by Jane Hardee
Michael eyed her mother with a scowl. She wished everyone would just let it go. Things with Jess were at a near boiling point, and she couldn’t bear even indirect references to their tense relationship. Her own thoughts had tormented her enough this weekend.
Last night, Michael had gone to bed early hoping to be asleep by the time Jess joined her. She had fallen asleep, but she could not escape Jess. She had dreamt of her all night. Her kiss and her touch. Even her smell. These dreams were becoming more and more vivid. At one point Michael swore she could feel Jess’s tongue swiping at the shell of her ear. Jumping out of the rocking chair, Michael grabbed her duffel and took it to the car. Jess hadn’t woken up yet, but she was anxious to get on the road.
Michael would be leaving early tomorrow morning for New York to begin work on her commission. She needed a clear head. She needed to put Jess as far from her mind as possible. Maybe this time apart would help.
With a creak of the screen door, Michael watched as Jess descended the front porch steps and put her sunglasses on. Yeah, all she needed was some time apart to forget about her smile, her chestnut brown hair, her beautiful shapely legs.
“Shit.” Michael ground her teeth as the telltale tingle of arousal began.
“What Michael, dear?” Annabel asked, bringing over a brown paper bag full of leftovers and more carbs than Michael was prepared to consume after this weekend.
“I’m going to miss you,” Michael said, taking the bag from Annabel and putting it behind the driver’s seat. She turned and wrapped her arms around her mother’s slender shoulders and rested her chin on Annabel’s head.
“I am so proud of you dear. So proud. You will do well in New York.”
“Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
Michael really wished she could see Annabel more often. Maybe if things worked out in New York, Michael could buy a little house in Atlanta. She would even love for Annabel to live with her, but even before she was finished with the thought, she knew Annabel wouldn’t go for it. This was her home. Michael knew it would take a lot of convincing to make her leave this place.
“Good-bye, Mrs. Shafer. Thanks for a lovely stay. You will have to come visit me while Michael is in New York,” Jess said, approaching the car.
“Oh, I will dear. I know you will be lonely without her.” Annabel wrapped Jess in a tight hug, and Jess laid her head on Annabel’s shoulder.
Michael could not read Jess’s expression because of the dark glasses she wore, but she could have sworn she saw a light flush on her cheeks.
Just your wishful imagination, Michael thought grumpily as she sat down in the driver’s seat and buckled her seat belt. After the incident at the cove, Michael had analyzed Jess’s every move. Was Jess feeling an attraction too?
Michael tried not to notice the swell of Jess’s breasts tight against her T-shirt as she bent to sit in the passenger seat. She also tried not to notice her perfect legs or the way the pink polka dots on her skirt accentuated her pale skin tone, but as hard as she tried, it was impossible to ignore the sight of Jess’s body as she got comfortable and clicked her seat belt into place. Michael looked straight ahead and turned the key, waiting for the ignition to purr.
“Ready?” Michael asked.
“Sure thing.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The trip back to Atlanta was less than five hours, but Michael felt as if she’d driven the length of the entire Mason-Dixon Line. Jess stared out the window, which she had done for most of the ride, with her bare feet propped up on the dashboard. Her soft cotton skirt left her legs bare from mid-thigh down, and Michael tried to get a glimpse of Jess’s skin without turning her head. At one point when Jess dozed off, Michael did stare and was jolted by the shaking of the steering wheel when she drove over the rumble stripe before righting the car. How had she never noticed Jess had a cute freckle above her left ankle?
Traffic was sparse and Michael was able to stay in one lane at a steady speed, so she draped her hand on top of the shifter. The weekend was over. Should she be relieved? Jess would return home, Michael would fly to New York, where the only woman she wanted to interact with was made of marble. Yet somehow, the closer they got to the exit for Jess’s apartment, the more depressed she became. The weekend had been magical. Just the two of them, as if it was years ago. Except the near catastrophic fuck-up. What if she had kissed Jess at the cove? Based on some of the interactions they had over the weekend—the flirtatious banter, the near kiss, sleeping in the same bed—Michael wondered what Jess’s response would have been if she had kissed her, and that was a dangerous line of thinking.
