The Price of Fame - KJ1 (24 page)

No one had ever made her feel so well loved or so complete.

Gazing adoringly at the strong profile, nudging aside a stray lock of dark hair that had fallen onto that remarkable face, Jay felt no more fear, only desire and passion. She wanted to give everything to this woman, and to take everything in return. Her hands began to play over the silky skin as her lips danced along a strong shoulder, then across the swell of a high, firm breast. Her tongue flicked the tip of an awakening nipple and she took it into her mouth, groaning in delight at the taste and texture.

Another moan joined hers as Kate came awake on a surge of white-hot heat, her body responding instantly to the stimulation. Fiery emerald green eyes met glittering blue in a gaze that promised unrestrained passion. This time the lovemaking was not the slow, sweet, tantalizing seduction of earlier in the evening; this time it was more like the intensity of a sudden electrical storm, with sparks flying, igniting a fire that consumed everything in its path. Both women crested together, bodies straining, hearts pounding, and heads exploding in ecstasy.

Eventually, their breathing calmed and their bodies began to cool.

Running her fingers over her lover’s face, Kate leaned in to kiss her 145

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reverently on the mouth. “Do me a favor; if that was a dream and I’m still sleeping, please don’t bother to wake me up, okay?”

“Mmm, I know what you mean,” Jay sighed dreamily as she smoothed her palm over the softness of her lover’s backside. “I’m sorry I woke you, I just couldn’t seem to help myself.”

“Honey, don’t ever apologize for waking me like
that
,” Kate chuckled. “You can do that anytime you like; believe me, you’ll never get a complaint from me.” As she kissed the tip of the smaller woman’s nose, her eyes began to close again involuntarily.

Within seconds, both women were sound asleep, smiling, sated and exhausted.

The next time they opened their eyes, the moon had been replaced above them by blue sky. Rolling onto her back, Kate pulled Jay tight to her side. She reached over and smoothed the disheveled blonde hair, enjoying the feel of its softness against her fingers. “How are you feeling?”

“Mmm, I’ve never felt better in my life. You?”

“That about sums it up.” Kate’s gaze turned serious. “Thank you, Jay, for trusting me. I know that can’t have been easy for you, and I hope I didn’t disappoint you.”

“Disappoint me? Oh, sweetheart, believe me, let down is the last thing I feel.” She propped herself up so that she could look directly into those baby blues. Running her fingers lovingly over the high cheekbones and tempting lips, she tried to let everything she felt show in her eyes and her touch. “Kate, I have been dreaming of a night with you like last night since we first met, and I have to tell you: nothing I envisioned came close to the reality of making love with you. It was everything I ever thought I wanted and so much more, love.” There were tears in her eyes.

Arching up and kissing Jay’s eyelids, Kate tasted the salt of her tears.

“I’m so glad, sweetheart. I feel the same way, you know. All these years I’ve been waiting for someone to make me feel anything close to what I felt when I looked up at you during that tennis match. Do you remember?”

Jay smiled wistfully. “Oh yeah, I sure do; you were the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. You made me late for my editorial meeting because I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”

“And you almost made me forget what I was doing on the court.

Well, I never found anyone who could measure up to that, not even remotely, so I stopped trying a long time ago. I guess I knew that there was only one person who could make me feel that way, and I didn’t think I’d ever see her again.” At the inquiring look Kate added, “That person is 146

The Price of Fame

you, Jamison Parker. I told you last night, you’re the only one for me; there is no doubt in my mind, or my heart.” Softly she added, “I love you, Jay.”

At that the blonde did start crying, her tears spilling onto her lover’s neck and chest. “I love you, too, Kate, more than I ever thought possible.

I’ve been in love with you from the very first, but I never imagined that I’d get the chance to say those words to you out loud, much less hear them from you. I’m at a complete loss here.”

“Well, how about you kiss me and we take a shower together for starters. What time do you need to leave?” Kate hated to ask the question as much as her lover hated to contemplate the idea, but they both knew that Jay had to go back to the city to write; there was no sense even pretending that she could get the work done where she was.

