"I know it might seem the smarter thing to do. On paper, we"re not the best match, but..." Jori wondered how to explain the need Sawyer inspired. She knew all of the reasons they shouldn"t be together, many of them relating to her own family history. "Haven"t you ever met someone and felt as if you really have no choice about whether to be with them? Like everything in you clamors to be near them, regardless of what the outcome might be?"
"Even if the inevitable outcome is heartache?"
Jori considered the question. Would she trade the feeling of being in Sawyer"s arms for the guarantee of an even keel emotionally? "Even then."
Erica shifted forward in the chair, rocking Taylor when she stirred. She gazed at her daughter with the unconditional love of a devoted parent, the kind Jori had never known. And she wondered if Erica had fi nally found something that meant more to her than Drake"s.
Sawyer stretched out next to Jori on the bed and raised up on her elbow, then dipped a spoon into a bowl on the nightstand.
"I"ve wanted to do this since the fi rst day we met."
* 212 *
"Really?" Jori smiled as Sawyer drew the spoon across her bare stomach, leaving a trail of melted chocolate.
Sawyer bent and dragged her tongue along the line. "Mmm, it"s so much better when it"s homemade."
"Ah, no bottled syrup for my girl," Jori said with a groan as Sawyer licked her skin again.
"I"m just glad you didn"t let the boys eat it all."
Taking Sawyer"s face in her hands, Jori pulled her close for a kiss. Their stomachs rubbed together, smearing the chocolate between them. "You taste good."
"So do you," Sawyer murmured, biting Jori"s jaw.
"But I haven"t had any chocolate."
"Then it"s all you, isn"t it?"
Sawyer traced the spoon across Jori"s throat, then followed it with her tongue, feeling Jori"s pulse beat heavily against her mouth.
"Hey, no marks," Jori said when Sawyer sucked the syrup from the side of her neck. "I don"t need to explain hickeys to the guys in the kitchen." She rolled Sawyer onto her back and trailed her hand across her stomach. "You"re a mess."
Sawyer smiled and caught Jori"s wrist. She licked her chocolate-covered fi ngers clean, watched Jori"s eyelids fl utter, and heard her soft gasp. "I can"t get enough."
"I"d be fl attered if I wasn"t convinced you were talking about the chocolate."
Sawyer coated another of Jori"s fi ngers, then dragged her tongue along it. "Well, then it"s lucky for me that you go great with chocolate." Sawyer emphasized her words by covering one of Jori"s nipples with sauce. "Mmm, chocolate-covered nipple.
My favorite."
Jori"s laughter turned into a moan as Sawyer drew the nipple into her mouth. "Oh, that"s nice. Bite it."
Sawyer closed her teeth on the sweet-fl avored fl esh and felt a surge of heat low in her belly as Jori"s back bowed off the bed.
She never tired of the rush that giving Jori pleasure brought, of * 213 *
feeling as if she were being let in on a secret when she watched Jori"s reservation fall away while her o.r.g.a.s.m spiraled through her.
"Can you come like this?" she whispered against Jori"s breast.
"I wouldn"t have thought so." Jori"s voice was husky. "But, ah-G.o.d, maybe." Sawyer sucked her nipple, hard, until the muscles of Jori"s abdomen and thighs hardened and Jori dug her fi ngers into Sawyer"s biceps. Then she eased back, licking it lightly.
"Do you want to?"
"Yes." Jori"s coiled body, so close to release, protested the sudden lack of pressure.
"How bad?"
"Sawyer, please." Jori clung to Sawyer, every nerve ending seeming to scream for stimulation.
Sawyer slipped her fi ngers down Jori"s stomach, and Jori shivered beneath them. "I could spend hours touching you."
She gripped Sawyer"s wrist and guided her hand down.
"Then touch me."
Sawyer sifted lightly through the downy hair and barely pressed into her folds and grazed her c.l.i.toris.
"G.o.d, please, Sawyer. More."
Sawyer kept her eyes on Jori"s face and Jori c.o.c.ked her head to study her, resisting the urge to tug the wrist she still held and force Sawyer"s fi ngers deeper. She could tell by the trembling in Sawyer"s arm that she was fi ghting a similar impulse. Sawyer was teasing them both, and Jori wondered if Sawyer enjoyed it as much as she did.
"Do you like it when I beg?"
Sawyer gasped and couldn"t hide her surprise at Jori"s boldly spoken words. "Yes."
Jori smiled and lifted her hips, nudging Sawyer"s hand. She wrapped a hand around the back of Sawyer"s neck, pulled her head down, and pressed her mouth against Sawyer"s ear. She bit * 214 *
Sawyer"s earlobe and felt the answering twitch in the fi ngers that still rested against her throbbing center.
"Does it excite you to know how much I want you inside me?" she whispered hotly in Sawyer"s ear.
"Jesus, yes," Sawyer gasped.
The hoa.r.s.e excitement in Jori"s voice ripped through Sawyer, frying the connection between her brain and body and leaving her completely at the mercy of her senses. She was aware only of the feel of Jori squeezing around her as her fi ngers, seemingly of their own accord, slid inside-of the taste of Jori"s mouth when she took it again, roughly-and of the scent of chocolate and s.e.x as Jori rode her fi ngers toward o.r.g.a.s.m.
"You should have let me shower with you," Sawyer said, staring hotly at Jori across the bed.
Jori laughed. "Uh-uh. I know what would"ve happened."
"I would have behaved. If you"d asked me nicely."
"Somehow I doubt it." Jori pulled back the clean sheet she"d put on the bed while Sawyer had fi nished her shower.
Amus.e.m.e.nt sparkling in her eyes, Sawyer blatantly trailed her gaze down Jori"s body then back to meet Jori"s. "You"re probably right. I don"t know that I can resist you when you"re wet and naked."
