When You're Near Me

Jessie stepped even closer. "Any kind in particular?"

"Uh huh." Ashley's hands screamed to touch the blonde so she didn't resist, placing her hands Jessie's hips. "Would you go out... with me Friday night?"

Grinning, Jessie was thankful that her love found the courage she had yet to summon. "Yes."

Although in a very public place, the love Ashley had for Jessie was so consuming in that moment, the brunette was helpless to do anything but give in and she crossed the seemingly impenetrable line she once feared and boldly kissed her love lightly on the lips. "Good."

*************************

Over the next two days and nights, Ashley and Jessie worked during the day and then packed what they could from the brunette's apartment in the evenings. Each night they fell into bed exhausted from the long day but happy in each other's arms.

Chapter Twenty-One

After work, Jessie ran home to shower and change before returning to pick up Ashley at her apartment. While they stayed together at night all week, Ashley still ran her business out of her home until they were ready to move into her new office space.

When Jessie pulled up to the brunette's apartment, Ashley was finishing dressing. She wanted to look nice yet casual for their very first date. Checking one last time in the mirror, Ashley shook her head. "I don't know why I'm so nervous."

Jessie leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms. "You look beautiful to me."

Surprised, Ashley twirled around. "Oh, you. I didn't hear you come in."

"Come here." Jessie beckoned.

"No, you come here." Ashley countered, holding out her hands.

Like a siren calling her home, Jessie strolled into the arms of her love. Hugging Ashley, the blonde whispered. "You think I'm always going to be this easy?"

Ashley teased the blonde. "I haven't even had you yet."

"Oh, you've got me." Jessie grinned, barely mumbling her next words. "You'll never know how much."

But Ashley did hear Jessie's soft-spoken words. "Ready?"

Nodding, Jessie grabbed Ashley's hand. "You got everything you need or will we have to stop by here later?"

Grasping her love's hand tightly, Ashley assured the blonde. "I have everything I'll ever need right here."

Jessie brought their entwined hands to up between them, touching both of their chests. "Forever."

Capturing her love's lips with her own, Ashley kissed the blonde lightly. "Come on." She yanked at Jessie's hand. "And, by the way, not only are you drop dead gorgeous tonight..." Ashley leaned closer and inhaled deeply. "God, you smell good."

Jessie followed her love's lead and only rolled her eyes in mock disapproval when Ashley directed the blonde to the passenger's side of the sports car. "You're driving?"

"Yep." She helped Jessie in and closed the door. "I am the one that asked you out. Remember?"

All through dinner both women stole loving glances and slight touches as their conversation flowed along a casual line of subjects. They discussed the upcoming moving day when Krista, Steve and Andrew were scheduled to help transport the heavier items from Ashley's apartment.

After taking a sip from her glass, Ashley placed it back on the table where her hand rested briefly and Jessie was quick to capture it under her own hand. Well aware of the brunette's concern about public displays of affection, Jessie couldn't help herself. She was about to withdraw her hand but Ashley held on.

"I don't mind. As a matter of fact, I crave your touches." Ashley admitted.

"But?" Jessie's eyes scanned the immediate area.

"But nothing. I'm not going to deny myself the pleasure of your touch just because others may have a problem with it." Ashley's eyes glittered with conviction and love.

Jessie wet her lips and leaned in, teasing her love. "I'm wondering how far you'd let me go before you'd stop me."

Squeezing the blonde's hand, Ashley teased right back. "What makes you think I'd stop you?"

Visions of a naked Ashley danced in her head, bringing with it a heady smile on the blonde's face. Shaking her head, Jessie announced. "Nah, not now. I'm not sharing you with anyone." Jessie scooted up even closer and leaned over the small table to whisper. "I'm the only one that's gonna see you naked."

Ashley let out a laugh. "Too late."

"What?" Jessie's eyes grew wide.

"You've forgot about Makayla?"

"Oh! Yeah. Okay." However, Jessie vaguely remembered something about Ashley's previous romantic encounters.I'm gonna have to ask her more about that. Not sure I wanna know but...

"Jess?"

"Huh?"

"What are you thinking?"

The blonde pushed aside her empty glass, pulling Ashley's hand closer. "How much I wanna take you home and..." Jessie let her intended desire fade before waggling her eyebrows.

"What are you waiting for?" Ashley winked.

The blonde's head shot up, looking for the waiter. "Check please!"

