Near Miss

Cullen Flaherty was only ten miles from home, speeding down the highway, when she and her trusty blue Ford pickup truck were suddenly enveloped in a thick cloud of white fog.  “Holy shit!” she yelped, her enthusiastic singing abruptly cut off by the involuntary exclamation.  “Jesus!” I can’t see ten feet in front of me.  Pressing her foot to the brake firmly, Cullen slowed her truck from its seventy-five mile per hour speed to a more reasonable fifty-five miles per hour.

Fog was not uncommon in Michigan, especially in the rapidly cooling autumn season, but Cullen had never learned to relax about the prospect of driving through it.  Her shoulders immediately tensed as she surveyed the dense white mist that hung over and around her like a damp old blanket, and she winced when she suddenly spotted the brake lights of another vehicle all of a sudden eight feet in front of her. Stepping on the brake again, she slowed her truck even further, down to nearly forty-five, and kept a watchful eye on the tentative driver in front of her.

For God’s sake, Cullen sighed to herself, I just want to get home and take a hot bath. Is that really too much to ask? Work had sucked that day, truly, and Cullen had already been lamenting her thirty mile commute even before the unexpected weather conditions promised to make her already tedious drive even more unbearable. All she had wanted from the moment she’d woken up that morning was to return home again after work and, hopefully, manage to relax.  So much for that idea, she scoffed. 

Frustrated blue eyes squinted against the glare of the fog, illuminated by the truck’s headlights, as Cullen began to climb a small rise in the freeway. She briefly wondered how close she was to her exit; without the visual landmarks that dotted the road as a guide, she was unsure of when she’d last taken interest in even a mile marker. Her hellish commute was by now so familiar to her that she could practically sleepwalk through her entire drive, and she only paid the barest attention to where she was at any given moment. Despite her lack of attention to her surroundings, her hands always seemed to know when to signal, or change lanes, or finally exit. Now she found that without her eyes to guide them, her hands became timid and unsure, and this provoked in her body a number of unpleasant reactions. Cullen felt her breaths shorten, and her heart pound, and her hands tighten their grip on the steering wheel, as if terrified that they would only have seconds to perform the right action and didn’t dare be late to react.

Hill Street. Cullen managed a small smile at the sight of the green sign that indicated that she was now less than five miles from her own exit. Thank God.

No more than a moment after her relief surfaced was it suddenly dashed away again at the sudden sight of not just one, but numerous sets of tail lights shining red directly in front of her.  Cullen barely had time to register the fact that the alignment of the stopped traffic now only ten feet from her still moving truck was chaotic, askew, before her instincts kicked in and she swerved violently to the right, towards the shoulder of the highway, and slammed hard on her brakes.

Her Ford pickup fishtailed wildly at the sudden maneuver and Cullen was half-aware of the way her stomach seemed to drop into her shoes and her leg seemed to lock with the tension of holding the brake down. After a few moments of feeling the truck swing wildly from side to side, she was all of a sudden veering to the right, missing the first of the cars in front of her but connecting solidly with the side of an older SUV that sat, sideways, near the shoulder of the road. The impact didn’t stop her, however, and she was jarred violently by the collision before her truck was propelled further towards the edge of the asphalt. She was spinning now, her hands tight on the steering wheel though it was plain that the tires had no traction on the road, and she was totally out of control, feeling the rough bumpiness of the rumble strips on the shoulder of the highway and then the sickening descent as her truck slid forward into a shallow ditch in the grass.

It ended as quickly as it had started; all at once the movement of her truck stopped, the noise of her tires wrestling with the road and her own frightened cry fell silent to be replaced by an almost eerie stillness, and Cullen sat panting in the driver’s seat. For a moment she didn’t move, trying to take stock of her body and decide if she was actually as uninjured as she felt. I can’t believe it. Despite the jarring impact her truck had made with the SUV and the lingering physical reactions that still gripped her trembling body, Cullen was amazed to discern no evidence of deeper injury. It’s a fucking miracle I wasn’t killed.

She had no sooner had that thought than the squealing of tires, now a chillingly familiar sound, and then the loud crunch of metal smashing against metal broke the relative silence. Cullen swung her head around to stare in horror at the source of the noise, where another car had just crashed hard into what she now saw was a large pile of cars and trucks scattered across the road. The recently crashed car had been in the left lane and had not succeeded in turning, as she had, to deflect some of the impact. Cullen realized with a start that more than six or seven cars had now been involved in this accident, and that the still prevalent fog nearly guaranteed that more would join them. 

