Tehare olvidar lo que te hizo sufrir

No vas a caer

Mientras que estes junto a mi

They began to touch each other lightly, Ryan's hands unable to remain at rest. Switching to English, Jamie looked into her eyes and sang not a lyric, but a promise.

And I will take

You in my arms

And hold you right where you belong

Till the day my life is through

This I promise you

This I promise you

I've loved you forever

In lifetimes before

And I promise you never

Will you hurt anymore

I give you my word

I give you my heart

This is a battle we've won

And with this vow

Forever has just begun

Looking down into the beautiful green eyes that held her heart, Ryan bent and covered Jamie's mouth with a tender kiss. As much as she loved hearing her sing, she couldn't hold back another moment, and they held onto each other tightly as their bodies became one.

With a hunger that had quickly grown to voracious proportions, Ryan sucked greedily upon the coral-pink lips, then thrilled to the sensation of Jamie's slick tongue filling her mouth. Their moans nearly drowned out the music, and when Ryan stooped slightly, Jamie read her signal and jumped, landing in her arms.

In moments, they were in their room and Ryan was placing her gently on the bed. Jamie wrapped her arms around Ryan's neck, and pulled her right down with her, they grappled briefly, Ryan's body half off the bed - Jamie refusing to relinquish her hold. Ryan finally gained purchase and stretched out alongside her lover, covering her mouth once again, while her hands simultaneously worked on b.u.t.tons and zippers and hooks.

Once again, Jamie mused that her lover clearly had some dominion over the fasteners on all forms of clothing. Ryan seemed to just give the order, and the garment opened. Jamie knew that such a feat was a physical impossibility, but she had no other explanation, so she chose to believe.

Lying there, her blouse open, slacks unzipped, the front closure of her bra no longer an impediment, Jamie smiled serenely when the dark, damp head dipped and took her breast into a warm mouth. She was feeling particularly sensitive today - and fairly sensual as well, as evinced by her impromptu dance number. But when Ryan's mouth began to suckle her, she felt an explosion of sensation that was tremendously stimulating - and made her long for more.

"Yes," she moaned, with the first word of her own creation since Ryan had come home.

While her mouth worked the plump flesh, Ryan's determined right hand slipped into Jamie's pants - creating a trail of fire wherever her short nails traveled. Ryan loved to touch her partially-clad body - finding it much more erotic than complete nudity. Her mouth moved to the other breast, squeezing it between both hands as she did so. The pressure of her hands and the force of her sucking made Jamie growl with pleasure. She stuck her thumbs into her waistband and stripped off her slacks, the roomy cut of her khakis helping her to disrobe in moments.

As soon as her slacks and panties had been cast off, Jamie shifted her body and wrapped her legs around Ryan's waist, holding on tight as her partner ratcheted her desire higher and higher.

Pawing at the irritating clothing that kept her from feeling her partner's heated skin, she waited patiently while Ryan yanked off her T-shirt. Jamie took over then, unhooking her bra with care, revealing the twin prizes that her own questing mouth sought.

She took her time, savoring the variety of tastes and scents that buffeted her senses: the fresh scent of her soap; just a touch of baby powder; a faint note of musk, which would grow stronger with her arousal; and a bit of clean, salty sweat. And always, hiding under the artificial scents, was Ryan's own aroma - indescribable, but as familiar as the smell of her own home - permanently imprinted on her brain.

As Jamie's tongue swirled around the stiffening nipple, she felt Ryan's hands slip to her waist to peel off her tights. Then the long legs wrapped around Jamie's waist, holding her in place just as she had done to Ryan moments before.

She reveled in the feeling of being completely trapped - of being subject to Ryan's absolute whim, to do with as she chose. Her free hand went to the neglected breast, and plumped the nipple that her searching fingers found. Ryan replied l.u.s.tily, moaning throatily as Jamie simultaneously sucked and squeezed.

The powerful thighs compressed, and Jamie could feel a wet kiss placed repeatedly upon her belly by Ryan's lower lips. Suddenly, their positions were reversed, and Jamie found herself on her back, with her legs dangling over Ryan's broad shoulders. Without warning, the dark head dipped and Jamie felt sensitive flesh pulled gently into Ryan's mouth, the warm, wet tongue and lips touching her everywhere. With a soft, determined sucking motion, Ryan consumed her, thrilling her to the core as she felt every part of her most delicate flesh disappear into that hungry mouth.

Jamie's jaw opened and closed impotently, her lips unable to form words. Ryan possessed her so totally that she couldn't move, so she consciously relaxed and let her lover feed. As soon as she gave up any attempt at control, her climax built and hit her hard, the feeling washing over her in waves, each one more calming, more soothing than the last.

Ryan's hot tongue wasn't ready to release her, and the silky smooth organ continued to stroke and play with Jamie's sensitized flesh. Jamie's hands went to her partner's back and stroked her with the same slow movements, soothing Ryan's racing heart.

