Disclosures - SF4 (19 page)

Jamie looked down at her odometer and was surprised to see that she had already gone five miles. She was getting a pretty good aerobic workout since she was, in essence, doing sprints. She hadn't slowed down since they started, so she lagged a bit and rode behind her lover for a few minutes.
God, she has the best looking ass in the Bay Area,
she thought as she watched Ryan's running form. Her hair was gathered in a high ponytail, and Jamie loved watching it twitch back and forth as she ran. It reminded her of a horse's mane as it slowly swayed across her broad shoulders in time with her steps.

Jamie didn't know a lot about running, but it was obvious that Ryan's form was very natural, as well as efficient. She had a long stride that seemed to eat up distance, and it seemed that she came down lightly on her feet. It looked as though she spent a lot of time with both feet off the ground, even though that seemed physically improbable to Jamie. In fact, it looked like she was gliding along three or four inches off the ground with an occasional touchdown for propulsion.
Her heels barely hit the ground at all
, Jamie noticed from her position directly behind her lover. The lanky woman seemed to just lightly push off with the balls of her feet, rolling gracefully through her stride until the toes of one foot lifted from the pavement as the ball of the other foot touched down.

Jamie also noted that her attitude was slightly forward. Rather than standing completely upright, her whole body was tilted a few degrees. Oddly, it didn't appear that she was bending from the waist. Rather, it looked more like her momentum carried her forward a bit, allowing her to slice through the wind aerodynamically. Jamie was studying her so intently that she nearly ran into her as she slowed to a stop. Ryan turned around with a look of shock on her face at the closeness of the bike. "Did you almost hit me?"

Jamie blushed as she admitted, "I was watching your butt so closely, I didn't notice that you were stopping."

"Jeez! You’re either going to love me to death or run over me! You’re really randy today, aren't you?"

"I guess I am," Jamie agreed with a little blush coloring her cheeks. "Don’t know why, but I’m really focused on you."

"Hey," Ryan panted. "Don’t misunderstand, Babe. I’m not complaining in the least. Nothing I like better than to have you chasing me around the streets of Berkeley with love on your mind."

"Oh, it’s on my mind," Jamie agreed with a wink. "I'm gonna rock your world as soon as we get home."

Ryan beamed up at her as she leaned in and gave her a small kiss. "I'm very ready to be rocked," she replied. As she looked down the quiet, tree-lined street, her mouth quirked up into a grin as she asked, "Wanna do some speed work?"

"Sure," Jamie replied happily. "What do you want to do?"

Ryan pointed to a deep red house about 50 yards down the street. "Let's race to the number painted on the curb. Since you have an advantage, I'll take off and you start at the count of three. Agreed?"

"Yep. Are you ready?"

Ryan got down in a three-point stance. She adjusted her feet until she felt they were properly centered under her body, then twitched her butt until she was a mass of coiled energy waiting to be unleashed. "Ready, set, go!" She burst from her start and quickly found her stride. Jamie noticed that her heels did not touch the ground at all when she sprinted. She was watching her so intently that she nearly forgot to count to three for herself. But she rallied and took off as quickly as she could. Ryan was well ahead of her, but her bike allowed her to eat up ground far quicker than Ryan's feet could manage. She thought she had her, but just as the finish line came up Ryan leaned forward as she raised her arms and stuck out her chest. She had nipped her partner by just a few inches, but from the little "whoop" she gave, it was obvious that the victory was important to her.

"How did you do that?" Jamie marveled, panting as much as her partner.

"I used to run track," she admitted, sucking in a deep breath. "It's just a trick to get a few more inches at the finish line."

"Is there any sport you can't do?" she asked with a grin as she started to pedal in a slow circle around her lover.

Ryan thought about that as she bent forward from the waist and rested her hands on her knees in order to fully catch her breath. Finally she looked up with her face deeply flushed and said, "Polo."

"Are you serious?" Jamie asked with a laugh.

