by Radclyffe
After Wendy left, Reese asked flatly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Tory debated several answers, but there was really only one thing she could say. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“Don’t do that again, okay?” Reese reached over and took Tory’s hand.
“No,” Tory murmured, lifting Reese’s hand to her lips. “I won’t.”
*
The taxi ride to the airport was quiet, and Tory napped on the short flight back to the tiny Provincetown airport.
“Do you want to go out for dinner?” Tory had only a scant memory of the bag lunch.
“It’s been a long day,” Reese commented quietly as they settled into the car. “Let’s go home, and I’ll cook.”
“Perfect.”
When they reached the house, Jed’s exuberant barking welcomed them, and Tory grabbed his lead from the hook just inside the door. “How about I take him for a walk while you start dinner?”
“Great. He’ll like that.” On the threshold, Reese leaned over to kiss Tory lightly on the cheek. “You’ve got at least forty-five minutes.”
Tory ran her fingers lightly down Reese’s arm. “See you soon.”
Reese watched Tory disappear down the path to the harbor and wondered what was bothering her. And when she would share it.
*
The beach was deserted. The evening air was cold enough to require a jacket, but warm enough to promise summer around the corner. Tory carried Jed’s lead and let him run ahead. She walked along the water’s edge, watching the last memory of sunlight shimmer and die across the water.
“Hey, Jedi, we’re going to have a baby,” she whispered. “What do you think, huh? Pretty amazing.”
He didn’t answer, but his large form in the gathering night was a comfort. As shadows turned to darkness around her, she watched stars flicker on overhead. “Pretty scary, too.”
Her stomach was queasy from the events of the afternoon, and it wasn’t just the news about the hypertension. She’d seen that coming for a while and already had some practice trying to put her worries about it aside. Most of the time, she succeeded. Keeping Reese from worrying might prove to be a bigger challenge.
Most unexpectedly, it was the ultrasound that had thrown her. Watching the tiny movements, listening to the rapid beat of a microscopic heart, had impressed even her scientific mind with the magnitude of what was happening inside her body. As much as she’d thought herself prepared for the changes that were coming, there were still moments when she was almost overwhelmed. There were suddenly so many things she needed to balance—her personal needs for professional fulfillment, her responsibility to Reese, the physical demands of her pregnancy. In the midst of happiness, she would suddenly feel uncertain, wondering how she was going to manage everything. Just thinking about the incredible challenge and responsibility of raising a child sometimes made her feel inadequate.
People have been doing it for millennia, right? Reese and I love each other, and we want this baby. That’s what counts, right? God, what is wrong with me? I’m never like this.
Jed came bounding over, a look of supreme contentment in his eyes. Unfortunately, his happiness was a direct result of the abandoned horseshoe crab shell he carried joyfully in his big jaws.
“Ick. Gross. Drop that, Jed,” she scolded, secretly happy to be distracted from her concerns.
He regarded her as if she had momentarily lost her mind and sat in the sand on his haunches, turning his head from side to side as the carapace crunched with each small movement.
“I’m not going to fight with you, Jedi. Drop it.”
With a morose droop in his enormous shoulders, he relinquished his treasure, depositing it at her feet reluctantly.
“Good boy,” she praised as she patted his head. “We should probably head home. Reese will have dinner ready soon.”
As she looked over her shoulder, she saw the lights of their home flickering through the small pines that separated the rear deck from the beach. Knowing that Reese was back there filled her with a sense of assurance and comfort. Each time she found herself struggling with doubt or fear, she had only to think of Reese to realize that whatever challenge awaited her, she would not face it alone.
She’s truly the rock upon which my world stands.
A few moments later, Tory let herself in through the sliding doors from the deck. Jed bounded ahead and skidded clumsily around the breakfast bar into the cooking area, nearly clipping Reese behind the knees.
“Hey! Get out of here, you oaf,” Reese yelled. Turning with a spatula in one hand, she smiled at Tory. “Is there a reason he smells like week-old fish?”
“Dead sea treasures.”
