by April Worth
Opening the door to her bedroom, a brow quirked, she hadn’t remembered leaving it so bright. She turned the corner and padded into the room. The sight stole her breath. A room lit brightly with glowing stout white candles, raided from her supply in the kitchen. Music coming from somewhere, softly playing, the likely source being the phone on her bedside table. Her eyes drifted over her bed, and more importantly the person in it, who was looking back at her with a sultry smile.
“Jo?..”
Her temple propped against her knuckles, the quilt caressing her bare thigh with a languid touch. A pale silky chemise and matching panties. The bedding on Jean’s side was already pulled back in a neat triangle.
“She’s asleep..you don’t mind if I join you?” Her fingertips trailed over the pillows.
“Not sure I can form a sentence..would a nod be sufficient?”
Jo smiled gently at her. The older woman pulled back the quilt and sheet as she slid in, her eyes trailing over the beautiful woman. She’d only expected a good night kiss. This was..unexpected..and so much better.
As soon as Jean’s upper back was cushioned by the pillows propped against the headboard, Jo moved like quicksilver. A sudden warmth and weight as long lean thighs straddled her hips, Jo’s satin briefs pressing against her groin. Jean’s breath stolen as she looked up into the darkened grey eyes. The silky camisole left little to the imagination. Jean so rarely saw her with her hair down, it draped over her chest in a pale cascade.
The older woman shook her head, a smile on her face. Her hands slid up the smooth bare thighs, resting on Jo’s hips.
“You take my breath away Jo.”
The blonde smiled, leaning down to kiss her, when she pulled back Jean gathered the golden strands in her hands, brushing them away from the policewoman’s face.
Rather than a reply, Jo released a held breath, taking the older woman’s hands and placing them over her own breasts. Jean moaned softly, the points hardened under her palms, the thin satin allowing her to feel every contour. Jean pulled herself upright, tanned arms easing Jo forward to slide more into her lap. A little shudder from the brunette at the sudden contact, she ran a fingertip over Jo’s cheekbone. Jo adjusted too, from kneeling, to loosely wrapping her long legs around her older lover’s waist.
The blonde threaded fingertips through the brunette’s damp hair, mewling softly as they kissed. Her lover’s hands wanted to read Jo like a map, familiarising every curve and bend into memory. Fingertips running over her fair skin, the toned muscle of her arms and stomach, how soft it became over her neck and chest.
Jo seemed to have made peace with her doubt. Threading her fingers through Jean’s hair as they kissed and caressed. A soft gasp when her neck was suckled. Smooth lips over her pulse point, the creamy skin tingled from the attention. Long fingertips held Jean in place, as the gardener’s palm slid up to cup her breast. Massaging the hardened point, her lips enthralled by her younger lover’s kiss. Fingertips skittered under the waistband of her cotton shorts, then retreated. A shared breath as Jo’s hands slid under the hem of Jean’s shirt, wanting it gone. A couple of abrupt tugs upward, revealing an olive midriff.
A smile at Joanne’s impatience. Jean raised her arms, as Jo shimmied the shirt off of her. For a moment her younger lover just looked at her bare skin. When the palms slid over her hardened nipples Jean thought she’d catch alight. The hands ended up sliding over her chest, her neck, down over her shoulder blades.
She wanted Jo to feel what she was feeling. As though all the blood in her body had surged under the skin to meet the fair wandering hands. Her fingertips found the bottom hem of the blonde’s camisole, slipping inside. Gliding up to cup her breasts. A sudden moan and nip against Jean’s throat. Her tanned hands kneaded the bare sensitive flesh. Thumbs skimming over taut skin, another groan as pink nipples pressed against her palms.
The blonde’s head tipped back as Jean touched her, a smile from the gardener at the eager reaction to pleasure. She lowered her head, dragging her teeth lightly over the nipple, her hands still working the fevered skin. Senses heightened, Jo could feel every pass of her tongue, her hips ground slowly against Jean of their own accord.
