by Dena Blake
They heard the front door swing open downstairs. Then the kids’ muffled voices.
“I have to go.” Amelia spun around and ran down the stairs. She had to get out of there. Now. She hated this woman yet loved her at the same time.
“Amelia, wait,” Jillian shouted. Her stomach was in her throat. She’d just had the kiss of her lifetime, what she’d been wanting for weeks, and now Amelia was gone. Jillian stood at the top of the stairs, gripping the banister, her fingers pressed to her lips, wondering exactly what had just happened and what she should do about it. She had to talk to Amelia, and she had to do it tonight.
She ran back into her bedroom, threw on a hoodie, slipped on some flip-flops, and sped down the stairs after her. She slammed directly into Logan when she leaped off the last step. “Oh, my God!” she screamed, and they both went tumbling to the floor. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m good,” he said. “Are you?”
She got up, straightened her hoodie. “What are you two doing home so early?”
“There was some creepy guy at the movies. He kept following me around, wouldn’t leave me alone.”
“What?” Jillian’s stomach clenched. “Have you seen him before? Do you know who he is?”
“Yeah. He’s one of the jocks at school. David told him to back off.”
“Oh.” Relief washed over Jillian. “So what are you two going to do now?”
“We’re going to hang out here, watch some TV.” Logan flopped down onto the couch. “Everyone else is coming over after the movie.”
“Oh, okay.” She looked over at Blake, who was coming out of the office. “Are you going to be here for a while?”
“Yep. Suzie’s coming over.” He grinned.
“Great.” At least that was working out. “Do you mind if I go out for a little bit?”
“Nope. Go ahead. What happened to Amelia?”
“That’s where I’m going.” Jillian raced out the door.
Jillian had never driven so fast in her life. By the time she pulled up at Amelia’s, she’d broken a half dozen traffic laws. She killed the engine and rushed up the pathway. The door swung open before she reached the porch, and Amelia squelched anything she was going to say with her mouth. She was met with an earth-shattering kiss—deep, primal, and thorough. She felt it all the way down to her toes. Amelia pulled her close, and Jillian’s body hummed.
“I want you now.” Amelia hauled her inside, slipped her hands under Jillian’s hoodie, and tugged it over her head. She didn’t wait for an invitation, not that Jillian wouldn’t have given it to her. She pushed up Jillian’s shirt, exposing her unpadded bra. She slid a thumb over one of her nipples, and it materialized through the silk fabric. She reached around, undid the clasp, and pushed it up for better access. She took one nipple into her mouth and sucked it hard while she pinched the other between her fingers.
“Oh, my God.” A bolt of erotic electricity coursed through Jillian as she fell back against the wall and let Amelia devour her. She slipped her hands into Amelia’s silky auburn hair, so wrapped up in the blanket of sensations shooting through her she didn’t notice Amelia had reached into her pajama pants until she felt the light touch of her fingers graze across the top of her center. She let out a moan that turned to a soft whimper and pulled Amelia’s face up to hers.
“Should I stop?”
She shook her head. “Bedroom.” She pressed her mouth to Amelia’s and let out a low growl. “Now.”
Amelia quickly obliged, pulling Jillian down the hallway to her bedroom. The room was filled with a massive king-sized bed, which she immediately pushed Jillian back on.
Jillian tugged at Amelia’s shirt. “This needs to come off.” She slid down to the button of her jeans. “All of it.”
Amelia stood, removed her shirt, started on her jeans. Jillian sat up, stopped her, moved her hand, and placed a soft kiss on Amelia’s belly before she looked up into Amelia’s wondrous blue eyes. She unfastened the jeans, pushed them from Amelia’s hips, slowly, but with purpose, while softly teasing her thighs as she removed them, then her panties. Jillian didn’t want to rush, but when she slid her hand across Amelia’s thighs, then into the space between them and felt the wetness, she couldn’t stop. She dropped to her knees, pulled a leg over her shoulder, and pressed her mouth to Amelia’s center.