**********************

The couple paused at the doorway to their home.

"I've had a wonderful evening." Jessie tugged on Ashley's hand.

"Me, too." She stepped closer.

The blonde twisted Ashley around and held her in her arms as she pressed her chest to the brunette's back. Both women were facing the near full moon. "I want us to be like this forever."

"We will. It's the little things that keep a love strong. Like remembering to say 'I love you' and knowing that..." Ashley turned in Jessie's arms. "...we'll stand together, not in front or behind, in good times and in bad."

Nodding, Jessie added. "And no matter what... no matter how bad it might get we promise to never leave each other."

"Never." Ashley cocked her head to the side and sealed that vow with a sweet, gentle and everlasting kiss.

Bombarded by the emotional amazement of their first date and binding promise, the couple was content to fall asleep in each other's arms, waiting for the right moment to truss their love in a physical manifestation of bliss.

***********************

Andrew and Steve angled the massage table up the spiral staircase as Krista supervised. The ash blonde's boyfriend was still glaring at his girlfriend after they reached the top of the stairs. "You could have told us it folded."

Krista grinned when she saw Steve try to negotiate the first few steps with difficulty. It was Andrew who finally advised the older man that they could fold it up since Krista refused to say a word. "Hey. A bright boy like you? I thought you'd figure it out."

When her boyfriend's frown remained in place, Krista strolled over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You're not really mad, are you?"

Steve squinted his eyes. "I should be."

Krista lightly kissed him on the lips. "But you won't be, right?"

Andrew rolled his eyes when the older couple kissed passionately. "I'll be downstairs." He bounced down the steps, shaking his head.

"What?" Ashley asked her brother as she carried in one more box from her truck.

Nodding back up the stairwell, Andrew frowned. "We're never gonna get done at this rate. And I got a date tonight."

"You do?" His sister asked.

Andrew took the box from his sister. "Well, I could have if I didn't have to be at your and Jessie's beck and call all weekend moving."

"Yeah, sure. By the way, where is Jessie?"

Andrew climbed the stairwell as he replied over his shoulder. "In the kitchen last I'd seen her."

Ashley searched the kitchen not finding the blonde so she checked one of the guest bedrooms. The brunette paused at the doorway before leaving the room and considered her future with Jessie. Visions of a young child playing in the bedroom danced in her mind. She leaned back against the door, crossed her arms and smiled.I wonder. Ashley was drawn from her musing when she heard soft footsteps coming down the short hallway. A glimpse of Jessie passing by caught her attention.

The blonde was looking for Ashley after Andrew informed him that the brunette wanted her. When a hand reached out and pulled her in, Jessie was momentarily startled. Being twirled around, Jessie landed in Ashley's arms.

"Hey." Ashley's hands dropped to the blonde's hips.

"Hey, yourself." Jessie smiled after her racing heart slowed a beat or two. "What've you been doing?"

"Waiting for you." The younger woman pulled Jessie closer.

Jessie propped a devilish grin on her face as she waggled her eyebrows. "To do what?"

Ashley instinctively knew what was on the blonde's mind. It was the same thing that had been on her mind the whole week. "This." Cocking her head slightly, the brunette's lips captured those of her love. As she passionately kissed the woman she loved, Ashley faintly listened for any uninvited audience that might interrupt their impromptu tryst.

Breaking free temporarily from Ashley's tender lips, Jessie reminded her love. "We have company you know."

"I know." Ashley kissed the woman in her arms again, shifting her hips up against Jessie. "I just wanted some time alone with you."

"Ah, so this is a secret little rendezvous?" Jessie luxuriated in the loving attention Ashley was giving her. The brunette's hands roamed freely over the blonde's body.

The brunette swung the blonde around, pushing her up against the door. She leaned in close, molding her body against Jessie. "You have a problem with that?"

Shaking her head, Jessie fell easily under the sensual ministrations of her love. Her heart began to race again as Ashley's lips left a trail of feathery kisses along her cheek and down her neck.

The brunette's hands clutched at the back top of Jessie's legs then they traveled with expert care up and over the blonde's backside, exploring every inch along the way.

Jessie was vaguely aware that someone could walk pass the open doorway at any moment, but she was helpless to do anything about it with Ashley igniting every fiber of her being. Her body was on fire with Ashley's heated kisses and galloping hands.