“Lovely.” Reese slid a plate with appetizers onto the counter. “You can nibble on these while I finish dinner.”
“Thanks.” Tory settled onto a stool.
“I got a request from the academy today to accept a new cadet for field training in May.”
“Really? You want to?”
“Yeah, I do.” Reese nibbled on a carrot stick. “But I’m not sure how well Nelson will handle it.”
“Why would he mind?”
“It’s Bri.”
“Oh.” Tory paused. “Will he be jealous?”
Reese looked surprised. “I never though of that. I was worried he’d think it was a conflict politically. You know, because Bri’s his daughter.”
“I’d think it would be okay as long as you were doing her evaluations.”
“Good,” Reese said as she stir-fried greens for pasta. “Because I’ll feel better if she’s with me those first few months.”
“I love you,” Tory murmured.
Stopping in mid-motion, Reese raised an eyebrow. The tone of her lover’s voice had not been casual. “You okay?”
“Mostly.” Tory extended her right hand on the countertop and Reese took it. “Sometimes, you know, I get a little…” She sighed and shook her head. “It all just sort of hits me.”
“Yeah, me, too. But you know what?”
“What?”
Reese released her hand, walked around the breakfast island, and circled her arms around Tory. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
Tory threaded her arms around Reese’s waist, rested her head against the broad chest, and closed her eyes. With her cheek pressed to her lover’s heart and the heat of the familiar body enclosing her, she couldn’t conjure up a single worry. Quietly, she murmured, “I knew that.”
*
“God, it feels good to get into bed,” Reese observed with a contented sigh. She stretched out her arm and Tory snuggled close, the movement automatic after hundreds of nights together.
“Yes, so good.” Tory smoothed her hand over Reese’s chest, then down the center of her abdomen. Drifting, pleasantly tired, she trailed her fingers over the edge of a hipbone and down one hard-muscled thigh. When Reese curled her right arm around Tory’s body, Tory felt the long ridge of the healing scar brush along her skin. A quick thrust of fear swept through her as she realized anew what she had nearly lost. In the next breath, she envisioned walking on the beach earlier and how just thinking about Reese had settled her. She remembered, too, what life had been like before Reese had come into her world, bringing such pure and selfless love.
Everything. You’re everything.
Tory pressed her lips to Reese’s shoulder, reveling in the heat of her skin. Her heartbeat quickened, as did her passion. “Reese?”
“Hmm?”
“You tired?”
There was a beat of silence, then a soft chuckle. “Is that an invitation?”
Tory shifted until she was lying on top. Her legs fit perfectly between Reese’s; her fingers curled possessively over Reese’s shoulders. “Could be.”
“Feels like.”
Laughing softly, Tory leaned down and kissed Reese, slowly at first, light teasing kisses. As their skin touched softly, their bodies cleaved even closer. Soon Tory sought more, slipping her tongue
inside Reese’s mouth, hungry now. Moaning softly, she raised herself until her nipples were close to Reese’s mouth. Shakily, she whispered, “Suck them, sweetheart.”
Tenderly, Reese captured Tory’s breasts in both hands, squeezing them gently together as her mouth moved first from one nipple to the other. As Reese sucked carefully, pleasantly torturing the sensitive tips, Tory shifted to straddle Reese’s hips, rocking herself rhythmically until her desire streaked wetly over Reese’s abdomen. Reese thrust her hips in time to Tory’s soft cries of pleasure, hard and full herself and wanting desperately to be touched.
“Stop,” Tory panted. “It feels so good. I can’t stand it.”
“Come up here.” Reese’s voice was a husky growl. Then she slid her hands down Tory’s back to her hips and drew her higher on the bed. The scent of her lover’s arousal made Reese’s clitoris twitch almost painfully, and she shut her eyes tightly for a second against the surge of need that threatened to steal her concentration. Hoarsely, she whispered, “This okay?”
