Heart Stop

by Radclyffe

  “Let me do that.” Olivia slid her hands under the tails of Jay’s shirt, clasped her waist, and rubbed her thumbs up and down Jay’s stomach.

  Jay’s muscles tightened so quickly it almost hurt. She arched her neck and closed her eyes, giving herself over to the touch, to the heat streaking through her. Olivia’s mouth was on her neck, her lips soft, her teeth sharp. She bit, tasted her. Jay swallowed, her breath so short she was light-headed. She liked being caught.

  “You’re trembling,” Olivia whispered, kissing her way back down Jay’s neck to the hollow of her throat. She yanked the tank free of the waistband of Jay’s pants and slipped her fingers beneath, her nails lightly scraping Jay’s stomach. “Want me to slow down?”

  “I want you to devour me,” Jay gasped.

  “Oh,” Olivia murmured, breath coming fast, vision blurring with the fierce need to take. “I’m going to.”

  Olivia knelt, pushed Jay’s tank up with both hands, and kissed her stomach, trailing the tip of her tongue down the center of her abdomen until she reached the waistband of her trousers. She teased one fingertip underneath and swept back and forth, pushing lower with each stroke.

  “Fuck!” Jay gripped Olivia’s shoulders to steady herself. Olivia’s mouth was so hot, her mouth so demanding, so perfect on her skin, she wanted to cry. She never wanted to move. Couldn’t move. She’d never wanted a woman to take her so much. Waiting was driving her crazy, and the last thing she wanted was to rush. “Just don’t stop.”

  “Why would I do that?” Olivia ran her hands up and down Jay’s thighs, feeling the rigid muscles quiver beneath her touch. She rubbed her cheek against Jay’s stomach, feeling like a cat claiming its mate. She stroked her, petted her, felt the heat pour from her body. Jay’s skin was softly misted, taut and salty, demanding to be tasted, her body a mystery demanding to be explored. Stop? Impossible. She wanted to stop time, revel in this moment forever. The power was intoxicating, so potent the sound of her pounding heart was deafening.

  Need formed a fist in her throat, driving her to feed her hunger. She must have her, would have her, all of her, and soon. Pushing to her feet, Olivia gripped Jay’s shoulders and pressed her backward, step by step. When they reached the side of the bed, she yanked the covers down with one hand and then unbuckled Jay’s belt, opened the tab trousers, slid down the zipper. “I want to see you naked.”

  Jay shed her shirt and tank and kicked off her shoes as Olivia pushed her pants down her thighs. Once freed of her clothes, she froze. She’d forgotten the scars until Olivia’s mouth was on her chest, lips softly moving over the marred inner surface of her breast. “That’s from—”

  “I know,” Olivia murmured. Another scar, another kiss, another absolution. “Your body is beautiful. Lie down now. I want to have all of you.”

  Jay stretched out on the pure white sheets, as soft as falling into driven snow. Olivia loomed above her, somehow naked now too, her breasts swaying gently just outside Jay’s reach, her hair tangled around her face, her thigh pressed between Jay’s legs. Olivia stroked her shoulders, her breasts, her belly, the length of her thighs. Olivia kissed the places she had just caressed, moving slowly down Jay’s body, her mouth pausing on each scar until Jay quivered with need, lingering on the places that made Jay shiver and moan.

  Jay closed her eyes when the pleasure stole her reason.

  “I adore touching you,” Olivia whispered.

  Then Olivia was beside her, kissing her, stroking the inside of her thighs, fondling the fire between them.

  Jay arched, her breath caught in her throat, willpower snapping like a high wire in the wind. One touch, one kiss, one perfect stroke. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m going to come.”

  Olivia laughed, a wild, fierce cry, and Jay flew into a billion blazing fragments, knowing to the very depths of her being what it was to be owned.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Oh,” Jay gasped. “That was—”

  Olivia pressed her fingers to Jay’s mouth. “We’re not done yet.”

  “Yeah, good, God, my brain is mush.” Jay kissed her, just wanting more of…everything. The sight of her, the taste of her, the piercing pleasure of her touch. “I want—”

  “So do I,” Olivia whispered. She straddled Jay’s thigh, braced her outstretched arms on Jay’s shoulders, and leaned over, her hair curtaining Jay’s face again, her eyes dark and wide.