She felt Amelia’s knee buckle as she let out a moan. “I can’t do this standing up.”
Jillian twisted around and let Amelia fall onto the bed, half on, half off. She lifted her legs onto her shoulders and settled in between them. She took a quick swipe with her tongue up the wonderful crevice before her and felt Amelia quiver. She did it again before circling her tongue around the plump, fleshy cherub of her center. Amelia let out a whimper, and Jillian sucked her hard into her mouth. Jillian’s tongue moved in and out in quick rhythm. Going slow was not an option. Amelia’s hands were on her head, pulling her in deeper as her body quivered. Amelia’s whimper became stronger and louder until it ended with a low, guttural moan that seemed to last forever. Just the sound of it almost put Jillian over the edge. She crawled up on top of Amelia and silenced the moan with an urgent kiss that morphed into a deep, slow mingling of tongues. She pulled back, looked into Amelia’s eyes, and soon found their positions reversed, with her under Amelia, feeling the rapid beat of Amelia’s heart against her chest.
There were no words, just the sound of soft kisses and caresses as Amelia explored her. She felt the warmth of Amelia’s mouth on her breast and sucked in a deep breath as Amelia’s tongue circled the nipple and flicked it back and forth. She squeezed her breasts together, dividing her time between them. Jillian wiggled beneath her. She couldn’t take much more. Amelia seemed to read her and moved slowly down her body, the warm wetness of her tongue igniting each and every sense as she moved. God, this has never felt so good.
She quivered when she felt Amelia’s tongue move to her center, flicking at it, making it swell with anticipation. The heat rose within her, and she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Amelia…please.” The words came out in a pleading whisper.
She felt her hot breath against her and bucked as she felt Amelia’s fingers enter, curling inside her. Her mind fragmented into blinding shards of color as the staggering orgasm overtook her, and she let out a cry as she grabbed a fistful of sheet to ride it out.
Amelia rested her head against Jillian’s thigh as she stroked a finger slowly through her folds. “Jesus, that was…”
“Mind-blowing, to say the least.” Jillian put her hand to her forehead as an occasional jolt still hit her. “Why didn’t we do this years ago?”
“Too young. Naive. Scared.” Amelia crawled up next to her, kissed her tenderly on the lips.
“I’ve overcome two out of the three.” Jillian felt her insecurities creep in.
“Me too.”
“You’ve learned a few things over the years.”
“As have you.” Amelia quirked up an eyebrow in that sexy way Jillian adored. “And where did these come from?” She cupped one of Jillian’s breasts in her hand.
“A plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.”
“Remind me to send a thank-you card.” She traced a finger around the nipple.
“I never forgot you, Ames,” Jillian said, and Amelia turned to face her. “I missed you so much.” She shook her head slowly, tears welling in her eyes. “So, so much. I cried myself to sleep for months after we left. I wrote you hundreds of letters, and you never wrote back.”
“I never got any letters.” Her brows pulled together, and she propped herself up on one elbow.
“I know. It never occurred to me my grandmother wasn’t sending them. She thought it would be easier if I believed you didn’t care. When she finally told me, I looked you up. You were doing well, working for some nonprofit company. I figured you’d moved on, found someone else, and were living your life.” She swiped at a tear on her cheek that had escaped and chuckled. “It’s probably a good thing you d
idn’t get them. By the time I sent the last few, I was pretty angry you hadn’t responded, and I’m sure I said some things I’d regret.”
“I did live my life, Jillian. But I never found anyone else like you.” Amelia searched her eyes. “Did you?”
Jillian held her gaze. “No. No one like you.” She touched Amelia’s lips softly with her own.
“So why are you here after all these years? Looking like this?” Amelia brushed a few blond strands from her face. “You look different.”
“I was in a car accident this past year and…I had some reconstruction done.” Jillian touched her nose. “You don’t like it?”
“You’ll always be beautiful, Jillian.”
