by Cass Sellars
“Somebody decided to close a post office box in Orlando, Florida.” Jess stared at her and waited. “For whatever reason, probably an attempt to muddy the trail of paper, they closed the box and had everything forwarded to another address that included mail for Blackwood Plumbing.
“We sent a check to Blackwood, but someone forgot to change the address in the system, so it went to that old PO box. Behold…a returned payment with a sticker to say that it could no longer be forwarded to…” She presented an envelope with the telltale yellow sticker from the post office. “Where, you ask? Somewhere in Orlando? Anywhere in Florida? No.”
Jess couldn’t help but grin at the enthusiastic presentation despite the gravity of the information.
“The sticker says that it could no longer be forwarded to post office box 98421 in the great state of California, in the fabulous city of San Francisco. Which of course means that the money never paid any company in Orlando. It came right back here.” She issued a satisfied huff and Jess absorbed what she could.
“But it gave me a thread. So I pulled it. I saw that every single one of these companies has an address in another state. But…every single check IA ever wrote to them was cashed, actually deposited right here.” Skylar pointed at the floor and stood from her chair.
“Now, we know we paid bogus invoices to bogus companies, which benefitted some dirtbag in the city, but how does that help us?”
“We know that someone set up a way for us to pay bills that look legitimate and seem far removed but are actually just a way to funnel money into one place.”
Jess felt the pieces falling somewhat into place. “And since you can’t cash checks made payable to a business, they were forced to have an account in those names close by.”
“Exactly,” Skylar said, tapping the pages enthusiastically.
“That’s a lot of accounts, Sky.”
“Not if you set up one account with a bunch of DBAs.”
“Assuming they even worked for me. I could have just helped them scam me. We might never find out who did this if they covered their trail well enough.” Jess was fuming at the money lost under her watch.
“Not true. These aren’t smart people.”
“So, you’re saying that they’re dumb, and by extension I’m an idiot because I helped them.” She paced angrily.
“No. I’m saying the scheme was fairly clever but we’re smarter. The account is still open at Provincial Trust. I called and checked by pretending to be a payee. What we need now is to find the signers on the account.”
“Not easy, Sky. Financial privacy? Circumstantial evidence and a company willing to be or dumb enough to be paying out a hundred grand to a bogus set of companies? I doubt the police would want to waste police resources on that.”
“Hey! Where is the woman I fell—the woman that innovated an industry, in fact created her own?” Skylar caught herself and spoke quickly to cover. “You got the deal with Jim Shaffer, in case you don’t know. This is a minor setback, not the end to everything you’ve worked for.”
“I’ll recover, I know. I’m just so furious that I let this happen to my father’s company.”
“Stop calling it that. When do you get the credit for making IA what it is now?”
“I never wanted him to see me fail.” Jess felt the blood burn as it rose in her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut at the implications of damage like this to her reputation.
“You haven’t failed, and you know it. We will find this person and make it right. You’ve only had about an hour to deal with this. Give yourself a break.”
Jess noted ruefully that Skylar was one of the people completely unwilling to give her a break. Skylar seemed to be giving her a pass for letting someone fleece her company, yet she wouldn’t allow her a pass or any opportunity to repair what had been between them. Jess wandered out onto the patio and tried to reconcile the two weeks that had changed everything. The way she thought about her business, herself, the feelings she would have to learn to put away for someone who might only ever be her employee. She drained her glass and threw the ice into the bushes below. She heard Skylar walk out and stand next to her, still nursing her own drink.
“Can I ask you something?” She spoke without looking at Skylar, who stood close to her. She thought if she looked into her eyes, she wouldn’t be able to make herself say the words.
“Sure, anything.”
Jess was close enough to touch her.
“Is there any part of you that remembers wanting to be with me?”
Skylar’s every muscle tightened, and she said nothing for a moment, wrestling with the inner turmoil of wanting to hate Jess and wanting to love her. She inhaled deeply. “Yes.” Every molecule inside her body remembered, and she suddenly couldn’t hide behind her anger any longer.
