Chapter 10
"Do you happen to know how to tie a bow tie?" Jane asked Maura, looking helplessly in the mirror.
Maura turned around, looking beautiful in her red satin bridesmaid gown. "I do! Here." She reached for Jane.
"Can I ask why you know how to tie a bow tie?"
Maura shrugged. "You never know what skills will come in handy." She finished tying the bow and stepped back to admire her work. "You look sexy."
"Yeah? You wouldn't let me wear anything like this for our wedding."
Maura shook her head. "You couldn't just be sexy that night. You also had to be beautiful. And you were! Can you believe it's been three and a half years already?"
Jane shook her head. "But we've accomplished a lot. One baby here, another on the way." She buttoned up her tailored tux jacket. "It's a good thing you took me to get this adjusted. I think my proportions have changed since we first bought it."
Maura smiled, her eyes moving up and down Jane's figure. "Your hips are getting wider," she noted. "Your stomach is firmer. And your breasts are larger."
"Now don't jump on each other right here in the church," admonished Nina, returning to the room with her sister, Monica, and her best friend, Lisa.
"It's not my fault you put her in this sexy red dress," Jane said with a wicked grin, her fingers trailing lightly across the fabric on Maura's back. "But I'll control myself for now, because I really need to pee. Again."
"So do I," admitted Maura.
"At least you can pee in that dress," Nina said to Maura. "I needed Lisa and Monica to hold my dress for me!"
"Jane and I had to help each other pee on our wedding day," said Maura. "I remember having to sit backwards on the toilet."
"Yeah, the whole getting married thing is something you only want to do once," said Jane on her way out of the room.
"So how are you feeling?" Maura asked her when they were washing their hands in the bathroom.
"I'm all right. Still nauseous, but I could really go for a hot dog right now."
"You're craving hot dogs? You know you can't eat them, right?"
"Well, not right now. We're at a wedding."
"No, not at all! Hot dogs can contain listeria monocytogenes, which cause listeriosis, a very dangerous disease for pregnant women. It could cause you to lose the baby."
Jane frowned. "Really?"
"They also contain sodium nitrates, which elevate your risk of cancer and heart disease. Really not the healthiest thing to eat even when you're not pregnant, and certainly nothing our unborn child needs to be exposed to."
"But they taste so good," Jane whined.
"I'll tell you what. If you're still craving them, I'll pick you up some vegetarian hot dogs tomorrow."
"Vegetarian hot dogs?" Jane wrinkled her nose.
"Yes, they're usually soy-based." She smoothed Jane's lapels. "Do you think you'll feel up to letting me…take this off of you, when we get home?"
"Mm. Maybe, if I'm not too tired. You do look hot in that dress."
Maura smiled brilliantly. "And you look amazing. It's making me wet." Her lips met Jane's, and Jane felt an immediate fire inside that made her almost not care that they were in her childhood church and that they had less than half an hour until the wedding started.
"It shouldn't turn me on that you just did that in a church," she said.
"But it did?" Maura asked with a wicked grin.
"You know you married a naughty Catholic schoolgirl." She kissed Maura again. "We'd better get back to the dressing room. Ma should be bringing Charlotte any time."
Angela and Charlotte were already there when they got back. Charlotte was exploring the room while Angela admired Nina's dress.
"There you two are," Angela said. "I've got Charlotte in a fresh diaper. All she needs is to get her pretty little dress on. Are you still going to try the flower girl thing?"
"That's up to Nina," said Jane.
"I think we can try it," said Nina. "She did really well at rehearsal."
"She did," agreed Jane, "but toddlers are nothing if not unpredictable."
"Well, if she goes off script, it's not the end of the world. It won't ruin the wedding. I just got little rosebuds to go in the basket so she can just carry it and not bother with sprinkling petals."
Maura knelt down in front of Charlotte. "Are you going to hold your basket and walk down the aisle with T.J. like you did last night?"
"Yeah," said Charlotte.
