by Geonn Cannon
"You're not making this easy," Lance whispered.
Jodie smiled. "As I said, will that be all, ma'am?"
"No. I'd like you to draw me a bath."
"That's really not part of my duties, ma'am."
"You'll be richly rewarded."
They were now close enough that Jodie could feel Lance's breath on her face when she spoke. Jodie swallowed and said, "Very well, ma'am. If you insist."
Jodie moved sideways to get away from Lance and practically skipped into the bathroom. Lance waited until she heard the water running before she started unbuttoning her blouse. "Oh, girl," Lance called. "I thought of something else you could do for me."
"Anything to please you, ma—" Jodie shrieked as she was pushed fully-clothed into the bathtub.
#
"We are leaving the hotel room eventually," Jodie said. She sat on the edge of the bed, naked, and folded the crisp white blouse before returning it to her bag. The black horn-rimmed glasses were folded and placed in a sturdy carrying case. "You will get to see Seattle."
"I saw Seattle," Lance said. She pointed out the window. "Space Needle. It's out there somewhere. I remember. I saw it when we drove into town."
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Jodie said. She began rolling her black stockings down her thighs.
Lance stretched out across the mattress, arms reaching for the headboard. "Sorry, Ms. Curran. Will I have to be punished again?"
The cushioned paddle went into the outside compartment of Jodie's bag, and she smiled over her shoulder. "No, dear. That game is over. I'm going to go take a quick shower and then we can go for dinner. You want to join me?"
"I better not if we're planning to eat before midnight."
Jodie laughed. "I'm dating a wise woman. Okay. I'll be right back."
Lance waited until Jodie was in the shower before she got up and opened her bag. She dug around until she found some nice clothes, and began to get dressed.
"We were never that kinky," Elaine said from the easy chair across the room.
"Role playing isn't kinky," Lance said. She frowned and said, "Wait. I handcuffed you to the headboard that one time. You made me keep my uniform on the entire time. That wasn't kinky?"
Elaine shuddered. "Oh. Right. I just like reliving that. Remember the time I blindfolded you?"
"Vividly."
"All your other senses came alive."
Lance smiled.
"She'll save your life if you let her."
Lance's hands froze, the material of her blouse smooth against her fingertips.
"Do you remember what you talked about that night? Outside the Green Carnation? I don't have magical powers, I can't send anyone to anyone else. I'm not even really here. But, Claire, if you ignore what you have here, I'll never forgive you. It won't be loyalty to me, it will be sheer stupidity."
"What am I supposed to do?" Lance asked her open suitcase. "Stay here? Damage is done."
"You left Gwen behind. You left Kelsey and Tyler behind. Jodie can be different. Jodie has to be different."
"I can't take her with me."
"Not physically."
"What?"
Lance turned and saw Jodie in the bathroom door. Her hair and shoulders were wet, and she was holding a towel up in front of her. Lance could see the curve of Jodie's ass, her long, muscular legs, and licked her suddenly dry lips. "Were you talking to someone?" Jodie asked, craning her neck to look into the bedroom.
"No."
Jodie dropped the towel and Lance saw that she had shaved. Everywhere. A small, turquoise teardrop hung from a silver chain in her navel. Jodie gestured at her body and said, "You like?"
"It's very...aerodynamic."
Jodie beamed and said, "Maybe you'll test that theory after dinner." She walked across the room and began digging through her suitcase. Elaine had moved, and was now standing behind Jodie. She reached out and ran her hand over Jodie's flank, biting her bottom lip as she smiled gleefully at Lance.
"Go," Lance hissed.
"Mm?" Jodie said.
"—ing," Lance said. Elaine backed into the bathroom, out of sight. "Going. Where...are we going?"
Jodie pulled out a plum colored blouse and a charcoal gray vest. "We're going up," Jodie said as she held the shirt in front of her. "We're going all the way up."
#
Five hundred feet above the ground, Lance gripped Jodie's wrist and eased off the elevator. Jodie laughed and put her hand in the small of Lance's back. "You are not scared of heights. Come on."