And I’m still in trouble, Cullen thought foggily. I need to calm down and get out of here.  She reached down with shaky hands and fumbled with her seatbelt, pressing the button in the center uselessly a few times before she succeeded in freeing herself.  Straightening up, she cast frightened eyes in the direction of the road, where she saw yet another pair of headlights breaking through the fog, this time in the right lane, and she froze with indecision.  She didn’t want to try and exit her truck if the oncoming vehicle was going to swing towards her and hit her, but she also didn’t want to remain still and chance a more deadly collision while she sat helplessly.

A sudden, sharp knock at her side window tore Cullen’s attention away from the approaching vehicle and to the obscured form of a person standing beside her truck. She pressed the button to unlock her doors on instinct, and immediately the passenger side door swung open and an attractive blonde-haired woman stuck her head inside.

“You’ve got to get out of here,” she shouted worriedly. “Are you okay?  Can you move?”

The concern in the stranger’s voice and the realization that she was putting herself in a dangerous situation by trying to help Cullen suddenly snapped her out of her temporary haze. Cullen nodded and quickly began climbing over into the passenger seat, accepting the stranger’s offered hand gratefully while she scrambled towards the door and the promise of safety beyond. Even as she moved to escape her truck she could hear, again, the sound of protesting brakes and tires sliding across the road behind them, suddenly louder and seemingly moving closer. Panicking, Cullen threw all her effort into stumbling out of the truck, grabbing the stranger’s warm hand more firmly in her own, and running with the blonde woman away from the wreckage, pulling her, in the direction of fog-obscured trees ahead.

They ran without stopping until they hit the trees, about twenty feet from Cullen’s damaged truck, and then abruptly the blonde woman pulled them both to a stop. Cullen bent over at the waist the minute they stopped, panting, and curled her free arm under her stomach. She closed her eyes and willed herself not to vomit. Jesus Christ.

“Are you okay?” the blonde woman gasped.  Cullen turned her head to stare into the nervous gaze of the stranger, who also stood bent over at the waist, catching her breath.  Cullen nodded.

“Thank you,” she panted.  “I just froze there for a second… I…” She shook her head, not able to find the words to finish her sentence.

The blonde woman smiled at her, and Cullen realized that they were still holding hands when she felt a reassuring squeeze from her new friend.  “I know.  I think I was about the third car to hit it, and I spent a minute or so after I crashed just wondering what the hell had just happened.” The stranger straightened up, gently tugging on Cullen’s hand to encourage her to do the same. Cullen stood up next to her, feeling slightly calmer but still rattled.  She made no move to drop the blonde woman’s hand as she relished the human contact.

By some silent agreement they turned to face the road, and Cullen grimaced when she saw that her truck had indeed been smashed into by yet another car.  A dark-colored sports car lay pressed against the driver’s side door of her pickup, its horn blaring.  Cullen swallowed uncomfortably at the knowledge that its occupant was surely injured.  She felt helpless to stop the cataclysm in progress.

“Do you have a cell phone?” Cullen suddenly asked the blonde.  She turned to stare at her rescuer.  “We need to call the police.”

“I already called,” she answered.  “They should be here any minute.”  The blonde woman shivered a little in the cold evening air, and Cullen realized that she was clad only in a thin grey t-shirt and jeans.  The October weather was decidedly frigid and Cullen wondered if the blonde had simply left her jacket behind in her car when she had escaped.  The blonde shivered again and took an unconscious step closer to Cullen.

Cullen dropped the stranger’s hand and shrugged out of her leather jacket.  She had a thin sweater on underneath her own coat and knew that the blonde would benefit more from its warmth right now than she would.  Besides, Cullen thought, it’s the least I can do after she nearly got killed trying to get me moving.  “Here,” Cullen said, stepping behind the blonde and draping the leather jacket over shoulders narrower than her own.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to-” the woman protested.  Cullen placed two hands on the stranger’s shoulders and squeezed softly.

“You’re freezing,” Cullen said softly.  “Please put it on.”

The blonde acquiesced, nodding, and allowed Cullen to help her into the jacket.  When she succeeded in shielding the woman from the wind Cullen stepped back around and glanced at her new friend with a small smile.  The brown jacket was too large for the smaller woman and she cuddled into it with a contented sigh.

