“Baby…stop, before I have a heart attack.”

Shakily, Pia laughed and rested her cheek against the inside of KT’s thigh. She couldn’t bear not to be touching her, though, and ran her fingers lightly over KT’s clitoris. KT twitched and groaned. “You feel amazing.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so good,” KT muttered, weakly stroking Pia’s hair.

Pia raised her head and peered at KT. “Yeah?”

“Oh yeah.” With effort, KT turned on her side and curled around Pia’s body, gently urging Pia up until they lay side by side. She traced Pia’s lips with her fingers. “I’m going to get addicted to your mouth.”

“I hope so,” Pia said fervently, kissing KT lightly. “Because I’m already addicted to you.”

“How do you feel?” KT asked gently, smoothing her hand over Pia’s breast and down her belly. She felt the muscles in Pia’s abdomen quiver beneath her fingers. She knew what Pia had not yet sensed. She was ready. And KT wanted her, wanted her enough to go slowly.

“Fabulous.” Pia’s voice held a note of wonder. She was reliving the sounds of KT’s pleasure, the taste of her, the incredible sense of awe she’d experienced as KT climaxed again and again beneath her demanding mouth. As she felt it ail, heard it all again, she didn’t realize that her hips had begun to thrust against the palm that KT had laid between her thighs. As her clitoris swelled with remembered pleasure and the soft steady brush of KT’s fingers, Pia’s belly tightened and her nipples grew taut. When KT lowered her mouth and caught one between her teeth, Pia cried out. “Oh. I oh, I want to come!”

“I know,” KT soothed. She gentled her fingertips just on the verge of entering and let Pia push against her, drawing her in, setting the pace. She wanted more, she wanted fast, she wanted deep…and she waited. “Take me inside, Pia. Let me please you.”

Pia braced both hands on KT’s shoulders and rested her forehead against KT’s. With her eyes holding KT’s and her breath shuddering, she pushed down slowly, another small cry of wonder escaping as KT filled her. She wanted to let go, she wanted to scream and thrust until the pressure between her thighs exploded, but even more she wanted to fix in her memory that first miraculous instant when they were completely joined. She tried to hold back, but the orgasm caught her by surprise and wiped her consciousness clean in a single wild rush of heat.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Allie woke to the sound of insistent tapping somewhere nearby. It took her a moment to place her surroundings.

Couch? Sunlight…ugh. Bri!

She sat up in a flash, the memories flooding back. The party, the raid, Bri and all that blood. Her stomach lurched, and she pushed the faint nausea away. Bri was okay. Would be okay. She looked around the room, her fears abating. Tory and Reese’s. Everything is okay.

She’d fallen asleep almost immediately, despite her protests that she wouldn’t be able to relax until she was certain that Bri was all right. Tory had simply handed her a T-shirt, said, “Stretch out on the couch and close your eyes,” and the next thing she knew, the sun was streaming in the double glass doors that led to the deck and someone was outside, wanting very badly to get in. Still a little groggy from the combination of stress and fatigue, Allie rose and stumbled to the door, scrubbing a hand over her face to wake herself up. She slid open the door and stared at a very frantic blond.

“Oh!” Allie said. “How?”

“Is she here? Reese said she would be here.” Caroline Clark peered past Allie anxiously. “Is she all right?”

Allie stepped aside, automatically reaching for the overnight bag Caroline carried. “She’s asleep in the guest room. How did you?”

“Reese got me the tickets.” Caroline took a step inside, her eyes tracking across the room to the hall that led to the bedroom as if she would able to see Bri through the walls. Then she turned her attention to Allie, her expression narrowing briefly as she took in the oversized T-shirt and the apparent absence of any other clothing. Evenly she asked, “Did you stay with her?”

“Couch,” Allie muttered, tilting her head toward the sofa. “I just wanted to be sure she was okay.”

Caroline studied her, saw the shadows beneath her eyes, “Thanks. It’s good to know she has a friend.”

