by Jane Frances
“I thought—” Toni lifted a hand to run through her hair but stopped, instead pulling Emma through the door and closing it quickly.
Emma thought maybe Virgil was trying for another escape, but a glance down the hallway revealed no feline in the vicinity. Warm hands cupped her cheeks, pulling her attention back to human height. Green eyes met hers and long lashes fluttered shut. Emma was still not sure what Toni had thought, but if this was any indication, it was all good.
Emma leaned into the kiss, one hand settling into the curve of Toni’s waist as the other thrust car keys into her jeans pocket. Dear God. The sensation of Toni’s tongue dancing across her own, combined with the press of Toni’s hands against her cheeks, left her feeling at once faint, yet very much aware, very alive. All the fears of the evening were swept away, replaced by a fierce desire to be as close to this woman as possible. Emma wanted to step inside Toni’s skin, feel what she felt, see what she saw, to know everything about her.
“I want…” Emma slid lips, moist and puffy from desire, across Toni’s cheek, to her ear. “Please—show me your bedroom,” she said breathlessly.
Emma heard the sharp intake of breath, felt the body that had molded so well into hers, tighten and tense. For an awful moment Emma thought herself trapped in some weird Groundhog Day world, where she was forced to live the same day over and over until she got it right.
“Toni?”
“I’m sorry.” Toni looked down to the floor, shuffling her feet nervously.
Exasperated, frustrated, Emma tilted Toni’s chin with her forefinger. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”
Toni just shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Am I moving too fast? I…Toni, I’m getting some very mixed messages here.”
“Please, Emma. It’s not you. It’s me.”
Well, that was one of the oldest brush-offs in the book. Emma was disappointed Toni would use such a line. She had thought her bigger than that. “What a crock, Toni. If you’re not interested then just say so, but don’t patronize me.”
Toni’s eyes widened in surprise, then her face fell and her eyes filled. “Emma, believe me, please.” She pointed to her face. “It’s got nothing to do with you. It’s me.” She stabbed at the skin near her left ear. “It’s this.”
A good few seconds passed before Emma twigged onto what Toni was trying to say. It took that long because the thought had not previously crossed her mind. “You’re worried that I’m worried over a few spots?” she said incredulously.
When Toni nodded, Emma was so relieved she burst out laughing. “You silly. A few spots are nothing. And besides, they’re disappearing daily. Not that I’d mind if they didn’t,” she continued quickly, thinking Toni may have some other hidden, but permanent, blemish she’d then start fretting over.
“I know they’re disappearing.” As if proving a point, Toni scratched at her forearm. “They’re falling off everywhere.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“I mean”—Toni shuffled her feet again before meeting Emma’s eyes—“they’re falling off everywhere.”
“Oh.” Emma grasped the full meaning of Toni’s words. She nodded wisely. “I see.”
“It’s not funny.”
“I didn’t say it was.” Despite trying not to, Emma grinned. She really couldn’t help it; she was bursting with the knowledge Toni at least wanted to continue what they had started. Even if she wouldn’t continue it right now. “Can I see your bedroom now?”
“But I just told you—”
“No funny business, I promise,” Emma interrupted, holding her hands in the air in surrender. “I just want to be able to picture where you sleep. Okay?”
Chapter Seventeen
“I’ll fax those figures to you as soon as I can.” Toni rose to shake the hand of Alexandria, a sixty-five-year-old ex-army nurse who, over the course of her working life, had amassed an impressive residential property portfolio. An imposing woman, she was not one to suffer fools lightly. Toni knew her to be soft as marshmallow on the inside, but her often gruff exterior could be quite intimidating. It was for that exact reason she had not handed her account over to Julie. “Thanks again for rescheduling.”
“No trouble at all.” Alexandria’s eyes darted over Toni’s face. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Although it looks like you didn’t get it too bad. My nephew got chicken pox as an adult, and quite frankly, he looked like crappola for twelve months afterward. But I reckon he probably picked himself silly.”
Toni smiled. Alexandria wasn’t one to mince words. If she thought Toni looked like “crappola” she probably would have told her so within the first five minutes of their appointment. “It was tempting, I tell you. I had to bind my hands behind my back.”
