Chapter Nine
Remember What's Important
If Alice, due to her looks, really was named for her literary counterpart, Jordan was sure she had been dropped down the rabbit hole after her and was still trying to determine heads from tails.
Woody's kiss had left her slightly breathless and longing for more…but that wasn't to happen that night. She had admired the tree one more time, helped Alice get ready for bed, and hurriedly left, leaving a bemused and chuckling Woody behind her.
And her wondering if after, all this time…when she was backtracking and turning corners, burning bridges and braving deep water, if somehow she wasn't still running from what she felt for him.
Somehow Woody knew it, too. Whether it was the gentle way he put his hand at the small of her back to help her around the crime scene or the soft way he'd smile at her when no one else was looking, Jordan was very much aware the detective knew about the conflict she was feeling.
And he did nothing to stop it, allowing her to wallow in her own indecision until she made up her mind. He had been man enough to set the wheels in motion…now he was man enough to wait.
But he was also man enough to make a move to push her in the right direction when the opportunity arose.
Which happened, just as the cold, winter weather in Boston began to give way to some warmer spring temperatures, in addition to a string of unsolved homicides that was driving the morgue staff as well as the Boston PD up a wall. Jordan had been clocking in hours of overtime, working with Woody to determine who was the perp.
One of these overtime periods found her in his office, long after five and long after most homicide detectives had quit for the day. She and Woody had a stack of files between them on his couch, going over each one carefully, noting the similarities on a write on board in his office. The quiet of the evening covered the atmosphere like a cozy blanket that kept drawing them closer. Woody knew it…and Jordan was trying to juggle it with her seesawing emotions. Woody gritted his teeth and desperately wanted to tell her that just for once go with the flow…and give into what she felt. He was tired of the dance and wondered vainly if her feet were just as tired.
If her feet weren't, she certain was…tired that is. Woody watched as she dejected slammed the last file shut and propped her feet up on the coffee table and leaned back. "Let's see…" she said. "We've got the same type of knife, going in at roughly the same angles…so the perp has got to be the same height in all the cases…" she began.
"And the murders take place at roughly the same time of day…" Woody continued.
"But different sections of town…" She got up and wrote the facts on the whiteboard, vainly trying to connect the dots in her head. After a moment or two of serious concentration, she gave up, capped the marker, and laid it down on Woody's desk. Then she sat next to it. "I don't know, Woody….I just don't know…yet…" She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I give up….at least for tonight."
"That's a first," Woody chuckled.
"Hey…I've learned my limitations."
Woody paused for a moment, taking in her tired eyes and the visible strain on her face. "You're working too hard," he admonished.
"And you're not? Hello pot, this is kettle…"
"You need to go home and rest…take the weekend off," he continued, as if he hadn't heard a word she said.
"Can't. I'm on call."
Woody stood in front of her then…between her and the door. "You need a weekend off."
"Why? To sleep in?"
"I was thinking more like the weekend we spent at the Lucy Carver Inn…" he said, looking deep in her eyes. "Rest…be alone….although if I recall correctly, there was very little rest that weekend…"
"Between odd-ball sheriffs and old murders, no."
"I was thinking more along the lines of what happened between us…"
The look in his eyes made her voice hitch. "That was a long time ago," Jordan replied, almost breathlessly.
"Doesn't mean I don't remember it …nearly everyday."
Oh Christ…he hasn't forgotten…even with Alice, he hasn't forgotten. Jordan felt herself swallow hard. "You do?"
"Every time I look in your eyes…and especially ever since Alice caught you underneath the mistletoe."
"That was just Christmas tradition…"
"Oh really? Then why did you my apartment so flustered that night? And why do you lean into me every time I put my hand on your back? And why do you look at me that way when I do this?" Woody gently put one hand at her waist and drew Jordan close to him…chest to chest and thigh to thigh before the other hand tilted her head up so that when he angled his head just so, he could completely claim her mouth.
The moments stood achingly still as he leisurely explored her mouth, giving her opportunity to pull away if she wanted to…but the desire wasn't there. Instead she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer. And when she thought he felt him lessen the kiss, it was only to pull away and pepper her face and neck with soft, urgent kisses, as his hands skated beneath the hem of her sweater and then spread out on her ribs, pulling her still closer and marveling at the fine texture of her skin at the same time.
She still was offering no resistance. Instead, she tugged his tie off and began to work on the buttons of his dress shirt, softly moaning against his lips at what his touch was doing to her…weaving that old magic…but instead of making her want to run away, it made her want to melt into him, hold him closer…let him make her his.
And this time no alarm bells were going off in her head.
But it was her soft touch on his bare chest that caused Woody to pull in the reins. "Wait…"
"We've waited a long time, Woody…" she murmured against his lips.
"Not here….not in my office."
Jordan took a deep breath. He was right. They couldn't…not here….they could be interrupted and his door wasn't locked…and on the other side of the wall there was at least a half a dozen detectives on night shift. "Okay… I know…"
She tried to pull away, but found he was still holding her close. "Some things don't change, do they, Jo?" he asked. "That attraction we've always felt for each other…it's still there despite years and distance and circumstances, it's still there."
She nodded wordlessly against his chest…loathe to move…even more reluctant to have him let her go. "I remember," she said softly.
"Do you remember when we were snowed in at the Inn?"
She nodded. "Every detail."
"And how everyone but us assumed that afterwards, we'd be together?"
"I remember."
"So what happened?"
"You decided you wanted to take it slow."
Woody pulled back and looked at her. "I thought you said you wanted to take things between us slowly."
Jordan shook her head. "Once again, you put words in my mouth, Farm Boy. Remember? You said slowly…then things ground to a halt."
