Mine (26 page)

“That
is
nice,” Rachel said wistfully.

“She was kind,” Courtney went on. “She had a big heart and a generous spirit. She had a soft spot for animals. Like you do.” She felt Rachel’s smile against her hair. “She had a very quick temper. At the drop of a hat, she could be pissed off and you’d have no idea.” A deep chuckle rumbled up from Courtney’s chest. “It took me a while to get used to that and figure out how to deal.”

“I’ll bet.”

“And she loved me.” Surprisingly, Courtney was able to say the words without her eyes filling with tears. “She loved me with all her heart.”

“She sounds like a smart woman.”

“She was.”

They sat in silence for long moments, no sound but the distant traffic outside and the ticking of a clock somewhere in the room. When Rachel finally spoke, her voice was very low, as if she was afraid of disturbing the peace that had settled over them.

“I worry,” she said.

“About?”

Taking a deep breath, she plunged in. “Living up to her. Not measuring up to her. Being compared to her. Not being as good for you as she was.”

Slowly, Courtney nodded as she absorbed Rachel’s words. Peter had said this was probably what Rachel was feeling. “Well…I think that all makes sense and I think it’s all normal. I don’t know that I can make those worries go away, but I can tell you that I don’t expect you to live up to her or measure up. You’re not her. You’re not Theresa. You’re Rachel and you are your own person and I’m drawn to you for different reasons than I was drawn to her.” She snuggled closer, pulling Rachel’s arm more tightly around her. “I can’t say there won’t be bumps, but I do promise to try my hardest to be honest with you about them.”

“I think that’s fair.” They were silent again for a while, the muffled sounds of traffic and Saturday-night revelers drifting up from the street below. Rachel’s voice sliced softly through the air. “Would she have liked me?”

The question took Courtney completely by surprise and she craned her neck around to look at Rachel’s face. What she saw was open and raw honesty. “What?”

“Theresa. Do you think she would have liked me?”

Courtney grinned. “Yeah, she would have. You’re the kind of person who would have intrigued her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…you’re a successful businesswoman who’s obviously very intelligent, but you don’t say much about yourself. She would have spent hours trying to pry information from you, trying to learn about you.”

“Really?” Amusement shaded Rachel’s face.

“Really.” Courtney arched an eyebrow. “And she would have thought you were hot.”

“
Really.
” Amusement traded places with surprised satisfaction on Rachel’s face.

“Oh, yes.”

“Hot?”

“Smokin’.”

“Huh.” They snuggled more deeply into the couch, Rachel’s arm still around Courtney and holding her close. “Then I’d have to say your Theresa had impeccable taste in women.”

Courtney smiled and laced her fingers with Rachel’s dangling from her shoulder. “That she did.”

Comfortable quiet descended upon them and Courtney felt rather than heard Rachel’s yawn. Squinting at the cable box across the room, she saw that it was going on ten o’clock.

“I should let you get to bed,” she said, not moving. “You’ve had a pretty exciting day.”

Rachel tightened her hold anyway. “No. Stay right where you are. I shouldn’t be tired. I took a nap this afternoon. I think I’m just warm and comfortable.”

Courtney’s insides turned to mush. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” She burrowed into Rachel a bit further so they were very nearly, but not quite, lying on the couch. She kicked off her shoes and tucked her legs up into the cushions.

They were asleep within minutes.

Chapter Seventeen

Rachel woke with a start. It took her a few seconds of blinking and clawing through her fog-addled brain before she was able to get her bearings and figure out exactly where she was and what the extra weight lying across her body represented. She smiled when the facts became clear.

She was half sitting, half lying down on the couch with one leg bent at the knee and braced along the back of it and the other dangling off the side to the floor. Courtney lay snugly tucked between Rachel’s legs, her face resting on Rachel’s chest as if it had always been there, as if that’s where she belonged. The room was dark, the living-room light having been clicked off by its timer several hours earlier. Rachel remained still for a long time, drinking in the sight of a sleeping Courtney, caught the twitch as she smiled in slumber, felt the rise and fall of her back under Rachel’s hand as she drew breath.

Rachel had no idea how long she watched Courtney. It could have been seconds. It might have been hours. She only knew that she hadn’t felt quite so relaxed, so content in the presence of somebody else in a very, very long time.

