Too Close to Touch (27 page)

It was spoken in her father’s voice, which was odd enough to begin with since she rarely dreamed of him. The rest was foggy. Those two words were the only bit of the dream she was sure of.

Live life.

She blinked, allowing her eyes to focus in the dark. The windows were still open, the sounds of crickets chirping and far-off, late-night trafÞ c ß oating in on the gentle night breeze. Bluish shafts of moonlight streamed in through the open curtains and soon she remembered where she was. And why. Before the grief could crash down on her, she heard the words once more.

Live life.

Meaning what? She inhaled gradually, taking in a large lungful of fresh air, loving the familiar smell of her childhood home, the familiar comfort of being in her old room. Unfamiliar, of course, was the feel of the warm body next to her. She turned her head slowly until she was gazing at the beautiful and relaxed form.

Kylie was on her side facing Gretchen, her knees bent slightly.

The sheet covered her up to her waist and her blond hair was tousled on the pillow. She had one arm curled up, her Þ ngers resting in a loose Þ st against her forehead. Her breathing was deep and even, her full

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GEORGIA BEERS

pink lips parted slightly. Gretchen had to Þ ght the urge to reach out and stroke them with a Þ ngertip.

The sudden rush of desire that ß ooded her body took her completely by surprise, so much so that she immediately sat up in the bed hoping to calm her ragged breathing and racing heart. She felt sweat bead on her upper lip and she swiped at it with the back of her hand, blinking in confusion.
What the hell is wrong with me?

Her sudden movements startled Kylie awake and she, too, sat up.

“Gretchen?” Her voice was a concerned whisper. “Are you okay?”

Gretchen turned to look at her in the moonlit darkness. Kylie thought Gretchen’s eyes seemed nearly as black as night. She waited for Gretchen to answer, wondering if she was still asleep and having a bad dream. She reached out and lightly touched Gretchen’s hand.

“Sweetheart? What is it?”

“I…” Gretchen began, but couldn’t seem to form any other words.

Her eyes bored into Kylie’s, then traveled the length of her body, causing Kylie to shift under her gaze. She reached out, touching her Þ ngertips to Kylie’s cheek, her breath catching at the softness, the warmth. “I…”

“What, Gretchen? Do you need something?” Kylie’s voice was laced with worry. “Talk to me.”

Live life.

Reaching out with a suddenly determined expression on her face, Gretchen curled her Þ ngers around the hem of Kylie’s T-shirt and pulled it up and over Kylie’s head. The move was so unexpected, Kylie simply went along with it before she could think clearly, lifting her arms to help. Then she could only blink in response and watch as Gretchen tossed the shirt to the ß oor.

“I need
you
.” Gretchen’s voice was a commanding hiss tinted with a note of pleading.

Her eyes raked over Kylie’s naked torso so intensely, Kylie was sure she could feel it just as tangibly as a touch and she shivered.

“I need
you
,” she said again, and watched as Kylie’s breasts rose and fell with the quickened pace of her breathing.

Kylie tried to swallow her surprise, along with her rapidly growing arousal, as she sat topless in front of Gretchen, feeling practically devoured by her eyes alone. “Gretchen…”

Gretchen grasped Kylie’s chin in her hand. The steeliness in her eyes eased and when she spoke this time, it was no more than a whimper. “Kylie. I need you.”

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TOO CLOSE TO TOUCH

“Are you sur—” Kylie was unable to complete the sentence before Gretchen’s mouth covered hers.

Gretchen’s grip on her chin tightened, then her hand slid around to the back of Kylie’s head as she pushed forward, holding Kylie’s mouth to hers, the kiss moving from gentle and tentative to demanding in a matter of mere seconds.

Live life.

The words sounded in Gretchen’s head and she surged harder into Kylie, pushing her onto her back and groaning at the feel of the warm bare skin beneath her.
God. So soft.
She forced herself to slow down, wanting to savor every single second. Kylie’s belly quivered as Gretchen ran her palm over it. Then Kylie’s Þ ngers dug into Gretchen’s mass of dark curls, pulling her closer as she deepened the kiss, her tongue pushing, delving for more. Gretchen grasped at Kylie’s hip, feeling the hindrance of the shorts and pulling at them.

“Off,” she muttered, yanking at the fabric.

