Gerri Hill - One Summer Night

"Yes, just like that."

Kelly pushed Jo’s legs apart with her thighs and pressed her hips into her, and Jo rose to meet her, wanting to touch her. Kelly slowly slid down her body, her tongue stroking as she went, wetting her. Jo waited patiently, her breast heaving with each breath she took as Kelly's mouth went lower.

"Please," she begged, when Kelly paused to kiss her hips.

Jo opened her legs, longing for Kelly to settle between them, and her hands pushed Kelly’s shoulders, urging her to hurry. She couldn't stand another moment of this sweet torment.

Kelly continued to make her wait though, her lips moving over Jo’s thighs and down her legs.

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"Kelly, I'm dying," she moaned.

"We can't have that.” Kelly spread Jo’s legs even farther apart.

Jo's eyes squeezed shut when finally, finally, she felt Kelly touch her with her tongue, lightly, teasing.

"God, you're driving me insane," Jo breathed.

Kelly's hands circled Jo's thighs, and Jo held her breath as Kelly finally took her. Kelly’s mouth opened over her, and her tongue moved inside of her, and Jo pressed back into the bed, then rose up to meet her, feeling Kelly’s tongue move in and out. God, yes, this was what she wanted. This was what she needed.

Kelly's lips moved over her, her mouth and tongue stroking her as Jo writhed beneath her, her hips moving frantically as her orgasm threatened, but it was too soon. She wasn't nearly ready for this to end, and she held her breath, wanting it to last for hours, but she felt the first wave of orgasm swallow her, and her hips stilled, her feet pushed hard into the bed as she cried out, her hands clutching Kelly's shoulders, pressing her hard against her.

Oh, I do love you, she thought. She laid back, spent, and her arms dropped to her sides. She felt Kelly move beside her, and she turned her head and looked into her eyes.

"Oh, honey, that was wonderful," Jo whispered.

Kelly's eyes darkened at the endearment, and Jo closed her own and smiled.

Their lovemaking was like before. Long into the early morning hours, they touched. Sleep claimed them briefly, but they woke and made love again and again, until the sun rose, casting shadows around them as they held each other.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kelly left for San Francisco on the twenty-second. Jo cried when she dropped her off at the airport, as much for her being gone as for the words she said. And those that Jo did not say.

"I wish we could be together," Kelly said, as they sat quietly in Jo's car.

"I'll miss you.”

Kelly cupped Jo’s face and rubbed her lips gently with her thumb and smiled so sweetly that Jo was certain she would burst into tears right there.

"I really love you, Jo."

"I know," Jo acknowledged.

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Kelly simply nodded and was gone, and Jo was left staring after her, wishing she had told her, but still so afraid.

Afraid of what? It wasn't like it wasn't true. It wasn't like it would hurt any less if they ended their relationship, just because she had not said the words. What she had felt for Nancy couldn't even compare with what she felt for Kelly.

After all these years, she finally knew what Harry and Beth had had together. A love so powerful that it consumed you, brought you to your knees with its strength, scared you.

She drove back to her empty house, wiping the occasional tear from her cheek. Kelly had asked Jo to go to California with her, but she wasn't ready to meet her family, so she had accepted Betsy's invitation to spend Christmas with them. Now, she wished she had been stronger, wished she had agreed to go with Kelly.

When she returned home, she found a small, wrapped gift sitting on top of her table. She had not seen Kelly put it there. She had assumed they would exchange gifts when she returned. She went to it now and smiled at Kelly's scribbled note.

Don't open until Christmas!

Jo held it to her breast with her eyes shut, feeling a swell of love surge through her.

"You're such a fool," she scolded herself. "Such a fool."

She took the gift and put it under her tree beside the ones she had gotten for Betsy and Janis. She would wait, like Kelly had requested, but she couldn't resist a quick shake of the box. The movement inside gave her no clue as to its contents, and she felt like a child sneaking into the presents a week before Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, she went to Betsy and Janis's early.

Betsy was out shopping with her mother, so she had offered to help Janis cook their traditional Christmas meal of turkey with all the fixings. Actually, Jo was looking forward to it.

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What they had eaten in Fredricksburg could hardly be called

"traditional," and it always tasted so much better when you spent the better part of the day cooking it.

"How’re you holding up?" Janis asked.

"I'm fine," Jo said, and she was. Being without Harry was much easier when she had such good friends.

"Have you talked to Kelly?" Janis asked a short time later.

"No, she hasn't called.”

She had tried to put it from her mind, the fact that Kelly had not called her. She was sure she was busy with her family and friends back home and had little time to dwell on her.

Kelly had left her parents’ number with Jo, but Jo had refused to call, as much as she wanted to.

"How are things with you?"

"Okay.”

Jo stopped peeling the potato in her hand and turned to Janis. "I guess. I'm very difficult. Kelly must have the patience of a saint."

"Love can give you patience, if nothing else," Janis said with a laugh. "Look how long I've endured Betsy's mother for Christmas. Every year, there's always something wrong.

The turkey's too dry, the dressing is too moist, the pies are overdone, the tree's too big, too small. I could go on and on.” She sighed.

Jo smiled, knowing very well how difficult Betsy's mother could be. Maybe that was why Betsy only saw her once a year. Betsy's mother had not quite accepted Janis into the family, even after all these years.

"You are staying the night, aren't you?" Janis asked.

"I think I will, if the invitation is still open."

"Of course. We'd love for you to. Besides, you give me a buffer against Madge."

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That night, long after the dinner dishes were put up and the others were asleep, Jo let her thoughts drift to Kelly. She had kept them at bay throughout the evening, but now she closed her eyes, snuggled under the covers, and let images of Kelly wash over her. Oh, she missed her terribly. Not just at night, either. She missed talking to her, she missed looking at her. She missed her smile, her voice, her smell. She missed all of her, and when she got back, Jo vowed to tell her just how much she missed her.

She heard the coffee pot click on at six, but the others were not yet stirring. She tossed the covers off and hurried to the bathroom she shared with Madge to take a quick shower. She was just pouring her first cup of coffee when Betsy walked in.

"You're up early," she said.

"Wanted to beat the rush."

"Have you opened it yet?" Betsy asked with a smile.

Jo grinned. "No. I didn't sneak a peak during the night, if that's what you mean."

After everyone had filled their coffee cups, they settled around the tree, and Janis passed out the few gifts that were there. Jo saved Kelly's for last, although she was dying to open it first.

Madge got her a sweater, and Jo thanked her, then laughed when Madge opened up a similar sweater from Jo.

Betsy and Janis had gotten her a couple of CDs and a gift certificate from her favorite clothing store. She got them a painting from a local artist and a ceramic doll for Janis's collection. They particularly enjoyed the painting of Lake Travis and were already deciding where to hang it. While they were opening the rest of their gifts from Madge, Jo reached for Kelly's and held it lightly in her hands, almost afraid to open it.