Chapter 15
two steps ahead
Stopping to pick up their water bottles, Callie, wanting to cool off, put her sweatshirt back on. She stood for a moment, eyes closed.
Jess, on the other hand, was starting to overheat. When Callie opened her eyes, Jess was stripping off her sweatshirt, her tank top soaked underneath. “And now it’s worse,” Callie thought and turned away.
“Hey.”
Jess snickered, walking closer. She was twirling the sweatshirt and playfully snapped it at Callie, the sleeve hitting her thigh, “Race ya back to the car?”
Callie jolted, struck by more than the sleeve of Jess’s shirt. She was looking at Callie under her brow, a sudden attack of shyness after their hard work attitude of the day.
“No acceleration?” Callie asked, wanting to clarify, but Jess was angling closer.
“No magic,” Jess smirked, “Just quads and…glutes, full tilt.”
Callie began to consider the distance and their hard work for the day. She’d almost started to nod her head when she felt Jess’s hand slap her on the butt. Hard.
“Go,” Jess shouted, taking off running, “first one to touch the tailgate.”
Stunned but secretly delighted, Callie jumped, only to slide in the sand, then caught traction and raced after Jess. Starting to catch up, she saw Jess look back, eyes bright and a teasing grin flashing. The thing about Jess, among many others, is that she could run.
She began to laugh and pulled away, shrieking. Callie, stunned for a moment, lowered her head and kicked into high gear. It took everything she had, especially having to follow Jess. Her arms and legs pumping was a complete distraction, but Callie had been challenged and touched the back of the SUV only two steps ahead of Jess.
Callie spun around, “You…” she gulped, then bent over gasping, “God…wait….” Straightening, she put her hands on her hips, “You swatted my ass.”
Red from the race, Jess looked at Callie and hummed a little, “Mmm, I did.”
“Well,” Callie scoffed, weighing a careful comeback, reminiscing on the sting, “So that seal is broken. Can’t say I won’t return the favor…er…whatever.”
Jess had already headed to the driver’s door and was climbing in. Callie jumped in, then took a long breath, “A good day. I’m spent.”
“You worked hard,” Jess smiled, putting on her sunglasses, “Literally hard rock labor today.”
Callie laughed, “I can’t believe I split that boulder,” she marveled, then put it in context, “And it only took me twenty-seven tries.”
Jess offered a fist to bump, “Next time,” she grinned, “I bet it’s only twenty. Progress.”
“Next time,” Callie repeated, her brow arching, “you don’t get to use my ass as a starting gun, and I’ll beat you by twenty feet.”
“Sore loser?” Jess snickered, then softened the dig, “My hand stung too, if that’s any consolation. You have…muscles.”
Callie snorted, “Consolation sounds so much like a participation medal. Here, kid. Ya showed up.” She turned in her seat, “I won. What do I get?”
Still red behind her shades, Jess got a little quiet, then signaled to bring the SUV onto the county highway. Her lips twitched, “I’ll…think of something.”
Callie yawned and settled back, ready to relax for the drive into town. “You do that. I might rest my eyes for a minute.”
“Sounds good,” Jess said as she reached to turn on some music. She blew out a breath, briefly grateful for a short break. She rolled her eyes and concentrated on the road, glancing at Callie after she’d made another contented little sigh. Five minutes later, Callie was asleep.
An hour later, Jess gently stirred Callie’s shoulder, “Cal, wake up. We’re here.”
Whining, Callie argued, eyes still closed, thinking about suggesting a longer route, but the SUV lurched to a halt, “Callie,” Jess repeated. “We’re here.”
“Too soo—” Callie opened her eyes and saw Jess’s garage door opening, and Jess pulled the vehicle into the garage, “We’re…at your place,” Callie said, eyes wide, “I uh…”
“We worked hard,” Jess said, bringing the SUV to a stop in the deep garage, “I thought we could have a soak in the hot tub, maybe grill something.” She had yet to look at Callie, which was good because Callie was having an inside voice meltdown. Jess had mentioned the hot tub earlier, but it was so casual, and Callie only had her cargo shorts, her t-shirt, and her sweatshirt. “I don’t have a swimsuit,” she managed to get out, but Jess was already out of the vehicle.