“It worked.” Also not one to decline from physical contact, Alexandria ran her palm down Toni’s cheek, “My little Macedonian is positively glowing. Is there some woman gave you special treatment on your sick bed?”
“ ’Bye, Alex. See you next week.” Toni ushered Alexandria out of her office with a laugh. She might tell her sometime soon, but not right now. Now was Toni’s time to savor. She settled behind her desk, gladly noting she had a full hour before her next, and last, appointment of the day. As well as giving ample opportunity to pull the files she needed, it provided a bit of uninterrupted time to think, to dream, to remember. Toni swiveled her chair to the expanse of plate glass. Normally she would have a commanding view of the city, but today the rain that had fallen steadily since midmorning shrouded the cityscape. Still, Toni hauled her feet onto her low bookcase, put her hands behind her head and turned her attention outside the window. She smiled as drops cascaded down the glass. Nothing, especially a little rain, could put a damper on today.
Today was Thursday, a full week since her first dinner at Emma’s place. She’d had dinner there three more times since then. They’d seen each other every day, replacing their online chats by spending alternate evenings at each other’s homes. A couple of nights they ventured out—once to an art-house movie, and once to an offbeat performance at some independent theater in the middle of the Perth Cultural Centre. Still very self-conscious, Toni was grateful both events were staged in intimate venues with correspondingly small audiences.
On the nights they stayed in, one hour just slid into another. A tremendous amount of time was spent talking, their list of topics to be discussed seemingly infinite. Sometimes they watched television; sometimes they listened to music. They took Kayisha for long evening walks and they played with Virgil, tossing her cloth ball around the house and exclaiming delightedly when she trotted back to them with it in her mouth. Whatever they did, every evening ended in the same way: with lots and lots of kissing.
Toni could not recall ever spending so much time kissing a woman without it turning into sex. It was nice. It was more than nice. It was glorious. It was also frustrating beyond belief. Yes, Toni was quite aware she had inflicted the restriction upon herself, and on occasions, when the heat between them was building, the desire to take things to the next level was so strong she physically ached. But each morning, when she again had to get the Dust Buster and vacuum the bits of black left on the bedclothes, she thanked the Goddess for her restraint.
Just how long Emma’s continued patience could hold was a source of constant concern and she found herself apologizing again and again.
“Shh, Toni.” With face flushed and eyelids heavy, Emma’s breath would wash over Toni in short, labored puffs and she’d return to Toni’s mouth, temporarily ridding her fears, but fanning the flames of her desire.
Each and every night Toni turned to her own hand for release. “Emma,” she’d call out in the darkness of her room, her bed all of a sudden very lonely.
But last night, when she called Emma’s name, a voice responded, “I’m here.”
The previous morning had been a joyous one, Toni standing with Dust Buster in hand, bedclothes pulled down, sucking up the one black bit sl
oughed off during the night. Once the sheets and her Tigger pajamas were thrown into the washing machine, her naked twirl in front of the mirror revealed that one black bit to be the last of many. She’d hardly been able to contain herself during the three phone calls she and Emma exchanged yesterday and she bit her tongue many times during their walk with Kayisha last evening. It wasn’t until they were settled on the couch after dinner that Toni made it known things had changed.
They had been studying the brochure for the state symphony orchestra’s winter season, but the brochure and list of concerts circled for attendance were long forgotten. Both had kicked off their shoes. Toni sat at one end of the couch, legs stretched across both seats, Emma sat astride her, one hand on the backrest, the other on the armrest. Toni was being kissed in Emma’s inimitable way: slowly, methodically and thoroughly. As was usual, her kisses were driving Toni slowly, methodically and thoroughly mad.
In the limited space afforded by Emma’s position, Toni scrabbled with her clothing, undoing the top two buttons of her button-down shirt. She took one of Emma’s hands and placed it under the material, over her left breast. Emma drew back from Toni, eyes darting, questioning.
