by M. E. Tudor
Jean picked up her fork with a chuckle, “I didn’t realize we’d stopped eating until he showed up.”
“Me, either,” Ashley replied smiling, “It’s a good sign that we can talk so easily.”
“Yes,” Jean agreed, “I enjoy talking to you. I hope that we’ll find lots to talk about.”
“I think we will,” Ashley predicted. She looked at her watch, “But we better stop talking for now or we won’t get any eating done and I’m starved.”
“Agreed,” Jean said.
* * *
Ashley was almost late getting back from lunch. When she walked in the door, Mary was waiting with her purse. She looked at the two take out boxes and gave Ashley a raised eyebrow in question.
“We talked more than we ate. I’m sure I’ll be starving later,” Ashley told her.
Mary grinned, “Sounds like you had a good lunch.”
“It was,” Ashley agreed, but her smile faded and she leaned closely to Mary, “But, Mr. Lowry and Mr. Winslow had lunch there too. They saw us together.”
“Oh my,” Mary gulped.
“Yeah, I’m a little freaked out about it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mary encouraged, squeezing Ashley’s arm, “I doubt they’ll say anything. I have to run though; I’m meeting Jackie at Serrato’s for lunch.”
“Is that the new Italian restaurant out by us?”
“Yes.”
“Let me know how it is,” Ashley called moving toward the break room. “Apparently Jean likes Italian food as much as I do.”
Mary smiled at her, “I will, plus you have a story to tell me, too.”
Ashley nodded with a smile that faded as soon as she saw the partners approaching the door. She turned and hurried to the break room to put her food away.
Both partners came into the break room with their leftover food from Alberto’s. Ashley turned from the refrigerator to look at them.
Mr. Lowry smiled, “I guess we better label these.”
Ashley smiled back at him, “Yes, I guess we better. Mine has shrimp in it and I wouldn’t want Mr. Winslow to accidentally get into it and have an allergic reaction.”
“That would be bad,” Mr. Winslow agreed, “In fact, I should put mine on a completely different shelf.”
Nodding, Ashley started toward the door and said, “I’ll go get something to label them with.”
Returning a few seconds later, she labeled each box.
“Thank you,” Mr. Lowry said before turning and walking into his office.
Mr. Winslow fixed himself a cup of hot tea and went into his office. Neither said a word about seeing Ashley at the restaurant with Jean. Ashley let out a sigh and went to her desk to start working.
A little less than an hour later, Mary came bouncing back into the office. Ashley looked up from her work, “Good lunch?”
Mary grinned, “Oh yeah.”
Ashley raised her eye brow and asked, “You two did go eat, right?”
“Sure we did,” Mary blushed.
The image of Mary and Jackie making out in Mary’s car made Ashley blush too, and she looked away. She had to admit that she was a little jealous. She would love for Jean and her to have a little making out time.
Mary came out of the break room and went straight to Ashley’s desk, “Okay, give me the dish on Governor Michaels.”
Ashley looked back toward the partners’ offices, and then leaned to Mary. “Do you remember the big deal about Representative Connie Sayers coming out earlier this year?”
“Oh yeah,” Mary replied with a nod, “She’s the one trying to block Governor Michaels’ push to reverse some of Governor Beshear’s anti-discrimination rules.”
“Well, you are not going to believe who her wife is.” Ashley looked around again, “Her wife used to be Governor Michael’s secretary. The one he was accused of having an affair with.”
“Seriously?” Mary looked back in the direction of the partners’ offices, too.
“Jean’s father said that the former secretary has a bunch of stuff on Michaels and can probably get him to back off.”
“That’s awesome,” Mary said.
“Yeah,” Ashley agreed.
One of the partner’s clients came in, and Mary went back to her desk. They didn’t talk about anything but work the rest of the afternoon. Ashley was still feeling a bit apprehensive about her relationship with Jean. She still wondered if they would be able to have a real relationship without a lot of complications. Only time would tell.
Chapter Fifteen
Ashley was stunned when Mary and she pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex and saw Jean’s car there. Mary looked over at her. “Were you expecting her to come by?”
“No,” Ashley replied and pulled into their parking space.
Jean wasn’t in her car, so Ashley and Mary went up to their apartment where she found Jean sitting on the couch talking to Jackie, who was sitting in the recliner. “Hi,” Jean greet them when they walked in the door.
