by Kim Baldwin
Blayne found the wherewithal to move enough to shake her head, but that was about all she could manage.
“No?” Alexi stiffened, and a pained expression replaced her bemused one.
Blayne shook her head again and finally managed to find her voice. “No sitting until you hold me.”
Alexi grinned broadly as relief washed over her face. “Happily done!”
She came around the desk, drew Blayne to her feet, and they embraced long and fiercely.
“God. I can’t believe you’re here,” Blayne whispered into Alexi’s neck. “How are you here? No, wait—that doesn’t matter,” She loosened her grip just enough to drink in her face. “Why are you here?”
“I told you. I am here to invite you to come with me to Fiji, if that is still where you want to go most in the world. The destination does not matter to me. As long as I am with you.”
“Where I want to go most in the world is anywhere you are,” Blayne answered.
“Then apparently we have some things to talk about. When do you get off work?”
“She can leave now,” Claudia interjected, which made them both laugh. “Hey, Alexi.”
“Hello Claudia.”
“Didn’t happen to bring your sister along, did you?”
“No, but she sends her regards to you. She asked me to tell you that she still intends to finish what she started. Said you would understand.”
“She did, did she?” Claudia smiled broadly at the news.
“Can you really leave now?” Alexi asked, her arm still encircling Blayne’s waist.
“Only a half hour left, and I have no one else booked. If Claud’s willing to cover, I don’t see why not.”
“Let us go, then?”
Blayne was surprised to see Alexi head for the sleek Ducati Monster that was parked in front of the agency. She picked up one of the helmets sitting on the seat and handed it to Blayne. “This is all right, is it not?”
“Sure! It’s great! Do you want directions to the house?”
“Later,” Alexi answered, as she put the other helmet on. “I have something else in mind first, if you will trust me?”
“Such a question. Of course!” Blayne nearly shouted, her glee boiling over. “Anything you want! Everything!”
Soon after, with Blayne snuggled tight against her back, Alexi was speeding along the Sunset Highway toward the ocean.
Motorcycles were her favorite way to travel, but Alexi began to have regrets about her decision almost at once. It was wonderful to have Blayne so close, their hips glued together and Blayne’s arms around her waist, hugging her tight. But it was a little too wonderful when Blayne’s hands began to stray, caressing her thighs lightly as they sped along.
She had been thinking about Blayne’s hands on her body for weeks. After the hearings, she’d taken a leave of absence from WITSEC and insisted Vaso accompany her on a trip, intending to get her mind off of Blayne. They went to the south of France, where there were warm beaches and endless parties and an unlimited supply of willing women to bed.
But once they were there, she had soon realized that nothing and no one could keep her from missing Blayne with every fiber of her being. She felt lost and adrift without her. Blayne had touched a part of her that no woman ever had, and Alexi had no idea how she would ever be able to return to the way she’d lived her life in the past. To solitude and emotional isolation.
She had suffered for three weeks before she telephoned George Dombrowski and asked him for a favor. At first, he claimed he could not help her, but she knew how much he had come to care for Blayne, so she told him honestly what her plans were, and asked him to try.
It took him four hours to get the information she needed. She was on the next plane back to the States. And now, here she was, legs open to straddle the bike, a very vulnerable and accessible position to be in, and Blayne’s hands were teasing, taunting, going near, but not too near. The vibration from the powerful motor was only adding to the stimulation.
By the time they reached the coast, her body was ablaze with arousal, and she ached to be in a position where she could begin to give back as good as she had gotten. The desire to touch Blayne had never been more overwhelming.
They arrived at the ocean almost an hour before twilight, so they had plenty of time to find a good place to watch the sun set. Alexi took Blayne’s hand and led her to a secluded stretch of beach, away from the smattering of others who were there for the same purpose. She got comfortable and invited Blayne to sit between her legs in the circle of her embrace—their positions on the bike, only reversed. This time, she would be the one able to taunt and tease and arouse.
