ARE YOU THE ONE?: A Lesbian Romance Read online

  “I believe you can do that on your own,” Meg said, allowing Brielle to lead her away from Grace.

  “You haven’t heard the last of this,” Grace called as they walked away.

  “I’m sorry, Bri. We never should have come to this restaurant,” Meg sighed loudly.

  Brielle flagged a cab and she gave the driver Meg’s address. As they pulled up, she said to the driver, “I’ll be just a minute.”

  Meg handed the cab driver a bill through the window and said, “No need to wait. Thank you.” Meg took Brielle’s hand and pulled her out of the cab. “I can tell we need to have a further conversation.”

  They rode the elevator without speaking. Meg opened the door to her apartment and stepped aside so Brielle could enter. A small light on in the living room gave just a glow to the entrance. As Meg closed and locked the door, she reached for Brielle and pinned her against the door. Her lips were on Brielle’s mouth in an instant and her hands took the coat off her shoulders and it slipped to the floor. “Do we need to talk right now?” Meg asked as she looked at Brielle’s face.

  Brielle just shook her head no in shock.

  Meg reached for her hand and led her to the bedroom. Clothes were quickly removed and Meg pulled back the covers and pulled Brielle onto the bed. “I’ve missed you,” Meg whispered into the darkness before her mouth captured Brielle’s again.

  They made love in a quick frenzy. Their bodies were grinding against each other until release left them both panting.

  “Wow,” Brielle whispered into the darkness.

  “Was I too aggressive?” Meg asked burying her face into Brielle’s shoulder.

  “Wow,” Brielle repeated. “That was the best conversation I’ve had with you.” She chuckled. “Do you need to talk to me some more?”

  “I’m going to give you a good talking to,” Meg said as she climbed onto Brielle’s body.

  Brielle opened her eyes slowly. She saw the first rays of light peeking through the blinds. Meg’s arm was around her waist and her body pressed into her back. Brielle stretched and Meg groaned and moved closer. A smile appeared on her face as she thought about the night they had spent together. Meg had gotten her upstairs so they could talk, but most of the words spoken were just in the throes of passion. Brielle slipped from Meg’s embrace and went into the bathroom. She had just gotten into the shower when Meg appeared behind the shower curtain smiling at her.

  “Can I join you?” Meg asked smiling.

  Brielle pulled open the curtain wider and nodded.

  As they sat eating breakfast, Meg asked, “Do you want to talk about last night?”

  “What part of last night?” Brielle asked grinning. Meg rolled her eyes. “I know you want to talk about Grace.”

  Meg took Brielle’s hand. “Honey, please don’t listen to her about you destroying my career. If I wanted to stay, I would have.”

  “But she was harassing you,” Brielle argued.

  “I could have contacted her boss and told him what was going on.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Brielle asked, not understanding.

  “Because Steve called and I wanted to try this with him. I’m not making as much money.” Meg watched Brielle’s face flinch. “It’s not important because I’ve got stock options with Steve’s company. If this business takes off, I stand to make a lot more money than I was making at the bank.”

  “Are you sure, Meg? I mean you gave up a great job.” Brielle looked away.

  “Look at me, Bri.” Meg smiled. “I’m very sure. Okay?”

  “If you say so.”

  “I say so.”

  “Do you think we should continue this conversation in the bedroom?” Meg asked with a wink.

  Brielle stood up. “I like when we talk in there,” she said reaching for Meg’s hand.

  Sunday morning, Brielle walked out of the bathroom. “I’ve got to home and change clothes.”

  “You’re going to have to leave fresh clothes here for our weekend marathons,” Meg said with a laugh.

  “How about I go home and change and meet you somewhere for lunch?” Brielle asked as she dressed.

  “How about I pick up something and meet you at your apartment?” Meg asked wiggling her eyebrows.

  “I like how you think,” Brielle said lightly kissing Meg’s lips.

  Brielle had just left the apartment when Meg’s cell phone rang.

  “Hi, Barb.”