Lance straightened and smoothed her hand down her tie. "You're right, I'm fine with heights. I'm just not used to a spinning floor this high above the ground."
"It's perfectly safe," Jodie said. "You can't even feel it moving."
"Sure," Lance muttered.
Jodie approached the hostess. "Curran, party of two for seven forty five."
The main dining room was dimly lit by the egg shaped sconces on every table. As soon as Lance looked out the windows, she stopped caring about the rotation of the restaurant under her feet. Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier, the skyline... No wonder the restaurant had to revolve; how else would anyone decide where to sit? The sky was dark and clear, like the clouds had parted to give them a vast panorama of stars with the moon anchoring it at the far end.
The waiter gestured to a table under the windows and Lance forced herself away from the view so she could find the chair. "It's going to be hard to focus on you. And you went to all that trouble with the make up."
"I was wondering if you'd noticed."
"Is that lipstick or just cherry lip gloss?"
"I have on eyeliner, too, which is more than I can say for you."
Lance smiled.
Jodie picked up the menu and said, "Why don't I order for both of us? Just to make sure you get the crème de la crème."
"Fine by me," Lance said. "I'd probably end up ordering slugs or something."
The waiter returned and Jodie ordered Dungeness crab cakes, King Salmon and a bottle of Pinot Gris. Lance waited until the waiter left before she said, "Jesus, Jodie. I feel like I'm dipping into your retirement savings here."
"Actually my race winnings," Jodie said. At Lance's shocked expression, she said, "What else am I going to spend it on, Claire? Cat food for Danica? I have one week left to show you how much I care about you. And if that means dipping into the kitty for a great meal with an amazing view, then damn it, I'm going to give it to you."
Lance smiled and said, "Well. If you put it that way." She poured them each a glass of wine and lifted hers to Jodie. "Cheers."
"Cheers." They tapped glasses and Jodie smiled as she took a sip. "Was my rant a little over the top?"
"A little. But hey, if you can't be over the top here, where can you?"
Jodie raised an eyebrow in agreement as the waiter delivered their food. They ate without conversation, comfortable in the silence. They didn't have to share embarrassing stories from high school or pretend to be interested in former lovers. They could just be content to be together for as long as they could.
After the meal, Jodie paid the bill before Lance could get a look at the total. They left the restaurant with the remaining half bottle of wine, and walked hand in hand through the garage. "You good to drive?" Lance asked before they got into the car.
"I mostly drank water. The rest of the wine is for tonight."
"Tonight?"
Jodie smiled and started the car without answering.
They drove back to the hotel in silence, and then Jodie led Lance upstairs. She let the wine bottle dangle from her fingers as she unlocked the hotel room door and stepped to one side. "After you," she said. Lance looked over her shoulder in time to see Jodie hang the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door. Jodie put the bottle on the table and brought some towels from the bathroom. She tossed them to Lance and said, "Spread these on the bed."
Lance did as instructed and was straightening the last towel when Jodie said, "Take off your clothes
."
"You first," Lance said.
Jodie raised an eyebrow. "Tit for tat?"
Lance turned to face Jodie and started to undo the buttons of her blouse. Jodie shrugged out of her vest, dropped it to the floor as Lance tugged down the zipper of her slacks. Lance sat on the edge of the bed to pull her boots off, and Jodie dropped her skirt to the floor and kicked it away. Lance pushed her slacks down and off, and Jodie crossed the room to stand in front of her. "Is that a thong?" Lance asked.
Jodie turned to show off her ass. "I thought I would go all out, girly and feminine tonight. What do you think?"
Lance ran her palm over the smooth curve and squeezed. "Mm. Mighty nice." She swatted the cheek of Jodie's ass.
"Ow," Jodie yelped. She smiled and said, "Take your underwear off, too."
Lance lifted her hips and pushed her boxers down. Jodie stepped away as Lance unhooked her bra and dropped it onto the pillows. She sat naked, staring at Jodie's bare back and the thin line of her underwear. "You should wear thongs all the time."
"Under my coveralls? Think it would go over well at the garage?"
"I know one person who would be a big fan."
