Broken Women Healing Embrace

by Anne Hagan

“It’s not a problem for me, Janet. It isn’t.”

  “Are you trying to convince yourself of that or me?”

  “You. Even back in my wild and crazy days when I got the hell out of Zanesville and went out to California to live after high school, I never needed it to have a good time. I never needed it for anything…until Lisa died. And even then, it was something to do to pass the time, nothing more than that. I’ve worked in a bar, six, seven days a week and been around them for years now. I’m around booze constantly. I don’t crave it; there’s no temptation there for me. On the contrary, in the summertime, I’ll often take a glass of sweet tea or a lemonade over a cold beer even though I do enjoy a good beer. It’s all about what I’m in the mood for at that moment and not what I think I can or can’t handle.” She smiled ruefully at that last bit.

  “Okay, fair enough,” Janet nodded.

  “I hope you believe me.”

  “I do.”

  “Can I ask you a question now?”

  Janet leaned back a little on her stool and looked at the other woman. “Sure.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “Wow…I was expecting, ‘Why did you leave’, not that.”

  “I…I guess I feel like I know why you left. You’ve been pretty clear that you felt like you couldn’t do anything right in my eyes. I’m sorry for that.”

  “You’ve apologized enough. Let’s move on from that.”

  “Okay,” Barb said.

  “Honestly?” She let out a labored breath and then continued. “When I sold the house, we weren’t sure just where we were, you and I. I looked at several apartments but there was nothing that I liked that was close to work with an opening. I got on the waiting list at a couple of places. I got a call Sunday that one of those places had an opening so I moved in there.”

  “So is it…is it nice?” She looked away and then back quickly.

  Janet shrugged. “It’s okay. It will do for now.”

  “You want a house.”

  “Yes, and some land.”

  They fell into an uneasy silence then as they spent a few minutes finishing the main course.

  Barb pushed away from the table first and stood.”Dessert?”

  Janet looked up at her and shook her head. “Not just yet.” She finished off the last of her cider and said, “I’ll help you clean up,” as she stood too.

  Barb waved a hand toward Janet’s stool. “Sit back down and relax…as much as you can, under the circumstances. There’s not much to do.”

  “No, I ate too. I’ll help. Why don’t you go ahead and start on the pans and I’ll start clearing?”

  “Suit yourself,” Barb said as she shrugged. She headed toward the roaster on the stove. Looking in, she said, “There’s enough left here for a small army. Would you want some to take…take home with you tonight?”

  Janet wrinkled her nose at the thought. “It was absolutely delicious; don’t get me wrong but…well, pork never reheats very well, I don’t think.”

  “I have to agree with that.” She set it aside while she thought about what to do with it.

  Janet put the plate she’d been scraping down, picked up the other one and began to scrape it into the trash too as Barb went to the counter by the sink and opened the dishwasher door just to her left.

  When Janet finished her scraping, she carried both plates over to Barb and set them down for her to rinse. She started to turn back toward the island but something by the door to the hallway that led to the laundry room and the mud room between it and the garage caught her eye.

  She walked over to the key rack hanging on the wall there and fingered a padlock key on a Route 146 Storage Units logo key ring. “Do you have a storage unit?” She asked Barb.

  “This whole house is a storage unit…at least it has been lately, what with all Mom and Dad’s stuff all around and whatnot.”

  “No, look,” Janet said as she took the ring off the rack and held it up.

  Barb looked over her shoulder and then turned completely around as she looked at the key. “That’s strange. It’s certainly not mine.”

  “Because it’s probably mine; my spare. The one that I gave Dana to hang onto.”

  Barb’s hand flew to her mouth.

  “What on earth did they do?” Janet asked aloud as she strode out of the kitchen and through the dining room to the front hall.

  This time, Barb trailed her. “What are you doing?”

  Janet stopped at the hall table where Barb’s purse laid. She picked Barb’s keys up out of the bowl where she’d tossed them and took another set out of the bowl too. “These…these are mine. I noticed them here before but I didn’t put it together” She matched up the two storage unit keys for emphasis. “It’s all starting to make sense now…Holly wanting my address, this storage key being here…even what Mel said.”

  At Barb’s quizzical look, Janet mimicked, “You are home.”

  “I still don’t get it.”

  “They moved all my stuff in here Barb…or most of it anyway. The stuff from here that I took to the apartment and at least some stuff out of my storage unit; maybe all of it.”

  Chapter 27

  “We’ve been had,” Janet said.

  Barb nodded. “Yes we have. Again.”

  The two women stood there staring at each other not knowing. Not sure.

  Janet screwed up her courage. “I love you Barb.”

  Relief washed visibly over the other woman’s face.“I love you too.”

  “There’s no doubt?”

  “No, no doubt. No going back this time.”

  ###

  Janet reached out and touched her hair. She didn't move; she just shut her eyes and let a small sigh escape her lips. When she opened her eyes again, she took the hand that was stroking her hair and guided it down to her waist. She leaned into Janet’s body with hers and circled her arms around her.

