by Karis Walsh
“What I have in mind ought to take care of both,” Kira said. She lowered her head and kissed her way along the edge of Abby’s bra, dipping her tongue in the hollow between her breasts. When she heard Abby’s soft gasp, she put her hands on Abby’s hips and pushed her back until she bumped into the desk. She leaned into Abby and kissed her hard on her mouth, fumbling to get Abby’s shirt and bra off her body and onto the floor. She was drowning—in Abby’s love, in her generosity, in the beauty of their future together. She moaned against Abby’s lips and kissed her with more passion than she’d ever believed she’d be capable of feeling.
Abby scooted back until she was sitting on the edge of the desk. She broke away from Kira’s kisses just long enough to pull her T-shirt over her head. She’d made love to Kira in plenty of ways since they’d been together. Fast and hot, or slow and erotic. She’d never felt Kira’s urgency like this before. She’d never been so completely comprehended before. Kira had absorbed her, taken her in and examined her. And she accepted and loved the Abby she knew so well.
Abby braced her hands behind her on the desk and arched her back when Kira moved from her mouth, achingly along her breastbone. She took one of Abby’s nipples in her mouth and held it in place with her teeth while her tongue skimmed across, over and over until Abby was unable to remain still. She tangled one hand in Kira’s hair and grasped the curved side of the desk with her other. She felt so wet she worried she’d slide right off the polished oak.
Abby closed her eyes tightly as memories from this room threatened to distance her from Kira and the wonderful things she was doing with her mouth. She struggled to stay afloat, to keep from sinking into the past. She’d packed up the physical reminders of her Hargrove pain, but would she always carry the guilt in her heart? She had wanted to prove her love for Kira by stripping this room of its power over her, and she knew Kira understood the importance of the gesture, maybe more than Abby herself, but was she—
“Where are you?” Kira whispered in her ear. “Where did you go?”
Quiet questions. Kira loved her. Wanted her. It was up to Abby to decide. She’d seen her path as inevitable, but freedom was only a choice away. “I’m here, with you,” Abby said. Her sentence ended with a moan as Kira unzipped her pants and tugged them over Abby’s hips.
Abby gasped as Kira licked her ear before whispering in it. Hot breath on damp skin sent a shiver of goose bumps over Abby’s exposed skin. “Look at me,” Kira insisted.
Abby slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see ghosts in the room. But there was only Kira. A green room, pictures of plants, books. Kira. Touching her. Sliding deep into her wetness and releasing the last of Abby’s bonds.
Kira held Abby against her chest as she shuddered from her orgasm. Kira had felt her slipping away, back to the familiar world of self-protective barriers and endless atonement, but in a single moment she had changed. She’d turned away from her past and come back to Kira.
She yelped in surprise when Abby spun her around and deposited her on the desk.
“My turn to christen,” Abby said with her wicked grin. Kira dropped her head back when Abby kissed her throat, opening herself, heart and soul, to the woman she loved.
About the Author
Karis Walsh is the author of the Rainbow Award–winning romances Harmony and Sea Glass Inn, as well as a romantic intrigue series about a mounted police unit that begins with Mounting Danger. A Pacific Northwest native, she recently relocated herself and her goats to Texas, where she lives with her partner and their four-legged kids. When she isn’t writing, she’s playing with her animals, cooking, reading, playing the violin or viola, or hiking through the state park.
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
Making a Comeback by Julie Blair. Music and love take center stage when jazz pianist Liz Randall tries to make a comeback with the help of her reclusive, blind neighbor, Jac Winters. (978-1-62639-357-8)
Soul Unique by Gun Brooke. Self-proclaimed cynic Greer Landon falls for Hayden Rowe’s paintings and the young woman shortly after, but will Hayden, who lives with Asperger syndrome, trust her and reciprocate her feelings? (978-1-62639-358-5)
The Price of Honor by Radclyffe. Honor and duty are not always black and white—and when self-styled patriots take up arms against the government, the price of honor may be a life. (978-1-62639-359-2)
Mounting Evidence by Karis Walsh. Lieutenant Abigail Hargrove and her mounted police unit need to solve a murder and protect wetland biologist Kira Lovell during the Washington State Fair. (978-1-62639-343-1)
Threads of the Heart by Jeannie Levig. Maggie and Addison Rae-McInnis share a love and a life, but are the threads that bind them together strong enough to withstand Addison’s restlessness and the seductive Victoria Fontaine? (978-1-62639-410-0)
Sheltered Love by MJ Williamz. Boone Fairway and Grey Dawson—two women touched by abuse—overcome their pasts to find happiness in each other. (978-1-62639-362-2)
Searching for Celia by Elizabeth Ridley. As American spy novelist Dayle Salvesen investigates the mysterious disappearance of her ex-lover, Celia, in London, she begins questioning how well she knew Celia—and how well she knows herself. (978-1-62639-356-1).
Hardwired by C.P. Rowlands. Award-winning teacher Clary Stone and Leefe Ellis, manager of the homeless shelter for small children, stand together in a part of Clary’s hometown that she never knew existed. (978-1-62639-351-6)
The Muse by Meghan O’Brien. Erotica author Kate McMannis struggles with writer’s block until a gorgeous muse entices her into a world of fantasy sex and inadvertent romance. (978-1-62639-223-6)
No Good Reason by Cari Hunter. A violent kidnapping in a Peak District village pushes Detective Sanne Jensen and lifelong friend Dr. Meg Fielding closer, just as it threatens to tear everything apart. (978-1-62639-352-3)
Romance by the Book by Jo Victor. If Cam didn’t keep disrupting her life, maybe Alex could uncover the secret of a century-old love story, and solve the greatest mystery of all—her own heart. (978-1-62639-353-0)
Death’s Doorway by Crin Claxton. Helping the dead can be deadly: Tony may be listening to the dead, but she needs to learn to listen to the living. (978-1-62639-354-7)
The 45th Parallel by Lisa Girolami. Burying her mother isn’t the worst thing that can happen to Val Montague when she returns to the woodsy but peculiar town of Hemlock, Oregon. (978-1-62639-342-4)
A Royal Romance by Jenny Frame. In a country where class still divides, can love topple the last social taboo and allow Queen Georgina and Beatrice Elliot, a working-class girl, their happy ever after? (978-1-62639-360-8)
Bouncing by Jaime Maddox. Basketball coach Alex Dalton has been bouncing from woman to woman because no one ever held her interest, until she meets her new assistant, Britain Dodge. (978-1-62639-344-8)
Same Time Next Week by Emily Smith. A chance encounter between Alex Harris and the beautiful Michelle Masters leads to a whirlwind friendship and causes Alex to question everything she’s ever known—including her own marriage. (978-1-62639-345-5)
All Things Rise by Missouri Vaun. Cole rescues a striking pilot who crash-lands near her family’s farm, setting in motion a chain of events that will forever alter the course of her life. (978-1-62639-346-2)