Jodie brought the wine bottle over and knelt next to the bed. "Scoot forward." Lance did as instructed, spreading her legs on either side of Jodie. Jodie opened the bottle, took a drink, and motioned for Lance to kiss her. When she did, Jodie parted her lips and pushed the wine into Lance's mouth with her tongue.
They shared it back and forth until it was all gone, and Jodie reclined on her folded legs. She smiled, wiped her bottom lip with her finger, and said, "And that, dear Claire, is why they charge forty-five dollars for a bottle of this stuff."
"This is what they had in mind, huh?"
"Well," Jodie said, placing a wine wet kiss on Lance's thigh, "something of this nature."
Lance took the bottle from Jodie and poured a little onto her stomach. Jodie purred and lapped it up, her tongue stroking Lance's skin until the wine was all gone. "More, more, more," she said. Lance poured a line up her torso, and Jodie followed it with her tongue. She nuzzled between Lance's breasts and licked her nipples until they were hard enough to bite.
"Are we going to waste the entire bottle like this?" Lance asked.
"Depends on what your idea of waste is," Jodie said. She took the bottle from Lance, smiled evilly, and slid down her body.
A few seconds later, Lance gasped and lifted her lower body off the mattress. She trembled, closed her eyes and said, "Okay. Yeah...definitely not a waste."
After Lance rode out two orgasms, they shifted positions. Jodie stretched out face down, and Lance drank her share of the wine from the small of Jodie's back.
When the bottle was empty, they moved to the floor and raided the mini bar for chocolates. They sat side by side, backs to the bed, dressed in the hotel robes and nothing else. Lance held up her hand and watched Jodie suck the melted chocolate from her fingertips. "I will say this. I very rarely stay in places this nice on the road."
"How do you pay for things on the road?"
"Odd jobs. I was a ranch hand in Montana for a while."
Jodie's hand stopped halfway to her mouth. "Did you wear tight jeans? T-shirt?"
"Button-down shirt, usually," Lance said. "But with the sleeves rolled up."
Jodie shifted closer, her eyes alight with a predatory glow. "Did you wear a cowboy hat?"
Lance looked at her. "Sometimes..."
Jodie slapped the food from Lance's hands and pounced on her.
#
On Sunday, they took the Underground City Tour. They walked through the Pike Place Market and Lance nearly got brained by a fish. She laughed, turned to Jodie, and said, "I was held captive by a bunch of very angry men in an Oklahoma hotel room. I've had guns held to my head. I got the shit beaten out of me because I tried to take a car I had rightfully won. I was in a gunfight on a Montana ranch. And, just now, I could have died because a fish hit me in the head."
Jodie laughed. "Stranger things have happened."
Lance kissed Jodie before she finished speaking and pressed her against a lamppost. She gripped the pole above Jodie's head with one hand, her other hand on Jodie's hip. When they parted, Lance embraced her and said, "Whatever happens. I'll remember this. I'll remember this day and the months you've given me. I'm sure Elaine put us together."
Jodie pressed her hands against Lance's back and held her tight. She sobbed and pressed her face against Lance's shoulder.
When they parted, Lance caught a few gazes quickly averted. She ignored them and took Jodie's hand, leading her back out onto the street.
They spent another small fortune on an early dinner, and adjourned to their hotel room. They undressed each other slowly and made love, lights off and not trying to impress each other. The room slowly faded from view as the sun went down, the shadows growing long and details growing less and less discernable. Lance cried when she came, embarrassed but reassured by Jodie kissing her cheeks. When they finished, Lance spooned Jodie from behind and kissed the back of her neck. She looked at the balcony doors, half-hidden by curtains, and said, "I thought you could see the Space Needle from every window in town."
"You watch too much TV."
"If I move to Guam and become a citizen, then I could fly you over and we could get married and you couldn't be extradited."
Lance smiled and slid her lips along Jodie's shoulder. "Does Guam have same-sex marriage? Or extradition to America?"
"I don't know. Guam is just a placeholder for now."
"Are you proposing marriage to me?"
"You have a problem with that?"
Lance smiled. "No."
