Thirteen Hours (28 page)

“Too late. You already apologized to me for that.”

Dana tilted her head, obviously confused. “I did?”

“This isn’t our first fight. I’m not even sure it’s our second. The first—if you recall—was in your office, and the hallway, and the elevator. And it lasted a lot longer than this.”

Shaking her head, Dana said, “Oh, yeah. So I guess I’m sorry for causing all our fights.” Her expression turned glum, and she couldn’t meet Laurel’s gaze.

Laurel walked around the kitchen counter and wrapped her arms around Dana’s shoulders. “We’re not fighting.”

“We’re not? It felt like it, a little bit.”

“We’re bickering,” Laurel corrected. “That’s what couples do sometimes.”

“Doesn’t excuse my shitty mood,” Dana mumbled.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s forgotten, okay? I forgive you.” She kissed Dana on the lips, licking at the indentation below her nose with the tip of her tongue. “It happens. And I’m sorry, too.”

“So it’s over?”

Laurel rested her face on Dana’s chest. “Yeah, it’s over. Now we’re going to do the whole young couple who are madly in love thing again.”

A sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

“I’m not sure we ever really stopped doing that, honestly.” She could hear Dana’s heartbeat against her ear, steady and reassuring. “At least I didn’t. I love you even when we’re picking at each other. I hope you know that.”

“I do. And me, too.” Dana placed a hand on the back of Laurel’s head and cradled her close. “I can be so terrible in the morning sometimes. I guess now you know.”

“I can handle you.”

“All you have to do is look at me with those sad eyes and you’ve got me. I’d say you can handle me, all right.” Dana kissed the crown of her head. “How did I get lucky enough to find a girl who will put up with me?”

Snorting, Laurel murmured, “You have a very thoughtful friend who paid to have a naked woman dance for you, that’s how.”

“That reminds me,” Dana said, lips curling into a grin, “I need to take Scott out to dinner sometime. Again. I owe him.”

Laurel giggled. So far, Scott had netted a very expensive Christmas gift, a weekend trip to Toronto for his birthday, and multiple lunches out at his favorite restaurants, courtesy of Dana. It was almost a little embarrassing how grateful her lover was for that serendipitous lap dance.

How grateful they both were.

“So do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Laurel asked. “What’s got you so edgy this morning?”

“It’s nothing, really.” Dana shrugged, kissed her neck. “I’m just grumpy. I don’t want to go to work.”

Laurel pulled back, blinking in surprise. “Excuse me?” That didn’t sound like Dana at all.

A petulant frown took hold of her lover’s mouth. “It’s been a long week. We just launched our big project and there won’t be much going on today. And honestly—” She stopped and glanced away. “I want to spend time with you right now. I don’t want to leave.”

Laurel fought the urge to swoon. “I love you, honey. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well, I’m an idiot.” Dana shook her head in disgust. “I’m upset because I’m going to miss you today, so I act like a bitch while I’ve still got you here. Brilliant.”

“Eh, we’ll just chalk it up to one of your minor faults,” Laurel said. “And letting wet towels drip onto the floor is one of mine.”

“I don’t care about the towel.” Dana eased gently out of their embrace. She seemed fidgety. “I’m sorry I’m a jerk.”

“Stop it already.” Detecting something unspoken, Laurel said, “Something else is bothering you. Is it about your parents?”

The Watts were coming to dinner on the weekend. Dana had said very little when Laurel first suggested the get-together in their new apartment, but she’d been moody ever since.

“Well, you know I’m not thrilled,” Dana said.

Laurel thought carefully before she spoke. She always felt she had to tiptoe in discussions about Dana’s family. “What’s your main concern?”

Dana’s gaze faltered as though she were looking inward and didn’t understand what she saw. “Things have changed,” she said. “It’s like I don’t know how to act around them anymore. They just
love
you, and I can certainly understand that. But sometimes I feel like they’re all over us. Dad’s always asking me about the job and getting into conversation about stuff like home buying and 401k investments. And my mom dropping all the hints about babies? That comment the other night about your femininity was bizarre.”

Laurel feigned an aggrieved stare. “Are you suggesting I
don’t
have child-bearing hips?”

Dana choked on her laughter.

