Brooke covered her mouth and coughed in an effort to conceal her amusement. She put out her hand to Dani. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Where?”
“To dance,” Brooke said.
“Girls don’t dance with girls.”
“Excuse me?” Brooke challenged Dani. “Was it not you that just told me to dance with your mother?”
“Different. You’re married,” Dani replied evenly.
Brooke shook her head and took Dani’s hand. “Rachel and I used to dance together all the time.”
“You guys are weird,” Dani said.
“Yeah? Well, now we’re related so that makes you weird by default.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Dani said.
“What?” Brooke was confused by the statement.
“You said it’s my fault.”
Brooke laughed. “De-fault, Dani. Not the same thing. Oh, never mind. It doesn’t matter. Come on.”
Dani huffed a bit but took Brooke’s hand. “Why do you want to dance with me?”
“Maybe I would just like to celebrate with my daughter,” Brooke said. “Now, that she is my daughter—sort of.”
Dani shrugged and accepted the explanation.
***
“What are they gonna play?” Davey asked his mother.
“Something that makes me think of you….and your sister.”
Davey groaned. “Is it a love song? You should dance with Brooke.”
“Later,” Tess told him.
***
Brooke felt her grin widening when the music started. Of course. She led Dani to where Tess was dancing with a reluctant Davey. She exchanged an affectionate smile with Tess. Brooke moved with Dani a step closer to Tess and Davey. They moved slowly for the first verse.
Tess was surprised when Brooke began belting out the lyrics to the chorus of the song. She felt her heart swell when Brooke looked at the kids and sang to them. Brooke, you really are something.
Davey brightened when Brooke’s voice grew louder as the tempo of the song picked up measurably. Tess laughed when Brooke twirled Dani over to Tess and then took hold of Davey’s hand and twirled him.
“I’ve never seen her so happy,” Brad Campbell told Rebecca.
Rebecca watched as Brooke dipped Tess and then picked up Dani. She let her tears fall freely. “Love does amazing things to people,” she said truthfully.
Brooke’s father put his arm around his ex-wife and pulled her closer. Brooke was singing theatrically. Tess and the twins were laughing. He smiled. She made the right choices. “I’m so proud of her,” he said.
Rebecca took hold of his hand and held it. “Me too.”
Chris Sinclair smiled when he saw Tess laughing on the make-shift dance floor. “She’s an amazing woman,” he said proudly. “I don’t know how we got that lucky.”
Mary watched silently. Brooke had taken Tess into her arms. Dani and Davey were holding hands dancing around them. Davey had moved from looking like he was being tortured to sporting a smile that Mary thought could light up the night sky. She felt a smile tug at her lips when Tess’s hands took hold of Brooke’s face as they continued to sway. She could easily make out her daughter’s words even in the distance. I love you. Mary took her husband’s hand.
He accepted it and continued to enjoy watching his daughter with her family. Be happy, sweetheart. He’s here and this is the best birthday present you could give him. He was startled by his wife’s voice.
“David would have loved this,” she said.
Chris pulled his wife closer. He wiped a tear from his eye. She rarely mentioned the son they had lost. “I was just thinking the same thing,” he said.
“I love you,” Tess told Brooke. Brooke dipped her again in response and Tess let out a spirited laugh.
Brooke brought Tess back up just as the song was winding down. Brooke’s playful smile turned serious. She looked at Tess longingly and swept a falling curl from Tess’s eyes. “I love you too,” she said.
Tess searched Brooke’s eyes. She marveled at the story they told. Joy, love, awe, hope, and desire mingled like clouds in a brewing storm. Tess closed her eyes when Brooke’s lips fell onto hers. So, this is what forever feels like. Tess sent a silent thank you to her older brother. Thanks, David. I promise I will take care of her. She swore she heard him say, “I know you will.”
“You okay?” Brooke asked, not sure what she saw in Tess’s eyes.
Tess looked at Dani and Davey, who were both laughing. “No, love, I am happy,” Tess said. “Happier than I have been in a very long time.”
***
Brooke closed the door to the bedroom of the hotel suite. Her mother and father had stayed with the twins so that she and Tess could get away for the evening. Tess was sitting on the small sofa that sat at the left-hand side of the room. “Tired?”
