Under Construction (2 page)

“I
promise,” Jameson said. “Actually, I have to work on a different project. So, you
make the coffee. I’ll get the Chinese food and you can catch me up on all the
gossip,” Jameson said.

“About
who? Jinx? Not much gossip with just me here,” Pearl laughed.

Jameson
smiled at the older woman’s comment. Pearl knew all the gossip. Everyone went
to Pearl. Michelle, Marianne, and Jonah all called Grandma Pearl when they were
afraid to tell their mother something. Jameson had figured that out in the
first two months of her relationship with Candace. All of Candace’s children
used Pearl as a sounding board and a resource. Everyone in Candace’s small town
told Pearl everything, in the hopes that she might tell them anything at all
about the
popular
senator. Pearl never
shared anything confidential. She was the perfect mother and grandmother figure
to them all, even to Jameson. But, she did have her share of anecdotes and
amusing tales about all the colorful characters in Candace’s world. Jameson
loved to listen to them.

“Well,
just be hungry,” Jameson said.

“Bring
extra fortune cookies,” Pearl ordered.

Jameson
snickered. She often wondered if it was somehow possible that Pearl actually
was Candace’s mother. They were two peas in a pod. “Check. I will see you shortly.”

Pearl
hung up the phone and shook her head in amusement. Jameson was homesick. She
could hear it. She grabbed her cell phone off the counter and called the woman
she had always considered her daughter.

“Candy?
Yes, It’s me….Hold on…Candy....No, no one is in the hospital, but I might put
someone there if you don’t be quiet and listen to me!”

Candace walked in the front door
and made her way into the kitchen. She stopped and chuckled when she flipped on
the light. Jameson had left her plans spread across the table. Candace threw
her keys on the counter and looked at the plans. Jameson had notes stuck
everywhere. Underneath the long white sheet of drawings, one blue sticky note
caught her attention. Jameson had a tendency to doodle when she was
contemplating something. Candace picked up the
note
and smiled. There were no comments about changes, measurements, or questions.
This note had just three words on it. “I miss you.” That was all it said.

“Meow!”
a tiny voice greeted her from below.

“Well,
well…Did you miss me?” Candace asked the small black feline that was rubbing up
against her legs. She knelt down and scratched behind his ears. “I missed you
too, you mangy little brat,” she said.

“Meow!”

“Where’s
your Mommy?” she asked. Jinx circled Candace’s legs a few more times and then
started rolling around on the floor. “Oh, you are hers all right,” Candace
laughed.

She
looked back down the hallway toward the stairs. It was late and Candace was
certain
that Jameson would be sleeping. She was
anxious to slip in bed beside her lover. Two weeks had been too long. Pearl
didn’t need to do much convincing to get Candace to cancel her plans for the
next day. She had paid more than her share of dues over the years. The
Democratic Party did not need her as much as she needed Jameson. That was just
a fact. Frankly, she felt she’d earned the right to say no once in a while.

Candace
climbed the stairs slowly. Her entire body seemed to be crying out for
rest
. She turned the corner into her bedroom
and smiled at the sight
before
her. The
curtains were open and the moon offered just enough light to see Jameson’s
figure sprawled across the bed. Jameson was hugging Candace’s pillow tightly.
Her hair was tussled and hanging in her face. Candace sucked in a deep breath
and closed her eyes for a brief moment. She opened her eyes, let out her breath
slowly and made her way to the edge of the bed. She stood there for a few
minutes just watching Jameson sleep until the temptation became too great.
Candace reached out and brushed the hair from Jameson’s eyes.

Jameson
slapped lightly at the sensation. “Jinx,” she groaned without opening her eyes.
“Knock it off,” she said.

Candace
bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. She leaned over and kissed Jameson’s
forehead and let her lips linger.

“Jinx!”
Jameson complained
again
but did not open
her eyes. “No offense, but I wish your Mommy
were
here.”

Candace
stroked Jameson’s cheek and Jameson finally started to pry her eyes open. “Hey,
sleepyhead,” Candace whispered.

“You’re
home,” Jameson commented in wonderment.

“Apparently,”
Candace said.

“What
time is it?” Jameson asked.

“A
little after two in the morning.”

Jameson
sighed and pulled Candace down to her. She kissed her tenderly but deeply. “I
can’t believe you are here.”

Candace
leaned over and kissed Jameson again in reply. Jameson took the opportunity to
pull Candace down on top of her. “What are you doing, you lunatic?” Candace
giggled, still looking in Jameson’s eyes. Jameson studied Candace’s face
silently. “Jameson?”

