by Radclyffe
Gem decided they could sort things out in private and waited until they were back outside. “Honestly, you’ve been more than a lifesaver all day long, but—”
Austin stopped abruptly, gripped her shoulders, and kissed her.
Gem’s knees went loose and she grabbed Austin’s jacket, a flood of desire melting the rest of her sentence and leaving her mind a hot blank. Austin’s mouth was soft, sliding over hers, warm and slick and possessive. Gem’s breath shortened, her throat tightened, and her lips parted to pull Austin in. No hesitation, no resistance, no brakes at all. Austin’s tongue played over the surface of her mouth, barely touching, a teasing invitation of more. More. Yes.
Gem moaned and slid her arms around Austin’s waist, pressing hard.
Austin stepped back and braced herself against the SUV. Gem followed, urgent and hungry. Her head swam and the kiss went on and on until she finally pulled away, needing to breathe, needing to…stop. She slid her hands under Austin’s jacket, her fingers digging into Austin’s back. Her belly was fused to Austin’s, her hips nestled between Austin’s legs. They fit. Everything fit. That couldn’t be right, could it? “I can’t think while you’re kissing me.”
Austin grinned. “Good. We should do more of it.”
“This isn’t me.”
“Yes, it is,” Austin murmured, kissing her neck. “Tonight, it is.”
Gem tilted her head back, surrendered her throat. “Just for tonight, then.”
“All right.”
Gem braced her hands against Austin’s shoulders and pushed away from her. Her body ached at the loss. She needed to move before she changed her mind. “Let’s get our luggage and find the room.”
Austin grabbed Gem’s hand, held it as if she was afraid she might disappear. “Yeah. Good idea.”
Austin pulled the bags from the back one-handed, and Gem found hers. Still holding Austin’s hand, she half stumbled, half raced up the winding staircase to the third floor. Number five was the first door they came to. Austin unlocked the door, shoved it open, and tossed her bag in. She took Gem’s duffel, threw it in after hers, and tugged Gem inside.
A barely perceptible gray glow streamed into the room through the balcony doors. A foghorn mourned in the distance. Otherwise the night was still and empty. For Gem, time held no meaning. For that moment, she had stepped outside her world. She’d never done anything like this before, not consciously, and she was very conscious of what she was doing. “I…”
“Shh.” Austin’s finger grazed her mouth. Despite the dim light, the gleam in Austin’s eyes was brightly visible as she backed Gem against the closed door. “I wasn’t done kissing you.”
Gem pushed Austin’s jacket down her shoulders. “Then take that off.”
Austin jerked her arms free and tossed the jacket somewhere behind them. Gem yanked Austin’s shirt from her pants and slid her palms underneath. Austin shuddered at the contact, her back arching.
“Fuck, Gem,” Austin gasped.
“Your skin is so hot,” Gem muttered, trailing her fingertips down the firm columns of muscles. “Beautiful.”
Austin gave a sound like a growl. “Trying to go slow here, but if you keep doing that—”
“Oh, I’m going to keep doing that,” Gem whispered. That and more. More. “There’s a bed right behind you. I think we should use it.”
Chapter Ten
The back of Austin’s legs hit the edge of the bed, she went down, and Gem followed, straddling her hips with both hands planted on either side of Austin’s shoulders. Austin was pinned, a position she rarely assumed and instantly liked. They were body to body, but with way too many clothes between them. She ached for flesh on flesh.
Too late. Too slow. Deft fingers danced down the front of her shirt, and buttons popped open. Her skin prickled in anticipation. Soon now. A touch, a caress, a teasing promise. A visage swam into focus—a blond halo of curls framing a sculpted face with starlit eyes. Austin gasped. A sliver of reason, sharp as a scalpel, sliced through the haze. Gem. This was Gem. Gem touching her, kissing her, and in two seconds they would both be naked and there’d be no turning back. She caught Gem’s wrists, forced the words out through a throat thick with desire. “Gem, are you—”
Gem’s mouth covered hers, swallowing the question. The kiss was sure and deep and went on and on until Austin’s reluctance broke and winged away. Gem drew back, her thumb brushing Austin’s mouth. “Don’t ask me if I’m sure. I wouldn’t have come up here if I wasn’t.”
