Martin was transfixed by the tune as he stood behind his bride, his long arms wrapped around her in a tender embrace. Maeve's head was resting against his shoulder as she let the music transport her back to her youth, the tune one she had heard hundreds of times and one that her father often whistled.
When the song was finished, the family insisted on another, and the siblings continued to play until it was too dark to see the music any longer. Some of the cousins moved the large gas heaters close to their set-up, giving them just enough light to read their music, but Ryan checked her watch and decided that it was time for the happy couple to leave.
It took quite a while for the assembled guests to say goodbye, and they were only about halfway through the crowd when someone remembered that Maeve had not thrown her bouquet. There was a paucity of single women, and it was only by force that the small group was convinced to gather in front of the band. Maeve tossed the bouquet, giving it a good ride, hitting Mia right in the chest. She acted as though it were a live grenade, throwing it right back into the air, where it dropped into Ryan's defensive grip. She waved the flowers good-naturedly at her partner, calling out, "Oh, Jamie…I'm next!"
"You'd better change that to we're next, Tiger," she called back, to the laughs of the assembled family members.
The band members abandoned their instruments to bid farewell to their father and Maeve, with each of the children giving both of them generous hugs. Determined not to cry, Ryan practically bled from the pressure she put on her lower lip. She managed remarkably well, then almost lost it when her aunt let a few tears slip down her cheeks. "You'd better go, or we'll be out here crying all night," the younger woman whispered, trying desperately to remain composed.
Maeve nodded and grasped Martin's hand, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue as she tugged him towards the house. Martin gave his daughter one final look, all of his conflicting emotions swirling in the depths of his blue eyes. She dug her fingernails into her palms to present a happy face to her father, but as soon as he turned for the house she whirled and made a hasty retreat to the garden. Jamie was right on her heels, not wanting Ryan to be alone with her feelings. When they were out of sight, Jamie wrapped her in a hug and held on tight as Ryan unleashed some of the emotion she had been holding in all day. She cried soundlessly for a long time, allowing herself to feel the mixture of joy, loss, pleasure and pain that had buffeted her ever since the ceremony.
Jamie shed a few tears herself, knowing how hard this was for Ryan and how much she felt the loss of her mother during this celebration. "Are you all right, love?" she asked softly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ryan murmured. "Thanks for being with me, Jamie. I just needed to let some of that out. It's been building up all day, but I was determined not to spend the day crying."
"You did very well," Jamie soothed. "I know it wasn't easy for you, but you were very composed today."
"It wasn't that hard, 'cause I really am incredibly happy for them," Ryan reminded her. "It's just when they left that it all hit me."
"I know. I was sad, too."
"I'd better go check on the boys," Ryan decided, taking her role as the emotional center of the family seriously. "Today was as hard for Brendan as it was for me."
As they walked through the garden, Jamie spotted Brendan sitting on a bench with Maggie, his dark head resting against her chest as she ran her fingers through his hair in a calming fashion. Ryan saw them and squeezed Jamie's hand as she said, "I think I've been replaced. Brendan finally has a shoulder he can cry on. Two down…two to go," she said, giving Jamie a watery smile.
Catherine had to ask the boys to turn off the amplifiers at eleven, since she knew she would be receiving a visit from the Hillsborough police if she did not. They played on once they were unplugged, however, since the crowd was now small. All of the uncles and aunts had gone, including Moira, who had decided to go back to Maeve's with them. Now it was the cousins, their dates, the O'Flaherty children, Bryant, and Mia and Jordan.
Ryan went on a mission, spending a few minutes talking with each of her cousins, deciding who was in shape to drive and who wasn't. Luckily, the ones who were sober were the designated drivers, and she didn't have to wrestle the keys out of anyone's hands. She thought Conor was a little over the limit, but he agreed to let Rory drive home, so all was safe on the family front.
Mia and Jordan were another matter, both women having imbibed too much, probably trying to cool themselves down after dancing for hours. "You two are staying over," Ryan declared, not even giving them the opportunity to complain. "Give me your keys so I don't have to worry about you again," she demanded, and Mia docilely handed them over.
"I love a woman that takes charge," she purred as she placed the keys in Ryan's outstretched palm.