  “Meg. I just heard from someone that you left the bank.”

  “I did, Barb. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to give you a call and let you know.”

  “What happened?” Barbara asked anxiously.

  Meg debated whether she should tell Barbara the entire story or just tell her she needed a changed.

  “Well, it’s a long story,” Meg admitted.

  “So give me the synopsis.”

  Meg went through her problems with Grace and some of what had happened with Brielle.

  “So you left because of my cousin?” Barbara asked.

  “Barbara, it’s not Brielle’s fault. I got a call from a good friend of mine about this job and I couldn’t turn it down. It was my decision.”

  “Meg, you were in line to be president of that department someday. You can’t tell me your friend’s start-up business is a better opportunity,” Barbara insisted.

  “You never know, Barb.”

  “I can’t believe you left your job. This isn’t the first time rumors have surrounded Grace. You could have gone to Tom about her.”

  “Barbara, even if this hadn’t happened, I might have chosen to go work for my friend anyway.”

  “I don’t believe that Meg, and I don’t think you really believe that.”

  “Let’s get together for lunch next week and we’ll talk some more.” Meg said trying to get off the phone.

  “Call me and we’ll make arrangements. Good bye, Meg.”

  “Good bye, Barb.”

  Barbara no sooner hung up with Meg and she called Brielle. “Elle, what have you done?”

  “Hello, Barbara. It’s nice to hear from you, too.”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. You know why I’m calling.”

  Yes, Brielle knew. “What do you want me to say?”

  “How could you do that to Meg? She was on the fast track to becoming president of the department and she meets you and her career goes down the drain.”

  “I didn’t tell her to leave her job.”

  “You didn’t have to,” Barbara sighed. “Elle, you put Meg in a position that left her with no choice.”

  “I know, Barb. I’ve apologized to Meg. I feel terrible, but she keeps telling me that there’s nothing to be sorry about.” Now Brielle sighed.

  “I hope you love Meg as much as she obviously loves you,” Barbara sighed again.

  Brielle’s eyes opened wide and her hand went to her heart. “She told you she loves me?”

  “Why else would she do something so destructive to her career?” Barbara took a breath. “Do you love her?”

  “Yes,” Brielle said softly. “She makes me so happy, Barbara. I can’t imagine my life without her. I thought I was going to lose her when this whole Grace thing happened.” Brielle began to choke up. “I couldn’t believe that she forgave me.”

  “You better treat that woman well, Elle.”

  “I will, Barb.”

  “Well, there’s nothing I can do about her job now, but I’m going to see what I can do about Grace,” Barbara insisted.

  “Don’t do anything, Barb. We saw her Friday night and she got in Meg’s face, very upset that her boss was asking why Meg quit.”

  “Don’t worry, Elle, I won’t be obvious.”

  “I’ll trust you, Barb. Don’t let me down.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Love you, Elle.”

  “Love you too, Barb.”

  Meg arrived an hour later.

  “Hi. I brought roast beef sandwiches,” Meg said as she breezed in the door.

  As soon as Meg stepp
ed into the apartment, Brielle wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tightly.

  “Wow, what’s going on? I wasn’t gone that long,” Meg said with a laugh.

  She looked at Brielle’s face and knew Barbara had called her, too. “She called you, too?”

  Brielle nodded, “Yeah.”

  “Honey, whatever she said, don’t listen to her.” Meg put her hands on Brielle’s waist. “Listen to what I tell you. Okay?”

  “It’s hard not to listen to her when she told me everything that I’ve been thinking about.”

  “Why can’t anyone believe that working for Steve might be a better choice?” Meg asked stepping away from Brielle.

  “Because most people change jobs to move up, not down,” Brielle said softly.

  “How does anyone know this is down? Someone could come along and buy Steve’s company for a lot of money and I could walk away with more money than I would ever see in my lifetime.”

  “That might never happen, Meg.”

  “I know that, but I was willing to give this job all that I have and I’m going to do just that.” Meg was now getting tired of having to justify her decision to everyone. She sat down on the couch. “Please, Bri, give me some credit that I know what I’m doing.”

