Janice hung from her, limp and clinging like a woman drunk on desire. Drunk on Carla Sims. The distant sound of fireworks boomed in the night, as if in sync with her madly beating heart.
“I want it. I want you.”
Janice saw her words penetrate. Carla’s body tensed and her jaw flushed with a tinge of red just before it flexed. Her eyes however, her eyes softened with what could only be heartfelt emotion.
This woman really cares for me.
How could I have not seen it?
Why have I been so afraid?
“You’re sure?” Carla continued, her voice now strained and raspy, as if what she was saying truly affected her. “Because if we continue and I—if we do what it is I’ve been dying to do with you, to you—everything will change. Everything. There won’t be any going back.”
Janice let go of her shirt and reached up to her own face where Carla was holding her and rested her hand on Carla’s.
“I only want to go forward. With you.”
Carla closed her eyes. And when she opened them they were glistening with tears.
“Are you okay?” Janice felt emotion tighten her throat as well. Carla merely smiled.
“Yes. And you’re about to see just how okay I really am.” She lowered her hands and cupped Janice’s ass and lifted her in one quick motion. Janice wrapped her arms and legs tightly around her, so turned on she feared she might climax from the firm press of Carla’s body between her legs alone.
“Where are we going?” Janice asked, already hungrily massaging her fingers into Carla’s hair at the base of her skull.
Carla spun and continued through the living room.
“To the place I’ve dreamt about taking you for far too long now.”
“Where’s that?”
“Your bed.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Carla set Janice down gently on the end of the bed. Then she stroked her face with her thumbs, dipped in for a long, sweet, soft kiss, and straightened. Janice grabbed her hand as she started to pull away.
“Where are you going?”
“Not far.”
She released her hand and turned and left the room. She entered Janice’s study and turned on the stereo, finding Janice’s seductive sounding playlist she’d come to enjoy. The music came to life and she adjusted the volume, already feeling stirred by the erotic beats. Satisfied, she crossed back into Janice’s room and found her leaning back on her hands, with her beautiful legs crossed, watching and waiting with an obvious sensual curiosity. The quiet confidence she now exuded sent fluttering, aimless butterflies free inside Carla and she realized she hadn’t been nervous with a woman in years. Surprisingly, the nervousness only excited her and made her more attuned to the moment and the incredible night she was about to share with this incredible woman.
She lit the thick candle on the dresser and watched the flame envelop the wick just as she’d watched the flame dance against the angles of Janice’s face not that long ago. Then she rounded the bed to the nightstand where she unplugged the house phone and extinguished the light. She didn’t want anything disturbing them. And if she could have, she would’ve taken Janice thousands of miles away to nowhere just to ensure she could spend the next few hours with her alone. But as things stood, this was the best she could do.
She returned to Janice and lost her breath at the sight of her on that big, beautiful bed, waiting for her as the candlelight hungrily moved along her body. Carla held out her hand and helped her stand. She touched her face, and Janice, too, lost her breath as they stared into each other’s eyes.
“I’m going to go slow, okay?” Carla said. “So, if I do anything you don’t like, or you feel uncomfortable in any way—”
“Carla.” Janice shushed her with a finger pressed to her mouth. “Please, stop.”
Janice lowered her finger and slowly ran it down the column of Carla’s neck as she spoke.
“I want you to do whatever you want.”
“But I want to be sure—”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m already sure, Carla. And I’m already pretty sure I’m going to like everything you have in store for me.” The corner of her mouth lifted in that coy, playful manner of hers. It immediately stoked the growing fire of Carla’s libido. “So, please,” Janice said softly as she wrapped her arms around Carla’s neck once again. “Just shut up and make love to me.”
Carla was incredulous, never having experienced such desire from a woman’s demand.
Just shut up and make love to me.
She wanted to close her eyes to savor not only the words, but the sight of Janice standing before her, beckoning. But she couldn’t bear to look away. The moment felt too surreal. It meant too much. She had to take it all in. Every last bit of it.
Carla eased her fingers into Janice’s hair at the nape of her neck and pulled her closer. She looked into her eyes for as long as she could before her longing to kiss her sweet lips once again won out. She inched into her slowly, hoping for that ability to savor. But once she felt her hot mouth on hers, she completely lost it. The universe itself was quickly thrown to the wayside as they kissed, expressing everything they felt about one another with a hunger they’d had to endure day after torturous day. Now they could feast. And feast they did. Only breaking for quick half seconds to garner breath before delving back in. Janice had come alive in her arms and her strength and aggression were as surprising as they were arousing. When she wasn’t knotting her hands in Carla’s hair, she was clinging and clawing at her back like she couldn’t enough of her. And when Carla sucked on her lower lip and Janice responded by taking hers with her teeth, Carla groaned and forced herself to pull away.
“Janice—you—” she panted. “Oh my God, I’ve never wanted anyone so badly.”
“Me neither.” She twisted a handful of Carla’s shirt at her abdomen. “I’m so turned on I can’t hardly stand. Is this—how it feels? How real desire for another feels?”
Carla absently fingered her lip. It was still tingling from Janice’s sensual nibble.
“Yes, Janice. It is. When it’s right. But the way I’m feeling now, with you, I’m beginning to wonder if anyone I’ve ever been with before was right. Because even I’m embarking on new territory here.”
“But at least you got to feel, to experience. I’ve been sleepwalking through life, not having met anyone who could do this to me. And then, there was you. Right in front of me. All along. You announced that you were gay and my whole world tilted. You woke me up, Carla. And I haven’t been able to get you off my mind since. Now I know why. I want you, Carla Sims. I fucking want you.”
Carla slowly helped Janice release the grip on her shirt. Then she reached for the hem of Janice’s halter top and eased it up and over her head. She stood there in her white bra, chest heaving with excited breath, her eyes burning wild. Carla ran her fingers along her collarbone and slipped them under the straps of the bra to lower them from her shoulders. She bent and kissed her there, lightly, softly, where the straps had been and Janice took in tiny, audible gasps of air.
Carla kissed her way down her chest and paused to graze the back of her fingers across her covered nipples. Janice shook and then she cried out softly when Carla covered her erect nipples with her mouth and plied them with kisses through the fabric.