A Matter of Trust (23 page)

“You are exquisite,” Sloan declared, her voice hoarse and choked.

Michael heard the hunger and felt her shudder violently. She sensed Sloan’s need, and suddenly, she wanted to satisfy
her
more than she had had ever wanted anything in her life.

“Take off your clothes. Quickly,” Michael rasped, frantically tugging at Sloan’s jeans.

Michael’s unexpected and undeniable lust drove Sloan beyond the edge of control. Suddenly burning, she tore off her shirt, raising her hips as Michael pulled down her constraining jeans. “Jesus, you make me crazy,” she gasped.

“Tell me what to do,” Michael cried urgently. “Tell me what you need.” Her hands were running over Sloan’s back, her chest, her abdomen, trying to feel all of her at once.

“Just touch me. I’ll come...I’m so close from touching you.”

When Michael’s fingers found her clitoris, sliding under and over and back again, Sloan was gone. “Oh...jesusgodMichaelMichael...”

Michael struggled to hold her as she bucked and gasped, helpless—and so, so beautiful. She thought she had known power in the competitive world of business, but that had been nothing compared to this. This,
this
was power so sweet her throat closed around tears of gratitude and wonder.

“Sloan,” she whispered, almost a prayer. “Oh, Sloan.”

As the first spasms quieted, Sloan sighed and rested her head on Michael’s shoulder. “God,” she mumbled, “that was so good.”

“Uh-huh.” Michael laughed softly, stroking Sloan’s sweat-soaked hair off her face. “You okay?”

“Mmm,” Sloan responded, trying valiantly to rouse herself. It wouldn’t do to fall asleep right now. Very déclassé. She pushed up on an elbow and smiled a bit dazedly at Michael. “Beyond okay. Excellent. You?”

“I have never been better in my life.” Michael’s smile sparkled all the way to her eyes.

“I’m glad,” Sloan whispered, kissing her lightly. “Are you tired?”

“I could sleep,” Michael admitted, suddenly aware that it was late. She did not know what the morning would bring. All she knew was that she did not want the night to end. “But I don’t want to.”

Sloan grinned—slow and easy and just a bit dangerously—and kissed her again. “Good.”

At 5:45 p.m. the next afternoon, Michael turned from her drawing board as a soft knock at the door interrupted her. “Come in.”

The door swung open and Sarah peeked around the corner. “Hey,” she called, a wide smile on her face. “Are you holding up okay?”

Michael leaned back from the table and sighed. “Seem to be. I have a million things to do and only a couple of days to do it, but everything is up and working at the moment.”

“Excellent.” Sarah crossed the room and sat down on one of the sofas. “I just talked to Jason, and he said it’s looking good. Sometimes these things can take forever to get straightened out. Apparently this time you were lucky.”

“I know,” Michael agreed, moving over to join Sarah. “Most of the network is functional again. At least everyone will be able to access it when the work week starts tomorrow. I owe Jason and Sloan more than money. They’ve been incredible.”

“No, they’re just doing the job they love to do. You shouldn’t feel like you put them out, because you merely provided them with an interesting game to play. I’m amazed that either of them stopped long enough to get any sleep last night.” She didn’t add that she had noticed both Michael and Sloan were absent at the same time, nor did she volunteer that Jason had spent a good part of the evening with her.

“Have you seen Sloan recently?” Michael asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Unfortunately, her heart was pounding just from saying her name. They had parted only a short time before, but it seemed to Michael that it had been days.

“She’s in the communications center with Jason, supervising the final system checks and satisfying herself that everything is running okay. Do you need her?” Sarah asked innocently.

Need her?
Michael almost laughed out loud at the question.
Oh yes, that seems to be the word for it, all right.

A few hours earlier, she had been with her, and she could still recall every word they had said and every emotion she had experienced as if it had been etched on her skin and burned into her soul.

She’d awakened from a light doze, startled in the first moments of awareness to feel someone beside her. In the next instant, she knew where she was and remembered every second of the incredible night in vivid detail. The memory stirred an avalanche of desire, and she was immediately, completely aroused. It was such a foreign sensation, this wanting, that she didn’t know what to do. Opening her eyes, she found Sloan lying quietly beside her, gazing at her with a look of such tenderness it stole her breath.

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep,” Michael whispered.

“I think that’s supposed to happen when you’ve been awake all night.” Sloan smiled, a gentle smile that melted her heart. “Especially when you’ve been awake all night making love.”

Michael blushed, partly because it was all so new to her, and partly because she wanted to do it all again—immediately. “Did you sleep?” she asked.

“No. I didn’t want to miss a moment with you.”

“I can’t decide if your words or your touch is the more beautiful,” Michael confessed, leaning close to find Sloan’s lips with her own. Her physical arousal had seemed so powerful just a moment ago, but the feelings evoked by Sloan’s tenderness were even more compelling. Michael’s kiss was part wonder, part gratitude, and part simple appreciation for the affectionate attention and careful way Sloan had loved her over the past hours.

“Thank you so much for last night,” she murmured, unconsciously pressing closer until her breasts nestled against Sloan’s and her thigh rested on Sloan’s leg.

Sloan stopped kissing her long enough to respond, “Michael, please don’t thank me. This night has been so special to me, and you’ve been...wonderful.”

“It was more than special...” Michael whispered, and kissed her again.

The kiss slowly deepened until they sought more, caressing each other with their lips, their tongues, their hands. Sloan rolled on top, straddling Michael’s hips, and pushed up on her elbows to look into Michael’s face. Rasping with urgency, she said, “I want you again...so much. I can’t seem to get enough.”

“I love the way you want me.” Michael knew only that she needed her close, and, guided by instinct, she gripped Sloan’s hips and pulled her down hard onto her own tensed thigh. She watched in wonder as Sloan arched her back and gasped, her eyes growing cloudy with arousal. “Is that good?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sloan said with a laugh. “That’s good.”