At first Toni thought Emma had misunderstood, her hand resting lightly without moving. Then…when Emma returned to Toni’s mouth, her kiss held an increased intent and ever so slowly her palm brushed then pressed. Toni’s nipple reacted immediately and Emma responded with a fevered kiss, her fingers stroking, teasing and tweaking until Toni could stand no more. She wrestled with her other buttons, pulling them loose and drawing back the material of her shirt to lay her breasts bare, open, for Emma.
Again Emma left Toni’s mouth, gaze wandering over the gifts Toni was offering. “Oh.” She breathed. “Magnificent.” Her head descended and Toni moaned as the sudden, unexpected attention shot waves of pleasure to every pulse point. The pleasure escalated as hands and mouth expertly combined to make love to Toni’s breasts. Fingers massaged and fingernails trailed, lips encased flesh and a warm, wet tongue flicked and swirled.
“Please.” Toni pulled Emma back upward, her breasts so engorged with sensation it seemed all the nerve endings in her body had converged in the delicate tissue.
“Too much?”
“No.” Toni greeted lips, puffy and red, with her own. “You make me…Oh…” A groan escaped the moment her tongue tipped Emma’s. “Not nearly enough.”
Vaguely she heard someone say something about taking someone to bed, but she didn’t know if it was her own voice she heard, or if it was Emma’s. Regardless, the suggestion went unheeded as the task of removing clothing became the new priority. Even that was largely unsuccessful. They got as far as tugging Emma’s jumper over her head and popping the buttons open on each other’s jeans. That was about it. The zipper on Emma’s well-worn and faded Levis provided little resistance against Toni’s hand and she slid inside, her already racing pulse quickening with the evidence of Emma’s desire. In the moment of contact she saw Emma’s eyes widen and her mouth open in a silent “Yes.” Then she saw her eyes shut tight, her face a picture of ascetic beauty as she moved in time with Toni’s thrusting fingers.
It all happened very quickly, and when a strong, sure hand slid inside Toni’s jeans, Toni’s release of pent-up energy was just as fast, her body exploding against Emma’s in no time at all. She collapsed back into the couch, heart pounding, breath coming in ragged gasps.
“Are you okay?” Emma ran fingers through Toni’s fringe, pushing it back from her forehead. The pleased smile that accompanied the gesture told Toni that Emma already knew she was more than okay.
Toni nodded, pulling Emma down. “Oh, yes.” She closed her eyes instinctively for the kiss and she shuddered yet again at the touch of Emma’s tongue against her own.
Now, a fresh shudder swept through Toni as memory again warmed her blood. She closed her eyes, allowing the indulgence of once more reliving the night. She’d already relived portions of it on the morning drive from Emma’s place to her own, recounted it to Virgil while she sat on the floor and watched her crunch on breakfast, and relived portions over again as she tried somewhat unsuccessfully to concentrate in the limited time before her first appointment. Today, true concentration was impossible. Images of Emma would rush to the forefront of Toni’s thoughts, and she’d find herself sighing, feeling for the world like she could just melt into a little puddle of happiness on the floor.
The night came back to her in a series of erotic vignettes: the two of them falling together into the bedroom, legs and arms tangled as they made slow, crab-stepping progress toward the bed. The fire in Emma’s eyes as she pulled Toni with her onto the mattress, her knee rising to provide a fabulous, yet torturously teasing pressure between Toni’s legs. The warm tones of Emma’s skin as she turned to lie on her stomach, bathed in the soft light of the bedside lamp, dimmed to the point of almost-dark. Toni’s own hand as it traveled Emma’s spine, across the wonderful swell of buttocks and down the back of Emma’s legs. The breath that caught in Toni’s throat when the legs parted and hips rose to give Toni’s fingers access to slick, willing heat. Much later, the sensation of erect nipples grazing over her skin as Emma slithered first down the length of Toni’s body, then back again, with a long, leg-trembling stop in the middle. And later again, the taste of Emma—so deliciously intricate, complex and unique.
Toni felt her insides shift at the memory of it all. All the hours that passed between them before finally succumbing to exhausted sleep.
Toni awoke sometime in the middle of the night, momentarily disorientated by unfamiliar surrounds. Then realization dawned and she smiled, softly saying Emma’s name just to hear the sound of it. She wasn’t expecting a response, but one came.
