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Authors: Jennifer Fulton

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BOOK: More Than Paradise
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“Ash.” She was standing at the connecting door. Her smile had a fuzzy half-awake quality. “I was in your bed.”

As she came stumbling across the room in her white tank and panties, her guard down, her hair messed, Ash could hardly think straight. She caught her in a Þ erce embrace and for a long while they just stood there, clinging to one another. Then she remembered to be

• 218 •

MORE THAN PARADISE

a responsible adult and asked, “How are you feeling? Has the fever gone?”

“I’m not sure.” Charlotte drew back only enough to stare up at Ash with sleepy-eyed mischief. “I just got all hot.”

“That sounds serious.” Ash couldn’t quite stop her voice from shaking. “Maybe you need to lie down.”

She did, then, what any self-respecting Romeo would do. She swept Charlotte off her feet, one arm under her knees, and strode into the next room. There, she lowered her tenderly onto the bed. At least that was the general idea.

Only she didn’t feel tender. The demure temptress sprawled against the Þ ne pale sheets had summoned a predatory passion Ash could not fully control. And she didn’t try. She wanted a home in Charlotte’s arms without having to kill off parts of herself. She wanted Charlotte to know her. Yes…she’d just spent the entire trip home planning a slow, gentle return to intimacy. Maybe just kissing and cuddling to begin with. But now, she had a whole other agenda.

Uncertain how she should handle this homecoming all of a sudden, she moved onto the bed and propped herself on an elbow, leaning over Charlotte. “You know, we could give it a day or two. I mean, we’re not going anywhere.”

“Why wait?” Charlotte shifted so their bodies were aligned. Her eyes met Ash’s. She said, “Do something for me. Please.”

“Anything you want,” Ash whispered.

“Be who you are.” Charlotte ran a Þ ngertip over Ash’s lips. “I want to know.”

Ash’s throat closed. She caught Charlotte’s hand, placed a kiss in the palm, then gently placed it on the pillow above her head. “I love you,” she said, stripping away the fabric barriers between them. Her robe. Charlotte’s tank and panties.

“I love you, too.” Charlotte dropped her other hand up on the pillow. Both nestled above her head, the posture lifting her breasts. She opened her legs, offering herself.

Ash’s breathing changed as she laid claim to the body she could not stop craving. Charlotte’s nipples bumped against her palms. She was wet, the dark hair between her thighs clumped in a single mat.

Ash had to be inside of her. She dipped her Þ ngertips. A brief pang tore across her concentration as she thought about what had almost happened, how she wasn’t there to protect the woman she cherished.

• 219 •

JENNIFER FULTON

Charlotte’s hands smoothed over her head, caressing their way down to her shoulders. “I’m yours,” she said. “No one else’s.”

Their lips met and as Charlotte took her deep inside, Ash lost herself in the kiss she had always known was waiting for her somewhere.

Their bodies rocked in wordless accord, gradually inevitably building the bridge to bliss they would soon cross together. Then all thought was consumed and they were groaning and shuddering, pushing and straining, harder and faster, until time seemed to stop entirely. Flushed and shivering, they stared at one another, eyes wide with knowing.

Ash thought,
This is how it’s meant to be.
And in that second they collapsed in shuddering release, their hearts racing together, their bodies pulsing as one. Unable to move, unable to speak, they huddled together in the conspiracy of lovers, inscribing a language of their own in the secret hallways of their twinning souls.

When Charlotte could eventually summon words, she said in wonder, “It was always you. I always thought someone was out there, just waiting for me.”

Ash nodded. “I thought that, too. And I kissed a
lot
of frogs trying to run you to ground.”

Charlotte laughed and gave her a small prod. “Those days are over.”

“Really?” Ash wanted to hear it. A promise—maybe not the ultimate promise. It was too soon for guarantees. Yet nothing about their love had happened logically so far. She ran caressing Þ ngers over the soft planes of Charlotte’s face and prompted, “Tell me what you want for this…for us.”

Her lover angled her head pensively. “I want to say yes.” She covered Ash’s hand with her own. “Whatever this chance is, I want to take it.”

Ash brushed her lips over Charlotte’s in silent afÞ rmation and once more they devoted themselves to pleasure. Hours later, when they woke from another sated sleep, Charlotte followed the tattooed jade tendrils along Ash’s left shoulder to the white lotus ß ower above her collarbone. Now that she was close enough to kiss the skin it adorned, she could Þ nally read the inscription.

No one can ß ee death or love.

• 220 •

About the Author

New Zealand born, Jennifer Fulton resides in the Midwest with her partner, Fel, and a menagerie of animals. Her vice of choice is writing; however, she is also devoted to her wonderful daughter, Sophie, and her hobbies—ß y Þ shing, cinema, and Þ ne cooking.

Jennifer started writing stories almost as soon as she could read them, and never stopped. Under pen names Jennifer Fulton, Rose Beecham, and Grace Lennox she has published Þ fteen novels and a handful of short stories. She received a 2006 Alice B. award for her body of work and is a multiple GCLS “Goldie” Award recipient.

When she is not writing or reading, she loves to explore the mountains and prairies near her home, a landscape eternally and wonderfully foreign to her.

Jennifer can be contacted at [email protected].

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