“I had to get out of New York, to become someone else for a while. My last relationship did end badly.” It was only half the truth, but that was all Jillian was prepared to give at this point. “It’s been difficult. She wasn’t ready to let go. Still isn’t.”
“Did you file an order of protection?”
Jillian nodded. She had done that. Not that it made a difference to Kelly. “That didn’t stop her. She’s a cop. I met her when I was doing a story on self-defense. She was the instructor. Then my sister and her husband were killed in the car accident.” She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to hold back the tears.
“The same accident that caused your reconstruction?” Amelia asked softly.
Jillian nodded. “Now I have more than myself to worry about. The life I’ve lived wasn’t meant to include a child.” She swiped at the tears. “I’m sorry. I thought I was done with this.”
“Oh, baby.” Amelia pulled her into her arms and kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”
Jillian stayed there, warm in Amelia’s arms, feeling safe and loved. Sleep claimed her quickly.
Chapter Twenty-five
Kelly sat in her rental car across the street watching for activity in Amelia’s house. Jillian had left Heartstrings House quickly after Amelia, but Kelly had been able to follow and soon knew exactly where she was going. Her gut had twisted when she’d seen Amelia kiss her at the door. She’d almost gone in after her right then, but she had a plan and needed to stick with it. She had to be smart about this or she’d be caught, and that just wouldn’t do. She’d made her way around back and found a dark, grassy spot in the corner of the yard by the shed to sit. The blinds had been left partially open in Amelia’s bedroom, and Kelly’s heart thundered in her ears as she watched them kiss, watched Amelia take Jillian to her bed, seduce her.
Kelly hadn’t planned to hurt anyone this time, but this woman clearly had to go. Kelly was not going to be second choice. The last woman Jillian had become friendly with in class had been easy to divert. Kelly had made her feel as though she had a gift for martial arts, and referred her to a higher-level class held on a different night in a different place. It was amazing what you could accomplish with a woman, or man, by stroking their ego.
The sound of a barking dog woke her. She’d dozed during the night, something Kelly would punish herself for later. There was no room for slacking in her world. She’d hopped the fence and had barely made it back to her car before sunup. An hour later, she watched a truck pull up in front of Mrs. Jones’s house next door. Three men piled out. One rolled a push mower off the trailer, another took a trimmer from the hooks of the wire mesh, and the last drove the zero-turn mower from the trailer onto the street. The two with the push mower and trimmer went around back, while the one on the rider started on the front yard.
Kelly was parked around to the side, where she had a good view of the backyard. She narrowed her eyes and seethed at the sight of Amelia standing on the back porch with her hands on the railing as she looked out at the yard. Jillian came out the door in only a tank top and panties. Kelly’s anger bubbled. Jillian’s body was only hers to love. Who did Amelia think she was, seducing her girlfriend?
* * *
Amelia gripped the railing of her back porch and let the sun warm her face. The night with Jillian had been more than wonderful. Amelia had lain in bed watching Jillian sleep. She’d memorized every line, every crease of her face. She was every bit as beautiful as she remembered. She thought about how their lives had played out. Jillian hadn’t left willingly. She’d been taken away. She couldn’t very well blame her for not coming back. After all, Amelia hadn’t gone looking for her either. Pride was a stupid emotion, and she refused to let it prevent her from being happy. She didn’t want to spend any more nights on useless dates with women who couldn’t measure up. She was in love with Jillian. She’d always been in love with her.
“Doesn’t anybody ever sleep in around here?”
Jillian’s voice washed through Amelia, and she glanced back. Her eyes swept Jillian’s body, and she shivered at the beautiful sight of her clad in just a tad more clothing than she’d left her with in bed. “They mow every Friday.”
“Do they have to do it at the crack of dawn?” As Jillian’s eyes fixed on her and darkened, Amelia immediately felt vulnerable. Jillian had an effect on her like no other, and it scared the hell out of her.
