Ember Flowers (20 page)

A short cry as
Jean resumed her attentions, without the silk barrier between them.
Enveloped by a moist heat, gentle tugs of teeth and lips, the other
hand a reverent caress from belly to breast.

Jo was grabbing
at her skin in needy little grasps. “Jean..I need..kiss me..”

She was more
than happy to obey. Hot open mouthed kisses, a caressing tongue.
Jo’s hands trailing fire all over her, occasionally dipping
cautiously into the hem of her boxers as they sat dovetailed
together. Brushing her hips with long fingertips. A soft murmur
against her lips as Jean slid an arm around Jo’s back, the other
grabbing a pillow from behind herself.

“Lay back
sweetheart.”

Jo looked at
her with unfocused silver grey. A kiss, softer than the others.

“It’s all right
love, I just want to make you feel this good all over.”

A shaky breath
as the blonde lay back on the quilt. Enveloped in the crinkling
fabric and cool caress of pastel blue sheets. Jean lay beside her,
tangling their legs. She brushed the hair out her eyes as before,
smiling down at her. Jo smiled back, reaching up and laying her
palm on Jean’s chest, it slid up and behind her neck, pulling her
down for a hard kiss.

A tanned hand
slid down Jo’s tensing belly, stroking her thigh, then across,
raking her neat nails gently and cupping the damp silk and lace.
The policewoman’s hips jerked up toward the touch.

Jo’s eyes
trailed over her olive skin, stopping at Jean’s pale tartan boxers.
She’d been tempted to do a little research, but found most of
Google’s results had come back perverse. Somehow she just hoped her
body would know what to do.

“Take them
off.” She mouthed into a kiss.

Jean knelt on
the quilt, a gentle caress over Jo’s silk clad hip and her lover’s
waist lifted. Her hands slid the panties from her lover’s curves.
Then she worked on her own boxers. Soon enough they were both naked
in the flickering light.

Jean revelled
in the beauty beside her, long lean thighs tapering into an apex of
short soft curls, smooth waxed flesh, a narrow seam of glistening
pink.

An arousal
roughened voice rose from the quilt. “Glad..you approve.” Smirking
at her lover’s obvious admiration, Jo’s eyes trailed over newly
revealed skin. Jean was just as she remembered. A flat stomach,
skin kissed by the sun on her arms and shoulders. Firm pert breasts
that showed little of her age. A new detail, a patch of short,
neatly trimmed dark hair over her groin. Smouldering eyes that drew
her in.

Olive
fingertips trailed down her cheek, nails raking lightly as they
meandered between her breasts, down to dip the well in Jo’s navel.
A feather light touch wandering lower to gauge her desire. Warm and
silky wet. It was encouraging, as much as the breathy moan against
her lips. They lay kissing, trying to ease her lover into what was
a new experience with light exploratory touches.

It was quite a
shock to feel Jo’s hand slide from her waist to stroke her inner
thigh. They tangled tighter together, a press of warm skin. Jean’s
fingertips were determined to make Jo feel wonderful. Parting her
new lover gently to stroke, to rub little circles slowly growing
firmer. Jo lost her train of thought at the sensation, a soft grunt
and she fell back against the sheet.

At the bite of
her lip and subtle roll of her hips. Her lover read her body and
replied.

A pleased sound
mid kiss, Jo’s toned thighs opening further to allow the exploring
hand. A soft groan against her lover’s lips as her Jean’s
fingertips glided inside her, probing her wetness carefully with a
single shallow thrust.

Her name never
sounded so sensual, so carnal. A husky moan broken into syllables
as her older lover entered her.

“Oh..Jo-anne..”

Heated kisses,
she felt so connected, her attentive lover listening and responding
to every subtle gesture. Her body arching and rolling with Jean’s
impassioned touch. Their hooded eyes meeting with each soft moan.
The older woman wanted her so badly, wanted to set every nerve on
fire. It was only reasonable for Jo to want the same thing. She
manoeuvred mid kiss, somehow in the knotting of their legs she
slipped her hand between her lover’s thighs.

Hazelnut eyes
were suddenly round. “Jo..sw-sweetheart..oh God.”

