia said, sliding her hand over the leg that crossed her body.

  Raine smiled, oddly happy that Natalia recognized the dancer in her.

  “You are a dancer, aren’t you?” Natalia asked then, her look soft.

  “I was,” Raine said, her voice quiet.

  “Pero no ahora?” Natalia asked, “Why not now?” she asked then.

  Raine looked back into Natalia’s eyes, they were so warm and inviting, she felt a pull at her heart.

  Finally she shrugged, “Couldn’t do it anymore.”

  “Por que?” Natalia asked why, her voice soft, her look searching.