by Radclyffe
“With any luck, we’ll be gone before she shows up.” Sax took two steps, felt fine, then a few more. All systems go.
“Sax, you have me at a disadvantage here. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Tell me you’re not being stubborn and foolish.”
Sax met her eyes. “I need about two days before I can drive or work, but I’m okay. I can rest at Maddy’s a lot better than I can here. I won’t take chances. I promise.”
“Then let me give you a hand.”
“Deal.”
*
“These weren’t designed for two,” Jude observed, bumping her elbow against the shower wall as she carefully worked the lather into Sax’s hair.
Sax pressed her hips into Jude’s pelvis, observing mischievously, “Maybe they were.”
“Stop,” Jude breathed, enjoying a little too much the slick feel of Sax’s skin against her thigh. She’d been so scared that she would lose her, and now she was so damn glad to have her back. God, it feels good. Too good. “There are so many reasons why we can’t do this here, I can’t even count.”
“Mmm, I know.” Sax ran her fingers along the edge of Jude’s breast, watching her nipple harden. “What were they again?”
“Do that for another second, and I’ll forget, so...stop.”
“Jude,” Sax said quietly, her hands resting on Jude’s waist, her expression suddenly serious. “Thank you for this morning. For being there, for talking to Pam about the meds.”
“Sax—” Jude started to protest, her palms on Sax’s shoulders, their breasts lightly touching, their eyes holding one another.
“No, wait...I’m not done,” Sax interrupted, smiling faintly, wanting to say the words. “You took care of me, and I...I needed that. I needed you. So I...just...”
“Sax, I love you,” Jude said. Firmly. Clearly. Tenderly. “I need you.”
Sax closed her eyes, rested her forehead on Jude’s. “God, I love you.”
“Good,” Jude whispered and kissed her. So very good.
After a moment, Sax moved her mouth to Jude’s ear and murmured, “I can’t remember why we weren’t supposed to do this.”
A sharp knock resounded loudly on the bathroom door, clearly audible even above the pounding of the running water.
“That would be one,” Jude said dryly. She turned the knobs to off and slid the curtain back. “Yes?”
“Sinclair better be in there,” Pam Arnold warned from the other side of the door.
“Uh, could you give us a minute?” Jude called.
“No.”
“We need to get dressed.”
“I’m not hearing this,” Pam’s voice announced ominously. “I’m really not. Five minutes.”
When they emerged, Sax was in the jeans and T-shirt Jude had retrieved earlier from her on-call room, and Jude wore the clean clothes Melissa had delivered from her apartment. They found Pam waiting in the room’s only chair, legs crossed, looking elegant and decidedly cool.
“You agreed to stay overnight. It’s 9:30 p.m.” She fixed Sax with a piercing stare.
“I’m fine,” Sax replied.
Before Pam could snarl a response, the door opened and Deb Stein entered, followed closely by Melissa.
“Hey, boss,” Deb called, smiling with delight. “You’re up!”
“Hi,” Melissa added.
“Wonderful. Now we can have a party,” Pam growled, rising to her feet. “You two,” she addressed the newcomers. “Out.”
As they looked from her to Sax and Jude in confusion, the door opened yet again.
“Whoa,” Melissa blurted before she could stop herself as a woman stepped inside.
“Maddy,” Sax exclaimed. “I thought Jude told you on the phone not to come.”
“I know that, Saxon.” Maddy smiled at Mel, who was staring unabashedly at her. “But you can’t drive that motorcycle, and I was certain that you would be about ready to leave by now.”
“How did you get here? Tell me you didn’t drive the Rolls,” Sax cried.
“There’s a very nice policeman right out in front of the hospital who is watching it,” Maddy explained, her eyes twinkling. Saxon appeared fine, just as Jude had said, but she felt better seeing for herself. She knew what being a patient would do to her granddaughter.
“Oh my God,” Sax moaned. “I have to go see to it right now.”
“Wait a minute.” Pam was very nearly shouting.
“Ah, let me make introductions,” Jude said quickly before the scene could deteriorate further. As she went around the room getting everyone acquainted, even Pam began to relax.
