Disclosures - SF4 (14 page)

"Does she work for other people too?"

"No. She’s in class or studying the other two days. I pay her well and she can afford to only work three days a week until she’s more skilled in English."

"She’s been here how long?" Ryan asked.

"Since January," Jamie replied.

"Um…I hate to break it to you, Babe, but she doesn’t know a bit of English."

Jamie slapped her on the thigh, seeing the gentle tease behind the impish grin. "She does just fine, smarty pants. You just shocked the English right out of her with that scrumptious body!"

"Well I don’t know about that, but she does seem like a nice woman. You said that
Esteban
and
Raimundo
are the gardeners?"

"Yep. They don’t know that I know it, but they’re lovers," Jamie said quietly, in case Zaragoza could hear them speaking.

"Really?" Ryan wasn’t sure why this surprised her, but the thought of the two sturdy young men being gay was startling. "Are they in business together?"

"Uh–huh. They’re together all day. They work together and they live together. Two of
Raimundo
’s cousins live with them too, and I think they’re gay also."

"That’s cool that they’re there to support each other," Ryan said thoughtfully. "I assume it’s not okay to be gay where they are from?"

"Yeah. Marta tells me they were basically banished from their town near Puebla in Mexico. Their families don’t speak to them at all."

Ryan shook her head for a full minute, ruminating about the cruelty of families. "So…the bottom line is, by having all of these people work here we’re actually helping them build their own lives in the U.S."

"Yep." Jamie’s smile was nearly radiant, and Ryan knew that she was trapped without an argument for letting any of them go.

"Hey…" Her brow contracted as she came upon the flaw in the logic. "Which one of these recent immigrants owns ‘Web Van.Com’?"

Jamie blushed as she admitted the truth. "Umm…that one is just because I’m lazy."

Satisfied that she had won at least a tiny bit of turf, Ryan decreed, "From now on I’m in charge of grocery shopping. ‘Web Van.Com’ can serve every other yuppie in Berkeley, but they’ll never darken our door again!"

Zaragoza finished up by seven, and as Ryan observed her partner converse with the young man she reminded herself,
You never asked how she learned to speak Spanish so well!

When they were once again alone, Ryan tugged her partner into her lap and asked, "Did you take Spanish in school?"

"Yeah, a little in grammar school," Jamie informed her. "But Marta taught me most everything. She had a rule—I couldn’t help in the kitchen unless we spoke Spanish."

"Smart woman," Ryan murmured, nuzzling Jamie’s sweet-smelling neck. "Better than my Granny’s method—‘Go to your Irish lesson, Siobhán, or you don’t get to eat dinner!’ " Both women laughed, knowing that food was always a sufficient motivator for Ryan.

"Yeah, I’m really grateful to Marta. I was bilingual by the time I learned to speak, and it’s sure come in handy quite often."

"I’d like our kids to be at least bilingual," Ryan agreed. "By the time they’re adults, the majority of Californians will probably be Spanish speaking."

"It’s a deal," Jamie decided. "I’ll teach ‘em Spanish, and you teach ‘em Irish."

"Great," Ryan muttered. "They can hate me for making them learn a language that almost no one in America speaks!"

"True, but we’ve got to make your Granny happy," Jamie reminded her, green eyes dancing.

"Good point," Ryan nodded, smiling broadly at the thought of her grandmother’s happiness upon having her great-grandchildren speaking the native tongue.

The sun was just a memory as the two reclined on twin chaise lounges, pleasantly buzzed from the champagne and partially sated from the delicacies in the gift basket. They were holding hands and softly sharing their hopes and dreams of the future, while the cooling breeze wafted over their skin. "I feel a lot better about living here," Ryan murmured, leaning over to place a gentle kiss on Jamie’s cheek.

"Why do you think so, Baby?" The pace of her reply was much slower than normal, and Ryan was fairly sure the alcohol was to blame for that.