“All right,” Austin said, trusting Gem to know herself. If Gem knew all the reasons Austin was there, she might have made a different decision, but this moment, this joining, was about who they had been that day—two women stranded in a storm who’d shared a rare connection. Tonight, for one night, they were who they were. Naked and unmasked.
“Do you want to stop?” Gem’s husky voice was barely recognizable.
Austin laughed, and the wildness in hers sounded foreign and dangerous. “Hell no.”
“Good,” Gem murmured. “No more questions.”
Austin closed her eyes as Gem popped the last button and pushed her shirt open. At the first soft touch, she let the doubt and the questions and the last fragile tendrils of guilt drift away. Gem’s mouth was at her throat, moving down to the hollow between her collarbones and lower. She groaned as Gem cupped her breast, molded her nipple, fit her lips to it. Ripples of pleasure, bright bursts streaming through her blood, racing to her fingertips, between her legs, down her spine, dazzled and dazed her. So different, so surprising, so amazing. She heard a whimper. Recognized distantly it was her. She slipped her fingers into the hair at Gem’s nape and held Gem’s head to her breast, wordlessly coaxing.
“Good?” Gem whispered.
“Beyond,” Austin said.
Gem smiled at the way Austin trembled beneath her. This woman, so sure, so strong, so damn sexy, lay undefended and open, silently inviting her to feast. And, oh, feast she intended to do. If this was to be her only night, she wanted everything, every taste and touch and sound. Austin’s body as she undressed her, pale and ethereal in the scant light, was beautiful, muscular and sleek, the skin smooth as silk beneath her hands and her mouth. She eased off the shirt from one arm and then the other and let it fall by the bed. Austin’s breasts filled her hands, nipples hard knots against her palms. She spread her fingers, let them drift down the taut planes of Austin’s belly, watched her tense and quiver.
“Mmm.” She kissed Austin’s stomach, teasing her with quick flicks of her tongue until she groaned. Laughing softly, she said, “Chopping wood does great things for a body.”
Gem sat back, resting her weight on Austin’s thighs, and opened Austin’s pants. Austin raised her head and looked down, her expression dazed. When she would’ve helped, Gem pushed her hands away.
“Let me,” Gem said.
“I’m feeling a little useless here,” Austin said.
“Oh, believe me, you’re anything but.” Gem bent forward and swirled her tongue on the soft skin below Austin’s navel.
Austin jumped. “Fuck, Gem. You make me crazy.”
“There, see? Hardly useless. Now let me finish.”
Austin sighed and dropped her hands, her eyes on Gem. Gem watched Austin’s jaw clench as she slid down the zipper, tugged the pants down her thighs, and pulled them off. The cords on Austin’s neck stood out as she fought to give Gem control. The sight of that surrender kindled a blaze in Gem’s depths. Such power as she’d never imagined. At last Austin was naked and Gem slid off the bed and stood beside it, just taking her in. When she couldn’t go another second without touching her again, she hurriedly undressed and sat beside her, resting her palm on Austin’s middle. “You’re amazing.”
Austin covered Gem’s hand, pressed it harder to her stomach. “I don’t know how much longer I can go without touching you.”
“Give me a little more time. I want to explore, discover you.” Gem traced her fingers down the center of A
ustin’s body, watched her nipples tighten and her abdomen tense. She pressed low on Austin’s belly until the muscles under her hand quivered. “Do you mind?”
“Not right now.”
“Good. Hold on a little longer.” Gem leaned down, kissed Austin’s breast, and licked around her nipple until Austin moaned again. She sighed, her mouth skimming Austin’s throat. “I could come just from touching you.”
“So can I,” Austin breathed.
Gem laughed. “Please don’t. Not yet anyway.”
“Whatever you want.”
Whatever you want. Whatever you want. Gem struggled to see through years of denial and avoidance. Whatever you want. What was that? She hadn’t thought she wanted anything for so long. Oh yes, quiet, comfort, safety, balance. But not this wild pulse in her belly, this consuming hunger in her blood, this scorching fire in her marrow. Never this. Never before. Whatever you want. More, that was what she wanted. That was all she could feel. More.
