Sun Catcher - Book Two Page 11

  Their kiss was slow and languid as if they were relishing each other. Taylor ran her tongue up the beautiful indent under Jericho’s lip. She felt her smile, warm and misty against her mouth.

  “I sure like kissing you,” she whispered. She opened her eyes and looked into the soft blue in front of her.

  “You have a beautiful mouth,” Jericho whispered back. “I can’t stop kissing it.”

  Max giggled and smacked his messy fingers along Taylor’s face as he reached up to her.

  Taylor smiled down at him. “You want a kiss too, baby?” she said. She bent her head and gave his little forehead a kiss. She smelled his little warm head and breathed it all in. “Mmm, everything is just so nice here,” she said softly. She looked down at them, a mess of arms and legs, with plates of food balanced around them and Max in the center of it all. So warm and loving, so calm and safe. Taylor sighed.

  “What are you thinking about?” Jericho asked.

  Taylor looked into her eyes. “I was just thinking of how different things were for us this time last year.”

  Jericho studied her face as she stroked her fingers. “Not so good?”

  “No, not so good,” Taylor said softly. She looked around, at the green grass, at the big house, at the little blanket that they were all perched on. “It’s funny what starts feeling normal until the minute you get back to what normal really is.” She pulled a piece of grass from Max’s plate and tossed it away. She smiled up at Jericho again.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Taylor tried to relax but her body felt consumed by anticipation. They lay on the queen-sized mattress on the floor of the spare bedroom. The blackout curtains were pulled against the evening sun. Max kept trying to crawl to the door saying, “Jay Jay,” as he went.

  “Come lie down with me, little man,” Taylor said softly to him. She corralled him back once again. He lay his head down and played with his fingers. Eventually, he settled.

  She sang him the lullaby that her mother sang to her when she was young. She smoothed his hair and kissed his little head until she felt him drift off. She knew it was best to wait until his breath settled before she moved out from behind him. She felt nervous. She could hear the sounds of dishes and water running in the kitchen below. She tried to imagine what Jericho might be thinking. All the tension and teasing of the afternoon had led them to that moment, with her lying upstairs on the spare bed and her son sleeping soundly beside her. It had all begun to feel very serious and real.

  Kissing Jericho had been something else. The whole day had felt like one big kiss. Taylor never thought she’d be where she was, about to open herself up to someone she’d just met. But something felt so natural about it all - as if kissing the woman at the top of the hill could’ve happened on any day.

  Taylor wondered if she was being reckless but then reminded herself that nothing was more reckless than the life she’d run away from. In that big old house with its big stone walls - it felt like the darkness she’d known couldn’t get into that kind of place. She decided that whatever was about to happen was something that had to happen for her own sanity. She would see it through, even if it was just for one night.

  She rose from the bed and looked down at her son. He was the measure of her life now. His comfort, his safety, and happiness were everything. She stacked a few pillows around him and gave his little head a kiss. Then she crept silently out of the room.

  She went into the bathroom down the hall, stopping first at the entrance to Jericho’s big bedroom. The evening sun illuminated everything. The French doors were open and a gentle breeze ruffled the open curtains. The air smelled sweet like fresh cut grass and Jericho herself. Taylor pulled her phone from her bag and stepped into the bathroom. It was time to call her mother.

  “You on your way?” Lucinda answered.

  “Um ... I’m going to spend the night,” Taylor said. She scrunched up her face anticipating her mother’s response.

  It took a few long seconds to come. “You’re having a sleepover, is that what I’m hearing?”

  “Yes, mama. I’m staying here tonight.”

  “What about Max?”

  “He’s already asleep in the spare room. He’s happy and safe.”

  Her mother began to chuckle.

  “What?” Taylor asked.

  “You bein’ a lesbian, that’s what!”

  “Oh hush,” Taylor grinned.

  “Call me in the morning if you need me to pick you up.”

  “I will. You okay?”

