Gun Brooke: Course of Action

"To us."

Sipping her wine, Annelie looked at the contented expression on Carolyn's face. She'd never seen her look this relaxed. Carolyn had changed her routine and now swam for half an hour every morning before heading to the studio. It seemed to lessen the unavoidable stress and pressure of playing Maddox.

"Carolyn, have I told you today how beautiful you are, inside and out?" Annelie smiled at her surprised look.

"Well, no, not today."

"Then let me tell you. I have a secret. When I wake up in the morning, I spend a few minutes just looking at your face and any part of you that's visible, absorbing how beautiful you are. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize this is true—you're here with me."

Carolyn's face softened, and she dropped her actor's mask completely as she put her glass on the floor. "You do?"

"Yes. If you're afraid of somehow losing me, then I'm just as afraid, if not more, of finding you gone one day. I know, it's an irrational fear—but it's there. I've gone from worshipping you for the work you do to loving you for the woman you are. You know I was nervous about us in the beginning. I was afraid you'd realize you weren't ready to be with a woman, with me, after all. I don't think like that any more, but in my darkest hours, the fear can reemerge."

Carolyn took a chocolate-covered strawberry and offered one to Annelie. "You're all I could ever want. If you watch me in the morning, I watch you during the day when you're not paying attention. I look at how you move, how your ponytail snuggles against your neck, and how you hold on to your left wrist with your right hand behind your back when you're nervous. I love how you eat with a knife and fork the

European way, and it excites me how your breasts move underneath your shirt when you're not wearing a bra. Most of all…" Carolyn leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Annelie's lips. "I love how I'm allowed to touch you, hug you, and make love to you."

"You do?" Annelie whispered. "I had no idea. I find you so extraordinary, so fascinating, and so divinely beautiful."

"No, you are." Carolyn smiled and sipped her wine. "You're exquisite. There's no better word to describe you."

Annelie felt a blush creep up her neck and color her cheeks. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

Carolyn waited, but when the words caught in Annelie's throat she leaned forward and kissed her. "Yes?"

"We decided you'd stay here with me during the filming, and I'd like to know how you think it's working out." It wasn't at all what she meant to say, but she couldn't think straight.

"I've loved every second of it. And you?" Carolyn gazed at her over the rim of her wineglass.

"I don't want to think about how it would feel when…" Annelie's voice faded and she cleared her throat. "I don't want to think about waking up and you not being here, darling. Do you think you could…I mean, can you see yourself…" Furious with herself for sounding completely lost, Annelie jumped when Carolyn took the glass from her fiddling fingers and placed it on the floor with her own.

"Are you asking me to stay on after the filming? To move in permanently?"

"You don't have to answer right away. Just think about it and—"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Annelie, I don't want to be away from you. I don't want to go back to my lonely apartment when you and I can be together, sharing our days, waking up and falling asleep in each other's arms. I never want to leave."

Suddenly Annelie lunged forward, threw her arms around Carolyn's neck, and buried her face in Carolyn's hair. As she inhaled the familiar scent of musk and sandalwood, she closed her eyes and felt her heart rate slow down.

"Do you know how amazing you are?" Carolyn murmured, her hands moving in soothing circles over Annelie's back. "You can drive me crazy with one look, one touch, and at the same time you evoke all these protective feelings in me. I love holding you, just like this, and yet I adore it when you take control and let me surrender to you." She softly kissed Annelie's cheek. "I love you."

Tipping her head back, Annelie looked up into Carolyn's eyes, surprised to see the usual streaks of gray drowned out by the clear blue. "Kiss me."

Lowering her head, Carolyn obliged, deepening the kiss as they clung to each other.

"I love you too," Annelie whispered. "I adore you."

As they shed their clothes into a growing pile, the fire warmed their naked flesh. Looking at Carolyn's body, watching the flames cast flickering shadows on her lover's pale skin, Annelie knew she would never grow tired of this sight.

"Mine to touch," she whispered, never averting her eyes.

"Yours to do with as you please."

"Then let me love you."

"Always."

The End

About the Author

Gun Brookecombines her lifelong love for science fiction and romance novels by writing both genres—always with romance at center stage. She resides in the Swedish countryside with her very patient family in a village displaying remnants from the Stone Age and Viking era.

Having first written fan fiction, Gun caught Bold Strokes Books' attention when she entered an online writer's challenge, and the international second edition of Course of Action is the happy result. Creating character-driven stories about relationships, whether set in the future or contemporary times, now keeps this Swede occupied fulltime.

Putting her fascination with the latest technology to good use, she keeps in touch with friends around the world through the Internet and maintains her own Web site, http://www.gbrooke-fiction.com. She has also been known to create Web sites for other people on occasion.

When not working on her next book, Gun loves movies, reading, cooking/eating/talking, and creating computer graphics. She also enjoys traveling and meeting new people, whom she stores in her evergrowing gallery of characters for future stories.

Look for her next release from Bold Strokes Books, Supreme Constellations: The Protector of the Realm , in December 2005.

Other Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

Course of Actionby Gun Brooke. Actress Carolyn Black desperately wants the starring role in an upcoming film produced by Annelie Peterson, a wealthy publisher with a mysterious past. How far is Carolyn prepared to go for the dream part of a lifetime? And just how far will Annelie bend her principles in the name of desire? (1-933110-22-8)

Justice Servedby Radclyffe. The hunt for an informant in the ranks draws Lieutenant Rebecca Frye, her lover Dr. Catherine Rawlings, and Officer Dellon Mitchell into a deadly game of hide-and-seek with an underworld kingpin who traffics in human souls. (1-933110-15-5)

Rangers at Roadsendby Jane Fletcher. After nine years in the Rangers, dealing with thugs and wild predators, Sergeant Chip Coppelli has learned to spot trouble coming, and that is exactly what she sees in her new recruit, Katryn Nagata. But even so, Chip was not expecting murder. The Celaeno series. (1-933110-28-7)

Distant Shores, Silent Thunderby Radclyffe. Ex-lovers, would-be lovers, and old rivals find their paths unwillingly entwined when Drs. KT O'Bannon and Tory King—and the women who love them—are forced to examine the boundaries of love, friendship, and the ties that transcend time. (1-933110-08-2)

Hunter's Pursuitby Kim Baldwin. A raging blizzard, a remote mountain hideaway, and more than one killer for hire set a scene for disaster—or desire—when reluctant assassin Katarzyna Demetrious rescues a stranger and unwittingly exposes her heart. (1-933110-09-0)

The Walls of Westernfortby Jane Fletcher. All Temple Guard Natasha Ionadis wants is to serve the Goddess, and she volunteers eagerly for a dangerous mission to infiltrate a band of rebels. But once she is away from the temple, the issues are no longer so simple, especially in light of her attraction to one of the rebels. Is it too late to work out what she really wants from life? (1-933110-24-4)