As arranged, the BMW pulled up in front of the club ﬁfteen minutes after Ryan placed the call to Conor

As arranged, the BMW pulled up in front of the club ﬁfteen minutes after Ryan placed the call to Conor. As she opened the rear door, Ryan was puzzled to ﬁnd Kieran driving.

"Conor was circling for a kill," he informed his cousin. "After I drop you guys oﬀ, I'll swing by to see if he was successful."

"Did you guys have fun?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, I guess. The clubs down here are kinda weird- too loud to talk, too crowded to dance. I prefer the neighborhood joints myself. Conor seems to like them though."

"Conor's taste are very eclectic," Ryan decided, thinking that her brother liked any place that was ﬁlled with women susceptible to his charms.

* * *

No one was home, including Duﬀy, who must have been overnighting at Maeve's, so Ryan was able to chase Jamie down the stairs, loudly calling out, "You're mine, Jamie Evans! All mine!"

As soon as she reached their room, Jamie leapt onto the bed and welcomed her partner to climb on top of her, saying, "You don't see me complaining, do you?"

"Not yet," Ryan agreed, "but the night is young."

Her eyes were glittering in the warm lamplight, and Jamie pulled her close to kiss her.Surprisingly, Ryan resisted, keeping her lips just out of reach of her lover's seeking mouth. Frustrated by the game, Jamie grasped Ryan's neck and tried to pull her down, but the powerful muscles in the large body tensed and held, giving Jamie no satisfaction.

"I told you earlier that I was a big, powerful top," Ryan purred. "What makes you think that's changed in the last hour?"

Jamie blinked up at her, a jolt of arousal hitting her hard.

"Sometimes I have this…drive," Ryan said softly, her eyes reﬂecting the gentleness of her voice. "A need to…express myself physically. I feel like that tonight. My whole body is thrumming with pent-up energy." She ran her hands over her partner's face, smoothing the ﬁne blonde hair oﬀ her forehead. Placing gentle kisses all over Jamie's face, Ryan said, "Let me lead you."

Jamie nodded slowly, consenting to be taken wherever Ryan needed to go. The thought ﬂashed through her mind that this was the Ryan that most of her previous lovers had known-decisive, determined, strong, and powerful. Completely in charge. But whatever face it wore, she could see the love and tenderness that bubbled up from her lover, and her body relaxed completely.

Ryan rolled oﬀ and got to her feet, then tugged Jamie up into a standing position. Sitting back on the edge of the bed, Ryan began to slowly undress her partner, pausing to run her large, warm hands over the skin that was unhurriedly revealed. "Mmm…nice," she growled, unable to contain the deep satisfaction she felt at touching Jamie's body so intimately.

Jamie was shivering, but Ryan knew it wasn't from the cold, as the room was quite warm. She knew that Jamie was just a little embarrassed to be exposed so slowly and determinedly. Ryan's eyes darkened with desire as her gaze lingered on the graceful, elegant curves that were revealed to her; and Jamie, watching, shivered again, blushing appealingly as she did so.

"Touch yourself for me," Ryan said softly, her eyes never leaving Jamie's. "Run your hands all over your body. Show me how it feels to feel your own ﬁngers touching your skin. Come on," she said, her voice powerful and low. "Show me."

Swallowing against her discomfort, Jamie closed her eyes and obeyed Ryan's directions. Standing naked in front of her, she placed her shaking hands on her stomach and began to move them in opposite directions. One hand traveled up her abdomen, pausing to trace her well-deﬁned muscles, while the other slid over her hip and skimmed up and down her thigh. Her skin felt silky smooth, except for the goosebumps that followed the trail of her ﬁngertips, popping up as soon as her hand passed.

Jamie's eyes were closed, and though Ryan said not a word, her breathing was audible and slowly growing more rapid. When Jamie heard a swallow, she began to lose her nervousness and get into the game. Even though she was following Ryan's instructions, the power had shifted decisively; she realized that, for the moment, she was in charge.

Fingers skittering up her body, Jamie cupped and squeezed her breasts ﬁrmly, her low moan echoed with a matching one from her partner. Bringing her index ﬁnger to her lips, she licked the digit seductively, then circled the moist tip around each of her stiﬀening nipples, concurrently sending her hips into a slow grind.

Suddenly, her world was spinning, and she was thrown onto the bed, Ryan's ravenously hungry body plastered against her. Ryan was everywhere-kissing, touching, squeezing, and suckling on her tender ﬂesh, her voracious mouth feeling like it was in three places at once.

Jamie grasped her partner's ass with both of her hands and pulled her in tightly against her need, shoving her hips roughly against Ryan's jean-clad thigh with a moan.

Ryan let her thrust for a few moments, nearly getting carried away herself. Pulling back from the edge, she showed an impressive display of determination as she wrenched her body from Jamie's grasp and knelt astride her spread thighs, using her powerful legs to gently, but ﬁrmly draw them together. She grasped her partner's wrists and pressed them together, pinning them above and to the left of Jamie's head. Eyes wild with desire, Ryan leaned over until they were nose-to-nose and growled, "You're mine!"