Gently releasing her captive, Ryan climbed up her lover's body and took her into her arms, rocking her gently until she had fallen asleep against her. "I love you," Ryan whispered, the first words that she had spoken.

PART 11.

"I DON'T KNOW if the baby will even fit in here," Jamie said in amazement as they loaded the ma.s.s of presents for Jennie and her friends into the back of the Lexus. It was late that afternoon, and they had been trying to wait out the driving rain, but when it became obvious that it wasn't going to let up, they finally decided to just pack up and go.

Maeve was in charge of Caitlin, and when Ryan suggested that she might like to help play Santa, she was only too willing to release her young charge. "She's been a little terror today," Maeve warned Jamie when she ran up to the house to collect the baby. "As Ryan would say, she's a little adrenaline junkie."

"Oh, we can manage her," Jamie said happily as she accepted the gurgling child.

"Mmh mmh," Caitlin grunted with a frustrated look on her sunny face.

"Ryan's trying to teach her to say my name," Jamie informed Maeve. "We've given up trying to teach her 'Ryan'," she laughed. "She can't really get a handle on any part of it."

"She seems like she's not satisfied with yours either," Maeve observed.

"No, she's not, but I think she'll get to Jamie a lot sooner than Ryan."

"Oh, let me go pull her car seat out of my car," Maeve said as she grabbed her keys.

"No need," Jamie informed her. "We just decided it was time to invest in our own. We got it all installed this morning. Now we'll always be prepared."

"Marvelous!" Maeve exclaimed, very happy to not have to wrestle with the seat in the rain.

"Yeah, that silly Ryan was out in the rain for hours! We finally got the bike rack we'd ordered months ago, and she couldn't wait a day to get it on, even though we won't be riding our bikes any time in the near future. Then she had to get the car seat set up, and put the license plates I finally got for her on the car, too. She gets so focused!"

"She's been like that forever, Jamie. Don't waste your time trying to change her." Sticking her head out of the door she asked, "What is your special new license plate anyway?" She had to crane her neck to read it, then she laughed and said, "Now isn't that the truth!" Bending to kiss Jamie goodbye she said, "I hope you have a lovely time this afternoon, girls. We'll probably go over to your house later to have dinner with the children, so we'll meet you back there."

"Okay, wish us luck," Jamie cried as she tucked Caitlin into her bright yellow slicker, then dashed back down the stairs to the waiting car.

Before they left, Ryan had logged on to a local traffic site. Seeing that the freeway was far too congested to get on any sooner than they had to, they cut across the city by taking Mission, trying to get to the Bay Bridge with as little trouble as possible. The heavy gloom made the late afternoon even darker than normal, and everyone had their headlights on even though it was only four o'clock.

The baby was chattering away in the back seat, attempting to make an important point when they pulled to a stop at the corner of Howard and Mission to allow a Muni bus to pa.s.s in front of them. Ryan turned to say something to Jamie when a face appeared in the window right behind her lover's head. Something about the look on his face caused Ryan's stomach to clench, and she had her mouth open to warn Jamie when the window behind her own head was abruptly struck with a very heavy object. Twin screams echoed through the car; Ryan could not have said whether or not one was hers. A large, powerful hand reached through the gaping hole and grasped Ryan roughly by the collar, compressing her windpipe as the fabric of her T-shirt was twisted forcefully. She felt something cold, hard and wet press against her neck as a voice ordered, "Unlock the doors and get out."

Very few viable options presented themselves at that moment. Glancing quickly past Jamie's fear-frozen face, she saw the flash of blue steel pointed through the window at her lover, so any thoughts of trying to escape were quickly abandoned. "My baby is in the back seat," she said as calmly as possible, her voice thin from the diminution of air. "Let me get her out, and you can have everything we've got - no arguments."

"You're not in any position to argue, b.i.t.c.h," he growled. "Now get out, or you're gonna be breathing out the side of your neck!"

Another glance in the rear view mirror showed no other cars directly behind them, and the traffic coming from the other direction was not terribly heavy either, allowing few possibilities of help . She lowered her voice, trying to make it as calm as possible and said, "Can you get out, Jamie?"

The fair woman was unable to speak, but her head nodded quickly. Her eyes turned towards the screaming baby in the car seat, but Ryan just shook her head. "Get out," she said firmly. Jamie's small hand was shaking so violently that she could hardly grasp the door handle, but as soon as the lock popped, the man on her side jerked the door open with one hand and shoved the gun against the back of her head with the other. She fumbled for her seat belt, managing to unlatch it just as he started to drag her from the vehicle. He yanked hard and she hit the pavement, landing on her b.u.t.t with her feet still in the car. Kicking Jamie aside like a piece of trash, he jumped in over her p.r.o.ne body and slammed the door, nearly catching her left foot as he did so. "Caitlin!" she cried pathetically as she tried to scramble to her feet.

