Embracing the Dawn

by Jeannie Levig

  For now, though, she hadn’t even told Taylor and Gwen that Jinx was coming. Yes, she was nervous, but she was also excited about having Jinx here with her in her space, maybe taking her to see the office, and perhaps an ice cream at Gunther’s and a stroll along the river, something E. J. hadn’t done in a long time. There would probably be a point during the weekend at which she would be comfortable inviting her friends to meet Jinx, and she could call them then, but she didn’t want the pressure of it needing to be at a specific, prearranged time.

  E. J. checked her watch.

  Jinx should be there soon. She had called during Pete’s last potty stop, about an hour out.

  They had spent the night together on Tuesday, and it was only Friday, but E. J. felt as though she hadn’t seen Jinx in weeks.

  The doorbell rang.

  E. J. jumped. A splash of coffee landed on the front of her sage-colored blouse, the heat seeping through to her skin. Damn it! She grabbed a dish towel and patted at it, then hurried to answer the bell. Her heartbeat quickened as she got closer, and she couldn’t suppress a burgeoning smile. She opened the door.

  Pete raced inside.

  Jinx grinned at her. “I found you.” The strap of a duffle hung over her shoulder, and she carried a Canine Complete tote in one hand and Pete’s bed in the other. The light blue of the replacement Bad Dog shirt E. J. had gotten her deepened the color of Jinx’s eyes, and E. J. fell in.

  She grabbed the front of the shirt and pulled Jinx across the threshold.

  As soon as the door closed, Jinx dropped everything, grasped E. J.’s hips, spun her around, and pressed her against it. Her lips found E. J.’s, and she took her, owned her.

  E. J. expected the kiss to be hard, to be bruising. But it wasn’t. As burning and demanding as it was, it was still gentle. It consumed E. J. in its tenderness. It stole her breath and the strength in her legs. She twisted her fingers into Jinx’s hair and moaned as she felt Jinx’s hands move upward, her thumbs caressing the sides of E. J.’s breasts.

  “I missed you,” Jinx murmured as she eased off and brushed her lips over E. J.’s, then along her jaw. She found E. J.’s earlobe and sucked it into her mouth, her teeth tugging on the small gold heart that adorned it, drawing another moan from E. J.

  E. J. crushed Jinx to her and thrust her hips, desperate for purchase.

  Jinx continued her trek down E. J.’s neck, gently but firmly nipping and licking her way to the hollow of her throat, then lower into the open collar of E. J.’s blouse. Her thumbs still maddeningly worked only the sides of E. J.’s breasts. “You spilled,” Jinx said, an absent tenor to her voice.

  E. J. laughed softly. “It’s coffee.”

  “We need to get you out of this wet blouse,” Jinx said without missing the next nibble. She undid the first closed button, then the next, and the next after that. Her mouth followed the path. She licked the swell of E. J.’s breast where the coffee had landed, then traced the edge of her bra with the tip of her tongue as she released the front clasp. The lace grazed E. J.’s stiffening nipples as Jinx eased the cups aside.

  E. J. gasped and pulled Jinx’s mouth to her breasts.

  Jinx sucked the swell, licking the remnants of the coffee, then inched further to suck a throbbing nipple deep into her mouth.

  E. J. cried out and closed her thighs around one of Jinx’s.

  “Unless you want me to take you right here,” Jinx said, her breathing heavy, “show me your bedroom.”

  E. J. did want Jinx to take her right there, and in the bedroom—and on the couch, and in the kitchen, and on the dining room table, in the bathtub, the shower…She wanted Jinx everywhere. She wanted there not to be a single spot in the condo that didn’t make her think of Jinx. She forced herself to ease Jinx away, whimpering at the release of Jinx’s mouth, and took her hands. “Come with me.”

  In the bedroom, Jinx sat E. J. on the edge of the bed and knelt between her open thighs. She found E. J.’s nipple again and sucked it into her mouth as though no interruption had taken place. She palmed the other one to a harder point, then rolled it between her fingertips.

  E. J. cried out and threw her head back. She leaned back on her hands, pressing harder into Jinx.

  Jinx was merciless—slow, methodical, deliberate, and utterly ruthless. She touched nothing but E. J.’s nipples. She suckled and squeezed and pinched and nipped, then traded hand and mouth and began again.

