On the Fly Read online

  She finally made it to their table a few minutes later and held her order pad in front of her. She spoke without bothering to look at either one of them.

  “What can I get you?” she asked, pen ready to start scribbling.

  “Large pepperoni, please,” one of the women said.

  “Drinks?” Lana asked.

  “A pitcher of whatever’s on tap will be fine.”

  She put her pad in her front pocket and picked up their menus just as she looked at them and smiled. She faltered for a moment, hoping the two women didn’t notice. She was looking into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen in her life. The woman smiled back at her, and Lana nodded once before walking away to put in their order.

  The pizza gods seemed to be looking out for her, because the steady stream of customers they’d seen for the past couple of hours was finally slowing down. More people were leaving than coming in. Lana escaped to the kitchen and let out a deep breath.

  “How you holding up?” Joey asked, wiping his hands on the towel he had hanging out of the front pocket of his jeans.

  “How do you do this every night? And since when did this place turn into such a hotbed of activity?” Lana asked.

  “You’ve seen the menu,” he answered with a shrug. “Best pizza outside of New York City.”

  “Whatever.” Lana rolled her eyes. Obviously, her brother knew nothing about Chicago deep dish. Now that was pizza. She stood and went to look through the pass to the two women waiting for their pizza. “Who are they?”

  “Who?” Joey stood next to her, looking out at the dining room.

  “Those two women over there.” She pointed, and Joey followed her line of sight.

  “Customers?” he asked with a grin.

  “You’re an ass.” She threw an elbow to his side, making him wince.

  “Sorry, sis, but I don’t know them,” he said as he went to check on what Lana assumed was their pizza. “They come in a lot, though, if that helps.”

  She watched the women while Joey sliced their pizza. They didn’t look like they were together, and one of them appeared to be older than the other. The younger one might very well be the most attractive woman Lana had ever laid eyes on. Her light brown hair was cut short, above the neckline of the T-shirt she was wearing, but it was the gorgeous eyes holding her attention. They were so blue, Lana thought she could actually fall into them. She shook her head to dispel the thought as Joey shoved their pizza onto the counter in front of her.

  She concentrated on making it to their table without dropping their pizza, because her knees were shaking, and she didn’t know why. Well, she did, but she certainly didn’t want this beautiful woman to know why.

  “Here you go, ladies,” she said as she set it on the table between them. She deposited some extra napkins as well before the older woman looked up at her.

  “You must be Lana,” she said, and then she laughed when Lana was sure she had a look of confusion on her face. “Your brother said you were going to help him out here for a bit.”

  “Funny, but he told me he didn’t know you,” Lana said, risking a look over her shoulder. She saw Joey in the kitchen laughing. She was definitely going to kill him. She plastered a smile on her face and focused on her table again. “Yes, I’m Lana.”

  “I’m Gail,” she said and held out her hand. Lana took it briefly before turning toward Gail’s friend.

  “Courtney,” the other woman said, but then she smiled and shook her head. “Court.”

  Lana tilted her head to the side. “Really? Your parents named you Courtney Court? That just seems cruel.” She winked at her, which caused Court to laugh, and Lana felt warm all over at the sound. She shook her hand as well, then left the two of them to their dinner and headed back into the kitchen.

  “You are so dead,” she said as she stalked toward her brother, who was laughing hysterically. “Do you want to be buried or cremated?”

  “Oh my God, you should have seen your face,” Joey managed to spit out between bursts of laughter. He motioned at Greg, one of their employees. “You can go home, man. See you tomorrow.”

  “I’d think you’d want a witness to what I’m planning to do to you,” Lana said. She looked at Greg, who was laughing as well, but at least he had the decency to stop when he realized she could easily turn her anger toward him. She nodded when he clocked out and practically ran through the back door.

  * * *

  “She was so flirting with you,” Gail said with a grin before taking a bite.

  “She was not,” Court replied, but she couldn’t stop grinning for some reason. Lana was hot, there was no doubt about it. Dark hair, dark eyes, beautiful bone structure in her cheeks and jaw. And the voice? Sexy as all hell. Court shook her head and grabbed a slice of her own.

  “You were just thinking about her.”

  “Stop.” Court glanced over her shoulder and saw Lana watching them from the kitchen. What if she had been flirting? It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, would it? She sighed because it really didn’t matter one way or the other. Between her work at the Realtor’s office, hockey practice and games, not to mention the travel for road games, there wasn’t much time left over for anything, let alone a relationship.

  “Court, listen to me,” Gail said. She set her slice down and wiped her hands on a napkin before turning her attention to her. Court knew this meant she was being serious, and she’d better listen if she knew what was good for her. Gail was the big sister she never had. “You can’t live your life without companionship. As far as I know, you never even have sex.”

  Court almost choked on the bite of pizza she was trying to swallow. She got it to go down without any lasting damage, then took a healthy swig of her beer before leaning back in her seat.

  “Speaking of companionship, where’s your husband tonight?” Court asked. “He’d tell you to back off and leave me alone.”

  “He’s home with the kids.” Gail batted her eyes. “Too bad for you.”