Their lips met again for a kiss, breaths ragged. Jo raised her arms, her older lover sliding the silky singlet from her body, tossing it lightly nearby. Sensual curves, a delight for the eyes. Arms slipped around Jo’s waist, their press together making them both moan. Hardened points and sensitive skin. Satin warmth and mingled breath.
A short cry as Jean resumed her attentions, without the silk barrier between them. Enveloped by a moist heat, gentle tugs of teeth and lips, the other hand a reverent caress from belly to breast.
Jo was grabbing at her skin in needy little grasps. “Jean..I need..kiss me..”
She was more than happy to obey. Hot open mouthed kisses, a caressing tongue. Jo’s hands trailing fire all over her, occasionally dipping cautiously into the hem of her boxers as they sat dovetailed together. Brushing her hips with long fingertips. A soft murmur against her lips as Jean slid an arm around Jo’s back, the other grabbing a pillow from behind herself.
“Lay back sweetheart.”
Jo looked at her with unfocused silver grey. A kiss, softer than the others.
“It’s all right love, I just want to make you feel this good all over.”
A shaky breath as the blonde lay back on the quilt. Enveloped in the crinkling fabric and cool caress of pastel blue sheets. Jean lay beside her, tangling their legs. She brushed the hair out her eyes as before, smiling down at her. Jo smiled back, reaching up and laying her palm on Jean’s chest, it slid up and behind her neck, pulling her down for a hard kiss.
A tanned hand slid down Jo’s tensing belly, stroking her thigh, then across, raking her neat nails gently and cupping the damp silk and lace. The policewoman’s hips jerked up toward the touch.
Jo’s eyes trailed over her olive skin, stopping at Jean’s pale tartan boxers. She’d been tempted to do a little research, but found most of Google’s results had come back perverse. Somehow she just hoped her body would know what to do.
“Take them off.” She mouthed into a kiss.
Jean knelt on the quilt, a gentle caress over Jo’s silk clad hip and her lover’s waist lifted. Her hands slid the panties from her lover’s curves. Then she worked on her own boxers. Soon enough they were both naked in the flickering light.
Jean revelled in the beauty beside her, long lean thighs tapering into an apex of short soft curls, smooth waxed flesh, a narrow seam of glistening pink.
An arousal roughened voice rose from the quilt. “Glad..you approve.” Smirking at her lover’s obvious admiration, Jo’s eyes trailed over newly revealed skin. Jean was just as she remembered. A flat stomach, skin kissed by the sun on her arms and shoulders. Firm pert breasts that showed little of her age. A new detail, a patch of short, neatly trimmed dark hair over her groin. Smouldering eyes that drew her in.
Olive fingertips trailed down her cheek, nails raking lightly as they meandered between her breasts, down to dip the well in Jo’s navel. A feather light touch wandering lower to gauge her desire. Warm and silky wet. It was encouraging, as much as the breathy moan against her lips. They lay kissing, trying to ease her lover into what was a new experience with light exploratory touches.
It was quite a shock to feel Jo’s hand slide from her waist to stroke her inner thigh. They tangled tighter together, a press of warm skin. Jean’s fingertips were determined to make Jo feel wonderful. Parting her new lover gently to stroke, to rub little circles slowly growing firmer. Jo lost her train of thought at the sensation, a soft grunt and she fell back against the sheet.
At the bite of her lip and subtle roll of her hips. Her lover read her body and replied.
A pleased sound mid kiss, Jo’s toned thighs opening further to allow the exploring hand. A soft groan against her lover’s lips as her Jean’s fingertips glided inside her, probing her wetness carefully with a single shallow thrust.<
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Her name never sounded so sensual, so carnal. A husky moan broken into syllables as her older lover entered her.
“Oh..Jo-anne..”
Heated kisses, she felt so connected, her attentive lover listening and responding to every subtle gesture. Her body arching and rolling with Jean’s impassioned touch. Their hooded eyes meeting with each soft moan. The older woman wanted her so badly, wanted to set every nerve on fire. It was only reasonable for Jo to want the same thing. She manoeuvred mid kiss, somehow in the knotting of their legs she slipped her hand between her lover’s thighs.
