Turn Back Time

by Radclyffe

  “Wynter,” Pearce said soothingly. “Wynter. Not yet. Not yet, baby.”

  “Oh, I have to.”

  “I know. I know.” Pearce kissed her softly. “Soon. I promise.” As she spoke, she slid her fingers lower, gently curling upward and inside.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  Pearce smiled and pressed deeper. “Ready?”

  Wynter clutched Pearce’s shoulders, unable to speak. She nodded, her hips rocking on Pearce’s hand.

  “Don’t close your eyes,” Pearce whispered as she began to thrust, watching Wynter’s face, slowing down when she saw Wynter about to come, speeding up to push her to the edge again. She paced her, pushed her, teased her closer and closer until Wynter was pleading and shaking and blind with pleasure and then, with one deep thrust, brought her over.

  *

  Wynter awoke with her head on Pearce’s shoulder. She sensed from the darkness outside the windows that it was deep in the night. She lay for a few minutes just listening to Pearce breathe, feeling her heart beat beneath her cheek. It had been many months since she had slept with anyone beside her, and she had never awakened in the arms of a woman. Her hand rested beneath Pearce’s breast and their thighs were entwined. Pearce’s body was hot.

  Her own felt languid and supremely satisfied. Her stomach and thighs were heavy with the aftermath of her orgasm. She remembered Pearce trembling in her arms and crying out at the peak of her passion, and she felt herself quicken. She wanted her again. She understood for the first time in her life how sex could be addicting. She’d never felt anything as exciting, as euphoric, as the sweet satisfaction of knowing she had been the cause of Pearce’s pleasure. She moaned softly and involuntarily pressed her hips against Pearce.

  “You okay?” Pearce murmured, slowly drawing strands of Wynter’s silky hair through her fingers.

  “Oh, I’m so so so good.” She kissed the side of Pearce’s breast and ran her hand down Pearce’s body. She caressed her stomach and the tops of her thighs, then cupped her lightly between her legs.

  “Wynter. What are you doing?” Pearce groaned.

  Wynter leaned up on her elbow and kissed the tip of Pearce’s chin. “I want to feel you come again. You’re so amazing when you do.”

  “Oh, Jesus,” Pearce gasped as Wynter’s fingers closed around her. “Easy. God.”

  Wynter gently bit the tip of Pearce’s shoulder and stroked. “Too hard?”

  “No. Oh man. Wynter.” Pearce’s legs stiffened, and she lifted her hips into Wynter’s palm. “Don’t stop.”

  “Mmm. I don’t plan to.” Wynter stroked faster. “Are you going to come for me?”

  “Want…me to?”

  “Oh yes.” Wynter bore down when she felt Pearce grow harder. “Oh yes. You’re there, aren’t you? Going to come, come for me—”

  “Yes.” Pearce closed her eyes and clamped her jaws down on a scream. “Yes.”

  Wynter watched the orgasm wash over Pearce’s face, scarcely breathing. When Pearce finally sagged back to the bed, Wynter sighed and curled up against her again, holding her hand still until Pearce stopped throbbing.

  When Pearce’s breathing grew even once more, Wynter said, “Do you how many women I’ve examined in my career?”

  “Hundreds, probably,” Pearce said drowsily.

  “At least. And I have never imagined, never conceived, of a woman as beautiful as you.”

  Pearce roused herself enough to turn on her side so she could see Wynter’s face. “No one has ever done to me what you do to me.”

  “Oh,” Wynter murmured, tracing Pearce’s lower lip with her fingertip. “Oh, I like that.”

  “Yeah, me too.” She kissed the tip of Wynter’s chin, then her mouth. “You feel okay about everything?”

  Wynter smiled. “You mean what we just did?”

  Solemnly, Pearce nodded, her eyes dark with worry.

  “If I didn’t have to go to work in the morning, I would keep you in this bed for the next twenty-four hours and make love until we both disintegrated.”

  “Can I have a rain check?”

  “Deal.”

  Sighing with relief and pleasant fatigue, Pearce drew Wynter’s head down to her shoulder. “No more tonight, then. You need some rest.”

  “Will you stay?”

