When All Else Fails (10 page)

Turning into the driveway, she parked close to Eva’s sensible sedan and looked up at the dark house. Dusk approached, but no lights shone in the windows. Her stomach did a strange flip that brought on a wave of light-headedness. “Now or never. Fear gets you nowhere,” she murmured, catching sight of her own reflection in the rearview mirror.

Not wasting any more time, she hurried from the car to the house, rang the doorbell, and waited. Soft, shuffling steps muffled on the other side. She held her breath at the click of the lock and the creak of old metal hinges. Eva’s beautiful emerald eyes, and her chest ached at a choking sense of foreboding.

“W-what are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry.” The words tumbled out. “I’ll spend the rest of my life saying it if it’s what you need. No, I’m not perfect, and I sure never made the best impression, but I’ve loved you for a long time.” She took a deep breath. “The first time I met you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the room, and then we started spending time and working together.

“You were always there for me no matter what. I never felt I was good enough. Not many people know about my parents or my relationship with them. People made their assumptions about me, and I never tried to dispel them. After what happened the other morning, I regret I never did. Because I’d never want to hurt you, but I know I did. I saw it in your face. Loving you and your kids is the best, and I want more with you. Our relationship isn’t temporary, and I don’t take it lightly. Please forgive me, please, baby, I’ll do anything.” After she stopped speaking, she finally gazed at Eva, but her expression gave nothing away. She held her breath until she made herself dizzy, her chest ached, and she let it go in a heavy sigh. Preparing for rejection had to be the hardest thing she’d ever done.

“If we’re going to have this conversation, we better have it inside,” Eva motioned her inside.

She partially relaxed with a small sense of relief. Being invited inside didn’t mean Eva was willing to make another go of a relationship. When the door closed behind them with a soft click, she moved to face Eva, waiting for her to speak. At last she did.

“Yes, you hurt me. My insecurities didn’t help the matter either. I feel like a huge fool. When you asked me out on our first date and said you wanted to do this the right way, I almost fainted. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did over Natalia. I’ve always trusted you. Okay, I didn’t show much trust with your ex, and I jumped to conclusions.” The woman wrung her hands, and she wanted to gather her in her arms. Her gaze moved everywhere, seeming to avoid taking a peek at Andrea.

“I know, baby. I would’ve, too, but nothing happened. I broke it off with her when I said I did. I didn’t have a clue she’d act the way she did.” She debated mentioning the phone call because it should’ve been a clue but decided against it. Natalia was no longer important. Nothing stood between her and the gorgeous woman standing in front of her.

Crossing her arms, Eva rubbed her palms up and down her biceps. The suspense bordered on cruel and unusual punishment, but if they were going to work, she needed to let the love of her life talk.

“I get you may think it’s silly, but I always hoped one day we’d be like this…together, a family with the kids and our friends. My family becoming yours. I love you and have for a long time, and I’m terrified I ruined it.”

Eva shifted nervously, and she wanted to comfort the smaller woman…
her
woman. Closing the distance between them, she wrapped herself around her lover, pulled her tight to her body. Fingers fisted in her shirt, Eva’s chin lifted, and plump lips found hers in a deep kiss. Her lover’s cheeks damp, she lifted her hands and stroked her thumbs over wet lashes. She bit tenderly at Eva’s mouth, relearning the flavor and texture of her lips. She knew of nothing in the world like the feel of being able to kiss the woman in her arms, having the freedom of knowing Eva belong to her and her alone.

Needy and desperate, they clawed at each other’s clothes, and the kiss became clumsy. She curled her fingers in the front of Eva’s pale-gray pajama shirt and tugged. Their labored breathing masked the sound of buttons hitting the floor. Chilled air caressed heated skin. It felt like a lifetime had passed since the last time their bare bodies had been flush. Large breasts were pressed tight to her stomach, and she pulled back to let her gaze travel over a flushed face and lips moist and swollen from kisses.

Eva’s warm, coffee-scented breath fanned her chin. The deprived look in her passion-darkened eyes stole the last of her control, and she pushed Eva roughly back against the nearest wall. Pictures rattled with the force.