“Is that worth looking for or is it truly gone?” Jess stared over the railing. The lights on the bridge flickered against the night sky.
“I don’t know what you’re saying.” Skylar stalled and tried to recall how it felt to be so angry at Jess. She hoped it would protect her from what she really felt.
“That’s crap, Sky. Yes, you do.” Her temper flared for just a second before she bit her lip.
Skylar watched her rein in her control. “Dammit.” She rubbed the back of her neck and squeezed her eyes shut.
“What?” Jess watched her closely.
Skylar made tiny circles against her skin with her fingertips, a childhood habit born of needing to soothe away tensions and insecurities.
“I don’t want to feel this. I don’t even want to know what this is.” She was angry again, but this time at herself.
Jess stepped closer to her. “Why not?”
Skylar looked up at her in the moonlight, which was forming an erratic halo around her. “Because I’m afraid.” The words must have been formed with someone else’s voice. Skylar would never plan such a revealing declaration.
“I am, too.” Jess looked as if she expected Skylar to walk away from her.
“What do you have to be afraid of?” Skylar nearly scoffed and then stopped herself.
“Of having these feelings for you I can’t control. Of having you walk away from me again. Losing everything my father built because I wasn’t paying attention.” Her eyes were dark and fierce, and Skylar felt locked in their stare.
“We caught it.” She was gentle and consoling now because she cared about Jess, a fact she had to admit to herself.
“No, you did. I was too busy falling in love with you to notice people robbing me blind.”
“No, Jess. Don’t say that. I don’t want to feel this,” she repeated, unable to increase the distance from her. It wouldn’t have mattered since she could actually feel her from five feet away.
“Tell me what ‘this’ is, sweetheart.” She didn’t intend the term, but she didn’t take it back.
“People look at you differently when they know your past.”
“What do you mean? I don’t. Help me understand what you need from me.”
“People like me spend their life flying under the radar just to make it through like everyone else. So you can be like everyone else. And when the spotlight gets shined, you just want to disappear. I don’t want to explain or justify or have to be better just to get by, I just…”
“I get it. And I made that worse. I am so incredibly sorry that I did anything to make you feel that way.”
“You say that now…”
“Because it’s true and I’ll say that always. I am so incredibly sorry for what I did,” Jess repeated and reached out to capture Skylar’s hand between hers.
Skylar fought the hot tears burning down her face before she reclaimed her resolve. “I know you are. I forgive you.”
“Please don’t cry. Please tell me I can fix this.”
“I said I forgive you and I meant it.” Skylar wanted the conversation to be over. She didn’t want to think about what Jess had just said. It was the first time anyone had believably dec
lared that they were in love with her, despite her past relationships. The implications and the inevitable pitfalls were too scary and too dangerous.
“That isn’t enough.” Jess’s words were strong now.
“What is enough for you, Jess? You have everything. I can’t risk this.” Skylar’s desperation sounded like anger.
“Yes, you can take a risk with me. I think you want to.”
“What I want and what I can do are different things, Jess. No one is going to pay my rent if this all goes south. No one is going to stop me from living on the street when I give in and make bad decisions that cost me my ability to make a living.”
“They wouldn’t be bad decisions with me. I like to think it’s fate.”
“Fate? Not a fantasy I can afford. You’re so sure that you can make this better, but you can’t. What if this happens again? You don’t need someone like me, and I have always been just fine alone. I’m better alone.”
“Liar.” Jess was staring at her and didn’t move.
Skylar was shocked and started to step away when Jess held her hand strongly.
“I just want to apologize.” Jess looked into her eyes.
“You already have,” Skylar said quietly when Jess released her hand and skimmed her fingers over the tears now coursing along her cheeks.
Jess’s expression was dark and intense. “No, I mean for kissing you again.”