Tess looked up and lifted a brow. “Why? Are you?” she asked with a smirk.
“Not that tired,” Brooke quipped.
Tess laughed. “I’ll pay you to rub my feet.”
“Really?” Brooke asked. “Pay me, huh? Do I get to decide the terms?”
“If you rub them, you can have anything you want,” Tess winced a bit.
Brooke crossed the room and helped Tess to her feet. “You danced too much.”
“No, I danced too much in two-inch heels.”
“I thought you seemed taller,” Brooke replied.
Tess smacked her lightly. “I wanted to be able to look at you,” Tess said honestly. “Without straining my neck.”
“You are not that short, and I am not that tall.”
“Tall enough,” Tess commented. Brooke had begun to sway them as if they were dancing again and she was humming softly. Tess collapsed into Brooke’s arms and let Brooke support them both. “I didn’t know I married Fred Astaire. I thought I was marrying a shape-shifting scientist. This is a new side to you,” Tess joked.
“Cute. Maybe marriage brings out the romantic in me,” Brooke offered.
“You’ve always been romantic. Ever since we met.”
“Yeah?” Brooke asked. Tess nodded. “I knew what I was doing when I cleaned the puke out of your car, huh?”
“Very romantic, love.”
“I do what I can,” Brooke said. Her eyes found Tess’s and she felt her breath quicken.
Tess took Brooke’s hand and led her to the bed. She laid back and pulled Brooke on top of her. Tess closed her eyes when Brooke kissed her. Her hands traveled over the expanse of Brooke’s back, lovingly, but with an urgency that she could not contain.
Brooke pulled back to look into Tess’s eyes. “Do you have any idea how much I have wanted to hold you all day?”
Tess looked at Brooke adoringly. “Brooke…”
“I missed sleeping with you last night.”
“You have the rest of your life to sleep with me,” Tess said. “Right now, I want you to make love to me.”
Brooke’s heart was thrumming in her chest. She’d heard love described a million ways. She’d heard it compared to the ocean, to a sunrise, to the way a leaf drifts upon the wind. Brooke could think of no reference, no flowery metaphor, not even a sentimental love poem that could ever hope to explain or convey what she felt looking at her wife now. She smiled at Tess.
“What are you thinking?” Tess asked.
Brooke blushed a bit. “That I am about to make love to my wife.”
Tess found the pink tint that colored Brooke’s cheeks endearing. Lust was not its cause. “What are you waiting for?” she teased Brooke.
Brooke accepted Tess’s invitation. She let her fingertips fall over Tess’s collar bone and then traced delicate circles inward. She watched as Tess’s eyes fluttered and closed. Her fingers continued a delicate dance over Tess’s skin until she reached the top button of the white blouse that Tess was wearing. She swiftly released it and continued downward. When Tess’s blouse finally fell open, Brooke wasted no time in easing it off of Tess’s shoulders. Her lips f
ound Tess’s for a momentary kiss—a promise of things to come.
Tess sighed and let her hands wind themselves in Brooke’s hair. Brooke’s lips and tongue were journeying over her throat on a painfully slow descent toward her chest. Brooke’s warm breath caressed her skin, and then as Brooke would move the slightest bit, a small burst of cool air would replace the momentary warmth. Tess had the fleeting thought that if anticipation could kill a person, she would probably be dead already. Brooke’s touch was familiar, but somehow new. It felt to Tess as if Brooke were making love to her for the first time. Brooke’s touch lingered then hovered, and then lingered again as it meandered inch by inch over Tess’s body.
“My God, you are beautiful,” Brooke said.
Tess opened her eyes and looked at Brooke. Brooke was watching her hand as it released the front clasp of Tess’s bra. Tess could not see Brooke’s eyes. She could hear the unevenness in Brooke’s breathing, and she could feel the quivering in Brooke’s legs. She reached down and pulled Brooke up to look at her. “It’s just me, love.”
Brooke let her fingertips trace over Tess’s eyebrows and down her nose until they reached her lips. “I’ve told you before,” Brooke said. “You have no idea what that means. You are everything, Tess.”
