2. Prescription For Love

Flann stared at the closed door and cursed viciously under her breath. Of all the stupid, asinine moves she’d ever made in her life, jumping on Abby Remy had to be at the top of the list. She never made a move on a woman that she hadn’t planned in advance. She always judged the field, made sure she had a good read on the signals, analyzed the defense—and the offense, for that matter—and mapped her play down to the last detail. She didn’t like complications and had learned early on to recognize when she and her date weren’t working the same game plan. When she’d first discovered girls, she thought everyone was as eager and crazy to explore sex as she was. It didn’t take too many hysterical breakups and broken hearts—fortunately short-term at that age—for her to realize otherwise. By the time Harper had hauled her down to the tree house and lectured her on the right way to go about treating a girl, especially one she wanted to have sex with, she’d pretty much figured it out for herself. She’d gotten herself into a few other snags in college and medical school, mostly from dating more than one girl at a time, and she’d finally given that up too. Now she was strictly a serial dater—usually short-term—and she made sure the game plan was clear from the beginning.

Until tonight. She’d thrown away the playbook where Abby was concerned. She’d just walked up to the plate and started swinging away. Christ. She turned on her heel and stomped down the stairs, nearly bumping into Harper and Presley at the bottom.

“I thought you were headed to be—” Presley began.

“Changed my mind.” Flann swerved around them, avoided the kitchen and her mother, and escaped through the side door at the far end of the hall. Once outside she took a deep breath of morning air. A layer of ozone lingered, biting at her eyes, and her skin instantly misted with sweat. All the same, the sky was clear and promised a brilliant day. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, waiting for her heart rate to come down and her body to lose the razor edge of arousal that had stripped her control and her reason. When she had half a brain back, she strode toward the barn. She’d never be able to sleep, and even if she could, she wasn’t about to go back upstairs and stretch out on a bed with Abby a room away. The state she was in, she’d probably end up scratching at Abby’s door like some pitiful stray, begging to be let in for crumbs.

“Fuck.”

“What’s the matter, Flann?” Margie said, coming around the corner of the barn.

Flann growled. “What the hell are you doing out here?”

Blake appeared behind Margie, his arms full of kittens. Belatedly, Flann noticed Margie had one tucked under her arm.

“I thought I told you not to go in that barn until—”

Glenn stepped into view. “Harper and I checked it out a few minutes ago. That one corner is pretty bad. You all are lucky no one got hurt any worse.” She scratched a tiny kitten head cradled in Blake’s arms. “These guys were raising hell in the hayloft. We put a ladder up against the side to get them out through the hatch. The kids didn’t go inside.”

Flann raked a hand through her hair. “Right. Sorry. How’s it look?”

“It’s salvageable. The roof needs shoring up in the back, about a quarter of the slates are gone or broken and need to be replaced, and we’ll need to put on new siding.” Glenn dropped a hand on Blake’s shoulder. “Luckily, we’ve got a pretty good crew. As soon as Harper says the word, we’ll get going.”

“I’ll talk to her. Maybe next weekend we can get started.”

“Good enough.”

“Glenn,” Flann added with calm she didn’t feel, “I’m going to head over to my place. Can you grab a ride with Abby when she wakes up?”

Glenn shot Flann an appraising look and nodded. “Sure. No problem.”

Flann turned away as the trio continued to the house. Glenn and Abby—perfect match. Perfect. Duty done. Now she could forget all about Abby and the hot, hard press of Abby’s body cleaving to hers or the way Abby tilted her head to deepen the kiss, guiding Flann right where she wanted her.

God, the woman was all flame and sweet temptation. And off-limits.

The barn had taken a beating. The chicken coop they’d built just before the storm hit was miraculously still standing. Sections of roof had blown away but most of the structure remained. Glenn was right. The damage was primarily to the exterior. The barn was worth saving, and they could do it.

“What’s the problem?” Harper said from behind her.

Flann didn’t turn around. “No problem.”

“Didn’t look that way when you were storming down the stairs.”

“Leave it alone, Harp.”

“Something happen with Abby?”

“Nothing happened.” Flann gritted her teeth. “Why don’t you go find your perfect woman and curl up in your perfect house and have perfect sex and leave me the fuck alone?”