The blonde head nodded slowly, dutifully impressed with the speed and power that Ryan had summoned to cause her to submit. Even though she felt totally under Ryan's control, she felt not a ﬂicker of fear. She had tried to push her partner, purposely trying to wrest control from her, and Ryan was only reminding her that they had a deal, and she was sticking to it.

Once Ryan was sure of Jamie's compliance, she got up and stripped quickly, leaving her clothing in a rumpled heap at the end of the bed. Staring at Jamie for just a second, she went to her closet and extracted the gym bag that housed her assortment of sex toys. Putting the bag on the edge of the bed, Ryan climbed on top of her lover again, her moist warmth leaving a trail across Jamie's belly as she slid across. Leaning over until she hovered just above Jamie's face, Ryan said hotly, "I'm going to love you…a lot."

Wide green eyes watched her carefully as Jamie nodded acceptance. Satisﬁed with the compliance, Ryan rolled oﬀ and started to love her again, pinning her hands with one powerful hand, just to make sure there was no further insurrection. When Ryan's wanderings required both of her hands she tucked Jamie's hands under her butt, eﬀectively letting her own body weight hold them in place.

It didn't take long to ratchet Jamie's desire even higher, and soon Jamie was squirming continuously, ﬁghting the overwhelming need to grasp Ryan's dark head and put it right where she needed it. Just when the need was beyond her ability to resist, Ryan kissed down her belly and began to lap at her throbbing, pulsing ﬂesh. Jamie screamed out in pleasure, the extraordinary discipline it took to keep her hands pinned actually adding to her gratiﬁcation.

Jamie felt the warm glow start at her toes and crawl up her body. Her entire being was suﬀused with the beginning thrums of satisfaction, but just as she was about to cry out, Ryan lifted her head and pushed down on Jamie's hips, forcing her hands to remain pinned.

"No!" Jamie cried in frustration as she tried to slither out of the hold, needing release immediately and not above providing it for herself.

The powerful body leaned over her, the determination not wavering a thread. "You're mine," Ryan reminded ﬁercely.

Taking a few deep, cleansing breaths, Jamie ﬁnally nodded, feeling some of the pounding energy drain away as she did so.

Now Ryan ﬂipped Jamie onto her stomach, placing her hands under her thighs to secure them. This position elevated Jamie's ass just a couple of inches, but Ryan was delighted with the new angle. Grinning to herself in satisfaction, Ryan started at the back of her neck, supporting most of her own weight on her elbows and knees, kissing and nibbling on the smooth skin until Jamie's body began to move again. Dropping down to lie on top of Jamie, Ryan began to move with her, their sweat-slick ﬂesh gliding smoothly against each other.

Feeling the pressure building in her own abdomen, Ryan grasped her partner by the hips and pulled her into herself, grinding her pelvis against Jamie's ass as she pumped against her. "Jesus, you feel so good!" she moaned as the sensations continued to build.

Feeling as if she was about to combust, Ryan released her grasp and rolled oﬀ again, lying on her back for a moment while she caught her breath. Jamie's desire-ﬁlled eyes gazed at her in a silent plea, her lips slightly open, inviting her lover's touch. Ryan fulﬁlled her request, snuggling close to kiss her tenderly, letting the passion build again until they were hungrily sucking each other's tongues. The dark head pulled away just as Jamie tried to extract her hand from beneath her thigh. Ryan didn't comment verbally, but her sly smile and slowly shaking head let Jamie know that the game continued and that her request had been denied.

Straddling her again, Ryan took up right where she had left oﬀ, slowly working her way down her partner's back. She spent a long time kissing and licking the tiny indentations just above the swell of Jamie's cheeks, being particularly fond of the little dimples that were normally hidden from view. Moving down slowly, she started to trace the signs of a tan that had begun in Colorado. She was both fascinated and ﬁxated by the warm golden highlights that covered her partner's cheeks after wearing her revealing suit at the pool, and she reminded herself that travel had its rewards.

Ryan's heart started to beat faster as she fed more insistently, licking and sucking with abandon as she felt Jamie respond to her, matching her frenzy as she pushed against her.

"Please….please let me have just a little satisfaction," Jamie begged, her hips thrusting roughly.

"Soon," Ryan murmured, the word vibrating against the ﬂushed ﬂesh. Her teeth raked across the skin, leaving faint marks that disappeared instantly as the blood returned to the sensitized ﬂesh. Jamie's hands were no longer pinned by her thighs; they were grasping handfuls of sheet to control herself as best she could. Her ass twitched and pushed against Ryan's hungry mouth as Ryan sucked loudly and grasped bucking hips to pull her close.

Dipping her head a bit, Ryan ﬁxed her attention on the ultra-tender skin right at the base of the buttocks, one of Jamie's most ticklish spots. Today she was sensitized beyond ticklish. She moaned and growled as Ryan sucked and bit at the skin, her tongue sliding over the ﬂesh again and again.

Wanting to, needing to go further, Ryan controlled herself, knowing that her partner would not be amenable to deeper exploration. Struggling for control, Ryan ﬂopped onto her back and tried to rein in her impulses.