“Hi,” Ashley answered. She set her purse down on the coffee table and sat next to Jean, “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to surprise you,” Jean responded.
Ashley smiled, “You did.”
Mary had sat down on Jackie’s lap and per her arm around her neck, “I would love to hear more about this thing about Governor Michaels.”
“What about Governor Michaels?” Jackie asked.
“Apparently, he has a lot of skeletons in his closet,” Jean said, “Do you all have any alcohol? I would love a drink.”
“We have beer,” Mary said.
“That would be great,” Jean said.
Mary and Jackie both got up and went to the kitchen. Jean turned to Ashley and kissed her lightly on the lips, “I wanted to do that so bad today at lunch.”
Ashley smiled, “Me, too.”
Jackie came back with three beers. “Mary went to change,” she explained and sat down in the recliner.
Standing, Ashley agreed, “That sounds good.”
Jean grabbed her hand, “Why don’t you wait, I want to take you to dinner in a little bit.”
“Okay,” Ashley said and sat back down next to Jean, this time closer so that their legs were touching.
Mary came back dressed in athletic pants, t-shirt and bare feet. She sat down in front of the recliner and leaned against Jackie’s sweatpants-clad legs, “Okay, let’s hear the Governor Michaels’ story.”
Jean took a drink of her beer and started, “When Governor Michaels was running for office, he was accused of having an affair with his secretary, Janice Cantrell. Janice denied it because she was having an affair with Connie Sayers, and Connie was still married at the time. Janice did have a brief affair with Michaels, but it didn’t last more than a few months. After she met and fell in love with Connie, she quit working for Michaels, who she said continued to sexually harass her until she quit.
“Michaels apparently has a problem with sexual harassment because there are other women who have filed complaints against him, complaints that got shuffled around until they disappeared, or at least until Michaels thought they did. It’s one of the things I love about modern technology; nothing really completely disappears, especially when the women involved kept copies of their complaints on flash drives.”
“Oh shit!” Jackie exclaimed.
“Yeah, ‘oh shit’ for Michaels,” Jean agreed, “My father contacted him and explained that he had quite a bit of information that would make Michaels look very bad. Even though it’s eighteen months from the next election, Michaels doesn’t need any more bad press than he’s already had.”
“I will be stunned if he gets re-elected,” Ashley stated, “He has jacked up the state government.”
“For real,” Mary agreed.
“The Democrats are grooming some very good candidates for the next election,” Jean added. “I don’t think Michaels will get re-elected if the Democrats keep proposing bills that will fix the economy
and bring in a pro-laborer candidate.”
“True,” Ashley agreed, sipped her beer, and then asked, “So where’re we going to dinner?”
“I thought we’d get something light. Maybe swing by Subway or something, and then go to a movie. There’s a new action flick that just come out that I want to see,” Jean said.
“The one about the assassination attempt on the President while he’s traveling overseas?” Ashley asked excitedly.
“That’s the one.”
“I’ve been dying to see that!”
Jean smiled, “Well, I guess that’s something else we have in common. I love action movies.”
Ashley smiled as she absorbed the warm and affectionate look Jean was giving her. She was still surprised at the difference in Jean since they had stopped being just S&M lovers. The warm and caring side of Jean had come out, and Ashley really liked that side of Jean.
Mary stood up and pulled Jackie out of the chair. “I think we’re going to go start our dinner.”
Jean and Ashley blushed as they snapped out of their stare. “I suppose we should get going if we are going to make the seven o’clock showing,” Jean said. She finished her beer as did Ashley.
“Yeah, we should get going,” Ashley agreed.
Both women stood. Ashley grabbed her purse and called to Jackie and Mary, “We’re heading out. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
Jean opened the door for Ashley and put her hand on the small of Ashley’s back as they went out the door.
They went downstairs, and Ashley paused on the sidewalk. “Should we take one car or both cars?”
“Both,” Jean said leaning close to Ashley, “I want you to come to my house after the movie.”
Ashley looked into Jean’s smoldering dark eyes, “You keep looking at me like that and we may never make it to the movie.”
Jean laughed, “I’ll meet you at the Subway by the mall.”
