Nightshade (39 page)

“Finally?”

“Well, yes, but I didn’t mean you. It’s just that I didn’t know what to do, you see, and I—”

Darry covered Jessa’s mouth, tasting in a slow, sensual manner until her tongue sought entrance. When it was granted and Jessa pulled against her neck, Darry complied.

Jessa felt Darry’s arms slide about her back and the hard thighs against her own, their breasts pressing close. But it was the warm tongue in her mouth that made her weak, the tender strokes and soft lips. The taste of her burst in Jessa’s mouth and she tightened her embrace, instantly wanting more.

A kiss. It was the thing that held Jessa’s life in the balance and her heart beat fiercely at the reality of it. She gasped for breath as Darry pulled her lips away, though they returned for more within the next instant. Jessa followed her want and let her own tongue find pleasure in return. The texture and the heat, the flavor and gentle need, it was everything she thought it might be and more.

Jessa’s knees were weak and her body was no longer truly in her control, her hand touching Darry’s cheek as they gazed into each other’s eyes. She saw the surprise and the need in Darry’s gaze, and the hunger she felt mirrored within herself. She saw the vulnerability as well, hesitation warring with something primal and altogether lovely.

“It’s all right,” Jessa whispered, knowing suddenly that she had absolute power over the moment, over Darry’s need. What happened next was up to her, but having power was not what she expected. It was not what she thought it would be at all, for the only thing she wanted to do with it was give it away. “Don’t stop.”
Blessed Vhaelin, please don’t stop.

Darry’s thighs trembled and her blood was rushing. Jessa was so beautiful, her hair loose and dark about her face, her eyes filled with emotion. She could feel the press of Jessa’s breasts against her and how Jessa’s breath came fast. The moment was a singular one and she knew it. It was the second time in but a few days that her entire life had turned on a heartbeat, and the elation she felt now drowned out the heartbreak of the first with a power that might have stopped time.

“Darry.” Jessa’s voice was touched with a sweet misery that her words were not being heeded. “Will I always be having to beg? It doesn’t seem quite fair. If you don’t kiss me again I think I might die. I mean it.”

Darry captured her mouth once more, and Jessa let out a startled sound at the hand at the back of her neck. Jessa surrendered completely, seduced by the lean power in Darry’s body, suddenly at Darry’s mercy and thrilled by it. The muscles of Darry’s arms were hard and moving against her.

Jessa gasped at the pleasure that blossomed between her legs and into her thighs. Darry’s mouth moved hot against her jaw and she tipped her head back. She blinked into the sky above and tried to breathe, the sensations raging through her body more pleasurable than she had imagined they might be. And then her eyelids fluttered as Darry’s mouth opened beneath her left ear and tasted of the skin. Jessa pushed her hips forward.
Essa!

Darry’s strong hands eased low on Jessa’s back.

“Drassa…”

Darry waited, her heart pounding as her lips brushed Jessa’s ear. “Yes?”

Jessa’s hand closed hard around Darry’s wrist and moved the touch downward. “Yes,” she whispered. “More, Darry…
drassa
.”

Darry eased her hands onto Jessa’s buttocks and took Jessa’s mouth in another open kiss that was met with equal passion.

Jessa caught at a jagged breath as Darry’s right thigh slipped between her own, and Darry’s hands guided her against the muscled leg. Jessa gasped at the pressure against her sex, a stab of pleasure following close behind as Darry kissed her yet again. She found Darry’s trousers and pulled, seeking leverage as Darry’s thigh pressed harder and her tongue went deeper. Jessa arched forward with equal heat until they were both breathless.

“I want,” Darry whispered into her mouth, “I want to do things to you, Jessa.”

“What…” Jessa swallowed the taste of her, their lips clinging together. “What sort of things?”

“Wonderful things,” Darry said, her hands cupping and squeezing and her lower body rocking forward.

“Things…things like that?”

Darry let her tongue taste of the shadows just beneath Jessa’s left ear. “Even better.”