Michael pressed upward, thrilling to the sensation of Sloan thrusting back, and the rhythm grew between them as naturally as breathing. Michael kept one hand on Sloan’s hips as she explored Sloan’s breasts with the other, cupping each one, losing herself in the soft flesh and firm muscles, glorying in the heat of her. Sloan’s movements became erratic, harder, just a bit frantic, and Michael felt her, wet and hard, against her own thigh. “Can you? Like this?”

“Yes...want to...bad...” Her voice was tight as if she were straining to form each word as she braced herself on her arms to look into Michael’s eyes. It was an image of such intensity, and such intimacy, that Michael ached.

“Do it,” Michael urged, but she wasn’t sure Sloan could hear. “Let me see you.”

“I’m coming,” Sloan managed, her face intent, her eyes hazy, unfocused, as she slipped toward the edge. Then her lids fluttered closed, her arms stiffened, and her legs tightened around Michael’s thigh. She held herself upright as her body rippled with tension and then convulsed sharply, one sharp cry wrenched from her.

Michael’s heart surged with something as close to ecstasy as she had ever known. She gripped Sloan’s hips tightly and shouted, triumphant. “Yes! Yesyesyes!”

She forgot to breathe for long moments as she gazed in absolute wonder at Sloan’s face. She was dimly aware of her own passion surging a path from her pelvis down her legs, but nothing she was feeling could equal what she saw. “What you make me feel...oh, Sloan.”

At last, Sloan dropped her head, her arms finally relaxing, and she lowered herself to lie on Michael’s body, trembling, heartbreakingly helpless. Michael held her, stroked her damp hair, her neck, her back, suddenly experiencing a fierce protectiveness she had never before imagined. She understood in that moment what it meant to want someone more than life—to need someone in the deepest reaches of her being.

Sarah’s words echoed in her mind.
“Do you need her?”

Oh yes, I need her.

“Michael?”

Michael jumped, abruptly aware of her surroundings again.

Sarah was looking at her with an expression of perplexity and mild concern. “Are you okay?”

“God, I have no idea.” Michael laughed shakily. “I have only the faintest idea of who I am or what I’m doing these days.”

Sarah studied her, thinking that she looked tired. Somehow, though, she didn’t think Michael’s distraction and disorientation were due to fatigue. This was something else, something powerfully emotional, something—

“What’s happened? It’s Sloan, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s Sloan, but—”

“What’s she done now?” Sarah asked, immediately protective, thinking that if Sloan had done something to wound Michael’s feelings, she would have to kill her. Michael was too kind and too innocent for Sloan to treat her in the casual way she did most women. Not that she believed for a minute that Sloan was cold-hearted or indifferent about her romantic partners, but she knew that Sloan studiously avoided any real emotional attachments, and Michael deserved much more than that.

“She
hasn’t done anything,” Michael said quickly, recognizing the edge of concern in Sarah’s voice. “It’s
me,
too. So many things have changed so quickly lately.”

“But
something’s
happened between you two, hasn’t it?” Sarah persisted.

“Yes.”

“You slept with her, didn’t you?” Sarah asked, suddenly realizing that Michael was manifesting all the signs of a woman totally lost in love.

Michael colored, but nodded affirmatively.

“Well.” Sarah sighed softly. “I guess I don’t have to ask you how it was.”

“No.” Michael laughed and blushed even deeper. “There wouldn’t be any point. I don’t even have the words to describe it.”

“Great,” Sarah said with resignation, although she was smiling. “Things are even worse than I thought.”

“Sarah,” Michael said, suddenly serious, “Sloan was not responsible. In fact, if I hadn’t literally chased her down, I think she would have done anything to avoid sleeping with me. I just wanted her so much.”

“And she...gave in?”

“I didn’t give her much choice.” Michael grinned, heady with the memories still.

“Amazing.” Sarah didn’t think Michael understood how significant her words were. If Sloan had been avoiding a sexual relationship, it could only be because Sloan had real feelings for Michael. She had no idea how Sloan was going to react to a woman she cared about, but she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be simple. “So, are you okay with that? Sleeping with her, I mean?”

“Am I okay with that?” Michael repeated the question, her voice pensive. “I’m as okay as I can be, I guess. I had an incredible experience with her. I felt things I’ve never felt in my life. I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t stop wanting to be with her again. And I have no idea what this means for me
or
what it means to her. For all I know, she might consider it a one-time thing.”

“Well,
I’m
certainly the last one to give advice,” Sarah said quietly, thinking that she had been the one surprised when Jason had whispered
not yet
last night when she had reached for him. “But I will tell you that I know what a good person she is, even if she does try to hide it. I love her, and I would trust her with my life. Be patient with her, Michael. This might be hard for her, too.”

“I can be patient, as long as she lets me. I’ve got time. It’s taken me fifteen years to understand what I really want.”

“And you think it’s her?”

“I can’t imagine anyone else making me feel what she has. And that’s about all I know.”

She remembered the look on Sloan’s face when they had parted that afternoon in the hall outside Michael’s office. For a moment, she thought Sloan had been about to say something, and the look on her face had been one of longing and desire. Instead, Sloan had reached out and stroked her cheek, leaning finally to kiss her lips in a soft caress.

Only then had Sloan whispered, “No matter what happens, last night will always be precious to me.”

Michael had merely nodded, afraid that what Sloan had really meant was
goodbye
.

*

Sloan found Jason in the communication center in very nearly the same place she had left him the night before. He had showered, changed his clothes, and somehow managed to look fresh after what couldn’t have been much sleep. She avoided contemplating where
he
had spent the night and steadfastly ignored the image of him and Sarah grappling on the sofa.