“D-don’t touch my breasts. Anything else is fair game.”
Eli nodded. She moved her hand along Sarah’s side to the skinny jeans she’d worn multiple times since she’d been there. “May I use my mouth.”
“I would welcome it.” Sarah grinned. She reached down to her pants and pulled the button and zipper. She moved to one of the large chairs Eli had furnished the living area with and pulled off her boots while Eli did the same. Soon enough they were both naked. Eli’s heart raced in anticipation. She took a second to watch as Sarah spread her legs as she sat in the chair and played with herself before she knelt between Sarah’s knees.
Moving her rough hands up and down Sarah’s silky thighs was more of a contrast than she had anticipated. Eli started with one knee, pressing kisses here and there before moving to the other. Every minute she’d inch her way up. Sarah took all of Eli’s hair into a pony and twisted it around her fist, tugging lightly to try and get Eli to move faster, but Eli was determined about taking her time. The noises coming from between Sarah’s lips spurred her on. As soon as she got where they both wanted her to be, Sarah let out a sigh of relief.
“Remember, Elijah, everything is fair game.”
Eli closed her eyes and pulled Sarah’s hips closer to the edge of the chair. She didn’t hold back any longer. At some point, Sarah moved one foot against Eli’s shoulder, pushing against her as Eli changed pattern or moved her fingers in a new and different way. When Sarah’s body clenched hard against her fingers, she reveled in the sweet pull against her. It was nearly perfect, wonderful. Tears hit the back of her eyes at the thought that this week would be it. Whatever they had was going to end very shortly.
Eli wasn’t sure she wanted to give it up, to giveherup. Instead of lingering on those thoughts, Eli pushed through the emotions and brought Sarah up again, but this time, when she finished, Sarah tapped her hand, in an indication she wanted Eli to stop. Sitting back on her haunches, Eli stared up at Sarah’s rosy cheeks, tousled hair, and heavy-lidded eyes as she wiped her fingers around her mouth.
“Come here.” Sarah’s voice was deep, rough edged with passion still.
Eli did as she was told, rising on her knees so their mouths could touch, so their tongues could dance in a slow tango of soothing embraces. Sarah’s hands were in her hair again, but this time it was calm and gentle. Eli’s entire body eased from the tension it had been holding.
When Sarah pulled back, she had a smile on her face. “When do you have to go do something?”
“Three in the morning.”
“You’re free until then?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I want a nap, and then I want to do this all over again.”
Eli chuckled. “Your bed or mine?”
“Yours.”
Standing up, Eli took Sarah by the hand and led her to the basement. They walked through her small living room before pushing their way into her messy bedroom. Sarah was right behind her. Eli pulled her onto the bed, curling up on her side as Sarah did the same. They faced each other for a while, kissing here and there in between gentle words of conversation, but eventually, Eli turned over and Sarah moved against her back, curling around her. They fell asleep that way, knowing their time wasn’t up yet.
* * *
Sarah lay naked in the bed, her body sore from a week spent with Eli. As slow as the first week had been, the second had gone so fast she felt like she never caught up. She’d spent as much time with Eli as she possibly could, sometimes out in the fields and often in a bed or on a couch or anywhere in between when they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other.
She smiled at the memory. She’d certainly never forget her time atIndigo, but she couldn’t figure out why she was so sad to leave. She’d been on the phone on and off the previous few days, talking with agents and publicists as they broke the silence they had promised her in order to make arrangements for her tour.
It was going to be a long six months. It was the longest tour she had ever been on, but everyone assured her it would be worth it in the end. She still wasn’t convinced, and neither was Kara, and Kara was usually a pretty good judge of Sarah’s life—whether Sarah wanted her to be or not.
Gnawing on her lip again, Sarah got up and dressed. She opened her small rollaboard suitcase on her bed and started to roll her clothes up to fit everything inside. It had taken her years to figure out the best way to pack as much as she could in very little space, but she had become an expert at it by now.
She’d felt Eli get out of the bed early that morning to go check on the cattle, but she hadn’t seen her since, which wasn’t completely abnormal, but the way she had gone had left an empty feeling in the pit of Sarah’s belly. As she finished packing, she dragged her stuff out to her rental car, the car that had just sat there for the two weeks she’d been at the house. It had almost been pointless to rent it, and it certainly would have done her better to have Eli come pick her up at the airport. Then she wouldn’t have gotten lost on the way up.
Shoving the thought aside, Sarah closed the trunk of the car and turned around to face the fields. Eli was still nowhere in sight. They had talked about when she’d have to leave that morning, late enough that Eli said she could come back to see her off but not before afternoon chores had to begin. Sarah gnawed on her lip again as she leaned against the trunk of her vehicle and checked the time on her phone.
She didn’t have much time to wait around. She walked back up to the deck, circling the house as she scanned the horizon for the old farm truck Eli normally took out. She couldn’t see her anywhere. Sarah went back inside and sat at the kitchen counter, calling Eli’s cell phone but knowing her even being in cellphone range would be a stroke of luck. When it went straight to voicemail, Sarah set her phone down and sighed.
Waiting as long as she could, and even ten minutes past when she should, Sarah gave up. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling a quick note to Eli, thanking her for the hospitality and for letting her stay there, thanking Eli for trusting her with so much. When all was said and done, she signed it and left it right on the counter where she knew Eli would find it.
Once she was behind the wheel of the car, she headed toward the highway. She kept looking for Eli’s truck anywhere, but she couldn’t find it. A nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right tugged at the back of her mind, but she ignored it. They had talked about her leaving, and they both knew it had to happen, that there was no getting around it.
Her drive to the airport was uneventful. Her flight was the same. When she landed in Dallas, she took a rideshare to her apartment. Everything was in the same place as it was when she’d left two weeks before with so much hope for a break from everything. She’d had a break for sure, but something still felt unsettled.
Sarah stood in front of the large window in her high rise, staring out at the darkening sky and the horizon. She hadn’t lied to Eli when she said the sky seemed so much bigger there than in Dallas. Tears stung her eyes as she forced herself to turn around and start in on her next preparations. She had two weeks left until her tour started. They had final rehearsals, final checks on their reservations for everything. She hadn’t meant to smash so much into the next two weeks, but the break had been just what she needed to get through to the next little bit.
Dumping her clothes into the wash, she sighed as the scent hit her. Everything she had brought home with her smelled like Eli, that half-cow-shit, half-soap scent. A tear grazed down her cheek, and she wiped it away with more force than she intended. She hadn’t gotten a text or a phone call from Eli. Nothing. No checking about how her flight had been or if she’d made it back safely.