Jessa pulled at Darry’s hair and forced her face to rise. “Then do them,
Akasha
.” Her body was on fire and she wanted more. “Do anything you want, just don’t stop.”

Darry’s blood rose, a quiver of impending release a warning between her legs as Jessa pushed closer against her thigh. The expression on Jessa’s face was beyond beautiful and Darry held her tight, forcing them into a tense stillness. “Sweet seven hells…Jess,
wait
.”

“Never again. Please don’t stop, Darry.”

“Do you trust me?” Darry’s voice was hoarse as she closed her eyes, pressing her lips to Jessa’s cheek. “Do you trust me?”
Please say you do.

Jessa did not understand why the question was asked, her lips claiming a kiss beside Darry’s eye. “I love you, Darry, of course I trust you.”

Darry’s eyes opened and she pulled back.

Despite her uncertainty Jessa had to smile. She had not known that saying the words to Darry would cause such a pleasing swell of sensations. “Was I not supposed to say that yet?”

“You can say it again if you’d like.”

Jessa’s laughter was filled with delight.

“I love you too, Jess.” Darry smiled. “I didn’t know, but I thought maybe you…I mean, I was afraid you might walk straight, no matter how you looked at me. And I didn’t want to ruin this, before, us being friends, I mean…so I’ve been trying to stop it. Oh, gods, Jess, I’ve been trying so hard.”

“It would seem that you have nothing to fear.” She felt as if she had been thrown across a great distance, just as Radha said she might. “So please stop trying,
Akasha
.”

“I will, I promise.”

“Did you just…did you just say that you love me too?”

“Yes.” Darry smiled. “Yes, I did.”

When they kissed, Darry’s heart was pounding so wildly that Jessa could feel it in her own mouth. Everything ached and throbbed and Jessa wanted to laugh and cry, though mostly she just wanted more. She pulled away, though, her lips sore in their need for more of the same. “What…what were you about to say before?” Her hands trembled on Darry’s face. She kissed her in a lush, yielding kiss. “Your mouth is so beautiful. And I’ve been wanting to kiss it for so very long. The night of the fête, Darry, it was so not enough.”

“A bed.” Darry’s voice was uneven. “We need a
bed
.”

“I have a bed,” Jessa said quickly, her fingers upon Darry’s lips, her eyes hazy as she watched the caress.

“You also have a Radha.”

“She’s very old, and a sound sleeper, I assure you.”

Darry laughed. “And could no doubt turn me into a
goat
should she wake to find you screaming.”

Jessa found it hard to breathe. “Actually, Radha is very fond of goats.”

“Not really the point, love.”

“Will there be screaming?” Jessa asked in a whisper, instantly weak at the thought.

Darry smiled tenderly, her expression so warm and filled with promise that Jessa’s world tilted yet again. “Only of the sweetest sort, my love, I promise.”

Jessa pulled back and Darry loosened her embrace. “Then find us a bed before something inside of me breaks. So we can…
Shivahsa
.” She sighed and returned to where she had been, kissing her.

“No, don’t do that,” Darry pleaded, trying to free her mouth.

“But I like it.”

“I can’t think.”

“You can’t do both?”

Darry tried not to laugh. “My love, I can barely stand up.”

Jessa smiled at the endearment and kissed her again, Darry holding tighter as she slid her hands along Darry’s tunic.

“Jess…please, love…”

Jessa pulled back again. “I like the way you taste.” She loosened Darry’s collar. “I mean, I
really
like it, Darry.” She slipped her right hand beneath the now-open collar of Darry’s shirt and Darry stumbled backward, Jessa moving with her. They bumped into the hedgerow with a rustling of leaves and the snapping of twigs. “
Ahbwalla
, Darry!” Jessa laughed. “Where are you going?”

Darry groaned as Jessa pressed her leg between her thighs. “Bloody hell, Jess, stop this now.”

“Or what?” Jessa asked, and tasted Darry’s neck as Darry’s head fell back. “
Essa antua
.” Jessa moaned as she pressed her entire body as close as she could. “Does all of you taste like this?” She sucked on the skin beneath Darry’s jaw. “Please tell me it does.”