Angela chuckled. "Hopefully T.J. can keep her in line. I've got her diaper bag with a few toys and some milk in it, so I can try to keep her occupied during the ceremony."
"At least it's not a full Catholic ceremony," said Jane. "She'd never be able to sit through Mass, and I wouldn't be able to stand through it without running to the bathroom."
Angela chuckled as she walked out of the room. Maura picked up the little garment bag she'd brought and extracted Charlotte's red lace dress. It wasn't intended specifically as a flower girl dress, but it would work as one, particularly given Charlotte's age and the uncertainty that she would actually perform flower girl duties.
"Here's your pretty dress, Charlotte," said Maura.
"Petty," Charlotte agreed, reaching out to touch Italian lace.
"Are you ready to put it on?"
"Mm hm." She obediently held still while Maura pulled off her clothes and put the dress on her. Maura turned her around so she could zip the dress, and Charlotte noticed Nina in her wedding gown. "Aunt Nina petty," she remarked, pointing.
"Yes, she's very pretty," Maura agreed, picking Charlotte up and wrestling her into white tights. Once they were on, she put Charlotte into a chair and fastened a pair of shiny black soft-soled Mary Janes onto her feet.
"Mommy petty," Charlotte told her, looking at Maura's dress.
"Thank you!" said Maura. "We match now. We both have on red dresses."
"Uh huh," said Charlotte. She looked over at Jane. "Mama…" her voice trailed off as she realized Jane was the only person in the room not wearing a pretty dress.
"Sorry, I don't get to be pretty today," said Jane. "I have to help Uncle Frankie instead."
"I still think you're pretty," Maura assured her. "Mama's always pretty," she told Charlotte.
Charlotte tilted her head as Maura ran a comb through her hair. "Mama petty," she agreed politely.
Maura fastened a red bow in Charlotte's curls. "There, you're all ready. Come look at yourself."
Maura held Charlotte up to the mirror and Charlotte exclaimed, "I'm petty!"
"So pretty," said Jane, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Let me take your picture."
"Cheeeeeeese," Charlotte intoned, a big toothy grin plastered on her face. Jane snapped several pictures.
"Let me get one of all three of you," suggested Nina, reaching for Jane's phone. "You're such a cute little family."
"Someday you and Frankie will have your own beautiful family," said Maura after they'd posed for their picture. "You'll be wonderful parents."
"Frankie's so good with Charlotte and T.J.," Nina agreed. "He's going to be a great dad."
"The second you tie the knot, Ma's gonna be all over your case to give her grandkids," Jane warned her. "That's what she did to us. Someone let slip that we wanted to have kids, and she would not stop dropping hints and asking questions. We weren't doing it fast enough for her."
"She cornered me," said Maura, her eyes wide. "She asked me before the wedding if we were going to have children, and I didn't know what to say!"
"I know, sweetie. That's just the kind of thing she does."
"We already told her we want one or two," said Nina. "We'll wait at least a few months after the wedding before we start trying, but we don't want to wait too long. We're not getting any younger, and we want them to be close enough in age to their cousins that they can all play together."
"Soon Ma's going to have more grandkids than she knows what to do with," said Jane, looking at her watch. "I've gotta go make sure Frankie's not getting cold feet. I'll see you beautiful ladies in a bit." She kissed Maura and Charlotte and headed down the hall to where the men were getting ready.
Fortunately, Frankie was not having cold feet (although he was a nervous wreck), so the wedding started on time. Jane walked out to the altar with Frankie, Tommy, and Korsak. She noticed Angela sitting in the pew directly in front of them, her eyes misty as she smiled proudly at Frankie, Charlotte's diaper bag at her side. Ron was next to her, Joann and her son on his other side. At the other end of the pew was Frank. He'd had the good sense not to bring whoever his current bimbo was and was seated with relatives from his side of the family instead. Jane made a point of not looking at him. She would not cause a scene at her little brother's wedding, but she hadn't spoken to him since before Charlotte was born, and she saw no reason to change that now. He didn't know about Eva unless someone else had told him, and she planned to keep it that way. He had made it clear that family was flesh and blood to him, and Eva was not his flesh and blood.