"Do I take it that you're ready for your room?" Ryan smirked.
Mia's hand slid up the center of Jordan's chest and she touched her chin with her fingers, turning her head slightly. "Ready for bed, sweetheart?"
Jordan's blonde head nodded up and down slowly, her expression giving the clear impression that she'd follow the smaller woman anywhere she wanted to lead her.
"I'll go ask Helena to show you to your rooms," Ryan smiled. "I'll ask for two, just for propriety."
"Doesn't matter," Mia said breezily.
"Doesn't matter tonight," Ryan called over her shoulder. "It might tomorrow."
Ryan encountered Catherine coming out of the house, and she gave her the update on everyone's sobriety and transportation plans. "Oh, Ryan, thank you for doing that! I was worried when I saw some of your cousins looking a little wobbly during that dance."
"They're good about having a designated driver," she informed Catherine. "They all take turns, so they each only have to behave every fourth or fifth party."
"Well, it looks like we're about ready to wrap it up," she decided, looking around at the dwindling crowd.
"I think we'll stay over, Catherine. We can help get everything organized for the rental service in the morning."
"That's not necessary, but I'm always happy to have you. It will be nice to have company for breakfast," she decided.
"We'll need a good one," Ryan reminded her. "We have to move Da out and Kevin in tomorrow."
"I think that's one family gathering that I'm going to miss," Catherine decided, her good sense overtaking her family loyalty.
After seeing that the band's gear was properly put away and saying goodbye to the boys and Bryant, Jamie and Ryan headed off to bed. They had to pass by Jordan and Mia's room, and they shared a meaningful look as they did so. "Think they were making that much noise when your mom came up?" Ryan laughed.
"Maybe she thought Jordan was performing a really rigorous aerobic conditioning program," Jamie mused. "Athletes are a strange bunch, you know."
"Oh, I know," Ryan agreed as she stood next to her partner and wrapped her in a hug. "Did you have fun today, honey?"
"Oh, yeah," Jamie smiled. "I particularly liked two things. I loved it when you played your whistle." She shook her head in surprise and revealed, "I got shivers up and down my spine when you played that first song. It sounded like something the Celts would have played on some primitive instruments. It was really moving."
"Thanks. I really should practice more, but it went surprisingly well. What else did you like?"
"I loved it when you caught the bouquet," she smiled. "The look on your face was just priceless."
"Think it'll come true?" Ryan asked as she methodically undressed her partner. Her blue eyes were intent on her task, but they rotated up to meet Jamie's, and they locked on each other for a long minute.
The smaller woman nodded, a smile affixed to her face. "I certainly hope so. I think we'll be able to have a ceremony this year. We just have to make some decisions about when to have it and how we want to conduct it."
"Do you think your father will come?" Ryan asked, slippng her partner's shirt off and starting to kiss her neck.
"Yes, I think he's
at the point where he would be well-behaved," she decided. "I'd like him to have a little more time, but he's close. He's made a lot of progress."
"Yeah, he has, but the hole he dug for himself still has him well below ground."
"This is also true," Jamie agreed, shivering as Ryan blew a stream of cool air over her bared breasts, making the nipples pop up in response.
"Your turn, Tiger," Jamie purred, performing the same service for her partner. Soon they were both in their jeans, their warm breasts rubbing against each other as they shifted their shoulders slightly. "Mmm…feels marvelous," Jamie moaned, as she realized how much she had missed their sensual couplings. "Need more."
"Ooo…greedy tonight, are we?" Ryan murmured as she bent over to grasp her partner by the waist and lift her until her legs wrapped around Ryan. "I absolutely love holding you like this," the larger woman soothed, her strong, warm hands playing over the smooth skin that covered Jamie's back.
The blonde leaned back as far as she could, holding on with her hands clasped around Ryan's powerful neck. She sighed heavily and said, "This is bliss. I can feel all of the muscles in your back-where they twitch when you move. I can hold you tight, and feel your breasts against mine, and make your nipples hard when I rub against them. God, Ryan, your skin is so soft…and the way it glides over your hard muscles just makes me throb."