“I’m here.”
“You’re so far away.” Toni stretched her arm across the bed, finding Emma’s waist.
Emma laughed at the gross exaggeration and shunted across the mattress. She rested her head on the same pillow as Toni, facing her. “Not anymore.”
Neither got any more sleep for quite a while.
When Toni awoke the second time, the light that filtered through her still closed eyelids revealed it to be morning. She groaned and threw her hand over the side of the bed, wishing it were still dark. Her arm landed on something warm and furry. Something warm and furry that panted and, urghh…had doggie breath. Toni’s eyes flew open to find Kayisha with front paws on the bed, black, glistening nose right in front of Toni’s face. If Toni thought Kayisha had smiled at her before, this time she looked like she was positively grinning.
“She likes you.” Emma’s voice came from behind Kayisha. She held a mug in each hand, and apart from a sleeveless T-shirt, she was naked. The T-shirt wasn’t quite long enough to completely cover a thatch of light brown hair. Despite not even being properly awake, Toni felt the pull of lust in her groin. Emma’s voice was gently commanding, “Kayisha, paws off the bed, please.”
Kayisha did as told and Emma sat on the edge of the bed. One of the mugs was handed over and Toni yawned a thank-you. “Oh, dear.” She glanced to the clock on the bedside table. It was eight o’clock. Luckily, her house was only fifteen minutes’ drive from Emma’s. Still, she had only one hour to get home, shower, dress, feed Virgil and the doves and drive to the office. Her first appointment wasn’t until eleven, but nine was her official starting time. “I’m going to have to get my skates on.”
Emma smiled over the rim of her mug. “I guess there’s nothing I could do to persuade you to take the day off.”
“Absolutely nothing.” Toni shook her head vehemently, at the same time knowing it would take very little to persuade her. She purposely avoided looking at Emma’s lips. They would be quite persuasive. She couldn’t let her gaze drift down past the hem of Emma’s T-shirt either. That would likely make her stay. Then there were those hazel eyes. Toni remembered looking deep into them last night, as they knelt naked in front of each other, touching in places…The coffee mug was relegated t
o the bedside table. “But I could be persuaded to be a little late.”
Toni arrived at the office outlandishly late, even for her. It was all Emma’s fault for being so downright sexy. As soon as Toni stepped into the reception, Sue tried to eke an explanation for the tardiness, but Toni refused to be drawn into conversation, begging the need to get ready for her eleven o’clock appointment. She doubted it would take Sue long to put two and two together anyway. The woman could sniff out a new romance at one hundred paces.
Toni smiled when she again opened her eyes to the world as seen from her office window. The rain had stopped, but rivulets of water still ran down the plate-glass window. A streak of blue sky was emerging between the clouds that lay over the city like a blanket. The blue reminded Toni of the color of Emma’s bedroom walls.
“Ahh, Emma.” Toni swung back to face the desk and leaned her chin on one hand, dreamily doodling little love hearts on the lined pad that lay in front of her. She imagined her fairytale coming to life. In the form of a woman who was not only willing to discuss and debate every topic under the sun, but who—as Toni had discovered after the cinema on Sunday night—liked her burgers with the lot. Bacon and double cheese.
A knock on her half-open door jerked her back to reality. Julie stood at the entrance, two coffee mugs in hand. She held one up as she said, “I thought you may like an afternoon pick-me-up.”
“Thanks.” Toni nodded to one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. She folded her arms over her doodles as a mug was placed next to her elbow.
“It’s technically Marian’s last day tomorrow,” Julie said as she frowned quizzically at the now covered paper. “But I thought I’d check to see if you’re ready to take on a full load yet. If not, I’ll ask her to come in next week.”
Toni had been eased back into work with a light schedule, Julie arranging only a smattering of appointments, well spaced throughout the day. It was a thoughtful move Toni took full advantage of, spending a good amount of her free time in long phone contact with Emma. Or thinking about Emma. Or, as with this morning, being with Emma. Toni looked rather guiltily at Julie. “I’ll be ready to get stuck right into it next week.”