Michael knew Jess to be an incredibly open person. People knew how she felt about them, good or bad. If Jess was harboring amorous feelings for Michael, she’d know it. She knew Jess didn’t love her, but was she hot for her? The idea of Jess wanting her made her wet.
Michael had done most of the talking during the ride. Actually, Jess hadn’t said much of anything. Was something bothering her? Maybe she was just bummed about heading back to the grind. Michael glanced at Jess and tried to read her expression. The large Jackie O–style sunglasses hid her eyes. Jess turned and the corner of her full mouth quirked up in a half smile. Yeah, something was up. Jess didn’t do anything by halves. Not even smiles.
“Can we head to your place? I’m not ready for reality,” Jess said, facing the window as she spoke.
The idea of prolonging their weekend twisted Michael’s gut. Time with Jess was always something she craved, but after the closeness and intimacy of this weekend, she also needed some time to cool off and collect her thoughts. Michael knew she would have to agree. She would do anything Jess requested.
“Sure, I have some sketches for La Femme I wanted to show you.” As soon as the words left her mouth, Michael realized how lame they sounded. It was partly true, but mostly Michael wanted to seem unaffected by Jess’s request. She continued straight to the next exit toward her loft. Because her voice sounded strained, Michael cleared her throat. She concentrated on the broken white line of the road to keep from thinking about the blood rushing through her.
In the elevator headed up to her loft, Jess remained quiet and distant. This silence felt awkward, and Michael didn’t want their perfect weekend to end on a sour note. She didn’t want Jess to be upset. If something was bothering her, Michael wanted to know. Michael needed to be a good friend to Jess, even if it meant prolonging her own discomfort and sexual frustration for a while longer.
The elevator lurched to a stop and Michael stepped over to the door and pulled it open, letting Jess into the hallway. Deciding to be up front with Jess, Michael blurted, “Is everything okay?” as she stepped into the darkened loft. She had left a small table lamp on in the living area, but it did not provide much light to maneuver by.
Jess didn’t respond, so Michael turned to look at her after she shut and locked the door. Jess looked adorable and sexy at the same time in a faded, threadbare Blondie T-shirt and that damn polka dot skirt. Her hands crossed under her breasts and her head titled to the side as if she were studying Michael from behind the sunglasses she still wore. “Is everything okay?” Michael repeated.
“No,” Jess murmured. Michael’s heart ached at the pain in that small voice. She dropped her duffel and in two steps was in front of Jess. She raised both her hands to remove Jess’s sunglasses. The look in Jess’s eyes stole her breath. Michael had been with many women, and had kissed more than that, but never had she seen a look of such unguarded, unafraid longing.
The sunglasses clattered to the floor as Jess backed Michael up to the nearest wall. Michael’s back met the rough brick just as Jess’s soft hands came to rest on the sides of her face. Michael looked away, unable to meet her eyes.
“What—”
Jess put a finger on Michael’s lips. “Shh,” Jess whispered and traced the outline of Michael’s bottom lip with her fingertip.
What is Jess doing?
Chancing a glance at Jess’s face, Micha
el’s eyes were drawn to Jess’s moist mouth.
Those lips. That tongue. This woman. This was the last straw. Years of pent-up sexual desire and obsession rushed through her like floodwaters from a dam.
Michael twisted until their positions reversed and she reached up to pin Jess’s hands above her head. With deliberate slowness, Michael trailed her other hand down the line of Jess’s ribs to rest at her waist. Michael paused for a moment and focused hard on Jess’s eyes, searching for some reason to stop. Jess’s eyes bored into her, and she saw nothing there but complete arousal and abandon. Knowing Jess wanted this, wanted her, even the second burning of Atlanta wouldn’t be enough to stop her from taking Jess now.
When their lips touched, Michael felt as though she had been shoved into some far off corner of the universe. The nearest other living thing billions of light years away. Nothing mattered. Not time. Not control. Not restraint. The silence was deafening and gravity nonexistent.