Jamie forced her eyes open to see the vaguely unfocused blue eyes gazing in her general direction. From the set of Ryan's body and the longing in her eyes, Jamie sensed that Ryan wanted more. Struggling with her conscience for just a moment, she knew that she wasn't willing to fulﬁll her partner's desire. She was uncomfortable having that part of her body explored, feeling that she needed some small zone of privacy-even from Ryan.

Jamie reached out and tenderly touched Ryan's cheek, the pink ﬂesh warm to her touch. Ryan grasped her hand and kissed the palm, placing soft, moist kisses all over it. "I'm yours," Jamie said softly, sharing an emotion-ﬁlled smile with her lover.

"Forever," Ryan vowed as she began to kiss her again. Their tongues twined and touched gently, sliding into each other's mouths repeatedly. Jamie was still on her stomach and Ryan straddled her again, running her hands over the smooth back to calm her racing heart.

Jamie felt her partner's weight shift and heard some small noises, but she was almost oblivious by this point, nearly past the point of desire. Her body had been frustrated so many times that it had given up hope of satisfaction, seemingly content to allow Ryan to play it like a stringed instrument.

Ryan grasped Jamie by the hips and lifted her to her knees, gently pushing on her shoulders until she dropped down onto her elbows. Once again Ryan shifted down and started to kiss and nip at Jamie's cheeks, trying to bring her own arousal to yet another peak. It wasn't long before Ryan was moaning softly as she nuzzled against the ﬁrm softness, eventually pulling away with a loud smack.

Ryan's body draped over Jamie's back, holding onto her hips ﬁrmly as she ground against her again. Jamie felt something cool and smooth bump against her and she froze for just a second, unsure of what Ryan was planning.

Sensing Jamie's trepidation, Ryan ran her hands down the moist back, soothing her as she whispered, "I'm gonna come inside; just relax and let me in."

Ryan moved against her and Jamie felt a slick ﬁrmness at her entrance. She gasped when she felt the dildo poised to enter, but she took in a deep breath and tried to relax her muscles.

Her voice was thick, words almost slurred when Ryan murmured, "That's it, you're doing great. Open up for me. Just relax and open up."

As the smooth, ﬁrm cylinder slipped inside, Jamie grunted softly, reassured by the slow stroking of Ryan's hand rubbing her gently from her shoulder to her waist.

Ryan didn't move once she was inside, and after a few seconds, Jamie had stretched enough to comfortably accommodate what was inside her. The low moan that slipped from her lips this time was a sign of her pleasure, and Ryan took her cue, starting to move inside of Jamie, slowly drawing in and out, pulling out just a little and then slowly slipping back in to get her used to the sensation.

"Good. Feels good," Jamie murmured, her voice muﬄed by the mattress. Her right hand reached back and grasped Ryan's hip, pulling her in a little harder.

Responding to the overt signal, Ryan thrust deeper and more rhythmically, moving her hips in a smooth circle. Jamie's eyes rolled back in her head as the delightful intruder touched every sensitive spot deep inside her body. She had no idea how Ryan knew where every spot was, but Ryan clearly had an intimate knowledge of every nerve, and knew just how long, how hard, and how often to stimulate each one of them.

Jamie was riding along on a cloud of sensation, barely aware of her body or her position.Her whole world had narrowed down to a few sensitive inches of ﬂesh, every nerve in her body feeling like it was centered between her legs.

She scarcely heard Ryan's breathing pick up again, was not aware of her own matching Ryan's rhythm. She did, however, feel the golden glow that started in her extremities and traveled slowly but relentlessly through her body, ﬁnally centering and growing as it settled deep within her. The pulsing began to thrum and beat inside of her body, quickly becoming so insistent that it overtook all of her senses simultaneously, blurring her vision and ﬁlling her ears with a strange white noise. Jamie wasn't sure how long the sensation ﬁlled her, but she slowly became aware of her entire body again, and realized that Ryan was collapsed partially on top of her, with something still wedged deep inside.

With a puzzled frown, Jamie realized that both of her hands were between her legs and she twitched a little to extract them. She was unsuccessful, due to Ryan's weight pressing down on her.

Ryan noticed her movement and slowly withdrew, slipping out of her so eﬀortlessly that Jamie barely felt the loss. Ryan pulled her sweat-drenched body from Jamie's, tumbling heavily onto her back as she dropped the toy onto the ﬂoor.

Jamie did her best to roll over too, almost needing to ask for assistance, so weak was her body. She looked at her slick ﬁngers in puzzlement, ﬁnally asking, "Did you give me permission to touch myself?"

"I'd like to see the person who could have stopped you." Ryan chuckled, the sound low and raspy. Turning her head, she made eye contact with her partner. "Have fun?"

Rolling her eyes dramatically, Jamie giggled softly. "You are the mistress of understatement." She patted Ryan's belly. "How about you? Did you…?"

"Have you gone deaf?" Ryan laughed languidly. "Thank God Conor's not home. He'd surely break the door down to stop whoever was strangling me."