“Oh.” Skylar fought to remain standing when every emotion she had bottled up crashed through the wall she thought would keep everyone out.
Jess didn’t start with a gentle or tentative kiss. There was too much between them to start over. She melted into her, feeling infinitely grateful when Skylar seemed to forget why she was angry and returned the kiss. Jess remembered why she’d never stopped searching for butterflies as a swarm of them launched through her stomach.
“Please don’t tell me you don’t want this, Sky,” Jess pleaded.
Skylar tilted from her mouth, just enough to speak. “I can’t, Jess.”
Jess stood with Skylar wrapped in her arms, unable to disconnect from her for even a second. Her fingers curled into her hair and clutched the fabric of Skylar’s T-shirt. She felt the past week fall away as she drank in the taste and the smells and the feel of Skylar’s skin and her mouth. Jess held her as if she would melt away like a ghost without the contact. She wouldn’t have believed that an hour had passed or that a lifetime hadn’t.
“Can we go inside?” Skylar asked.
Jess dragged a light hand through Skylar’s hair and smiled at her, happy to be where she thought they would never go again. “I thought you loved my balcony.”
“I do, but I want to apologize.” Skylar stared intently at Jess.
“For what?”
“For saying mean things to you.” A hint of a smile played over Skylar’s mouth.
“You have to do that inside?”
“Not really, but I want to be under you somewhere comfortable.”
Jess’s breath faltered. “Not as much as I want you there.” Jess turned Skylar toward the door and playfully rushed her inside.
Skylar followed her past the tangle of files covering the bar and didn’t think for a second about the work it would take to unravel the mess. She held her hand and knew at that moment she couldn’t live without her, and that was enough for now.
Jess turned to watch Skylar as she walked the short distance into the room. There was nothing subtle about their reconnection. It was a frantic rejoining as Skylar pushed her lips over Jess’s neck and along her jaw. She held Jess’s hands at her sides and made her wait to touch her. The building bank of sexually charged energy systematically dismantled any remaining barriers. There was much to decipher, but not tonight. Skylar was all she wanted.
Jess fought against Skylar’s hold until she broke. “Dammit, Sky. I have to touch you.”
Skylar smiled into the kiss and released her arms. Jess wrapped her tightly and stopped the series of kisses just to breathe.
“Should I wait and apologize afterward for tearing your clothes off without asking?” She barely whispered her words.
“Yeah. You can do it tomorrow. I think we’re going to be kind of busy tonight.” Skylar pulled at the fabric still covering Jess’s torso.
Jess pulled the shirt over Skylar’s head and felt the swim of arousal touch her soul. She feathered her fingers over her skin, sliding the lacy bra away from her shoulders and exposing her breasts. Reality fell away as Jess bowed her head at the sensation of seeing and feeling Skylar once again. Jess arched against her as Skylar captured a hard nipple with her tongue and then her teeth, roughly pulling each into her mouth.
Jess heard Skylar moan as she folded onto the bed with her. Skylar pushed at Jess’s shirt, freeing the fabric from her shoulders. The sensation as their skin finally met threatened to start an inferno. Jess moved Skylar’s skirt over her hips and to the floor as Skylar forced the zipper open on her jeans. Regardless of the mechanics of clothing or bodies, their mouths remained sealed together.
Skylar’s head flooded with endorphins as Jess placed her body over hers. Skylar had imagined it a thousand times, but nothing could have prepared her for the way they fit together or felt together. She thought she would remember every inch of where their flesh connected. Skylar slid her leg up and over Jess’s hip, caressing her thigh and in turn opening her body for Jess, who knew Skylar was her future.
Jess clasped her hand over Skylar’s smooth calf and stopped it from running again over her hypersensitive skin.
“I swear to you, you better mean that because I can’t stop this, Sky.” Jess pressed her mouth over Skylar’s when she didn’t respond.