  “I have sex, okay?” Court whispered as she leaned forward. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “By yourself doesn’t count.”

  “Jesus.” Court hung her head. She felt her cheeks flush, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been embarrassed enough to blush. After a moment she met Gail’s eyes again. “Not by myself. You can be such an ass sometimes.”

  “Wait, you never masturbate?” Gail looked shocked, and Court was blushing again just as Lana returned to the table.

  “How is everything, ladies?” she asked. Court hoped to God she hadn’t heard any of their conversation. Her smile gave away nothing.

  “Fine,” Court said, perhaps a little too quickly. Lana’s head tilted to the side. “Everything is great.”

  “Good.” Lana stood there a moment longer. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “Actually,” Gail said as she was looking back and forth between Lana and Court, and Court knew exactly what was coming.

  “Gail, don’t,” she said, trying to sound threatening.

  “I was wondering if you could settle a bet between us,” Gail said. Court fought the urge to slide out of the booth and under the table. She was going to kill Gail someday.

  “Okay,” Lana said, sounding intrigued and hesitant at the same time. “If I can.”

  Court started to stand up, seriously considering leaving, but Gail kicked her in the shin under the table. She managed to not yell out in pain, but Gail had achieved her goal. Court wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.

  “I say you were flirting with her earlier,” Gail said, pointing a finger at Court. Court refused to look at Lana. This was so not cool. “She insists you weren’t.”

  “Oh,” Lana said. She was silent for a few seconds, and Court was unable to keep from looking up at her any longer. She placed a hand firmly on Court’s shoulder and leaned down to speak into her ear. “Maybe I wasn’t doing it right? I’ll be sure to make it more obvious next time.”

  Lana win
ked at her and walked away then, and Court felt as though she were frozen in place. The pulse was pounding in her ears, but she saw Gail speaking to her, even though she wasn’t able to hear her.

  “What?” Court asked when her heart finally slowed down.

  “What did she say?” Gail asked, sounding impatient.

  “She said she wasn’t.” Court lied before shoving more food in her mouth. Yeah, Gail had been the impetus, but Court didn’t want to share just yet. It was almost as if she could still hear Lana’s voice in her ear, and she could definitely still smell the peppermint that had been on her breath.

  “You are such a liar,” Gail said. “You forget I know you so well.”

  “Sometimes, I would seriously like to forget it,” Court said. Gail looked so shocked, Court simply smiled. It wasn’t often she could put Gail in her place.

  Chapter Three

  Lana walked into the Realtor’s office the next afternoon, thankful she was on time since Joey hadn’t really wanted to let her have time off to do it in the first place. They were still working on what the best work schedule for her would be, so she didn’t have times set in stone where she had to be there. She had the newspaper with the listing she was interested in rolled up in her hand as she walked up to the woman sitting at the front desk of the office.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, her voice just this side of being too cheery for Lana.

  “I have an appointment with Bill Crawford,” Lana said.

  “Oh, Mr. Crawford is running late this afternoon,” the receptionist told her, sounding genuinely apologetic. “He isn’t sure what time he’ll make it in, but he’s set you up with one of his agents if that’s all right with you.”

  “Okay,” Lana said, not really happy about it since she’d spent so much time on the phone with Bill the day before, but she took a calming breath. She didn’t like when things didn’t go the way she’d planned.

  “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to Ms. Abbott’s office.”

  Lana nodded and let her lead the way. The office as a whole was nice, albeit small, and Lana assumed there were only a couple of agents working with Bill Crawford. The woman in front of her stopped so abruptly, Lana almost plowed her over.

  “Ms. Abbott, your appointment is here,” she said.

  Lana gave herself a quick once-over, making sure there were no wrinkles in her blouse or her slacks, although she wasn’t quite sure why she felt the need to impress the real estate agent. The receptionist stepped aside and motioned her in, and Lana walked past her. When she looked at the woman behind the desk, she froze, not quite sure what to do.

  “Hello, Courtney Court,” she managed after a moment, hoping no one had noticed her slight hesitation. She relaxed a bit when Court graced her with a big smile. “But the receptionist said I was meeting with Ms. Abbott. Please don’t tell me your name isn’t Courtney Court. To be honest it’s kind of grown on me.”

  “Please, have a seat,” Court said as she reached out a hand. Lana took it briefly, but she had a hard time letting go of it for some reason. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I am Courtney Abbott. You can call me Court.”

  “Okay, Court it is.” Lana sat and crossed her legs.

  “So, Bill tells me you’re looking for a six-month lease, is that right?” Court asked as she was sifting through the papers she had in front of her.

  “Yes, I’ll be going back to Chicago in a few months.” It sounded as though Bill had filled her in on what they’d talked about, so Lana felt better about being handed off. And the fact Court was surely nicer to look at than Bill would have been didn’t hurt matters either.

  “Oh, okay,” Court said, sounding disappointed, though Lana simply smiled. The thought she might be saddened by the news of her leaving left a warm feeling in her chest.