Jodie rolled onto her back. "No?"
"No," Lance said.
Jodie smiled and put her hand on Lance's chest. "We only have tonight. We can sleep for an hour or two, but then we have to start heading back tomorrow morning. Then it's back to work, Rebecca will probably monopolize your free time practicing and making sure everything is set to go. And then Friday...you go."
Lance swallowed hard.
"Let's run. Now. Tonight."
"Jodie..."
"Please, Claire."
Lance touched Jodie's face and felt tears. "I would never be able to keep you safe. I could never promise you that. For the rest of your life, you'd be—"
"With you."
"—running. And if they caught me, you'd go to jail for aiding and abetting. Giving comfort to a fugitive. It doesn't matter what they call it." She bent down and kissed Jodie's lips and spooned her again.
After a while Jodie said, "You must hate me. For making this so hard for you."
"No," Lance whispered.
"Claire." She moved Lance's hand between her legs and Lance extended two fingers. Jodie arched her back and rocked her hips. "No one's ever made me come like you do. No one's ever made me feel..." She swallowed and gasped, bowing her head forward. "I've never slept with someone I loved before."
Lance knew she couldn't say the same, and knew Jodie didn't expect her to. "I love you, Jodie. I'll love you no matter where I am, or if we're apart. I'll always love you."
Jodie whimpered and tightened her thighs on Lance's hand. She pressed her face against the pillow and breathed heavily a few times before her breath evened out. Lance kissed Jodie's neck and Jodie murmured quietly.
"Go to sleep," Lance said in her ear. "I'll hold onto you."
"Promise?" Jodie said. Her voice was barely loud enough to hear.
"Yeah," Lance said. "I promise."
#
Lance woke Jodie a few minutes before the alarm. They dressed and packed, checked out of the hotel and started the long drive back to Shepherd before the sun was even up. Jodie nodded at the swarms of dark evergreens they passed. "There are a lot of little towns hidden away back there. Abandoned at the turn of the century, roads got overgrown, people forgot about them. Entire towns just standing there empty."
"What would we do about food?" Lance asked, p
icking up immediately on the fantasy.
"My elderly butch girlfriend can hunt and kill whatever we need."
Lance smiled.
"No rabbits, though. I'd break up with my elderly butch girlfriend if she killed a bunny."
Lance turned and looked at Jodie's face, lit a pale orange by the dashboard lights. Jodie realized she was being watched and glanced over. She smiled and turned her attention back to the road. She reached down and turned on the radio.
"We could move into the Seattle Underground," Lance said after a few songs played.
"Sure. What's a little bubonic plague between lovers?"
"If anyone ever comes looking for me, we could just say, 'Stay back, we have the bubonic plague.'"
"Biological warfare. Quite the escalation."
"Desperate times." She looked out the window and struggled with what she had to say next. No matter how many times she imagined Elaine saying it was okay, it still hurt to admit the truth to herself. "No one's ever made me forget about Elaine. I don't think anyone will. I thought a woman in Oklahoma might have...but that wasn't love. For either of us. But you...make the pain go away. More than I ever thought possible. You eased a pain I was sure I was going to live with for the rest of my life, and made it tolerable. Tell me what to do to bring you with me, to keep you safe, to keep us together, and I'll do it. Because I'm at an absolute loss right now, Jodie, and it's tearing me apart."
Jodie didn't answer for a long time. She reached over and took Lance's left hand, squeezed, and said, "I wish I could."
Lance looked down at Jodie's hand and covered it with her right hand. Jodie finally pulled her hand back and Lance looked out the window. "Tell me more about the Guam plan."
"It's not Guam anymore," Jodie said.
"Why not?"
"I'm pretty sure it's a part of America."
Lance frowned. "Guam? Are you sure? When did that happen?"
"I don't know. But it was long ago enough that you can't claim road blindness."
Lance laughed. "Road blindness. I like that. So where are we going, if not Guam?"
"Argentina."
"Ah," Lance said. "Well tell me about that, then."
She rested her head against the glass and closed her eyes, drifting off as Jodie told her marvelous fantasies of escape.