Taking Risks Read online

  Table of Contents

  Taking Risks

  Book Details

  Take a Chance

  Icy Reception

  About the Author

  Taking Risks

  L.J. HAMLIN

  Take a Chance—In a desperate bid to get the life—and the girl—she's always wanted, Lynn confesses all her secrets to her disapproving parents, hoping desperately that she'll land on her feet.

  Icy Reception—Annabel has no love for ice skating, after a childhood accident left her scared and scarred. But when she finally has to get back on her skates, who better than her crush to ask for help?

  Taking Risks

  By L.J. Hamlin

  Published by Less Than Three Press LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

  Edited by Samantha M. Derr

  Cover designed by Jennifer Gavens

  This book is a work of fiction and all names, characters, places, and incidents are fictional or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

  First Edition December 2018

  Copyright © 2018 by L.J. Hamlin

  Printed in the United States of America

  Digital ISBN 9781684313785

  Print ISBN 9781684314041

  Take a Chance

  Walking into the dinner, her cheek still stinging from her mother's slap, Lynn looks around, hoping she hasn't made the biggest mistake of her life by coming here. Lynn spots a figure in a corner booth: coal black, shaggy-cut bob and a leather jacket. Lynn takes a breath and strides over.

  "Can I sit down?" Lynn asks.

  Carrie glances up and looks surprised, her bright blue eyes rimmed with inky black liner as usual. "Sit. You came." Carrie looks excited, which she doesn't usually in class.

  Lynn sits down opposite Carrie.

  Carrie frowns. "Your face?"

  "I told my parents everything: that I've been going to community college, that I want to be an English teacher, and that I'm not marrying my dad's business partner’s son. And I told them I like girls," Lynn says in a rush.

  Carrie reaches out hesitantly and touches Lynn's cheek. "You got hurt?"

  "My mom slapped me. Dad said I'm cut off. But you were right, Carrie. I couldn't keep pretending. It was killing me. My therapist was so worried about it, but now I have no place to stay, no nothing." Lynn is freaking out a little, well a lot. She's just dropped a bomb in her so-called perfect life, just because a pretty girl wrote her a poem and talked to her over coffee.

  Carrie pushes her drink forward. "Have something to drink, take a breath, and we'll start working this out together."

  Lynn reaches for the soda as told, and when their hands meet in the trade off, Lynn's stomach fizzes like the bubbles in the soda. She has it bad. She's had crushes on women before, but none like this. Carrie seems to be on the edge of her every thought.

  "You work, so you have money. My brothers will go with you to collect your things tomorrow. Anything you bought is yours. And my parents will let you stay with us for dirt-cheap rent," Carrie says like it's that simple, but Lynn likes that about Carrie. She never hesitates. Lynn has been hesitating her whole life till tonight.

  "Thank you. You've been so amazing since I met you. It’s just, do you really like me, or are you just helping me to be nice to the poor loser case?" Lynn asks.

  Carrie takes her hand. "I wish I could say I was just being a good person and helping you out. But you living with us honestly helps me. I want to be with you, and I don't want to hide it."

  Lynn wants to kiss Carrie, but they haven't done anything like that yet, but she wants to take the risk, even if it feels huge. "Can I kiss you?"

  "In public? You sure?" Carrie seems surprised again, like she wasn't sure Lynn was taking the leap with her.

  "I'm scared, but I want my life to start. No more hiding. No more playing it safe. My parents reacted how I thought they would, but my world isn't over. It's just starting." Lynn had been so afraid for so long, but she's done it now. She's outed herself, and she's got Carrie here, ready to help her make things better.

  Carrie smiles. "Go on, then. Kiss me."

  Carrie's words seem almost like a dare, a challenge, one Lynn can't resist. She leans forward and plants a soft kiss on Carrie's waiting lips. No kiss has ever made her feel so nervous or excited. Her stomach flips when Carrie's tongue flicks out over her lower lip.

  Someone clears their throat loudly, and Lynn and Carrie move back at the same time.

  "Want to go somewhere to be alone before you come meet my folks?" Carrie asks with mischief in her eyes.