“Thanks,” the blonde whispered.  “That does feel better.”

Cullen nodded shyly.  “Thank you,” she said.  The blonde nodded, smiling.

For a moment they stood there, staring ahead, both wincing in concert when yet another car slid off into the median on the other side of the road after reaching the site of the pile-up.  Cullen opened her mouth to say something, anything, when she all of a sudden became aware of the distant sound of sirens approaching.  She sighed in relief at the thought that this situation might soon get under control, and that she might soon be able to sit down somewhere, anywhere, and try to calm her still rapidly beating heart.

Cullen started a little when a soft hand suddenly reached over and took her own.  Turning blue eyes over to stare at the woman beside her, she returned the tentative smile directed at her and interlaced her fingers with the blonde’s.  The contact was immensely comforting, she found, and by the appreciative look in the blonde’s eyes she guessed she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.  Cullen turned back to look at the road, her heart pounding.

“Your hand’s shaking,” the blonde said, her quiet words carried over to Cullen on the crisp October breeze.  Cullen concentrated for a moment and then realized that she was, in fact, still trembling from fear and adrenaline and stark relief.  She also realized that she wasn’t the only one.

“So is yours,” Cullen answered just as quietly.  The blonde said nothing for a moment, but stepped closer so that her side was pressed up against Cullen’s, their enjoined hands trapped between their bodies.  The red and blue flashing lights of police cars suddenly broke through the fog in front of them, and Cullen wondered briefly how many people had been involved in the accident, and how many would be able to walk away as she could.  She shuddered a little.

“My name’s Jamie,” the blonde said, raising her voice a little so that she could be heard over the wailing sirens of the emergency vehicles now pouring steadily out of the fog.

“I’m Cullen,” she answered.  As they watched the police and firemen start to deal with the situation in front of them, Cullen kept one part of her mind focused on Jamie, and their connected hands, and the way their intimate contact made her feel wonderfully, thrillingly alive.

Cullen walked out of the exam room of the hospital nearly three hours later, feeling more numb than anything else, and stopped to stand in the hallway for a moment.  A busy-looking doctor had just confirmed what she had already suspected; Cullen had just walked away from a thirteen car pile-up without a single injury, save a long but fairly non-painful scratch on her arm where she had banged against the doorframe during her escape.  On the other hand, she was learning, not everyone else had been so lucky.  So far there were two confirmed fatalities in the pile-up, and Cullen had gotten the impression that the death toll might need to be adjusted before the end of the night. 

That was a close one.  Cullen breathed, and squeezed her eyes shut for a minute.  She balled her fists at her sides, pressing her blunt fingernails into the palms of her hands sharply, and felt pleased by the slight pain the action created.  If I can feel pain, I’m alive.  She exhaled slowly and opened her eyes.  Turning right down the hallway, Cullen took a few steps before stopping at the sight of Jamie leaning against the wall only fifteen feet in front of her.  The blonde grinned when she saw her and pushed off against the wall, turning to face Cullen.

“Hey,” Jamie called.  Cullen started walking again, grinning instinctively at the surprisingly welcome sight of the familiar face.

“Hey yourself,” she said, coming to stop only a couple feet from Jamie.  “Are you okay?”

“Officially okay, yes,” Jamie confirmed.  She smiled up at Cullen.  “How about you?”

“So they tell me,” Cullen answered.  “I’m still pretty shaky and keyed up, but physically I’m fine.”

“Good.”  Jamie smiled a little harder, and Cullen was struck for the first time by how attractive the other woman was.  When she smiled it lit up her whole face, and Cullen felt warmer for being the object of such a breathtaking expression.  “I know what you mean,” Jamie continued.  “I feel half-numb, half-exhilarated.  Like I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“We’re lucky to be alive,” Cullen stated.  “Did you hear?  Two people…?”

Jamie nodded, swallowing hard.  “I know,” she whispered.

Cullen suddenly felt bad and a little awkward to have introduced such morbid thoughts into their exchange, and she reached over and touched Jamie’s shoulder gently.  “How are you getting home?  Do you have someone to come and get you?”

Jamie shook her head.  “My roommate’s out of town for the week, and I couldn’t reach the only other friend I’d want to bother about this.  I was thinking I’d just call a cab.  I don’t live far from here.”