Hazelnut eyes were suddenly round. “Jo..sw-sweetheart..oh God.”
Feeling the tight heat around her, while her lover glided in and out intensified her arousal ten fold. She mimicked the movements that made her feel so wonderful, wanting to bring Jean as much pleasure as she was receiving herself. They tried so hard not to be loud, moving together on the sheet.
Soft grunts and gasping kisses. Jo couldn’t control it any longer, a wild harsh kiss and groan as she came. A shudder wrenched from screaming muscles. A moment later Jean gasped into the hot cleft of her neck, pulsing around her fingertips. They gripped each other tightly, riding out the last intense few tremors. Jean kissed her as own her breaths came ragged, nuzzling her nose into Jo’s warm throat. A buck of her hips as another shudder came. Eventually the spasming became only trembles. Jo relaxed against the warm body around her, a pleased sigh beside her ear.
Feather light kisses over the blonde’s neck and face. Jean collapsed onto her back and released a held breath.
Joanne tried to move but found that she couldn’t. The motivation drained from her body. “Jean..I think..you’ve paralysed me.”
With a throaty chuckle, she reached over to grasp her lover’s hand.
Molten candles blown out. They tried to climb under the sheets, which had been thoroughly zig-zagged across the bed by their movement.
She slid into Jean’s waiting arms, finding more soft kisses. Eventually drifting off, her head nestled against her shoulder.
Chapter 29
There had been far less soul searching than Jo imagined before falling into an easy slumber. Though not long after she had woken again. With Jean wrapped around her after they made love she felt safe. Safer than she’d ever felt with a gun at her hip. Part of it was the way the woman made her feel. Confident and cared for. The rest..well, perhaps she was just more optimistic. She could even imagine her daughter taking to Jean. She wasn’t sure how the older woman would feel about that, how she felt about it herself. Suffice to say it didn’t fill her with dread. They were taking things one step at a time.
Even Jean’s home was a nicer place for them to spend their time. She could see no down side. No down side other than how everyone might treat her if they found out. The looks and the snide comments. Though she kept her personal and working lives separate, that possibility weighed heavily on her mind.
Lying in the dark, with just the moonlight behind the curtains, she looked down at the outline of her lover’s hand on her belly. Certainly not how she imagined things would go. But she was glad it had worked out this way. Even if it did make her question herself to the core. It wasn’t so different when she thought about it. All those sleepless nights had eventually sharpened into one realisation. It was just skin.
A nuzzle into her hair as the arm around her tightened, a kiss on her shoulder blade.
“Can’t sleep?”
Jo smiled in the darkness. “Was just thinking.”
Another kiss along her neck. “About?”
“Being here with you, I never imagined this.”
Jean nodded against her shoulder. “Things don’t always turn out to plan.”
Jo laid her hand over the one on her belly. “I like being here Jean. I feel so different around you than I do with anyone else.”
“I like having you here, and I’d like you to stay whenever you like. The little one too.”
The blonde touched her fingertips. “I was looking at your pictures today, Annabelle found her way into your living room.”
“Mm. I’ve been blessed many times over.”
Joanne paused. “Natasha..she was beautiful.”
Jean kissed her shoulder. “She was. Funny too.”
Long fingertips traced over her hand. “You don’t wear a wedding band?” She had noticed since the beginning, but asked none the less.
A soft sigh against blonde hair. “She’s gone Jo. It took me years but eventually I took it off. I had to move on. I..don’t love easily, but when I do..it’s all or nothing.”
They lay in silence. Each thinking, Jo remembering her own marriage, she could remember moments of feeling that way about Owen. But not like the long flowing constant that Jean was describing.
Fingertips traced along her ribs. “I’d like pictures of you too, if that’s OK?”
The policewoman smiled. “Sure.”
Chapter 30
Between kisses and lazy Sunday mornings somehow two weeks had seemed like a blur. Frequently during the evenings the policewoman’s car could be heard pulling up outside. Jean’s home always felt warmer with the woman’s presence around. Jo would often bring Annabelle with her.
