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  “My heart beats for you,” said Holly sweetly.

  Charlie held onto Holly tightly and kept swaying slowly. “Mine beats for you, too. Right now, we're dancing to the music in our hearts as they take turns beating for one another.”

  Holly kissed Charlie softly on the lips. “Let's go back inside.”

  “Are you getting cold?” asked Charlie.

  “No, you're beautiful. You take my breath away and there's still a few hours until dawn,” answered Holly with a grin. She was looking at Charlie with bedroom eyes.

  Charlie grinned and ran back inside the house squealing, jumping in the window, and pulling a pillow and her blanket with her. She tossed them on the bed and snuggled underneath, waiting for Holly to join her. “Are you sure you aren't sleepy?”

  “Do I look sleepy?” asked Holly as she began to undress once again. The bedroom lights were off, but Charlie could see Holly's naked body in the moonlight. They began kissing once again and exploring every inch of one another's bodies. Charlie's body quivered and yearned for Holly's touch. They lost themselves in one another and although they wanted the time to stand still, it had seemed as though the time passed quickly; they made love until the early morning hours.

  Chapter Nine

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” said Holly cheerfully as the sunshine filled the room.

  “Don't you ever sleep?” asked Charlie groggily.

  Holly laughed. “I suffer from insomnia most days. But I do have nights when I crash real hard. I take pills to help me sleep.”

  “That explains why you have five jobs and are always on the go,” said Charlie, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

  “I have two jobs and school, but I don't think of my insomnia as a hindrance. It helps me get things done. When I absolutely need to sleep, I take my medications. It's all good. Imagine the productive world that we'd have if everyone had insomnia.”

  Charlie shook her head and chuckled. “No way. Imagine all the grumpy people, car accidents, and poor customer service we'd all have if everyone was sleepless. As it is now, there's enough of those people already in the world. It would be ten times worse if no one was getting any rest.”

  Holly giggled, then changed the subject. “I dug through some of the kitchen boxes and found some pans. I even had time to get some groceries while you slept. I made you breakfast. Two eggs, two sausage links, an English muffin and orange juice.”

  Charlie sat up in bed, yawned, then stretched. “That sounds delicious. You didn't get any sleep at all?”

  “Maybe two hours at the most. But I feel fine. I promise.”

  Charlie put on her clothes and headed into the kitchen. “It smells good.”

  Holly grinned when she saw Charlie fully dressed. “You could have put my t-shirt back on.”

  Charlie smiled. “Oh no. Remember where that got us?”

  Holly laughed. “Oh right. That only got us right back into bed. Did you lose your phone by any chance?”

  Charlie checked the pockets of her jeans. “I guess I must have. Why? Did you find it?”

  “No, but I heard some music playing over there by some boxes. I tried looking for the sound, but when I walked over towards the boxes, the music stopped.”

  Charlie sat down at the table and began eating like she hadn't eaten in days. “What song was it?”

  “It went something like this, 'Wild thang! You make my heart sing! You make everythang, groovy! Wild thang, I think I love you.”

  Charlie had just taken a sip of orange juice and nearly spit it out from laughing at Holly's singing. “That's Kathy's ring tone. She must've been worried about me and was trying to get a hold of me. I'll call her back after I shower.”

  “Do you have to go home?” asked Holly.

  Charlie laughed. “No, she's not my mother. It's not like I have a curfew. I just didn't tell her I was going to be out all night. She's probably concerned because I never came home. Jealous much?”

  “I'm not jealous,” said Holly, serving herself some orange juice.

  “Uh huh,” replied Charlie with a grin. “I can help you unpack. I didn't have any homework.”

  “Okay, but I can't see you later. I have to work this afternoon and tonight. But at least we can spend the day together.”

  “Thanks for the breakfast. I was really hungry,” remarked Charlie, taking her last sip of orange juice.

  Holly giggled. “Well, I'm not surprised. You really worked up an appetite.”

  “Oh, I did? On my own? I think I had a little help with working up that appetite. Did you eat?”