"Throbbing is good," Ryan sighed as she tossed her head back and let the sensual pleasure of moving so intimately with her partner wash over her. She twirled a little bit, one heel firmly planted to provide stability. "Ooo…you make me dizzy." She sat on the edge of the bed and slowly dropped back onto the mattress.
Jamie slid from the prone body, staying on her knees as she reached up and started to unbutton Ryan's jeans. The larger woman cooperated, lifting her hips when instructed, as she laced her hands behind her head and let her partner undress her.
When Jamie had the jeans off, she scooted closer to the bed and asked, "Remember when I bought you these shorts?" Her hand started to sketch abstract patterns at various spots on the white cotton, sending shivers up Ryan's spine at the unpredictable contact.
"I have a vague memory," Ryan teased, chalking that experience right up there with her most erotic. The tender, shy, but determined exploration of her body by her completely inexperienced partner had nearly driven her mad, and she had thought of the touch often during their months together. "Wanna do it again?" she asked, hopefully.
"Huh-uh." The blonde head shook, and she looked up at Ryan from between her legs, letting her face twitch into a sexy grin. "I wanna do it the way I wanted to that night. My imagination was way ahead of my body at that point."
"All righty then," Ryan decided, having not heard a better idea in weeks. "Shall I stand…if I can?"
"Nope. I like this angle." The saucy look she was giving Ryan was revving the dark woman's engines enough that foreplay was really unnecessary, but Ryan knew a great opportunity when she saw one, and she wasn't about to complain. During their months together, one of Ryan's most pleasurable experiences was sharing her partner's burgeoning interest in sexual play, and she was bound and determined to always respond favorably to the smaller woman's overtures. Besides, Jamie had quickly figured out Ryan's triggers, and the smaller woman had yet to have an idea that wasn't a complete success.
Jamie's hands began to wander all over Ryan's thighs, and she shared with her lover how she had felt the first night she had given her the form-fitting shorts. "I remember you standing in front of me in your new boxers," she recalled, her voice soft, and smooth as silk. "You had on a polo shirt, and I kept running my hands all over your legs…I was just amazed at how muscular and strong they looked in your shorts…just like carved marble," she purred.
Ryan's hips started to twitch as Jamie spoke of that night nearly six months before. The smaller woman's hands were never idle, continuing to tease Ryan's sensitive skin through the knit fabric.
"Your shirt kept getting in the way, so you just yanked it off…" She licked her lips, and looked across Ryan's body, making eye contact with her. "That was the first time I'd seen you in a bra and panties…I nearly fainted," she recalled, shaking her head at how arousing the scene was. Ryan's warm chuckle reached her ears, and she tickled her a little for her insolence. "You laugh now, but that was a whole new level of desire for me, baby. I wanted to rip that sports bra off of you and fill my mouth with one of those luscious breasts."
"That would have been fun," Ryan mused, glad they had waited for sex, but more than willing to have started earlier.
"No…I wasn't ready for that yet," Jamie decided. "I had to get my mind off of them though, so I concentrated on your adorable butt. Remember that?" She urged Ryan over on her tummy, and even though it was difficult with her legs dangling off the bed, she executed the move.
Jamie started to knead her cheeks, feeling the fabric sliding over the firm flesh. The smaller woman was still on her knees, bending forward to apply strong pressure to the sensitive skin. "You started to moan when I was rubbing your ass, and I could feel my heart start to race," Jamie recollected. "I'm surprised you didn't hear it. It was pounding!"
"So was mine," Ryan said, gasping a little as Jamie hit a sensitive spot on the inside of her cheek.
"Do you know why I focused so much on your ass?" the smaller woman asked, her fingers now lightly stroking the curved mounds.
"Unh-uh. Why?"
"Because I wasn't ready to do this," she replied, running both of her thumbs down the cleft of Ryan's cheeks, just barely grazing her mound.
"Yow!" Ryan's legs tried to come together, but her partner was still between them, holding them apart.
"Ooo…did I startle you, love?"
"Yes…yes you did, but it would have startled me even more then. I should be used to your tricks by now," she chuckled.