“Handled,” Jess called out, opening the door to the house, “I have a bunch. C’mon.”
Callie, her brain racing way ahead, rounded the front of the car, calling out excuses, “I smell bad. I’m gross.”
Jess stopped and turned, taking Callie’s arm; she smelled it, then her own, “Same as me. You can shower first if you want, and I’ll find you a suit.” Jess took off down the hall, and Callie barely heard Jess’s following words through the noise in her ears, “Come upstairs with me.”
As Callie hit the top of the stairs, Jess was already coming back down the hallway with two suits in her hands, “One of these should do nicely.” They had stopped at the hallway bath, and Jess tilted her head, “You can change in here. Cam’s bath is usually…tolerable. Shower if you want. I’ll have robes and towels waiting. Meet you back here.”
“Uh, Jess?” Callie began, only to have Jess interrupt, “We didn’t do the sensory thing today. Would you like a glass of wine? Chardonnay, right?”
In truth, to Callie, it sounded terrific. Carefully taking the suits, slight as they were, from Jess, Callie entirely accepted, “Yes. Maybe two. You’ll rescue me if I slip under the bubbles?” Callie was blushing lightly before she got a look at the swimsuits Jess had produced out of thin air.
Stepping into Camden’s bathroom, she looked closer at both suits and dared to imagine Jess wearing either one. As expected, the bottoms fit nicely with enough fabric to at least suggest modesty. Apparently, it was designed by someone who understood hips had at least three dimensions. No stress there.
The tops were a contradiction. The first, a bandeau-style, trimmed in tiny ruffles, made Callie giggle until she tried it on. Jess, ever the optimist about other people’s measurements, had severely underestimated Callie’s cup size. While the top strained heroically to capture Callie’s breasts, it gapped and pinched and, worst of all, threatened to betray her from above or below at any moment. Callie removed it, wondering if Jess was a little sun-exposed. She’d go with the bikini top, which was also a wee bit small, and deal with any issues popped out.
Stepping into the hall, she found Jess, as stated, waiting with a robe and towels, already covered in a robe and whatever she had chosen for her suit.
After a quick raid of the fridge and pantry, they walked out to the sundrenched deck with Callie already trying not to stare as Jess’s robe fell open.
“As you know,” Jess added, seeing Callie’s throat glowing pink, “It’s completely private. When we first moved in, I made Zach walk with me, and we snuck into our neighbors’ yards to make sure they couldn’t see anything.” She set the wine bottle on the deck and turned on the jets, “Let’s start slow. My lower back is already crabby.” With that, Jess stood and dropped her robe. Callie almost dropped her wine glass.
A jet-black bikini with spaghetti straps, the bottoms cut high on Jess’s sculpted thighs; the top, again, was small enough that Callie was beginning to think exhibitionist rather than shortsighted. Jess’s breasts were nestled. No, swaddled, Callie thought, drinking in the vision along with her chardonnay, Better yet, cradled, beautifully cradled by the whisper of those straps. Let’s destroy Callie today.
“You good?” Jess asked, stepping into the tub, “Need a lifeguard?” Jess looked at Callie’s glass, “And a refill?”
Jess got up, the sun-sparkled water rivulets racing down her body, a sensual slalom over the graceful curve of her waist, the flat of her stomach, and lower still, disappearing into the dip of her hips where the black bikini bottom clung like a second skin. Callie watched, thinking the deluge might boil away in the imagined heat, and suddenly, it was too much for her to drink in. She was overheating and worried that she would overstep. Worse, Jess had caught her staring and didn’t look away.
“Maybe,” Callie began, thinking she should take herself out of this lovely, charged equation. Tired, even without the wine, she’d started questioning her instincts, but Jess sat back in the tub. She craned her neck awkwardly to avoid the sun peeking down through the pergola that shaded half the deck. Jess scooted around the bench seat with a frustrated huff and landed beside Callie. “Too bright,” she said softly, glancing nervously.
“Brilliant,” Callie embellished, and for quite a while, the bubbling tub jets were the only sound filling the silence. Not awkward, exactly, but not comfortable either. They were each pretending to casually sip their drinks, pretending not to ping-pong short, greedy looks at each other.
