by Radclyffe
“Will you let me undress you?” Gina asked.
Wordlessly, Carrie nodded. She’d left her shoes and socks downstairs on the porch and wasn’t wearing all that much. She laughed a little self-consciously. “God, I should’ve been thinking about something a lot sexier than softball when I got dressed. I guess I’m going to have to leave the seductive bra and panties until the next time.”
“I’ve never seen you when you didn’t look beautiful. No matter what you’re wearing.” Gina kissed Carrie’s throat and swept her hands down to Carrie’s backside, pulling her close so their hips meshed seamlessly, effortlessly. She kissed her again, murmuring, “I think you look so hot in your softball pants, I almost hate to undress you.”
“I certainly hope not.” Carrie nipped at Gina’s lower lip. “Because I want naked. Me. You. So let’s get to it.”
Laughing, Gina hooked her thumbs in the waistband of Carrie’s skintight pants and pushed them down. She caught her breath when her hands skimmed over flesh, and nothing but flesh. Nothing underneath. Her head was suddenly light. She groaned. “I’m out of practice.”
“That’s good,” Carrie whispered, gripping the bottom of her own shirt and tugging it up over her sports bra. “I hope you need lots of practice. Starting now.”
Gina pushed Carrie’s hands away. “Let me.”
Carrie surrendered instantly. Gina’s focus was so intense, her features etched with such hunger, Carrie couldn’t look away. She didn’t even know when she’d gotten naked until Gina bent and brushed her mouth over her breast. The shock of it made her clit tense, somewhere between pleasure and insanity.
Carrie gripped Gina’s shoulders. “Oh my God. I’m so totally strung out I’m going to explode.”
“Whenever you want.” Gina circled Carrie’s nipple with her tongue and sucked lightly, letting her teeth graze the tight peak. Carrie trembled, and Gina smiled against the warm, soft flesh, reveling in the taking. She kept her mouth on Carrie’s breast and clasped her hips, turning her toward the bed and backing her up slowly. Carrie shuddered as Gina guided her down.
“You still have all your clothes on,” Carrie said, her breath tight and urgent.
“In a minute.” Gina covered her, letting her weight down gently as she kissed Carrie’s throat, her mouth, the angle of her jaw.
Carrie gripped Gina’s shoulders so hard she was probably leaving bruises. “I don’t think I have a minute.”
Laughing, Gina pushed herself up on both arms and settled her hips between Carrie’s naked thighs. “You can come whenever you want to, but I’ve got things I want to do.”
Carrie arched, her hair a wild halo of fire on the pillow, her uplifted breasts and softly curved belly an invitation to feast. And Gina intended to feast. She kissed her way down the center of Carrie’s body until she reached the delta between her thighs. Lightly at first, then faster and firmer, she tasted her, taunted her, worked her to the edge with kisses and long slick strokes.
“If you don’t stop, I’m going to come,” Carrie warned, the sheet twisted in her fists.
Gina circled Carrie’s hips, holding her still, sucking her gently at the same time she teased her with the tip of her tongue. Almost instantly Carrie spasmed, hips jerking, and Gina pulled her tight to her mouth and kept her there, shuddering as ripples of release coursed through her rigid legs. When Carrie collapsed with a long moan, Gina finally let her rest. Nuzzling her cheek against Carrie’s thigh, she closed her eyes. Her heart hammered and her whole body quivered. She’d forgotten the exhilaration of complete satisfaction.
Carrie combed her fingers through Gina’s damp hair. She doubted she could move if the house caught fire. “Are you asleep?”
“No,” Gina murmured, her voice low and thick as honey. “I’m in heaven.”
Carrie laughed. “That’s my line, baby.”
Gina lifted her head and rested her chin on Carrie’s thigh, grinning up at her. “I want to do that again.”
“You certainly may,” Carrie said, “but not for a few minutes. I need a little more time to recover.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Gina said. “I’m in no hurry.”