  Lynn feels excitement spark in her soul like the start of a fire. "Where can we go?"

  "I have my camper van." Carrie has a van for travelling in the summers between school. Lynn has dreamed of going with her, seeing more of the world, and maybe now she can, but right now the world isn't on her mind as much as seeing how Carrie's moans taste.

  "Let's go." Lynn stands, mind made up. What's one more risk after turning her life upside down. Now is the time to be bold.

  Carrie grabs her bag as she stands and then grabs Lynn's hand, and it's not till they make it to the doorway that Lynn realizes it has begun raining in the short time she was inside. They look at each other and both smile and dive out the door into the pouring rain. It's shockingly cold, and Lynn focuses on the warmth of Carrie's hand as she follows Carrie's lead to her van. Carrie fumbles with the keys for only a second before she’s opening up the back and they're both climbing in and closing themselves in.

  Lynn pushes her long hair back. It's soaking wet and heavy, and she can't help but laugh. "This is so unlike me."

  "Is it not like you, or is it not like the you your parents said you had to be?" Carrie asks, and she reaches out and tucks some of the hair Lynn missed behind her ear.

  "Whoa, I feel like that gif of the cat that says mind blown? You're always doing that to me. You’re right. I'm still thinking how they'd react, how they'd tell me to be sensible, grow up, never take risks, but life isn't always supposed to be safe. I don't want that safe life. It's not me." Lynn feels powerful as she speaks the truth finally. Dripping wet, way in the back of a car with Carrie, she feels more at home in her skin than she ever has before.

  Carrie's face breaks out into the biggest smile Lynn has ever seen. "God, I'm proud of you."

  "Me? All I did was take a chance that a pretty goth poet meant it when she said she saw something in me she liked. You live your life so honestly. You do what feels right, always. I know you do." Lynn is in awe of Carrie sometimes, and she takes her hand, needing to feel her, to ground herself.

  "Not always. I doubt myself. You know I'm bipolar. We've talked about it. That still has me questioning my emotions at times, but I'm in a good place, in therapy, in meds, and in trusting myself most of the time. But we're all works in progress. Don't put me on a pedestal." Carrie warns.

  Lynn kisses the small scar on Carrie's knuckle, and she wants to hear the story behind that one day. She wants to hear all of Carrie's stories. "I won't. I know you're not some perfect angel in need of that kind of worship, but I would like to worship parts of you." Lynn blushes at her own words, but she's glad she says them when Carrie laughs.

  "Oh, baby girl, you can worship my body anytime, if you like." Carrie grins.

  "Now?" Lynn asks seriously.

  Carrie looks her dead in the eye. "You sure? I know you must be feeling vulnerable after what happened with your parents. I don't ever want to take advantage of you."

  Lynn let's herself think for a few moments before answering. "I'm not sad. Maybe I'm numb or in shock. I knew their love
for me was conditional, dependent on letting them shape me into who they wanted. And I want you. I've been waiting long enough to do the things I want. I want to experience everything I've been missing."

  "Love should never be conditional. My parents’ isn't for me, and mine isn't for you," Carrie says softly, wiping her eyeliner where the rain has made it run, giving her racoon eyes.

  "You love me?" Lynn is sure she must have heard wrong, but her heart starts beating like a drum anyway.

  Carrie grins kind of shyly. "You didn't guess?"

  "I hoped."

  "Is it too soon for you or—"

  "I love you," Lynn interrupts.

  Carrie's smile is breathtaking and would make the sun ashamed to shine. "Can I kiss you?"

  "Wish you would." Lynn licks her lip, and then Carrie is kissing her. Lynn doesn't quite know how, but she ends up on her back in the van with Carrie on top of her, and the weight of a curvy female body on top of hers feels so right, like something she's been missing while she sat on the outside, pretending to conform to match her family's expectations. Carrie might look like the outsider to most, but she has a loving family. She’s comfortable in her skin. Till Lynn walked out the door of her parents' home, she had been the true outsider, outside of life, but that's over now.