  Holly smiled. “Yes, I ate earlier. I'm sorry I didn't eat with you.”

  “Eh, it's okay. Let me hop in the shower and I'll join you in unpacking,” said Charlie. She rose from the table and set her dirty dishes in the sink. Holly began to open the rest of the kitchen boxes. When Charlie returned clean and refreshed, she crept up behind Holly and hugged her. “I wish you were off tonight.”

  Holly leaned back into Charlie and grinned. “I wish I was, too. It's a good night for karaoke. I think they have drink specials on Sundays.”

  “I meant--so we could spend another night together,” replied Charlie frowning.

  Holly laughed. “I know. I'm just messing with you.”

  “No you weren't. I can see the karaoke sparkle in your eyes. You really meant it!” Charlie began tickling Holly while Holly screamed and squealed.

  “No, no, no!” laughed Holly, trying to push Charlie's hands away.

  “This is payback for tickling me the other day when I almost spilled my hot cocoa,” said Charlie, tickling her some more.

  Holly broke free from Charlie's grasp and ran towards the living room. She plopped down on the sofa expecting Charlie to tickle her again, but Charlie stood in the doorway with a devilish grin. She leaned up against the door frame, then ran her right hand over her right breast.

  The color flushed from Holly's cheeks. “Come over here,” she whispered, watching Charlie unbutton her blouse. “At this rate, we're never going to get anything unpacked,” said Holly out of breath.

  Charlie walked over to where Holly was seated and straddled her. “Are you complaining?” asked Charlie playfully.

  “No, definitely not complaining,” said Holly as she ran her hands over Charlie's legs, hips, and inside her blouse.

  “I'm giving you what you would have gotten tonight if you didn't have to work,” whispered Charlie.

  “I think I'm coming down with a cough and a cold and might have to call in sick,” said Holly playfully. She began to pretend she was coughing.

  “Oh no,” said Charlie jokingly. “I guess if you're sick, then that means no sex.” She started to stand and move away from Holly who pulled her back down.

  “No, I'm suddenly feeling much better,” remarked Holly with a wide grin. She ran her hand into Charlie's wet hair and pulled her head down to kiss her. Charlie then arched her back and leaned into Holly, who buried her face into her breasts. She kissed, nibbled, teased, and licked Charlie's breasts hungrily. Charlie closed her eyes and moaned. Holly then carried her and leaned her back into the sofa, removing her jeans. She kissed her way down her taut stomach and down past her belly button, spreading Charlie's legs as she moved her body downward. She teased and swirled her tongue on Charlie's clit, slowly and tenderly. Charlie moaned with pleasure and grasped at the sides of the sofa cushions. She pushed her hips into Holly's face while Holly reached her hands up to caress her rock hard nipples. She reached orgasm almost immediately, but then groaned, “Don't stop.”

  Charlie's breathing was labored and her moaning became louder as Holly simultaneously licked her clitoris and slid two of her fingers inside her, massaging her g-spot. Holly slid her fingers in and out of her as Charlie thrust her hips towards her, wanting to feel all of her. Charlie was overwhelmed with emotion and the tingling sensation of orgasm filled her body once again. Her entire body relaxed all at once and she lay on the sofa exhausted. Holly moved her body upward lying on top
of Charlie and looking down at her with a satisfied grin.

  “What's with the big smile?” asked Charlie out of breath.

  “Am I smiling?” asked Holly playfully. “Because you're smiling, too.”

  “I don't know what it is about you, but I feel like I can't get enough of you.”

  “I feel that way about you, too, Charlie. I'm falling in love with you,” whispered Holly as she ran her fingers through Charlie's wet hair.

  Charlie smiled. “I'm falling for you, too,” she whispered softly. She kissed Holly softly on the lips and they fell asleep together on the sofa. For the first time in years, Holly slept more than two hours in a row.

  When they woke up several hours later, Holly was running around the house like a chicken with it's head cut off. “Baby, wake up,” she pleaded.

  “What's going on?” asked Charlie sitting up.

