Cadence of My Heart (10 page)

Cadence giggles. “I like hearing you talk like this.”

“What? Dirty?”

“No. Well, yes. Just not holding anything back. I like that.”

“Me, too.” Marlee kisses her head. “I hadn’t realized how much tension there was between us until suddenly I could kiss you and hold you, and love you the way I’ve wanted to love you for so many months. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

That’s true. Sex or no sex, that’s true.

Marlee presses her cheek against the cool pillow, feeling sunlight on her face and salty air in her lungs. This is the first morning in a long time that she hasn’t woken up to any particular schedule, and just to lie quietly, basking in the ecstasy of spending a guilt-free night in bed with Cadence, is pure bliss. She didn’t even need sex last night. It felt perfect just the way they were.

Kissing.

Holding.

So much kissing.

Cadence comes out of the bathroom, wearing nothing more than her t-shirt and knickers, rubbing her hair dry with a towel. “You’re awake!” She leaps onto the bed.

Without giving Marlee a chance to say anything back, she dives on top of her, bombarding her with kisses. All Marlee can do is whine her approval.

Cadence is being so passionate and so forceful. What the hell’s gotten into her this morning? Where’s the bashful girl in guinea pig pajamas she just shared a bed with? Who cares? Marlee slips her hands inside a pair of cotton knickers, groping Cadence’s ass.

“Mmm, good morning.” She stretches beneath her. “What a nice way to wake up.”

“I like this, Marlee.” Cadence plants one more kiss on her, then wriggles into bed beside her. “And I’m sorry about last night. It won’t happen again.”

“Whatever are you talking about, sweetheart?” Marlee fingers a lock of damp chestnut hair. “Last night was wonderful.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Cadence mumbles forlornly. “I panicked.”

“I know,” Marlee says, understanding. No explanation needed.

“I wasn’t really sleeping when you came to bed.” Cadence feels she ought to confess. “I just had so many butterflies, and—”

“Sshhh.” Marlee kisses her. “No apologies.”

“But—”

Another kiss. “Don’t, Cady.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t try to make yourself do things because you think it’s what I want.” Marlee brings her young lover closer. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Huh?”

“Till you’re ready. If you’re worried about Rachel, you needn’t be. I won’t touch her, or anyone else. There are plenty of ways you and I can be intimate without going all the way, and loving you properly is so much more important than my own selfish need for sex.”

Marlee expects the promise of fidelity to cheer Cadence, alleviating whatever burden she was placing on herself. Instead, it seems to make her even more dejected.

“If we wait too long, I’ll be engaged.” She sinks into the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “My mother’s hoping to have me promised to someone at seventeen, and married at eighteen.” She rolls onto her side, away from Marlee. “And you be won’t be my nanny anymore.” Her voice cracks. “You’ll be gone. So if we wait, there’ll be nothing to wait
for
.”

She’s right: their time together is finite, and slipping away from them by the day.

“Darling, try not to fret so much about the future.” Marlee snuggles up behind her. “Who knows what it’ll bring?” She squeezes Cadence’s shoulder, turning her into an embrace. “And let’s not let such dark thoughts mar this weekend together.” She gives her a brief peck on the lips, trying to lighten the mood. “What do you want to do today? Any ideas?”

Her face lighting up again, Cadence lunges for the bedside table and retrieves a map. Opening it, she finds Lymington, then trails her finger west, jabbing at a particular spot.

“I thought we could go here.”

She’s pointing to Milford-on-Sea, another seaside village. It’s only ten minutes away by car.

Marlee peers over her shoulder, recognizing the place immediately. “That’s …” She glances at Cadence, wondering if she has any idea of its significance.

She does.

“That’s your village, isn’t it?” She smiles. “That’s where you’re from?”

Marlee nods, on the verge of tears. “Is that why you picked this place?”

“Uh-huh.” Cadence’s smile grows. “I wanted to surprise you.”

It worked.

“How did you know?” Marlee daren’t blink for fear of setting her tears free.

“I snuck into my father’s study and peeped at your employment file. He keeps files on all the staff. He’s such a creeper.”

Endorphins surging, Marlee wants to show her appreciation for the effort. “Do you trust me, Cady?”

“Of course I trust you. Wh—”

Marlee grabs her, throws her down on the bed, moves her legs apart, and wiggles her way between them. Lying over Cadence, she fondles one breast over her t-shirt while kissing her. The kisses start on her lips, trail down her neck—almost to her chest—then work back up to her lips.

Suddenly breaking the kisses off, Marlee kneels between Cadence’s legs and thrusts her pelvis forward, grinding their sexes together.

