by Julie Cannon
“I don’t know.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’m a first-class attorney. I won’t starve. There are three firms I could call tomorrow and I’d have a job.”
“If there’s anything I can do…I know a lot of people.”
“I don’t need any favors,” Lauren said firmly.
Elliott smiled inwardly at the note of pride in her lover’s voice. She should have known better than to offer. Lauren was not the kind of woman to climb the ladder through the auspices of powerful friends. She was too ethical, and too classy. She sighed as an unwanted thought entered her mind. This was always going to be a problem for Lauren.
Holding her breath, she said, “I think we should stop seeing each other.”
Lauren shot up off the couch. “What?”
“Lauren, we are both in very public positions in very public places, and if we continue to be seen together, and photographed together, people will talk.” Elliott thought about a photograph she had seen in San Diego magazine recently of two women attending a fund-raiser for battered women. The camera never lied and that was certainly proven by the look the women were exchanging when the shutter clicked. Perhaps they thought they were being discreet, but their connection was obvious.
“I don’t want you to continue to be hurt by our relationship.” It will kill me if we end it. But I will for you.
“You can’t be serious?” Lauren asked in disbelief. Panic flooded her body.
“I am.”
“Well, I think you’re fucked up if you think I’m going to stop seeing you because of this!” Lauren began pacing the
room. “I love you, Elliott Foster, and, God damn it, no one is going to stand between us, especially some twit like Charles Comstock.” Lauren stopped when she realized what she had said.
Elliott drew the first full breath in several minutes. “What did you say?”
Lauren came over and knelt in front of her. “I said you’re fucked up.”
“That’s pretty apparent, but I was referring to the other part.”
“The part about the twit Comstock or the fact that I love you?” Lauren said with all the love she felt bursting from her.
Elliott’s heart began to sing. She tried to speak but her throat was so unbearably tight all she could do was make a small groaning sound.
“I do love you, Elliott. I don’t want to stop seeing you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” She took Elliott’s face between her hands and stared into her eyes with such passion and yearning, Elliott could not breathe. Her expression became grave. “Please…don’t use this as an excuse to run away from me.”
The words hit home with a force far greater than the soft delivery Lauren had chosen. Shaken to the core, recognizing that Lauren had cut straight to the truth, Elliott said, “I can’t run away from you. I love you too, Lauren. You are everything to me, and it is killing me to see this happen to you. I can’t stand that because of me, you’ve been treated this way.”
Lauren sat on Elliott’s lap. “Elliott, without you I’m nothing. You’re my heart and my soul and my reason for getting up every day.” Lauren’s eyes shone with love. “I’m not afraid of anything if I know you are with me. So what if I resigned. Those people don’t deserve me. I have too much self-respect to stay there now. That’s nothing to do with you. It’s my decision.”
“God, Lauren, I love you so much,” Elliott gasped as she kissed her.
They made love on the living room floor like they had never made love before. Words of devotion were spoken in whispers and moans as they shared in the culmination of their love. When they finally lay curled against one another, exhausted, Lauren said, “Take me to bed.”
Elliott did just that. She carried Lauren into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, then gazed openly at the woman who set her body on fire like no one else. You make me feel like a different person. Someone I’ve never been. And it feels good.
Lauren looked up into sparkling brown eyes. “What?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” Elliott was afraid of what Lauren might have seen in her eyes.
“I don’t know, kind of…” Lauren thought for a minute before continuing. “Perplexed, I guess, is how I’d describe it.”
“I guess I’m thinking about how it would be if we lived together…to come home to you. To share my life with you.” I have a feeling I would be perfectly content.
A welling tide of happiness swept Lauren into bliss. She had dared to imagine such a scenario, but had thought it would be a long while before Elliott would give the idea any room. You’re full of surprises tonight. Out of curiosity, she asked, “What would you normally be doing at home, if you were by yourself?”
Elliott thought for a moment. “Well, if I were at home, I’d probably be working.” That statement was truer than she wanted it to be. She typically worked well into the evening either in her office or at home.
“And if we lived together?”
Elliott smile turned warm. “If I were with a woman as beautiful as you, I certainly wouldn’t be analyzing financial statements.”
“What would you be doing?” Lauren knew the answer to the question, and the way that Elliott was looking at her, her body was beginning to tell her as well.
“I’d be making love to her, soft and slow, until she begged me to take her fast and hard.” Elliott saw a flame jump in Lauren’s eyes that mirrored the one she felt in the pit of her stomach.
Lauren trailed a hand down Elliott’s throat and placed it between her breasts. “Well, I don’t want to ruin your track record.”
“I think you already have.”
Lauren smiled enticingly. “Can we skip the soft and slow part and go straight to the fast and hard?”
Elliott’s heart skipped a beat and she suddenly felt dizzy from the desire that surged through her body. Lauren telling her what she wanted, and how she wanted it, was almost enough to set Elliott off. She kissed her hard and passionately.