Leaning down, Jay captured the waiting lips below her, losing herself in the kiss for several precious minutes. “It’s 6:05 now, if I catch the 7:25

I can be in the city by 10:30. That should work.”

“In that case, we’d better get going.” Kate vaulted off the bed, pulling her lover with her.

They spent a little while exploring one another’s bodies as they washed each other, both trying hard, with mixed success, to control their wandering hands and mouths long enough to get clean. When they were done, Kate steered Jay over to sit on the edge of the bed with the best of intentions as she began drying her off. Kneeling before the younger woman, carefully drying her breasts, she found the temptation was simply too great; the thought of a day and a half passing before she could see Jay again was making Kate crazy. Blue eyes grew heavy-lidded with arousal as she nestled between her lover’s legs, tasting the sweetness there and quickly bringing the beautiful blonde to a shattering climax and pushing herself to the edge as well.

When she had recovered sufficiently, Jay rose from the bed without a word, taking her lover by the hand and returning them to the shower.

Turning on the spray, she began to touch and taste her partner as she guided them into the stall. Jay positioned the taller woman so that her broad back blocked the spray as she sat on the ledge facing her, pulling her close. The combination of the warm water pulsing on her back and the exquisite pressure building between her legs made Kate’s knees weak; reaching out, she braced her arms against the shower wall. Both women moaned as Jay took her lover in her mouth, driving all thoughts of trains and schedules out of their minds.

Finally, they were clean, dressed, and on the road with less than twenty minutes to make it to the train station. Kate promised Jay that she would have her on that train without fail. “You’d better, Stretch, since it’s all your fault that we’re running late,” the writer joked.

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That earned her an arched eyebrow look. “Oh, right, you had nothing to do with it, Little Miss Innocent.”

“Well, you started it...”

“That’s true, but you sure didn’t have any trouble finishing it, now did you?”

“Are you complaining?”

“Do I look like an idiot to you? Of course I’m not complaining! I’m merely setting the record straight, that’s all.”

Reaching over, Jay took hold of her lover’s hand. “I’m going to miss you, Kate.”

“I know, me too, sweetheart. I’ll pick you up outside the Convention Center tomorrow night after the LCA Show, though, and at least we’ll have tomorrow night.”

“Right.”

“Well, here you go; two minutes to spare, too. Let me get your bag and your briefcase, you just worry about getting to the platform. I’ll be right behind you.”

Jay was moving before the car had even come to a complete stop, reaching the conductor just as he was making the last call. She turned around, searching for her lover. She didn’t have to look far; Kate was standing just behind her.

“Here you go,” she said, handing Jay the bag and briefcase. “Travel safely. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She didn’t know if the writer understood sign language, but she made the sign for “I love you”

anyway.

Leaning down quickly from the steps, Jay brushed her lips against her lover’s ear, “I love you too,” she said, so quietly that only Kate could hear her. And with that, she was gone.

Standing there for a minute, Kate watched the train pull out of the station before heading back to the illegally parked car and home.

She walked into the kitchen where Fred greeted her enthusiastically, weaving in and out of her legs as he always did. Everything should have felt comfortingly normal, and yet...the place seemed empty and lonely, and she knew why. In just a few short days, one single little blonde whirlwind had transformed Kate’s house from a place to live into a home. God, she missed her already, and she’d barely left. Pathetic.

She scanned the cupboard since they hadn’t had time for breakfast before leaving. Well, they hadn’t had time for food, anyway. Kate smiled evilly, remembering their last bout of lovemaking, her skin flushing just thinking about it. Jay was the most talented, most enticing lover she had ever known. Somehow, her lover just seemed to know what she needed, and when. It was as if their bodies were speaking to each other in their 148

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own language, rendering words redundant. That had never happened to her before.

