Chapter 19
“What do you think? Romantic enough?”
Sarah looked across the bay and to the sleepy, touristy town on the other side of the water.
Sunset sank behind the green hills, the cool breeze whipping her hair and the cotton skirt flapping around her legs.
I never wear these kinds of skirts. Nor did she often wear sandals.
But when Luca told her they were hitting up a resort town half an hour from the city, she immediately thought of her favorite summertime outfit.
Luca had approved, from the way her hand kept meandering up Sarah’s skirt.
“We get to spend the whole night here?” Sarah leaned against their private balcony.
Behind them, a gorgeous bungalow was all theirs, from the chef’s kitchen to the huge king-sized bed overlooking the water.
The clawfoot tub in the bathroom with floor-to-ceiling windows was a nice touch, although she wasn’t sure how into the idea she was. Maybe it’s time we took a bath.
“Angel, we get to spend however long you want here.”
“So, eternity?”
“I’ll find a way to swing it.”
She breathed in the fresh sea air. The evening chill hadn’t claimed her yet. Not with Luca wrapping a warm arm around Sarah’s shoulders.
Luca had done an admirable job making her forget yesterday afternoon’s run-in outside Jill’s house. Who knew she would see Victor at that moment? Who knew he would not only recognize her but also like her enough to wave at her? Sarah never told Luca what happened. She wanted to forget it.
Spending the evening with her girlfriend, brother, and brother’s girlfriend was a good enough distraction until it was time to get up and head to this coastal town for an escape.
Luca hoisted Sarah beneath her arms and twirled her back toward their room. The moment of flirtatious strength ended as soon as it began, but the thrill had been worth it. “Oh, what to do with you, Ms. Clayborn?”
She laughed, forgetting every little thing bothering her. Damnit, this is what I love most about you, Luca. She used the L word loosely, of course.
“I can think of a few things!”
Dinner was late that night, simply because they refused to eat it until they were finished making love – which took more than an hour to accomplish.
That hour was one of the simplest of Sarah’s life.
She didn’t question her feelings for her girlfriend.
She didn’t ask herself why she loved being with Luca so much.
They didn’t complicate anything. Undressing was as easy as breathing.
Kissing, caressing, wrapping their limbs around each other’s naked bodies…
when things happened so effortlessly like that, Sarah slipped away from reality and basked in the pleasure it offered.
Even the fact that it gave her more emotional pleasure than physical didn’t faze her.
Why wouldn’t Luca give her emotional pleasure by now? She was Sarah’s girlfriend. Shouldn’t Luca make her happy?
“What do you want?” She had stopped long enough to mutter that into the crook of Sarah’s neck.
The open window allowed the last of the sunset to stream across the bed, illuminating her sweaty face with a soft, golden glow.
Sarah squeezed her shoulders and curled her toes into the bed.
What do I want? She now knew better than to think Luca asked about mere sex.
Obviously, she wanted to come. She wanted Luca to come.
Ideally, they’d bask in a riveting afterglow that brought them closer as a couple.
“How about that? We came at the same time.” It helped that once Sarah got started, coming was also as easy as taking a deep breath.
Not difficult to time her last one whenever Luca got so ravenous that there was no escaping her heavenly hold as her hips drove against the woman whose eyes rolled back.
No, Luca asked her this because Sarah had yet to give a good enough answer.
“This,” Sarah said. “Forever.”
While those words enticed Luca to kiss her harder than she ever had before, it wasn’t enough to bring them the ultimate intimacy Sarah craved.
But she was used to it now. Even though she wasn’t Jill, and all of that was behind Luca, she still refused to stay on top of Sarah once she started coming.
She wouldn’t even look at Sarah when the positions were reversed.
The only time I get to truly feel her heat and indulge in how her body moves in that movement is when my face is on her pussy, and even then…
Sarah had accepted it was a quirk of Luca’s and didn’t bother her about it.
Even though she fantasized about that more than anything else.
“Jesus smiling from above,” Luca groaned the moment she collapsed beside Sarah, “that was amazing.”
She didn’t have many complaints, either. “Sure was, babe.”
“Babe?”
“Am I collapsing your fantasy for you, Ms. Blackbourne?”
“Call me that again.” Her lazy wink was more comical than serious. “Anytime.”
Sarah laughed into the back of her hand, one leg drawing up while the other twisted in Luca’s direction. I want a cuddle. That’s what I really want. Luca’s arm pulled her in without another word.
“You know,” she said after a time. “I think this is the happiest I’ve been with someone in a really long time.”
Sarah sighed. “I know what you mean.”
Luca propped herself up on one arm, the white sheet sliding down her leg until Sarah had a full view of her faint happy trail marching toward her mound.
Even a few minutes after lovemaking, it was still wet from the sheen of arousal.
Calm yourself, girl. There’s plenty of time to put your mouth on it this weekend.
She needed to investigate this oral fixation of hers.
“I’m thinking that we should go public.”
Sarah snapped out of her half-asleep fantasies. “What?”
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s not good for your job. That’s why I’m going to tell Danica Monday morning when I get back to work.”
“Come on, Lu…”
“I’m serious. I’ll tell her in confidence, off the record. If she really has a problem with it, I’ll deal with it. I’ll make sure you stay out of it.”
“Even if she signs off on it, there’s no way I can stay out of it.”
“I know, but…” Luca sighed. “Don’t you want to be public with me, Angel?”
A finger traced her bottom lip. “I want everything with you.”
Those words came out of her mouth before Sarah vetted them in her brain. Luca gave her the exact expression Sarah expected once she realized her folly. That girlish hope that told Sarah she needed to think things through next time.
“Me too, Angel. There’s something about you that continues to draw me in.” Luca lightly kissed her forehead. “We can keep taking it easy, of course, but eventually… maybe…”
Sarah brushed her fingers against Luca’s chest. “You’ve got a lot going on with your disputes.”
“Yes. I need to focus on that before anything else.”
“As you should. He’s your son.” Sarah would never be able to forget how happy those two looked playing the other night.
“But I want to focus on you, too.”
“You are focusing on me. Right now.”
“I want to focus on you every waking moment I have available.”
The way her hand pressed upon Sarah’s body awakened some forgotten corner of her heart. It made her sit up with a start, her brain firing off warning! shots before she had the chance to calm herself down.
No… no, she shouldn’t be feeling this for a woman like Luca Blackbourne.She shouldn’t be feeling this for anyone at all.
“Sarah.” She melted into Luca’s embrace, nonetheless. “God damnit, I love you.”
Hearing that was both an inspiration and a hindrance.
“Please tell me that you at least feel a sliver of love for me, too.”
“I…” Sarah certainly cared for her. She wanted to be with her for as long as it worked out.
She wanted to see Luca every day, or at least hear her voice every day.
Sweet texts. Sexual texts. Flowers at work and little presents sent to her apartment.
Nights in with the family and nights out like this, where they could focus on each other for as long as time allowed.
If anything happened to her… if, for some reason, they could no longer be together… it would devastate Sarah all over again. That’s what scared her. I can’t live like that. I can’t afford to get depressed again.
Dangerous. Too dangerous. If Luca broke her heart, it was all over.
Could she allow herself to love like that? Openly? Unabashedly? Without fear of her own demise? Of hers?
“Please, Sarah. Say something. Tell me what you want.”
She said the first thing that came to her mind. “I want to love you, Lu.”
That soothed her enough to give her another heavy kiss. Before Sarah knew it, they were making love again, wishing that the rest of the world didn’t exist so they could spend the rest of this eternity together. Unfortunately, they only had one weekend. It would have to do.