They snuggled in, bodies tight together and faces touching, and watched the sky turn orange and red and purple. Alexi slipped her hands beneath Blayne’s jacket and lightly stroked her stomach through the thin green sweater she wore. A sweater she recognized as having been purchased during their shopping spree in Harrods. Every now and then, she would lightly trail her fingertips down along Blayne’s thighs, mimicking the torment she had been put through on the highway.
When she felt Blayne’s body shift slightly beneath her hands, and heard her sudden intake of breath, Alexi kissed her cheek, her neck. Soft, sweet kisses, introducing their bodies to each other. Kisses meant to promise, and to excite.
It was a quiet, peaceful setting, but Blayne’s heart was beating a mile a minute from the thrill of Alexi’s touch, and from having Alexi’s body wrapped tightly around her own. “I can hardly believe we’re really here,” she whispered almost reverently. “It’s like a dream.”
“A dream come true,” Alexi murmured between kisses.
“It feels so wonderful to have you hold me. Touch me. To be able to touch you. Finally. God, what you are doing to me.” She arched her neck to allow Alexi’s mouth a wider landscape to explore, moaning when Alexi’s tongue and teeth nipped and tasted the soft pale flesh beneath her jaw.
“It has been torture for me too,” Alexi whispered back. “So very much, I have wanted to touch you. So very much.” She ached to slip her hands up under Blayne’s sweater, to feel the soft skin beneath, but she wanted to take things slowly. Drive Blayne crazy with desire, and revel in and relish every moment herself.
Blayne closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her runaway heart. She was nervous and excited and a little terrified, too. She’d never wanted anything or anyone this much. Not nearly. And everything that Alexi was doing was only sending her higher by the second. “If you keep that up, we’re going to very soon be in a position that will either get us an audience, or arrested.”
Alexi chuckled against her neck. “Will we? And what position are you seeing us in?”
“A compromising position,” Blayne answered. “Specifically? You on top of me, kissing me like you kissed me the first time.”
A low growl in the back of Alexi’s throat told Blayne what she thought of that particular image.
“You keep putting pictures like that into my head and I may not be able to take you to dinner as I had planned.” Alexi wrapped her arms tightly around Blayne’s waist again and hugged her close.
“We’ve got lots of time,” Blayne said. “Tomorrow’s Saturday and I don’t have to work. I’d like to…you know…”
“I know,” Alexi whispered in her ear. “Slow. Make it last. Make it perfect.”
Blayne lifted her hand to caress the face that rested against hers. “Exactly.”
“Shall we find a nice place for dinner, then, and flirt some more? I can flirt back now, you know,” Alexi said.
“Prove it,” Blayne challenged as she jumped to her feet and offered a hand to Alexi.
Alexi allowed herself to be pulled up, and she kept hold of Blayne’s hand as they headed toward the bike. “Fair warning, however,” she said when they neared the Ducati. “If you put your hands on my thighs again like you did, I am going to have to pull over and do something about it, and you are going to be one very hungry wo
man.”
Blayne laughed. “It’ll take every ounce of will power I have, but I’ll be on my best behavior. For now. After dinner, all bets are off.”
“I will hold you to that.”
*
They found a romantic seafood restaurant a little ways down the coast, and Alexi made sure they were given a private candlelit table that overlooked the ocean. While they waited for their fish, they sipped white Lambrusco and grinned at each other like teenagers on a first date.
Alexi raised her glass and waited for Blayne to raise hers. “To your beautiful smile. The smile that brought you to me.”
“That’s lovely,” Blayne said, her face warming from the unexpected compliment. “Thank you.” She was quiet for a few moments. “You know, I thought for a long time that you weren’t interested in me. That I wasn’t your type. I know you can have any woman you want.”
Alexi leaned over to touch her cheek. “You are a very beautiful woman, Blayne, and very much my type.”
Blayne took another long sip of wine to try to calm her nerves. The way that Alexi was looking at her was doing all sorts of marvelous things to her insides. “Good to know.”