  “I'm trying to get ready for work. I have my scrubs in my gym bag, and I'm trying to find my shoes. I found one dress shoe in my box marked shoes! Have you seen my other dress shoe? I can't wear sneakers at the office,” said Holly in a panic.

  “Maybe it fell out of the box. Let me go out and look in my car,” offered Charlie. She got dressed and grabbed her keys. She ran out to her car and was glad to see the missing shoe on the floor mat behind the passenger seat. She ran back in the house. “I found it. Little sucker was hiding.”

  “Thank you! Oh my gosh. I was looking everywhere! Let's go, babe. I swear I will call you or text you and we will for sure get together this coming weekend.” Holly hurriedly put on her shoe and rushed out the door with Charlie sleepily heading towards her car. Holly ran up to her and kissed her. “I love you,” she said as she planted one on her, then ran to her truck and jumped in.

  Charlie grinned. It had all happened so fast that she hadn't had a chance to say it back. “I love you, too,” she whispered to herself as she watched Holly turn on the ignition and speed away down the street.

  Chapter Ten

  “Where the heck have you been?” asked Kathy worried as Charlie strolled into their apartment.

  “I'm sorry. I meant to call you and let you know I was still at Holly's, but we got busy with...” Charlie's voice was cut off as Kathy interrupted.

  “Oh, I bet you two got busy all right,” teased Kathy.

  Charlie grinned. “Stop it. We were busy moving and unpacking and we lost track of time, that's all. We woke up early this morning to finish unpacking and have breakfast and we fell asleep on the sofa. That's the truth. I swear.”

  “Uh huh. The complete truth. Your blouse buttoned in the wrong places wouldn't lie,” said Kathy jokingly.

  Charlie looked down at her blouse and one side of it was longer than the other since the buttons were off by one place. “What? Ah, hell. Stupid buttons had to give me away,” remarked Charlie as she began to unbutton them and fix them.

  Kathy laughed. “I figured you were still at Holly's place. I called you a couple of times, but it went straight to voice mail.”

  “My phone must have died. Holly said she heard it ring once, but when she couldn't find it in the mess of boxes, she stopped looking for it.”

  Kathy walked into the kitchen and took out a half gallon of milk. “Well, I'm glad to see you're safe and sound. Do you want some cereal? I was just about to eat some for dinner.”

  “No, I'm not really in the mood for cereal. I think I'll make spaghetti,” said Charlie, heading for the pantry to locate the pasta sauce and spaghetti.

  “Ooh spaghetti? On second thought, I don't want cereal. I'll have what you're having,” beamed Kathy, opening the refrigerator and putting the milk back.

  Charlie rolled her eyes. “I thought that might change your mind.”

  “What?”

  “If I cooked something, I figured you wouldn't want cereal,” remarked Charlie grinning.

  “A warm meal is better than a cold bowl of cereal any day of the week,” replied Kathy.

  As Charlie filled her stock pot with water, she turned to face Kathy who was still in the kitchen. “I think I want to tell her I play football.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that? You're not afraid she's going to freak out?” asked Kathy.

  “No, I think I'm ready. We actually told each other 'I love you' already and I think it's about time she knows that I play football. Wouldn't it be nice to have some support or a new fan at the game? I can just picture her waving a #1 foam finger and wearing my jersey sitting next to my mom and being all chummy.”

  Kathy laughed. “Don't expect too much, okay? You know how things usually go when you talk to women about sports. They get a glazed look over their eyes.”

  “That's true, but she seems to like football. She might worry that I'll get hurt, but my guess is that she will be supportive,” remarked Charlie as she set her stock pot on the stove and turned on the flame.

  “I guess there's only one way to find out,” said Kathy, opening up the jar of pasta sauce. “Here you go, see, I helped make supper.” She handed the open jar to Charlie who put it in a saucepan and placed it on the stove, turning on another flame.

  “We're out of ground beef and it looks like we're out of frozen meatballs, too, so it looks like just pasta and sauce tonight,” said Charlie as she turned up the flame and stirred the sauce.

  Kathy frowned and threw her hands in the air. “Aw, what? What meat head ate all of the meatballs?”