Elliott’s hands and mouth quickly had Lauren hanging on to her for support. She felt like she was on a freight train that couldn’t stop, and she was powerless to control it. Her passion was fueled by Lauren’s murmurs of pleasure as she slid one finger into her. Another finger joined the first and Lauren bit her hard on the neck, which fueled Elliott even more.
“Oh God, Elliott, faster,” Lauren cried. Stars began to burst in her head as Elliott did as she was asked. “Yes!” Lauren cried as wave upon wave wracked her body. She was hyperventilating, her breathing was so ragged. Slowly she became aware of movement as Elliott moved her up the bed a little more and immediately replaced her fingers with her mouth, pushing Lauren to soar again with pleasure.
Elliott soaked up the remnants of Lauren’s release and softly kissed the still-throbbing flesh. You are the most beautiful, passionate woman I’ve ever known. Finally, she lay still, her heart pounding with emotion, her head resting on Lauren’s belly. Their lovemaking was more intense each time, to the point it took her breath away. I want to please you so much.
“Come here,” Lauren whispered. She was physically spent, and it was all she could do to wrap Elliott in her lethargic arms. “You’re wonderful.” That doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel.
Elliott lazily ran her fingers across the bare skin next to her. “It was my pleasure.” God, was it ever. Elliott heard Lauren laugh deep in her chest.
“Actually, I think it was mine.” Lauren kissed the top of her head.
Elliott lifted up on her elbows to look directly into Lauren’s eyes. “Giving you pleasure gives me pleasure. The way you respond fuels me and makes me want to give you even more.”
The lethargy that threatened to overtake Lauren suddenly disappeared, and in its place came the desire to give Elliott all she had just received. “I know exactly what you mean,” she said, and rolled Elliott onto her back. With all the passion she felt, she said, “I love you.”
>
Elliott could not believe how utterly happy it made her to answer, “I love you too, Lauren. I love you with all that I am.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Lauren, what are you doing here?” Elliott inquired three weeks later when her lover showed up at Foster McKenzie.
“Is that any way to greet the woman you love?” Lauren felt as light as a butterfly with the joy of knowing that this woman loved her.
“I guess I’m just surprised to see you.” Elliott noticed the recent lines of strain were gone from Lauren’s face and she was absolutely glowing. “So, what’s up?”
“Can you get away for the rest of the afternoon?”
Elliott recalled the last time she had left early with Lauren, and her stomach did a flip-flop. They had spent that afternoon in bed. “For you, anything.”
Lauren took her hand. “My car’s out front.”
“Okay, where are we going?”
“You’ll see. Be patient, my love.”
Elliott’s pulse jumped at the endearment. “You know I have no patience when it comes to you. Especially when you have your hands on me.”
Lauren slid her hand up Elliott’s thigh. “Patience. I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
“You know that makes me crazy.” Elliott wanted to make love to Lauren right here, right now, on her desk. But that would be unseemly during working hours. She reined in her hormones, gathered her things and told a smiling Teresa that she was leaving for the rest of the day, and dutifully escorted her lover to the elevators.
Ten minutes later they pulled into a small office complex. Cars were parked in front of the various businesses, which were grouped around a small courtyard.
“What are we doing here?” Elliott asked, mystified.
“Come with me.”
The women got out of the car and Lauren took Elliott’s hand and pulled her toward the rear of the courtyard. Lauren’s pace quickened as they approached a vacant office, and she asked, “Remember Marcie Webster?”
“The Southern steamroller—how could I forget?”
Lauren laughed. “Well, that opportunity she told me about…”
“Lauren?” Elliott read the stencil on the front door.
“I turned down the offer from Powell and Powell.” She had been offered the position of partner in one of the most prestigious law firms in the area. Lauren tightened her grip on her lover’s hand. “I want to help people. I want to help women and children who can’t help themselves. I can’t do that from behind a big desk fifty-three floors above the ground. I want to work for people who don’t care who I sleep with but only how I can help them. I want to make a difference in people’s lives.”
The look of excitement and conviction in Lauren’s eyes was exactly the expression Elliott thought belonged there, and she was overcome with love for this strong, passionate woman. She gathered her into her arms and whispered, “I love you, Lauren,” just before she kissed her. “And I’m proud to be your partner. Now show me around.”
Before she opened the door to her future, the future she would share with the woman she loved, Lauren moved her hand lightly over the lettering:
Lauren Collier, Attorney at Law
Specializing in the Practice of Law for Women and Children
About the Author
Julie Cannon is a native sun goddess born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. After a five-year stint in “snow up to my #$&”? and temperatures that hovered in the 30s, she returned to the Valley of the Sun vowing never to leave again. Julie?s day job is in Corporate America and her nights are spent bringing to life the stories that bounce around in her head throughout the day. She can often be found making notes of story lines or character development while in the car on the way to work, going to the store, or sitting at a stoplight. Julie and her partner of fifteen years, Laura, live in Phoenix with their seven-year-old son and six-year-old daughter, two dogs, and Spencer the cat.
Julie has selections in Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions and the upcoming Erotic Interludes 5: Road Games, and her next novel, Heart 2 Heart, is due in December 2007 from Bold Strokes Books.
For more information visit www.Julie-Cannon.com.
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