Beginnings - SF2 (23 page)

Jack was an athlete too, and his breathing pattern was very similar to Ryan's. They each drew long, slow, deep breaths with a surprisingly long pause between each one. As she tilted her head just enough to rest her ear against Ryan's chest, she noticed that their heartbeats were also similar: steady, slow and strong. Even though Jamie had enjoyed resting her head on Jack's chest, the sensation of doing so to Ryan was a much richer one. Lying on Ryan's chest was like being enveloped in a warm maternal embrace. There was something so soft and warm and reassuring about hearing that strong heartbeat and having those amazingly supple breasts just inches from her face that nearly made Jamie swoon with pleasure.

Jamie knew that she had only slept for about five hours, but it felt so wonderful to have Ryan wrapped around her that she actually hated to go back to sleep. There was something so unspeakably delicious about feeling her warm body caressing her that her overwhelming urge was to remain awake and luxuriate in the sensation. Ultimately, the warmth and the comfort that flowed from their tender connection pulled her back down into slumber despite her best efforts to remain alert.

For the next two hours they repeated the cycle over and over again. One would awaken and change position to make their connection even more air-tight. The other would quickly wake, and they would spend a few minutes in a deeply sensual dance, moving slowly and tenderly against each other until sleep reclaimed them. Neither had any inclination to actually break the spell, but when Ryan heard Conor start the shower she finally spoke the first words of the day. "I hate to say it, but you should probably go back downstairs. Once Conor's out of the shower, it'll be hard to sneak away."

"Mmmm," Jamie's deep morning voice rumbled. "Don't wanna leave."

"I don't want to either," Ryan sighed as she let Jamie's kisses weaken her determination.

After ten minutes of increasingly sensual touching, she realized that they were much more able to comply with her father's wishes when they were actually asleep. "I've got to get up," she mumbled as she pried herself away from her frisky lover. "Way, way too tempting." She sat on the edge of the bed and shook her head quickly to order her thoughts. "You can stay in bed for a while, I'll go have breakfast with Conor and Da."

"No, no," Jamie insisted. "If you get up, I can get up." She started to struggle to her feet, but she was still so tired that she leaned heavily against Ryan as soon as she was vertical.

"Honey, go back to sleep," Ryan insisted. "There's no rush."

"But I want to be with you," she mumbled into the fabric that covered Ryan's chest. "I like you."

A very amused chuckle greeted that remark. "I like you too," Ryan agreed. "But you still can go back to sleep."

"Uh-uh," she insisted as she shook her fair head.

Ryan started to back out of the room, but Jamie clung to her like a drowning woman. Her hands were clasped firmly around Ryan's neck, and she let herself be dragged along as Ryan continued to move. "Jamie," she soothed. "Your bed is calling you…"

"Uh-uh," she said again. "Only your mouth calls to me." With that she tightened her grip and plastered herself against Ryan's body. They were now in the upstairs hallway, just outside of Rory's room. Ryan stumbled a little and was stopped abruptly by the railing. Giving in to the warm, sensuous kiss, she sat on the railing and enjoyed Jamie's mouth for several seconds. They were so involved that they almost didn't hear the muffled thump and sharp gasp that echoed up from the living room. Ryan tore her mouth away and looked over her shoulder to see her father gathering up the laundry that he had been carrying. She turned and gave her partner a dramatic eyebrow lift as she calmly drawled, "Morning, Da."

"Ahh, good morning girls. I didn't see you up there," he said nervously, not making eye contact. "Ready for some breakfast?" He was busily trying to refold the neat piles he had been carrying, but it was obvious that he was flustered at seeing them in the rather passionate embrace.

"Sure," Ryan said smoothly. "Be right down."

Jamie's hands had dropped to her sides as soon as they saw Martin, and she now gave Ryan a very guilty look. Her partner just pushed her gently into the bedroom and said, "I think that made him a little uncomfortable. Let me go smooth things over, okay?"