Pushing the blonde harder against the door, Ashley returned her mouth to Jessie's mouth and captured it once again in a tantalizing, enticing and overpowering kiss. Their tongues waged a war of dominance that the brunette easily won. With hurried breaths and low moans, both women began to devour each other as the world once again slipped away like it did every time they were near each other.

Jessie's mind briefly pictured them naked on the nearby bed when a faint sound invaded the bombarding waves of sensual energy that Ashley was penetrating through her entire body. "You're gonna have to stop that." Jessie's body was on overload with what Ashley was doing to her.

"I don't wanna." Ashley purred as she seductively ran her tongue over the blonde's lips.

It was getting hot and Jessie was near her breaking point. "You're gonna made me carry you off to that bed." Jessie advised the overheated woman.

"Woohoo!" Ashley let out a light hearted, sexy laugh.

Sucking in a much needed calming breath, Jessie raised both her hands, placing them on Ashley's chest and felt the heated perspiration cascading between them. "I'm serious. I don't think I can take anymore without..."

Ashley closed her eyes and drew in a heavy breath of her own. Leaning her forehead against Jessie's, the brunette agreed. "I know. Me, too."

Both women allowed their overheated bodies to cool a bit yet remained entangled together. Ashley could hear some rustling noises coming from the living room so she pulled back a few inches. "Sorry. I couldn't help myself."

Jessie kissed the brunette lightly. "Never be sorry for loving me."

The blonde received a gracious, tender and loving kiss from Ashley. "Never."

Grabbing the brunette's hand, Jessie suggested. "Come on, I think we should join our guests."

Nodding, Ashley stepped out into the hallway only to see Krista standing there with her arms crossed.

"Uh huh." Krista grinned. "I can see what you two have been up to while I'm doing all the work."

Flushed from their passionate encounter, Jessie and Ashley couldn't deny what was clearly written on their faces so they just smiled.

Tapping her finger to her lips, Krista said with an exaggerated flair. "Then I think it's time we got out of here. Clearly, I'm not wanted."

"Oh, Krista. Stop being so dramatic." Jessie lightly slapped her friend on the arm as she passed by, pulling Ashley along with her. "But you've got a good idea there."

Andrew and Steve were waiting in the living room for more instructions from their self-appointed ash blonde supervisor. "So, what's next?"

Krista looped her arm around her boyfriend's elbow. "We're leaving now that all the work is done." The ash blonde couldn't help giving her best friend a hard time whenever she could. "I thought at least we'd get fed but no..." She glanced at Steve. "They've got better things to do."

Shaking her head at Krista's antics, Jessie offered. "You're welcome to stay."

"Nah, it's getting late." Steve said. "Besides, I was wanting to take my best girl out to dinner tonight."

Krista leaned back away from her boyfriend. "You better be talking about me." She smiled before turning her attention to Andrew. "Why don't you come with us?"

"Uh, well..." He looked at his sister.

"Go on. I know you have plans with some of your friends tonight. And we're all through here." Ashley hugged her brother.

"You sure?"

"Yep."

When Andrew backed up after the hug, he casually asked. "You're staying here tonight, right?"

Suspicious, Ashley squinted her eyes. "Yeah. Why?"

"I was just thinking that your place...with no one there." Andrew grinned. "I could use it as a place to, you know, chill."

Ashley cupped her hand around her brother's arm and led him out the front door. "Not only no but hell no."

"Oh, come on, Ash." Andrew stopped on the porch, waiting a moment for Krista and Steve to get to their car. "At least think about it."

"We'll see." She reached up and kissed her brother on the cheek. "You don't mind riding home with Krista?"

Andrew crunched his eyebrows together. "Are you kidding? She's hot."

Ashley led her brother down the stairs to Steve's car. "Not to mention she has a boyfriend."

Before getting in the car, Andrew hugged his sister again. "I'm only kidding... but she is hot."

After saying their goodbyes, Ashley joined Jessie on the porch. They watched the threesome travel down the road, leaving them alone with only Makayla by their side.

"Alone at last." Jessie grinned at her love.

"What shall we do?"

************************

"I can't believe he said that." Ashley crawled up along side Jessie.

"Well, he did."

Ashley laid her head on Jessie's shoulder. "So my little brother wanted to know your intentions toward me."

"Uh huh." Jessie ran her hand lazily up and down Ashley's back.

"And?"

