She scooted closer and started to kiss any part she could reach, while slowly and deliberately slipping her fingers in and out and in and out … just a few inches … just the way Jamie liked it.
Jamie’s breathing became more rapid and her nipples grew taut and firm. Ryan swirled her fingers around her opening, then turned her hand and massaged the roof of her vagina, tenderly but firmly pressing against the spongy tissue.
Without warning, Jamie’s head turned and she slowly blinked her eyes open. Reaching between her legs she found Ryan’s hand, then jerked and sought her lover out in the dark. “Good God,” she said, then began to laugh. “I was dreaming about being in the hospital after I fell, and the doctor started fucking me! I was so confused because I loved the way it felt, but I knew it was wrong to let him do it.”
Ryan wrinkled her nose and grinned sheepishly. “Just me, baby. Do you like it?”
“Come here, you nut. Of course I like it. Now kiss me and keep doing what you’re doing!”
Ryan moved up and wrapped an arm around Jamie’s shoulders, pulling her close to kiss her. As soon as her tongue entered her mouth she resumed the slow pistoning of her fingers and Jamie stayed right with her, picking up the rhythm immediately. “Ooo … this is good,” she moaned. “So, so good.”
Ryan kissed her again, probing her mouth while her fingers probed her slick channel. “You’re so fantastically hot,” she murmured.
“I’ve been hot for you all day long. All … day.” She raised her knees and started to thrust, meeting Ryan’s hand hard enough to make a soft slapping sound. “Touch my clit, baby. Softly … softly.”
Ryan rushed to meet her need, grazing over the engorged flesh with her thumb. Once … twice … and Jamie’s flesh started to contract, squeezing Ryan’s fingers in waves while her head roughly shook back and forth, not a sound coming from her parted lips.
Finally, she sighed heavily and her body began to relax. Seeking Ryan’s lips she kissed her again and again, while holding her hand in place. As soon as she could catch her breath she sucked Ryan’s bottom lip between her teeth and gave it a gentle bite. “Again,” she said, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “Do it all again.”
Jamie opened her eyes when the first light of dawn hit the bed. She reached out and found Ryan’s warm body, then grasped her alarm clock and shut it off. Scooting across the bed, she cuddled up behind Ryan, kissed between her shoulder blades and fell back to sleep.
At around 8:30 Jamie opened one eye and looked at her clock. “Shit! Baby, you’ve gotta get up!”
Ryan sat up like she’d been pulled by the nose. “What? What?”
“It’s 8:30! You’ve gotta be at therapy in a half hour.”
“What happened?” She jumped out of bed, dashed into the bathroom, and started running the water.
Jamie walked into the room and gave her a sheepish smile. “I was so tired when I woke up, that I turned off the alarm. I thought I’d just sleep for a little while.”
“That’ll teach me to sneak up on you in the middle of the night,” Ryan said, frowning slightly while she started to brush her teeth.
Jamie approached her from the back and hugged her tightly. “Don’t be grouchy. I’m very happy you snuck up on me. And you seemed pretty happy about it a couple of hours ago.”
“I was.” Ryan raised an eyebrow and asked drolly, “Didn’t you hear me squealing with delight?”
“It’s my fault you’re late, so I’ll drive you to therapy.”
Whining slightly, Ryan said, “Then I’ve gotta take the bus back. I hate that.”
“I’ll go get coffee and then come back and pick you up. It’s the least I can do.” She kissed all across Ryan’s bare shoulders. “I owe you for giving me such a nice, nice evening.”
“It was really morning,” Ryan said, finally smiling. “About three o’clock.”
“Any time … any where—I’m your girl.”
Ryan finished brushing and turned, holding Jamie in her arms. “I can drive myself. I’ll park in one of the garages by the office. I know you don’t like to drive my car.”
“Don’t be silly. I can drive it, I just prefer my own.” Jamie went into their room and put the previous day’s clothing back on. “Now don’t argue with me. Paying for parking is pure punishment for you. I’ll play chauffer.”