Almost sensing the gaze focused on her, Courtney awoke, her eyes fluttering open, her lungs expanding with that big waking-up breath the body takes as it pulls out of slumber.

Saying nothing, Courtney finally lifted her head and gazed up into Rachel’s eyes. Rachel smiled tenderly down at her. Courtney lifted her right hand and ran her fingertips over Rachel’s bottom lip, barely grazing the skin, fluttering like the wings of a butterfly.

Rachel inhaled quietly and suddenly at the touch. She watched as Courtney studied her own hand, traced the same path once again. Rachel was astonished as the contact sizzled all the way down her body to settle in her groin. She slipped her own hands up the flat, muscular planes of Courtney’s back and dug her fingers into the thick mass of curls, capturing Courtney’s head and holding it still, staring directly into her eyes.

It wasn’t clear who moved first, but in a flash, they were kissing. Roughly. The couch seemed to absorb them, pulling them down into the leather as if it had arms, snuggling them into the buttery-soft cushions as their limbs tangled and their breaths became ragged gasps.

“God, I want you.” Rachel pulled away just far enough to be able to form the words. “I want you so much.”

“Then take me to bed,” Courtney replied.

“Are you sure?”

Courtney responded by pushing her tongue back into Rachel’s warm mouth, leaving absolutely no doubts.

Rachel shifted beneath Courtney’s body and succeeded only in rolling them right off the couch and onto the floor with a thud. Stopping their kissing only long enough to laugh at the tumble, their mouths found one another again, like magnet and steel, unable to stay apart. Each helping the other to her feet, they continued the fervent exploration of lips, teeth, and tongue, while at the same time, leaving a trail of clothing behind them. They somehow managed to stumble through the living room, down the hall, past the bathroom and the office, to the bedroom, without falling or causing damage to any household items. By the time they bumped up against the queen-size mattress and actually pried their mouths apart, Courtney was standing in her white lace bra and matching cotton panties and Rachel was topless, clad only in the flannel bottoms.

Her chest heaving, Courtney reached out her hand and cupped one of Rachel’s bare breasts, sliding her thumb over its very erect nipple. Her quick glance up was just in time to see Rachel bite down on her own bottom lip.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?” Rachel said, her voice barely a whisper.

“Do you have any idea how freaking sexy you are?” Courtney countered.

Rachel reached around Courtney’s torso and grasped the back of her bra. “This needs to come off. Now.”

“Ooh, sexy
and
bossy. Who knew?”

Rachel chuckled. “I’m not sure about the sexy part, but lots of people would agree with you on bossy.”

Gooseflesh broke out on Courtney’s arms as Rachel slid her bra along them and dropped it on the floor. “Well,
I’m
sure about the sexy part. Not a doubt in my mind about the sexy part…” Her voice trailed off as she pulled Rachel’s face toward her and devoured her mouth with her own.

The world faded away for Rachel. There was nothing, nobody other than Courtney. And the fact that Courtney seemed somehow different tonight didn’t escape Rachel’s attention. She seemed relaxed, more open, more at ease than the last time they’d ended up in a similar position. As she eased Courtney back onto the bed and slowly slid her panties down her thighs, it suddenly occurred to Rachel: there was nowhere in the world she’d rather be and nothing else in the universe she’d rather be doing than what she was involved in right that moment. Courtney was everything. Nothing else mattered. She divested herself of her own pants and then crawled across the bed, pushing her knee between Courtney’s legs, feeling the hot wetness coat her skin.

Courtney moaned and pushed her head back into the pillows, a handful of Rachel’s hair twisted in her fingers. When Rachel used her teeth to tug at Courtney’s swollen nipple, the grip on her hair tightened and Courtney gasped.

The warm and silky wetness that met Rachel’s fingers as she slid them between Courtney’s legs was simultaneously not surprising and completely shocking. Not surprising because Rachel knew she was just as wet as Courtney, if not more so. Completely shocking because it was hard to believe she was able to cause such arousal in this incredible woman. She was in awe, complete wonder as she looked at Courtney’s body beneath her. She was fit, built like an athlete, all the muscle and smooth skin laid bare before her and glowing with excitement. But she was also round, curvy, and feminine, and the combination made Rachel’s mouth water. Courtney’s head was thrown back, exposing her elegant throat. Her eyes were closed.