  “Me? ‘Course I’m okay. First night I’ve had to myself in a year. I’ve got my feet up, I’m watching a movie, got a cold beer in my hand. What more could a woman want?”

  Taylor smiled. “I love you, mama. I’ll call you in the morning.”

  “G’night, baby girl.”

  Taylor walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Jericho stood at the sink with her back turned and didn’t hear her come in.

  Taylor watched her move, the way her strong back and arms flexed as she scrubbed a dirty pan clean. She let her eyes drift over the curve in her pants and then down her legs. She’d rarely sized up a woman in such a way, rarely let her eyes linger on the physical shapes under the clothing. But Jericho’s body was beautiful. Strong and beautiful. Her arms ... Something about them made Taylor want to slide her fingers down them right then. But she held herself back and kept watching. After a few moments, Jericho turned and noticed her standing there.

  She turned off the tap. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” Taylor said.

  “Did he go down okay?”

  Taylor could tell from her eyes that she was a little nervous too. She nodded.

  “And ... did you call your mom?”

  “I did,” Taylor said and then she smiled.

  Jericho smiled too. “What did she say?”

  Taylor shook her head. “She likes to tease me. But I think she expected it.”

  She crossed the room. They stood in front of each other for a few moments and then Jericho wrapped her arms around Taylor’s waist.

  “My mama and me are way past having to explain ourselves,” Taylor said. “We’re just keeping on as best as we can.”

  Jericho looked into her eyes. “I get the feeling there’s a big story behind you two,” she whispered. “I’m not going to ask even though I want to.”

  Taylor took a few steps backward, leaving Jericho with her back against the counter. “Let’s not think about that.”

  Jericho nodded. “Okay.”

  Taylor reached out her hand. “I want to try out that hammock of yours. Think both of us can fit?”

  Jericho clasped her fingers. “If you don’t mind getting a little close.”

  Taylor gave her hand a pull. “That’s exactly what I was hoping for.”

  The last of the evening sun cast the yard in warm hues of yellow and gold. The birds were back, playing hide and seek in the boxwood hedge that ran around the yard. It all felt magical.

  “Do you ever get people just wandering in here?” Taylor asked.

  “I can’t say for sure when I’m away but ... I think most folks respect that this is private property. It’s one of the reasons I leave my car out front.”

  Jericho watched her as they slowly walked barefoot through the grass. Taylor looked down at their hands clasped together. It was a comfortable feeling. Even the nerves she knew were the good kind. Whatever was about to happen, however long it lasted, she didn’t want to rush it, even though it had been trying to rush itself all afternoon.

  The hammock was a little woven nest slung between two trees.

  “We planted these trees when we were kids,” Jericho said as she looked up into the boughs above them. Jericho belonged to the landscape so much that even the trees had grown up with her. Taylor felt a deep longing for that kind of history, to have roots in something meaningful. She wanted that so much for her son. “You get in first,” she said. She wanted to see Jericho lying in the fading light.

 
Jericho sat on the edge and swung her legs up. She held out her arms. “Come.”

  Taylor climbed in and at once they became a tangle of limbs and twisted clothing. They faced each other, more or less. Jericho’s lips had settled into a sweet smile. Her eyes shone with the newness of their touch.

  “Comfortable?” she asked softly.

  “Yes,” Taylor said. She ran her fingers up Jericho’s arm and traced the lines of muscles that wound up and under her shirt. “I was watching you in the kitchen.”

  “I could feel you standing there,” Jericho said.

  Taylor smiled. “You could?”

  Jericho ran her fingers down Taylor’s and a little trail of goosebumps followed. “I was hoping you’d come over and -”

  “Help you do the dishes?” Taylor grinned.

  Jericho shook her head. “No. I was hoping you’d let me taste your lips again.” Her eyes drifted down to Taylor’s mouth.

  The little butterflies in Taylor’s stomach started doing bigger circles. “You can taste them as much as you want,” she whispered.

  Jericho shifted her body so she was propped on one elbow. There was nothing left to say that couldn’t be said with their lips. Jericho brought her mouth down.