  E. J. gasped for air. She looked down at Jinx, at herself, her blouse half unbuttoned, her bra pushed aside. She felt wanton, a little slutty. Pure need pulsed between her spread thighs. She tried to close them, to gain some much-needed pressure, but Jinx’s body blocked her. She tried to press against her but couldn’t quite reach. “Jinx, please…”

  Jinx groaned and dropped her hands to the waistband of E. J.’s slacks. She had them unfastened and off in seconds.

  E. J. fell back on the bed.

  Kneeling again at the edge, Jinx pulled E. J.’s legs over her shoulders and opened her, gently, almost reverently. She leaned in.

  E. J. expected a touch, a stroke, a kiss, maybe to be taken. What she didn’t expect was a delay, an excruciating moment of nothing. Her center ached. “Please,” she whispered. Then she felt Jinx’s breath, warm, light, so not enough. She groaned loudly and squirmed.

  Jinx looped her arms around E. J.’s hips, opened her wider, and tightened her grip. Without warning, she drove her tongue into her.

  E. J. screamed with pleasure. She clenched her fists into the duvet beneath her.

  Jinx thrust into her in a steady rhythm.

  E. J. tried to pump her hips to meet her, but Jinx held her still, relentless in her obvious mission to drive E. J. insane with need. She didn’t let up.

  E. J. came hard, screaming once again. She arched up off the bed, then flopped back. She tried again to pump her hips but could only lie there and take it, take Jinx’s tongue still inside her, thrusting, licking—remarkably driving her toward another orgasm.

  Jinx shifted her mouth slightly and sucked E. J.’s clitoris between her lips.

  A new sensation overtook E. J., making her jerk and renewing her desire to squirm. “Oh God, Jinx,” she cried out.

  Once again, Jinx held her still and took her over the edge.

  E. J.’s body thrummed with the release. She gulped for air.

  Clearly, Jinx still wasn’t finished. She moved her mouth more slowly over E. J.’s hot folds.

  E. J. couldn’t even attempt to move anymore. She lay back and relaxed into the pleasure. She twined her fingers into Jinx’s hair and held her close.

  Jinx nuzzled her head into E. J.’s grasp, the movement accentuating the caress of her mouth against E. J.’s center. She released E. J.’s hips, pressed her lips around her pulsing clitoris, and eased her fingers inside her.

  E. J. came one last time, so deeply she thought she might implode.

  Finally, Jinx stilled. Her mouth remained on E. J., her fingers lingered inside, but nothing moved.

  They lay quietly, E. J. catching her breath, Jinx doing God knows what.

  E. J. stroked Jinx’s hair, the silken strands caressing the pads of her fingers. “What have you done to me?” she murmured.

  “Hmm?” Jinx eased away and moved up beside her on the bed.

  “I’ve never been like this.”

  Jinx combed her fingers through E. J.’s hair. “Maybe you’ve always been like this, and you just never got close enough to anyone to know it.”

  E. J. gazed up at her. “As I said, I’ve never been like this.” She ran a hand over the front of Jinx’s shirt. “You have too many clothes on,” she said, surprised at the lust still in her voice. “Get naked.”

  “I have to use the bathroom,” Jinx said, touching a kiss to E. J.’s lips.

  E. J. pointed behind her to the archway at the end of the master suite.

  While she waited, she stared into space, marveling at how different her life was now from a mere three months earlier. Be
fore, most Friday nights were spent at a club with Taylor, perhaps picking up a woman for a night, or here at home, curled up with a book. She certainly wasn’t lying half naked on her own bed after having had three orgasms in a row with a woman she was…maybe…in love with. There was that thought again. She remembered having it the morning after the shooting, in passing, and that she had intended to think about it further. But she hadn’t. And now, it was no wonder she was thinking it—feeling it—after what Jinx had just done to her. How many times had women told her they thought they were falling in love with her after several orgasms?

  The sound of water running in the bathtub drew E. J.’s attention. Curious, she rose, dispensed with her blouse and bra still hanging off of her, and padded to the bathroom.