“It’s been too long since I tasted you.” She fell to her knees before her. She loved the sounds her woman made for her. How had she gotten so lucky to have Eva’s love? The right to touch the sweet woman she adored. Andrea nuzzled the neatly trimmed curls. Bracketing rounded curves, she buried her face into the seam of Eva’s thighs. She stroked her left hand down, tracing the curved lines of her leg. Andrea wrapped her fingers around a slender ankle, lifted it over her shoulder, and then licked between the wet lips of Eva’s sex.

She stroked Eva with her tongue. Rounded hips canted forward, rode her probing tongue, and she opened her eyes to watch, not wanting to miss a second of her lover’s passion. Her own nipples hardened, and wetness slicked her inner thighs at the sight of Eva above her, lips parted, breasts thrust out, and her arms above her head wrapped around the spindles of the stairs.

She pulsed and ached, but she only delved deeper into Eva, hardened her tongue and eased into the tight clasp of her lover’s pussy. The creamy wetness coated the lower half of her face, and still she flicked, thrust, and sucked. Showing no mercy, she forced Eva closer to the edge.

“Andrea, baby, I’m gonna…. So close….”

Fingers wrapped around the back of her head, nails digging in, the slight pain furling her nipples tighter. Every inch of skin she could reach, she teased with a light stroke of short nails, especially the peaks of Eva’s breasts. She jerked, and hips rolled faster at the catch of nails.

Feeling the loss of rhythm, the stuttering movements, she pulled back and surged to her feet, Eva’s leg wrapping around her waist. “Touch me,” she groaned against Eva’s mouth.

When Eva’s hand slipped between their bodies, the kiss turned rough. Eva’s soft fingertips found her aching clit, and she shuddered as she mirrored her lover’s movements. Leaning all her weight on Eva, she pinned her to the wall. Their mouths never lost contact. It was labored breaths and quick strokes on her clit while Andrea thrust deep inside Eva. Finding her sweet spot, she used her thumb to stroke the hard nub with tight circles.

Sweat-slicked skin slid together, and their nipples grazed upper chest and abdomen. It was out of control and perfect; they fed at each other. They were a mess of rolling hips, nails clawing at shoulders and backs, and fingers propelling them closer to the edge.

Their kiss finally broke, moans building in intensity and screams hovering on the precipice. Gasping supplications for more, she demanded harder and faster.

“Andrea, I love—”

Eva sank her teeth into her lower lip, and her movements faltered in rhythm. “Say it, baby, tell me.”

The twisting pleasure/pain of her orgasm built as the tenuous grasp on her control slipped.

“I love you, Andrea.” The words stutter-stepped, and Eva forced them through panted moans.

“I love you, too, Eva. Come for me.” She relentlessly attacked her G-spot, and the pulsing turned to a tight, strangling grip. The sexy rush of liquid signaled her lover’s full loss of control. The scream piercing the air triggered her. She slammed her pelvis to Eva’s, trapped their hands between them, and groaned loud and deep alongside Eva’s throat.

They shook and panted, thighs trembling, and somehow they ended up lying on the floor, Eva cradled to her chest. Eva’s heart beat a quickened rhythm against her breast, and her breaths ruffled sweat-dampened red curls.

She couldn’t control herself. She kept stroking Eva to prove she existed, that it hadn’t been a dream, and her partner had forgiven her. Days of worry—hell, months and years of doubting herself—caught up with her. To relax and be where she’d always wanted made her stress melt away. She drifted to sleep to the soft brush of lips on her throat.

Curls sticking up at odd angles, Eva shoved them from her face and, with half-opened eyes, started the coffee pot. Andrea had kept her up until the early hours of the morning, but no way would she complain. She swore she would wear a permanent smile, along with flushed cheeks. Reaching up, she opened the cabinet and pulled down two oversized mugs.

“When are you going to stop wearing clothes I just have to take off you?” She chuckled at Andrea’s sleepy, teasing voice and looked over her shoulder to where she stood in the kitchen doorway, naked and gorgeous.

“You’re going to have to learn to wear clothes for when the kids are around.”

“When are our heathens going to be home?”

“Our, really?”

“Of course, I’m Aunt Andy, hopefully stepmom one of these days.”

Grinning, she untied the robe and let it fall to the floor. “Now, that’s what I love to see.” Warm, slender arms slipped around her, and Andrea’s lips brushed her shoulder, leaving a love bite there.

“Don’t get used to it. My parents are nudists, not me.” She smiled wider at Andrea’s chuckle.

“What will Carl and Janice think about us?” Andrea asked.