"Really?" Jamie asked, her nose wrinkling up in amusement. "I didn't hear a thing. I think I really was deaf there for a minute."

"That's possible, you know. It's happened to me a time or two."

"So, since I was unaware of anything but my own pleasure, would you say that you enjoyed that anywhere near as much as I did?"

"I'd say so. I was in another world there at the end. I thought it was entirely possible that the top of my head would blow oﬀ."

"Still there," Jamie informed her, tapping her skull lightly. She struggled to sit up and tried to see the ﬂoor. "What in the heck was that?"

"Did you ever hear the expression 'two heads are better than one'?" Her laugh echoed through the room, and Jamie let the warm sound wash over her, feeling perfectly and fully loved.

* * *

After Jamie had thoroughly exhausted Ryan's spirit of generosity, as well as her tongue, she lay ﬂat on the bed, totally naked, not even a sheet covering her. "If there were more women like you in the world, we'd cut our heating expenses by millions of barrels of oil. I know it's chilly tonight, but my temperature is so high I feel like the sheets might ignite."

Ryan chuckled at the joke, resting a hand on Jamie's belly for a few seconds then picking it up and shaking it, as though it had been burned. "I guess a dozen orgasms crank up your furnace." She rolled over on her stomach and placed her chin in her hands, then smiled peacefully at Jamie. "Happy?"

"Blissfully," she said dramatically. "That's the second time we've used that diabolical toy of yours. Is it a favorite?"

"Not really. But it does the trick when I'm too turned on to give you my full attention."

Jamie curled her index ﬁnger, beckoning Ryan to lie by her. When Ryan scooted up to share the same pillow, Jamie put an arm around her and cuddled her close for a moment. "I like using it," she whispered into her ear. "You get all dominant when you use it. You really put me in another gear when you do that."

Ryan pulled back a few inches and wiggled her eyebrows. "Nice to know." She let her head ﬂop back down as she lazily ran her ﬁngers across Jamie's body. "How's it diﬀerent from having sex with a man?"

"Sex in general?"

"No. Sex with a toy. Is it like having intercourse?"

Laughing softly, Jamie said, "I sometimes forget I have knowledge you'll never acquire."

"Never want to acquire it; just want to hear your perspective."

Patting Ryan, Jamie said, "I ﬁgured that." She took a breath, then let out a long hiss. "It's hard to describe, but it's very diﬀerent."

"I'd think it would be similar, since using a toy like that is the only time I'm as focused on my own body as I am on yours. Usually I think I have a real advantage over a guy, since I'm all about you."

Laughing again, Jamie said, "You always have an advantage. You're ridiculously talented in the sack, sweetie. I'll admit my history is limited, but it's night and day."

"But diﬀerent," Ryan said, raising her head to rest on her hand. "Tell me about the diﬀerence."

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't crazy about missionary position intercourse." She snuck a quick look at Ryan. "Do you really want details?"

"Yeah. I'm interested. I think of this as data acquisition, not something prurient."

"Interesting. We're diﬀerent that way. I'd never want to know what you did with someone if you'd only had one lover. Much too personal."

"Doesn't bother me. Jack's out of my life." Ryan jerked her arm up and stuck her thumb over her shoulder. "Now he's data."

"Okay. I guess I didn't care for it because I felt trapped."

"Trapped? That isn't what I expected."

"Yeah. That's the best word." Jamie looked thoughtful, as though she were trying hard to recall her feelings and the sensations. "Jack weighed seventy-ﬁve pounds more than me, and he was a lot stronger. When he was on top of me, a lot of his weight would be on me." She made a vague gesture across her pelvis. "He used to put his hands on my shoulders and…" she trailed oﬀ and shivered. "I didn't like it much at all. When he really got going, I couldn't have gotten him oﬀ of me."

"He was actually on top of you?"

Jamie looked at her as if she was slow. "Yeah," she said, laughing a little. "Haven't you ever seen porn?"

"Just gay and lesbian stuﬀ. I mean, I've seen pictures, but I guess I ﬁgured that would be uncomfortable for most women. Most of the pictures I've seen, the people have been doing it doggy-style."

"Being on my back was uncomfortable for me, but not because it was painful or anything; I just didn't like the sensation. When he was almost ready to come, he'd drop his head right next to mine and really pound away. His beard would be rough against my cheek and neck, and his body hair would feel like wire on my belly." She made a face of pure distaste. "I always thought of dogs doing it. It seemed so…I don't know, gross, I guess."

Ryan made a face too. "It sounds it!"

"I think I'm in the minority on that. Ask Mia about having sex with a guy, you'll get a whole diﬀerent perspective."

Ryan lay back down and stared up at the ceiling. "How does it feel when I'm pounding away?"

"You don't do that. Even when you're moving fast, you're being very considerate of me. You always come at me at an angle, a little bit on your side so I don't have your whole body on me. Not that I'd mind if you did. I like feeling trapped by you." She reached over and grabbed a bit of skin, tickling Ryan's waist.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's sexy."

"You're really gay," Ryan said, laughing. "Way, way gay."

"Ya think?" Jamie slapped at her thigh, making a loud noise.