"Oh, Honey, I'm sorry I did that." Jamie looked terribly
contrite,
but Ryan was having none of it.

"Nonsense. We were doing nothing wrong, Hon. He's just got to get used to it. It's an adjustment for him too."

"You sure?" Jamie asked, obviously hoping to be reassured.

"Positive. Now will you go back to bed?"

"Yep," Jamie agreed as she hopped back in. "I'm staying in bed until he goes to work!"

Ryan strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of crisp bacon that her father had just prepared. She placed a kiss on his cheek and climbed aboard a tall stool, staring at him thoughtfully the whole time. Martin was concentrating on his cooking as though it was terribly mesmerizing, but he looked up quickly when Ryan asked, "Want to talk about it?"

"It?" he said absently, trying to avoid this particular talk.

"Um hmm," his daughter replied. "The big 'it' that's making that pancake batter so utterly fascinating."

He uttered a small, nervous laugh as he turned to face her. "I hate to be so transparent," he grumbled.

"It's okay, Da," she said reassuringly. "This has got to be hard for you. It's completely understandable."

He smiled at her with a look of utter relief on his handsome face. "Is it really, Darlin'? I've been worried that maybe I'm not as open minded as I like to think I am."

That admission took Ryan aback, and she blinked slowly as she tried to comprehend exactly what he meant. "Do you think it bothers you because I'm with a woman?" she asked slowly, as she tried to keep the hurt from her voice.

He looked very uncomfortable as he pursed his lips and said, "I…I'm not sure, Siobhán. I've just had a bit of a hard time adjusting…I…I'm not sure."

Conor's heavy tread echoed through the dining room, and father and daughter paused as he entered the kitchen. Taking one look at their faces and sensing the tension in the room, he turned on his heel and marched right back out. Martin smiled at his son's retreating form and said, "The lad has an aversion to serious talks, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he's the smart one," Ryan grumbled, now wishing she had not brought the topic up at all.

Seeing that he had upset his daughter, Martin wiped his hands and pulled up another stool right next to hers. He sat down and waited until she made eye contact to say, "I'm sure this is temporary, Sweetheart. But you might have to have a little patience with your old father."

Ryan gave him a small smile and nodded her head. "I can be patient," she said. "I just don't understand why it would bother you. It certainly isn't a surprise that I'm a lesbian."

"No, of course it isn't," he agreed. "I've known that you were…you know…with women…for years now, but Tracy was the only woman you've ever brought home."

"Did it bother you to think of Tracy and me…together?"

He blushed a little as he conceded, "Yes, it did a bit."

"I could have reassured you on that one, Da, we didn't have sex!"

"You didn't?" he asked, slightly stunned. "Why not?"

"For the same reason I haven't had sex with Jamie," she explained. "I was trying to find out if Tracy was right for me, and I wanted to concentrate on building a relationship before I muddled the issue with my raging hormones." She looked at him with a very serious expression as she related, "About five years ago, you told me that sex was much more special if you waited for the person that you loved. I obviously didn't heed your advice then, but I'm giving it a go now. I'll let you know how it works out," she said with a charming grin.

"So how do I get over feeling odd about you two?" he asked plaintively.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I guess we just see how it goes."

Jamie snuck her head into the room and asked, "Is this a private conversation, or can I join in?"

Ryan opened her arms as she gave her a wide smile. Jamie walked over and snuggled into her embrace as she sat on the tiny edge of the stool that Ryan vacated for her. "You're welcome to join us," she said as she rested her chin on Jamie's shoulder.

"I was just telling Siobhán how happy I am that she's found you Jamie. You're the best addition to the family that I could ever dream of," he said as he bent to kiss her cheek. As he stood, he gave his daughter a reassuring smile and a kiss.

Jamie blushed a bit at the praise and turned her head to Ryan as she said, "That's one of the nicest morning greetings I've had in a long while."