Callie took a drink of her wine, then shook her head, barely able to swallow, “No more,” she gasped, thinking how she could just lean over and bite right through those little straps of Jess’s bikini top. She also couldn’t stop staring at the lazy arch of Jess’s throat, the water lapping at Jess’s chest.
Leaning back, Jess arched to reach for new glasses. Rising out of the water, Callie watched Jess’s sleek and now sun-kissed torso twist in the sun. When she returned, Jess had moved closer on the seat. Callie felt the brush of Jess’s thigh again, but firmer. It couldn’t have been an accident, but Callie accepted the glass of ice water and started to take a sip, hoping she could cool down.
Jess took a moment to squeeze a small wedge of lime into her glass, and Callie’s primed imagination launched into hyperdrive, imagining a lickable line of salt along Jess’s collarbone. This was getting dangerous. But it was Jess who cracked.
“You know,” she said, her voice light and deliberately casual in a way that wasn’t casual at all, “you’re the only one I’d let get this close.”
Glass halfway to her lips, Callie froze. It wasn’t Jess’s words. It was the way she said them. Low and soft, and a little too raw, too direct, and Callie started to feel panic claw up the back of her ribs. She had to do something, or she would make a complete idiot of herself. Callie stood up too fast.
“I should…” she stammered, not looking down because the angle was too perfect. Slatted sunlight framed the contour of Jess’s face and chest, “Before the sun gets me. I should go.” Then Callie looked down. Big mistake.
Jess looked stunned, blinking, wide-eyed, vulnerable, “You’re not sunburned,” she said, confused and a little breathless. Callie made it one step before Jess caught her hand.
“Callie…”
Her tone wasn’t a command or a question. She had taken Callie’s hand firmly, but it felt like a whisper to Callie. A voice while backing down a driveway.
“Stay.” Jess’s fingers wrapped around Callie’s, then stilled at her wrist—waiting.
Callie could hardly breathe. Jess’s fingertips were on her wrist, and she’d heard Jess talk about Zach doing it. She’d seen Cam do it when they sat together, their foreheads almost touching during an intimate mother-and-son conversation.
“I just thought…” Callie managed, but Jess shook her head, tiny, almost imperceptible.
“Don’t think,” Jess said, her voice growing rough, “Just stay.”
Callie sat back down, but Jess didn’t let go of her hand; then she watched as Jess fished her other hand from the water to hold both of them.
Something was shifting, yet Callie still didn’t get it, “Yeah, I guess. You drove me here.”
Jess chuckled, sniffing a little thought, then refocused on Callie, “You’re right.” Her eyes darted away, “You’re always right. That’s…not.” Jess halted momentarily, sighing,” I’m not being clear. So….I have to say something.”
She didn’t joke, didn’t fumble and run from the gravity that had always existed between them. Instead, Jess reached to cup Callie’s jaw, thumb grazing feathersoft over her cheekbone, and said, voice steady but thick with something raw, “You did all the hard work to get us here—the patience, the gym. the not-running.”
Callie’s eyes widened, her throat locking down. She shook her head, about to protest, No. You worked too, you chose…too. But Jess still held her face, still and tender.
“My beautiful Callie.” Jess breathed her name like a prayer, drew Callie’s hands close, and pressed her lips to them. Her gaze dropped and lingered, not on her lips but just below. A breath. A heartbeat.
“Can I kiss you?”
The question struck Callie harder than any stolen kiss could have. It stripped her bare and made her feel seen in a way no one ever had before. Tears blurred her vision for half a heartbeat, but she smiled through it, trembling, tugging Jess’s hands back with hers.
“Yes. Please.”
Jess didn’t waste another second. She closed the distance with a low, desperate sound, pressing her mouth to Callie’s in a kiss that was grateful, aching, and inarguably deliberate. Jess had made her choice, and she had chosen Callie.
Callie kissed back with everything she had, loosening her fingers to thread them through Jess’s damp hair, holding her there, here, now mine, until her breath gave out.
The water sloshed, driven away as they embraced; the jets bubbled and hissed below, but Callie could only hear the pounding of her heart and Jess’s soft, broken sighs against her mouth.
They paused there, foreheads touching, as if agreeing—this wasn’t momentum. This was intention.