“I don’t live very far either,” Cullen said.  She realized with a start that she didn’t want to be alone, and she certainly didn’t want to let Jamie just walk out of her life yet.  Cullen felt bonded to the blonde woman in some way by their shared experience and she craved human contact to reassure herself that she was, in fact, still breathing.  “Do you want to share a cab or something?”

Jamie looked a little surprised at the suggestion and Cullen opened her mouth to try and explain herself.  Jamie stopped Cullen’s words with an upraised hand.  “No, I…” Jamie started, and then faltered a moment.  She smiled at Cullen shyly.  “I’d like that.  I don’t want to be alone just yet, either.”

Cullen smiled gratefully.  “Thanks.”

“Come on,” Jamie said, gesturing behind her with a nod of her head.  “Let’s go outside and get some fresh air while I make the call.” 

Cullen nodded in agreement and silently followed the blonde through the hallway of the hospital down to the front door.  Stepping outside, she took a greedy breath of the crisp autumn air, closing her eyes with pleasure at the way it filled her lungs and seemed to course purposefully through her body.  She half-listened as Jamie called for a taxi, concentrating more on the sensation of breathing and on the feeling of the wind against her face, and on the pleasant timbre of Jamie’s voice, than on what the blonde was actually saying.  When she heard Jamie click off her cell phone she opened her eyes and turned to regard the smaller woman.

“Shit,” Cullen said.  No jacket, that’s right.  Jamie had returned her leather jacket to her when they’d arrived at the hospital, afraid that they wouldn’t see each other again after they separated.  For the second time that evening she shrugged out of her coat and moved to put it on Jamie, who acted as if she would protest until Cullen raised an admonishing brow at her, and then she accepted the warmth silently.  “What happened to your jacket, anyway?”

Jamie sighed.  “I forgot it,” she explained sheepishly.  “It seemed warmer earlier, and I wasn’t supposed to be gone that long.”

“Don’t want you to freeze to death,” Cullen said softly, and reached over to rub her hands up and down Jamie’s arms in an effort to warm her up.  Jamie looked up at her thoughtfully and Cullen suddenly realized how intimately she was touching the other woman.  Clearing her throat, she stepped back and dropped her hands, hoping that Jamie wasn’t offended or feeling irritated by her clinginess.  Cullen wondered a little at her immediate need for closeness, though she knew that it was likely because the accident had jacked up her emotions and adrenaline to an almost overwhelming level.  As Jamie had said earlier, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself.

“Thank you,” Jamie said.  “Again.”  She grinned and Cullen shivered a little in reaction.

“No problem.”  Cullen dropped her eyes and tried to think of something to say.  Her mind didn’t seem to be working correctly at that moment. 

“I’m glad I was able to find you,” Jamie said softly.  “I wanted to wait for you and make sure you were okay.”

“I’m glad you did,” Cullen said honestly.  “I didn’t want to just walk away without talking to you again.”  She gave the blonde a tentative smile.  “After all, you were an integral part of one of the single most terrifying experiences of my adult life.”

Jamie laughed, a sound that seemed astonishingly beautiful to Cullen’s ears, especially in light of their hellish evening.  “Lucky me, right?”

“Though you could say the same of me, I’m sure,” Cullen added, smiling warmly.  Jamie looked over, eyes sparkling with amusement, and winked at her. 

“That I can.”  Jamie continued to smile and Cullen felt herself smile back stupidly, unable to do anything else.

They stood together and talked quietly until the cab arrived ten minutes later.  Cullen felt utterly relaxed with Jamie, neither woman concerned with filling the occasional silence with idle chatter, both content to simply share the same space, both drawing strength from one another.  She almost regretted it when they climbed in the cab and Jamie gave the driver her address, which was slightly closer than Cullen’s apartment.  I don’t know how I’m going to go home and just watch TV after everything that’s happened.

The cab driver pulled out of the hospital parking lot quickly and Cullen felt Jamie shift in the seat to move closer against her body, settling only inches away from where Cullen sat.  Cullen glanced down at the blonde woman, who looked back up at her sheepishly.  She smiled at Jamie.  I understand.

Neither woman spoke during the entire drive to Jamie’s apartment.  Words seemed so inadequate to Cullen, and she couldn’t think of anything to say that could convey her tumultuous emotions, or describe how her body still thrummed with nervous energy and adrenaline, or explain why Jamie’s company felt as vital and important to her as it did.  She simply sat and stared at Jamie, who stared back at her, and somehow her blatant examination of the woman next to her didn’t feel awkward in the least.

