“You are so good to these kids, Sky. Jamie and Charlie idolize you. You’ve helped so many. You shouldn’t beat yourself up because one came along who needs professional counseling.” She laid her hand on Skyler’s damp cheek and gently turned the anguished face toward her. “You have such a big heart. I don’t know why you spend so much time trying to convince people you’re such a rascal.”
Skyler raised her eyes to Jessica’s and felt herself drowning in a sea of pale blue. “I am a rascal,” she said with a small smile.
Jessica leaned close to touch her warm lips to Skyler’s mouth. Skyler hesitated, fighting the confusion spinning in her head. “We can’t do this,” she said. “I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” came Jessica’s soft, firm reply. “I believe in you, Skyler. Please. Take a chance on us.”
Skyler wanted to take that chance. God, she needed Jessica. This was the one woman who seemed to ease her self-doubts and fill the empty places left by an abusive father and a lover’s betrayal. “You’re seeing Tory.”
Jessica’s eyes were pleading, her face flushed with desire. Her voice was husky. “Oh, Sky. It’s you who makes my mouth go dry and my heart race, no matter how much I try to deny it. It’s you, not Tory, that I want. I don’t care if you don’t want me tomorrow.”
Skyler jumped up, nearly throwing Jessica onto the floor. “You deserve better, Jess. Kate knows it. Tory knows it. Hell, I know it.”
Jessica stood and moved quickly so that she was toe-to-toe with Skyler. “You’re wrong, Skyler Reese. You are dead wrong. You are what I need. You are what I want, no matter how hard you and everybody else try to change my mind. Am I wrong to think that you may feel the same way about me?”
She wasn’t wrong. There was nothing Skyler needed, wanted, more than to feel Jessica’s arms around her, holding her tight.
“Just tell me that you don’t want me,” Jessica said softly. “Tell me you don’t dream about me at night like I dream about you. Tell me there is no part of your heart that wants to open up to me, and I’ll leave you alone. No matter how much it hurts me, I’ll leave you alone for good. We’ll just be trainer and rider.”
“I’m scared.”
It was a whisper so soft, Jessica almost missed it. She reached up to cup Skyler’s face in her warm, delicate hands. “Why, Sky? Why are you afraid of me?”
The dark eyes that met hers were enough to break her heart. She waited as Skyler worked to get the words to her lips. “I’m scared because you’re not like the rest. I can’t just sleep with you and move on. I’m scared because it will rip me apart if I let you in and then you move on.”
Jessica drew Skyler’s head down for a gentle kiss. It was a kiss of affection and promise. She stroked the still damp cheek, her eyes holding Skyler’s. “That’s good. Because I’m absolutely crazy about you,” she whispered, guiding Skyler to the bed.
Jessica straddled Skyler’s hips and pulled her into another kiss, a sweet kiss of longing and desire. Leaning back, Jessica pulled her shirt and bra off over her head, then slipped her hands under Skyler’s shirt. Skyler arched up so the garment could be stripped from her, and Jessica sighed at the golden skin now exposed, the soft swell of breasts under the white sports bra. She laid her face against Skyler’s warm chest and closed her eyes to focus on the heart beating wildly beneath her cheek.
Skyler trembled beneath her as Jessica began a journey to taste the smooth shoulders and the graceful curve of her neck. Her nails raked gently across the ridged abdomen, drawing more shivers.
“Oh God, Jess. I don’t know about this.”
“What don’t you know, baby?”
“What if I fuck this up? What if I can’t be what you need, like everybody says? What if wanting each other isn’t enough?”
Jessica held Skyler’s face in her hands and looked deep into her anxious eyes. “I thought we had this cleared up. Forget what the others think. I believe in you, Skyler. I believe in us. I’ve felt it since that day I froze at the downhill jump. You’re so strong, and I felt so safe in your arms. We don’t just want each other, Sky. We need each other.”