"Yeah," Ryan said rather defensively. "I've never been on horseback, so even though I could probably swing the mallet pretty well, I wouldn’t have any idea how to work in conjunction with the horse."

"No, silly," Jamie said, amazed that her partner had given the matter some deep thought. "I'm not surprised you can't play polo, I'm surprised that you think you can play every other sport!"

"I'm not good at every other one, but I've played almost everything at some time or another in my life. There really aren't that many differences between the major sports. You either need hand/eye coordination, or speed, or quickness, or agility, or stamina, or power from some particular body part."

"That's a lot of attributes, Honey," she teased. "But I have no doubt that you possess all of them."

The flush had still not left Ryan’s face and she finally mumbled, "You don’t think I’m bragging, do you?" She was staring at the ground, and Jamie expected her to start kicking the dirt with the toe of her shoe any minute.

"Of course not," she insisted. "You never brag, Honey. Well…you brag a little, but only about sex."

Ryan’s head shot up to find the teasing grin affixed to her partner’s face. "It’s not bragging if you can back it up," she drawled, blue eyes dancing. "Got any claims in particular that you’d like to dispute?"

"Never! You’re the real deal, Hot Stuff. Now let’s go again."

"Thought you'd never ask," Ryan readily agreed.

They sprinted through their 50-yard course at least eight more times. When they finished, they were both panting from the effort, and Ryan was covered in sweat. She decided that she needed to run home at a pretty good clip to avoid tightening up, so they got home in good time.

When they got into the house, Jamie went into the bath to start the shower, but Ryan went into her room, lay down on the floor and started to stretch. "Want to shower together, Babe?" Jamie called out.

"No, I’ve got to stretch. You go ahead."

Jamie hopped in and let the hot water remove the stiffness from her fatigued muscles. Her cramps had not returned, and she felt amazingly good.
I guess that’s what love will do for you
, she mused happily.

She lingered much longer than normal in the shower, but to her surprise, when she got back in the bedroom, Ryan was still on the floor, doing some particularly painful looking contortion. She was on her back, with one foot resting on the floor, and the other foot propped against the raised knee. Grasping the top leg with both hands, she pulled it across her body until the tendons in her hip stood out in stark relief.

Ryan looked up to see her partner staring at her in slack-jawed silence, her look a mix of desire and amazement. "You okay, Babe?" Ryan asked, drawing her out of her trance.

"Wha…oh…yeah," she said weakly. "I’ve just never seen that muscle stand out like that on another human being."

"Muscle? Which muscle?" Ryan ran a hand down her leg, trying to identify the muscle her partner spoke of.

"Do it again," Jamie asked.

Ryan did so, and nodded when Jamie touched the part in question. "That’s not a muscle, Babe. That’s my ilio-tibial band. It’s a ligament." She rolled over onto her stomach and did a series of leg/arm lifts that looked particularly painful, causing her pelvis to be the only part touching the floor. "The strength and flexibility of my hips is probably the main reason I can play most sports," she grunted out as she lifted both arms and legs simultaneously.

"Really?" Jamie was fascinated by this tidbit of information, having no idea what separated the gifted athletes from the rest of the population. "Why is that, Honey?"

"I get most of my speed, balance and thrust from my hips. I was blessed with a really good set of wheels, and they let me do things that a lot of people can’t."

Jamie nodded, thinking that Ryan’s synopsis might be true, but that it also minimized the reality of her work ethic. "Do you always stretch this much when you run, Babe?"

"Mmm…not always…but almost always. Stretching after I exercise has been a life-saver for me."

Jamie looked at the clock and realized that Ryan had been at it for over 20 minutes.
God-given talent is one thing, Ms. O’Flaherty. Working your butt off to exploit that talent is quite another.

Ryan had just exited the shower when a pair of hands gripped her around the waist and began to guide her to the bedroom. "Hey, I’m still dripping wet," she protested as she was tossed onto the bed.