She didn't have time to worry about it, though, because the music was starting and five-year-old T.J. had appeared. He looked adorable in his little tuxedo, solemnly balancing his ring bearer pillow on his hands. The rings sewn onto the pillow were, of course, plastic facsimiles – Jane had the real ones in her pocket – but you wouldn't know it from his serious expression. Maura set Charlotte down beside him and handed her the basket, pointing to Jane at the other end of the aisle as she murmured something in her ear. T.J. took her hand and they began making their way down the aisle to a chorus of "awwws" from the audience. People who didn't even know them snapped pictures, and Charlotte flashed smiles at some of them, no doubt saying "cheeeese."
About halfway down the aisle, Charlotte decided she was done with the flower girl gig. She stopped in her tracks, wrenched her hand out of T.J.'s, and dumped the flowers out of her basket, then tossed the basket onto the ground. "Uh oh," she announced loudly. Jane stifled a laugh.
T.J., appalled at her behavior, picked up the basket and used his pillow to sweep the flowers back into it. Then he tried to recapture Charlotte's hand, but she wasn't having it. For one terrifying second, she appeared likely to go careering off in any given direction, but then her eyes fell on Jane. With a gleeful should of "Mama!" she took off running straight to Jane, who scooped her up and hugged her tight. T.J. walked up looking flustered and handed the basket to Jane, while Angela came over to collect both Charlotte and the basket and take them back to the pew. Jane caught a glimpse of her father watching Charlotte, but she tore her eyes away and focused instead on Maura coming down the aisle, carrying a small bouquet of white flowers, her eyes on Jane. She smiled brilliantly when Jane looked at her, a twinkle in her eyes that showed she was just as amused by Charlotte's antics as Jane was. A lump rose in Jane's throat as she remembered the last time she had seen Maura walk down an aisle – in that case, the aisle between field box seats at Fenway. She remembered feeling like her heart would explode as she watched Maura coming towards her, finally wearing that silk charmeuse wedding gown she'd dreamed of for years.
Damn pregnancy hormones, Jane thought, watching Maura walk to the other side of the altar, the bride's side. I am not going to cry at this wedding.
She forced herself to refocus. Monica was coming down the aisle now, followed by Lisa, and then Nina. Then the ceremony began in earnest, and Jane's mind drifted right back to Fenway Park on May 17, 2014.
They had been lucky with the weather. It had rained early that morning, but by the time of the wedding there were just a few passing clouds. It was a bit windy, but still warm. A beautiful evening to be at the ballpark. There had been a game earlier in the day, which the Sox had lost (not that Jane had time to watch it anyway), but that was okay. Jane was still winning.
It was easy telling Maura she would always be there for her, that she would hold her and cherish her for the rest of her life no matter what happened. The words would have been true even if she hadn't said them aloud. She wasn't forsaking anything for Maura, because Maura was all she wanted anyway. They had already been through so much together that all the promises they had to make just seemed like a formality. Still, hearing Maura actually say it – being reminded that this amazing person genuinely wanted to spend the rest of her life with her – had felt almost unreal. And Maura had looked her straight in the eyes as she said every word, the sweetest smile on her face. Maura couldn't lie. She really meant it, that Jane was the person she loved most, that she wanted only her forever.
Jane snapped back to the present when Frankie asked her for the rings. She quickly pulled them out of her pocket and handed them to the priest so he could bless them. There had been no priest to bless her and Maura's rings, but it didn't matter. Instead they had each engraved a message on the inside of the other's ring. She remembered holding Maura's ring in her fingers, feeling the leaf pattern engraved in the gold.