“I don’t think they’ll have any complaints. If their grandchildren and I are happy, then they will be as well.”

“What are your thoughts on more kids?”

She tensed and spun in Andrea’s arms. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on her expression, searching for a twinkle of amusement. “You’re not joking?”

“It’s not a prerequisite to a relationship. I thought I would ask and let you know I wouldn’t mind maybe one or two. Only if you agree. Bradley and Jenny are going away to college in three years or so. Never mind, forget—”

Eva shut her up with a kiss. “I’m not saying no to the idea. It’s just unexpected.” She raised a brow. “Is it safe to assume I will be birthing these babies?”

“Very much so.”

“Thought so.”

“Eva, my lovely woman, if it would make you happy, I would grunt out a few kids for us. But I have seen pictures of when you were pregnant, and you were absolutely beautiful.”

The broad grin and imploring gaze made her shake her head and let out an all-suffering sigh.

“Well, my beautiful Andrea, what’s in it for me if I, how did you so eloquently put it, grunted out these kids?” She grinned up at Andrea through the fringe of her lashes. Lifting her hand, she teased over baby-soft skin, drawing patterns with the smooth edge of her nails. Andrea’s dark nipples drew up tight. Leaning in, she stroked her tongue over her top lip and wrapped them around the hard nub.

“Mmhmm, baby, whatever you want.” Fingers tangled in her curls.

She lifted her gaze and grasped Andrea’s slim hips. She stroked the tip of her tongue across Andrea’s chest to the other breast where she hesitated, teasing the nipple with her breath.

“Whatever I want…very dangerous words.” She teased, suckled, and bit at her woman’s peak, and the taller woman arched and trembled. To have control over such a powerful woman went to her head like a shot of liquor. She explored every inch of Andrea’s torso, discovered every little spot that made her moan and shiver, like the hollow of her throat. Eva nipped below her navel, and Andrea hissed through clenched teeth. Oh, and how could she forget the tender skin of her hips? Tracing along her pelvis, she rubbed her nose and mouth to the closely trimmed triangle of hair. Andrea’s thighs trembled, and she lowered to her knees.

“Eva, fuck, you drive me….”

She opened her mouth and pressed a kiss to damp lips, the subtle peak of Andrea’s clit teased her tongue, and the words cut off. She flicked her tongue over it, grazing but not giving everything. The taste of Andrea burst upon her tongue, and she gripped her hips as thighs shifted and parted.

She gazed lovingly into bright, heavy-lidded chocolate-hued eyes and pushed deep between the slick lips of Andrea’s pussy. Opening her mouth wide, she sucked at her lover’s clit and the delicate inner lips, moving back to tug. She repeated the motions with soft, tender pressure then followed with harder and rougher sucks and licks. She drove her partner to the edge only to ease her away from the precipice, prolonging the pleasure to hear Andrea moan and call her name.

Braced and bowed over her, Andrea’s thighs quivered with the effort to stand up. She dove in again, increased pressure and speed. Andrea’s delicate flesh slid along her tongue and lips. The older woman didn’t speak. She moaned, trembled, and clawed at the counter.

She pulsed, slipped her hand between her thighs, and rubbed her clit and swollen lips. She could tell Andrea was close, and she wanted to go over the edge with her. The creamy texture of her lover’s arousal flowed down her chin. A sharp hiss passed through clenched teeth, and Andrea’s hips ground downward, riding out her orgasm. Andrea came, and she squeezed her eyes shut, her own orgasm causing her hips to bow upward, her moan muffled between her partner’s thighs.

A few moments later, a mouth slammed against hers, and she opened her eyes to wild, passion-hazed ones. Fingers held frantically to her hair, tongues thrust, met, and swirled around each other. The kiss never seemed to end, but when it did, they were both breathless and their foreheads rested together.

“You’re so beautiful, Eva. Generous, loving. How the hell did I get so lucky?”

“I think the luck is mutual.” She pressed a quick kiss to Andrea’s lips and withdrew with a huge, sated smile. “Coffee, breakfast, and then a shower…together, of course.”

“That I can handle, but you have to leave your robe off while you make breakfast.”

“Deal.” She would’ve agreed to almost anything to see the content expression on Andrea’s face. This wasn’t where she’d seen herself just a few months ago, but she wouldn’t change a thing, not one second. She loved the woman smiling at her.