  “I’m interested in this one,” Lana said, holding the newspaper out to her with the ad circled in bold black lines. She watched Court as she read the ad, then began typing something into the computer. God, she was gorgeous. Lana shook her head. She wasn’t here looking for anything. She was here to help out her family while her father recovered from his heart attack. But damn, a fling with Courtney Abbott would be something to remember, she was sure. “I know it’s listed for sale, but I was hoping they might be willing to do a lease.”

  “Are you free to go take a look at it now?” Court asked when she finally looked at her again.

  “Sure,” Lana said, nodding.

  “Let me call the listing agent and let him know, then we can head on over there.” Court picked up the phone on her desk and talked to Lana as she was dialing. “I’m pretty sure these people really are more interested in selling than leasing, but we might be able to work something out. It’s probably best to look at it first before I even bring it up to them, though. You might not even like it.”

  Lana nodded again, thinking she was pretty sure she would like it, unless the inside was a complete and total mess. She’d driven by the house yesterday. It was a cute little ranch and was within walking distance of the school, which would be great for Eric. An added bonus was it was also fairly close to the pizzeria. And it wasn’t her parents’ house, so there was that.

  “Okay, we’re all set,” Court said as she stood and grabbed her jacket. She smiled at Lana again, and Lana thought she just might melt right there on Court’s office floor.

  They rode to the house in silence, although Court kept looking at her as if she wanted to say something. Lana didn’t really think she was so intimidating, but she was kind of enjoying the effect she seemed to be having on Court. When they arrived, Lana followed Court on a paved path leading to the front door. It was October, so there weren’t a lot of flowers still around, but she could see the pathway was flanked with many plants that would no doubt die under her care once spring arrived. Oh well, plenty of time to worry about killing flowers later.

  Court got the key out of the lock box and opened the door, motioning for Lana to walk in ahead of her. Lana stopped just inside the doorway and took it all in. The house was obviously well cared for. A nice hardwood floor led from the front door to the kitchen, which was straight ahead of them. A living room to the right, and a hallway leading to what Lana assumed was the master suite. A hall to the left led to the second bedroom and bath. Eric would like being on the opposite end of the house.

  “Shall we look around?” Court asked, walking past her and into the kitchen.

  Seeing the kitchen almost made Lana wish she knew how to cook. Almost. She could make lasagna, but not much else that didn’t come out of a box or a can. The stainless steel appliances were fantastic, and the island situated between the stove and the small kitchen table was almost big enough to use as a dining table itself.

  She followed Court down the hallway to the second bedroom, and nodded as she stood in the middle of the room, picturing Eric there. Since the owners were looking to sell, Lana was a little surprised to find the house fully furnished. She hoped the furniture was going to stay, because otherwise they might be sleeping on air mattresses for the next few months.

  “This is perfect,” she said, not realizing she’d spoken out loud.

  “For an office? Because the master is at the other end of the house,” Court said.

  “No, for my son,” Lana said, and she thought she saw a hint of panic wash over Court’s features. For some reason, the notion of Court not liking kids worried her, though logically she knew it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

  “You have a son?”

  “I do. Is that a problem?”

  “No, of course not,” Court said as she looked down at the sheet she held in her hand and scratched her neck. “Nope, kids are great.”

  “As long as they’re someone else’s?” Lana walked toward her and ducked her head to try to look at Court’s face.

  “Something like that.” Court chuckled. “Is there a husband too?”

  “No, there isn’t.” Lana thought back to the night before. “Do you reall
y think I would have been flirting with you if I were married?”

  “It’s not unheard of.”

  “I’ve never been married.” Lana walked out of the room and headed for the master suite. Without looking to make sure Court was following, she tossed over her shoulder, “Maybe someday I’ll tell you all about it.”

  * * *

  Tell me about it? Lord, I don’t think I want to know.

  Court didn’t have a problem with bi-women, but she sure as hell didn’t want to hear about what they did with guys. She was definitely not into that much sharing.

  She hurried to the other end of the house to catch up with Lana. She was waiting outside the double doors, which were closed. Court reached around her and opened them, revealing a short hall leading to the sleeping area on the right, and the master bath on the left.

  “This is a great bathroom,” Lana said with a nod as she ran her hand along the marble countertop. “Oh. My. God.” Lana stopped and simply stared at the shower in front of her. There were two showerheads, one on each side, and a clear glass door, twice the size of any conventional shower door. “This has got to be big enough for four people.”

  Four? Now Court was sure she didn’t want to hear about what Lana had alluded to a few minutes before. But seriously, would she do that with a child in the house?

  “Of course, I’d never have more than one other person in there with me,” Lana said with a smirk and a wink, and Court wondered if she could read her mind. “You should see your face.”

  Court looked at herself in the huge mirror behind the sinks and took a step backward. She looked horrified by what she’d been thinking, and she couldn’t help but laugh at herself.

  “I’m sorry,” Court said, shaking her head.

  “Don’t be. It’s kind of cute.”

  More flirting? Really? Court was so far removed from the last time she’d flirted, she wasn’t sure she even remembered how to do it.