Allie grinned briefly. “She does.” She met Caroline’s appraising glance. “There was a time well, you probably know.”

“Yeah.”

“That was before we started working together and got tight.” Allie shrugged. “She’s only ever gonna be yours.”

Caroline’s eyes flooded with tears, but her smile was brilliant. After a few seconds, she blinked away the moisture and took a deep breath. “Tell me what happened,”

“Uh…”

“Reese didn’t give me the details only that Bri had been hurt and that Reese thought I should come home. But she said Bri was all right.” Caroline’s voice trembled. “Is that the truth?”

“She’s okay,” Allie said immediately. “She got…injured… during a drug bust last night. But Tory and another doctor took care of it They said she’s going to be fine.”

Caroline’s face was white. “Injured. What do you mean, injured!”

Allie stalled. “You should probably talk to Tory.”

“No. I want to see Bri right away,” Caroline insisted, “and I need to know what happened before I do. I need to know what she needs.”

“You’re here,” Allie said softly. “I think that’s just about everything she needs.”

“Thanks. It…it goes both ways.”

“Then you’re both lucky,” Allie said, no trace of envy in her voice.

“Yeah. I know.” Caroline touched Allie’s arm. “So, tell me what kind of trouble my girl got into this time.”

Without opening her eyes, Pia stretched, gave a contented sigh, and murmured, “That’s an amazingly nice way to wake up.”

“Mmm,” KT agreed, continuing to run her tongue over Pia’s nipple while softly stroking Pia’s other breast. She’d awakened feeling better than she had in years. Fresh, energized, and with the warmth of Pia’s body against hers, instantly aroused. The October air from the open window was brisk, invigorating, and as she’d drawn a deep breath, a wave of desire that felt very much like life returning to the long-dark recesses of her being coursed through her. Pia. Pia had brought light back into her life, dispelling the shadows and the loneliness. As she’d marveled at that unexpected gift, she’d smoothed her fingers over Pia’s body, meaning only to satisfy her need to be near her. But when Pia’s nipple rose beneath her fingertips and Pia murmured softly in her sleep, KT needed more. Needed her inside. And she’d put her lips to Pia’s breast.

“Astonishing.” Pia rested her hand lightly on the back of KT’s head, caressing her neck and shoulders languidly. The tantalizing attention to her breast had ignited the first tendrils of heat deep down inside, but she was enjoying the slow rise of pleasure too much to want to hurry. “It’s even better than I imagined,”

KT laughed softly and raised her head. “Sex?”

“No,” Pia remarked lazily, opening her eyes and fixing them on KT. “Making love with you. I knew it would be wonderful, I just didn’t realize how very much.”

“Pia,” KT whispered. “Pia. I can’t seem to think of anything but you. You do the most amazing things to me.” As she spoke, she leaned on her left elbow, her injured hand still protected with the wristlet, and smoothed her other hand over the soft hollow of Pia’s abdomen up and down, up and down until finally her fingers rested between Pia’s thighs. When Pia caught her breath and lifted her hips, KT slowed her explorations.

“Don’t stop,” Pia said thickly. “Feels so good.”

“To me, too. And you aren’t the only one who’s been imagining this.” KT lowered her head and nipped at Pia’s breast, laughing again when Pia gave a cry of pleased surprise. “So I don’t want to rush.”

“What if I want you to?” Pia rocked her hips insistently beneath KT’s hand. “I like the way you made me feel last night.”

KT feathered her fingers over the tender folds between Pia’s legs, watching Pia’s expression intently. “I want to learn everything about you. What makes you happy…” She traced a finger up and down the warm, moist valley just a little bit harder, just a little bit deeper smiling when Pia caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “What makes you excited…” She caught Pia’s clitoris between her fingertips and squeezed ever so lightly.

Pia trembled and closed her fingers hard around KT’s wrist. “There. Oh, like that.”