"When I got you this ring, I had trouble figuring out what to put on the inside," she had told Maura, loud enough for everyone to hear, although she tried not to think too much about the other people. "How could I possible explain why I love you in such a small space? And then I realized that was a stupid question. I can easily sum up what I love about you in just one word: everything. I love everything about you. I say it all the time, and I know you don't always believe me, but it's true. I love your big brain and your even bigger heart and your Google mouth and every weird little quirk." Maura laughed, and Jane continued. "So I put that one word inside your ring, so you can have it against your skin for the rest of your life and remember that, no matter what anybody else says, I love every tiny little thing about you."
She took Maura's left hand and positioned the ring at the end of her finger, remembering the old-fashioned vow Maura wanted them to say, even though Jane felt weird saying it in front of people. "With this ring, I thee wed. With my body, I thee worship. And with all my worldly goods I thee endow." Then she slid the ring to the base of Maura's finger, and just like that, Maura was hers. Officially. Permanently.
"I had trouble deciding what to put on yours as well," Maura had said, holding up Jane's ring. "And what I did put will probably seem very unoriginal to a lot of people. You are many things to me, but in your ring I simply put, 'my hero,' because you are, in every sense of the term. Not only have you saved me from harm on multiple occasions, including occasions when I would undeniably have died without your intervention, but you've saved me from the life I would have lived if you weren't in it. The life I was living before I met you. It wasn't a miserable life, but it was hardly an ecstatic one, and that is how you make me feel every day: ecstatic. You have brought so much unimaginable joy into my life. You're also the bravest, most caring person I know, and you are most definitely a social deviant in all the best ways. I know you don't like to think of yourself as a hero, but I hope you can accept this lifelong reminder that I consider you to be mine." She had taken Jane's hand then, blinking back tears as she did so. "With this ring, I thee wed. With my body, I thee worship. And with all my worldly goods I thee endow." Then she slid the ring onto Jane's finger, and just like that, Jane was hers. Jane remembered seeing a single tear slip down Maura's face just before she kissed her, but she managed to control herself.
Unlike today, when she found herself standing with tears running down her face like a damn fool while Frankie and Nina kissed. She realized she'd been fingering her own wedding ring and not listening to a word of the ceremony. She turned towards the altar and tried to discreetly wipe her tears away, hoping no one had noticed. She turned back to see her mother crying openly while Charlotte patted her back reassuringly. Then the music started playing and Frankie and Nina went back up the aisle together while everyone cheered and applauded. Jane hung back, as planned, and let Tommy walk Lisa up the aisle while Korsak followed with Monica so she could walk with Maura.
Charlotte hopped down from her pew and ran towards them yelling "Mommy Mama!" Jane picked her up and linked her arm back through Maura's.
"Gamma sad," Charlotte told them worriedly.
"No baby, she's happy," Jane promised, although Charlotte looked highly dubious.
"I know you're probably embarrassed," Maura whispered into her ear, "but I think it's sweet that you cried at your brother's wedding."
"It's not my fault. Eva made me do it," Jane whispered back. "Anyway, I wasn't crying about this wedding. I was remembering ours."
"Oh, Jane!" Maura looked touched.
"Now don't get mushy or you're going to set me off again. These pregnancy hormones are no joke."
XXX
The only thing that sucked about being the best man instead of a bridesmaid was that Jane had to sit between her brothers at the wedding reception, while Maura was down at the other end of the table. But after dinner was over and Jane had given her speech about Nina being the first girlfriend of Frankie's their mom had ever approved of, people started getting up to dance and Maura came over to talk to Jane.
"Hey," said Jane. "I forgot how boring wedding receptions are when you can't drink."
"That's not true," Maura admonished her. "You're surrounded by all of your favorite people, and there's dancing. That's not boring."
Jane knew where this was leading. "I don't dance."
"Charlotte's dancing," Maura pointed out. It was true. Charlotte was out on the floor cutting a rug with T.J., and the photographer was taking about a thousand pictures, with good reason. It was the cutest thing ever.
"Yeah, well, Charlotte's 20 months old. The only way I would get out there is if I had a lot of alcohol in my system, which I can't right now, so you're out of luck."
"You danced at Susie's memorial service without being drunk."
"That was different. You were sad and I had to cheer you up."