  Janet gently pushed Barb up against the bedroom wall and touched her lips to the blonde's. Even more so than the first time they’d ever kissed, she felt like she was in the middle of a firecracker as it exploded.

  The tip of Barb’s tongue pushed against Janet’s lips, requesting permission to enter her mouth. Janet was more than willing and opened to accept even more pleasure than that initial touch had given her only moments before.

  Barb’s hands wandered all over Janet’s body. She tightened her own arms around the other woman in response.

  Pulling her lips away from Barb’s, Janet nuzzled her neck.

  Barb moaned softly and dug her fingers into the flesh of Janet’s back.

  Janet reached up and tried to unbutton the bottom button of Barb’s work polo. Barb pushed her fumbling hands away and whisked the offending shirt off, over her head. She stood there, still next to the wall, in her lacy bra and looked Janet in the eyes.

  “Undo me.”

  Janet’s hands shook as she reached around Barb and unhooked her bra but, when her breasts popped free, she tossed the undergarment away and, taking confidence from Barb’s obviously aroused state, she reached up to cup them in her hands. With her thumbs, she began to gently rub the already pebbled nipples.

  "Oh my God" Barb cried out, her eyes closed half way.

  Janet bent down and took one of her nipples between her lips and began to circle it with her tongue. Barb entwined her fingers in Janet’s long hair and pulled the younger woman in tight. Janet licked around the areola and sucked gently on the nipple.

  “Harder, please," she begged. "Oh God, please do it harder."

  Janet applied more pressure and began to lick faster. She took the other nipple and rolled it between her thumb and forefinger. Barb started to moan louder and pull on Janet’s hair. Janet stood then and grabbed the nipple she had been using her tongue on with her other thumb and forefinger and began to mimic what she was doing with the first one. She covered Barb’s mouth with hers and drove her tongue inside then pushed her knee between her legs. Barb began to grind her crotch against it.


  Then went on that way, feverishly for a minute or so then, without warning, Barb stopped grinding and pushed hard against Janet, pushing her away.

  Automatically, Janet began to apologize. “Barb, I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”

  Barb grabbed her by the shirt collar, pulling her face close. “No, no baby. No. There’s nothing to be sorry for. Don’t you ever be sorry for wanting me! Just…just not right here, is all. Not like this. I want to make love with you…to you…properly. All night.” She turned Janet then, took her hand and led her the few feet to her bed.

  Stunning Barb with strength she had no idea the other woman had, Janet bent suddenly and scooped the slightly smaller woman up. She laid her on the bed then lay down beside her. She began to kiss her slowly as she ran her fingers down her body starting at her neck and following the valleys of her throat and then her breasts. Down farther, she undid the button to Barb’s jeans, unzipped them, then started to slid a hand down her belly toward her waistband.

  Barb moaned at Janet’s touch but Janet wasn’t nearly finished. Janet massaged her belly for a few moments then dropped her hand lower until it found the trim of Barb’s panties. She dipped it under the band and kept going to her mound.

  The blond was mostly shaved with just a small patch of soft hair above her slit. Inside the tightness of the jeans, Janet’s fingers stroked through the hair softly. Barb moaned again and pushed against the wandering hand but Janet, without much room to maneuver, held back.

  Dragging her lips from Barb’s, Janet told her, “I need to get inside you, now.”

  “And I need you there." With that, Barb arched her back, clutched at the waistband of the offending jeans and pushed them down. Janet sat up and pulled them off her at the ankles and tossed them to the floor. While Barb slid off her panties, Janet whipped off her own clothing as quickly as she could managed.

  In the light of the early evening, with the early summer sun still streaming in through the windows, Barb gazed longingly at the woman kneeling on the bed before her. “You’re beautiful,” she said.

  Smiling, Janet responded, “I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

  Instead of continuing where they’d left off, Janet moved from her kneeling position to straddle Barb instead. She placed her palms under Barb’s shoulder blades at first and bent to kiss her again; first her lips and then slowly down her body, sliding her hands down Barb’s back as she went.She kissed her chin, her throat, her chest, her breasts and then her nipples. She lingered at the nipples long enough for Barb to begin to writhe in pleasure again and then she left them continued down her belly to her pussy.

  She paused for just a moment at the top of Barb’s slit but the aroma of Barb’s arousal was so heady she couldn’t help herself. She ran her tongue down one side of the shaved skin and then up the other side, teasing the other woman.

  Barb had her fingers entwined in Janet’s hair. She tried to pull her in closer but Janet held firm, enjoying making her wait in anticipation.

  She ran her tongue up her slit without entering it. Then, without warning, she pushed in with it. The tip of it hit the top of Barb’s clit. Barb’s hips bucked up off of the bed and she moaned loudly and then, as she settled back down, she pulled Janet in tight again.

  This time, Janet obliged her need and began to work Barb’s clit with her tongue. Janet found her so slick and wet with excitement she couldn’t just concentrate on the clit. She plunged her tongue inside her and fluttered it about, rapidly, tongue fucking her lover while she stroked her clit gently with a finger instead of her tongue.

  Barb squirmed and cried out. “More! Harder, harder,” she begged.