“Madeleine Lane,” Melissa said reverently. “You’re Sax’s grandmother. Whoa.”
“And you’re Jude’s DP. Lovely work,” Maddy said.
Melissa blushed and was, for once, speechless.
“So,” Maddy fixed Pam with an assessing stare, “may I take her home? Jude will be there to see that she behaves.”
“Maddy,” Sax groaned.
“She does seem fine,” Pam admitted reluctantly. “I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea, however.”
“How about if Deb comes along?” Jude suggested.
“Check,” Sax whispered to Jude, too low for anyone else to hear. She watched with pleasure as Jude deftly moved the pieces with surgical precision.
“Yes,” Maddy agreed. She looked from Mel to Deb. “And you are welcome, too, Melissa. I’ve lots of room.”
“Well...” Mel replied hesitantly, looking at Deb with a question in her eyes.
“It’s fine with me,” Deb answered with a quick grin at Mel.
Jude moved a little closer to Sax, resting a hand on her back. “Do those arrangements satisfy?”
A wisp of a smile softened Pam’s face. “It would seem I’ve been outmaneuvered. I concede defeat.”
“And mate,” Jude whispered, firmly taking Sax’s hand.
Epilogue
Twelve months later
“Who is it?” Sax called, her scrub shirt half off over her head.
“It’s me.” A deep male voice replied from the hallway outside her on-call room.
Hastily, she pulled down her shirt, quickly crossed to the door, and peered out. She was annoyed to see that, clearly, he was on schedule. He looked dashing in black tie, every blond hair in place as always.
“What do you want?” she snapped. “It’s already 6:20.”
Raising an eyebrow at her obvious state of unreadiness, Aaron said, “I know precisely what time it is. I was just checking to see if you were ready.”
“No, Aaron, I’m not ready. Do I look ready? Are you planning to help me get dressed? Because if you’re not, would you please go away and leave me alone?”
Aaron Townsend was enjoying Sinclair’s nervousness. It wasn’t often—make that never—that he got to see her even the least bit off her stride. Nervous was just not a word that applied. “Well, if you want me to, I could probably accommodate you.”
“Just because I might once have said I missed you, I’ve forgotten that by now. Don’t push, or you could be back doing float work on the medical floor.”
“Deb just left,” he continued, walking into Sax’s on-call room and completely ignoring her empty threats. “She looked truly outstanding. Nice ride, too.”
Sax raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess. Black Rolls? Mint condition...”
“Uh-huh.”
“Please, please, tell me that my grandmother wasn’t driving.”
“Nah. Some scruffy little blond.” When Sax moaned, he laughed and took pity on her. “No, really, a gorgeous chauffeur’s driving—tall brunette with cheekbones like Jodie Foster. And Deb’s date looks great, too. Melissa’s hot.”
“The three of them, together, out on the town with the Rolls. It’s terrifying.” Sax put a hand on his chest and shoved. “Now, get out.”
“Where are your clothes?” He still hadn’t moved.
“The tailor is dropping them off.” Exasperated, she added, “I mean it. Goodby
e.” She gestured toward the hallway and began nudging him in that direction.
“What time is she picking you up?”
“Twenty minutes, and I still have to shower. So will you please get lost?”
“Yes, Doctor,” he said mockingly and stepped back out into the hall. “I’ll see you there.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, closing the door resoundingly behind him and finally shedding her shirt. She had untied her pants and was about to step out of them when a knock came again. “I’m not kidding,” she shouted from her side of the door. “Disappear, as in vanish, unless you intend to come in here and help me off with the rest of my clothes.”
For a moment, there was total silence, and then Jude spoke from the hall. “I’m trying to decide who you think might be standing out here. The only one I can reasonably come up with is Pam Arnold, and if that’s the case, I’m coming in there to kill you.”
Sax pulled the door open for a second time. “What are you doing here? It’s not time yet. Is it?”
Jude didn’t reply. She leaned against the door frame, shielding her lover from the view of passersby in the hallway, and stared. Sax was standing a few feet away, nearly naked, her scrub pants halfway off her hips, her chest and stomach bare. Despite the fact that Jude had seen her step naked from the shower that morning, and by now she should probably be used to it, the sight of Sax undressed never failed to drive every other thought from her mind. Her palms actually tingled with the urge to touch her.