The gun at Ryan's neck sc.r.a.ped harshly against her skin as the man jammed it just under her left ear. "You've got three seconds. Then we take you with us. Dead," he added unnecessarily. Every instinct in her body told her to defy the order and stomp on the accelerator. But the man in the pa.s.senger seat looked even more nervous and edgy than the one at her side, and she thought the odds of him killing her just for grins were pretty high. She thought that if she got out, they might allow her to take Caitlin just to avoid the aggravation of having a screaming baby in the car. So with her body resisting the powerful messages flooding her brain, she opened the door and started to slide out. "Please... please let me take the baby," she begged in her most plaintive voice. "If you just take the car, the police won't even bother to look for you," she reasoned. "It's just a car! But if you kidnap a tiny baby..." Her plea was cut off by her a.s.sailant's left hand striking her hard across the mouth. She tasted the metallic tang of her own blood as her knees buckled and deposited her onto the ground, but she did not waver in her attempt to convince him to allow her to grab Caitlin.

Both men had their attention diverted for a moment while Ryan continued to beg the man to allow her to take Caitlin out. In a move that seemed almost instinctive, Jamie grabbed the rear door handle and yanked it open as the larger man hopped into the driver's seat, intentionally stepping on Ryan in the process. A car came up behind them, and in a panic, he hit the accelerator hard. Jamie wasn't sure how it happened - all she knew was that long months of training her body allowed her to grab the car seat with her left hand and the seat back of the pa.s.senger seat with her right and haul herself inside. Gasping for breath, she let out a sigh of relief as she pulled the door closed and began to try to calm the hysterical baby.

Her relief was short lived as the pa.s.senger turned and glared at her evilly. "Somebody's in a hurry to die," he said, with what looked like glee.

Just as Ryan's a.s.s. .h.i.t the street, a young woman frantically dug her keys from her purse and entered her apartment building, determined to call the police. But a blur of movement caught her eye, and she whirled to look through the gla.s.s to see Ryan leap to her feet, take off running at a remarkable rate of speed, and hurl her body through the air, her hands grasping desperately to grab onto the wind foil. The young woman ran back onto the street, forcing herself to witness what was sure to be the foolhardy woman's last act. The woman somehow began to pull herself up onto the roof, using the bike rack as an anchor. Soon, she flopped onto the roof, leaving the witness to stare mouth-agape. The stunned woman knew the police would never believe her story, but somehow she felt obligated to recount the tale, since she was quite sure she was the only witness. The car accelerated to a remarkable degree, the wet tires spinning as the driver hit the accelerator hard. Watching intently, the young woman tried to cement the unbelievable events in her mind, wondering how she would explain the happenings to the police. Going over the scene in her mind, she entered her building again, thinking, I know the police will think I'm mad, but I have to call anyway. That was either the bravest or the stupidest woman on earth, but no matter which, she doesn't deserve to die the way she's going to.

Jamie's heart was thudding louder, faster, and heavier than she knew was possible as the car lurched down the street. She knew that her Ryan was with them - the loud thump and even louder cursing had alerted her to her lover's mad leap, and since that moment she had been turned around in her seat, her eyes scanning the street, making sure that her beloved partner hadn't silently fallen off. But the rea.s.surance that she felt from knowing her lover was close was abruptly quashed by the cold, hard tones that floated over to her from the front seat. "Once we knock her off - you're next."

Okay, two mean guys, two big guns, one slippery car, and a demented woman hanging on for dear life. I've got them just where I want them, Ryan thought wryly. They had been careening down little-traveled side streets for several minutes, trying desperately to lose the determined woman who clung so tenaciously to the roof rack. Thank you, thank you, Jamie for buying me these gloves, Ryan said in silent prayer. The tacky, weatherproof gloves were the only things saving her life at the moment, and she had never had an article of clothing that she was fonder of. But I expect an apology for the hard time you gave me for being outside in the rain, putting on this roof rack! I'd be an oil spot by now if I didn't have this baby to hold on to. Immensely glad that she had taken the time to fully understand the make up of her new bike rack, she grabbed the st.u.r.dy pieces of metal designed to hold the front forks of their bikes. With a snap, they lodged into an upright position, giving her two good handles. The basic structure of the rack, which reminded her of a metal bed frame, helped provide a place to brace her feet, and she began to have a little confidence that she would be able to hang on.

"s.h.i.t!" she cried aloud as a wrenching swerve across two lanes of traffic roused her from her momentary reverie. The driver was trying to dislodge her in any way possible, and she had to admit that his plan was a good one. If she had been driving, she would have stopped the car, shot her in the head and driven like h.e.l.l; but his plan was also sound.