“Deal. And if you shake a leg, we might be able to get me a cup of coffee before my session. That’d be sweet.”
“Anything for you.” Jamie dashed across the room and hugged her again. “I loved the way you woke me up. Really loved it.”
“I did too. Very much. And seeing the look on your face when you woke up and felt me inside you, nearly made me swoon.” She tapped the tip of Jamie’s nose. “I think we’ll be doing that again.”
“Don’t promise if you don’t mean it,” Jamie said, patting Ryan’s bare butt. “Now get dressed!”
When they got home, Ryan went to her room to start working. She had an appointment to talk to Professor Berkowitz about her project, and she wanted to make sure she had everything in order. Jamie had class in an hour, and she spent her available time working up the nerve to call her mother. Finally it was time to call or put it off, so she steeled her resolve and dialed the number. To her dismay, Catherine answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hello, dear.”
Jamie couldn’t read anything from the brief greeting, so she dove right in. “I’m calling to apologize for the way I behaved on Sunday. I don’t know what got into me, but I was out of line.”
“I assumed you weren’t feeling up to par, honey. Don’t give it another thought.”
“I’m fine, Mom. I have no excuse. Your life is yours to live as you choose. I shouldn’t have tried to pry.”
“Really, dear, it’s fine. I’d forgotten about it.”
Jamie was quite sure that wasn’t true, but she forced herself to accept the statement at face value. “Okay. We’ll just move on.”
“Oh, honey, don’t sound so dramatic. It was a minor tiff, and I told you how I felt at the time. Let’s drop it.”
“Okay. If you’re sure you’re not upset.”
“Honey, believe me. I wasn’t upset at the time. I think it’s good for you and for us for you to express your feelings.”
Jamie raked her lower lip against her teeth. She desperately wanted to say what she was thinking—that she wished her mother had been angry. That might have allowed them to have a real argument. And a real argument might have compelled her mother to tell her the truth about Giacomo. But it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. Just to make conversation she asked, “Uhm … did you have fun with Maeve yesterday?”
“Of course. I always enjoy being with Maeve. But we have our doubts about The Ritz for your reception.”
Jamie didn’t mention that Maeve had called Ryan as soon as she’d gotten home the previous day, and that the fact that Catherine hadn’t done the same had been a good indication that she had not forgotten their fight. “What was the problem?”
“Oh, no problem. But it felt too, “too,” if you know what I mean. I can’t imagine you two wanting a very formal reception, and the space doesn’t lend itself to anything less.”
“We don’t … or at least I don’t want it too casual, either. I mean, I want it to be a special place. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me, Mom.”
“I know it is, Jamie. I don’t think there’s a woman in the world who doesn’t want a special way to commemorate the day she pledges to love someone for the rest of her life.” Seemingly without thinking, she added, “Even though forever doesn’t last nearly that long for many of us.”
“Wow.” Jamie was at a loss for more than that.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry! That was so insensitive of me! I’m just … I’m a little jaded about marriage right now. But I should never let my feelings about my own failure carry over to you.”
“Uhm … are you sure you want to help with this, Mom? I don’t
want you to feel obligated.”
Catherine sounded like she was on the verge of crying. “Yes, I definitely want to help. I’m not jaded about your and Ryan’s commitment. I truly believe you two are ready to take these vows.”
“I’ve never heard you say anything so … negative about marriage. Are you feeling that down?”
“No, I’m fine. Really. I started talking, and thought about my own wedding, and my mouth starting moving before my brain caught up.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. I’ve forgotten about our little spat, and I hope you can forget about my faux pas.”
“I’m good at denial,” Jamie said. “That’s why this is the second wedding I’m planning, and I’m only twenty-two.”
That afternoon, Ryan sat on a chair in Professor Berkowitz’ office, with Vijay sitting on the windowsill in the small room. The professor had been going over Ryan’s notes, graphs, and spreadsheets for over an hour. She asked the occasional question, but mostly she concentrated, her dark eyes roaming from one stack of papers to another to check a number or a footnote. Ryan, full of nervous energy, was itching to move, but she didn’t want to disturb her instructor. It was clear that Professor Berkowitz was devoting her full attention to thinking the theory through, and Ryan didn’t want to take more of her time than she had already. She silently tapped her feet in sets of ten while watching the professor’s face for the smallest sign of a question.