She sighed. What she felt for Jay went so far beyond physical compatibility, though; it wasn’t just about the sex, although that was a most pleasant development. It was everything about her. It was the way she looked at the world, her sense of humor, her gentle nature and compassion. It was her intelligence and natural curiosity, her beauty and spirit. Kate was sure if she looked hard enough she could probably find something about Jay that she didn’t like or love, but for the life of her, she didn’t know what.

Spending twenty-four hours a day with the woman for nearly four days, she hadn’t felt the least bit boxed in or smothered; for a woman as independent and solitary as Kate, that was extraordinary. “Now what, Fred? Back to the routine, I guess.”

Going upstairs to the bedroom to change into her workout clothes, she found herself standing at the threshold to the guest suite instead, where she closed her eyes and extended her senses, detecting a trace of Jay’s perfume in the air. Stepping into the room, she moved to the bed to pick up her lover’s pillow.
God, you’ve got it bad, Katherine,
she thought to herself. As she reached for the pillow, a folded piece of white paper fluttered to the floor. After reaching over and picking it up, she opened it to reveal neatly printed handwriting.

Guest Satisfaction Survey
, it said in block letters across the top.

Laughing, she said to Fred, who had followed her upstairs, “Well, I did tell her it was a five-star resort and she could rate her stay on the way out.

I ought to be more careful what I say, shouldn’t I buddy?”

She began to read.
“Accommodations: Excellent, especially the last
night. Service: Outstanding, loved the personal touch (pun intended), and
the comic books were great. Facilities: Superb, particularly enjoyed
working with the personal trainer and the rent-a-beast. The kitchen could
stand some...well...use. Activities: Top-notch, do you really want me to
go there? Overall Impressions of Resort: Mmm. Need I say more? Would
You Recommend This Establishment to Others: Absolutely, but it better
not be open to others.”

By the time she had finished reading, Kate was laughing so hard she was in tears. “You are too much, Jamison Parker. What am I going to do with you?” Stopping for a moment to think, she got serious. “The bigger question is: what am I going to do without you for a whole thirty-six hours? Yuck.” As she pondered what was in store for the following night, a wicked smile crossed her face. The wait might be worth it, after all. She made her way down the hall to her room to change into her workout gear.

It was going to be a long, busy, lonely day and a half, and she needed to get started.

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Jay had her notes from the past four days spread out on two service trays in front of her, trying to organize her thoughts in preparation for writing the article as the train carried her home. Professional detachment, that was what she said she had needed. “Well, so much for that,” she chuckled to herself. Then she got serious. How was she going to separate the Kate that she knew from the anchorwoman and journalist that the rest of the world had seen? Was there a difference? Gazing out the window at the Hudson River as it sped by, she smiled as she thought about the last four days. Images of the raven-haired beauty swam before her eyes: her lover lost in rapture, her friend with eyes full of caring and concern, the woman she loved vulnerable and uncertain. And her professional demeanor: resolute, powerful, intelligent, engaged and compassionate.

Oh, yeah, there was definitely a difference.

The writer began reviewing the impressions she had put to paper on Monday, the day she had arrived and had gone with Kate and her crew to interview Joey’s parents and the man whom the anchorwoman had rescued from the rubble. If she were going to be able to maintain any semblance of objectivity, it would be because she focused the article less on her own very personal knowledge, and more on the opinions of people like these and Kate’s co-workers.

Having settled that, Jay began to focus and get lost in her work. She had a lot to do to get the story ready before she got back on a train to return to Albany the next night, but she was determined to have it done before she saw her lover again. She didn’t want anything to detract from the time they could spend together, and for that she needed her mind and her calendar to be clear on Sunday. She sighed. It was going to be a long, busy, lonely day and a half.

It was Saturday night, it was almost time, and Kate was nervous; not for the obvious reason that most people standing where she was right then would have been, but because her conversation earlier in the day with Jay had left her unsettled.

“How do you know you’ll be finished with whatever you’re doing
when the show lets out tonight?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there, love.”

“How can you be so sure, Kate? Where are you going, anyway?”