Feeling the
tight heat around her, while her lover glided in and out
intensified her arousal ten fold. She mimicked the movements that
made her feel so wonderful, wanting to bring Jean as much pleasure
as she was receiving herself. They tried so hard not to be loud,
moving together on the sheet.

Soft grunts and
gasping kisses. Jo couldn’t control it any longer, a wild harsh
kiss and groan as she came. A shudder wrenched from screaming
muscles. A moment later Jean gasped into the hot cleft of her neck,
pulsing around her fingertips. They gripped each other tightly,
riding out the last intense few tremors. Jean kissed her as own her
breaths came ragged, nuzzling her nose into Jo’s warm throat. A
buck of her hips as another shudder came. Eventually the spasming
became only trembles. Jo relaxed against the warm body around her,
a pleased sigh beside her ear.

Feather light
kisses over the blonde’s neck and face. Jean collapsed onto her
back and released a held breath.

Joanne tried to
move but found that she couldn’t. The motivation drained from her
body. “Jean..I think..you’ve paralysed me.”

With a throaty
chuckle, she reached over to grasp her lover’s hand.

Molten candles
blown out. They tried to climb under the sheets, which had been
thoroughly zig-zagged across the bed by their movement.

She slid into
Jean’s waiting arms, finding more soft kisses. Eventually drifting
off, her head nestled against her shoulder.

Chapter
29


There had been
far less soul searching than Jo imagined before falling into an
easy slumber. Though not long after she had woken again. With Jean
wrapped around her after they made love she felt safe. Safer than
she’d ever felt with a gun at her hip. Part of it was the way the
woman made her feel. Confident and cared for.
The rest..well,
perhaps she was just more optimistic.
She could even imagine
her daughter taking to Jean. She wasn’t sure how the older woman
would feel about that, how she felt about it herself. Suffice to
say it didn’t fill her with dread. They were taking things one step
at a time.

Even Jean’s
home was a nicer place for them to spend their time. She could see
no down side. No down side other than how everyone might treat her
if they found out.
The looks and the snide comments.
Though
she kept her personal and working lives separate, that possibility
weighed heavily on her mind.

Lying in the
dark, with just the moonlight behind the curtains, she looked down
at the outline of her lover’s hand on her belly. Certainly not how
she imagined things would go. But she was glad it had worked out
this way. Even if it did make her question herself to the core. It
wasn’t so different when she thought about it. All those sleepless
nights had eventually sharpened into one realisation.
It was
just skin.

A nuzzle into
her hair as the arm around her tightened, a kiss on her shoulder
blade.

“Can’t
sleep?”

Jo smiled in
the darkness. “Was just thinking.”

Another kiss
along her neck. “About?”

“Being here
with you, I never imagined this.”

Jean nodded
against her shoulder. “Things don’t always turn out to plan.”

Jo laid her
hand over the one on her belly. “I like being here Jean. I feel so
different around you than I do with anyone else.”

“I like having
you here, and I’d like you to stay whenever you like. The little
one too.”


The blonde
touched her fingertips. “I was looking at your pictures today,
Annabelle found her way into your living room.”

“Mm. I’ve been
blessed many times over.”

Joanne paused.
“Natasha..she was beautiful.”

Jean kissed her
shoulder. “She was. Funny too.”

Long fingertips
traced over her hand. “You don’t wear a wedding band?” She had
noticed since the beginning, but asked none the less.

A soft sigh
against blonde hair. “She’s gone Jo. It took me years but
eventually I took it off. I had to move on. I..don’t love easily,
but when I do..it’s all or nothing.”

They lay in
silence. Each thinking, Jo remembering her own marriage, she could
remember moments of feeling that way about Owen. But not like the
long flowing constant that Jean was describing.

Fingertips
traced along her ribs. “I’d like pictures of you too, if that’s
OK?”

The policewoman
smiled. “Sure.”

Chapter
30

Between kisses
and lazy Sunday mornings somehow two weeks had seemed like a blur.
Frequently during the evenings the policewoman’s car could be heard
pulling up outside. Jean’s home always felt warmer with the woman’s
presence around. Jo would often bring Annabelle with her.