  They explore each other's mouths slowly but heatedly. After a while, Lynn pushes Carrie's heavy jacket off, dumping it to one side. Carrie strokes the tender skin of Lynn's stomach where her shirt has ridden up, and it makes Lynn shiver from more than the cold or the rain.

  "I want to see more of you. Can I?" Carrie asks, toying with the hem of Lynn's blouse.

  Lynn has never done this before, but she wants it so badly she aches. "Only if I get to see you too."

  "Deal." Carrie grins. They sit up a little, and Carrie wrestles off her clingy wet t-shirt and then goes to work on the buttons of Lynn's blouse. It peels off of her skin easily.

  Lynn is so busy drinking in Carrie's body, her lacy black bra, to feel too nervous about her body or her plain white cotton bra. The way Carrie looks at her makes Lynn feel like she's wearing the sexiest lingerie available.

  "Touch me." Lynn isn't sure if she's asking or demanding, but Carrie responds either way. Hands slide over pale, untouched skin, over her breasts, making them ache. Carrie kisses her too, not just Lynn's mouth, but her neck and chest, sucking on skin until marks bloom like roses on her pale skin.

  Lynn let's her own hands wander, and she has never been more turned on in her life. Not even when she's woken too soon from a heated dream has she felt like this, so needy, so ready for more. Lynn's head is dizzy with need, and she decides to take another chance and take Carrie's hand and slide it under her skirt.

  Carrie takes over, sliding higher and pushing aside Lynn's panties, which are wet from more than the rain. Carrie whispers in her ear, asking if she's sure, and Lynn nods. She's never been more sure of anything. Carrie's clever fingers find Lynn's clit and start rubbing gently, and it's like fireworks under her skin.

  "Carrie," Lynn gasps.

  "Like it?"

  "Don't stop."

  "Not planning on it unless you ask me to," Carrie promises.

  Carrie seems to know exactly how to touch Lynn, and before she knows it, it’s as if a great wave is rising in her. Then the wave crashes, sending pleasure rippling through her body. Carrie kisses her through it, only moving to let her get a deep breath and to say how beautiful she looks.

  Lynn is feeling blissed out when guilt pangs. "What about you?"

  "I'll show you what I like next time. I kind of like waiting, the ache. We should get home and dry and get you settled in," Carrie says, kissing her nose, and Lynn can't help smiling.

  They help each other get dressed and then climb into the front of the van. Carrie drives to her parents' home. They stop in the drive, and Lynn starts to feel panic build.

  "I told them about you. They said you could stay with me if things went badly with your parents," Carrie assures, like she's reading Lynn's mind.

  "You sure?" Lynn asks. She needs to be brave. She's faced her parents. That was the hard part. Facing Carrie's parents won't be nearly as hard.

  Carrie smiles. "Very. Come on. I want them to meet you."

  Carrie offers her hand, and Lynn takes it, looking at Carrie's chipped black nail polish and her own perfectly manicured pink nails. They somehow fit, but Lynn thinks she'll try something daring soon, like a bright scarlet on her nails. She's all about taking chances these days.

  "I'm ready."

  Icy Reception

  Sitting nervously, waiting in her favorite coffee shop, Annabel keeps looking up from her phone every time she hears the bell ring to announce the entrance has opened. She's waiting for a friend, one she happens to have the slightest of baby crushes on—and now also one she needs a favour from.

  The bell chimes again and this time when Annabel looks up, she makes eye contact with the brilliant pair of green eyes belonging to Bettie, who smiles brightly and comes over quickly to sit opposite Annabel, her large puffy coat rustling as she sits.

  "So what's up? Your message made it seem like you were worried, not just wanting to catch coffee for fun. Is everything okay?" Bettie looks worried.

  "Everybody's safe. Sorry if I worried you." Annabel and Bettie live in the same small mountain town. Annabel's family live here, and they're both in a knitting group made up of people from the town, and Annabel only now realizes her panicky phone message to Bettie might have sounded like something was wrong with someone they both knew.

  Bettie waves her hand dismissively "I'm fine. Glad no one's hurt, but you seem tense."