  Pearce rarely spent the night in anyone’s bed. She held Wynter tighter. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Wynter,” Pearce whispered urgently, shaking Wynter’s shoulder. “Wynter!”

  “Mmm?”

  “Wake up.”

  Wynter burrowed deeper into the curve of Pearce’s shoulder. Somewhere in her consciousness she registered that it was too early to be awake. Typical of those whose lives revolved around tight schedules, she rarely needed a watch or an alarm clock. Her body knew when it was time to get up, and it wasn’t. Half asleep, she kissed the warm, soft skin beneath her lips. Nice.

  “She’s awake. You have to do something.”

  “Who?”

  “Ronnie.”

  Wynter opened one eye and squinted at the bedside clock. It was a quarter to five. “Isn’t it Sunday?” she muttered.

  “Yes. What—”

  “Mmph.” Wynter closed her eye. It was Sunday. They didn’t make dry rounds until seven thirty on Sunday. Sighing, she molded her body more closely to Pearce’s and went back to sleep. Almost.

  “Wynter,” Pearce repeated, a desperate edge creeping into her voice.

  Wynter opened both eyes. “What’s the matter, honey?”

  “Ronnie is talking or something. Isn’t that supposed to wake you up?”

  A steady stream of happy, staticky chatter came through the monitor and finally penetrated Wynter’s foggy brain. Smiling, she levered herself on top of Pearce and settled comfortably into a new position with one leg between Pearce’s and her head pillowed on Pearce’s shoulder. Her voice still thick with sleep, she said, “That’s her ‘I’m awake and playing with my stuffed animals’ sound. She’s not ready to get up yet.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Mmm-hmm. Lots of practice.”

  “Should I go?”

  Suddenly much more awake, Wynter raised her head. “Why?”

  “Won’t she think it’s strange that I’m here?”

  “She’s three, Pearce. She doesn’t think that way.” Wynter blinked, trying to focus. They’d gone to sleep with the light on in the bathroom behind the partially closed door. Even in the dim light, she could see the concern in Pearce’s eyes. “What are you worried about?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bull. What?”

  “She’s really cute. I like her.”

  Wynter pushed up further on one elbow, completely awake. She was used to going from deep sleep to full wakefulness within a matter of seconds, especially when she sensed something serious was going on. Pearce’s body was one tense knot beneath her. “But…”

  “No buts. I…” Pearce hesitated, thinking it unwise to mention that she almost never woke up in a woman’s bed, and never with one who had a little chatterbox wired into the room. “I just don’t know very much about kids.”

  “And…” Wynter clasped Pearce’s chin and shook gently. “God, getting information out of you is like breaking into Fort Knox. You can’t think that Ronnie seeing me being affectionate with a woman is going to traumatize her?”

  “No, but I didn’t want her to, you know…get used to seeing me here or anything.”

  A cool wind blew through Wynter’s heart. “In case you’re just passing through.”

  “Fuck,” Pearce muttered, feeling Wynter pull away. She caught her with an arm around her shoulders and rolled them over until she was on top, looking down into Wynter’s face. “I don’t know exactly what I mean, Wynter, okay? I’ve never been with anyone like you.”

  Wynter took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” She traced her fingertips over Pearce’s eyebrows, then down the side of her face and across her mouth. �
�Ronnie’s fine, but your thinking about her—that means a lot to me. Thank you.”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Hey, we said we’d see what happens. So, one day at a time, right?” Wynter tried to sound as if the uncertainty of that didn’t bother her. It shouldn’t. She knew that. But knowing was different than feeling. And right now, what she felt was how good the weight of Pearce’s body felt on hers. Of how comfortable it had been awakening in her arms. Of how incredibly natural it felt to touch her and be touched by her. Of how damn right everything about last night had seemed. Like stop-action images flickering on a screen, she saw Pearce kneeling with her face pressed against her stomach, remembered the heat of Pearce’s skin and the aching pleasure of being filled by her, felt Pearce come beneath her fingertips. Arousal shimmered through her, and she was instantly wet. She closed her eyes and closed her mouth over Pearce’s.