  Taylor closed her eyes and let the kiss envelop her, slowly and as unrelenting as the darkness consumed the day. It warmed her face and traveled down her neck. It teased her jaw with soft bites and breathed warm, misty air against her ears. It moved its way down her chest, zig-zagging lower and lower until it reached the edge of her cotton dress. And when it paused there and Jericho lifted her questioning eyes, Taylor gripped onto the back of her head and gently guided her lower. Jericho peeled back the cotton with her fingers and let her mouth continue its trail down the soft skin above the curve of her breasts. Jericho’s eyes flashed upward again.

  “That’s nice,” Taylor whispered and coiled her fingers through her hair.

  Jericho resumed her journey. Taylor tipped her head back and closed her eyes. It was all so gentle, so restrained. She smiled to herself imagining where it would lead. She could feel it in Jericho’s body - tension, like the firing of pistons propelling them forward, mounting in intensity with every inch she moved. When Taylor opened her eyes, Jericho’s shot up. They were dark, her face was flushed, her lips were thick and red. Taylor gripped the muscles of her thigh and felt her thigh press back.

  The hammock was keeping things from moving too fast but Taylor didn’t mind. Moments rarely moved slow enough to savor. Being touched with such purpose, made it feel like the layers were being slowly peeled away. She ran her fingers through Jericho’s soft hair again.

  “Is this okay?” Jericho asked.

  Taylor nodded and stroked her finger along her jaw. “I’m not delicate.”

  Jericho smiled and kissed her chest again. “I just wasn’t sure whether …” her eyes dropped to Taylor’s breasts. “Maybe you’re still feeding Max.”

  Taylor propped her head up with her arm behind her and smiled down at her. “No. We had to stop that last winter.”

  Jericho nodded as she looked down at her breasts again.

  “They’re all yours,” Taylor whispered. “If you want them.” She hoped very much that she did. She hoped Jericho would begin to show her what she was really made of. She slid her hand down the seat of Jericho’s pants and pulled her tight. “Let me feel your mouth,” she whispered.

  Jericho pulled back her dress and the cup of her bra. She ran her tongue from the bottom of her curve up to her nipple and then pulled it between her lips.

  “That looks nice,” Taylor sighed.

  Jericho’s eyes watched her as her tongue rolled and played over her nipple, pushing against it, pulling and sucking it in until it stood perched in the air between them.

  “More,” Taylor moaned. She let her body roll against her mouth and felt the roll transfer to their hips. The hammock swung and bobbed in curious time. Jericho’s fingers gripped her tighter.

  “You like that?” Taylor breathed.

  Jericho’s eyes met hers again. She nodded while she pulled the nipple between her lips and moaned again. She liked it a lot, Taylor could tell.

  Watching her like it made it that much more arousing. She had beautiful lips. Her eyes were soft and dreamy like she’d been transported to another world by doing what she was doing. Taylor watched her move and listened to the soft sounds of her mouth. She felt the tension in Jericho’s body pull and push at her. It was mesmerizing and so incredibly sexy to watch. And the way it felt ...

  Taylor closed her eyes and let herself swim in all the sensations that were washing through her body. She was being opened, slowly but surely. As soft as Jericho’s eyes were, Taylor knew how fast it all could shift if she told her again what she wanted. So she laid back and enjoyed Jericho’s mouth exactly where it was.

  Jericho smiled up at her as she teased her nipple across her bottom lip.

  “You have a look about you right now,” Taylor breathed happily.

  Jericho pulled her mouth away. “What kind of look is that?”

  “Like you’re planning to wind me up slowly.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  Taylor giggled. “Maybe it’s just wishful thinking.”

  Jericho kissed a trail up between her breasts. “I’ll grant you any wish I can, just ask.”

  Taylor grinned down at her. “I like watching you work.”

  “You’re a pleasure to work on,” Jericho said.

  “Are you always so gentle?”