"I might become sad if you don't dance with me."
"Well if that happens, let me know."
Maura was quiet a moment. "I bet Tommy will dance with me."
"Now, see, you did not have to go there. That's stooping very low."
Maura laughed, tilting her head in her adorable way, and Jane caved in, begrudgingly putting her hands in Maura's and letting Maura pull her from the chair.
They never got to dance, though, because Jane saw something that outraged her the second they got to the floor. Frank was kneeling in front of Charlotte and T.J., Charlotte's tiny hand between his thumb and forefinger, talking to her as though they had an established relationship. Jane immediately dropped Maura's hand and stormed over there, lifting Charlotte into her arms.
"Hey baby girl," she said, not wanting to scare her. "Do you want to come dance with me and Mommy?"
"Yeah," said Charlotte, looking slightly confused.
"Why do you have to be like that?" said Frank, standing up. "She's my granddaughter. I just want to get to know her. Why do you have to keep her from me?"
"You already know why, Pop," said Jane evenly. "She doesn't need to be part of this drama."
"You kids are all pieces of work, you know that? The only grandkids I have are illegitimate. I move away and you all go against everything we ever taught you. You turn into a lesbian, Tommy marries my ex-fiancée and then divorces her, and Frankie marries a—"
"A what, Pop?" Frankie asked quietly. Jane turned to see her brother standing beside her, and Tommy was also making his way towards them. Maura looked frightened, but when Jane beckoned she came over to take Charlotte and get her away from the confrontation. Jane couldn't leave yet, however, because it was no longer just about her.
"I don't mean anything bad," Frank insisted. "Nina's a lovely woman. It's just, where I come from, you can be friends with anyone, but people marry their own kind. I'm sure her parents feel the same way."
"What century do you think this is, Pop?" Tommy asked.
"Look, I'm not being racist, I mean I'm here, aren't I?"
"Not for much longer," said Frankie. "You need to leave now."
"What?"
"Leave. Now. In one breath, you just insulted my wife, my little niece and nephew, my sister, and my brother. I don't know if you had too much to drink or what your problem is, but this is my wedding, Pop. You can't be here if you're going to act like that."
"Frankie, you're overreacting. I didn't mean anything by what I said."
"He said leave," Jane said harshly. "There are at least a dozen cops in this place, Pop. If you won't walk out on your own, we can walk you out."
Frank looked around in disbelief. Korsak and several officers were standing behind them now, arms folded. Even Ron looked ready to do battle.
"I hope you're happy with yourself," Frank said to Angela as he turned to leave. "I don't even recognize these kids anymore."
XXX
"It was a lovely wedding," Maura remarked on the way home. "It was a shame about your dad, but everyone did a good job of getting the celebration going again after he left."
"We were just determined to enjoy ourselves in spite of him. We couldn't let him ruin Frankie's wedding."
"At least you finally danced with me! And I think the photographer got some good shots of us together, on our own and with Charlotte. I'm going to buy prints as soon as I can."
"Get some giant ones. We can hang them in the foyer where everyone will see them as soon as they walk in the house."
Maura paused. "He's just very old-fashioned."
"He called Charlotte illegitimate."
"I know."
"Even if I didn't think that was a ridiculously offensive and outdated term, we were married when we had her."
"Yes."
"But he doesn't think it counts."
"My biological parents were never married, so I would be illegitimate in his eyes as well."
"Which is why it's such a stupid term. There's no such thing as legitimate and illegitimate human beings."
"I agree with you."
"And it doesn't sound like he's going to be that accepting of Frankie and Nina's kids either. It just makes me that much more confident about my decision to keep him away from our family, though. I never want him around Eva. I remember what you told me, about your grandparents not treating you like part of the family because you were adopted. I'm not letting him do that to Eva. She's never going to feel the way you had to feel. I'm surrounding her only with people who love her and accept her."
Maura looked at her. "You're a good mom."
