Radclyffe - Sheltering Dunes

“Don’t stop,” Flynn gasped. “Keep going, I’ll come again. Oh yeah, just like that. I need you.”

Mica lay half on top of Flynn, quivering, still stroking her. She’d never felt so powerful or so out-of-control in her life. “Come. I want you to come again.”

“I am. So good. So, so good.” Flynn pulled Mica on top of her, settling Mica’s thigh between her legs against her still-pulsing clit. The pressure kept her hard just the way she needed it. She stroked Mica’s back. “You do amazing things to me.”

“You do pretty crazy things to me too.”

Flynn closed her eyes. “I’m so glad.”

Mica sighed, as if she was suddenly weary, and rested her head on Flynn’s shoulder. Flynn wondered how long she had before Mica started to regret what had just happened between them.

*

Allie got home a little before six a.m. She’d tried to be quiet coming in and undressing, but she knew Ash was awake. She could feel her presence in the dark, waiting for her. She crawled into bed, rolled onto her side, and nestled against Ash. Resting her cheek on Ash’s chest, she brought one leg up over Ash’s and wrapped her arm around her. Ash’s hand came into her hair and Allie sighed. She loved being totally connected like this.

“Flynn okay?” Ash asked.

Allie nodded and kissed Ash’s breast. “Pretty banged up, but she’s okay.”

“Get the guy?”

“No. Probably won’t either. At least not right away.”

“Random?”

“On the surface, it looks that way. But—I’m not sure.”

Ash stroked her back and massaged the tightness between her shoulders and Allie snuggled closer. “How do you always find the spot where the knots are?”

“Because you’re mine,” Ash murmured lazily.

“Yeah, yeah.” Allie melted every time Ash said that. She loved being hers. She loved that Ash belonged to her too. Hers and only hers, in all the world. “Reese thinks there’s a gang connection, somehow, with Mica. And I’m pretty sure Flynn is involved with her.”

“Really. I wouldn’t have called that.”

“What? Flynn being involved, or her being involved with that kind of girl?”

“Babe”—Ash tilted Allie’s face up with a finger under her chin and kissed her—“I can see Flynn with a girl, no problem—just as long as it’s not you. I guess I’ve been thinking of her as the stereotypical priest—unadventurous, introverted, traditional.”

Allie laughed. “That’s not Flynn.”

“Guess not.” Ash tucked Allie’s head back under her chin. “So what do you think about Reese’s theory?”

“I’ve been doing some research. If Mica is part of La Mara, it’s bad news. I found a couple of reports of members who tried to get away, and they never made it. One girl turned informer and they tracked her down across three states. Killed her. Same thing for a guy.”

Ash stiffened. “You think that might be what’s going on here?”

“Maybe. I have to talk to Mica again.”

“And Flynn is involved with her?”

“Oh yeah. They went home together.”

“How are you with that?”

Allie caressed Ash’s belly, smiling to herself when Ash sucked in a breath. “That Flynn’s seeing a really cute girl?”

Ash’s hips lifted into Allie’s hand as Allie caressed lower.

“Uh-huh,” Ash gasped.

“Mmm. Doesn’t bother me.” Allie let her fingers drift between Ash’s legs. Ash was hot and wet, unbelievably sexy. “Oh yes.” Leaning up on one elbow, she kissed Ash, stroking with her tongue in time with stroking between her legs. When she stopped to breathe, she said, “But I’m not real happy about Flynn getting mixed up in things.”

“You’ll be careful, right?” Ash turned Allie onto her back and fit her hips between Allie’s thighs. Allie wrapped her legs around Ash’s hips and Ash worked her hand between them and inside her.

“Oh God, baby,” Allie moaned.

“You’ll be careful, right?”

“God yes, yes. Just fuck me.”

Ash pushed deeper and did exactly as Allie demanded. Allie lifted her hips, took her deeper, and forgot about everything except Ash.

Chapter Twenty-one

Flynn watched Mica move quietly around the room, gathering her clothes in the gray light of dawn. When she slid her hand across the sheet to where Mica had been a few moments before, the spot was already beginning to cool. She doubted they had dozed for more than an hour.

“Where are you going?”

“Gotta get home. Have to work in an hour or so.”

Flynn slowly pushed up on the bed, protecting her still-sore side. “You’re going to try to work today?”

“Not like I have any choice,” Mica said with her back still turned.

“I think considering what happened, your boss will give you the day off.”

Mica, nude, spun around with her T-shirt gripped in her hand and partially covering her breasts. Flynn’s heart plummeted at Mica’s sudden wariness. They’d been so close, so united, when they’d been making love, the distance now flamed like an open wound.

Mica glared. “When are you going to get that the rules you live by are different than how most of us live? Maybe you never had to worry about losing a job because you had to take your kid to daycare or your grandmother to the doctor and were ten minutes late.”

“You’re right.” Flynn pushed the covers aside and swung her legs over, halting halfway through as another tearing sensation lanced through her side.

“You hurting?” Mica pulled on her jeans, not bothering with panties.

“I’m okay.”

“Doesn’t look like it. Stay there. You got aspirin or something?”

“There’s a bottle of Motrin in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom,” Flynn said. “I wouldn’t mind having four of them. What about you? You’ve got to be sore.”

“It’s not bad.” Mica shrugged and pulled on her T-shirt.

“You’re a little bit hoarse.” Flynn didn’t mention the chain of faint red blotches on Mica’s neck where their attacker had gripped her. Mica would undoubtedly shrug it off, and reminding her of what had happened just seemed cruel.

When Mica disappeared into the bathroom, Flynn got up, found her jeans, and, bending carefully, pulled them on. Shirtless, she held out her hand for the glass of water Mica brought back, along with four ibuprofen. “Thanks. Did you take some?”

“Yeah, yeah. Jeez.” Mica’s gaze trailed down over her chest and Flynn’s nipples tightened. She couldn’t remember ever having been so sensitive to another woman’s attention. Maybe because she suspected Mica didn’t give her attention easily. She wondered if Mica had a girlfriend. The idea of someone else touching her, pleasuring her, made Flynn agitated and uneasy. There was so much she didn’t know about Mica, so much she wanted to know. And after last night, so much she needed to know.

“Okay, so,” Mica said, “you ought to go back to bed. Didn’t the doctor say you should take it easy?”

Flynn pulled on a cotton shirt and buttoned it halfway up. “Mica, I know last night was crazy,” Flynn paused and grinned, “and part of it was amazing, but you told me you would talk to me. I need for us to talk.”

“I never said we’d talk.” Mica backed up as if Flynn had threatened her.

Flynn stood still, willing to give her space, but not willing to let her put up walls. “I don’t want you to go.”

Mica took another step back. “I’m gonna be late.”

“Maybe you don’t remember, but I’m pretty sure you said we’d talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“How about us sleeping together?”

“Is there something about it you didn’t understand?” Mica slipped into the flip-flops she’d kicked off inside the bedroom door a few hours earlier.