Before she could reply, Laurel said, “Darling, listen to me. Your parents have been closed out of your life for years and now you’ve let them in a little. They’re excited, that’s all. They’re both reaching out.”

She hesitated, hoping her next words wouldn’t drive Dana out the door.

“All I’m doing is reaching back. For both of us.”

Dana was silent for so long Laurel prepared herself for the clomp of departing footsteps. But her lover stayed where she was. Something passed across her face. She looked like a woman lost in a crowd who’d suddenly spotted a friend.

In a voice as serious as Laurel had ever heard, she said, “Until you came along I didn’t know how to do that. I thought I could never be close to them again. Breaking out of that habit feels strange, but the truth is, I kind of like it.” She flushed.

Laurel stepped in close and hugged her again. “You’ll get used to it, I promise.”

Dana squeezed her tight around the middle, lifting her slightly off the floor. Laurel laughed and grabbed her shoulder until she was deposited back onto her feet. “Laurel, you make me so happy I sometimes can’t believe this is happening. And I guess I’ve been afraid to show Mom and Dad in case it all just evaporates.”

Knowing what it took to admit this insecurity, Laurel placed her hand over Dana’s heart and looked deeply into her eyes. “I love you and you love me.”

Chuckling, Dana pressed her nose to Laurel’s hair and breathed in.

“I really will miss you today.”

“I’m only working until noon,” Laurel reminded her. “Half shift, remember?” It was recompense for the double she’d worked the day before.

Dana sighed. “Maybe I can cut out of the office a little early.”

“Or I could come and have lunch with you.”

That made Dana smile. “Really? You want to go out somewhere?”

“Yeah, really. I’d love to meet you at your office.” Laurel broke into a sudden grin as pure, wicked inspiration struck. “Ooh—”

“Uh-oh,” Dana said, cutting her off before she could share her fantastic idea. “You’re up to no good. I know that look. What are you thinking about, naughty girl?”

Laurel was caught somewhere between a laugh and a moan, hearing Dana call her naughty. She couldn’t help but be amused that certain phrases they’d made their own turned her on so much. Already she could feel that her panties were damp, and she knew it was going to be a long morning.

“My third fantasy,” she said. “Maybe I should redeem it today.”

“Oh, really?” Dana slipped a hand under the hem of Laurel’s Tshirt, and smoothed her palm up her back. “And there I was, thinking you’d forgotten all about it.”

“Trust me, your bedroom repertoire has kept me rather preoccupied. But why settle for fantastic sex when I could have the perfect fulfillment of a long-held fantasy?”

“Are you trying to boost my ego or give me performance anxiety?”

If Dana was attempting to hide her delight, she was failing miserably.

“I’m just trying to remind you how impeccably you granted my last fantasy. Sometimes when I have a moment to breathe at work, I close my eyes and think about how fucking good you felt in my ass.”

Dana was positively beaming. “What a great way to end a long damn week.”

“Is that all it takes to improve your mood?” Laurel threaded her fingers through Dana’s hair, scraping her fingernails over her scalp. She grinned when Dana shivered. “You’re so easy to please.”

“Nah,” Dana rumbled. “You’re just so good at pleasing me.”

“That, too.”

“So what are you thinking?” Dana asked. Her hands found Laurel’s bottom, cupping her gently through her uniform pants. She wore an excited smile. “I’ve been wondering what you’ll come up with. I’m not sure how you’re going to top the first two, quite frankly.”

“Oh, I’ve got an idea.” Laurel moved her hands down to tickle the nape of Dana’s neck and pushed her hips into Dana’s.

“I’m dying of curiosity.”

“It was cruel of me to make you wait till after we moved,” Laurel said without a trace of remorse. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

Laurel glanced at the digital clock on the microwave. “Isn’t it time for you to go to work?” She couldn’t decide how much to tell Dana and how much to surprise her. She knew what she wanted to do, but she wasn’t entirely certain how Dana would feel about it. “Do you trust me?” she asked.

“Implicitly.” The response was quick, immediate. Unthinking.

Laurel smiled at the excitement in Dana’s eyes. “Are you up for a quick wardrobe addition before you leave for work?”

“Oh, my. This
is
going to be naughty, isn’t it?”

Laurel slowly traced a finger down Dana’s chest, until she reached the waistband of her pants. “Very.”