Skylar finally allowed herself to anticipate the next chapter in their story. She broke free of her mouth long enough to issue a hot edict into Jess’s ear. “Please don’t stop, Jess.”
Jess coursed her tongue down the skin covering Skylar’s curvy body, lingering over her taut, sensitive nipples before finding the apex of her thighs.
Skylar had dreamed of lengthy foreplay followed by hours of languorous teasing and repeated caresses, but her resolve evaporated once again at Jess’s touch.
“I can’t wait for you any longer.” Jess stroked Skylar’s slick center. Her fingers lingered at the place Skylar would never return from unaltered.
Skylar felt Jess’s hand skim across her core and couldn’t fathom wanting anything more from anyone. “I need to feel you.”
Jess slid slowly inside her. Skylar was blinded by the feeling that captivated her, and she believed would bond them forever.
Skylar gasped as she met Jess’s fingers and drove herself more deeply against her. Jess provoked the easy rhythm, finally connecting where they were meant to be. She grasped at Jess’s arm when her tongue stroked over her and multiplied the sensations at her core.
After a symphony of manipulations, Skylar was floating. Jess seemed laser focused on bringing her to a crashing release. She explored every inch of her skin with her fingertips and every centimeter beneath her tongue. Skylar remembered nothing of her past experiences since she was convinced this was the only one that mattered.
Jess sealed her mouth around her center, circling and tapping her tongue against her.
“Jess.” Skylar moaned as the waves multiplied. She arched again at the insistent strokes driving her. She closed her eyes at the sensation, the taste that she needed like air and the sound of the voice she imagined hearing forever.
“Yes, baby. Tell me when.” Jess’s words permitted Skylar to steer her.
“Now. God, now.” Her last word was loud and guttural as the white-hot rush overtook her. Jess held her hips and steadied Skylar’s body against her mouth, refusing to release the connection as the depth of the contractions punished her.
As Skylar tried to steady her pulse, Jess kissed a trail up her body. Skylar trembled and laughed at herself as she burrowed closer into Jess.
“Damn. What aren’t you good at?” Skylar
fought a chill whispering over her skin and allowed herself to be folded against Jess.
Jess chuckled at the glowing postcoital review. “Let’s do everything together and you can let me know.”
“You’re on.” Skylar didn’t question or stumble over the rubble of her past. Instead, she took a few minutes to recover and luxuriate in Jess’s strong embrace, then she slid down, straddling Jess’s thighs and admiring the stunning planes of her body. She trailed her tongue over the path to Jess’s strong thigh and then started again on her other side. She delivered hot breath against her sensitive flesh as she approached the place where she would steer Jess to her surrender.
“This isn’t going to take long, Sky,” Jess warned breathily as if anticipating the feeling of Skylar’s mouth on her. “I almost came just from touching you.”
Skylar was arrested by the genuine affection and desire in her eyes.
“I’ll see about that.” Her cocky retort only briefly masked the all-consuming desire to feel Jess under the press of her lips and the command of her tongue. She feathered a finger over her drenched flesh and felt Jess open for her. She managed and manipulated Jess’s body until Jess begged her to free her from the prison of her own ecstasy.
“Sky, please.” She gripped Skylar’s arm tightly.
“Please what, sweetheart?” Skylar flicked her tongue over Jess’s sensitive skin and listened for the words.
“I need to come. Oh my God, please.”
Skylar felt the flush of arousal overtake her again this time because she could make Jess feel the way she had. She grasped Jess’s thighs and pushed Jess over the edge twice. She relished every sigh and moan of the crash Jess rode for what seemed like an eternity.
Jess grabbed for Skylar and covered Skylar’s body with hers. She breathed heavily into Skylar’s neck and grasped at every inch of her skin that wasn’t touching hers.
“I’m so happy right now, you have no idea,” she said, winded.
“I think I do.” Skylar smiled into Jess’s neck and felt the sensation of owning the moment. Of trusting Jess and the secrets they shared alone, together.
* * *