Beginning a slow, lazy rhythm with her fingers, Rachel shifted to her knees, so she was braced above Courtney on one hand, her legs keeping Courtney’s spread wide. She looked down at Courtney’s face as she moved through the slickness covering her fingertips.

“Courtney.” She said the name softly, waited. “Courtney. Look at me.”

Courtney swallowed as she opened her eyes, her breathing continuing in ragged gasps. Rachel gazed at her as she quickened the pace of her hand.

“Say my name.”

If Courtney thought it an odd request, she hid it well. She cocked her head slightly to the right, as if wondering if she’d heard correctly. But the half-grin she tossed at Rachel hovering over her made any trepidation disappear.

“Rachel.” She whispered the name, elongating it, stretching it out, making it sound a hundred times sexier than it actually was. Rachel felt a spurt of her own wetness and whimpered.

“Oh, my God. Again. Say it again.” Her heart rate, her hips, and the pace of her hand were now one and the same, moving all in the same rhythm.

“Rachel.”

“Again. Please.”

“Rachel.” This time, the pitch of Courtney’s voice increased and she inhaled sharply. “Oh…oh, Rachel…oh, please…” She dug the tips of her fingers into Rachel’s side as she came, her muscles tensing so hard, her body spasming so roughly, Rachel was surprised she didn’t simply snap in half. Murmuring encouragement, Rachel coaxed the climax out of her, adjusting her speed and her touch to make it last as long as possible. A glittering sheen of sweat covered both their bodies as they rocked as one.

It seemed like hours before Courtney reached between them and grasped Rachel’s wrist, stilling her movements and easing her fingers out. Rachel let the hand bracing her slide up so that she slid down to the bed, half on and half off Courtney. Their bodies already beginning to cool, Rachel reached down and grabbed the corner of the black fleece throw that was folded neatly at the foot of the bed. She pulled it up over them, tucking it around Courtney and pulling her closer.

“My God, that was incredible,” Courtney said, her voice low and husky.

Rachel grinned. “That was only the beginning,” she said, drawing a fingertip down the side of Courtney’s face, under her chin, and back again. “I have many, many more acts in my repertoire.”

“Really. Many, many?”

“Oh, yes. Many, many.”

“And I suppose there’s a big finale, too?”

“There is. But it could take months or even years before we get to that. And you’d be lucky if you could even stand up, let alone walk, by then.” Rachel winked.

Courtney cleared her throat. “That sounds like quite a time commitment. Are you sure you’re up for that?”

Rachel’s face became suddenly, deadly serious. “Yes. I am.” She swallowed audibly. “I am if you are.”

Courtney’s eyes never left Rachel’s as she nodded slowly in the darkness. “I am, too.”

*

“I should get home.”

The sun was shining brightly through Rachel’s bedroom window when Courtney said the words for the fourth time. They were naked, spooning, with Rachel behind Courtney, her arm wrapped around and fingers drawing lazy circles on Courtney’s bare belly. The bedding was a tangled muddle, the decorative pillows with the expensive Laura Ashley shams were mostly on the floor, and the air in the room was thick with the scent of sex.

“I don’t want you to go.” Rachel answered with the same response she’d given the other three times. Courtney could feel the smile against her hair and she couldn’t help but grin.

“You’re nothing if not predictable.”

“No, you’re supposed to say, ‘maybe you should show me how much you want me to stay,’ like you did the last time.”

“And the time before that? And the time before that?” Courtney laughed outright and Rachel joined her. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but I don’t think I can survive another orgasm. My head will explode.” She rolled onto her back so she could look into Rachel’s face. She looked tired. Her eyes were bloodshot, her lips were swollen, and her hair was a disaster. But the expression on her face was one of radiance and contentment. Courtney had a sudden flash of that same face, tense with desire, bottom lip caught between teeth, whispered pleading. Throwing off the covers, she gave Rachel a quick, chaste kiss on the mouth and was suddenly up and out of the bed, knowing if she stayed, she’d be there for another hour at least and the threat of an inability to walk would become all too real. She found her clothes scattered about and began to dress.