The adolescent fantasies that followed her into adulthood were insignificant compared to the feel of Jess’s pliant and responsive mouth beneath her own lips. With her wrists still bound above her head by Michael’s larger hand, Jess leaned into the kiss but allowed Michael to set the pace. This fact did not escape Michael’s attention and she trembled at the thought of being in control, of dominating Jess.
Michael was taken aback by the flood of arousal she felt as Jess yielded to her hands and the firm press of her mouth. Squeezing Jess’s wrists and trapping her body against the wall, Michael grabbed Jess’s chin with the other hand and pushed her face upward, exposing her neck. At Jess’s sharp cry of pleasure, Michael bit down hard, not caring if she left a mark. Jess began to fight to free her wrists, which only made Michael hold them tighter. The feeling of overpowering Jess, of controlling her arousal and her desire, was causing primal urges in Michael’s body she was unfamiliar with. With her free hand, Michael roughly palmed Jess’s ass, pulling her more firmly against her own body. She wanted to throw Jess over her shoulder and carry her to the bed. She wanted to make Jess beg for her touch and deny her pleasure until Michael saw fit to deliver.
As she continued to press her lips into Jess, she grew bolder and slid her tongue inside. Jess opened to her with a small moan, and Michael’s knees buckled at the gentle swipe of Jess’s tongue. Michael reluctantly let go so she could feel Jess’s hands on her skin. Jess seemed tentative but not shy in her exploration of Michael’s neck and shoulders. Slipping a thigh between Jess’s legs, Michael was rewarded with another small moan as Jess ran her hands inside the collar of her baseball T-shirt.
Jess’s mouth was hot and hungry. She tasted like spearmint and summer. In the back of her mind, behind the haze of arousal and throbbing of her body, Michael felt the catharsis of this moment. Every word she had ever read by Shakespeare or Sappho made complete sense to her. If the world swallowed her up right now, she would be happy in heaven with the memory of Jess’s lips.
Michael continued her assault on Jess’s mouth and she could sense Jess’s growing irritation at the barrier of clothing between them. Michael tugged at the hem of Jess’s worn T-shirt and pulled it up over her head. Once her shirt fell to the floor, Jess turned her face up to Michael’s in search of her mouth.
Before she could kiss her again, Michael kept her mouth just out of Jess’s reach, feeling her warm breath caress her face and their lower bodies fusing together. Letting her eyes drift down Jess’s face, then to her neck, and then to her round, high breasts in a pink lace bra, Michael’s mouth went dry.
“What are we doing?” she asked, breathing hard and trying to control her building emotions.
Jess looked deep into Michael’s eyes and once again reversed their positions. Grabbing the nape of Michael’s neck, Jess put her lips to her ear and whispered, “Everything.”
The remaining self-control Michael possessed crashed down around her as she crushed her mouth to Jess’s. The gentleness she equated with Jess was gone, and Michael resisted the urge to cry out as Jess tugged at Michael’s bottom lip with her teeth. Michael pushed her tongue into Jess’s mouth, nipped and licked her lips as she thrust her hands into Jess’s silky hair.
Jess held on tight to Michael’s waist, fisting her shirt in her hands, as if she thought Michael would disappear.
Pushing away from the wall, Michael backed Jess toward the corner of her loft that served as the bedroom. With no window coverings, the panes of the large windows cast a grid pattern of ambient street light on the large antique bed. Jess pulled and tugged at Michael’s shirt and jeans. Her hands roamed underneath Michael’s T-shirt, grazing the bottom sides of her breasts. Michael hissed and grabbed Jess’s hands to still her movements; her breasts were incredibly sensitive, and if she wanted to make this last, she needed to slow things down.
Michael backed up slowly. Jess groaned at the loss of contact, but sat on the edge of the bed to observe Michael. As Jess watched, Michael grabbed the collar of her own T-shirt and pulled it off to reveal her black sports bra. Michael moved her hands to her belt and pulled it free, never taking her eyes off Jess’s. She released the button of her jeans and pulled the zipper down. Dropping her pants and briefs at the same time, she saw Jess’s eyes nearly fully dilate. Michael’s chest rose and fell rapidly as she watched Jess’s eyes feast on her nearly naked body. Showing her body to Jess she could handle. This she was used to. But her heart was another story.