"Did you ever like intercourse?"

"Yeah, a couple of times I enjoyed it. But only when I was on top."

"God, I'd hang myself if you told someone you'd only liked sex with me a couple of times."

"You'd know," Jamie said dryly. "If you had any doubts about my enjoyment, you'd ask, and keep after me until you were sure I was telling the truth. You're quite relentless."

"Sometimes I have to pry things out of you. You can be a tough nut to crack."

"A girl likes to have some secrets," Jamie tossed oﬀ blithely. One she was planning on keeping was her attempt to keep Ryan just a little hungry. Jamie was sure she'd be the most satisﬁed woman on earth if Ryan would occasionally pounce on her exactly like she had tonight.

* * *

Even though the family spent all of Saturday together, they decided to have the Jennie confab on Sunday. Since it was a lovely summer Sunday, Martin suggested that they barbecue. Jamie found that somewhat humorous, since that's what they did for nearly every group meal. She and Ryan had been to her grandfather's church that morning, and were in the process of walking home. As they almost always did, they were holding hands as they walked.

"You don't think anyone will mind that I invited Poppa, do you?"

"No, I don't think so. I'm sure he'' been involved in a lot more of these kinds of discussions then we have. Of anyone, only your mom might mind."

Jamie looked at her quizzically. "My mom? Why would she mind?"

"I'm not sure she will. But she seems really determined to get custody of Jen, and there's a part of me that thinks your grandfather will not think that's a good idea."

An annoyed frown settled onto Jamie's face. "You've got to give her a break. She's changed a lot since I was a kid."

Ryan held her hands up in surrender. "You're pretty touchy about this, but you don't need to be. I'm crazy about your mom, and if she wants to spend the next few years focused on Jennie, I'm all in favor of it."

"There's something you're not saying." Jamie still looked annoyed, but now "suspicious" was added to her expression.

"I'm saying everything that I'm thinking. If your mom wants to do take custody of Jennie, I know she'd be great at it. But she's talking about buying an apartment in New York to have fairly frequent contact with Giacomo."

"Your father was gone for forty-eight to seventy-two hours straight, every week, and you turned out just ﬁne. I know you think I was raised by the help, but mother was only gone for a few weeks every year."

Ryan tucked her arm around Jamie's waist and pulled her close. "You are never going to get me to say that your mom did a bad job of raising you. I don't think that, so I won't say it. All I've said is that raising Jennie would be very diﬀerent from raising you."

"I know she's up to it."

Ryan pulled out her most conﬁdent smile. "I do too."

* * *

At four o'clock that afternoon, Charlie Evans, Martin, Maeve, Catherine, Jamie, and Ryan were all in the backyard of the O'Flaherty house. Martin had decided to have a traditional summer menu, going with Italian sausage, bratwurst, and hamburgers. Jamie wasn't sure why she and Ryan had been designated as the oﬃcial potato salad makers, but they were once again assigned that task. Maeve had made a green salad and Catherine had brought beer and wine, so the meal was all set. Just to be an individual, Jamie made a lemon meringue pie, which stopped Martin in his tracks when he saw it.

"You know how to bake?"

Laughing, Jamie nodded. "I've been baking pies since I was ﬁve."

In a very serious tone, Martin said to his wife, "Not many people can bake a good pie. It's both an art and a science, and I must say I've never been good at it."

"Nor have I, Marty." Maeve put her hands on Jamie's shoulders and pulled her close to kiss her cheek. "I hope you know that from now on, you'll never escape making two or three of these. My husband loves pie almost as much as he loves his children."

"That's an exaggeration by a half," Martin said, looking at the pie as though he was barely restraining himself from digging in right then.

* * *

Jamie and Ryan had set up the ragtag collection of outdoor furniture into some semblance of order, and the family was all seated around the table asking Jamie and Ryan questions about the trip to Colorado.. When they were ﬁnished with the main course, Maeve volunteered to go inside and serve dessert.

Jamie leaned over and said to Ryan, "Why did you keep staring at my mother?"

"I've never seen her eat so much," Ryan said, giggling. "Who knew that her secret craving was for a bratwurst?"

Jamie joined in the laughter. "It's probably the ﬁrst time she's ever eaten one. I think walking as much as she has been has given her a normal appetite."

"Maybe that's it, but if she breaks open a beer and starts chugging it, I'll know I'm in an alternate universe."

* * *

After Martin had praised Jamie's baking skills until she was blushing, they ﬁnally got down to the business concerning Jennie. Ryan started the discussion.

"Just so we're all on the same page, I'll give a summary. Jennie's parents are both alive, and either could have custody of her. Her father has remarried, and his new wife and Jennie don't get along at all. Her mother has basically washed her hands of her. That means she's either going to have to remain in the group home, or go back into the foster care system. She's been there three times, and has run away three times. I'm sure she'd do it again if it came to that."

Catherine caught Ryan's attention and said, "The group home she lives in is as good as it can be, but she's not ﬂourishing there. She doesn't have a close friend, and one of the girls has caused her a lot of trouble. Ryan and Jamie think they've solved that issue, but one never knows when a new girl will come in and upset the whole house. I have the time, the money, and the desire to petition the court for custody." She looked around at the group, pausing to make brief eye contact with each of them. "This is something I really want to do."