“Is that right?” Carrie thrust her hips and turned at the same time, flipping Gina onto her back. She laughed when Gina gave a surprised yelp.
“Hey,” Gina complained. “That’s some move.”
“Twelve years of junior karate,” Carrie said smugly. “Second degree junior black belt.”
“I’ll remember not to spar with you, then.”
“I might change your mind. Right now, you might not be in a hurry,” Carrie said, “but I am. I want your clothes off. Better yet, get up and stand by the side of the bed so I can watch you strip.”
Gina hesitated. She’d never played in bed this way—never experienced such lighthearted desire that verged on wanting so much it hurt. But this was different than anything before. This was Carrie. This was now. “Whatever you say.”
Carrie stretched out and propped her head on her hand. “That’s more like it.” She swirled a finger in the air. “Shirt first.”
Gina disentangled herself from the sheets and stood up. Carrie was looking right at her from just a foot away. No hiding. She pulled the baseball shirt off over her head, and then the tight tank top she had on underneath it.
“Stop right there.” Carrie swung her legs around and sat up on the side of the bed, her face level with Gina’s abdomen. She spanned Gina’s flanks with her hands, her fingers stroking the muscles in Gina’s sides as she leaned forward and ran her tongue slowly around Gina’s navel.
“Fuck,” Gina gasped, a lightning bolt of arousal slamming into her clit. Her thighs shook as if she’d been running for an hour. She remembered what it felt like to run like that, heart hammering and blood racing. To her complete and utter embarrassment, she whimpered.
Carrie looked up, her smile so satisfied Gina’s clit twitched.
“You like that, don’t you,” Carrie murmured.
“Put your mouth on me again,” Gina rasped.
Carrie’s smile disappeared, and something hot and feral gleamed in her eyes. Her hands dug into Gina’s back and her teeth tugged at the soft skin under Gina’s belly button. Gina panted, bracing herself on Carrie’s shoulders with both hands. Her nipples tightened, and her sex throbbed. She’d never been taken before. As much as she’d been owned, she’d never been claimed.
“I want you to touch me,” Gina said urgently. “Please, Carrie.”
“Get your pants off,” Carrie ordered, sliding back onto the bed and making room for Gina to lie down. When Gina stumbled down beside her, Carrie leaned over to kiss her as she swept her hand over Gina’s breasts, down her belly, and along the length of her thighs.
Gina writhed, wanting her touch everywhere at once, her entire body a live wire. The slightest spark would set her off. “Carrie.”
Just that. Carrie.
Gina moaned.
“I’m going to kiss you,” Carrie said breathlessly, her mouth against Gina’s, “while I make you come the first time.”
Carrie’s mouth was silk, smooth and sensuous, gliding, pressing, clever and seductive. Gina cleaved to her, one hand in Carrie’s hair, the other in the hollow at the base of her spine. Her hips rocked, open and waiting. When Carrie feathered her hand down her abdomen and between her thighs, Gina stiffened, a cry caught strangling in her throat.
Carrie murmured in satisfaction, kissing her breathless, stroking her higher and tighter and winding her up until, with the perfect press of her fingertips, she catapulted her over the edge. Fire blazed behind Gina’s closed lids—white lightning seared her brain. She was deaf and blind and drowning.
*****
When Carrie woke, the rain had stopped and the night outside was black and still. She lay curved in the circle of Gina’s arms, her cheek on Gina’s shoulder, her hand just under Gina’s breast. She nuzzled Gina’s neck just to feel the softness of her skin and draw her earthy scent, so primal and enticin
g, deep inside.
She couldn’t tell the time, but why should that surprise her? Her internal clock was as thrown off balance as the rest of her. She was in a strange bed with a woman who should have felt like a stranger to her but who, instead, seemed like the final piece of a puzzle she hadn’t even realized she was putting together. Gina fit the picture she’d been making of her life as long as she could remember, but she hadn’t quite turned the edges and curves the right way to recognize it. She hadn’t been searching for the complement but for the contrast, the one so different from her that all her careful rules and regulations and orderly schedules went right out the window. She wanted a woman who pulled her outside her certainties with a grin and a husky laugh, the one who dared her to risk, to walk where all the signs so clearly read danger, deep waters. She didn’t know Gina the way she wanted to, but the journey to understanding drew her on with more force than anything she’d ever felt.