Jori slid between the sheets and covered herself, enjoying the look of disappointment that crossed Sawyer"s lovely features.
She turned onto her side and looked back over her shoulder at Sawyer. "Get in here."
Sawyer spooned her and touched Jori"s waist. Jori took Sawyer"s hand and tucked it between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, pulling Sawyer"s arm more tightly around her. Her muscles felt like liquid and, relaxed and truly sated, she basked in the coc.o.o.n of Sawyer"s body.
"That was rather decadent." She recalled how Sawyer had * 215 *
made love to her, somehow blending each climax into a rise to the next, until she had weakly pulled Sawyer"s hand away, whispering, "Please, I can"t take anymore."
Though she would have thought it impossible, she"d felt a renewed rush of moisture between her thighs when Sawyer had leaned over her and said, "I like it better when you beg me not to stop."
Jori had distracted Sawyer by fl ipping her onto her back and licking a smear of chocolate from her chest. When, later, they lay coated in chocolate and sweat, Jori had declared them both in need of a shower.
Now, Sawyer nuzzled Jori"s neck. "Complaining?"
Jori angled her head, giving Sawyer better access. "Oh, absolutely not. How do you do that?"
"What?" Sawyer pushed damp ebony locks off Jori"s forehead.
"Wreck me so thoroughly."
"Just talented, I guess."
"And modest." Jori chuckled.
Sawyer traced her lips along the curve of Jori"s jaw and the side of her neck. "When I"m with you-touching you, I simply don"t want to stop."
"Mmm, I like the way you touch me."
Sawyer"s stomach tightened at the slight growl in Jori"s voice.
She squeezed her thighs together to contain the throbbing arousal that threatened to surge again. Almost of their own volition, her splayed fi ngers stroked the underside of Jori"s right breast.
"Don"t even think about it," Jori warned. "I need more recovery time."
Sawyer stilled her fi ngers. "This is not just about s.e.x, Jori. I like being with you. You"re-comfortable."
Jori laughed. "That"s a fi rst."
"What?"
"I"m comfortable? That"s what you say about an old pair of slippers."
* 216 *
"No, it"s not."
"Yes, it is."
"I don"t own any slippers." Sawyer grinned. "And even if I did, it"s not the same thing."
"Then maybe you should explain it to me."
"Comfortable is-I can walk around in the boxers I only sleep in when I"m alone. h.e.l.l, just tonight, despite how self-conscious I"ve always been about my appearance, I was walking through your apartment naked. Comfortable is not worrying that I have to impress you or make some kind of impression. And that"s great because I"m so busy-"
"Being comfortable?"
"I was going to say enjoying being with you. With you, I can be me." I"ve never been completely me before.
Jori rolled over in Sawyer"s arms and fi t one of her legs between Sawyer"s. "I"m glad," she murmured drowsily.
Sawyer lightly stroked her fi ngers over Jori"s back. When Jori pressed her face into Sawyer"s neck, her soft wildfl ower-scented hair tickled Sawyer"s nose. Jori"s breathing evened out and Sawyer pulled back slightly to look at her face. Her eyes were closed, her lashes resting gently against her cheek. Sawyer dropped her head back on the pillow and smiled contentedly.
"Good night," she whispered into the semidark room.
"Mmm. I love you." Jori"s voice was heavy with sleep. Her arms tightened around Sawyer"s waist and she nestled closer, already too deep in slumber to feel Sawyer stiffen.
The next morning, Sawyer eased out of bed and was gone before Jori woke up. All the way to her apartment, she rambled to herself aloud, trying to fi gure out how she was going to explain her fl ight to Jori. She tried out every line she could think of and even tested the truth while she stood beneath the stinging hot spray of the shower. But the heavy mist of steam fi lling the stall * 217 *
couldn"t erase the image of Jori"s face or the memory of her murmured protest when Sawyer had slipped out of bed.
By the time she drove to work, she was no closer to having a plan, and her stomach was knotted with dread as she opened the back door to Drake"s. But, as it turned out, she was granted a reprieve, however short, because when she walked into the kitchen Erica was there, pacing the length of the room and gently bouncing a crying Taylor in her arms. Brady, Chuck, and Jori were all doing prep work at their stations.
"Are you sure you"re ready to come back? It"s only been a month," Brady asked as he set a saucepan on the stovetop and added a healthy slab of b.u.t.ter to melt.
"It"s been fi ve weeks. And yes, I"m ready." To Taylor, she murmured, "Come on, sweetie. What"s the matter?"
"Sawyer"s got things under control here, if you need more time."
Sawyer briefl y made eye contact with Jori across the room and averted her glance when she felt her heart hitch. She crossed the kitchen and leaned against Jori"s counter, her back to Jori and her arms crossed over her chest. The scent of vanilla drifted around her, and she could hear the rhythmic sound of Jori"s whisk against the sides of a stainless- steel bowl.
"I just need the rest of this week to fi nd a sitter. I"ll start back Monday."
Brady stuck his pinkie in the reduction taking shape in his saucepan and tasted it, then added a pinch of salt. "I might be able to help you out. Paige has been talking about doing some baby-sitting to make extra cash since both boys are in school now. In fact, she"s already got names of a couple of families who might be interested. If you want, I can see how she"d feel about keeping Taylor."
"That would be great, Brady, especially since she"d be with family, too. I"ve been fretting about leaving her with a stranger."
Taylor had fi nally calmed and Erica laid her in the infant car seat perched on a countertop a safe distance from where Brady * 218 *
worked. "So, um, Sawyer, I was thinking you might want to stay on after I come back."
"You were?" After all the trouble they"d had during the months Sawyer had been at Drake"s, she didn"t expect Erica would want to continue working with her.
"Sure. I"m still short a waitress."