  Jay gripped her waist, fingers curled over her hip bones, and pressed her leg hard between Olivia’s. “Ride me.”

  Olivia’s head snapped back, the muscles in her neck taut, sunlight gleaming in her hair.

  “I want to make you come,” Jay murmured. “Don’t hold back. Don’t wait.”

  Olivia’s fingers tightened on Jay’s shoulders and she slid, slick and hot, along Jay’s thigh in short hard thrusts, her body trembling, faint cries tearing from her throat. Jay urged her on, rocking her up and down, harder and faster, until Olivia’s eyes slammed shut and she stiffened with a startled cry. A convulsion ripped through her, and she collapsed on Jay’s chest, a string of soft whimpers buried against Jay’s throat.

  “Oh yeah,” Jay breathed, wrapping an arm around Olivia’s shoulders, caressing the satin skin, slick now with pleasure and need. Olivia roused with a murmur and rocked her leg into Jay’s center.

  Jay’s clit swelled and her legs tensed.

  “You want to come again,” Olivia murmured in Jay’s ear, “don’t you.”

  “So bad right now.” Jay shivered. “I can’t help it, you seriously wind me up.”

  Laughing, Olivia shifted enough to slip her hand between Jay’s thighs, gliding easily down and inside her. “I haven’t even started.”

  Olivia squeezed and Jay’s hips bucked. Her heart stuttered and skipped. She lifted her hips, pushed into Olivia’s hand.

  “Now you’re going to come again.” Olivia rose to her knees, one hand pressed between Jay’s breasts, holding her down, and stroked long and deep inside her.

  Jay’s gaze blanked. The orgasm shot hard and fast out of nowhere, tearing through her, ripping her asunder. Again and again.

  “You like that,” Olivia’s voice in her ear again, low and teasing. “Don’t you.”

  “Fuck yes.” Strength sapped, Jay’s arms and legs flopped uselessly, her body utterly sated. She turned her head a fraction, found Olivia’s mouth, and kissed her. “I’ve never come like that for anyone. Never even doubled up before.”

  Olivia smiled, an altogether self-satisfied smile. She nipped Jay’s lower lip. “Then I’m honored.”

  “Take all the credit you want.” Jay laughed weakly. “No one has ever made me feel the way I feel right now.”

  “And how is that?”

  “Wasted. Totally satisfied. Like I’ve possibly seen God.”

  Laughing, Olivia leaned on an elbow, trailing her fingers over Jay’s chest, circling the shallow scar on her breast. “You’re amazingly beautiful. I love your body.”

  “Believe me, it’s all yours.”

  “You should be careful, saying things like that,” Olivia murmured.

  “Why?”

  “I have an appetite for you.”

  “Liv, you can have me. Anything you want. Hell, everything.” Jay brushed a hand down her abdomen, her body still not her own, simmering and ready to boil again. “I’ve never said that to anyone before.”

  “It’s the sex,” Olivia said quietly. “Your brain isn’t quite working yet.”

  “The hell it isn’t. My brain is fine. I know what I feel, I know what I want, and I know what I want you to do.”

  “Jay, this isn’t—”

  “Wait. Let me say this.” Jay gathered her strength, needing to be clear. Wanting, in this moment when needs had been filled she hadn’t even known existed, for Olivia to hear her. To know. “It’s not the sex. All right—sure, it is. The sex is fabulous, amazing, mind-blowing. You’re amazing. You are all I’ve been thinking about day and night, since the first time I walked into
your office. You fascinate me, excite me, drive me a little bit crazy.”

  Olivia’s expression grew remote, her eyes cooled. “Jay—”

  “What you do to me—what you make me want, make me feel. No woman has ever done to me what you do.” Jay read the retreat in Olivia’s gaze and hurried on. “I’m not asking for anything except another moment like this.” She laughed shakily. “A million moments might not be enough.”

  “Mmm,” Olivia said, trying to make light of the moment, trying to escape the wild hunger surging, aching, torturing her with unbearable desire. “Like I said, great sex—”

  “It’s more, Liv—it’s more…I—”

  “Take this for what it is,” Olivia said abruptly, her tone still soft. “We’re good together, like this.” She slid on top of Jay, gripped both of Jay’s wrists, pinned them gently to the bed, her body moving effortlessly over Jay’s, igniting fires everywhere she touched. “You feel how good we are. I can see it in your eyes.”