“Yes. God, yes.” Tory leaned forward, braced her palms flat against the wall, and lowered herself onto Reese’s mouth. A small cry fluttered from her throat at the first touch of Reese’s lips. She tried not to move, not to hurry, but the blood pounded insistently, making her clitoris stiffen and throb with each knowing stroke of Reese’s tongue. When she didn’t think she could get any harder without exploding, she looked over her shoulder and down the length of Reese’s body, taut and trembling against the sheets.
“You’re so beautiful.” Tory moaned, lifting herself from Reese’s mouth. She twisted around, settling once again on top of her lover, this time with her face against Reese’s thigh. Desperately she begged, “Come with me?”
“Yesss.”
Then Tory parted the engorged tissues with trembling fingers, entering deeply at the same time as she enclosed Reese’s clitoris with her lips. Reese jerked and cried out sharply before she took Tory once again.
Boundaries and borders disappeared as their flesh became one, passion a raging flood overflowing the restraints of their desire. They held to one another, dangling on the precipice of surrender, until Tory pulled her face away with a sharp gasp.
“I’m…ready. Have…to come.”
“Yes, love,” Reese echoed tightly, before drawing Tory in even more deeply.
Tory pressed her lips to Reese’s quivering clitoris and trembled as they exploded in unison. Reese held her as she bucked and shook, letting her soar, all the while keeping her safe.
When she gently floated back to earth, Tory found herself once again cradled in Reese’s arms, her head tucked securely beneath Reese’s chin. She had no idea when she had moved. Reese’s chest heaved with the last vestiges of release, her heart hammering beneath Tory’s cheek.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Tory questioned softly.
“Hell, yes.” Reese laughed shortly, a sound very nearly a sob. “I think I’m still coming.”
“Mmm,” Tory murmured throatily, her fingers drifting lower. “Go again?”
“No way.” Reese grabbed her wrist, stilling her motion. “I’ll jump right out of my skin. You’re too good. Criminally good.”
“So arrest me, Sheriff. I won’t try to escape…” Tory’s voice trailed off as she slipped into sleep, her hand clasped in Reese’s.
“Don’t worry,” Reese whispered, pressing her lips to the top of Tory’s head. “I don’t plan on letting you go.”
She had worked hard all night not to acknowledge the faint note of caution she’d heard in Wendy Deutsch’s voice when Tory???s blood pressure elevation was mentioned that afternoon. But the echo of the doctor’s words had been there all the time in the back of her mind, a subtle almost intangible warning, like shifting shadows in the mist on night patrol. A good marine learned to heed those silent warnings, because the price of ignoring them was losing the skirmish, or worse. Reese stroked Tory’s back, her own breath nearly still in her chest.
You are everything. Everything.
Chapter Nine
April, Manhattan, NY
It was after eleven on Friday night when Caroline walked into the apartment. She gave a small cry of surprise when she saw the familiar figure sprawled on the couch.
“Bri! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Bri stood, shaking the fog of an unplanned nap from her head. It was warm in the apartment, and she’d just closed her eyes for a second. She’d hit the road after her last class and ridden straight through, not even stopping to eat.
“I knew it would take me most of the evening to get here, and I figured if you had plans…” Shrugging, Bri stuffed her hands into her pockets. She’d wanted to come down since the day they’d fought, but it had never happened. First, Reese had been sick, and she’d spent all her free time at the hospital. Then she had classes to make up. Every time she called, Caroline wasn’t in. If her girlfriend had called back, she’d never gotten a message. Finally, when the distance stretched into an ache that consumed her days, she’d just decided to come.
“And you thought I’d rather be out doing something else when I could have been waiting here for you?” Caroline shook her head and deposited her portfolio and other things on a small bookcase inside the door. “Do you think I’d want to miss a minute we could be together?”
“You were mad at me,” Bri said hoarsely, still not moving. “I’m sorry for what I said about…James.”
Caroline came around the couch to Bri. She slipped both arms around her shoulders and pressed close. With her lips against Bri’s neck, she murmured, “You’re such an idiot sometimes. How could you think that for a second?”
“I don’t know.” Bri rested her cheek on top of Caroline’s head. “The longer I’m away from you, the more confused I get. Things don’t make sense when we’re apart.”
