“You’re so beautiful,” Tory moaned. Lifting herself from Reese’s mouth, she twisted and turned, settling once again on top of her lover, this time with her face against Reese’s thigh. Desperately she begged, “Come with me?”

“Yess.”

Then Tory parted the engorged tissues with trembling fingers, entering deeply at the same time as she enclosed Reese’s clitoris with her lips. Reese jerked and cried out sharply before she took Tory once again.

Boundaries and borders disappeared as their flesh became one, passion a raging flood overflowing the restraints of their desire. They held to one another, dangling on the precipice of surrender, until Tory pulled her face away with a sharp gasp.

“I’m…ready. Have…to come.”

“Yes, love,” Reese echoed tightly, before drawing Tory in even more deeply.

Tory pressed her lips to Reese’s quivering clitoris and trembled as they exploded in unison. Reese held her as she bucked and shook, letting her soar, all the while keeping her safe.

When she gently floated back to earth, Tory found herself once again cradled in Reese’s arms, her head tucked securely beneath Reese’s chin. She had no idea when she had moved. Reese’s chest heaved with the last vestiges of release, her heart a hammer beneath Tory’s cheek.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Tory questioned softly.

“Hell, yes.” Reese laughed shortly, a sound very nearly a sob. “I think I’m still coming.”

“Mmm,” Tory murmured throatily, her fingers drifting lower. “Go again?”

“No way.” Reese grabbed her wrist, stilling her motion. “I’ll jump right out of my skin. You’re too good. Criminally good.”

“So arrest me, Sheriff,” Tory muttered as she slipped into sleep, her hand clasped in Reese’s.

“Don’t worry,” Reese whispered, pressing her lips to the top of Tory’s head. “I’m don’t plan on letting you go.”

She had worked hard all night not to acknowledge the faint note of caution in Wendy Deutsch’s voice when she’d mentioned Tory’s blood pressure elevation that afternoon. But the echo the doctor’s words had been there all the time in the back of her mind, a subtle almost intangible warning, like shifting shadows in the mist on night patrol. A good marine learned to heed those silent warnings, because the price of ignoring them was losing the skirmish, or worse. Reese stroked Tory’s back, her own breath nearly still in her chest.

You are everything. Everything.

CHAPTER TWENTY

March, Manhattan, NYC

It was after 11:00 on Friday night when Caroline walked into the apartment. She gave a small cry of surprise when she saw the familiar figure sprawled on the couch. “Bri! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

Bri stood, shaking the fog from an unplanned nap from her head. It was warm in the apartment, and she’d just closed her eyes for a second. She’d hit the road after her last class and ridden straight through, not even stopping to eat. “I knew it would take me most of the evening to get here, and I figured if you had plans…”

She shrugged and stuffed her hands into her pockets. She’d never made it down the weekend they’d had the fight, because Reese had been sick, and she’d spent all her free time at the hospital. Then she had classes to make up. Every time she called, Carre wasn’t in. If her girlfriend had called back, she’d never gotten a message. Finally, when the distance stretched into an ache that consumed her days, she’d just decided to come.

“And you thought I’d rather be out doing something else when I could have been waiting here for you?” Caroline shook her head and deposited her portfolio and other things on a small bookcase inside the door. “Do you think I’d want to miss a minute when we could be together?”

“You were mad at me,” Bri said hoarsely, still not moving. “I’m sorry for what I said about… James.”

Caroline came around the couch and went to Bri, slipping both arms around her shoulders and pressing close. With her lips against Bri’s neck, she murmured, “You’re such an idiot sometimes. How could you think that for a second?”

“I don’t know,” Bri whispered, resting her cheek on top of Carre’s head. “The longer I’m away from you, the more confused I get. Things don’t make sense when we’re apart.”

“Then come home,” Caroline said desperately. “Please come back. I’m so lonely without you.”

“I can’t come back now,” Bri explained almost pleadingly, pulling Carre close. “I’ll be through the Academy in a few months. I have to finish. Even if I came back, you’ll be…leaving…in just a couple more months. I’d go crazy here next year without you.”

“Oh, baby, I know. I know.” Caroline smoothed her hands up and down Bri’s back, turning her face to kiss Bri’s neck, the sharp line of her jaw, the corner of her mouth.