After another thirty minutes, Ryan was chewing on the inside of her cheek. She jumped when Professor Berkowitz said, “This looks perfect. I can’t find a flaw in your methods or your application. The theory should work.” She looked at Ryan with narrowed eyes. “Why doesn’t it?”
“Damned if I know.” Ryan stood and started pacing. “If the theory’s right, the stock market should have peaked over two months ago. My partner and I played a game where we had imaginary portfolios. I decided to sell our tech stocks weeks ago. And I missed another two percent increase in the portfolio.” She stopped and frowned. “I’m stumped.”
“If I had money in the stock market, I’d sell based on this paper. But there must be some factors you can’t account for using math alone. That will probably keep this from being published.” She looked at Ryan and shook her head. “I guess every market analyst would be a billionaire if numbers alone could predict the market.”
“I guess.” Ryan looked down and said, “My father agrees with my theory and he didn’t look at any numbers.”
The professor looked at her, head cocked, so Ryan continued. “He said no one’s making anything or building anything. The market’s going crazy based on the belief that technology will revolutionize everything. But no Internet company has turned a profit. Not one!”
“I know. But the market doesn’t behave rationally. If it did, a bunch of twenty-year-olds wouldn’t be riding around in limos drinking champagne.”
“And buying houses in my family’s neighborhood, pricing normal people out,” Ryan grumbled.
“Let me spend some more time looking at this, Ryan. I don’t imagine I’ll find anything wrong, given how much time you and Vijay have spent, but I’ll give it a try. Do you mind if I have a couple more grad students look at it?”
“Only if there’s not a mistake,” Vijay said, smiling despite his disappointment.
Later that day, Ryan spied her rooting section moments after she emerged from the locker room at the softball field. “Hey, Heather,” she called to her teammate, “we’ve got extra groupies today.”
Heather took a look and waved at Jamie, Mia, Jennie, and Ashley. “Not bad for a practice,” Heather said.
“Let’s go say hi.” The two women jogged across the field, reaching their fans in a few of their long strides. “Here to get dates, girls?”
“No thanks,” Ashley said, wrinkling her nose. “Your coach isn’t my type.”
“I’ll take one,” Jamie said. “Give me a kiss so I can see if you’re worth hanging out for.”
Ryan climbed the bleachers and kissed her rather chastely. “Not my best effort,” Ryan whispered. “Don’t wanna scare the children.”
“How did your meeting go?”
“Eh.” Ryan shrugged. “Okay, I guess. My professor thinks the paper’s solid, but it hasn’t proven accurate. I guess I wasted my time.”
“You’ll get credit, won’t you?” Jamie’s eyes were comically wide.
“Sure. It’s a theory. They don’t have to work; you just have to show that you did the work properly. It wasn’t my theory, anyway. I was just trying to apply it to this situation. I’d like to publish it just to stop other people from working as hard as I did to prove it.”
“But you can’t?”
“Nah. No one will publish a failed theory by an undergrad. When I get time, I’ll post my work to all of the newsgroups I know of. Word might travel that way.”
“Well, I’m proud of you. And I know you’ll get an ‘A.’”
Ryan chuckled. “I think that’s a safe bet. I could have taken six classes in the time I spent on this project. Professor Berkowitz was impressed. She said she’d sell her stock if she had any.”
“I’m gonna make some changes in my portfolio. I think we should talk to Mom about hers, too.”
“Ryan!” Heather called. “Coach is making fun of you.”
Ryan turned around and saw that Coach Roberts had turned his back to her and had wrapped his arms around himself—acting like he was being hugged passionately. “Gotta go,” she said, kissing Jamie quickly.
“That guy’s funny,” Mia said, watching Ryan and Heather run away.