"I'm trying to be." Jane pulled into their garage and parked the car. Charlotte was out cold in her car seat, so Jane lifted her out very carefully and carried her into the house. Working together, she and Maura managed to change her into her pajamas and get her into her crib without waking her up.
"Well, we're both tired and a bit emotionally drained, so I understand if you want to go straight to sleep," Maura said as they walked into their bedroom. "But I still think you look incredibly sexy."
Jane looked down at her beautiful, hopeful wife and smiled. "I think I have just enough energy left for this."
Maura lit up. Jane pulled her into her arms and kissed her deeply, running her fingers through her hair. "You may not have been the bride, but you were still the most beautiful woman at the wedding," she murmured, kissing Maura's face all over. "You're the most beautiful woman at every wedding." She eased her towards the bed. "Actually, you're the most beautiful woman wherever you go." Maura giggled as Jane lay her down on the bed and took off her shoes. Jane slowly slid her hands up Maura's skirt, sliding them along her smooth legs. "Hmm, these feel freshly shaved. You were planning for this, weren't you?"
Maura nodded. "I've been fantasizing about this ever since I took you tuxedo shopping."
"Mmm. You always wanted to be fucked by a lady in a tuxedo?" Her hands reached Maura's thighs and moved to the insides, slowing their ascent.
Maura nodded, her eyes on Jane, biting her lip in anticipation.
Jane pushed Maura's skirt up more. "These long dresses are kinda tricky, although I guess I can't complain about this one. Your wedding dress had so many layers and shit I thought I was never going to strike gold." She knelt on the bed between Maura's legs, finally getting the skirt high enough to access her panties, and was immediately hit with the scent of her arousal. "Damn, woman, you weren't kidding about being wet."
"I told you I was getting wet just looking at you! I've been like this all night!"
Jane grinned and slid Maura's panties off, dropping them onto the floor. She stroked the inside of Maura's thigh, taking a moment to admire the sparkling wet, swollen pussy that was being offered to her. She's this wet for ME, she thought in wonder, her mouth watering. She began kissing her way up the inside of Maura's thigh, very slowly, letting the anticipation build.
"Knowing you're pregnant makes you even sexier," said Maura. "It's been a bit of a turn on for me ever since it happened."
"Yeah?" Jane said in between kisses, getting closer and closer to the prize. "So you like me pregnant, but you also like me in a tux?"
"Yes, I – mmm – I've always found your unique blend of masculine and feminine traits extremely sexy. It's – oh Jane – it's why I consider you to be the most attractive person I've ever met."
Jane smiled inwardly at the compliment, but her mouth was busy doing other things. She'd finally made it to her destination and was flicking her tongue in and out, touching Maura everywhere but where she most wanted it. This teasing was hard on both of them, but it was always worth it in the end. It would make Maura wetter and wetter, and she would come hard when Jane finally did give her what she wanted.
When Maura started to squirm and try to thrust herself into Jane's mouth, Jane finally allowed herself to fully taste Maura's juices, to drink them in. She couldn't believe there was ever a time when she had worried that eating pussy would be gross. She loved the taste of Maura. If the doctor told her she had to go on an all-Maura diet for the rest of her life, she wouldn't mind at all. She slid her tongue in and out of Maura, listening to her soft cries of pleasure, keeping a grip on her rocking hips just as Maura kept a grip on her head, fingers tangled deep in Jane's hair. This was pure bliss. With my body, I thee worship.
Finally, she decided it was time to go in for the kill. She moved her tongue to Maura's clit and licked hard, sliding her fingers deep inside of her. "Oh Jane," Maura gasped as Jane increased the pressure of both fingers and tongue. "Oh, Jane. Oh, Jane! JAAAAANE!"
She was so loud on that last note that Jane checked the baby monitor as soon as she came up for air to make sure Charlotte was still asleep in her crib. She was, so Jane dragged herself to her pillow and collapsed, trying to catch her breath. She could feel Maura's wetness on her face, but she didn't mind one bit.
Maura rolled over on top of her. "Now it's time to get you out of this tux." She began unbuttoning the jacket.