“Holy Gamar, Jess…
don’t
.”

“Have you thought of a bed yet?” Jessa ran her hand along Darry’s jaw. “Everything is so soft. My blood is very hot, Darry. Is yours?”

“Yes.” Darry took Jessa by the arms, needing her to step back but utterly helpless to force the issue. “Please, you must stop. I can’t, you have to stop. Just for a minute.”

Jessa pushed at Darry’s hair, kissing her neck. “Why?”

Darry closed her eyes, letting out a harsh breath as Jessa’s leg moved against her. “Because, please…Jess.”

“You’re so beautiful.” Jessa’s lips found Darry’s ear.

“Jess, you’ll make me spend,” Darry managed, and Jessa stilled at once.

Darry tried to move beyond the thunder of her blood, opening her eyes as Jessa pulled back slightly. Jessa touched her face, her eyes filled with emotion. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s just, if you could just move your leg away, that might be best.”

Jessa tried to step to the side without actually letting her go. “I didn’t…I didn’t know I was doing that.”

“I did.” Darry felt like laughing as she pushed awkwardly from the hedge and Jessa pulled at her jacket. “It was bloody brilliant.”

Jessa stared at her for a moment and then stepped close again, wrapping her arms about Darry’s neck. “I feel it too. I feel like…I’m very…”

“What, what are you very?”

“I’m very wet, Darry, I can feel it,” Jessa whispered, blushing as she said the words. “Are you thinking?”

“Thinking of what?” She was dizzy beneath her raging pulse as she pulled Jessa as close as she could.

“Of a bed.”

“Yes, a bed. Say that again.”

“A bed?”

“No, the other.”

Jessa smiled, her heart flipping over. “That I’m very wet?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“I am.”

“You have no idea what that does to me.”

“Tell me.” Jessa lost her breath. “Tell me,
Akasha
.”

“I’d rather show you.”

“Yes,” Jessa whispered. “Yes, that would be nice too.”

“You make me ache. Everywhere, Jess. You make me hurt in places I didn’t know could hurt.”

Jessa’s fingers trembled against Darry’s mouth. She wanted to feel her breath as she spoke such words. Words spoken just for her, because of her. “I make you feel like that?”

“Oh, yes, my love. Do you not know how sweet you are to me?”

“Like you are to me.”

“Yes. And I hear your voice inside my thoughts, saying a thousand different things, asking me of Hinsa or laughing as you tell me of your Radha, and I feel you in my arms as we danced, or how I wanted to kiss you so badly within my mother’s garden when you touched my throat that I thought, perhaps, falling on my sword might be less cruel.”

“Less cruel than what?”

“Than knowing you would never be mine.”

“I did not mean to tease you. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I know.” Darry smiled. “I know that, Jess.”

“I’m feeling,” Jessa’s knees gave in slightly and Darry’s arms tightened in response, “I’m feeling a bit faint, Darry.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. Perhaps you should stop talking like this.”

“Then I shouldn’t tell you.”

Jessa was breathing much too fast and she knew it. “No, you should tell me.”

“Should I?”

“Yes, yes, I think that might be best.”

“You make me want to come so badly.” Darry’s lips were but a kiss away. “I want to give you my spirit, Jess, over and over again. Only for you. In any way you wish, however you want me, I would have you take me.”

“Bloody hell, Darry.” Jessa moaned. “
Essa tua day-ha
…” She closed her eyes as Darry’s mouth hovered against her own. “Are you, are you still thinking,
Akasha
?”

“Yes.”

“About a bed?”

“That’s part of it.”

Jessa gathered all of her will into the center of her belly and made it obey. “Concentrate,” she said in a rough voice, feeling weak and strong and wonderfully alive. “And think faster.” She undid Darry’s tunic and slid her open hand on the skin beneath. It was a slow touch and it stole her breath yet again, the utter heat and softness of Darry’s flesh. Essa
, this is really happening to me. She loves me. Darrius loves me and,
Shivahsa
, but that taste! It tastes li—