  Janet took the hand that had been stroking Barb’s clit, moved it around her thigh and cupped a cheek with it, pulling her pussy toward her as she stayed on her knees but rose slightly. She licked two fingers on her other hand then plunged them inside the older woman while she laved her clit with her tongue.

  Barb’s breath came in spurts. She begged for more in between drags for air. “Harder, harder!”

  Janet added a third finger and pumped faster as she sucked at Barb’s clit. She felt her lover’s orgasm coming on and then her own, she was so excited by the reaction she was getting from Barb.

  Barb’s body began to spasm. Her vagina tightening around Janet’s hand and that was all it took for both of them. They crashed to the mattress and clung to each other as the waves of their orgasms washed over them.

  Several moments later, temporarily spent, Janet rolled off of Barb to her side and wrapped her arms around her then pulled her in close.

  Barb looked up at Janet. “I’ve never cum like that…ever. I mean that. Not even our first time together.”

  Janet smiled sheepishly. “We were both, ah, pretty nervous that night…the circumstances and all.”

  “And now?”

  “Now what?”

  “You weren’t a little nervous?”

  “No, not now. Certainly not now.”

  ###

  “Are you awake?”

  “Mmm,” Barb mumbled as she nestle back into Janet who was laying spooned behind her.

  “I really hate to do this,” Janet said, “but it’s only Wednesday. I have to go to work. Your clock says it’s nearly 6:00.”

  Barb pulled away and rolled over to face the other woman. She grinned slyly. “Fat lot of good you’ll be to Mel today either. I didn’t let you get much sleep last night. Maybe you should call off.” She could see Janet’s face color even in the dimness of the early morning light.

  “And just how would I explain that?”

  “Oh please! Mel’s a big girl. She was a part of all of this. She’ll know exactly what happened.”

  “Exactly?”

  “Yes.”

  Janet’s expression turned playful. “You mean like this?” She put a hand on Barb’s breast and rolled a nipple between her fingers like she had the night before.

  Barb squirmed and pushed Janet’s hand away. “Hold that thought! Don’t you go anywhere!” With that, she jumped out of bed and made a beeline for the bathroom making Janet shake with laughter as she watched her go.

  “Sorry babe,” Barb said when she emerged a couple of minutes later. She moved to crawl on top of Janet’s naked form where she was sprawled across the tangled mess they’d made of the sheets.

  “Not so fast, you! It’s my turn,” Janet said, rising.

  Barb stood, a funny look on her face.

  Janet was at the edge of the bed but she stopped short of standing. “Something wrong?”

  “Do you smell…bacon?”

  Janet turned her head toward the door tipped it back a little as she sniffed deeply. She nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

  Just then Amy Wysocki’s voice rang out from the bottom of the stairs, “Hey you two lovebirds, I know you must be famished. Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes or so. I’m running late because I had to clean up the kitchen first…you two left it a mess!”

  Barb went to the door and stuck her head out. “Sorry mom. We’ll…ah…we’ll be down in a few minutes.”

  Amy called back, “Tell Janet to shake a leg. Mel will be here to pick her up at 7:00 to give her a ride to work.”

  “Gotcha.” She closed the door and turned to smile at Janet then walked back around the bed to her. “I think everybody in this county was in on the plan to get us back together.”

  Janet stood and pulled Barb in for a kiss. She pulled back, brushed a lock of hair away from the other woman’s face and told her, “I think you just may be right.”

  .

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  About the Author

  Anne Hagan
is an East Central Ohio based government employee by day and author by night. She and her wife live in a tiny town that's even smaller than the Morelville of her Mystery fiction novels and they wouldn't have it any other way. Anne's wife grew up there and has always considered it home. Though it's an ultra-conservative rural community, they're surrounded there by family, longtime friends and many other wonderful people with open hearts and minds. They enjoy spending time with Anne's son and his wife, with their nieces and nephews and doing many of the things you've read about in her books or that will be 'fictitiously' incorporated into future Morelville Mysteries and Cozies series books. If you've read about a hobby or a sport in either series, they probably enjoy doing it themselves or someone very close to them does.

  Anne and her wife are the co-owners of a haunted house: Hagan's House of Horrors. Much as her dream has always been to write fiction, her spouse's dream has been to create it through the medium of horror. They took their haunt operation fully commercial in 2015. Watch them as they grow!

  Healing Embrace is Anne’s 13th book but only her second romance, a sequel, of sorts, to the first one. If you enjoyed this book and you also like mysteries with a touch of romance, please consider the lesbian fiction Morelville Mysteries series that features Sheriff Mel, Dana and several others at least mentioned in this story. Also, if you’re interested in cozy mystery stories, please consider reading The Passed Prop, the first book in the spin off Morelville Cozies series by Anne that features meddling mothers Faye Crane and Chloe Rossi in a case only they could solve. Future stories are planned for both series.

  As always, thank you for reading!

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  For the latest information about upcoming releases, other projects, sample chapters and everything personal, check out Anne’s blog at https://AnneHaganAuthor.com/ or like Anne on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnneHagan. You can also connect with Anne on Twitter @AuthorAnneHagan.