“Yeah. He’s a good guy. Just the kind of guy Ryan likes. No nonsense, but he has a sense of humor.”
“Sounds like her,” Mia said.
“Hey, Jamie?” Jennie said.
“Yeah?”
“Are you gonna stay for a while? Ashley was gonna help drill me for a math test, but I don’t wanna leave if you’re not gonna be here long.”
“We’re staying. Go sit someplace quiet and get your work done. Then it won’t be on your mind.”
“It’s not on my mind,” she said, grinning. “Honest!”
“Let’s go,” Ashley said, tugging on her shirt. “The sooner we start, the sooner we finish.”
Mia watched them move over and down a few rows. “She acts like she’s your kid.”
“She kinda is. We’re the only family she has that really cares about her. Ryan and I and my mom are in charge of her education. Although Ashley and Heather have been doing most of the grunt work. They’re both tutoring her—a lot.”
“Does she really need it?”
“Yeah. She made it through eighth grade, but she didn’t learn a heck of a lot. Her mom didn’t supervise her and she skipped a lot of classes, but she’s doing well now. She’s really a bright kid.”
“She’s sweet, too,” Mia said, looking over at Jennie. “Reminds me of myself at her age.”
“Yours isn’t the first name that comes to mind when I think of Jennie,” Jamie teased. “She’s had a tough life so far, but she’s still remarkably innocent.”
Mia sniffed. “Oh. Well, then I change my mind.”
“You seemed so worldly when I first met you. We were just a year younger than Jen, you know.”
“Hard to believe.” She shook her head. “It feels like it was three lifetimes ago.”
Bumping her with her shoulder, Jamie said, “Are you down today?”
“Nah. Just thinking about my Jordy. I hope she’s taking care of herself.”
“I think she can do it. She’s been on her own a lot longer than she’s been with you. I’m sure she’s out of practice, but it’ll come back to her.”
Mia smiled. “I guess you’re right. I worry about her too much.”
“It’s … different when you’re really in love, isn’t it?”
Dropping her head into her hands, Mia groaned. “I had no idea! Now I know why my mother just smiled at me when I said I was des
perately in love with one guy or another. I was way too selfish to love anyone when I was in high school. I didn’t realize that love was more about giving than getting.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m still amazed that my mom didn’t try to talk me out of getting engaged to Jack. She had to see that it was a mistake. I gave him nothing. Nothing!”
Putting her arm around Jamie, Mia hugged her. “Did you ask her opinion at the time?”
Laughing, Jamie said, “Good point. I’m sure she had the correct impression that I didn’t want advice. That’s one thing about my mom—she’s always treated me like an adult … even when I wasn’t one.”
“Hey, do you think we could merge your mom and mine? We could get a relatively involved mother who only gave advice when it was really needed!”
“That would be kinda cool. But I want the new creature to get your mom’s cooking skills.”
Mia extended her hand and Jamie shook it. “Deal. But she gets your mom’s money.”
“Deal,” Jamie agreed, laughing.
They were idly watching the players go through their usual practice routine and Mia said, “What’s up with Ryan not playing? I don’t know much about softball, but she looks awfully good.”
Jamie smiled and watched her lover fielding sharply-hit ground balls at first base. “She is. But her coach is a very loyal guy. Her friend Jackie plays first and has been a starter since she was a freshman. She hits as well as Ryan does, but Ryan’s a better fielder. And Ryan’s arm is better, too. But I think the coach feels a real sense of loyalty to Jackie, and doesn’t want to bench her for a newcomer.” She shrugged. “I’m very proud of Ryan for not making an issue of it. She’d be much better in left field than the girl who’s out there now, but I think Coach Roberts wants to give the girl some confidence. Half of the team is graduating, and he’s gotta get the freshmen some playing time.”
“I guess it’s not easy to make everybody happy, but I’d put Ryan in just because of how cute she looks when she bats.”
Jamie giggled and slapped Mia playfully on the leg. “She does have a cute ass, doesn’t she?”
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