  Brielle took a seat next to her and took Meg’s hand. “I’m very proud of you for what you did. I’m not sure I would have had the guts to do what you did.”

  Meg smiled. “Okay, enough of that. Let’s have lunch.” She pulled Brielle off the couch.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Meg was too busy with work to see Brielle all week and Friday night was not going to be any better.

  “Hi, honey,” Brielle said when Meg picked up her cell phone.

  “Hi.”

  “Are you available tonight?” Brielle asked waiting anxiously.

  “Sorry, but no. I have a lot of work to do and I’ll be here pretty late.”

  “Okay,”

  Meg could hear the disappointment in Brielle’s voice. “We can spend the weekend together.”

  “Sure.”

  “What are you doing tonight?” Meg asked.

  “It’s my friend Joan’s birthday today and we’re all going out to dinner. Maybe you can meet us later this evening?” Brielle asked hopefully. She wanted to introduce Meg to her friends.

  “I’m not sure, honey. How many of you are going out?”

  “There will be five of us. I wanted to introduce you to my friends.”

  “I’m so sorry, Bri. Next time I promise I’ll be there. You go have a good time with your friends.”

  “Okay. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.” Brielle hung up the phone disappointed.

  Brielle walked into the restaurant wearing a grey pair of slacks and a teal button down silk blouse. She took off her coat and walked toward the table with her friends.

  “Joan, Happy Birthday,” Brielle said kissing her cheek. “Hey, guys,” she said to the rest of the table.

  “Where’s your girlfriend?”

  “Working,” Brielle said forcing a smile.

  “Don’t tell us, you broke up with her already?” Joan’s wife Andrea asked.

  “No, she’s really working. Meg just started a new job and there’s a lot for her to do.”

  Peg and Amy looked at one another wondering if Brielle was telling the truth.

  “So, we were just saying that after dinner we want to go over to the club for a while,” Peg said with a smile.

  “You guys go ahead and I’ll leave after dinner.”

  “No, you have to come with us,” Joan was insisting. “It will be no fun if you’re not there.”

  “Can we at least go to Legends instead of Knights?” Brielle asked leaning toward the women.

  “Why? We always have fun at Knights. It’s a better group of people there.” Amy argued. “Besides, you’ve picked up the best looking women there in the past.”

  “I’m not looking for someone. I have someone that I care very deeply for,” Brielle said softly.

  “But she’s not here,” Andrea said with a wink.

  The rest of the dinner, Brielle worried about going to the club later. Should she call Meg to see if she wanted to come with them or go and hope Grace never showed her face?

  As they walked into the club, her worst fears were realized. Standing by the bar was Grace Grimes.

  “Let’s go sit at a table near the back,” Brielle said ushering her friends toward an open table.

  Once they had their drinks, the rest of the table got up to dance. Brielle sat there hoping Grace wouldn’t notice her. She was lost in thought when she heard, “Where’s your girlfriend?”

  Brielle turned and stared at Grace. “What business is it of yours?”

  Grace laughed. “Dance with me.”

  Brielle smirked at the audacity of this woman. “Go away, Grace. I do not want to dance or even speak with you.”

  Grace leaned over toward Brielle. “We can have so much fun if you just loosen up bit.”

  Brielle’s jaw dropped. “Grace, I already asked you to leave me alone.” She watched someone approach out of the corner of her eye. She turned and smiled. “Hi, Sarah. How’s it going?”

  “Good, Brielle. Would you like to dance?” Sarah asked smiling.

  “I would love to,” Brielle said standing and took Sarah’s hand. Once they were on the dance floor, Brielle leaned in and said, “Thank you.”

  “I could tell she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.” Sarah laughed freely.

  “I tried to get my friends to go somewhere else, but there was no convincing them.” Brielle leaned into Sarah’s ear. “We don’t have to tell Meg about this, do we?”