"Not sure," the darker woman replied lazily, holding the last few sips of her wine up to gaze at the moon through the bubbles. "Maybe because I got settled and spent some time checking the place out. Maybe because it was really convenient to have you get home in ten minutes. It’s really nice not to have to cross the Bay Bridge during rush hour, too," she added as she let the last drops of the slightly warm liquid slide down her throat. "But I guess the number one reason is because I can do this…" In the blink of an eye she was lying upon Jamie’s prone body, her weight pressing heavily into her smaller partner.

Jamie looked up at the glittering eyes that held hers and immediately decided that she didn’t care if Ryan weighed more than the offensive line of the ‘Niners. She needed to be crushed by the coiled power that lurked just under the surface of the baby-smooth skin that she reached up to taste.

"Wanna go to bed?" Ryan asked softly, her desire boldly displayed on her lovely face.

"I can’t ever imagine saying no to that request," Jamie murmured breathlessly as she captured the rose-tinted lips that hovered over her.

As all rational thought began to seep from Ryan’s brain, she got to her shaky feet and held out a hand. "Bed." Her demand was clear, and Jamie willingly complied, taking her hand for the short trip to the house. A quick glance at the table brought the adult in Ryan to the surface, and she stopped to swoop up the little plates and wire domes. "Ants," she intoned seriously, nodding judiciously at Jamie’s giggles.

Once again, their evening ablutions were cast aside, neither woman willing to delay the expression of their passion for another moment. "I love you so much." Jamie’s endearingly sincere expression as she spoke made Ryan's heart swell with love for the woman who rested upon her body.

Hands shaking with desire lifted to run through the golden locks that had shifted forward, nearly covering the sea-green eyes that she so loved. "I love you, too," Ryan murmured, finding that her voice was rough with emotion. "I’ll never stop loving you, Jamie."

A slow smile spread across the smaller woman’s face, and she dipped her head once more to taste the lips that held her in their sway. "Forever," she whispered, repeating the word that best expressed her love. "It doesn’t matter where we live. It only matters that we’re together." Another series of achingly tender kisses followed, causing a low groan to escape from Ryan’s slightly parted lips. "Always together."

The slowly building passion had risen to irresistible proportions, and Jamie felt the demands of her body increase exponentially. She shifted just a bit, allowing her legs to spread when she felt Ryan’s muscled thigh press against her need. She sucked in a short breath, lifting her head slowly as her eyes fluttered closed.

Ryan’s head swirled with want, and the ache in her belly grew as Jamie’s tongue peeked out of her parted lips and slowly, teasingly, traced all around their outline, wetting them just enough so they glistened in the candlelight. It was an unconscious gesture, but Ryan’s addled brain considered it one of the sexiest things she had ever seen. "Kiss me," the dark woman whispered, her need for the moist lips undeniable.

Jamie gracefully granted her wish, putting all of her tender feelings into the touch. She continued to move against Ryan, now sliding easily against the firm thigh, while their mouths met and merged.

The blonde head lifted once again as a shudder rolled through her body, sending chills down Ryan’s spine in response. "Ooooh," she moaned softly, continuing to drive her hips against her partner. "I had no…idea…it could ever be this…wonderful." Her voice was rough with desire as she gasped out the words. Her skin shimmered in the candlelight, droplets of perspiration threatening to slide down her flushed face. Tiny flecks of gold and amber glinted in her verdant eyes as she struggled valiantly to hold them open.

Ryan’s hands slipped down to her lover’s hips, holding her securely. Jamie was beginning to strain now, her eyes tightly closed as her thrusts became rougher—more demanding. "Let go, Love," Ryan cooed softly. "Come on, let it go. Let everything out. Tell me—show me how it feels."

"I…love…you!" she gasped, speeding the beat of her hips in a wild fury. She blindly reached out and grasped Ryan’s firm breasts, anchoring herself to her partner.

Covering Jamie’s trembling hands with her own, Ryan whispered, "I love you, too, Jamie…so much."

Watery green eyes fought to open as she felt herself drown in the ocean of blue that gazed up at her with pure devotion. "For…ever," she gasped as waves of sensation buffeted her body, rolling over and over her as she cried out softly.