When the cab driver finally pulled up to a moderately expensive-looking apartment complex and announced that their fare was ten dollars, Jamie finally broke their eye contact to fumble in her pocket for a crumpled five-dollar bill.  She stared down at her money for a moment before looking up to meet Cullen’s gaze.

“Listen,” Jamie said.  “Do you want to come upstairs with me for a little while?  I mean, maybe have a drink, or… talk, or whatever?  I just…” She sighed.  “I’m still really on edge, I think, and I don’t want to be alone right now.”  Jamie suddenly blushed a little and added, “If you don’t have someone waiting for you at home, that is.”

Cullen grinned, relieved.  “No, I don’t.  That sounds good.”  She reached into her own pocket to withdraw a wad of bills.  Counting them quickly, she snatched Jamie’s bill from her hand, combined it with her own, and handed it all to the driver.  “Thanks,” Cullen said to him, and climbed out of the car after Jamie.

“I know this is weird, right?” Jamie laughed as they walked together to the front door of her complex.  “I mean… you don’t even know me.”

Cullen shrugged.  “I didn’t want to be alone, either,” she admitted.  “I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to you yet, anyway.”

Jamie smiled but said nothing.  Cullen followed the smaller woman silently as she led them up two flights of stairs and down a narrow hallway until they reached the door of the end apartment.  They stood silently as Jamie fumbled with her keys for a moment before unlocking the door, and Cullen stepped into the apartment after the blonde, taking a moment to survey her surroundings as Jamie locked the door behind them.

She likes to read, Cullen mused as she glanced at the numerous bookcases that overflowed with books of all different shapes and sizes.  Continuing her quick inspection of the blonde’s apartment, Cullen smiled when she saw the dark form of a cat slink behind the couch, apparently intent on avoiding the unknown visitor Jamie had brought home. 

“He’s not big on strangers,” Jamie commented, and Cullen smiled at the fact that she had known where Cullen’s attention had been drawn.

“What’s his name?” she asked.  Cullen turned to face Jamie, who was standing just inside the doorway, next to her.

Jamie grinned.  “Angus.”

Cullen raised her eyebrows.  “I like it,” she said.  “Very cute.”

“Thanks,” Jamie said softly.  She looked down at the floor for a moment before raising suddenly intense eyes to look at Cullen again, and Cullen realized that the blonde woman was trembling.  Whether it was from fear, exhaustion, or adrenaline she didn’t know, but she discerned all of the same emotions that pounded through her own body exposed nakedly in Jamie’s gaze.  For a moment they just stared at each other, and then Jamie averted her gaze slightly.  “Do you want a drink, or-”

Cullen wasn’t certain how it happened, but suddenly she was reaching for Jamie desperately, and even though she was pretty sure she initiated the contact the blonde woman seemed to meet her halfway.  They came together in a fierce embrace and Cullen didn’t even stop to think before she lowered her face and captured Jamie’s mouth in a hard kiss.  The kiss was returned almost immediately, and Cullen wrapped her arms around the blonde woman firmly and moved them backwards until Jamie was pushed up against the wall, Cullen pressed tightly against her. 

She entered Jamie’s mouth forcefully, moaning as the blonde’s tongue met hers stroke for stroke, and small hands tightened on her back almost painfully.  Cullen couldn’t quite believe her own boldness, or the fact that she was kissing someone whom she barely knew.  She couldn’t quite believe it, but she found that she didn’t care.  The only thing that mattered in that moment was the taste of Jamie’s mouth, the softness of her breasts against Cullen’s chest, and the small whimpers she was swallowing eagerly.  Has she ever kissed a woman before? 

Cullen broke their kiss suddenly, gasping for air.  She could feel Jamie’s breath mingling with hers as the smaller woman panted, and the sensation sent an uncontrolled shiver through her body.  I need to be closer to her.  I need to feel her.  Cullen reached out and pulled her leather jacket off the blonde, and then moved her hands back up to slip underneath the grey t-shirt.  She looked into hooded eyes only an inch from her own for any indication that she should stop what she was doing.  Seeing only the same hot desire that thrummed through her veins reflected back to her in Jamie’s ardent gaze, Cullen moved her hands up to caress the soft skin of Jamie’s stomach and she brought her mouth down for another passionate kiss.