  “I’m breathing, aren’t I,” Jay gasped. “When I’m anywhere near you, when I even think about you, I’m on fire. From the first minute I saw you. Don’t stop. God, don’t stop.”

  Olivia’s mouth was on hers again, demanding, devouring, driving thought from her consciousness. Her flesh sang of need and desire, opening, yielding, surrendering. Olivia kissed her throat, her breasts, the hollow valley of her belly and the divide between her thighs. Olivia’s mouth was fire, her lips the promise of release. Jay arched, twisting in the storm of sensation and need.

  “Let me have you now,” Olivia demanded, “all of you.”

  Jay climaxed at the commanding sweep of Olivia’s tongue. She gave and gave until she was hollow, an empty husk and yet somehow completely full. Groaning, she cupped the back of Olivia’s neck, fingers tangling in strands of hair. “You finished me. I’m way past done.”

  Olivia leaned her cheek against Jay’s silky inner thigh. “Good. That’s all that matters.” Olivia rose above her, flushed and victorious, and kissed her. “Just be.”

  Jay closed her eyes. Olivia filled her senses, her body, her heart. Too late, way too late.

  *

  While they’d slept the sun had moved beyond the windows, leaving behind a diffuse pale glow in the place of the brilliant shafts of early morning light. Olivia lay curled with her back in the cradle of Jay’s body, her breath wafting across Jay’s arm, her breasts rising and falling gently, her creamy skin shimmering in the soft haze. If Jay couldn’t still feel the aftermath of sexual satisfaction lazing in her depths, she might have imagined she was dreaming. In a way she was. She’d never expected to wake this way, so intensely sated, so astounded by who she had been just hours before.

  Oh, she’d awakened with women before, not all that often, maybe, but enough times to know she’d never experienced such contentment, or such unabated desire. She’d never shared herself so intensely with anyone, never given herself so completely, with such mindless magnificent abandon. Never wanted anyone the way she wanted Olivia. Again. Right now.

  Jay kissed the back of Olivia’s neck and lightly traced her fingertips along the curve of Olivia’s hip and over her abdomen, inhaling the scent of her shampoo and the fragrance of her skin. Olivia shifted, pressed her hips into Jay’s, and suddenly stiffened, as if startled to discover where she was. Her breathing abruptly changed, not rapid, not anxious, but careful. Cautious. If Jay had to put a word to it, she’d call it wary.

  “It’s me,” Jay murmured.

  “I know.” Olivia turned onto her back, a subtle movement putting just a little distance between them.

  Ordinarily, Jay doubted she would have even noticed, but now, even that slight withdrawal was a warning sign flashing at the crossroads of her mind. She waited, a tight kernel of trepidation knotting her insides. She braced herself for the words she expected to hear.

  This was good, and now it’s over.

  “You don’t need to look so worried.” Olivia kissed her quickly. “Nothing has changed.”

  Jay probably should have been relieved, but somehow, the small kernel blossomed into something larger, something she couldn’t define. Olivia wasn’t the kind of woman to regret a night of passion, but she might not want to repeat it. Jay understood that, rationally at least. She’d been on the other side of this equation a dozen times—trying to explain why something pleasant, something mutual, wasn’t something she wanted to continue. She had no reason to put Olivia in the position of explaining what they both understood. They’d made no promises or plans. “I’m not worrying. This morning was great. And boy, does that not do it justice.”

  “It was, and I’m glad you’re good with it.” Olivia kissed her again, threw the covers back, and rose. She picked up her watch from atop the spindle-legged walnut side table and glanced at it. “Almost noon. I need to get to the office.”

  “I should go home and shower and change,” Jay said, quickly abandoning the bed.

  “I’ll drop you.” Olivia smiled. “I still owe you breakfast, and unfortunately, I think that might mean a quick cup of coffee here and Hasim’s after all.”

  Acutely aware she was naked, Jay searched for her pants, pulled them on, and spotted her tank top beside the bed. “That’s fine. I’m always good with Hasim’s. Just hope he has some fritters left.”

