Chapter 39

Sara’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink at that question. “Well, it’s a long story. We have a lot to talk about, you and I.” She went quiet for a moment and then in a careful tone, she asked. “Who were your parents, Amanda?” As she asked the question, she leaned in close and took a deep breath, holding it in as if the answer were very important.

Amanda stared at the woman for a moment, thinking how very odd she was even if she was also very nice. “Uh, My parents, my foster parents were Kevin and Martha Monroe. I never knew my birth parents. They left me when I was just a baby. They didn’t want me.” The final words came out with a touch of venom.

Sara blinked and lowered her head, breathing in deeply once again. Her head was nearly in Amanda’s lap.

“Uhhhh. Okay, this is getting a little uncomfortable. If you smell something funny, it isn’t me. I take personal hygiene very serious.” Still, she pressed her thighs together and pulled her knees up tight against her chest, trying to keep the strange woman from trying to sniff any closer to her in that particular area.

Sara sat up straight and for a moment, her mouth just sort of worked silently, then she reached out and tugged Amanda’s shirt down off of her right shoulder.

“He-y!” Amanda shrieked and pulled back, trying to tug her shirt free of the woman’s hands. “Listen, this is getting really uncomfortable. Stop!” She grabbed at her shirt collar with her left hand and gave it a good tug. The fabric made a ripping noise and the other woman let go of it quickly. Amanda hurriedly tugged the deformed material back up over the mark on her neck, trying to hide it.

Cole must have left a huge hickey there. It still hurt and even burned a little. The ruined fabric slid right back down her shoulder and she finally reached up with her hand and simply covered the tell-tale mark with the palm of her hand. Despite her hand being warm, the skin around the hickey was so hot that her palm soothed it far more than she would have expected and she sighed softly, eyes closing for just a few moments before she snapped them back open once more to watch Sara warily. If she didn’t keep an eye on that woman, she might start trying to sniff or poke at other things that Amanda would simply rather not have her poking around and looking at.

Amanda watched Sara’s face suddenly turn the brightest shade of red that she had ever seen a human being’s face turn before. If it got much darker, surely the poor woman might faint from lack of blood in her system. She reached out to touch Sara’s arm lightly, trying to make sure the other woman was alright. “Sara? Are you okay?”

Sara ducked her head and immediately scrambled back on her heels, placed her hands on the floor and ducked her head down low, tilting it to the side and showing her neck. “Please forgive me, Amanda.”

Amanda’s mouth fell open and she stared at the other woman at a loss for words. Sara actually looked afraid of her. The longer Amanda stared, the lower Sara’s head went until it was almost touching the floor.

Without really knowing why, Amanda reached out and touched two fingers to the bared side of Sara’s neck, right where her pulse thrummed in her vein. The moment she did so, Sara’s body relaxed and she lifted her head once more though she kept her eyes leveled somewhere around Amanda’s collar bone.