Tess smiled. She stroked Brooke’s cheek and kissed her tenderly. “I do know,” she promised. “You are everything to me.”
Brooke captured Tess’s lips in a kiss that was so intense it sent small shock waves through Tess’s core, and a series of pleasant tingles up her spine at the same moment. In an instant, Brooke had pulled Tess to sit and had removed her blouse and bra entirely. Tess gasped when she felt the warm softness of Brooke’s lips surround her nipple. She heard Brooke moan and she closed her eyes.
Brooke was lost to the emotional and sensual storm that had been brewing in her veins all day. She had found herself looking at Tess numerous times throughout the afternoon and evening wanting to take her away and simply hold her. She had every intention of doing that. The way Tess felt against her, soft and inviting, the scent of Tess’s perfume, and the hint of champagne that Brooke could still taste on Tess’s lips made Brooke want to savor every minute she could making of love to Tess.
Tess was beginning to feel dizzy. Brooke’s mouth was moving back and forth, showering Tess’s breasts with attention. Tess was torn between asking Brooke to take her and reversing their positions and taking Brooke. At the moment, Tess doubted she had the strength to take any initiative. She fell back into the pillow and decided to surrender to Brooke completely.
Brooke’s hands wandered lower and addressed the button and zipper of Tess’s jeans. She kissed Tess’s stomach and began removing Tess’s jeans, her lips dropping feathery kisses over Tess’s skin. Brooke’s kisses moved down Tess’s left leg until Brooke managed to free her completely of the jeans and she tossed them to the floor. Gradually, Brooke’s kisses climbed up Tess’s right leg and again over her stomach. Brooke’s hand reached upward and caressed Tess’s chest. She looked up when Tess took hold of her hand and began kissing her fingertips.
Tess lost her breath when her eyes met Brooke’s. Brooke’s eyes reminded her of the sky just before dusk gives way to the deep indigo of night. She needed Brooke now. She needed to feel Brooke against her. Tess sat up and lifted Brooke’s shirt over her head tossing it aside. She moved to her knees to face Brooke and kissed the soft swell of Brooke’s breasts and sighed as she reached back and removed Brooke’s bra. Tess was sure she could never tire of looking at Brooke. It was not simply Brooke’s physical beauty, and Brooke was an incredibly attractive woman. It was so much more. It was the way Brooke carried herself, the way she moved—the way her eyes would close when Tess touched her. Tess looked up and smiled. Brooke’s eyes had already fallen shut under Tess’s tender assault. Tess leaned forward and brushed her lips against Brooke’s tenderly. “Open your eyes, love,” she instructed Brooke, allowing her fingertips to play lightly at the corners of Brooke’s eyes.
Brooke obeyed Tess’s request. Her entire body tingled with desire. Tess was caressing Brooke’s sides, up and down, so faintly that Brooke could barely sense the touch. Brooke tried to breathe. She tried to speak. No sound would come. Tess was searching her eyes wordlessly, telling a story that words would have only clouded. Tess lowered her kiss as her hands deftly addressed Brooke’s jeans and Brooke closed her eyes again. I might die right here.
Tess smirked when she looked up again at the expression on Brooke’s face. It teetered on the edge of desperation. It still surprised Tess, the effect that she could have on Brooke Campbell. She moved Brooke to a position beneath her and straddled Brooke’s hips. She smiled when Brooke finally opened her eyes. “Stay with me,” Tess requested.
Brooke nodded and sucked in a shaky breath. Tess smiled seductively and began moving against Brooke. Brooke struggled to keep her eyes open. She wanted to watch Tess. She wanted to look into Tess’s eyes. The sensations coursing through every fiber of her being were screaming for her to close her eyes and surrender.
Tess watched Brooke’s inner struggle. She traced the outline of Brooke’s lips with her fingertips. Heat rose off of Brooke’s body in waves. Tess continued their sensual dance. She needed to stay with Brooke, to remain connected to Brooke as they climbed and fell. She felt Brooke’s hips rise to meet her in their dance, swaying much as they had on the dance floor, a pleasant warmth spreading through both their bodies. Tess reached for Brooke’s breasts and played gently with her nipples.
Brooke moaned and her eyes closed instinctively.