It suddenly felt as if she couldn’t get enough of Jamie, she couldn’t touch her too quickly or taste her too deeply.  She pressed her body hard against the smaller woman’s, feeling Jamie’s heartbeat echoing her own against her chest, reveling in the sensation of the blood that pounded through their joined bodies, thrillingly alive, and she groaned at the pure ecstasy of it all.  Jamie’s hands were moving up and down her back frantically, drawing her in even closer, so close that Cullen honestly didn’t know where she ended and Jamie began. 

Cullen pulled back from Jamie again, consumed by the need to get closer still to the smaller woman, and she reached down between them to unzip Jamie’s blue jeans with shaking hands.  She saw Jamie’s eyes slip shut, an aroused half-smile overtake her face, and Cullen’s own ardor rose another notch as she pushed Jamie’s pants over her hips, and then down to the floor.  Jamie stepped out of the jeans quickly, kicking them to the side without a word, and Cullen immediately leaned forward to suck hard on her neck.  She thrilled at the throbbing of the pulse point beneath her lips, at the sweet-tasting light sheen of sweat that covered her skin, and at her lover’s heady scent.

Cullen removed her mouth from Jamie’s neck and straightened up so that she could stare directly into her eyes.  It was almost as if she was no longer in control of her own body, she was acting purely on instinct, and she slid her hand down a soft stomach and underneath the waistband of Jamie’s panties to find the blonde woman wet and swollen.  They groaned in unison when Cullen’s fingers discovered Jamie’s slick folds, and Jamie tightened her grip on Cullen’s waist.  Staring intently into Jamie’s eyes- they were green, she realized suddenly, and flashing- Cullen drove a finger inside of her lover, eliciting a loud moan from Jamie and apparently weakening her knees.  Jamie slumped against her as if her strength had finally given out, and Cullen pressed into her body to hold her up with her own weight.

“More,” Jamie groaned, still staring into Cullen’s eyes.  It was the first word that had been spoken since Cullen had kissed Jamie.  Cullen shivered in reaction to the rough, low voice and withdrew her finger to add a second, entering Jamie again swiftly.  The blonde hissed in pleasure and Cullen began fucking her rhythmically, thrusting into her hard, staring at Jamie’s heated gaze in wonder.  Her thumb rubbed a distended clit firmly in time with her steady strokes, and she gasped a little at the sensation of possessing Jamie in this way.

This is crazy, Cullen thought foggily.  I’m just taking this woman without any of the usual preamble… do you sleep with women?  Do you want me?  How do you like it?  The only thing I know about her is that her name is Jamie, and she has a cat, and she’s lucky to be alive, like me, and right now I just think we’re lucky to be alive together, like this.  But really, I don’t know her at all.  With that thought Cullen looked deeply into her lover’s eyes and she attempted to know Jamie, all of Jamie, in that intense gaze.

Blue eyes refused to release green and they simply stared at one another while Cullen drove her fingers in and out of Jamie, the only noises in the room their own heavy breathing and occasional moans.  Cullen felt mesmerized by the verdant orbs only inches from her own, looking deep inside her, swirling with passion and emotion and what she imagined were simply the different shades of Jamie, and she tried to convey the depth of her own feelings to Jamie through her similarly hooded gaze.  The human connection she felt at that moment, watching Jamie’s expressive eyes, feeling the hot wetness of Jamie’s center around her fingers, Jamie’s heartbeat pounding strongly against her chest almost in time to the throbbing between her legs, was overwhelming and Cullen felt as if she might climax from the sheer pleasure of it all.

Jamie suddenly tightened around Cullen’s fingers, and her breathing hitched, and her hands gripped convulsively at Cullen’s back, eliciting from her a small whimper of pleasure-pain.  The blonde cried out loudly as she came and her entire body shook from the violence of her sudden orgasm.  Cullen cried out in sympathy, nearly reaching her own release in the trembling embrace of her lover, and she tightened her free arm around the smaller body against her in an effort to keep them both standing.  Jamie shook and trembled for long moments, still throbbing and contracting around Cullen, until she finally stilled with a small whimper. 

Cullen smiled at Jamie then and received a shy smile in return.  Leaning forward to capture the blonde’s lips with her own, Cullen kissed her passionately, without regret, and accepted an equally ardent kiss in return.  She withdrew her fingers from Jamie slowly and swallowed the moan that escaped from the smaller woman when she registered the loss.  Pulling back to look seriously into darkened green eyes, Cullen released her tight hold on Jamie and moved her hand up to caress the side of her slightly flushed face.