Obediently, Kylie lifted her hips off the bed and allowed Gretchen to pull her shorts and panties free. They joined her T-shirt in a heap on the ß oor.

Gretchen balanced herself on her forearm above Kylie and stared, allowing her eyes to travel down the length of the naked body beneath her. The beauty of this woman made a lump form in her throat and tears to spring into her eyes. She swept her gaze back up until crystal blue eyes intercepted her own, studying her intently, darkened with desire but still tinted with worry.

Gretchen smiled at her to alleviate any concern. “You are so beautiful,” she said reverently, with disbelief, and ran her hand slowly up Kylie’s thigh, her hip, her side, and gently cupped one breast.

She stroked the softness of it with the tips of her Þ ngers, measured the surprising heft of it in her palm, and ran her thumb over the nipple, watching it tighten under her touch, feeling Kylie’s breath hitch just a little. She repeated the move and felt Kylie squirm beneath her. The third time, she watched Kylie’s face and a surge of wetness dampened her panties as she witnessed Kylie bite down on her bottom lip and her eyes drift closed. Gretchen dipped her head and ran the ß at of her tongue over the same now-hardened nipple.

“Oh, my God,” Kylie rasped as her body arched.

Loving the reaction, Gretchen licked the other nipple just as slowly and gently as the Þ rst. Kylie groaned and the Þ ngers she’d tangled in

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GEORGIA BEERS

Gretchen’s hair closed into a Þ st. For Gretchen, the almost-pain of her grip only ratcheted the excitement upward.

Shifting her position, Gretchen settled herself fully upon Kylie, nestling her hips between Kylie’s legs, her weight mostly on her own forearms. The warm, silky wetness that slid along her abdomen between her short tank and the top of her pants was not lost on her as she looked down into Kylie’s ß ushed face.

This is life. This woman
is
life.

She kissed Kylie’s mouth thoroughly and seductively, then moved lower and set to work bathing Kylie’s breasts unhurriedly with her tongue. First one, then the other, then back, she worshipped the velvety skin, the pebbled areola, and the hardened nipples, taking her time as if she had forever and a day.

Kylie squirmed, arched, and groaned below her, squeezing her eyes shut and groping blindly for the headboard until she located one wooden spindle and wrapped her Þ ngers around it. She’d never been so aroused in her life, and Gretchen had barely touched anywhere below her belly.

Gretchen sucked one nipple into her mouth, ß icking it with her tongue and then raking her teeth across it, coaxing a whimper from Kylie. She knew immediately that she could spend the entire night doing just what she was doing, but there was so much more to touch, to feel, to taste. She ran her tongue off Kylie’s breast and along her side, following up the arm that was extended over Kylie’s head to the elbow, leaving a hot, wet trail. The stretch made her pelvis push into Kylie’s center.

Kylie gasped. “Oh, God. You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

Gretchen didn’t answer. Rather, she brought her mouth crashing down onto Kylie’s and at that moment, she was the only important thing in the world, this woman beneath her. Even as Gretchen sank into the kiss, even as she let her hands drift and roam and explore the gloriousness of the body she ravaged, she knew in the back of her mind that something was different. Something big. She’d had a lot of sex in her day…a
lot
of sex. And with the exception of Diana so long ago, that’s all it ever was: sex. Release. Satisfaction. But this was different.

Kylie was different.

Gretchen focused every iota of concentration and energy she possessed on Kylie. At that moment, her sole purpose in life was to make Kylie feel beautiful, wanted, and loved.

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TOO CLOSE TO TOUCH

Kylie pulled at Gretchen’s tank top, but Gretchen caught her wrist, muttering, “Later,” through their kisses. Her Þ ngers moved lower and sank into the wet warmth that awaited her between Kylie’s legs. Kylie inhaled sharply, hissing Gretchen’s name and inclining her hips, silently asking for more.

Gretchen focused on keeping her movements slow and even, but she knew Kylie didn’t have long.
Let’s just get this Þ rst one out
of the way,
she thought, her anticipation almost too much to bear. She kissed Kylie again as she slipped her Þ ngers inside, stroking Þ rmly, rhythmically, her thumb moving against the swollen ß esh beneath it.

In a matter of seconds, Kylie wrenched her mouth from Gretchen’s and threw her head back into the pillow, a long, low groan issuing from deep in her throat. Gretchen watched in awe as she kept the movements of her hand steady, stunned by Kylie’s beauty and how it made her feel.

