Radclyffe - Oath of Honor

“Yeah, close to the Metro and all that.”

“So, what’s the chance I could get a cup of coffee before I drive home?” Evyn asked.

“Sure,” Wes said slowly before leading the way up the block toward her apartment. She shouldn’t be doing what she was doing, but the tension in her chest eased with every step they took away from Evyn’s car. She didn’t want Evyn to leave. She didn’t want the night to end. She didn’t want to wake up another morning alone and questioning.

“You know we don’t have to figure this all out at once,” Evyn said, taking her hand.

Evyn’s fingers were soft, warm, and Wes laced hers through Evyn’s. “I know. I’m trying to shut my mind off, but it’s tough.”

“Then don’t try. Some things you can’t control.”

“That’s what’s so scary.”

“It’s just coffee, Wes.”

“Right. You’re right.” Wes squeezed Evyn’s hand. Except what if she wanted more than just coffee?

Chapter Twenty-seven

Silently, Wes led Evyn to her apartment, unlocked the door, and held it wide for her to enter. She turned on a table lamp just inside the door while Evyn waited only a foot away. In the dim lamplight, Evyn’s features were soft, almost blurred. Color smudged her cheeks, probably from the cold. Wes had a hard time looking away from her mouth, remembering the softness, the taste. “I’ll take your coat.”

“Thanks.” Evyn passed her jacket to Wes and turned slightly to take in the living room and kitchen. “Looks like a pretty good place.”

“My mother says it needs plants. Or a cat.” Wes held Evyn’s jacket in one hand, oddly unable to move.

“Mothers always think we need plants.”

“Yours too?” Wes didn’t know what to do with herself. She’d never brought a woman back to her quarters before. She searched her mind for the right thing to say, the right thing to do, and realized she had no idea. Evyn wasn’t just any friend, and thinking Evyn might be or could be was ridiculous. She had friends. She loved Emory. She didn’t want Emory to kiss her—didn’t ache to see her the moment they parted. Didn’t lose her concentration thinking about the way Emory tasted, the small sounds she made when they kissed. “I’ll make that coffee.”

Evyn moved closer and brushed a stray lock of hair from Wes’s forehead. Her fingertips were warm but Wes shivered. “Why don’t you take your coat off first.”

Wes swallowed. Nodding, she shrugged out of her topcoat, grateful for something to do, and hung it up with Evyn’s in the closet next to the door. When she turned back, Evyn was standing right in front of her.

“Coffee keeps me awake if I drink it after twenty-two hundred,” Evyn said.

“It’s almost zero hundred.”

“I know. Honestly, the coffee was an excuse. I wasn’t ready to say good night. Sorry.”

Wes watched Evyn’s lips move, straining to hear the words while her body flooded with the memory of soft kisses and a knowing mouth and unbearable pleasure. She pressed her fingertips to Evyn’s lips, amazed when she realized she’d moved. Touched her. She hadn’t meant to. “No need to be sorry.”

Evyn grew silent, her eyes darkening, searching Wes’s.

“I keep thinking about being with you,” Wes said hoarsely. “About touching you. About the way you touch me. Remembering…everything…has been driving me crazy.”

Evyn covered Wes’s hand and kissed her fingertips. Drawing Wes’s palm to the side of her face, she held it there, pressed Wes’s fingers along the arch of her jaw.

Evyn’s skin was soft, hot. Wes throbbed inside. She held her breath, held very, very still. Waiting. Searching for an answer she feared she wouldn’t recognize.

“I know,” Evyn whispered, leaning toward her. Inches away now. “I feel the same. I want you all the time.”

Wes backed up a step. Her shoulders met the closet door and she leaned against it. Her thighs went soft and she locked her knees, forcing her body to stay upright. They should talk, but her mind was seriously disconnected. She clasped the back of Evyn’s neck, fearing she might move away.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Evyn smiled, a knowing, ever-so-slightly triumphant smile.

Wes kept her eyes open as Evyn slowly leaned closer, memorizing the swirling shades of blue and purple in Evyn’s eyes, the flicker of her ebony pupils, the golden sparks of color that danced around her irises, like flames around the fire. She grasped Evyn’s waist with both hands, pressing her thumbs into the muscles above Evyn’s hips. Evyn groaned softly and excitement welled in Wes’s depths. She tugged Evyn to her, but Evyn pressed her palms on either side of her shoulders, keeping their bodies an inch apart.

“Do you know what you’re doing to me?” Evyn growled softly. “What I want right now?”

“I want to kiss you,” Wes said.

“I want more than that.” Evyn’s lips skimmed Wes’s. Sweet, hot, urgent. “Say yes, Wes.”

“Yes.”

Instantly, Evyn’s mouth covered Wes’s. Thought fled, instinct ruled. Wes slid her arms around Evyn and dug her fingertips into the hard muscles along Evyn’s spine. A pulse pounded in her clit. Groaning, she parted her legs and Evyn’s tight thigh wedged between hers. Wes arched. She wanted—needed—more too. “Yes.”

Evyn took the kiss deeper. Her tongue was sweet and sure, sweeping over the inside of Wes’s lips, probing lightly in her mouth, teasing her to surrender. Wes rode Evyn’s thigh, hips pumping, each thrust sending spirals of pleasure twisting along her spine. She heard a whimper. Registered distantly the sound came from her.

Pulling her head back, Evyn gasped, “Wes.”

Evyn’s voice grated, a register lower than Wes recognized, urgent and hungry. Evyn’s need made her burn. Wes twisted a handful of Evyn’s shirt in her fist and yanked it from her pants. Evyn found the buttons on her shirt, impatiently worked them open, slid her hand over Wes’s bare belly. Wes jerked at the sudden flash of heat. Her nipples tightened. Need gripped her like a hard hand between her thighs. She moaned. She was burning.

“Wes, God. Where’s the bed?” Evyn’s mouth seared Wes’s neck. Her fingers slipped down Wes’s belly, restlessly searching beneath the waistband of Wes’s pants. “I don’t want to take you against this fucking door, and if we don’t find a bed soon, I’m going to.”

Wes dragged her hands down Evyn’s back, squeezing her ass, and thrust her hand between their bodies. She flicked a button on her pants and pushed the zipper down. “Don’t move. Right here. Do it. Just do it.”

Wes’s command sent rockets flaring in Evyn’s head, blinding her to everything but Wes. She buried her face in the curve of Wes’s neck and breathed her in. Her vision tunneled. Her head reeled with the woodsy scent that seduced her to touch, to taste, to take. She panted, couldn’t get her breath, couldn’t find her focus.

Wes’s fingers wrapped around her wrist and pushed her hand into the front of her open pants. Evyn’s mind went white. Wes was wet against her fingertips, slick and hot and hard. She skated over Wes’s clit, squeezed quickly, and Wes jerked upright with a strangled cry. The sharp edge of Wes’s pleasure cleaved Evyn’s control and her clit pumped to the brink of exploding. She pushed deeper, each stroke of her fingertips wringing another sharp cry of pleasure from Wes. The ties on her restraint unraveled and her orgasm boiled closer. “God, no, I’m gonna come soon.”

Wes’s nails raked her skin. Evyn cupped Wes in her palm, squeezing her, teasing her.

“Don’t hold back,” Wes groaned in her ear, her hold on Evyn’s arm like iron.

Evyn thought she’d wear the marks of Wes’s fingertips for days. The image drove her crazy. She loved Wes’s urgency, her need, thrilled to the power of being wanted, being needed. She thrust deeper and Wes’s other hand found her breast. Fingers closed around her nipple and she threw her head back. “Oh, Christ. Wes. You feel so good. I can’t hold it much longer.”