"So you like it on me, but you can't wait to get it back off."
"Correct." She slid the jacket off and set to work on the bow tie, peppering Jane's face and neck with kisses as she did so.
"Can you take your dress off too?"
"Oh, sure." She rolled over. "Unzip me."
As Jane reached for the zipper, her mind flashed back to a day several years ago when Maura had said the same words to her in her office. At the time Jane had not believed she would ever have a shot with Maura, and at first she thought she'd heard her wrong. Maura had had no erotic purpose in mind that day, but tonight Jane got to watch her emerge from her bridesmaid dress, unhook her bra, and then lie back down with her naked body pressed against Jane.
"You're wet now too," said Maura, touching Jane through her pants. "I can feel it. You've soaked through your pants."
"Damn. And they're dry clean only, aren't they?"
Maura laughed. "It'll be okay." She began unbuttoning Jane's shirt.
"There would be something wrong with me if I wasn't wet after everything we've done so far," Jane pointed out. She made no effort to help with her undressing other than lifting her body when necessary, like right now when Maura pulled the shirt the rest of the way off, because she knew Maura had been looking forward to this part.
"Your breasts have gotten quite a bit bigger," Maura noted approvingly as she removed Jane's bra.
"You like them?"
"Oh yes."
"They hurt though."
"I'll be gentle." Maura lightly cupped a swollen tit in each hand, running her tongue very softly over each one in turn. Her lips touched Jane's left nipple and then gently began to suck. Jane moaned softly, running her fingers through Maura's hair and down her back. Maura deftly undid Jane's pants and eased them down, grabbed her underwear and pulled that down too. Once Jane was fully naked, Maura took her place between her legs with an eager smile. She planted a loving kiss on the spot where Eva resided before moving downward. Her tongue moved all over Jane's cunt, doing figure eights, lapping up Jane's juices as Jane had done to her. Then, without warning, she took Jane's clit into her mouth and began sucking so hard it left Jane breathless.
"Maura," she said softly, slipping her fingers into silky hair. "Oh, Maura, you are so fucking good at this." She really was. Even the first time they'd been together, she had easily made Jane come – the first time another person had ever done so – and she swore that she'd never been with a woman before, but still understood what needed to be done in order to bring one to orgasm. The stress of the evening seemed to melt away as Maura worked her with tongue, and then fingers as well, until Jane came hard.
"So, I kind of really love you a lot," Jane remarked when they were lying side by side, chests heaving.
"You might have mentioned that before," Maura said with a smile. She slid into Jane's arms, where she had always fit so perfectly. "I kind of really love you a lot too."
"Mm. I suspected as much." Jane closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of Maura's hair as she drifted off to sleep.
XXX
"Jane. Jane, wake up. He's been to our house."
"What?" Jane's eyes flew open. Maura's bedside lamp was still on and she was sitting up in bed, holding one of her science journals.
"Not in our house, but at our house." She held up her magazine, panic in her eyes. "My new issue of the Journal of Forensic Sciences came in the mail three days ago. I hadn't had a chance to open it yet, but I couldn't sleep, so I decided to read that article I've been looking forward to, about nitrate and nitrite determination in gunshot residue samples by capillary electrophoresis in acidic run buffer."
"What?"
"But when I started reading, this fell out of the pages." She thrust a napkin at Jane. It was just a plain white napkin, the kind they handed out at fast food restaurants, and across it was scrawled:
YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYONE.
"Oh, no, Maura." She pushed herself into a sitting position. "This is definitely the same handwriting as the first note."
"Yes. They must have stuck it in there while the magazine was in the mailbox. We were probably at work. Your mom might have been here with Charlotte, but she takes her on outings sometimes, and even if they were home they might not have noticed someone putting something in the mailbox." She shuddered. "I hope they weren't home. I don't want this person that close to Charlotte."
"I don't want them that close to you either, but they put the first note in your purse."
"Yes, but this is worse. This means they know where we live. Jane, they've been to our house."