“Stay with me,” Tess repeated the request. Brooke opened her eyes and bit down on her lower lip. Tess offered her a smile as the pace of her movements increased ever so slightly.
“Tess,” Brooke breathed Tess’s name in desperation. “I need you,” the truth fell from Brooke’s lips. “I need you,” she repeated.
Brooke’s urgent plea overwhelmed Tess. She understood the words for all that they held. Brooke’s admission was not simply about letting go physically. Tess kept her movements as steady as she could manage as she leaned closer to Brooke. “You have me, love,” she promised.
Brooke brushed the back of her hand across Tess’s cheek. She sometimes found it impossible to believe how deeply in love she was with the woman above her. The simplest things that Tess did sometimes brought tears to Brooke’s eyes. It could be something as mundane as watching Tess do laundry. Today had been anything but mundane. Brooke had felt gravity rooting her in place. And, at the same time she had felt as if her spirit were soaring somewhere high above. As Tess had approached her to speak their vows, Brooke had experienced what she now thought was an out of body experience. It had been as if she were looking down on them both. She not only could see Tess, but she could also see them together. It felt to Brooke as if she were being given a rare glance of what her future held, not simply Tess, but all that Tess brought to her life.
“Tess,” Brooke spoke her wife’s name with so much reverence that it stole the air from Tess’s lungs.
“Brooke, I’m right here,” Tess promised. Brooke’s hands grasped Tess’s hips and brought her closer. Tess moaned, feeling tiny ripples begin to travel through her. “Brooke,” she called out to Brooke softly.
Brooke sensed Tess drawing closer to a freefall. More than she desired Tess to take her over the edge, she needed to feel Tess let go, to watch her as she completely submitted to the love they held for one another. Brooke’s hands reached around Tess, finding the small of her back and holding her tenderly. Tess’s hips stilled and Brooke watched in rapt fascination as Tess’s body quaked above her. She held Tess steady.
Tess was not content to fall alone, her hands moved again to Brooke’s breasts, and brushed them over her nipples. Brooke immediately spun into a violent freefall. Her hips rose of their own accord and then fell again.
Tess placed her hand in the middle of Brooke’s chest and steadied her. She recalled Grace’s words earlier that day, “May the wind c
arry them gently into their future together. Like leaves of one tree, they are now two parts of one soul, ever drifting, but always seeking refuge in the comfort of each other’s arms.”
Tess finally collapsed into Brooke’s waiting arms. She had surprised herself with her composure throughout the day. Tess had expected that Brooke would be drying her tears as they spoke their vows. Tess had somehow held her emotions together outwardly. Now, with no prying eyes, in the safety of Brooke’s arms, her emotions broke free like a raging river. She wept in Brooke’s embrace.
“I wondered when you were going to let go,” Brooke told Tess. She stroked Tess’s back and held her protectively. “It’s okay. I know.”
Tess held onto Brooke as if she were a lifeline. It seemed strange. Tess was happier than she had ever been, and she had needed to cry all day. She had laughed. She had smiled. Her tears had waited for this moment. Brooke didn’t need Tess to explain. Brooke would never question what Tess needed. She simply understood. Tess continued to weep as Brooke caressed her back lovingly.
“I know,” Brooke repeated.
“He was there, Brooke,” Tess finally managed to speak.
“I know,” Brooke replied.
Tess pulled herself up slightly to look at Brooke. “I felt him,” Tess said.
Brooke smiled and wiped the tears from Tess’s cheeks. It was no secret to Brooke that Tess still missed her older brother profoundly. In some way, Brooke understood that David was a part of Tess. They were not simply siblings, they had been best friends. Other than the twins, Brooke understood that there was no one in Tess’s life that she loved more than her big brother. She missed him acutely at the most pivotal times in her life. Brooke had been determined that Tess would have her wish and that they would be married on his birthday.
Tess took a deep breath. “I think he brought you to me,” Tess told Brooke.
Brooke smiled. “Then I really should thank him,” she said. She touched the locket that hung around Tess’s neck. “I promise, I will take good care of her,” Brooke said as if he were standing between them.
Handle With Care (Special Delivery Book 3) Page 11