Charlie took advantage of the quiet to say, "How does Jennie feel? Has anyone talked to her about leaving the group home?"

"No," Ryan said. "We didn't want to get her hopes up. But I guarantee she would jump at the chance to get out of the foster care system."

"No question," Jamie added. "I think Ryan knows her well enough, and knows kids that age well enough, to be a good guardian. But, selﬁshly, I'm not ready to take on that kind of responsibility."

Ryan put an arm around her partner. "I'm not mature enough."

Martin patted the table with both hands. "I think we can all agree on that." He smiled warmly at his daughter, showing he was partially teasing. "Maeve and I know that Catherine is a wonderful mother, Jennie would be lucky to have her, but I'm worried that the girl would be too much for you." He looked directly at Catherine, continuing despite the fact that he'd obviously hurt her feelings. "I know she's a good child at heart, but she's also headstrong and she has a tendency to be deceitful."

"She's had to be," Catherine said. "The poor girl has been on her own for years. I want to give her the chance to reclaim the last bits of her childhood."

"I think that's what we all want," Martin said. "And of all of us, I think Maeve and I would be able to give her the blend of discipline and consistency that she needs." He ﬁxed on Catherine

again. "I don't doubt your parenting skills, but I'm worried that you won't be able to be as ﬁrm with her as she needs."

Doggedly sticking up for her position, Catherine said, "I don't think she needs much discipline at all. I think she needs love and understanding. I know both you and Maeve are wonderful parents, but Jennie doesn't know you well. For her, you taking her would almost be like another foster home."

"I don't think that's true, Catherine," Ryan said. "She's gotten to know Aunt Maeve this summer, and she's been around Da at least a half dozen times."

"From talking to Jennie, I've come to think that she's had more than enough discipline in her life," Catherine said. "What she hasn't had is connection. She and I have very good connection. She tells me things that I'm sure she doesn't feel comfortable talking about with anyone else. I know I wasn't a very good mother when Jamie was growing up…"

Tears sprang to Catherine's eyes and she used her napkin to blot at them angrily. In a shaky voice, she said, "I promised myself I wasn't going to cry."

Jamie jumped up and went over to stand next to her mother. Catherine lay her head against Jamie's hip and accepted a gentle hug. "I want another chance." Crying in earnest, she stood up and went into the house with Jamie.

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Martin said quietly, "I had no idea it meant that much to her."

"It means a lot to Jamie, too," Ryan said. "I haven't been able to ﬁgure out why, but I think I'm getting the idea."

Quietly, Charlie said, "Let's be frank. Martin and Maeve have the experience and the living situation that's probably most likely to give the girl a stable home. But Catherine has something that I think the rest of us are lacking-desire." He looked Martin in the eye. "You're a good man, and it's very generous of you to oﬀer to take Jennie in. But I think it's clear you're doing it because it's the right thing to do-not because you want to have a diﬃcult teenager in your house."

Smiling, Martin admitted, "It's not how I pictured my retirement."

Maeve added, "I'm very fond of Jennie, but she and Catherine do have a real bond."

"Hillary Clinton says it takes a village to raise a child," Ryan said. "Why can't we raise her as a family? Catherine can try to get custody, and when she travels, Jennie could stay with Da and Aunt Maeve. Jamie and I could be backups."

"That could work," Charlie said. "I think Catherine has a good point. If Jennie had one person who paid very close attention to her, she wouldn't have as many opportunities to get into trouble."

"I have my doubts there," Ryan said. "She's almost fearless, and she doesn't seem to learn from bad experiences. I think she needs a pretty ﬁrm hand."

Seeing Catherine and Jamie coming down the stairs to the yard, Martin caught Catherine's eye and said, "We're agreed. You'll petition the court for custody, and the four of us will be there whenever you need us."

As the tears ﬂowed again, Charlie got up and wrapped Catherine in a hug. "The ﬁve of us will be there whenever you need us."

* * *

The next morning Jamie woke to the sounds of someone mowing in the backyard. She blew air out between her lips, making a noise.

"Has our gardener woken you?"

Jamie turned to see Ryan sitting up in bed, reading something. Fluﬃng the hair from her eyes, Jamie grumbled, "I didn't know we had a gardener in the city."

"Obviously my father wasn't happy with the way the grass looked when he arrived for breakfast." Ryan looked up at the wide window above their heads. "Good thing we have curtains. It wouldn't do to have my father see all of your gorgeous ﬂesh." She dove for Jamie's side, playfully nipping at her sensitive skin.

"Stop it!" Jamie tried to cover up, but it was no use. Ryan was relentless, teasing and tickling until she begged for mercy. "Ryan rules!" Jamie ﬁnally screamed.

Immediately, Ryan stopped. She placed a dozen soft, gentle kisses on the same parts she'd just terrorized. "Better?" she asked, still far down on the bed. The morning light made her eyes sparkle, rendering them an almost ethereal blue.