Hungry now, famished, Gem climbed over her, pushed her thighs apart, and knelt between them. Leaning down, she kissed the base of Austin’s belly, her breasts, and her mouth. Austin cradled her hips tight between her legs. Surrendering, but still so strong, so sure.
“You,” Gem said. “I want you.”
“Then take,” Austin whispered, her palms sliding over Gem’s breasts, down her belly, to her hips. She reared up, wrapped her arms around Gem’s waist, and pulled her down until they were face-to-face. She licked along the angle of Gem’s jaw, grasped her head, and kissed her hard. The kind of kiss she’d given her outside—demanding, possessive, unbridled.
Gem’s heart beat insistently between her thighs. She ached deep inside, a primal drumbeat of desire, the call to join, to fill and be filled. She straddled Austin’s thigh and pushed down, the sudden pressure against her clit sending her spiraling to peak. She jerked away, too close.
“God,” she gasped. “So good.”
“Better than good.” Austin winged her hands down Gem’s back, cradled her ass, and rocked her thigh between Gem’s legs. She could feel how close Gem was with every slide of Gem’s slick hot flesh over her skin. She wanted to feel her come apart, come on her. She pressed her leg upward, watched Gem throw her head back, knew she could push her over in another minute.
“Do you want me to make you come?” Austin asked.
Gem’s eyes were heavy lidded, her smile slow and sensuous. “Oh yes. So very much.” She braced her hands on Austin’s shoulders, her hair falling down to frame Austin’s face. They were close, kissing close, when Gem whispered, “But I want you to come with me.”
Austin’s clit tensed and the muscles on the insides of her thighs clenched. She didn’t give control, didn’t come first, but tonight, she’d give anything for the pleasure of pleasing Gem.
“Stroke me,” she said.
Gem skimmed one hand down the center of Austin’s chest, over her belly, and cupped between her legs. She squeezed and pressed a thumb to the base of Austin’s clit until Austin groaned. “Like that?”
“Just like that,” Austin said through gritted teeth. She gripped Gem’s ass, drew her up and down along her thigh, making her hips hitch and surge. “I’m going to make you come.”
“Yes, you are.” Gem skated her fingers on either side of Austin’s clit, and stroked and pressed, stroked and pressed.
White flame seared Austin’s senses. “It feels so good.”
“You feel so good.” Gem slid inside, her thumb still stroking, circling, pressing.
“Fuck.” Austin jerked. “That’s going to make me come.”
“Oh yes.” Gem gasped, rocking back with a startled cry. “Yes.” She arched and bucked and drove deeper.
Austin came, her gaze locked on Gem, the image of Gem’s release branded on her soul.
Gem shuddered and tumbled down into Austin’s arms, her cheek on Austin’s shoulder and her face cradled in the curve of Austin’s neck. “Oh my God. That was unbelievable.”
Austin kissed her temple and wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Second that.”
Gem kissed the side of Austin’s throat, the wild beat of Austin’s pulse racing against her lips. Whatever you want. Never had she ever imagined this. She closed her eyes. She hadn’t a single thought in her mind, only the sound of Austin’s heart beating, defining her world.
❖
Austin woke to the sound of the shower running. The bed beside her was empty, and when she ran her hand over the faint indentation where Gem had lain beside her, the sheets were cool. They’d finally fallen asleep only to awaken a few hours later, turn to one another, and slide into another kiss, another caress, another searching exploration. They’d made love a second time in the dark hours of the night and slept again. But now the heat had dissipated and the empty bed signaled the night was over and a new day had arrived. Their detour from reality had ended. She found her watch on the small bedside table. She couldn’t remember having removed it. Seven thirty. Plenty of time to get herself together and out to the airport to meet Tatum’s helicopter.
The bathroom door opened, and she rolled onto her side to face the adjoining room. Gem came out, a towel wrapped around her torso, her expression turning to surprise and what looked like chagrin when she saw Austin watching.
“Hi,” Gem said.
“Morning.”
Gem lifted a hand, waved it toward the room. “I was trying not to wake you, but I couldn’t face climbing into my clothes without being clean. I felt like I’d spent a week in the same shirt and pants.”
“No problem. You didn’t wake me.”
“Oh, okay. Good.”