The three of
them would eat a leisurely breakfast together on days off, her
daughter seemingly taking well to her mother’s new friend. The
toddler was still finding new places to explore amongst all the
space to play in, but was never far from the blonde’s watchful grey
eyes.

Jean was
somewhat of a curiosity to her, when she was at that age where
every question seemed to be ‘why?’ Followed immediately after by
another. Her mother had asked her to mind her manners, but Jean had
found it all a novelty, and would answer each question in a way in
which the child might understand.

Though they had
yet to be defined as such, the couple were more comfortable around
each other now. The awkward period with the new physical
relationship had been brief. Jo often woke with Jean’s regular even
breaths tickling her back. She found herself smiling more and
scowling less.

While filing
reports at work she would look forward to their evenings under the
eaves, talking, learning about each other. The only interruption to
her newly found serenity was a trip to the city to seek legal
advice. Thus far, aside from a couple of heated phone calls, Jo and
Owen had done their best to avoid each other.

Even Scott had
noticed how happy Jean seemed to be of late. They sat together on a
wrought iron garden bench eating lunch, mid way through a
landscaping job at a private residence in the suburbs. Jean waved a
bee away with a tanned hand. She looked to her left, the stubbled
man was giving her a goofy grin.

“Yees?”

“Nothin’. Just
you, I can’t remember the last time I saw you so happy.”

Her face split
into a wry smile. “Neither can I. I keep worrying she might come to
her senses.”

Scott patted
her back, nudging the tagged potted plants they still had to put in
with his gritty boot. “Nah, before long you’ll be driving a Volvo
and dropping her kid off at soccer like some suburban married
couple.”

She looked up,
shielding her eyes with her hand to look up as he stood. “Doesn’t
Ellie drive a Volvo?”

“My point
exactly. Crazy soccer mum. Nearly ran me over the other day.” Scott
grumbled.

Jean crumpled
the bag of crumbs and stray lettuce leaves, tucking it into her
bag. A soft grunt of effort as she pulled herself to her feet. She
grabbed her shovel, her boot pushing the blade into the earth.
Digging a hole for an apricot rose.

“I worry the
bubble might burst Scottie. That’s all.”

“No reason you
can’t make her happy Jean, she’s lucky to have you.” He looked at
her with sincerity.

“Yeah, I intend
to try. I just hope she doesn’t change her mind.” She grinned, but
for a moment was lost in her thoughts.

“Jean?”

“Yeah?” She
rested her sunglasses over her eyes, it was getting bright.

“I think ‘Tash
would have approved y’know? Of Jo?” He went back to digging.

The woman
wasn’t left to linger on her memories for long, her phone buzzed in
her pocket. A text.

Jean,

Just got back
from an accident, bad one. Little rattled. Wanna come over tonight?
I could use some company.

Jo x

Seeing the
blonde’s face pop up on her phone always made her smile. She tapped
back a response as Scott teased her.

Sure,

Hope you’re
OK.

See you
soon.

Jean x

Her phone went
back in her pocket. Scott’s voice chuckled over the chatter of
birds in the trees and the occasional car. “If she’s sending you
naughty pictures I’m going to confiscate your phone..or at least
beg you to show me.”

“In your dreams
Scottie.”

***

Night was
creeping over the horizon when her ute pulled into Joanne’s
driveway. She got out with a clank of the door, locking the vehicle
as she turned, two bags of Chinese food hung from her hand. Smells
of wontons and fragrant rice.

The blonde
opened the door a few moments after she knocked, she looked a
little worn out. Her gym shirt with a police shield, black Nike
running shorts and bare feet, hair tied in her usual tail. She held
the door open for the older woman. Jean slid an arm around her
waist and kissed her. She felt compelled to do that often, they had
developed an easy closeness. Jo didn’t seem to mind the affection,
having gotten used to it, she no longer felt so conflicted. Now
returning the tenderness with a squeeze of her hand or smile.

“You OK?”

Joanne nodded,
her face still stony and somber, she looked down at the bags. “Yes.
You brought dinner?”

The older woman
handed them to her. “Wasn’t sure if you felt up to it.” She
followed Jo into the kitchen, Annabelle played with her blocks on
the floor, looking up at the sound of her voice.