“I
missed you,” Jameson said with a gentle kiss.

“Mmm. I
missed you too,” Candace said. “Let me go get changed.”

“Why? I
can take care of that for you right now,” Jameson said suggestively.

“If you
take care of that for me, neither of us will get any sleep and both of us need
it,” Candace said. She kissed Jameson on the nose and pulled herself off the
bed. “Stop pouting,” Candace called as she walked into the bathroom.

“Who
says I am pouting?” Jameson called out. She rolled over and sighed. She was
exhausted and she could see the weariness in Candace’s eyes. She longed to be
close to Candace again, to hold her, to make love to her softly. The thoughts
were making her dizzy and she groaned in frustration. Jinx jumped up on the bed
and rubbed against her. Jameson shook her head. “Not what I had in mind. What
does she mean; pout? I don’t pout.”

“Yes,
you do,” Candace disagreed as she slipped into the bed behind Jameson and
wrapped an arm around her. Jameson immediately turned and faced her lover.
Candace raised her brow. “Mad at me?” she asked a bit playfully.

“No,”
Jameson said quietly.

Candace
pulled Jameson into her embrace. “I love you, Jameson. We have all weekend. I
don’t leave until Monday morning.”

 
“How did you get out of that fundraiser?”
Jameson asked.

“I just
told them I had a more urgent matter to attend to.”

“What’s
that?” Jameson asked.

“You,”
Candace said with a kiss. “Now, go to sleep.”

“You
didn’t actually tell them that?” Jameson marveled.

“Sure
did,” Candace said. “Now, go back to sleep.”

Jameson
cuddled closer. She was already losing the battle to stay awake. “Can you pass
some legislation to ban Mondays?”

Candace
kissed Jameson’s head. “Don’t tempt me,” she said before giving in to her
exhaustion.

***

Jameson was still groggy when she
awoke and unsure if she had dreamed Candace’s homecoming. The light scent of a
familiar perfume, the warm body pressed behind her, and the hand that held hers
convinced her that Candace was very real. Jameson took the first deep breath
she had in days. She ran her fingers gently over Candace’s hand and realized
just how much she had missed the woman holding her. Jameson turned in Candace’s
arms. She watched her lover sleeping peacefully, feeling an enormous sense of
gratefulness. Jameson had never considered herself someone
clever
with words. She tried to show Candace,
tried to tell Candace what she felt. Often, she felt inadequate in that
capacity. Jameson’s teasing was often her way of saying “I love you” to
Candace. It’s not that she didn’t say the words; she did. She feared that if she
said them too often they would somehow become meaningless, and yet she felt she
could never express her love enough to the woman beside her.

Jameson
kissed Candace’s eyelids and her nose softly before placing a tender kiss on
Candace’s lips. “What are you up to?” Candace whispered sleepily.

Jameson
stroked Candace’s hip lovingly with her left hand and raised her right to
caress Candace’s cheek. She brought her lips to Candace’s again and felt
Candace immediately respond. The kiss continued slowly. It was an achingly
emotional rediscovery for them both. Jameson heard a faint moan escape from the
back of Candace’s throat, and she pulled away to explore Candace’s neck.

“Jameson…”

“Shh,”
Jameson whispered in Candace’s ear. She nibbled on Candace’s earlobe and
delighted in the sigh that escaped her lover. Jameson’s hands worked to lift
the long T-Shirt Candace had worn to bed and remove it. She looked at Candace
as if she were seeing her for the first time. Candace watched as love and
desire flickered in Jameson’s eyes.
 
Jameson had become entranced by the smattering of freckles that adorned
the swell of Candace’s breasts. She was tracing patterns with her fingers
around them. “So beautiful,” she breathed. Candace closed her eyes when
Jameson’s touch was replaced by faint kisses.

Jameson
positioned herself above Candace and looked down on her longingly. Slowly, she
kissed her way
over
Candace’s throat.
Jameson continued bathing her lover in light kisses. She moved from Candace’s
right shoulder across her chest, deliberately tasting every inch of skin along
the way. Candace watched as Jameson continued her delicious assault. Jameson
kissed both of Candace’s breasts, just over the tops before circling each of
Candace’s nipples with her tongue. Candace arched her back instinctively.
Jameson gently took a nipple between her lips and sucked lightly. “Oh…” Candace
moaned.