"Come up here and kiss me like you love me." Ryan ﬂipped around, sending her legs into the air as she made a u-turn. "Someone's in a good mood today."

She kissed Jamie tenderly, letting her decide when to break the kiss.

"I'd proposition you, but I can't consider making love with your father right outside."

"He used to be right upstairs every day." Ryan pointed directly above their bed. "Didn't stop you then."

"This is diﬀerent. I'm not sure why, but it's diﬀerent." She reached out and smoothed Ryan's mussed hair. "Why are you so chipper?"

Ryan scooted up so she was able to use the wall for a backrest. Lifting her knees, she rested her hands on them and acted as if she was going to make an important announcement. "I've ﬁnally, after many weeks of agonizing over it, decided what to do with my largesse."

"Nice word," Jamie said, grinning at her.

"I got it from you. In many ways." Ryan stuck her tongue out and easily pulled it back before Jamie could grab it.

Jamie put a hand atop Ryan's and looked into her eyes. "Have you still been obsessing about this?"

Nodding forcefully, Ryan said, "It's been on a slow burn-more like a simmer, actually- always bubbling in the background."

"Aw, honey, I never would have done this if I'd known it would make you crazy."

"It's all right, Jamers." Ryan extended an arm and Jamie cuddled up against her. "I have to get comfortable with money one way or the other. You just pushed me a little."

"So, what's the big plan? Go to the sporting goods store and buy 'em out?"

Looking thoughtful, Ryan said, "Great! Now I've got to start over." She grinned like a chimp, showing all of her teeth. "No, I'm going to be a little more prudent. First, I'm going to start sending my Aunt Moira money every month."

"Good idea. We should have been doing that all year."

"I know. She's not as proud as most of the rest of the Ryans; I think she'll take it. I want her to cover my grandparents' expenses as well as give them a few luxuries."

"But how will she get them to take the money?"

"Not sure," Ryan admitted. "I've considered phony lottery tickets, anonymous checks, a government payout to World War II veterans… It's all up here," she said, tapping her temple. "Whatever it takes to drag them out of poverty."

Jamie leaned over and kissed her cheek. "That's an excellent plan. You'll feel much better if they're more comfortable."

"Right. Then I'm going to pay for Aisling's school expenses."

"Oh, right. Sure. That's a very good idea too."

"And I'll pay for the rest of my cousins too. I think they'll all go to university, so that's a long term plan."

"You don't have that much money, babe. That could be eighty or ninety thousand each."

"No tuition in Ireland, just expenses."

"Got it."

"I considered giving Tommy and Annie money for a down-payment on a house, but with prices like they are, they'd be saddled with a huge mortgage." She shook her head. "That just doesn't make sense. I think they'll be happy living in the OFC apartment. It's gonna be plenty big and they'll be able to live rent free in exchange for managing it."

"I thought it was a good plan when we came up with it. I still do. It doesn't make sense to have the kind of debt they'd have if they bought a house now."

"Right." Ryan slapped her hands together. "I have to leave the house to implement the rest of my plan. Wanna go?"

"Sure." Jamie slipped out of bed, turning repeatedly on the way to the bathroom to make sure Martin couldn't see inside.

* * *

Before they took oﬀ on Ryan's mission, they went to their favorite coﬀee shop for breakfast. After a couple of espressos and a pair of muﬃns, they went back to the house and got on Ryan's bike. It was a beautiful day, with a brisk wind blowing all of the fog away and the sky a beautiful clear blue.

"I love riding behind you on your bike," Jamie said when Ryan brought it to life.

"Warm enough?"

"Yeah. With you in front, my light jacket's plenty." She ran her hands down Ryan's shoulders and arms, covered only by a snug white T-shirt. "You're gonna freeze."

"I like a cool wind when I'm riding. Makes me feel alive."

Ryan carefully maneuvered through the streets, heading all the way across town. Jamie didn't say a word, mostly because Ryan couldn't hear her with the din of noisy streets, but also because she liked to guess where they were going. When Ryan started to cross the Bay Bridge, Jamie would have ventured that they were heading to the Berkeley house, but Ryan didn't take their usual Berkeley exit. Instead, they wound up in a diﬀerent part of Berkeley, one they rarely frequented. After threading their way through the always heavy traﬃc, Ryan pulled up in front of the bank where they'd ﬁrst opened their joint account.

"Ahh," Jamie said, as she took oﬀ her helmet and shook her hair free. "Memories."

Ryan smiled. "Yeah. I'll always remember the day you forced me to have a checking account."

Jamie slapped her on the butt. "A twenty-ﬁve-year old woman who kept her money in her shoe."

"Not in my shoe," Ryan protested. "In my savings account. I wanted my ridiculously low interest rate."

Inside, Ryan spotted the man who'd waited on them the previous year. He was alone at his desk and she sauntered right up to him, looking at his name plate. "Hi, Mr. Merriman," she said, extending her hand.

He looked up at her and then at Jamie, and they could both see the recognition dawn.

"Hello!" He jumped to his feet and enthusiastically shook each of their hands. "How can I help you today?"