“Then come home,” Caroline entreated desperately. “Please come back. I’m so lonely without you.”
Bri groaned and pulled the smaller woman hard against her. The weather had turned unseasonably warm, as it did sometimes in early spring. Bri was in a T-shirt and jeans, while Caroline wore a cotton blouse open far enough to show the swell of her breasts. Bri caught her breath as she felt Caroline’s nipples harden through the thin layers of fabric. They stood there, holding on as tightly as they could, as if the distance between them could be banished by obliterating the air between their bodies.
“I miss you so bad, but I can’t come back now.” Bri was almost pleading. “I’ll be through the academy in a few weeks. I have to finish.”
“Oh, baby, I know. I know.” Caroline smoothed her hands up and down Bri’s back, turning her face to kiss Bri’s neck, the sharp line of her jaw, the corner of her mouth.
Shaking, Bri stifled a cry and found Caroline’s lips, aroused and tentative at the same time. She’d never been afraid of the wanting before, because Caroline had always been there to soothe her hunger with a sure touch and certain heart. Now, away from her, the wanting was a torment that haunted Bri day and night. Desire had transformed into loneliness, and it left her aching and lost.
“Bri?” Caroline questioned softly as she drew her head back to search her lover’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just missed you.”
Sensing Bri’s hesitancy, Caroline stepped away. At the look of panic that flickered briefly in Bri’s eyes, to be just as quickly extinguished, she smiled softly. “Just stand there for a second.” Then she turned and quickly pulled open the sofa bed and smoothed back the sheets. Extending her hand, she said, “Come here.”
By the side of the bed, Caroline gently pulled Bri’s T-shirt from her jeans and lifted it over her arms and off. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and brought both hands to the buttons on Bri’s jeans. When Bri reached to help, Caroline brushed her hands away. “No. Let me.”
In another minute, Bri was naked, trembling in a way she could never recall—her skin hot and cold at the same time, her muscles so tight she felt as i
f she would snap, and yet so weak, she could barely stand. “Carre,” she said hoarsely. “What are you doing?”
Caroline looked up, her ocean-green eyes fathoms deep. “I’m reminding you of us.”
When Caroline tugged her down to the bed, Bri followed, helpless to resist. Uncharacteristically passive, she stretched out on her back as Caroline leaned over her. When the blond head lowered over her chest and soft lips captured her nipple, she arched upward with a startled cry. She brought trembling hands to Caroline’s hair and stroked the soft strands, urgently needing an anchor, feeling as if she might fly apart.
Caroline had her palm pressed to Bri’s tense stomach, and when Bri tried to rise, needing the familiar feel of her lover beneath her, Caroline lifted her head and said swiftly, “No.”
For a heartbeat, Bri resisted, but then the hand slipped lower, cupping her possessively between her thighs, and she fell back with a strangled groan. Her head was suddenly light; her heart pounded so hard it was pulsing visibly between her ribs. Her hands lay open, palms up by her side, as her friend, her lover, her heart, lay claim to what was hers, stroking every inch of Bri’s flesh until she quivered uncontrollably.
“This is where you belong, you know,” Caroline gasped at some point. “With me.”
And Bri could only moan in response. When she didn’t think she could stand it any longer, she pushed up on her elbows and looked down the length of her body. Caroline’s cheek lay against her stomach; she stroked her fingers between Bri’s legs, touching her teasingly for a few seconds and then moving away, measuring out her torture to the beat of Bri’s strangled breathing and the rhythm of her twitching muscles.
“Make me yours,” Bri whispered as she rested her fingers beseechingly against Caroline’s head and pressed, urging her lower. For a heart-stopping instant, she thought Caroline would resist, but then in one fluid motion the blond head dipped and a warm mouth enclosed her. Bri jerked and cried out, her bones dissolving. She fell back, strength failing as pleasure shot through her. She was hard to the point of bursting, and Caroline’s lips were so soft as they licked and tugged at her swollen flesh. The brush of a tongue along the length of her clitoris nearly made her head explode.