  Pearce shuddered, ambushed by a flood of feeling. Wynter had a way of doing that to her. Catching her completely unawares, even when they stood face-to-face. It was as if she were a house standing empty, waiting to be filled, and Wynter had just stepped through the door unannounced and populated her barren spaces with touches of home. Groaning, Pearce filled her hands with Wynter’s hair and opened her mouth to the demanding heat of Wynter’s tongue. Her body throbbed, full and ripe to bursting. Lost in the kiss, she was dimly aware of Wynter’s hand thrust between them, reaching down to cup her. She pulled back, rasping, “No.”

  “Why?” Wynter demanded restlessly, her legs twining around Pearce’s. “Let me. Let me. I know you’re wet.”

  “Jesus,” Pearce muttered, sliding rapidly down the length of Wynter’s body until she was nestled between her legs. “I’m done waiting for this.”

  Wynter raised herself on both elbows and looked down at Pearce through heavy-lidded eyes. “You have control issues.”

  “No, I don’t.” Pearce grinned and lightly kissed Wynter’s sex. “Not when I’m in charge.”

  “Do that again,” Wynter said, her voice catching in her throat.

  Pearce’s eyes darkened, and she did, more slowly this time, letting her mouth linger just a whisper above Wynter’s center. She blew gently, her own sex pulsing as she heard Wynter’s swift gasp.

  “You told me to watch. Last night.” Wynter’s voice was dreamy, but her hips rose insistently. “Go ahead. Let me see.”

  Groaning, Pearce took her fully into her mouth. Gently, she sucked and teased until Wynter’s clitoris turned to rock beneath her tongue, and then she grew still, looking up into Wynter’s face. Lips parted, breasts heaving, Wynter was a study in need, her expression half pleasure, half pain. Pearce swept a hand up the center of Wynter’s abdomen and closed around her breast. When she squeezed, Wynter’s entire body shook.

  “Pearce.” Wynter sounded as if each word were wrenched from the deepest part of her being. “I’m going to come soon.”

  Pearce licked her once and grew still.

  “Again.” Wynter made a sound that was half laugh, half whimper. “There. Almost. There.”

  Pearce did it again and Wynter’s head fell back, a strangled sound escaping her. Pearce wanted to keep her there, teetering on the brink while she drank in her beauty. But she couldn’t stop herself from drowning in her, and she slipped her fingers inside as she closed her lips around Wynter’s clitoris. Wynter came on the first stroke, whispering Pearce’s name as her arms gave out and she fell backward, hips thrashing.

  “Pearce,” Wynter gasped, one hand flailing ineffectively at Pearce’s shoulder. “Come up here. Hurry.”

  Instantly concerned, Pearce pushed herself up and lay on her side, her head propped on her elbow. “What’s the matter?”

  Wynter turned her head on the pillow, the only body part she could control. “We’ve got about two minutes.”

  Pearce stared at the monitor, listening to Ronnie and realizing that the word mommy was now frequently interspersed with the happy chortles. Fuck.

  “Do you need to come?” Wynter said weakly.

  “No,” Pearce lied bravely. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d finished off in the shower when time was short.

  Wynter smiled, her eyes still lazy. “Liar.”

  Pearce grinned.

  “Do it here, not in the shower.”

  “Oh man,” Pearce muttered, her stomach instantly in knots. Her hips twitched before she could stop it and she knew from Wynter’s expression that she’d felt it.

  “For me,” Wynter murmured.

  Pearce kissed her and slipped her fingers between her legs, knowing that she’d be gone in a few strokes. She sucked on Wynter’s lower lip as the pressure grew in the pit of her stomach. Groaning, she squeezed and circled the spot that always made her come. She was getting close. Her legs tensed. She opened her eyes and saw Wynter’s rapt expression. She whispered, “Coming.”

  “Mmm, yes.” Wynter kissed her and she exploded.

  A few minutes later, Pearce opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Next to the bed, the monitor carried the sounds of Wynter and Ronnie’s excited conversation to her. She pictured them together and wondered what she was doing in Wynter’s life. Just passing through, Wynter had said. She rolled on her side, straining to make out the words of mother and child. Real people with real feelings. Wynter deserved more than a casual encounter. They both deserved more than Pearce had to offer.

  Pearce closed her eyes and listened to their voices, wanting just a few more moments of simple happiness.