“Mm…”
Jameson agreed. She lifted a hand to play with Candace’s other nipple and
Candace threw her head back. Jameson played with Candace’s nipples, teasing,
and taunting her until Candace’s body began to move involuntarily.

“
Jameson…
God, you have no idea what you are
doing to me,” Candace said through a ragged breath.

Jameson
knew exactly what she was doing to her lover. She had learned how Candace liked
to be touched, and what sensations made Candace beg for release.
Jameson had memorized every inch of the woman she
loved, down to the freckles spread across her chest that reminded Jameson a bit
of constellations in a night sky to the faint scar that ran across the bottom
of her belly from the C-section she had needed to deliver Jonah.
Jameson
loved every piece of Candace, every freckle, every tiny scar, the laugh lines
at the corner of her eyes, even the
little
stretch marks that could barely be seen on her hips. They were the unique
physical parts of Candace that made her Candace Fletcher, and Jameson was
completely in love with her.

Jameson’s
hand ran over Candace’s abdomen as it worked its way intentionally lower. She
pulled back and looked at Candace whose face was flushed with desire. She
stopped for a moment and kissed her lips sweetly, taking a moment to whisper in
her ear. “I am going to make love to you until you beg me to stop,” she
promised. She felt Candace’s breath hitch and her body shiver.

Candace
ran her hands over the muscles
of
Jameson’s back and moaned. Jameson drove her wild, not only the way that
Jameson touched her, but Jameson’s mere presence. Candace marveled at the way
softness and strength mingled in her lover. The combination was evident in
everything from Jameson’s intelligence and
humor
to the way her body moved, and the way it felt beneath Candace’s hands. Jameson
could be
strong
and commanding in one
moment, and soft and vulnerable in the next. That made their lovemaking exquisite.
It was like nothing Candace had ever experienced, every time. Candace lifted
Jameson’s shirt and pulled it over her head. She let her hands glide over the
curves of Jameson’s hips and up to her breasts. When her
fingers
brushed over Jameson’s nipples, Jameson
moaned loudly. Candace leaned forward and kissed an already erect nipple
lightly before making small circles around it with her tongue. She watched as
Jameson’s eyes lost their ability to stay open against the wave of pleasure.

Jameson
should not have been surprised when Candace pulled her in for a heated kiss.
The kiss set Jameson on fire. Nothing in the world could arouse her more than
Candace’s kiss. She prayed that would never change. She pulled away and licked
a steady trail down Candace’s middle. She stopped when she reached the top of a
quivering thigh. Jameson pulled off Candace’s panties deliberately. She kissed
her way up Candace’s legs, allowing her hands to continually caress Candace’s
thighs and hips. She looked up to see the
anticipation
in Candace’s eyes. Jameson pulled Candace closer to her and breathed in the
scent of her arousal. Just the sensation of Jameson’s breath on her made
Candace writhe. Jameson held her firmly. She kissed Candace’s thighs and
gradually moved her kisses inward.

“Jameson…please,”
Candace barely whispered. Jameson licked Candace gently, softly, slowly. “Oh
God…Oh
my,
God….Jameson.”

“Mm…”
Jameson moaned. Her hands massaged both of Candace’s thighs as she continued
exploring Candace leisurely with her tongue. Candace was shifting desperately
beneath her in an attempt to focus Jameson where she wanted her. Jameson
intended to take her time. She had missed Candace. Phone calls, emails,
internet chats, text messages, they were all a sorry substitute for holding,
touching, and feeling Candace. Jameson loved making love to Candace. She felt
Candace’s hands entwine themselves in her hair and she reached out to take hold
of them.

Candace
thought she might lose consciousness soon if Jameson didn’t relieve the ache
that had taken up residence in her body. Jameson was tracing over every inch of
her center. Jameson would tease her with just enough pressure to start a slight
flickering pulse through Candace, and then she would change direction as though
she were searching for some treasure. Now, Jameson held her hands tightly.
Candace screamed Jameson’s name when Jameson finally circled Candace’s clit
deliberately with her tongue. “Please,” Candace begged. “Please, Jameson. I
need you…I need to feel you…please.”

Jameson
responded immediately. She could sense Candace’s climax building from deep
within. She circled the small point beneath her tongue again before capturing
it between her lips and flicking her tongue over it in quick, repeated bursts.
Jameson felt her own arousal building swiftly. The closer Candace came to
release, the more Jameson’s center began to throb with need. She swirled her
tongue in one direction and then the other, repeating the action over and over,
increasing the pressure ever so slightly until she heard Candace cry out.