  Jinx stood beside the large Roman tub, holding a bottle of bubble bath. She lifted it and arched an eyebrow in question.

  “Sure,” E. J. said with a smile. “Can I join you?”

  Jinx poured some of the liquid into the filling tub, then, without a word, pulled her T-shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. She met E. J.’s eyes, unmistakable invitation in hers.

  E. J. went to her. She spread her hands over Jinx’s bare breasts and pressed her mouth to Jinx’s. She trailed the tip of her tongue between Jinx’s lips, reveling in how swollen they were from everything they had done to her, tasting her own arousal and release. She lowered her head and took one of Jinx’s tight nipples into her mouth. “You’re still way too overdressed,” she whispered and sucked worshipfully while Jinx struggled out of her jeans.

  When the tub had filled around them, E. J. turned off the water and stretched her body on top of Jinx’s.

  Jinx sighed as she tilted her head back against the edge. “This is an enormous bathtub.”

  “I had it custom made when I remodeled.” E. J. spread bubbles across Jinx’s shoulders. “I wanted it big enough I could stretch out in it. And big enough for two, if I ever wanted that. It has Jacuzzi jets, too. Do you want me to turn them on?”

  “Mmm, no. This is nice.” Jinx ran her hands up E. J.’s wet sides. “Do you like baths with other people?”

  E. J. looked into Jinx’s face and smiled. “So far. You’re the first.”

  Jinx looked doubtful. “That can’t be true. How long have you lived here?”

  “Nine years,” E. J. said, shifting to slip between Jinx’s legs.

  Jinx moaned softly and moved against her.

  “But I’ve never had anyone over. Not like this.” E. J.’s breasts rubbed against Jinx’s stomach as she settled in. “I mean, Gwen and Taylor have been here, and the kids, of course, but no one else.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t do that.” E. J. realized she could no longer say that. “I haven’t done that until now,” she said, correcting herself.

  Jinx tightened her arms around E. J. “I like the way that sounds.”

  “I know,” E. J. said, snuggling against her. “I like that I’m the only woman who’s been in your bed.”

  “I do find it hard to believe, though. I mean you’re…you’re you. It’s hard to believe you haven’t been involved with anyone in all that time.”

  E. J. rested her head in the hollow of Jinx’s shoulder. “I didn’t get involved. I just got laid. Until you.”

  “Hey, you get laid with me,” Jinx said with a smile.

  E. J. laughed. “You think you have to remind me of that after what you just did to me?”

  Jinx chuckled.

  They settled into a comfortable silence, E. J. smoothing bubbles over Jinx’s chest, Jinx trailing warm circles on the small of E. J.’s back.

  “Can I ask you something?” E. J. said finally.

  “Mm-hm.”

  E. J. tilted her head to look at Jinx. “How do you…” She wasn’t sure how to word it. “How do you do all those amazingly, sexy, and arousing things to me and give me bone-melting orgasms without needing release, yourself?”

  “You don’t think I need release?”

  E. J. smiled. “I know you do, because when you do get it, you’re right there. It’s just that you’re not usually in a hurry. Like right now. If I was in your place tonight, there’s no way we’d be lying here in a bath cuddling and talking, at least not before I got my turn.”

  Jinx stilled. She searched E. J.’s face. “I can answer that,” she said slowly, “but I’d rather do it another time.”

  E. J. waited for her to continue.

  “The answer involves another woman, and I don’t want that between us tonight.” Jinx’s tone was serious. “I do want my turn tonight, and I want to just be able to focus on our pleasure.”

  E. J. considered her response. “Is it Val?”

  Jinx gave a short nod.

  E. J. settled against her again. Jinx had been so honest and up front about her life and so patient with E. J., she wanted to respect her need for timing on this. Besides, she liked the part about focusing on their pleasure tonight. She ran her hand down Jinx’s body and between her legs. She parted her and dipped a finger inside. “Are you ready, now, then?”

  Jinx moaned and lifted her hips. “Yes.”

  E. J. found Jinx’s clitoris swollen and hard, her moisture slick, such a different consistency from the warm water. She slid her fingers along the length of Jinx’s sex, up her shaft, over her tip.