"And you left for cardiology."
"I know…"
"And I got Alice."
"Then we both got too busy to remember what was really important…what mattered." She slowly rebuttoned his shirt.
"So what does matter?" Woody asked softly in her ear.
"I think I'd like to repair some bridges," she answered slowly, in an equally soft voice.
"When?"
"Tonight."
As luck would have it, Alice was spending the weekend with Brittany's family. Jordan left work, went home and changed clothes and grabbed an overnight bag. Fifteen minutes later she found herself knocking at Woody's door with the same trepidation she felt on Thanksgiving. To confess her feelings to him was one thing.
To act on them was completely different.
But the soft smile he threw at her when he opened the door dispelled any leftover fears she had. She dropped her bag by the door and followed him into the apartment. "Want a glass of wine?" he casually asked over his shoulder?"
"That'd be nice…thanks."
"Risling?"
"Good choice."
She accepted the glass of wine from him and stood drinking it while he switched on the CD player. Soon the apartment was filled with a jazzy blues mix. "Dance?" he asked, holding out his hand.
Nodding, she sat down the glass and let him draw her into his arms. Soon she found herself once again carried back in time…him holding her close and them slowly moving to the music. "Remember the Pogue?" she whispered in his ear.
"I do. Helping you close up and dancing afterwards to the music on the jukebox."
"Those were good times…."
"And we didn't realize it," he breathed softly through her hair. She felt him shift her just a little to pull her closer.
"No, we didn't. But we have now…" she pulled back and looked in his eyes, feeling herself mesmerized by his scent.
"We do. But only if you're ready….and only if you're sure…" Woody answered, his own eyes echoing the feelings in hers.
"I am…"
"To both counts?"
Jordan nodded and felt Woody pull her to him once again, claiming her mouth, which she willing yielded to him.
Clothes did come off this time…slowly…with a clever brush of the fingers here and a soft stroke there…buttons were undone and shirts melted away from their shoulders…it wasn't until Woody reached for the button on her jeans that Jordan realized just how far they had come…She arched into him, letting her aching breasts find some relief against his warm, hard chest, and moaned softly against his lips….then let her own hands slip down between them, deftly brushing the front of his pants before she unfastened them and pushed them off his hips.
"No fair," he murmured in lame protest. "You're getting ahead of me."
"Need some help catching up?" she teased, pushing her own jeans over her hips and kicking them off, standing before him in nothing but her lacey briefs.
"Dear God…you're more beautiful than I ever remembered…"
Jordan was quite sure afterwards exactly how they made it to the bedroom…she just remembered lying beneath him once again and feeling him work the same magic on her body that he had all those years ago…the mind-melting kisses, the trail of caresses his fingers and lips left across her collar bone and sternum…the gentle pressure of his fingertips on her breast, followed by the lavish attention he paid them with his lips. She arched against him in pleasure, her soft cries encouraging him.
Finally, he slid a finger into her, feeling her clinch around it and arch her hips against his, as if trying to mold them to him. With one hand under her bottom, pulling her more firmly against him, he slid into her and was rewarded with a deep sigh of gratitude. He would never know how much she had missed him and how long this wait had been for her…how hard it had been on her. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled herself even closer and waited for the sensation that would push them both over the edge, rocking with him, taking him even deeper.
The hitch in her breath told him she was close. He angled above her again and slowed down…thrusting slower but deeper inside of her. Jordan's breath hitched again. "Woody.."
"Let it go, baby…just let it go. Don't think…just feel. Let it go."
Her low moan and the arch of her back told him she was there….and he joined her…her response doing more than just pushing him over the edge, but making him lose control…something he could not imagine happening with another woman…nor wanting to.
Finally rolling off of her, but pulling her against his chest, he struggled to regain normal breathing. "Wow…that was…wow…"
"Better than I ever remembered…."
Woody nodded. "Yeah." He gently trailed on finger down her arm…reluctant to spoil the mood, but knowing they needed to talk "So….how do you feel?"
Jordan stretched lazily, noting some muscles were now aching that hadn't ached in a long time, but feeling the sleepy sensation of fulfillment in her limbs. "Good…what about you?"
"Not about that…what we just did…how do you feel about us? This was a big step…."
"I know." She rolled over and propped herself up on her elbows on his chest, so she could look him in the eyes. "I've missed us. I spent most of the last seven years trying to forget us and that was a miserable failure….not when everywhere I turned I saw things that reminded me of you…"
"So you're good…with this…with us?"
"I am. Are you?"
Woody leaned back on the pillows and chuckled. "See…I remember a woman that was once so scared of relationships that she ran anytime the 'L' word came up….who never gave anymore of herself than she was sure she could do without if she ever got hurt…"
"I remember her, too. But she changed once this blue-eyed detective from Wisconsin stole her heart."
"Really?"
"Really. It took her a while, but when she was scared she might lose him forever, she wised up."
"And now…what does she remember now?"
"That she loves him…very much. She's not sure exactly where this road will take them…but she remembers she doesn't want to lose him…and she wants to be with him."
"She does?"
"She does."
"Then…you know what I think?" Woody asked, pulling her face down to his for another kiss.
"What?"
"I don't think you have anything to worry about…" he said against her mouth before he caught her lips in another mind-numbing lip lock, one hand sliding up the inside of her thigh as he deftly flipped her over on her back.
No worries… Jordan couldn't remember the last time she had no worries…She may have tried to burn bridges over more water than she could ever tread…back track around corners she had never really turned…but that part of her life was over. She may have forgotten the little things about their relationship, but she remembered what was important.
Him.