"Your point?" Jamie growled, climbing astride her hips. "You’re gonna be dripping wet in one way or another for the next hour, Hot Stuff."

Ryan chuckled at the determined look of lust on her partner’s face. "You don’t look like you could be dissuaded anyway, so I surrender." She tossed the towel onto the floor and prepared herself for a full frontal assault.

"Smart girl," Jamie murmured as she bent to claim the spoils of war.

Thirty minutes later, Ryan was stretched out spread-eagle across the bed, badly in need of another shower. "Did anybody get the license number of that truck," she muttered slowly, almost unable to form words.

"JDSE 211," her partner giggled, reciting her own license plate number. "It’s about to back up for another run, so you’d better fasten your seatbelt, Baby."

"Whoa, whoa," Ryan drawled. "I need a serious rest after that little overhaul. It’s your turn now, big talker."

To Ryan’s amazement, Jamie rolled over, shutting off her view of her favorite parts. "I'm not up to it right now, Honey."

"Not up to it!" Ryan gaped in incredulity. "You’re about ready to slide off the bed, Baby. You’re obviously terribly turned on. Why don't you want to?"

"I don't really like to have sex when I have my period. It kind of bothers me," she admitted.

"During your
whole
period?" Ryan asked, eyes wide with alarm.

"Umm...yeah," she finally said.

"But you
do
feel desire, right?"

"Yeah...it's not that. I get turned on, I just think it's gross."

"But aren't I the one who should decide what's gross when I make love to you?"

Ryan’s logic was, as usual, correct and irritating. "I suppose, but I don't think I could relax enough to enjoy it."

"Do you want to abstain while I have my period, too?" Ryan had shimmied up the bed so that her back was now resting against the headboard.

"I guess I didn't think that far ahead. But now that you mention it, I guess I thought that we would."

"You realize that when our cycles don't match we could be abstaining for ten to twelve days out of the month, right?"

"I guess I didn't do the math," she admitted, slightly embarrassed.

"Do you mind giving up 1/3 of our opportunities?"

"That does seem like a lot, huh?"

"That it does," Ryan murmured, pulling Jamie up against her chest. "I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, Honey, so we’ll just do without. It’s not that big of a deal."

"Really?"

Her small voice carried a large dose of doubt, and Ryan quickly sought to reassure her. "Of course, Love. If you’re not 100 per cent into it, we’ll hold off. We’re not animals, you know. It won’t be that difficult to abstain."

"You are so sweet, Ryan," she murmured. "Thanks for not making fun of me because of this."

"I would never make fun of you, Jamie. I want sex to be nothing but enjoyment for you. If you’re uncomfortable about something, we just won’t do it."

Jamie’s blonde head nuzzled tenderly against Ryan’s chest. "Thanks," she whispered. "Thanks for making me feel like I’m so special to you." She scooted up just a bit and gave Ryan a few kisses to thank her for her patience. A few turned into a bunch, and before long she was flat on her back, Ryan pressed tightly against her body.

"I think you’re trying to compromise my position," she murmured, coming up for air.

"I think you're right," Ryan whispered. "Do you want me to stop?"

"N...n…no, I want you to keep going," she said as she leaned in for another torrid session. After another few minutes of searingly hot kisses, Jamie pulled away again, her unfocused eyes carrying a hint of panic. "I don't know if I can do this, Ryan. I feel funny about it."

"Tell me exactly what bothers you about it," Ryan asked in a calm, neutral tone.

"It's messy and it smells bad. It'll get all over the sheets. And I....I....I'm afraid you'll be grossed out and you'll be funny with me."

Ryan rolled over and sat up straight, looking at her carefully. "Did something like that happen with Jack?"

Jamie blushed deeply and nodded just a bit while she bit her bottom lip.

"Tell me what happened," Ryan soothed, pulling her close, and wrapping her in a gentle hug.