Finally she managed, “Who were you expecting?”
“No one. Aaron was just here a minute ago bothering me.”
“And you invited him to help you get undressed? That’s an interesting twist,” Jude remarked with a grin. “Something I need to know?”
Sax grinned back. “Not to worry. It was a threat.”
“Not to me.” Jude crossed the threshold, tossed the garments she was carrying over one arm onto a nearby chair, and kicked the door closed behind her. In one continuous motion, she closed the distance between them until her breasts were against Sax’s and her hands were buried in her hair. She pulled Sax even closer, then swallowed Sax’s gasp of surprise before slipping her tongue into her lover’s mouth. Always so good.
When Sax managed to draw a breath, she rasped, “Are you crazy? We have to be there in forty-five minutes. We’re not even dressed. Don’t...I mean it...don’t touch me...” And then they were kissing again, and Sax was not resisting.
Coupled, fused, joined by hands and mouth and lips, they slowly moved across the room, never breaking the kiss. When they reached the door to the bathroom, Jude finally lifted her head and whispered, “We can be late.”
“No, we can’t,” Sax groaned desperately. “Your documentary is one of the selections. This is the New York Film Festival, for God’s sake. We can’t be late for the premiere.”
“I can’t sit through four hours of speeches thinking about your hands on me,” Jude insisted, pushing Sax into the room and against the small sink, then insinuating one thigh between her legs. She watched Sax’s eyes grow hazy and knew that she had won. Gripping the sink on either side of Sax’s body to hold her in place, she lowered her head and caught a nipple between her teeth.
Sax gave a sharp cry, arching her back as a swift jolt drilled through her spine and sparked fire between her legs. “Oh. Please...if you start...”
“I’ve already started.”
Sax knew she wouldn’t last, and she damn well wasn’t going to be alone. Adroitly, she worked the zipper down on Jude’s slacks and in the same motion slipped her hand in. “Oh yeah—you’re ready,” she gasped as they both shed clothing.
“I was ready at the door,” Jude murmured, moving her lips to Sax’s neck, her teeth to the skin just below her ear. “All it took was seeing you naked.”
“Jesus.” Sax felt her head about to explode. Each of Jude’s sharp cries made her twitch, and as she thrust, Jude rocked. They were synchronized, leading and following, rising and falling together.
Raising her head, Jude’s eyes met Sax’s. “I’m going to...”
“Yes.”
“Now...”
“Yes...now...”
Sax shuddered, Jude shivered, and they held tightly to one another until they could breathe again.
Finally, Sax gathered herself enough to ask, “Did you happen to bring my tux?”
“Of course,” Jude said with a shaky laugh. “I brought both of them.”
“I love you,” Sax whispered.
“I’m so glad.”
Sax nuzzled her ear. “You’re going to win, you know.”
Jude took her hand, thinking of the past year, and tugged her toward the shower. “I already have.”
About the Author
Radclyffe is a retired surgeon and full-time award-winning author-publisher with over thirty lesbian and anthologies in print. Seven of her works have been Lambda Literary finalists, including the Lambda Literary winners Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman; In Deep Waters 2; Distant Shores, Silent Thunder. She is the editor of Best Lesbian Romance 2009 and 2010 (Cleis Press), Erotic Interludes 2 through 5 and Romantic Interludes 1 and 2 with Stacia Seaman (BSB), and has selections in multiple anthologies including Best Lesbian Erotica 2006-2010; After Midnight; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; First-Timers; Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear; Hide and Seek; A is for Amour; H is for Hardcore; L is for Leather; Rubber Sex, Tasting Him, and Cowboy Erotica. She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ awards for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.
Her latest release is an all-Radclyffe erotica anthology, Radical Encounters (Feb 2009) and the romantic intrigue novel Justice for All (April 2009), and the romance Secrets in the Stone (July 2009). Her forthcoming works include The Midnight Hunt (writing as L.L. Raand, March 2010) and the first in the First Responder Series, Trauma Alert (July 2010).