  "My best friend from high school announced she's engaged at a party we were at last night, has been for months, and this morning she told me she wants me to be in the wedding," Annabel says gravelly.

  Bettie frowns. "Isn't that good news? Unless you slept with the groom or the bride. Omg, is she the person you've been mooning over that you won't tell the knitting group about?"

  "No!" Annabel makes a disgusted face at the thought of sleeping with either Jane or Greg. She's known them since she was three, long before she knew she was bisexual, and they're like family too her. Sleeping with either of them would be like having sex with a blood relative. And Annabel is not addressing the crush part because the knitting group have noticed that the crush behavior and reluctance to date are all down to Bettie, who has only been in town three months and already found her place.

  "Okay, so what's the drama?" Bettie asks.

  "It's the wedding." Annabel sighs.

  "Can't get the day off work? I'll cover your shift if that's what you need, but you work for your family's business, so surely they'll let you?" Bettie frowns.

  Annabel works as the manager in her family's small designer clothes shop. Everything is handmade, and only a few pieces of the same thing are ever made. One day she'll own the store, so she takes a lot of responsibility and not much time off, but her family would never stop her going to a wedding. If only it were that simple.

  "The wedding is on ice," Annabel says with a forlorn look at her half-finished peppermint tea.

  Bettie looks confused. "Like on one of the frozen lakes? That sounds romantic, but I don't see the problem."

  Bettie works as an ice skating instructor. Of course she doesn't see the problem, but at the same time, it makes her the perfect person to help Annabel.

  "Yes, it's on the biggest frozen lake—beautiful location for a winter wedding. Only problem is I can't skate," Annabel admits, waiting for the laughter that has followed her since her teens.

  "You live in the mountains in Canada and you can't skate? That's odd. Any reason?" Bettie isn't laughing at her, but it's clear she's surprised, but then, most people would be surprised that a twenty two year old in this town can't skate. Bettie's class is all kids and teens.

  Annabel bites her lip. "I had an accident, and I've been too scared to go on the ice ever since. Jane figures I must be over it by now
, and I don't want to tell her I can't do it. And the bridesmaids actually have to skate and do some tricks. Guests get to walk on carpet,"

  "Oh gosh, I'm sorry. Were you hurt? You have a phobia—that's not something you just get over without help in my experience. Have you had therapy?" Bettie looks so worried, not a hint of mocking laughter, and it makes something in Annabel's gut untangle. She's been so worried Bettie would turn out to be a jerk like so many others have.

  "I broke my leg and my arm on the left side. I still get pain in my arm and weakness in my leg, but it's the fear that's kept me from trying again over the years. But Jane is important to me, and this is important to her, so I need to learn," Annabel explains.

  Bettie smiles. "You want me to teach you?"

  "Well, I figured you reach kids, so I'd be at the same level as some of them. I can pay you of course, whatever your usual rate is for a private lesson," Annabel says, sipping her tea even though it's a little cold.

  Bettie waves her words away again. "I can't take your money, we're friends."

  Annabel shakes her head. "I appreciate that, but I need to pay you or trade you something. I wouldn't feel right just taking without giving back,"

  "I could do trade. You're a much better knitter than me. Why don't you reach me, so I can catch up with the group and maybe knit something together? I'd be more comfortable with that," Bettie says cheerfully.

  "Okay, that sounds great. Panic kind of over. Would you like a coffee or anything to drink? I can show you what I'll need to learn," Annabel offers.

  Bettie smiles. "I would love a chai latte if you don't mind."

  "Ooh, that sounds good. I think I'll get one for me too. I'll be right back," Annabel says, standing up.

  "You clearly don't watch horror films. Never say I'll be right back. You'll get killed by an axe murderer," Bettie says with a twinkle in her eye.

  Annabel laughs "I'll keep that in mind, but in Bell's coffee shop, I think I'm safe,"

  "That's what the axe murderer wants you to think," Bettie teases.

  "You're a dork, it's adorable," Annabel turns away before she can blush at her own words, but she hears Bettie giggle, and it makes her chest feel warm.