Finally, Jess’s eyes rose to her face and she stood. Michael breathed deeply, trying to calm the tremor in her body and the blood rushing in her ears—determined to hide her desperation. Continuing to look her in the eye, Jess reached behind her hips to the clasp of her skirt. The only sound Michael could hear was the clink of the zipper and her heart pounding. Michael swallowed hard. With an agonizing slowness, Jess pulled down the skirt zipper and pushed the material down her thighs, leaving her pink panties in place.
Nearly whimpering out loud, Michael took in the sight of Jess’s body. Her narrow waist gave way to rounded hips, and Michael itched have those milky smooth thighs wrapped around her. Jess’s body reminded her of a Renaissance painting—unblemished porcelain skin, round and full in all the right places. This was the first time Michael had allowed herself to appreciate Jess’s beauty without constantly keeping her sexual arousal at bay. Michael let the feeling flow through her body. Travel through her. Consume her.
Words she knew she couldn’t utter threatened to spill from her lips. She wanted to tell Jess she knew how sweet she would taste. How warm and soft she would be. She wanted to tell Jess her fantasies could never live up to the reality of touching Jess and claiming her, but she knew she couldn’t say any of those things. Whatever this was…whatever was happening…she still felt the need to keep her heart hidden.
Michael watched the gentle rise and fall of Jess’s chest and realized it wasn’t nearly as erratic as her own. While she drew comfort from this, there was still something in the back of her mind telling her this should not be happening. Before Michael could reconsider the path they were headed down, Jess slowly unclasped her bra. She slipped the straps off her shoulders but held it to her chest a moment longer. Michael closed her eyes, overcome with emotion at the thought of Jess naked in front of her, offering herself for the taking. When she opened her eyes Jess let the garment fall to the floor. Her breasts were round and full, with soft pink nipples begging to be touched.
Michael then reached for her own bra and pulled it over her head. As her breasts were revealed, Jess ran her hand down her belly to cup her own sex. Michael nearly lost consciousness. Michael grabbed Jess’s wrist, pulling it away from her body.
“The only person touching you tonight,” Michael nipped at Jess’s chin, “is me.” Her voice sounded harsh, but she couldn’t help it. Jess’s sexy smile in response let something loose inside her. Grabbing Jess’s hands she held them behind her back with one hand and she trailed her index finger down Jess’s neck, between her breasts and stomach to rest just inside the fab
ric of her panties. Jess’s sexy smile vanished and gave way to a sensual yet pained expression. That’s better.
“Understood?” Michael tugged gently on her bound hands until Jess met her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Good girl. Now hold still,” Michael warned.
Not knowing what else to do, Michael leaned down to kneel in front of Jess as if to worship her. She placed a kiss on Jess’s lower belly, just above the line of her panties. Wrapping her arms around Jess’s lower body, she continued to kiss the soft skin there.
“Michael.”
The sound of Jess’s voice as she whispered Michael’s name was arresting. Michael had heard her name spoken thousands of times, but now with Jess’s warm skin under her fingers, she felt as though Jess was speaking some unknown, romantic language—the word unfamiliar and provocative. She wanted to hear it again. Forever. Not allowing herself to think about tomorrow, she concentrated on that sweet, sexy whisper. Michael was determined to hear her name from those lips again and again before the night was over.
“Michael, come up here,” Jess said, pulling at Michael’s biceps.
“No,” Michael replied firmly with a predatory grin and lifted Jess’s hips closer to her face.
Jess brought her hands up to tuck her hair behind her ears, returning Michael’s grin and then placing her hand in front of her mouth to hide her giggle.
Staring at Jess’s panties, Michael ran her index finger just inside the elastic, and Jess moaned as her head fell back. She placed one last kiss on top of the smooth fabric, then rose to stand in front of Jess.
Michael’s smile faded as she registered that this was the first time in her life that she was going to genuinely make love to someone. She put her fingers to Jess’s cheek. God, I love this woman.