"Turn over again," Jamie urged gently, helping her partner onto her back. "As I was saying," she continued, bending her head until it was less than an inch from the apex of Ryan's thighs. "I was afraid to touch your breasts yet, and I was certainly afraid to touch you here." Her eyes lingered on the tempting sight right in front of her, and she added, "I'm not afraid any more." Her head traveled the rest of the short distance, and she opened her mouth wide and covered as much of Ryan's mound as she could with her mouth. She blew a long stream of warm air onto the flesh, delighting when Ryan's hips began to twitch harder, trying to direct her mouth downward just a few inches.
"Jesus, Jamie, you're killing me," she groaned, her fists grabbing onto the bedspread.
"I wanted to do this to you that night, Ryan," the blonde insisted. "Even though I was terrified, I wanted to drop my head right between your legs and consume you." She nuzzled her face into the spot she had denied herself earlier, and rubbed every bit of hypersensitive skin. Ryan's legs spread wide-so wide that it looked painful, but she needed the touch so badly she was ready to do the splits, if need be.
The smaller woman began to nibble on Ryan through the fabric, her white, even teeth tugging gently on one sensitive spot after another. Ryan's hips were quivering so badly that Jamie had to hold onto her, so she grasped her hips firmly, unintentionally increasing Ryan's desire. "Oh, God," the painfully aroused woman moaned. "Come on, Jamie, touch me, please!"
Ryan had her eyes locked on her partner, unwilling to look away when snapping teeth were so close to her favorite spots. Jamie tilted her head and met her eyes, giving her a devastatingly sexy look as she opened her mouth and bit down on the fabric on Ryan's thigh. She started to tug, twitching her head repeatedly, making some progress with removing the shorts the hard way. Her mouth hovered above Ryan's mound for just a second, meeting the startled blue eyed gaze as her teeth clamped down on the soft fabric and began to pull, managing to draw the shorts off her partner smoothly, with the aid of Ryan's raised hips.
Ryan let out a sigh of relief, glad that Jamie's sharp teeth were no longer a threat. Her sighs quickly switched from relief to pure pleasure when her partn
er maneuvered her feet onto her shoulders and started to please her with her warm mouth, loving every inch of her overheated flesh with a fervent focus that curled Ryan's toes. "My God, you're good at that," she gasped, her arousal spiraling out of control so fast that she could barely keep up. Giving up all pretense of control, Ryan just grasped the blonde head and pulled it close, offering herself up to her lover's voracious appetite. Her entire body shook and jerked spasmodically, her legs splaying wide open as she lost her fine muscle control.
Knowing that her partner always liked to be cuddled tight after she was loved, Jamie climbed onto the bed and wrapped her in a snug embrace, thoroughly enjoying the feel of her steamy breasts as they rested against her own. "You've ruined me," Ryan muttered, her voice nearly indecipherable through her fatigue.
"Oh, I haven't ruined you, I'm just breaking you in," Jamie teased.
"Nope. You've ruined me. I used to be able to lie back and spend a good long time letting someone please me. Now, I barely have time to lay my head down before I explode! Where is the famous O'Flaherty control? No one would recognize the woman you've made me," she moaned, in her mock-serious tone.
"That's my plan," Jamie insisted. "I want to render you unrecognizable to all of my predecessors. How am I doing?"
"So far so good," Ryan decided, bestowing her partner with a warm smile. "I think it's a very sound plan, and you're just the woman that can pull it off."
Some time later the young women lay tangled in the disordered sheets, their naked bodies pressed tightly against one another as Jamie's heart slowly reverted to its normal rhythm. The dark woman was methodically kissing her partner, her tender, yet insistent kisses giving a good indication that Ryan's ardor had been slaked, but not sated.
Jamie kept opening her eyes just to experience the passionate look on Ryan's face. Blue eyes were shut tight, a little furrow of concentration on her brow. Her tongue slid into Jamie's mouth repeatedly, and with each gentle foray, a low, sensual moan accompanied the invasion. Jamie's hand slid down Ryan's overheated body and slipped between her legs, questing fingers asking a silent question. "Uh-uh," Ryan murmured, lifting her head just enough to be able to speak. "I'm completely satisfied. I just need to kiss you." Her mouth quirked into a sexy half-grin as she said, "I can't get enough of you tonight."
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