The blonde dropped her head to the side to look into Ashley's beautiful eyes. "I told him I was going to ask you to marry me."

Completely stunned by Jessie's words, Ashley gulped then quickly propped herself up on one elbow. "What?"

Jessie gently pulled Ashley down on top of her and gazed deeply into her love's eyes. "If you'll have me."

The sincerity in the blonde's words struck a deep cord inside the brunette and everything fell into place. Ashley smiled then gently let her mouth melt against the soft lips of her love. "Yes. Oh, God, yes."

Relieved, Jessie wrapped her arms around Ashley, pulling her close. "I love you."

Again, their lips met in silent assurances and tender unspoken vows of love. The soft, gentle brushes of kisses with small nips and feathery pecks ignited a spark that ran the length of their bodies.

Ashley maneuvered herself between the legs of her love, finding they fit perfectly. Her hands found their way under the blonde's sleep shirt, pushing it up and over Jessie's head. She didn't want anything between them. Once the shirt and panties were removed, Ashley tugged off her scant wear with Jessie's help.

Now, skin on skin. No barriers existed or ever would between them.

Jessie wrapped her legs around the thighs of her love and she felt Ashley scoot up against her, bringing with it a jolt of passion. In a slow and deliberate motion, Ashley thrust her hips as her mouth reclaimed Jessie's supple lips. The heated kisses elicited a low moan from the blonde that greatly pleased Ashley. "You like?"

"Hmmm....." Jessie drew in a deep breath and moaned even louder under the loving, gentle strokes of her lover.

Ashley ran her lips down the blonde's sensual neck as her hands traced over the Jessie's long arms. Then she moved her hands under Jessie's arms causing the blonde to wrap them around Ashley's back. The brunette's lips traveled lower over delicious skin, leaving a hot trail of tingling sensations for Jessie to enjoy. "I love you."

Jessie smiled upon hearing those words again. She found that during the last week Ashley never forgot to tell her of her love. The blonde would never tire of hearing them. "I love you, too." She barely whispered before sucking in a deep breath when Ashley's mouth locked on to her sensitive breast.

The brunette's tongue played and teased with her love's firm nipple, bringing it heavenly delight. Ashley smiled when Jessie jumped from her loving ministrations of the beautiful and delectable breast in her mouth. She was going to enjoy the woman she loved immensely as much and as often as she could. Ashley peeked her curious eyes up to see the face of her lover.

The expression on Jessie's face was priceless. Dazed from the loving attention Ashley was giving her and flushed with desire, spurred the brunette on. Ashley increased her thrusts causing Jessie's legs to tighten around her lover and met the brunette stroke for stroke.

Devouring each other with heated kisses, loving strokes and passionate caresses, both women traversed the heavenly, pulsating sensations and exploded at the pinnacle of their lovemaking.

Their first time together was held in reverence, yet intoxicating vibrations overcame them as they floated to another side of love. They lay in each other's arms through the night and met the new day bonded together forever.

Chapter Twenty-Two

During the first part of the week, Jessie and Ashley were inundated with a multiple array of tasks in order to get their massage business up and running. It would be another month before being fully operational but the main reason for hurrying with their tasks was that they decided on taking a long weekend off together, sorta like a mini-honeymoon.

The couple fell into a natural rhythm of living together as they began their lives together. Every day brought a new adventure and they discovered little things about each other.

"How many do you want?" Jessie asked her lover.

"Oh, I don't know... maybe a couple or three." Ashley shrugged as she flipped the covers off the bed, readying them for washing.

"Why three?" Jessie grabbed the pillowcases. "There's just the two of us. Does Makayla need one, too?" The blonde chuckled.

Ashley looked up. "Honey? Exactly what are we talking about?"

Jessie crunched her eyebrows together and tried to remember if she missed something her lover had said. It wouldn't be the first time as the blonde was always in a state of dazed love every time she gazed at Ashley. "Horses?"

Ashley let out a full laugh, tossed the cover back on the bed and pulled Jessie into her arms. "I was talking about... children."

"Oh!" Jessie wrapped her arms around her lover. "Three, huh?"

Ashley nodded. "So, what do you think?"

Dropping her head against her lover's temple, Jessie smiled. "I think you're gonna look beautiful pregnant...two, three, how ever many times you want."

"Me? Just me? What about you?"

"Oh, darling, I love kids and I want as many as you want but..." The blonde sucked in a hard breath.