The three of them would eat a leisurely breakfast together on days off, her daughter seemingly taking well to her mother’s new friend. The toddler was still finding new places to explore amongst all the space to play in, but was never far from the blonde’s watchful grey eyes.
Jean was somewhat of a curiosity to her, when she was at that age where every question seemed to be ‘why?’ Followed immediately after by another. Her mother had asked her to mind her manners, but Jean had found it all a novelty, and would answer each question in a way in which the child might understand.
Though they had yet to be defined as such, the couple were more comfortable around each other now. The awkward period with the new physical relationship had been brief. Jo often woke with Jean’s regular even breaths tickling her back. She found herself smiling more and scowling less.
While filing reports at work she would look forward to their evenings under the eaves, talking, learning about each other. The only interruption to her newly found serenity was a trip to the city to seek legal advice. Thus far, aside from a couple of heated phone calls, Jo and Owen had done their best to avoid each other.
Even Scott had noticed how happy Jean seemed to be of late. They sat together on a wrought iron garden bench eating lunch, mid way through a landscaping job at a private residence in the suburbs. Jean waved a bee away with a tanned hand. She looked to her left, the stubbled man was giving her a goofy grin.
“Yees?”
“Nothin’. Just you, I can’t remember the last time I saw you so happy.”
Her face split into a wry smile. “Neither can I. I keep worrying she might come to her senses.”
Scott patted her back, nudging the tagged potted plants they still had to put in with his gritty boot. “Nah, before long you’ll be driving a Volvo and dropping her kid off at soccer like some suburban married couple.”
She looked up, shielding her eyes with her hand to look up as he stood. “Doesn’t Ellie drive a Volvo?”
“My point exactly. Crazy soccer mum. Nearly ran me over the other day.” Scott grumbled.
Jean crumpled the bag of crumbs and stray lettuce leaves, tucking it into her bag. A soft grunt of effort as she pulled herself to her feet. She grabbed her shovel, her boot pushing the blade into the earth. Digging a hole for an apricot rose.
“I worry the bubble might burst Scottie. That’s all.”
“No reason you can’t make her happy Jean, she’s lucky to have you.” He looked at her with sincerity.
“Yeah, I intend to try. I just hope she doesn’t change her mind.” She grinned, but for a moment was lost in her thoughts.
“Jean?”
“Yeah?” She rested her sunglasses over her eyes, it was getting bright.
“I think ‘Tash would have
approved y’know? Of Jo?” He went back to digging.
The woman wasn’t left to linger on her memories for long, her phone buzzed in her pocket. A text.
Jean,
Just got back from an accident, bad one. Little rattled. Wanna come over tonight? I could use some company.
Jo x
Seeing the blonde’s face pop up on her phone always made her smile. She tapped back a response as Scott teased her.
Sure,
Hope you’re OK.
See you soon.
Jean x
Her phone went back in her pocket. Scott’s voice chuckled over the chatter of birds in the trees and the occasional car. “If she’s sending you naughty pictures I’m going to confiscate your phone..or at least beg you to show me.”
“In your dreams Scottie.”
***
Night was creeping over the horizon when her ute pulled into Joanne’s driveway. She got out with a clank of the door, locking the vehicle as she turned, two bags of Chinese food hung from her hand. Smells of wontons and fragrant rice.
The blonde opened the door a few moments after she knocked, she looked a little worn out. Her gym shirt with a police shield, black Nike running shorts and bare feet, hair tied in her usual tail. She held the door open for the older woman. Jean slid an arm around her waist and kissed her. She felt compelled to do that often, they had developed an easy closeness. Jo didn’t seem to mind the affection, having gotten used to it, she no longer felt so conflicted. Now returning the tenderness with a squeeze of her hand or smile.
“You OK?”
Joanne nodded, her face still stony and somber, she looked down at the bags. “Yes. You brought dinner?”
The older woman handed them to her. “Wasn’t sure if you felt up to it.” She followed Jo into the kitchen, Annabelle played with her blocks on the floor, looking up at the sound of her voice.