She slowed her rhythm in time with Kylie’s breathing until Kylie clasped her wrist and stopped her altogether. Gretchen gently withdrew her Þ ngers. Kylie’s inner walls were still twitching periodically.

“My God,” Kylie whispered, her hand over her eyes.

Gretchen smiled widely, her main realization that she wanted more. She wanted to give more. She wanted to take more. She was far from Þ nished with this woman. She
never
wanted to be Þ nished with this woman. Lowering her head, she tenderly licked at Kylie’s nipple until it tightened obediently and Kylie whimpered.

“Gretchen…wait…oh, my God.” Kylie was astonished to feel yet another rush of wetness between her thighs as Gretchen gently bit down on her oversensitive breast. She’d barely had time to catch her breath and Gretchen was cranking up the heat again. Very successfully.

Gretchen couldn’t get enough. She wanted to taste every single inch of skin that covered Kylie’s body, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes and everything in between. The salty sweetness of her was intoxicating and Gretchen felt like a drunk in a liquor store as she licked, nipped, and savored. The combination of Kylie writhing beneath her, grasping at her, and moaning made Gretchen feel like she might spontaneously combust from her own Þ ery arousal. Her cotton pants were soaked through, the crotch stuck to her, but she didn’t want to leave Kylie’s body even long enough to shed her own clothing.

She tasted her way down Kylie’s torso, taking a split second here

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GEORGIA BEERS

and there to glance up at the object of her worship. Kylie was completely at her mercy, one hand over her head and seemingly fused to the wooden spindle of the headboard, the other tangled in Gretchen’s hair. Her head was thrown back into the pillow, exposing her long, elegant throat, and just for a moment, Gretchen contemplated going back upward speciÞ cally to lick that sexy column of ß esh. She continued her path down, though, her desire to know what Kylie truly tasted like winning out. She settled herself between Kylie’s legs, and with a hand on each thigh, she pushed them farther apart.

“Spread your legs for me, Kylie.” The tone of the command was so low, she barely recognized her own voice.

Kylie did as she was told, quickly opening herself as far as she could, her rapid breathing giving away her impatience. Gretchen closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the musky scent of Kylie’s arousal causing her mouth to water. She slipped her hands under Kylie’s backside and around to her hips where Kylie let go of Gretchen’s hair and instead, grasped her wrist and held tightly. Gretchen rubbed her cheek against the baby-smooth skin of the inside of Kylie’s thigh, reveling in the joy such a simple sensation could bring her. She repeated the same movement on the other thigh, going back and forth until she could wait no longer. She stroked her tongue along the satiny wet skin between Kylie’s legs, the taste of her making Gretchen moan in tandem with Kylie’s cry.

Kylie shifted, trying to push herself more Þ rmly into Gretchen’s mouth, but Gretchen held fast with her hands on Kylie’s hips, determined to set the pace. She had no intention of teasing Kylie yet, but she didn’t want to rush either. She took her time, exploring every fold, every hidden crevice and each different spot that caused Kylie to twitch, melt, or groan. She made mental notes, cataloging what reaction each touch inspired, what Kylie seemed to like most, when the contact was too Þ rm and when it was not Þ rm enough. Such research could become her life’s work and Gretchen would die a happy woman. She knew that with all her heart and she suddenly felt it welling up from within her…a phrase so foreign and unfamiliar it nearly choked her with its accuracy.

I’m home.

At that very moment, Kylie came violently, arching up off the bed as her hand left Gretchen’s arm and instead clamped the back of Gretchen’s head, holding her in place. Gretchen’s eyes looked up the

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TOO CLOSE TO TOUCH

length of Kylie’s body and watched her orgasm, then slowly relax, and the overwhelming splendor of what she saw made her emotions surge higher. As Kylie’s hand slipped away from Gretchen’s head, Gretchen’s chest Þ lled with warmth, a feeling completely unfamiliar to her. Before she had time to analyze what was happening, a sob ripped up through her and tore its way from her throat. She climbed up to her knees, her hands on either side of Kylie’s waist, and was unable to stop the tears.

“Gretchen?” Kylie blinked, her breathing still ragged. “Honey?

What is it?”

Gretchen was horriÞ ed by her own weeping and she clamped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to control herself.