Ryan pulled her down, gasping in surprise at the wildly beating heart that pounded against her breast. The smaller woman was nearly limp in her arms, the heat radiating off her body. Shudders continued to rock her, each one causing a catch in her still-labored breathing.

"You are so incredibly beautiful," Ryan murmured, running her fingers through the damp golden locks splayed across her chest. "Your face…your body…the way you look at me when I’m loving you. So beautiful." Her voice was wistful and soft, and the slow, calming cadence was a powerful lure to Jamie to drift off. But her need to touch and taste her beloved was far greater than her need to sleep, and as she began to run her hands over her lover’s body she felt her energy return.

"I want to show you how I feel," she murmured, her voice capturing the slow, sensual tone that her partner had used. "I want to show you with my hands, and my mouth and my tongue. I want you to know how much I love you."

Ryan gazed at her with a combination of deep love and nearly-painful desire. "Love me," she murmured in a voice as soft as a breeze.

Never had a request been so willingly granted, and their bodies spoke for their hearts deep into the warm summer night.

The sun was just beginning to give evidence of the new day when a muffled voice that sounded like it was being forced out of a pair of lungs compressed under a heavy weight croaked out, "Has anybody ever told you that you were a load?"

Ryan chuckled at her partner’s choice of words, her laugh constricting Jamie’s chest even further. "Others have mentioned that." With another laugh she rolled from her perch atop her smaller partner’s body and gently examined her for signs of damage. "No harm done, Sweet Pea. I don’t think I was on top of you for long."

Jamie’s fingers tangled in the dark hair that was draped across her chest. "I like you on top of me," she murmured lazily. "It just astounds me how heavy you feel, though. I don’t crush you like this, do I?"

"Hardly," Ryan smiled. "You’re just a little heavier than Caitlin."

"Funny, very funny." A few good tickles made Ryan retract her statement.

"Well you’re heavier than you look. Jack wasn’t even…" she began, but cut herself short before she could finish the thought.

Ryan knew that her partner was trying to censor herself from bringing up a loaded topic, but she felt no need to be protected in such a way. "I doubt that Jack weighed as much as I do," Ryan offered, trying to show that she wasn’t bothered by speaking about him.

Jamie lifted her head to get a better look into her lover’s eyes. "Of course he did," she protested. "Guys weigh lots more than women do."

Ryan laughed at this generalization. "Not when the guy is really lean, and the woman is…sturdy," she concluded, trying to find the correct term for her impressive musculature.

"Honey, I think he weighed about 175 or 180. How much do you weigh?" In all their time together, they had never discussed this bit of trivia, which was slightly surprising to the smaller woman.

"Guess," Ryan teased, climbing astride her once again.

As the air was squeezed from her lungs, and her ribs felt like they were going to poke out of her back, Jamie gasped, "600 pounds!"

Rolling off again, Ryan scoffed, "You’re way off. You’ll never make a living guessing weight at the carnival."

"Come on…tell me," Jamie begged.

"I’m really not sure," Ryan admitted. "I fluctuate a lot, and I haven’t gained back what I lost on the ride. I’m still pretty low."

"You sure don’t feel low," the smaller woman mused, hefting a weighty thigh in both hands.

"We can check, if you have a scale," Ryan suggested. "I might need the information later today, anyway."

"Huh?"

Ryan hopped out of bed, stretching sensually while Jamie watched her in fascinated silence. "I might need to know how much I weigh," she said absently as she bent to stretch her lower back.

"Huh?" This time, Jamie’s confusion was mostly from her fascination with her lover’s flexing body.

Ryan caught the difference in tone and chuckled at the look on her partner’s face. "Let’s hop in the shower, Love."

"No running today?" Jamie asked, getting up to do a few stretches of her own.

"Nope. I need my strength. I’m trying to arrange for an appointment this morning that will use up a lot of energy." She wandered into the bath and got onto the scale, nodding to herself as the needle settled down.