Part 26 (1/2)

”I know it might seem the smarter thing to do. On paper, we're not the best match, but...” Jori wondered how to explain the need Sawyer inspired. She knew all of the reasons they shouldn't be together, many of them relating to her own family history. ”Haven't you ever met someone and felt as if you really have no choice about whether to be with them? Like everything in you clamors to be near them, regardless of what the outcome might be?”

”Even if the inevitable outcome is heartache?”

Jori considered the question. Would she trade the feeling of being in Sawyer's arms for the guarantee of an even keel emotionally? ”Even then.”

Erica s.h.i.+fted forward in the chair, rocking Taylor when she stirred. She gazed at her daughter with the unconditional love of a devoted parent, the kind Jori had never known. And she wondered if Erica had fi nally found something that meant more to her than Drake's.

Sawyer stretched out next to Jori on the bed and raised up on her elbow, then dipped a spoon into a bowl on the nightstand.

”I've wanted to do this since the fi rst day we met.”

* 212 *

”Really?” Jori smiled as Sawyer drew the spoon across her bare stomach, leaving a trail of melted chocolate.

Sawyer bent and dragged her tongue along the line. ”Mmm, it's so much better when it's homemade.”

”Ah, no bottled syrup for my girl,” Jori said with a groan as Sawyer licked her skin again.

”I'm just glad you didn't let the boys eat it all.”

Taking Sawyer's face in her hands, Jori pulled her close for a kiss. Their stomachs rubbed together, smearing the chocolate between them. ”You taste good.”

”So do you,” Sawyer murmured, biting Jori's jaw.

”But I haven't had any chocolate.”

”Then it's all you, isn't it?”

Sawyer traced the spoon across Jori's throat, then followed it with her tongue, feeling Jori's pulse beat heavily against her mouth.

”Hey, no marks,” Jori said when Sawyer sucked the syrup from the side of her neck. ”I don't need to explain hickeys to the guys in the kitchen.” She rolled Sawyer onto her back and trailed her hand across her stomach. ”You're a mess.”

Sawyer smiled and caught Jori's wrist. She licked her chocolate-covered fi ngers clean, watched Jori's eyelids fl utter, and heard her soft gasp. ”I can't get enough.”

”I'd be fl attered if I wasn't convinced you were talking about the chocolate.”

Sawyer coated another of Jori's fi ngers, then dragged her tongue along it. ”Well, then it's lucky for me that you go great with chocolate.” Sawyer emphasized her words by covering one of Jori's nipples with sauce. ”Mmm, chocolate-covered nipple.

My favorite.”

Jori's laughter turned into a moan as Sawyer drew the nipple into her mouth. ”Oh, that's nice. Bite it.”

Sawyer closed her teeth on the sweet-fl avored fl esh and felt a surge of heat low in her belly as Jori's back bowed off the bed.

She never tired of the rush that giving Jori pleasure brought, of * 213 *

feeling as if she were being let in on a secret when she watched Jori's reservation fall away while her o.r.g.a.s.m spiraled through her.

”Can you come like this?” she whispered against Jori's breast.

”I wouldn't have thought so.” Jori's voice was husky. ”But, ah-G.o.d, maybe.” Sawyer sucked her nipple, hard, until the muscles of Jori's abdomen and thighs hardened and Jori dug her fi ngers into Sawyer's biceps. Then she eased back, licking it lightly.

”Do you want to?”

”Yes.” Jori's coiled body, so close to release, protested the sudden lack of pressure.

”How bad?”

”Sawyer, please.” Jori clung to Sawyer, every nerve ending seeming to scream for stimulation.

Sawyer slipped her fi ngers down Jori's stomach, and Jori s.h.i.+vered beneath them. ”I could spend hours touching you.”

She gripped Sawyer's wrist and guided her hand down.

”Then touch me.”

Sawyer sifted lightly through the downy hair and barely pressed into her folds and grazed her c.l.i.toris.

”G.o.d, please, Sawyer. More.”

Sawyer kept her eyes on Jori's face and Jori c.o.c.ked her head to study her, resisting the urge to tug the wrist she still held and force Sawyer's fi ngers deeper. She could tell by the trembling in Sawyer's arm that she was fi ghting a similar impulse. Sawyer was teasing them both, and Jori wondered if Sawyer enjoyed it as much as she did.

”Do you like it when I beg?”

Sawyer gasped and couldn't hide her surprise at Jori's boldly spoken words. ”Yes.”

Jori smiled and lifted her hips, nudging Sawyer's hand. She wrapped a hand around the back of Sawyer's neck, pulled her head down, and pressed her mouth against Sawyer's ear. She bit * 214 *

Sawyer's earlobe and felt the answering twitch in the fi ngers that still rested against her throbbing center.

”Does it excite you to know how much I want you inside me?” she whispered hotly in Sawyer's ear.

”Jesus, yes,” Sawyer gasped.

The hoa.r.s.e excitement in Jori's voice ripped through Sawyer, frying the connection between her brain and body and leaving her completely at the mercy of her senses. She was aware only of the feel of Jori squeezing around her as her fi ngers, seemingly of their own accord, slid inside-of the taste of Jori's mouth when she took it again, roughly-and of the scent of chocolate and s.e.x as Jori rode her fi ngers toward o.r.g.a.s.m.

”You should have let me shower with you,” Sawyer said, staring hotly at Jori across the bed.

Jori laughed. ”Uh-uh. I know what would've happened.”

”I would have behaved. If you'd asked me nicely.”

”Somehow I doubt it.” Jori pulled back the clean sheet she'd put on the bed while Sawyer had fi nished her shower.

Amus.e.m.e.nt sparkling in her eyes, Sawyer blatantly trailed her gaze down Jori's body then back to meet Jori's. ”You're probably right. I don't know that I can resist you when you're wet and naked.”