“I thought I made that clear when I kissed you,” Alexi said gently. “I just had to. You left me no option.”
“I hoped you felt that way.” Blayne responded. “But I guess I wasn’t sure. I had been really throwing myself at you. And like you said…you’re only human.”
“Yes, I am only human, and when a beautiful woman throws herself at me it is very difficult to resist. I did it only because I had to, not because I wanted to.”
Blayne caught her lower lip between her teeth and glanced at Alexi expectantly. “And now? What do you want now, Alexi?”
Alexi leaned forward again, placed a hand on Blayne’s, and looked into her eyes. “Right now I want to kiss you. Right now I want to do what I have to do.”
Blayne’s skin tingled at the memory of how the last kiss had made her feel. “Can I take a rain check on that? Perhaps for dessert, somewhere more private?”
“I have never looked forward to dessert before like I do now.”
The waiter interrupted them with their meals, and it took only a few forkfuls for them to both realize they were virtually bolting down their food. They looked at each other and broke up laughing.
“I wish I could say that it is good, but I have not tasted a thing,” Alexi said. “So how is yours?”
“I’m eating only because I think we’ll need sustenance later,” Blayne replied.
“Why? Do you have plans?”
Blayne nodded her head slowly and deliberately. “Oh, yeah. I intend to keep you much too busy to eat.”
Alexi raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Do tell.”
Blayne put her hand on Alexi’s thigh under the table. “I’d rather show, than tell.”
“I would rather you do that too,” Alexi responded, her voice tight.
“You know, I am suddenly feeling very full. Can’t eat another bite.” Blayne licked her lips. “Unless of course, you’d like me to nibble on you. That can be arranged.”
“Would you like to move on to dessert?”
“Now that, I definitely have an appetite for.”
Alexi turned to find the waiter. “Check, please!”
They settled the bill and headed for the bike, which was parked behind the restaurant, away from traffic and the attention of anyone passing by. Alexi reached for the helmets, but Blayne grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket and yanked her close.
“Can’t wait any more,” she rasped, before pulling Alexi’s lips forcefully to hers.
This kiss began where the first left off, hungry and full of need, the outcome of long hours and days and weeks of wanting what was now not only possible, but finally within reach.
Blayne nipped and tugged at Alexi’s lips, and stroked them with her tongue, and Alexi answered with equal passion, thrusting her tongue into Blayne’s mouth to claim and explore the welcoming warmth.
Blayne’s arms went around Alexi’s neck, and Alexi’s hands went to Blayne’s ass, and their bodies came together in a rush of heavy breathing and low moans as the kiss went on and on and on. They remained like that until the lights of a car swept over them as it parked nearby, jolting them back to reality.
“Christ,” Alexi panted as they broke apart. “How the hell am I ever going to be able to drive us anywhere?”
Blayne traced a hand lightly down the center of Alexi’s chest. “Oh, I’m confident you can get us somewhere we can continue this.”
“I am glad you are confident.” Alexi reached for the helmets with an unsteady hand. Her body was so painfully aroused she worried the vibrations of the bike might push her over the edge.
They put on the helmets and mounted the bike, Alexi struggling to focus on driving and not on the feel of Blayne snuggled up behind her. She knew it was impossible—Blayne was wearing a jacket, and so was she—but she swore she could feel Blayne’s nipples against her back.
They had gone only a few miles up the coast when Blayne’s hands slipped from her waist to her crotch. It was only a light brushing tease of a caress, but it shattered the small amount of focus Alexi had garnered. She swerved into the next motel they passed, a collection of beachfront bungalows that advertised a scenic view, in-room Jacuzzis and privacy.
As soon as she stopped the bike, she glanced over her shoulder and said in a voice that was not hers, “All right?”
“Perfect.”
Blayne stuck close as Alexi registered, requesting their nicest accommodations.
“How many nights?” the clerk asked.