  As the water began to come to a rolling boil, Charlie tossed in the package of spaghetti. “You did. Last week when you decided that you didn't want spaghetti, you wanted meatball sandwiches.”

  Kathy laughed. “Oh yeah! Those were a stroke of genius. They were delicious.”

  “Genius? I thought you said a meat head ate the meatballs,” said Charlie laughing. “I guess you only said that because you thought I was the one that ate them?”

  Kathy sat on a stool and watched as Charlie cooked. “Well, no. That was before I remembered that I was the one that ate them.”

  Charlie laughed again. “But we're the only two people that live here, genius. If you didn't remember that you ate them and you said a meat head ate them, then you assumed that it was me.”

  Kathy laughed. “Okay, you got me. I thought it was you.”

  ****

  The rest of the week passed by quickly. Charlie would practically jump for joy if she received an email, a message, or a brief phone call from Holly. She would drop everything she was doing to write back or hear her voice for a few minutes. She kept trying to decide the best way to tell Holly that she played football, but she didn't know how. She finally decided that she would make sure to tell her the next time they saw each other. She wanted to see Holly's expression and reaction to know for sure what she thought about it.

  Before she knew it, it was Friday and she and the team were loading up on buses. “Let's not forget anything, ladies,” said Coach Wiggins. “Kathy? You got your stinky socks?”

  Kathy laughed. “They're my lucky socks, Coach. And I already got 'em on.”

  “I'm sure you're roommate Charlie is thanking her lucky stars that you don't have lucky drawers,” joked Coach Wiggins.

  “Everyone needs to be suited up before you get on the bus,” commanded Coach Hawkins. “That means you, too, Mindy.”

  “Yes sir, Coach. I mean, ma'am,” said Mindy. She was still walking around the locker room in her jeans, but she was in her pads and jersey from the waist up.

  “Why don't you go help Mindy out of her jeans,” said Charlie teasing Kathy.

  “Oh, don't dare me because I will. She's the cute blonde I had my eye on all season.”

  “I know. You told me. You were so heartbroken to find out she's married.” Charlie laughed. “I could've told you she was. I met her husband the day she joined the team. Nice guy.”

  “This might be a bad time to bring this up, Charlie, but earlier today I heard some of the women talking about a woman named Holly. I didn't think much of it, but they mentioned her name was Lars
on. Holly Larson. Isn't that your girl's name?”

  Charlie was surprised. “What? What were they saying?”

  “I wanted to tell you before we got on the bus, that's why I'm still here. They were talking about how great she is and how fast and how she scores all the time. I'm telling you as a friend to be careful. She sounds like a real Romeo. If she's a heart breaker, I just don't want you to get hurt.”

  “That doesn't sound like Holly at all,” said Charlie perturbed.

  “Yeah? How many times have you had sex since you met her?” asked Kathy.

  “That's none of your business,” replied Charlie curtly.

  Kathy made sure to tighten her shoes and double-knot them, then she grabbed her helmet and headed out toward the buses. “Just don't wear your heart on your sleeve with this one, okay?”

  Charlie worried that she was in over her head already. She had long since fallen in love with Holly Larson.

  Chapter Eleven

  The game against the Dallas, Texas Tornadoes was phenomenal. Charlie tried not to think about Holly Larson. She was entirely focused on the task at hand. She channeled all of her energy, her worries, and her thoughts into winning, and she and Kathy were on fire. They defeated the Tornadoes by a margin of twenty-one points. It was the highest lead that her team had ever had in any one game. The support from the fans was spectacular. She couldn't believe how many fans drove to Dallas to watch them play. She was glad that her team hadn't disappointed them. The band was still celebrating and playing music as they boarded their buses. They hadn't even bothered to put away their instruments on the band trailer. The band buses were booming with sounds from the horn line and drum line. Even the woodwinds had their windows open and were playing to their heart's content. The bus that held the drums and percussion began to sway from the dancing and music. Charlie could see the bus drivers and band instructors running onto the buses to try to get them to settle down.