Chapter 16
no more thinking
The kiss broke slowly, like surf pulling away from the sand, reluctant to part but eager to regain breath to go again.
Callie’s eyes fluttered open, wide and searching. Jess was right there, eyes fixed on hers. While water had splashed everywhere, there was sweat from the sun’s heat, now their own heat as well, but a tear slipped from Jess’s eye, and she didn’t wipe it away. She let it roll down her face. “Yeah, I’m gonna cry. Probably, a lot.” She shrugged, “Hap…py.”
Her voice had cracked, but Callie was already scooping her close, her arms around Jess’s back, and she felt her shoulders shaking gently. Callie pulled her tight, their breasts pushing together, and Jess buried her face in Callie’s neck. In sheer astonished glee, Callie pulled back to find one of Jess’ hands. She helped Jess trace her fingertips across Callie’s collarbone, and Callie let loose a neighbor-worthy moan, delighted in the first touch of a long-standing fantasy.
Jess was watching, already cataloging moans and groans. Recovering from a wave of shivers, Callie’s eyes fluttered open. She didn’t speak. She didn’t have to because Jess had already interpreted Callie’s expression and answered in a barely steady voice, “Yes, let’s get more comfortable.”
Callie blinked yet again; the words were heavier than anything she’d dared imagine. Jess’s mouth quirked with a mischievous, terrified little smile, and she reached up to slide one of Callie’s bikini straps down her shoulder, “I’d hoped you’d pick this one.”
It was a challenge but also a tiny confession, and Callie couldn’t let it pass, “How long?” she asked softly, “Have you thought about me?” she asked, then dipped her finger under one of Jess’s straps, secretly sawing her teeth in victory, and pulled it over the defined curve of Jess’s shoulder. “About us…like this?”
“A while,” Jess answered, but looked away, “a lot lately.” She went quiet then, “Constantly. Everything about you makes me…ache.”
Callie heard each word as a homecoming. She didn’t require vindication, no triumphant ha, I knew I was right. It meant someone had to lose. This wasn’t that. This was a relief as Callie realized she could stop bracing for heartbreak.
Jess had recognized her, but suddenly years of self-doubt and misdirected effort had taken a toll, writing Callie’s personal story as a series of failures. Callie looked up, eyes pooling, “Maybe you could think of one time?” She softly asked, “I promise I won’t bug you about it.”
Jess had her lower lip in her teeth, then smiled. She kissed Callie, lingering to flick her tongue over Callie’s lower lip, “I have a bunch,” she began, and Callie’s face lit up, anticipating.
“When you skated with the kids,” Jess began, then moved along Callie’s cheek to find her ear, “I started up on the mezzanine,”
“With the moms,” Callie said, then moaned as Jess nibbled on her earlobe. Jess scolded softly, “I don’t interrupt during storytime with Callie.”
Callie giggled, then gasped as Jess’s hand boldly cupped her breast, “I watched you, my beautiful warrior, clad in white and red, gliding along like an armored ballerina.” Now Jess giggled, “with quads and glutes that go forever.”
“Mmmm,” Callie responded, letting new heat flood her senses, “will they ever.”
“I knew you were working so hard, having fun, but I knew you were sweating, getting worked up, knowing how it would mix with your body wash. I moved down closer to the ice.”
“I saw that- oops, sorry.”
“Your smile, your hair was flying all over, and the kids were watching you, all of them like you were a goddess. I wanted you.” Callie heard Jess’s breath in her ear. It was halting, filled with passion, “I was throbbing so….like now…”
Callie turned her face against Jess’s. “Like now.” Callie slid her hand across Jess's hip, testing the thin hem of Jess’s bikini bottom ties. She heard Jess’s breath hitch and hold, then continued slipping her hand over her thigh to nestle between her legs. Jess responded with a Yes, please of her own, shuddering against Callie as she cupped her fingers. Jess pulled away, her eyes narrowing, “Let’s go upstairs.”
Stepping from the tub, Jess pulled Callie into a hug under the pergola's eave. Entirely in the shade, a quiet breeze briefly surrounded them, and laughing about goosebumps, Jess ran her hands down Callie’s broad back and over her butt to create some warmth, yet Callie suddenly had a flash of panic, “What if Cam comes home? We’re standing out here pretty much naked.”
“Almost true,” Jess teased, undeterred. Before Callie could react, Jess bent forward, hooked her thumbs in Callie’s suit bottom, and flicked a quick, almost bashful glance up at her as she tugged them down just an inch.
“There—”
“Jess—” Callie laughed, breathless and delighted, hands flying to her hips. “Oh my God. Yes. Do it.” Jess yanked the bikini bottom to the deck.
Callie shrieked, laughing, then retaliated, teasing Jess in kind, but Callie’s reveal was slower, more deliberate. She knelt while doing it, her hands gently shaking but her eyes wide with wonder.
“Oooohh, Jess, you’re beautiful,” she murmured, reverent, breathless, then looked up at Jess, flaring a furious pink blush. “I’ll settle for a glimpse now,” Callie said, reaching up to run a fingertip agonizingly slow from Jess’s belly button to lightly brush the soft trail. Still, she stopped just short of exquisite contact. “I’ll be back to visit later,” she whispered. “We’re gonna get along great.”
Callie’s tongue flicked across her lips, but nerves had resurfaced, “but what if he…now it’s worse.”
Distracted by the reciprocal inspection, Jess’s mind was elsewhere, but she had another confession to make. “Regarding Cam, I may have planted the idea in his head a couple of days ago about a sleepover tonight. He won’t be home until tomorrow morning,” Jess whispered, then cleared her throat, “probably late.”
“Late,” Callie gulped, processing, then it dawned on her the entire afternoon had been one long setup, and she stood, putting her arms around Jess, “So all day, you’ve been thinking of me, slowly, strategically getting me naked?”
Jess stammered, knowing there were more preparations to reveal. “I know,” she shrugged. “Dare to dream.”
Suddenly, Callie had Jess moving, almost lifting her off her feet, and backed her up against the siding next to the patio door. Callie kissed her deeply while sliding a leg between Jess’s thighs and raising her leg firmly into Jess’s heat.
“So, hot hockey mom, what else do you have in mind for tonight?”
Jess grinned, then rolled her hips against Callie’s leg. Taking a breath, she whispered in Callie’s ear, “This,” she groaned, “a lot of this. I want to explore every delicious inch that I’ve dreamt about…uhhhh,” she groaned, responding to another thrust from Callie, but still found Callie’s eyes, “what about you?”
“Freckles,” Callie blurted out, “gonna count ‘em.” Callie laughed suddenly, “You know when we’re at the gym, and you’re spotting me on the bench press.”
Surprised by the change of venue, it took a moment for it to register, but her sly smile gave it away, “My thighs,” she whispered, “inches from your face.”
“Mmhmm,” Callie growled, “we’re gonna close that gap tonight. Might take hours.”
Jess reached to fumble with the patio door, “I’ve had the same thoughts.” She slid the door across its track to have it shudder heavily against the jam.