Still they said nothing, and Cullen was starting to wonder what she should do in the wake of their intense coupling.  What’s the right thing to say at a time like this?  Should I ask for her last name?

Jamie saved her from this thought when she all of a sudden leaned forward to kiss Cullen again, hard, and pulled her around to slam her against the wall, effectively reversing their positions.  Cullen kissed the blonde back without thought, thirsty for her, and dropped her hand down to gently squeeze a full breast.  Rubbing her palm against a hardening nipple, Cullen grinned against Jamie’s mouth when she felt a low moan rumble up from the woman’s throat.  Jamie stepped back from her then, apparently intent on regaining control, and growled softly as if to convey this desire.  Cullen dropped her hands obediently and received a wanton smile from Jamie in return.

Small hands reached out to unbutton and unzip Cullen’s jeans, causing her to shudder in anticipation of having her rampant arousal exposed.  She was panting hard, her hands clenched at her sides so that she wouldn’t be tempted to distract Jamie again, and her entire body thrummed with energy and desire.  She could feel how wet she was already, her thighs slick with her own arousal, and she held her breath as she waited for Jamie to touch her where she most needed to be touched.  Her jeans were pushed roughly over her hips, and then her panties, and Jamie dropped to her knees in front of Cullen to help her step out of her clothing, leaving her bare and exposed to Jamie’s heated gaze.

“Please,” Cullen whispered, and she gasped when intense green eyes stared up at her with naked intent.  She reached a shaking hand down to rest on soft blonde hair, whimpering when Jamie leaned forward and she felt hot breath against her center.  Cullen shifted and planted her feet further apart, further opening herself to her lover, and she cried out hoarsely when she felt the wet heat of Jamie’s mouth between her legs.  Her eyes slid shut for a moment as she tried to contend with the flood of sensation Jamie’s mouth and tongue were creating, lapping at her sensuously, sucking her.  Cullen opened her eyes again with the sudden need to watch the blonde’s ministrations and she stared down in time to see Jamie’s verdant eyes gazing back up at her.  Jamie pulled her face back from Cullen a couple inches, extending her tongue to lick at her center deliberately, staring up at her, and then she moved closer again to envelop Cullen with her mouth.  Jesus, Cullen managed to think, and then all other thought was lost when her body exploded and she came hard in Jamie’s mouth.

Now it was Jamie who had to hold Cullen upright, using two strong hands on her hips to press her firmly against the wall, when Cullen’s legs threatened to give out beneath her under the onslaught of her fierce orgasm.  Even as Cullen’s cries abated and were replaced by weak whimpers, Jamie continued to lap at her gently, drinking her in, and though Cullen felt utterly spent she was reluctant to lose the life-affirming contact, or to find refuge from the overwhelming feelings coursing through her body.  She kept her hand resting gently on Jamie’s head, stroking her hair, until finally Jamie planted a final kiss between her legs and rose to embrace her desperately. 

“That was incredible,” Cullen breathed, and she felt the smaller woman shiver in her arms.

“Yes, it was.”  Jamie pulled back and kissed Cullen with slightly bruised lips.  She tasted like her, and Cullen drank it in greedily.  Jamie pulled back after long moments and stared again at Cullen.  “Thank you.”

“That made me feel so alive, you know?” Cullen whispered.

“I know,” Jamie answered, and snuggled further into Cullen’s arms.  After a moment she leaned back and regarded Cullen with serious green eyes.  “I want to spend the rest of the night with you.  Being with you.”  She suddenly looked shy.  “Is that okay?”

“I want that, too.  I can’t get enough of you right now,” Cullen admitted.

Jamie laughed suddenly, and stepped back from Cullen’s embrace, taking her hand and leading her further into her small apartment.  “Angus is undoubtedly scarred forever,” she remarked lightly, her nose crinkling with undisguised mirth.

“I’ll make it up to him,” Cullen joked.  “Kitty treats are on me tomorrow.”

“You can suck up to him after you’re finished sucking… um, up to me,” Jamie teased, looking over her shoulder at Cullen as they approached her bedroom door.  Cullen grinned, and stepped forward to wrap strong arms around the smaller woman, and laughed as she prepared to spend the rest of a night colored by death reaffirming her own life.