Gina kissed her forehead with infinite tenderness. “You want me to take you home?”
“Not unless you need to.”
Gina’s arms tightened around her. “What I need is to keep you right here and, when I regain a little strength, make you come again.”
Carrie laughed. “Baby, you’re welcome to try. But I make no promises.”
“That’s okay, I’m diligent.”
“Among many other amazing things,” Carrie murmured, kissing the angle of her jaw. She probably ought to worry about how easily she accepted being utterly contented, but she just closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Her ringing phone woke her the next time. Seven, maybe? Gina was gone, and she smelled coffee. Praise Jesus. And really, was she ever going to be able to tell time without a watch again? She grabbed her phone, squinted at the readout, and thumbed it on. “Need I remind you it’s Saturday, and after business hours.”
“I’m not calling about work,” Presley said with disgusting cheerfulness.
Carrie shut her eyes tightly against the sun blazing right outside the window. God, she hated morning people.
Presley went on, “I took a chance I could entice you with Lila’s homemade cinnamon buns. Want to come over for breakfast?”
“Uh,” Carrie waffled. Too soon to mention her amazing night? Too many questions, that was for sure. Too new to tarnish with the demands of the day.
“You’re not home, are you?”
She must’ve hesitated too long.
“Not exactly, no.”
“Let me guess. You’ve taken up early morning running.”
“Very funny. Not.”
Carrie cracked a cautious eye at the sound of footsteps. Gina walked in with two cups of coffee and a raised eyebrow. Carrie frantically motioned her forward and reached for the cup. She took a sip and nearly sighed.
“Gardening?” Presley mused.
“I hate you, you know.”
“Everything okay?” Presley said, this time with quiet seriousness.
Carrie glanced at Gina, who slid under the covers next to her. She was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and nothing else. Carrie’s mouth went dry and every other part of her instantly overheated. She was suddenly very, very awake.
“Carrie?” Presley said. “Do you need me to send a rescue-me text?”
“When have I ever?” Carrie took another sip of her coffee, enough to get her through the next ten minutes or so, and set it aside. “I’m good. I’ll be at the game. Gotta go now. ’Bye.”
She swiped off to the sound of Presley’s laughter, tossed the phone onto the floor on the pile of clothes, and dragged Gina on top of her. “I think I remember you saying you were planning to make me come again.”
“Did I say just once?” Gina murmured, right before she kissed her.
She’d been ready since the instant Gina walked into the room. No, the second she’d opened her eyes. She wrapped her legs around Gina’s hips and angled her body until the pressure was exactly where she needed it. Wordlessly, utterly selfishly, she took her pleasure, urging Gina to catch her rhythm, to thrust as she arched, until the pulsing intensity made her explode.
“God,” she gasped. “You are so amazingly sexy.”
“You got that wrong. It’s all you, babe.” Gina laughed unsteadily. “You think they’ll miss us if we don’t make it to the game?”
“How long do we have?”
“A couple of hours.”
Carrie found Gina’s hand and pushed it between her thighs. “Let’s not waste any time.”
*****
“You want to ride with me to the game?” Gina said. “Or do you want me to take you to your car?”
Carrie pulled her softball uniform from Gina’s dryer and pulled on her pants. Gina was still naked and apparently had no idea how blindingly sexy she was, since she was still forming sentences and Carrie could barely think. Carrie struggled to focus. “Do you have a problem with people seeing us together?”
Gina hesitated.
Carrie tilted her head, studied her. Gina hadn’t said very much about how they’d ended up in bed or where it was going, but then, neither had she. They’d been too busy setting a marathon record for awesome sex. She had no complaints. She’d been a willing participant. In fact, she’d been more sexually demanding than she’d ever remembered being in her life. Gina didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Gina made it pretty clear she couldn’t get enough of her. Being desired like that, wanted like that, was exhilarating. Carrie had never felt so sexy.