"They're only going to get better," Ryan's deep voice burred against the back of her neck, sending a good-morning shiver down her spine.

After breakfast Jamie decided to go to church to see her grandfather, but Ryan couldn't spare the time. She grabbed a liter of water and went downstairs with Duffy to get to work. She was completely amazed to feel a soft kiss on her neck after what seemed to be just minutes later, but Jamie assured her that it was nearly noon. Pulling her lover onto her lap, they spent a few minutes kissing before Ryan patted her butt and sent her on her way. After changing into khaki shorts and a sky blue tank top, Jamie went upstairs to make lunch, coming back a few minutes later with two sandwiches and one happy dog. They spent a few minutes sharing their lunch while Jamie related the message of the sermon and gained a promise that they could spend some time with her grandfather after finals. After their meal was finished Jamie said, "When I was upstairs with your father, he acted just like he always does. How did your talk go this morning?"

"It went okay," Ryan said, thinking about the whole exchange. "But he is a little uncomfortable with us. I think he needs some time to let the change sink in."

"Is he uncomfortable with it because we're women? Or just because we were being too affectionate?"

"Not sure," Ryan said. "I don't think he knows, either. But he's willing to talk about it, so I'm sure it will be okay eventually."

"Hmm, has he ever seen you kiss anyone before me?"

Ryan thought about that for a minute, eventually smiling up at her partner. "You know, I don't think he has. God, that's gotta be kinda rough on a parent. I mean, he knows I've been having sex for a long time, but it must be weird to actually see evidence of the way I feel about you."

"Yeah," Jamie said with a chuckle. "Your intentions were pretty clear this morning, too. That kiss was way friendly."

Ryan laughed as she reminded her, "You started it, Smarty-pants. I'm just a slave to your desires."

"We're both prone to losing control," Jamie agreed. "But to be fair to your father, I think we should tone it down in front of him. It's kinda rude."

"You're right, as usual," Ryan agreed. "I don't want to have to avoid showing affection, but our passion should probably not be on display."

"You know," Jamie said thoughtfully. "I wonder if that's the real reason behind the 'no overnight dates' rule. I bet your brothers wouldn't mind a bit."

Ryan laughed quietly as she nodded her head. "You know, I've never considered that. But I know Conor would love to have another woman in the house even if she was in my bed! And Rory's so casual about things that he wouldn't bat an eye. I think we may have stumbled upon one of Da's weaknesses."

"Well let's make sure we don't exploit it," Jamie declared as she patted Ryan on the cheek and released her to resume her studies.

Ryan got up from her chair at three and lay down on the floor. After performing an elaborate series of stretching moves, she was right back at it. Jamie loved watching her concentrate, and Ryan's trance was so deep that, for a change, she didn't even notice that she was being observed. She was wearing her cute little wire-rimmed computer glasses as she sat in front of her monitor, fingers flying over the keys. Jamie was fairly computer literate, having had her own system since she was in grammar school, but Ryan acted like her computer was just an extension of her brain. She could find the most obscure site on the Internet in a matter of moments, and Jamie suspected that she could make a good living in the software business if she chose that path. Still, even though she was a prodigy with computers she didn't seem to love them with the same passion that she held for science and math. She actually never looked more content than when she was sitting in front of her computer working on a particularly difficult problem. The look of joy and excitement that graced her beautiful face when she solved whatever issue was vexing her was truly a thing to behold, and Jamie smiled when she thought of spending the whole next year watching her plow through her studies. There was just a tiny part of her that felt a little left out, since she had absolutely no idea what Ryan was talking about when she tried to share her discoveries; but she was happy to witness her joy even if she didn't understand it.

Since Ryan was so engrossed, Jamie had no choice but to get caught up on her own work, and they were both surprised when Martin called them for dinner. "Dinner?" Ryan said as she lifted her head. "Did we have lunch?"

"Yes, dear," Jamie said as she tried to roll her away from the screen by tugging on her chair.