“It’ll be eighty degrees out here by nine.” Amelia took her denim shirt off the porch railing and wrapped it around Jillian’s shoulders, then took her face in her hands and kissed her. The familiar jolt shot through her midsection. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Jillian slipped her arms around Amelia’s waist. “I somehow forgot about the sweltering heat and humidity Oklahoma can produce.”
Amelia kissed her again, thoroughly, deeply. She broke away, took a ragged breath, and looked around the yard. “Unless we want the yard crew to start talking, we’d better finish this inside.”
“Excellent idea.” Jillian took her hand and pulled her through the doorway. She looked around the spacious living room as they entered. A leather couch and tweed club chair and ottoman circled a square glass coffee table in the middle of the room. She looked up, and her gaze caught a framed charcoal sketch on the wall. She moved in to take a closer look. It was her sitting on a blanket at the park, a day she remembered vividly from her past. She turned to Amelia. “Is this me?”
Amelia nodded.
“I don’t remember you doing it.”
“I sketched it when I got home that night.” Amelia moved closer, ran her thumb across Jillian’s cheek. “How could I have not known it was you? I remember every line, every crease in your face.”
“I have a few more now.” Jillian took Amelia’s hand, pressed it to her lips.
“Just a little character, that’s all.” Amelia smiled. “How about some music?” She pulled Jillian across the room to the stereo and turned it on. Static crackled through the speakers, distorting the sound. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this thing. It’s been doing that for the past couple of weeks.” With Jillian glued to her backside, lips on her neck, Amelia turned the dial, trying to adjust the station.
“Let me try.” Jillian set her chin on Amelia’s shoulder, reached around, and flipped the frequency to AM. No change. She flipped it back to FM and moved the dial to one of the major stations, but the interference was still there. “Guess we’ll just have to suffer with it,” Jillian said, holding Amelia close before she whispered in her ear, “Somebody may have you bugged.” She put her finger to her lips, then turned and ran her fingers under all the shelves in the entertainment center. Probably not the best place to put a listening device. She went to the breakfast bar, nothing. She went to the end table closest to the front door, felt underneath around the wooden braces, and found it. She plucked it from its perch, took it into the kitchen, and dropped it into a glass of water. The radio still had interference, so there had to be another one.
“What the—”
Jillian crushed Amelia’s words with her mouth and then whispered, “There’s another one.” She took her hand and led her into the bedroom, then ran her hand behind the dresser and the nightstands. She came up with another one behind the one closest to the doo
r. After she removed it, she took it into the kitchen to meet the same fate as the previous one. The interference in the radio was gone. “Has anyone been here who might want inside information on one of your cases?”
“No. No one.”
“Someone had to have let themselves in to do this.” Jillian looked at the alarm pad next to the door. “Do you use that?”
“Only when I’m out of town.”
“You need to start using it all the time, even when you’re home…and you need to get a sweep device so you can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“That’s ridiculous. No one is going to break in here when I’m home.”
“Amelia.” Jillian widened her eyes. “Someone has been in your house, and you didn’t know it.” She pulled her close, put her arms around her, and stared into her eyes, hoping to see a flicker of understanding as to the urgency of the situation. “That scares the hell out of me.”
“Okay,” Amelia said. “I’ll use it.”
“Now get dressed. We need to go check your office.” Jillian took her hand and pulled her toward the bedroom.
“I have no idea who would’ve done it.” Amelia’s voice wavered.
Jillian pulled her back into her arms, brushed the hair from Amelia’s face, and kissed her lightly. “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll figure it out, but first we eliminate the devices, okay?” Amelia nodded, and Jillian waited for her to let the situation settle in before heading to the back of the house to get dressed. “Is there an electronics store close by?”
“On Main Street.”
“Good. We’ll need to stop and get an RF signal detector.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I’m an investigative reporter, remember? I did a story on surveillance last fall. I’ve learned a lot of things along the way.”
“Right.” Amelia smiled. “Should we call the police?”