  “I don’t know,” Jericho said. She raised herself up on her elbow and pushed her hair out of her eyes.

  Taylor curled her arm behind her head. Her naked breast poised in the air between them.

  “Take me inside,” she whispered.

  “Alright.” In the next instant, Jericho was off the hammock with her feet on the ground. Taylor pulled the bodice of her dress up to cover her skin and reached for her hand.

  They walked under the warm cover of night to the back door. Jericho flicked off the light in the kitchen and shut the door behind them. Taylor went first up the stairs. At the top, she listened for the rhythmic breathing of her son behind the spare room door. They paused a moment in the hall and smiled at each other. Then Taylor gripped onto Jericho’s hand and pulled her toward the big bedroom at the end of the hall.

  A beautiful breeze blew through the room. The air still smelled sweet. Taylor’s body felt warm and tingly.

  They stood a breath apart, quiet as their fingertips worked the fastenings of their clothing. Taylor slowly unbuttoned Jericho’s shirt and peeled it back over her shoulders. Jericho slid the straps of Taylor’s dress down until they hung loosely at her arms. Together, they pulled her dress down until it dropped to the floor. Taylor reached for the button at Jericho’s waist then stopped and traced her finger over the contours of her abdomen.

  “Wow,” Taylor sighed. She looked up into Jericho’s eyes again. Their foreheads came together. Taylor hooked her fingers into the waistband of Jericho’s pants and pulled her closer. In another breath, their bodies were bare.

  “You’re beautiful,” Jericho whispered. She bent and kissed her shoulder. Taylor felt her fingertips tremble as they brushed her skin.

  “Are you nervous?” Taylor asked. She grabbed onto her hands and held them tight.

  “A little,” Jericho answered.

  Taylor felt nervous too. “Do you think it’s ‘cause we’re naked?”

  They both laughed softly. Jericho’s eyes flashed downward. “No, it’s not really that.”

  Taylor let her hands glide up Jericho’s arms, over the dense muscle of her triceps and back up over her shoulders. She looked into her eyes. “You’re wondering something, I can tell.”

  “I was wondering if you’d been hurt ... if your husband ... I just didn’t want to …” She struggled with the words.

  Taylor placed her hands on her shoulders. “You’re wondering if he was rough with me, is that it?”
r />   Jericho looked into her eyes and nodded.

  “I have an idea,” Taylor said. “How about I drive?” And with that, she pushed Jericho down in the middle of her big soft bed. She crawled on top and straddled her.

  Jericho began to laugh. “I didn’t expect that. You’re pretty strong.”

  Taylor sat up and flexed her biceps proudly. “Can’t sling a thirty-pound child around and not have something to show for it.”

  Jericho swept her hair from her eyes and smiled up at her. “No, I guess not.”

  Taylor leaned forward and let her dark hair fall around Jericho’s face. “I bet I can guess what you like,” she whispered into her lips.

  Jericho’s blue-green eyes shone up at her. “Oh yeah?”

  “A little of this ...” Taylor said as she slowly rocked her hips against Jericho’s body right where their centers pressed together. “Feels good, doesn’t it?” Taylor sighed. She flipped her head back and let her hair fall down her back as she rolled her hips. Then she rocked her body forward again and dragged a nipple across Jericho’s mouth. “Give me a little bite.”

  Jericho pulled her nipple between her lips and bit gently.

  Taylor looked into her eyes. “Don’t worry about me,” she rasped. “I want to feel you.”

  Jericho grabbed onto her hips and pushed back against her.

  “That’s it,” Taylor said. She gripped onto Jericho’s jaw and kissed her hard then sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. “Mmm, you’re fucking sexy, you know that?”

  Jericho looked up at her and swallowed. “You’re really sexy too.”

  Taylor gripped onto Jericho’s strong arms and squeezed. “You’re like the best of both worlds - a little masculine and a little feminine.”

  She rolled her hips and watched Jericho’s eyes drop to her breasts as they swayed and bobbed. “Fucking beautiful,” Jericho whispered.