B
ACK
W
HERE
I
T
A
LL
B
EGAN

B
y the time Laurel reached the twenty-ninth floor, she could feel slick wetness painting her upper thighs. Her nipples pressed hard against the fabric of her bra, and her breasts felt heavy and swollen. She was sure her face was flushed and her pupils dilated, and it excited her to think that anyone who saw her now would surely notice the state she was in.

She cast a fond parting glance around the elevator as she stepped out. This just happened to be the car where she and Dana had shared their first kiss. Where they’d first made love. It held a lot of very special memories for her, and she let her dreamy musings stoke the arousal she was already feeling.

With a bright smile on her face, she walked down the hallway to Dana’s office. A goateed young man ambled toward her, stopping at the last minute when he realized he was about to walk into her. He gave her a slack-jawed nod and they did one of those side-to-side dances trying to get past one another. Laurel suppressed her giggle at his expression.

Dana’s programmers were never very subtle about their excitement at seeing a woman enter their domain. Laurel’s rare visits to the office usually created quite a stir. Her biggest challenge today would be making it through the gauntlet, the name she had given to the two long rows of desks she had to walk between to get to Dana’s corner office.

The gauntlet, populated by staring computer geeks whose eyes would be pinned to her ass, her breasts, her face.
Don’t pretend that doesn’t make you just a little hot, Laurel. Trying to act natural, knowing what you’re about to do.

Hot, wet, and bare beneath her knee-length skirt, legs weak with sexual need, she worked up her courage and strode down the gauntlet.

The heads swung around almost in unison.

“Having lunch with Ms. Watts today?” A dateless code monkey asked the obvious.

Laurel gave a friendly nod.
No, I’m just having Ms. Watts.

His eyes never moved from her shirt front, which was unbuttoned far enough to show a hint of cleavage. She’d stopped at home to change out of her scrubs into something a little more alluring before leaving for her lunch date. Her panties were back at the apartment.

After all, she wouldn’t be needing them.

“Is Dana in her office?” she asked.

This complex question was met with several seconds of stupefied silence before Dana’s only female programmer answered, “She sure is. Have a good lunch.”

Oh, I will.
Laurel’s pussy clenched in anticipation. She felt all eyes on her ass as she strolled through the rows of cubicles toward Dana’s closed door.

Laurel knocked and stepped inside, breaking into a sunny grin when she saw Dana sitting behind her large oak desk.

“Hey, baby,” Dana said in a low voice. Her gaze traveled slowly over Laurel’s body. “Why don’t you close that door behind you for a minute?”

Laurel stepped inside and leaned back on the door, shutting it with a gentle click. “I’ve missed you,” she murmured. The absolute truth, never mind that it had only been a little over six hours.

Her body burned from the way Dana looked at her. She could see Dana’s hands curled into fists on the surface of her desk.

“I missed you, too,” Dana said.

“Have you been thinking about me?”

“You know I can’t do anything but—”

Laurel stepped farther into the office. “Oh, really?”

Dana’s voice grew husky. “When I’m hard for you all day, it’s pretty difficult to get you out of my head.”

Laurel swallowed and stepped around the side of Dana’s desk so she could see her lap. Sitting had the effect of stretching her dark pants tight over her hips, revealing the bulge between her legs. “How is that hard pack working out for you?”

“Good.” Dana licked her lips. “Excellent.”

Leaning her bottom against the edge of the desk, Laurel bent and spoke into Dana’s ear. “Are you wet under that stiff cock?”

A hot, shaky exhalation blew over her neck, raising gooseflesh.

Laurel closed her eyes for a beat, struggling with her desire. She wasn’t done playing out this seduction scene, which was just as important to her fantasy as actually getting fucked.

“Are you?” she asked again when Dana didn’t answer.

“Yes.” Her lover’s voice was quiet, and rough with hunger.

Laurel straightened and scooted up to sit on Dana’s desk, to her left. She lifted the hem of her skirt slightly as she spread her legs. “So am I. Look.”

Dana released a soft groan as she leaned back in her leather chair and craned her neck to peer up Laurel’s skirt. Laurel felt a renewed flood of wetness when Dana’s gaze found her swollen sex and lingered there. Reaching out, Dana stroked her fingertip along the soft skin on the inside of Laurel’s knee.