Cadence yelps excitedly. “Holy crap, Marlee!”

“I love you, Cadence.” Marlee bends to kiss her again, continuing to hump her tenderly. “I can give you so much pleasure without ever laying a finger on you. Now lift up your legs.”

Cadence does as Marlee asks, the act of raising her legs to Marlee’s waist serving to tilt her pelvis up, allowing Marlee to directly stimulate her clit with every thrust. It’s sensual, erotic, and with only two thin layers of cotton between them, it feels almost bare.

“Oh!” Cadence wraps her arms around Marlee’s neck. “Yes!”

At first, she thinks this is entirely for her own enjoyment, but it soon becomes apparent that Marlee—her breathing quickened, mewling soft noises of ecstasy—is getting just as much satisfaction from it.

“I really do love you, Cady.” She clutches at Cadence’s ass, keeping the teen’s hips angled upward. “So much it hurts.”

In only a few minutes, Cadence feels her orgasm building, the heat between her legs seeming to encompass her entire abdomen, her body on fire beneath Marlee. She begins to pant, her eyes wide as the now familiar sensation of sexual climax starts to rise in her.

“Marlee! I’m—” She cries out, her orgasm overtaking her.

Grinding more firmly, Marlee gyrates directly on Cadence’s clit as her own climax hits. “Oh, god!” Her legs are trembling so much she almost collapses.

She holds herself tight against Cadence until her peak starts to wane, breathing heavily, their bodies a bundle of shivers.

“Was that okay?” she asks then, gazing fondly at her lover.

“What did we just do?” Cadence is breathless, her face flushed, her nipples hard beneath her too-tight t-shirt. “It was epic.”

“It was the same thing we did last night, but for both of us this time.” Marlee maneuvers out from between her legs, dropping down next to her. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Is it sex?”

“It’s a kind of sex we can have without you giving anything up. You understand?”

Cadence nods. “It was amazing. I felt you come against me.” She looks down at her crotch. “I think you made my knickers damp.”

Marlee laughs. “Probably. Mine are soaked.”

“Can I peek?”

Marlee parts her legs and lets Cadence look up her negligee, but her knickers are black and it’s difficult to see clearly. Cadence extends a hand toward her, seeking a quick feel, but hesitates halfway.

“Do you mind?”

“Darling, from now on, you can always touch me. You don’t have to ask.”

Cadence moves her hand up to the gusset of Marlee’s knickers, rubbing her index and middle fingers over the saturated fabric, feeling the cleft of Marlee’s vagina beneath, making her murmur.

“Wow.” Cadence withdraws. “Do you always get so wet?”

“Lately, yes. You turn me on a lot.” Marlee rolls onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow. “Are you really taking me to see my family?”

Cadence snuggles up to her. “I want to give you something special. My parents never ask you what you want. You never get anything.”

“But I already have the best thing in the world.”

Cadence is genuinely clueless.

“You, you daft apeth.” Marlee kisses her, sucking on her baby pink lips. “As long as I have you, nothing else matters.”

That’s a lovely sentiment, but Cadence isn’t convinced by it.

“Everyone should get to spend time with their family, Marlee.” She flings an arm around her waist. “How long’s it been since you last visited home?”

Tears invade Marlee’s eyes again, but she refuses to set them free. “Almost three years.”

“Are you serious?!”

Cadence isn’t sure what she was expecting to hear, but it wasn’t that. She doesn’t recollect Marlee ever being away from her for any length of time, but she always assumed that visits, while perhaps rare, must be occurring somehow.

Marlee tucks a lock of drying hair behind Cadence’s ear, gazing affectionately at her. “I don’t get time off from taking care of you, honey.”

“But—”

Marlee stops her. “I don’t
want
time off from taking care of you. I love taking care of you, and I knew what I was giving up when I accepted the position as your nanny.”

“But your family …”

“I meet my sister for lunch a few times a year, when she’s not off gallivanting around the country with her eccentric hippie boyfriend. My parents come up the odd time, too. It’s always very brief, but we’ve grown accustomed to it. Ultimately, I’m paid a fair wage, my family’s income is supplemented by your family’s kind donations, and I get to spend every minute with you. It’s a fine arrangement.”

Fine, but definitely not fair. Other nannies get annual vacation time to spend at home with their families, but the Ashlocks made it very clear from the outset that they wouldn’t be able to accommodate her taking any time for herself. In lieu of that, they offered to provide her family additional financial support—an offer she simply couldn’t decline.

It did all work out for the best, though.

The spectacular orgasm she just experienced is a testament to that.