Alexi looked to Blayne for the answer.
“Two nights,” she replied. “You have room service, right?”
“Yes, of course,” the man replied cheerily. “We can deliver from any of the area restaurants. Twenty-four hours. Menus are in the rooms.”
“Great!” Blayne tried for a casual air but found Alexi staring at her with what could only be described as a wolfish grin. Dear God. Get me into that room right now. “Ready?” she asked, as seductively as she could manage with Alexi looking at her like that.
Alexi only nodded, very slowly, with that grin getting just a little wider, and Blayne swore she could see her pupils dilate right there, the vivid blue rings shrinking as Alexi’s hunger reached out and enveloped her.
They left for the room, Alexi moving ahead to politely open doors, her hand resting on Blayne’s lower back as they walked. Blayne felt light-headed from nerves and excitement, the thundering of her heart loud in her ears. She found it incredibly hard to take a deep breath. Her body was thrumming, as every nerve ending sang out for Alexi’s touch.
For weeks they had been wanting, craving, needing. Desire growing by the day without hope of fulfillment. And now they were here, and she surely could never remember ever being this incredibly turned on and fearful at the same time. Please don’t let me do anything to disappoint her. Please. She means far too much.
Alexi’s body seemed charged by electricity, as though every sense had been acutely and profoundly heightened to appreciate such a long awaited moment. Walking beside Blayne, her nostrils flared to catch another whiff of her perfume, a hint of citrus with undertones of earthy, musky sensuality. That’s her, her essence.
It fed her, and sent her higher, as had the look in Blayne’s eyes when she turned to her, back at the desk. After making it clear we are going to be in here touching each other for the next forty-eight hours or so. Jesus. The look in Blayne’s eyes had been one of open and unfettered desire as deep as her own.
Alexi had felt arousal before, certainly, but these feelings that Blayne stirred up in her were overwhelming. And unfamiliar. A mixture of unmatched excitement and absolute terror. She used sex as a means of satisfying a physical need, never her emotions. This was an unfamiliar arena, and she was involved in a very scary challenge she desperately did not want to lose.
She was a passionate lover
, accomplished at giving and confident in her abilities to arouse and satisfy. Showing a woman you were horny for her was easy. But she had little experience at taking…or at showing someone how she felt about them with sex. And what she felt for Blayne…she couldn’t put into words. So she knew of no other way to tell her than through touch.
*
It was a lovely room, with a king-sized bed facing the ocean, and privacy blinds that allowed the occupants a splendid view while affording them complete protection from prying eyes.
“Would you like some…wine? Or music? Or…” Alexi stood just inside the door, watching as Blayne checked out the view and the Jacuzzi.
“No, thank you.” Blayne crossed to the bed and sat on one corner, bouncing up and down once or twice as though checking out the durability of the mattress. Her expression changed from playful to serious. “All I want, all I need, is the beautiful woman I see standing before me,” she said softly. “Whom I very much wish would get over here and kiss me. Since there is nothing to interrupt us this time.”
Alexi bit back her nervous apprehension and slowly approached the bed. Her chest rose and fell and she sucked in air, desperate to calm her raging heart. Blayne’s gaze traveled up and down the length of her body, lingering here and there with undisguised appreciation for the way she moved.
“I love your body.” Blayne sighed. She opened her legs to invite Alexi in between them, and looked up at her as they embraced. “You have no idea how many times I just watched you and thought…Oh, how I wish!”
Alexi smiled and brought her hands up to frame Blayne’s face. “I have a very good idea, as a matter of fact.”
She lowered her mouth to Blayne’s, kissing her with exquisite tenderness, savoring the sweet softness, the easy submission to the strokes of her tongue. Blayne opened to her like a flower, drawing her in, deepening the kiss until it roared hot and wet.
“Blayne,” she panted, pulling back slightly as her self-control threatened to snap. Slow. Slow. Jaws clenched in determination. “You are driving me wild. It is so hard to…take time, but I want to.”