  *

  “Here you go,” Wynter said, settling Ronnie into one of the booster seats at Mina’s kitchen table next to the other children. She put the backpack with Ronnie’s favorite toys, coloring books, and trucks on the floor. “I should be back in the morning tomorrow unless there’s a heavy OR schedule. I’ll call you.”

  “That’s fine,” Mina said automatically.

  Wynter kissed Mina’s cheek. “Thanks. Bye.”

  Mina glanced at the clock, then at Wynter. “You’re early and you’re leaving without breakfast?”

  “I’ve got a few things to do before I leave for work.”

  “Uh-huh.” Mina narrowed her eyes. “Nice try.” She poured milk into three cereal bowls and set them in front of the kids. “Give.”

  Wynter moved closer to Mina where she stood by the sink and lowered her voice. “I have company.”

  “Company.” Mina’s voice rose with interest. “You don’t say. And just who might that be?”

  “Look, I’ll tell you all about it—”

  “You just bet you will. But for now, I want the name.”

  Wynter blushed. “Pearce.”

  Mina’s expression grew serious. “All-night kind of company?”

  “Yes.”

  “And everything’s all right?”

  “Everything’s great.” Wynter knew she was grinning like an idiot, but she couldn’t stop.

  “I wasn’t asking about that, but I’m certainly glad to hear it,” Mina said with arch playfulness. “Call me later when you get a break.”

  “I’m really okay. She’s wonderful.” Wynter clasped Mina’s hand. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “You know I’d be doing the same thing if she were some stud muffin, so don’t try to make more out of it than it is. Call me later.”

  Wynter nodded. “I will. Promise.”

  Smiling, Mina watched Wynter hurry away, thinking that there wasn’t all that much difference between players of the male and female varieties—the game still seemed to be the same.

  *

  “Hey,” Wynter said, leaning down to kiss Pearce on the mouth. “Time to wake up.”

  Pearce opened her eyes, blinked once, then caught Wynter around the waist and pulled her down onto the bed. “I’m awake.”

  Laughing, Wynter got a hand between them and pushed Pearce away. “I’m dressed, and you need a shower, and we have to be at the hospital in forty-five minutes.”

  “Where’s Ronnie?”

&n
bsp; “Next door having breakfast.”

  Pearce frowned. “How did I miss that?”

  Wynter grinned and tapped Pearce’s chin. “I guess someone did you in last night.”

  “Oh yeah?” Pearce growled and flipped Wynter over onto her back. Then she straddled her hips and pinned her wrists to the bed. “Says who?”

  Wynter looked up, stunned. It was the first time she’d seen Pearce nude in full light. Her hands and mouth and body knew the softness, the curves and planes, of Pearce’s form. They were indelibly marked on her consciousness. But now she could see the delicate arch of her collarbones, the teasing sway of her breasts, and the tight inviting curve of her abdomen as it swept down to the bend in her thighs. Trembling, she touched the pale white line in the center of Pearce’s lower lip. “It’s a good thing I ran into you. Without this tiny scar, I’d worry that you weren’t human. You’re almost too beautiful to look at.”

  Shaking her head, Pearce leaned down and kissed Wynter on the mouth, then the angle of her jaw, then her neck. “Should I worry that your judgment seems to be impaired, considering that you’re on call for my service today?”

  “I should’ve kissed you four years ago.”

  Pearce released Wynter’s hands and pulled her up until they sat facing one another, her hips between Wynter’s spread legs, her knees bent over Wynter’s thighs. She clasped her lightly around the waist. “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to. Because I wanted you.”

  “Did you ever think you were—”

  “No,” Wynter said with a sigh, resting her cheek on Pearce’s shoulder, her hands on Pearce’s thighs. “And I don’t know why, except by the time I had a chance to think about the fact that my life wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go, I was already married. And when I saw you that first time, Ronnie was coming.”

  “Just because you slept with me last night doesn’t mean you’re—”

  “Don’t.” Wynter lifted her head. “Don’t try to convince me that what I’m feeling is an accident.”

  Pearce swept her fingers through Wynter’s hair, then lifted it as it flowed over the back of her hand and kissed Wynter’s neck just above the angle of her shoulder. “I wasn’t trying to. But it’s a big change.”