Gem busied herself with the duffel on the floor. A zipper slid, and Austin imagined her taking out clean clothes. She didn’t have to imagine what she looked like underneath that towel. She had a very precise memory of Gem’s full breasts and narrow waist and curvaceous hips and thighs. Gem’s body was tight and toned, that of a woman who used her muscles for work, not the slim, almost formless physiques of the gym goddesses Austin most often found herself sharing a bed with. But for all Gem’s strength, she was sensuous and quintessentially female as well. And thinking about that right now was only going to lead her down a road she couldn’t afford to take. She swallowed against the dryness in her throat.
“Morning-afters aren’t really my specialty,” Austin said, “so I’ll apologize beforehand for being a bit of a clod.”
Gem straightened, clean clothes in one hand and the other holding the towel to her body. Her gaze slid down over Austin’s chest for a second and back to her face. Austin hitched the sheet a little higher.
“I’m not expecting anything in the way of…morning-after conversation,” Gem said with a quirky little smile. “Last night was last night, right?”
“I think that’s what we agreed on,” Austin said, but that wasn’t what she was thinking. She was thinking she didn’t want last night to be the last night, the only night, even though she had no way—and no right—to suggest differently.
“So I’m not going to say what you’ve probably heard so many times you probably don’t believe it any longer,” Gem said conversationally as she stepped into panties and jeans and somehow managed to get them on while still keeping the towel covering her chest and not showing anything else.
“What do you think that would be?” Austin said, wondering if Gem had any idea she almost never had a conversation worth mentioning, let alone remembering, with women in the morning.
“That I don’t usually do that sort of thing.” Gem frowned. “Actually, I never do that kind of thing.”
“It wouldn’t matter to me if you had.” Austin never really gave any thought to what a woman’s past might be when they were only spending a night together, why should she? They owed her no explanations. But this was Gem, and everything she needed to know had already been said. “I know that last night was different.”
“Do you?” Gem said quietly.
Austin sat up, letting the sheet fall
. Nudity wasn’t anything that bothered her and false modesty was ridiculous at this point. “I do. For me too.”
Gem took off the wet towel and draped it over the bedpost. She was nude from the waist up, her chest slightly flushed from the heat of the shower still, her breasts uplifted and rose tipped. Austin wanted to groan but suppressed it. The time for that kind of connection had passed.
“Then we understand each other.” Gem slipped into a yellow button-down cotton shirt and closed it with steady fingers. She bent, shoved clothing into her duffel, and stood with the bag in hand. “I need to get out to the sanctuary. The storm has probably wreaked havoc with some of the nesting areas. I imagine you want to get settled and get to work too.”
Austin slid from the bed, pulled on jeans from the pile of discards on the floor, and shrugged into her shirt. She left it unbuttoned. Work. Yes, she had a lot of that to do. “Be careful out there. It sounds like the roads got pretty rough last night.”
Gem nodded. “I will. I…I hope your stay is productive.”
Austin ran a hand through her hair. “Thanks.”
Gem turned, opened the door, and paused. She looked back. “I won’t say good-bye, just in case.”
“All right,” Austin murmured. “Not good-bye, then.”
Chapter Eleven
The fog had lifted, leaving behind a cold, damp glaze on the railings, stair treads, and surfaces of parked cars. Scattered dryer-sheet wisps of clouds streaked the steel-gray sky. Gem turned up the collar of the denim jacket she’d pulled from her luggage, tossed her duffel into the backseat of her car, and headed down the nearly empty one-way main street. A few locals scurried along walking dogs, and others, bundled up in rain slickers and hunched against the wind, congregated in front of the coffee shop and diner, two of the only places with lights showing. Gem pulled over in front of the coffee shop and put on her emergency flashers. She hurried into the too-warm room, ordered a black eye from the harried teen behind the counter, and grabbed a muffin of nondescript ingredients to eat as she drove. All the things she would do on any ordinary morning, except this was no ordinary morning. She wasn’t fanciful enough to believe that a single night could change her life, but something had definitely changed inside her. Everything she valued was still the same—her job, her friends, her family, the satisfaction she found in small, day-to-day things like coffee and muffins—but those things no longer encapsulated her world. Something new had been added, and the solace she had once taken in the sameness of her life had vanished.