But…
Gina’s careful question reminded her they hadn’t established any ground rules.
“Do we have to have the talk?” Carrie asked.
Gina winced. “No. Not if it has anything to do with it was really nice, but now it’s over.”
“That’s definitely not where I was going.” Carrie grabbed Gina’s hips and tugged her close. “Last night was way better than nice. And I’m not running anywhere except to the game.”
“I don’t want to go to the game today,” Gina said. “I want to take you back to bed, and I want to keep making love to you until I drop or die.”
Carrie smiled. “I think I figured that out.”
Gina smiled wryly. “If you hadn’t, I’m more out of practice than I thought.”
“And?” Carrie said.
“No ands. No buts,” Gina said. “All I want to know is when I can see you again. When I’ll be able to touch you again. I’m going to be crazy for you until I do.”
Carrie laced her arms around Gina’s neck. “Did you actually think I’d say no?”
Gina visibly relaxed. “I’m feeling a little lucky this morning.”
Carrie nipped her chin. “Oh, believe me. You are.”
Gina laughed. “I just wasn’t sure how long my luck would hold.”
Carrie took a long breath. She got it. They were great in bed together. “Why don’t you drive me to my car. After all, we’ve got a tournament to play. We don’t want to distract our teams.”
Gina didn’t argue, and Carrie pushed the doubts aside. The sex was great, and really, what more could she ask for?
Chapter Twenty-four
A half hour later Carrie bumped down the single track behind Gina’s truck to the lot adjoining the softball field. When Gina veered right, Carrie turned left to park with the trucks and SUVs lined up behind the Rivers’s bleachers. She was just getting out when Presley and Harper pulled in beside her. She grabbed her sports bag and waited by the side of the Mini for them.
“Morning,” she called as they walked over to her.
“It’s two fifteen,” Presley said dryly.
Harper snorted. “You might’ve just gotten out of bed, but the rest of us have been up for quite a while.”
Dark shadows circled Harper’s eyes. Presley looked almost as tired. Neither of them looked like they’d gotten much sleep.
“Were you in the ER all night?” Carrie asked.
“Most of it,” Harper said. “I got home about three after the ER cleared out. Flann was still upst
airs in the OR when I left. Glenn, Joe, Abby, and Mari were about finished, so unless things got busy later, they probably got a little sleep.”
Carrie winced. The Rivers team was going to be playing with a bedraggled lineup. She’d just have to make sure the Hammers didn’t get anything to hit.
“What happened?” Carrie asked as they trooped toward the bench.
Harper sighed. “A carload of teenagers failed to make a curve, sideswiped a pickup headed the opposite way, and rolled into a ditch. Pickup driver managed to stay on the road and was only shaken up. The kids were pretty mangled.”
Carrie’s heart lurched. She couldn’t help but think of Gina’s story and struggled not to envision her trapped in a twisted tangle of metal, hurt and bleeding and broken. Even when she pushed the images away, she ached. The community was small, and they all knew each other. Any accident, any tragedy, hit close to home. “Locals?”
Presley shook her head. “Out-of-towners vacationing in Saratoga. They’d come down for one of those weekend rodeos and, unfortunately, found a bar that would sell them beer.”
“What a shame,” Carrie said. “You need any help with warm-ups, Harp?”
“Nah, I’m good. Lila’s breakfast fixed me up.” She grinned at Carrie. “Sorry you missed it.”
“Uh…thanks,” Carrie muttered.
While Harper moved on ahead to get batting practice started, Presley said, “How many guesses do I get about where you spent the night?”
Carrie worked hard not to glance over at the Hammers’ side of the field. “I’m not even going to make you guess. I was at Gina’s.”
“Figured, since I haven’t seen you show the slightest interest in anyone else in…oh, forever.”