  Jinx held her tightly and moved against her. She cupped E. J.’s breast and kneaded it in the same rhythm. “I want to suck you,” she murmured, her eyes closed.

  E. J. shifted to straddle Jinx’s thighs. She kept her fingers working Jinx’s need. The air, cooler than the water, tightened her nipples just before Jinx’s hot mouth and fingers found them again. They were still sensitive from the earlier attention, and E. J.’s own arousal built quickly.

  Jinx groaned as she sucked and teased, thrusting upward into E. J.’s hand. She slipped her fingers into E. J.’s slick opening.

  E. J. gasped. “Wait. I want to do you.”

  “Come with me, baby.” Jinx moaned. “I love it when you come with me.” She pumped into her as she found her clitoris with her thumb. “Tell me when you’re ready.” She sucked unyieldingly on E. J.’s nipple.

  Even with three prior orgasms, it didn’t take long. “Now,” E. J. cried as her pleasure threatened to explode. She pressed harder into Jinx, rubbed her clitoris faster.

  Jinx lifted into her, and they came together, breathing fast. They filled the bathtub two more times, and E. J. pleasured Jinx an equal number before she lay on top of her again, feeling the comfort and safety she always felt in her arms.

  “I want to see the rest of your place,” Jinx said finally. “So far, I’ve only seen your front door, literally a small portion of your bed that fits between your legs, and the bathroom.”

  E. J. laughed. “Those are the only important parts.” She eased off Jinx and reached for a towel.

  “We should see what Pete’s been doing, too.” Jinx ran her gaze over E. J.’s naked body as she dried herself. “You might not have a sofa anymore.”

  E. J. inhaled sharply. “He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

  “He is a puppy.” Jinx stood and stepped from the tub into the bath sheet E. J. held open for her.

  Dressed again, they ventured out into the living room. It was quiet. E. J. dared a glance around for Pete. He lay curled in his bed where Jinx had dropped it by the door, his squeaky rabbit between his front paws and his Kong a few feet away. He slept peacefully.

  “I guess he got tired of waiting for us,” Jinx said.

  Pete opened his eyes, looked up at E. J., and shook himself. Then he ran to her, tail wagging.

  “I know. I’m sorry.” E. J. picked him up and hugged him. “I didn’t even say hello, did I? Your other mama distracted me.”

  Pete licked her face.

  E. J. noticed Jinx walking around the living room, taking it all in. It reminded her of Jinx’s exploration of the hotel suite that first morning.

  She circled the
sofa, stared down at the rug, looked out the panel window beside the fireplace at the lights of the city, and studied the Steve Hanks painting hanging above the dining table for a long time. “What’s the name of that?” she asked as she examined the picture of a woman and a little girl sitting on a dock, each with her foot barely skimming the water.

  “Touching the Surface,” E. J. said, still snuggling with the puppy.

  “I like it,” Jinx said.

  E. J. smiled. “I’m glad.”

  Jinx turned and cocked her head, seeming to notice the baby grand for the first time. “You play?” She walked toward it.

  “No.” E. J. cradled Pete in her arms and rubbed his tummy. “I wish I did.”

  “Why do you have it?”

  E. J. felt herself blush. She didn’t want to answer. “Because when I bought the place, my Realtor told me that that’s what that platform was for.”

  Jinx looked at her as though trying to determine if that could possibly be true.

  E. J. understood. She’d had the same thought, herself, a time or two.

  “So you bought a piano?”

  E. J. nodded.

  “This piano?”

  She nodded again.

  “This is a really expensive piano.”

  Another nod.

  Jinx crossed to her and slipped her arms around her waist. “You have way too much money. You know that, right?”

  E. J. looked up at her. The words and tone had been playful, but there was the slightest edge to them. “Probably. Is that okay?”

  Jinx took a moment to look around the room. She inhaled deeply, then sighed before returning her attention to E. J. “My experience with the world of money, as you know, is that it can be a not very nice place, so it makes me a little nervous.” She shrugged. “I think that’s why I don’t mind where I live, now.”

  Once again, E. J. was touched by Jinx’s honesty, her willingness to be vulnerable. She moved closer in the circle of Jinx’s arms, snuggling Pete between them. “Maybe I can show you a different side of it, and we can find a happy medium.”