  “We’ll find one somewhere.” Laughing, Olivia picked up the discarded tank top and tilted her head, her gaze raking down Jay’s torso. “You know, on second thought, I think I like that look on you—barefoot and shirtless with just the trousers.”

  The tank dangled from her outstretched hand like a dare. And there it was again, the swift flood of desire and need surging through her so fast and hard Jay shivered. “Come on, Liv. You only have to look at me to get me started. I’ll be wound up all day if you keep looking at me like that for another minute.”

  “Will you?”

  “I’ve been wound up since I opened my eyes and discovered I really was lying next to you.”

  Olivia’s breath quickened and lust flared in her loins. She was walking a dangerous line. No, she’d already crossed it in the last few hours more times than she wanted to think about right now. The need and unbridled desire in Jay’s eyes were a powerful aphrodisiac, so powerful Olivia trembled. The urge to touch her, taste her, take her to that fever pitch and push her to the pinnacle of pleasure again was a craving guaranteed to drive her mad. Being with her was intoxicating, addicting, and could so very easily be all consuming. She’d already let her own needs seduce her into bed once, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d spend every second thinking about when she could have Jay again. When she could indulge in that mind-melting pleasure again. Just what she had no time for, no room for, in her life. Just what she’d schooled herself not to want again. She held out the shirt. “You should put this on. There’s no time.”

  “I think I’ve already proved it would only take a minute.”

  “Believe me, I’ll be thinking about that for quite a while.” Abruptly, Olivia turned away and opened a door that led into a bathroom. “I’d invite you to share the shower, but I can’t promise I won’t want my hands on you again. I’m sorry.”

  Jay’s thighs tightened. Another minute in the same room with Olivia and she was going to explode. “I can guarantee I’d have my hands on you, so you better go without me. I’ll shower at home.”

  “The kitchen’s in the back downstairs, and the coffeemaker’s on the counter by the sink. Go ahead and make yourself a cup of coffee at least.”

  “Okay. It’s just…hell…” Jay slipped her arms around Olivia’s waist and kissed her. “I feel like I should say something about this morning.”

  Olivia shook her head. “Why? We both know what happened. Unless you want to tell me you have regrets.”

  Jay laughed shakily. “Hell, no.”

  “Then there’s nothing to say. Because neither do I.” Olivia gently disentangled herself. “I’ll be down in just a few minutes.”

  “Okay. Sure. Tha
nks.”

  Olivia disappeared and Jay finished dressing. She found the coffee in a canister next to the coffeemaker and had just poured a cup when Olivia walked in, somehow completely put together, looking cool and professional and completely fabulous. Her tailored light brown trousers and milk-chocolate silk shirt made her blond hair gleam golden, and her makeup was just subtle enough to accentuate the elegant lines of her face. In her rumpled pants and unbuttoned shirt, Jay felt distinctly outclassed.

  “I feel like kissing you right now, but I’m not worthy of touching you.”

  “Believe me, you are anything but that. And I like the casual look on you. Very sexy.” Olivia accepted the cup of coffee Jay held out to her. “It’s probably safest that we avoid touching at the moment, however.”

  At the moment. Jay took heart at the suggestion there’d be some other time. Grasping at straws maybe, but she had to. She wanted her that bad. “You look amazing.”

  “Thanks. I—” Olivia’s phone buzzed. She slipped it from her pocket to check the number and sighed. “Dr. Price…yes, all right, thank you. I’ll make the calls…I’ll let you know when they’re coming.”

  Jay took a final slug of coffee and dumped the rest in the sink. “Something happen?”

  “That was Officer Sullivan. They’ve identified our Jane Doe.”

  “Who is she?”

  “A college student.” Olivia set her cup next to Jay’s and headed down the hall. “I need to make arrangements with her parents to come and see her.”

  “Is there anything you need me to do?” Jay thought back to the times she’d had to tell friends and family their loved one had died. There was no easy way to do it, but even in the worst of circumstances, death had not come as a complete shock. An accident, an emergency surgery, a long difficult recovery always carried the possibility of tragedy, and as much as those waiting for word from her hoped for a different outcome, part of them had already started to prepare. This was different. This family would be coming to view the body of their daughter in the morgue, an experience most people could never even contemplate.