“Yes.” KT’s voice was heavy with desire as she moved away, away from the spot that she knew would take Pia too high too fast. When Pia moaned in protest, KT lowered her head and kissed her, swallowing her moans and soothing her need with gentle strokes of her tongue. When she drew away, Pia’s breathing had deepened and her eyes had grown liquid with the desire spreading within like a flame banked beneath a layer of coals. “I want to know you,” KT whispered. “Inside.” She pressed a fingertip, then two, just inside, waiting for Pia to relax enough for her to move deeper. “Inside the way you’ve touched me. Not just in my body…” Deeper now, nearly filling her. “But all the way to my heart.”

“I love to feel you like this,” Pia murmured, both hands twisted in the sheets, back arched to take KT deeper. “Everywhere inside me.”

As KT slowly eased almost all the way out and then back in, she inched down on the bed until she could put her mouth over Pia’s clitoris. She swept her tongue in long, smooth strokes that matched the rhythm of her fingers sliding in and out, ignoring Pia’s increasingly frantic pleas to go faster, harder, deeper. Her need for Pia to climax was an ache in the pit of her stomach, her hunger for the sound of Pia’s pleasure ringing out in a breathless cry all but consuming her, but she held back. She was desperate to feel each pulse of Pia’s excitement building beneath her lips and to thrill to the clench of Pia’s passion around her fingers. Then, when they were both poised to explode, then she would take her.

Her heart thudded wildly in her chest; her stomach quivered with the need to come. If she caught Pia’s leg between her own and pressed her clitoris to Pia’s warm, smooth skin, she knew she would. But despite the piercing urgency for release, she didn’t want anything to cloud her awareness of Pia, not even her own pleasure, Pia was everything. Everywhere. All she wanted.

“I’m almost there,” Pia moaned, her head rocking with each labored breath. “You’re making me come…oh, yes. Oh yes. Oh. Now.”

At the first quiver of Pia’s orgasm, KT thrust harder. Eyes fixed on Pia’s face, she was beyond stopping now. Pia’s pleasure was her own, and with each sharp cry, she drew closer to her own release. She knelt astride Pia’s thigh, hips pistoning along taut muscles as each thrust of her arm lifted Pia’s body from the bed. “Come, baby. Come.”

When Pia reared up on the bed in the throes of her orgasm, clutching wildly at KT, KT buried her face against Pia’s breasts and soared over the edge.

Bri was having the nicest dream. Carre was whispering in her ear, telling her how much she loved her and how she couldn’t wait to be with her all the time. Carre’s voice always gave her a rush. But it was even nicer when Carre not only talked to her but touched her. And Carre was touching her now. Stroking her face and her hair and her arm. It was all so real, she could even smell the scent of fresh air and bright sunlight that she always associated with Carre.

“Yeah,” Bri muttered. “You feel so good, babe.”

“Don’t wake up, baby. You just sleep, and I’ll be right here.”

Smiling, Bri rolled to her side, wanting to feel Caroline against her body, even if it was just a dream. The movement triggered a stabbing pain in her neck that shot deep into her chest, and with a cry, she jerked awake.

“It’s okay,” Caroline said quickly, placing the hand that wasn’t stroking Bri’s face on her shoulder to hold her still. “Bri, baby. It’s okay. Just lie still.”

Despite the pain, Bri could only think of one thing. Caroline was leaning over her, inches away, and she seemed…real. “Carre?”

“Yes, baby. It’s me.”

“Carre?” Bri blinked, and then she remembered the night before. She remembered feeling pretty righteous about the way she and Allie had orchestrated the bust, and then she saw Karl’s face again as he snarled in the direction of the officers coming through the door and then lunged for the knife. In the next instant, she felt the bite of steel slice through her skin, sharp and hot. “Oh, Jesus, Carre. He cut me.”

Caroline’s face lost all color, but her voice remained even and soothing. “Tory took care of you. Reese told me you’ll be fine.”