  “No. I don’t think she would be too happy about this whole situation,” Sarah whispered into Brielle’s ear.

  Saturday morning, Meg ran down to the grocery store. Being at work late all week, she had nothing in the house. She wanted to ask Brielle to dinner tonight and have her spend the night. Meg had just rounded the corner of an aisle when her cart ran into another one.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Meg said and then looked at the woman. Oh, shit her mind screamed seeing her last date standing in front of her. She had gone out with Alison twice and both dates had been disastrous. Not only for her, but for Alison too since she never heard from her again after the second date.

  “Meg, right?” Alison asked wearing a smile. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  Not long enough. “It has.” Meg moved her cart hoping to move around Alison’s cart.

  “Are you seeing anyone?”

  Meg sighed. “Yes.”

  Alison smiled. “Anyone I know?”

  “I don’t think so.” Meg pushed her cart, but Alison reached out and stopped her escape.

  “I heard you were seeing Brielle Sanders for a while.” Alison chuckled. “No one can hold that tiger down, can they?”

  Meg’s mouth dropped open in shock, but continued, “I’m still seeing her.”

  “You are?” Alison grinned. “I guess you’re willing to share.”

  “What do you mean?” Meg growled.

  “I saw her last night with some young blond at a club.” Alison now began to smirk.

  Meg wanted to wipe that smirk off Alison’s face. “She went out with some friends for a birthday while I had to work.”

  “I saw her with her friends. First, Grace Grimes tried to get Brielle to dance with her and then this young blond swoops in and drags her out on the dance floor. They left together around eleven.” Alison looked at Meg. “We should go out sometime.”

  When hell freezes over. “I don’t think so. I’ve got to finish my shopping,” Meg said finally getting away from her. As Meg got to the next aisle she stopped and put her hand to her chest. The pain of what Alison had told her caused her to feel faint. Meg was breathing hard and she held onto the cart for support. Once she felt she could move, Meg left her cart in the aisle and left the store. Back in her apartment, she picked up her briefcase and wen
t back to her office. She didn’t want to be home if Brielle stopped by unannounced.

  Her phone rang at one o’clock. Looking at the screen she saw Brielle’s name. She took her call. “Hello.”

  “Hi,” Brielle said cheerfully and waited for Meg to speak. When she didn’t, she asked, “Do you want to get together today?”

  “Sorry, I’m at work and plan on being here most of the day.”

  “What about tonight?” Brielle asked losing the cheer in her voice.

  “I’m going to be tired by the time I leave here and won’t be good company.”

  “Okay, how about tomorrow?” Brielle wasn’t giving up.

  “I’m going to work from home tomorrow.”

  Brielle could tell whatever she was going to suggest, nothing was going to change Meg’s mind. “I guess I’ll call you next week.”

  “Good bye, Brielle.” Meg disconnected the call.

  Brielle stood there with the phone in her hand wondering what the hell had happened.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Meg avoided Brielle’s calls Monday and Tuesday. She sent her a text Tuesday night saying she was working late all week.

  Wednesday, Brielle called her office. “Hi, Sarah. It’s Brielle.”

  “Hey, Brielle. How are you?” Sarah asked smiling.

  “I’m not sure. Your boss has turned into a workaholic.”

  “She has?” Sarah questioned.

  “Yeah, she worked all day Saturday and brought work home with her Sunday. She also said she was working late all week.” Brielle let out a deep sigh, but Sarah remained quiet. “Sarah, are you there?”

  “I’m here.”

  “Sarah, you didn’t tell Meg about Friday night, did you?” Brielle asked hanging her head.

  “No, Brielle. I didn’t.”

  “So Meg’s just avoiding me?”

  “Do you want me to see if she’ll take your call?”

  “Please,” Brielle said softly.

  Sarah came back on the line a few minutes later. “Sorry, Brielle. Meg’s tied up.”

  “I understand, Sarah. Thanks for trying.” Brielle took a breath. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

  Sarah walked into Meg’s office after she hung up with Brielle. “Hi,” she said poking her head inside.