Shaking, Bri stifled a cry and found Carre’s lips, aroused and tentative at the same time. She’d never been afraid of the wanting before, because Carre had always been there to soothe her hunger with a sure touch and certain heart. Now, away from her, the wanting was a torment that haunted her day and night. Desire had transformed into loneliness, and it left her aching as if lost.

“Bri?” Caroline questioned softly as she drew her head back to search her lover’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just missed you.”

Sensing Bri’s hesitancy, Caroline stepped away. At the look of panic that flickered briefly in Bri’s eyes, to be just as quickly extinguished, she smiled softly. “Just stand there for a second.”

Then she turned and quickly pulled open the sofa bed and smoothed back the sheets. Extending her hand, she said, “Come here.”

By the side of the bed, Caroline gently pulled Bri’s T-shirt from her jeans and lifted it over her arms and off. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and brought both hands to the buttons on Bri’s jeans. When Bri reached to help, Caroline brushed her hands away. “No.”

In another minute, Bri was naked, trembling in a way she could never recall…her skin hot and cold at the same time, her muscles so tight she felt as if she would snap, and yet so weak, she could barely stand. “Carre,” she said hoarsely. “What are you doing?”

Caroline looked up, her ocean-green eyes fathoms deep. “I’m reminding you of us.”

When Caroline tugged her down, Bri followed, helpless to resist. Uncharacteristically passive, she stretched out on her back as Caroline leaned over her. When the blond head lowered over her chest and soft lips captured her nipple, she arched upward with a startled cry. She brought trembling hands to Caroline’s hair and stroked the soft strands, urgently needing an anchor, feeling as if she might fly apart. Caroline had her palm pressed to Bri’s tense stomach, and when Bri tried to rise, needing the familiar feel of her lover beneath her, Caroline lifted her head and said swiftly, “No.”

For a heartbeat, Bri resisted, but then the hand slipped lower, cupping her possessively between her thighs, and she fell back with a strangled groan. Her head was suddenly light; her heart pounded so hard it was pulsing visibly between her ribs. Her hands lay open, palms up by her side, as her friend, her lover, her heart, lay claim to what was hers, stroking every inch of Bri’s flesh until she quivered uncontrollably.

“This is where you belong, you know,” Caroline gasped at some point. “With me.”

And Bri could only moan in response. When she didn’t think she could stand it any longer, she pushed up on her elbows and looked the length of her body. Carre’s cheek lay against her stomach; she stroked her fingers between Bri’s legs, touching her teasingly for a few seconds and then moving away, measuring out her torture to the beat of Bri’s strangled breathing and the rhythm of her twitching muscles.

“Make me yours,” Bri whispered as she rested her fingers beseechingly against Carre’s head and pressed, urging her lower. For a heart stopping instant, she thought Carey would resist, but then in one fluid motion the blond head dipped and a warm mouth enclosed her. Bri jerked and cried out, her bones dissolving. She fell back, strength failing as pleasure shot through her. She was hard to the point of bursting, and Carre’s lips were so soft as they licked and tugged at her swollen flesh. The brush of a tongue along the length of her clitoris nearly made her head explode.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah.”

Caroline looked up, a satisfied smile on her face. Her voice was like velvet as she purred, “Remember me?”

“Jesus, don’t quit,” Bri gasped. “I’m gonna come any second.”

“Really?” Caroline’s tone was ingenuous as she slipped fingers inside her.

Bri arched off the bed, thigh muscles straining, her breath tearing from her on a hoarse cry. “Oh, please. Please…”

A wave of near painful pleasure swept through Caroline at the sound of Bri’s need, and she lowered her head to capture her clitoris with her mouth. Gently, prolonging the moment, she merely held her between her lips, not moving until she felt the sudden swelling all along the shaft. Then, she sucked gently, urging the orgasm to unfold and engulf her lover in one continuous, rolling surge of release. Bri sobbed her name. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard.

Bri didn’t return to awareness until she felt Caroline, naked now, stretched out on top of her, moving in the familiar rhythm of desire. Caroline’s face was pressed to her neck, her skin slick with urgency, her breath little more than faint broken cries. She felt the wet heat as her lover rocked frantically the length of her thigh. Bri barely had the strength to do more than wrap her arms around her, but she clasped her lover’s hips, adding to the pressure that would bring Carre off.

“Babe, babe,” Bri whispered. “I love you.”

Caroline’s only response was a choked sob.