* * *
Ashley was still in shock that she was sitting in a crowded movie theater holding hands with Jean. This had been the craziest day. They had lunch and dinner together in very public restaurants where they had seen people they knew. Mr. Lowry and Mr. Winslow had been at Alberto’s at lunch, and Jarrod Gilman, one of the courthouse guards had been at Subway. God only knew how many people who knew them or knew of them were in this theater. Ashley was pretty sure everyone in town knew who Jean was after the news reports about what had happened to her. Now, here she was practically challenging them to say something about her being out with a woman. And it was clear that Jean and she were together. Jean had stood close to her and talked to her in line at Subway. They had talked and laughed liked teenagers at their table. Now, Jean was caressing her hand in the packed theater.
It had never occurred to Ashley until right that minute that if Jean was outed, she would be, too. Was she prepared for that? She looked down at their entwined hands and then at Jean who looked over at her and smiled. “You look happy,” Ashley said suddenly.
“I am,” Jean whispered, “I am happy when I’m with you.”
Ashley smiled shyly, “I’m happy when I’m with you, too.”
Jean’s eyes dropped to Ashley’s lips and for a moment, Ashley thought she was going to kiss her right there in the theater, but Jean squeezed her hand and turned back to the movie.
When the movie was over and they were making their way out, Jean put her hand on the small of Ashley’s back again. It was like she had to touch her. Ashley found herself looking around self-consciously. She felt like people were staring at them.
Jean was feeling the same thing, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t sure when she had changed how she felt about being out, but she wanted to be able to be with Ashley like this without fear. Turning to Ashley, she saw the slight fear on her face, “Are you okay?”
“Just a little nervous,” Ashley admitted.
“Isn’t this what you wanted, though, someone to go to dinner and the movies with, someone to hold hands with?”
Ashley looked into Jean’s eyes. She felt empowered by what she saw there, “Yes, this is exactly what I wanted.”
“Me, too,” Jean replied. Once again her eyes dropped to Ashley’s lips, “We need to get out of here because I want to kiss you so bad I almost can’t stop myself.”
Ashley’s breath caught, “Well then, we better hurry to your house.”
Jean smiled at the desire in Ashley’s eyes, “Yes, we better.”
The drive to Jean’s house seemed to take forever. It was like every light on the way was timed against them. Of course, the wait only built the anticipation of the fire that was going to explode once they got inside Jean’s house.
Ashley arrived at Jean’s house a few minutes before Jean and parked in the circle of the driveway. Jean parked behind Ashley and went straight to the door. Ashley was right on her heels when Jean opened the door.
Jean closed the door by pressing Ashley to it and kissing her hard. Ashley moved her hands to Jean’s waist and started pulling her blouse out of her slacks. Jean’s lips moved to Ashley’s neck as Ashley’s hands slid inside her blouse to her breasts.
“Oh, God,” Jean murmured.
Ashley cupped Jean’s breasts and stroked her nipples through the lacy bra. She brought her lips back to Jean’s and slid her tongue into Jean’s mouth. Jean pushed her against the door again with her leg between Ashley’s.
When they took a breath, Ashley panted, “Let’s go to your bedroom. Your bed is much softer than this door.”
“Sorry,” Jean apologized, “I didn’t mean to slam you into it so hard.”
“It’s okay, but I want you naked on your bed. Now,” Ashley demanded.
Jean’s nostrils flared with the intensity of the arousal Ashley’s demand brought on. She turned and pulled Ashley with her through the house to her bedroom. When they were standing next to her bed she turned to Ashley and kissed her deeply. Ashley began unbuttoning Jean’s shirt as Jean unzipped her skirt.
With deft hands, Jean began unbuttoning Ashley’s shirt as she pulled back to look into Ashley’s eyes. “You are so beautiful,” Jean murmured. She cupped Ashley’s face and gently kissed her as she continued to remove Ashley’s blouse.
Taking Jean’s hands and putting them on her naked breasts after Jean had removed her bra, Ashley purred, “You make me feel beautiful with the way you touch me.”
Gently squeezing Ashley’s breasts, Jean moaned softly before lowering her head to take one of Ashley’s breasts into her mouth. Ashley let out a deep sigh when Jean moved to the other breast. Jean moved further down with kisses down Ashley’s flat stomach as she took off the last barrier keeping her from what she wanted most of all. Once Ashley’s clothes were completely off, Jean pushed her onto the bed where she moved between Ashley’s legs. The scent of Ashley’s arousal was making Jean crazy, and she had to taste her.
Ashley’s hips came of the bed with the touch of Jean’s tongue to her clit. “Oh my God,” Ashley hissed.
Jean was taking her time, slowly building the height of Ashley’s arousal with her tongue and lips.