"I don't think we need help," Ryan said. "I'm going to make a deposit and…" She pursed her lips. "Actually, you can help me. I want an account in my name. I don't want to write checks, but I'd like an ATM card."

"Certainly. Why don't you both sit down and I'll get right on that."

He started keying things into the computer and Ryan could see his eyes searching wildly. Finally he found their names. She ﬁgured he'd remembered Jamie's and then found hers linked to it. "Ms O'Flaherty, I can open a savings account that has an ATM card for withdrawals. You can make four withdrawals a month without any fee."

"Fee?" she said, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes, that's the terms of this account."

"I don't want to pay a fee to have access to my own money." She didn't add anything, just looked at him with a clear expression of unhappiness.

He started making keystrokes. "I'll ﬂag the account. If you make more withdrawals than the terms allow, I'll override the fee."

Ryan showed a big smile. "Excellent." She took out the checks Jamie had given her for her brokerage account. "I want to close this brokerage account and deposit most of it in our joint account." She handed him a check that made him sit up straighter. "Then I want…six thousand dollars in my personal account. The one without fees," she emphasized.

"No problem." He took the check and went to a teller window, instructing the young man as to how to divide the funds.

"Six thousand dollars? What's the deal with six thousand dollars?"

Ryan smiled, looking very relaxed and conﬁdent. "That's what I want for personal expenses."

"For the month?"

Eyes wide, Ryan almost choked. "For the year!"

Now Jamie was stunned. "You plan on living on six thousand dollars for a year?"

"Yeah. This will give me the illusion that I have to budget and plan my personal spending."

"What personal spending? I don't think you've spent a hundred dollars on yourself all year."

"Exactly!" Ryan grinned. "This will be mine, and I might buy myself a few things. I've been wanting new running shoes but I hate to spend our money, and I hate to ask you if you think it's a good idea…" She made a circle with her ﬁnger. "Crazy thoughts spinning around in my head."

"If you think having your own little pile of money will help you buy what you need-go for it."

"I think it will. I hope it will."

Mr. Merriman returned, statements in hand. "Here are your receipts. Now I'll need to see some identiﬁcation and have you sign a few papers."

Ryan ﬁlled out the rest of the paperwork while Jamie refused all oﬀers of CDs, Money-Market accounts, home improvement loans, and all of the rest of the services he touted. When they were ﬁnished, the walked out into the bright sunshine and Ryan said, "How about lunch?"

"Uh, sure. It's a little early, but I can manage."

"Hop on."

They went through Berkeley, then hopped on a road that took them into the Oakland hills. As they climbed, Jamie thought about the ﬁrst time Ryan had been in her car. They'd come to this exact spot, and for reasons she didn't realize then, she'd never wanted the day to end. She'd never been with anyone who'd held her interest so completely, and she was thrilled to acknowledge that hadn't changed a bit.

They reached the top of a hill and Ryan pulled over and turned oﬀ the bike. It was such a clear day that they could see for miles and they silently looked out at the Bay and the city in the distance. Jamie put her head against Ryan's back and they sat just like that for another few minutes. Then they started oﬀ again, heading back down to Oakland. When they were still quite a few blocks away from their destination, Jamie knew where they were going. She was smiling happily when Ryan pulled into a legalish spot and turned oﬀ the bike.

"Our ﬁrst meal together," Jamie said, squeezing Ryan's waist.

"Yep. I love this place, but we haven't been here since. I remember how amazed you were at how much I ate."

"I remember being fascinated by every single thing about you." Jamie hugged her again, almost too tightly.

Ryan slid oﬀ the bike, then helped Jamie oﬀ.they stood in front of the deli for just a moment, then Ryan said, "Two things are diﬀerent. One-I'm buying." Jamie grinned at her with unconcealed aﬀection. "Two-when we're done eating, we're going to Berkeley to check our mail.

Then I'm going to take you upstairs and do what I wanted to do the very ﬁrst time I saw you."

Jamie gazed up into her eyes and blinked innocently. "Work on a paper together?"

Ryan's grin was feral. She looked like she could easily dip her head and take a bite out of Jamie's exposed neck. "That paper was the furthest thing from my mind." She moved a little closer, letting Jamie feel the heat that radiated from her body. "I wanted to seduce you."

Something about the way she said it made Jamie squirm. She wanted to skip lunch and get right to the seduction.

But Ryan was clearly having fun playing the game. She bent over until her lips were right next to Jamie's ear. "I wanted to get you alone and take oﬀ every bit of your clothing. I think you had on a…blue sweater and jeans. Your breasts looked awesome in that sweater, by the way. It was just snug enough to show them oﬀ. I had this vivid image of how rockin' your body was, and I'm glad to say I was totally right." She stood up, grinning when she saw that Jamie's pupils were dilated.

"Isn't it a little early for lunch?" Jamie's voice was slow and sweet and sexy. "We could eat later. Much later."

"Nah, we're not in a rush. It's July, and we're on vacation. The sun's out, the sky's clear, and we have nothing but time."

Jamie couldn't help herself. Even though they were on a busy street in front of a busy deli at high noon, she had to lace her hands behind Ryan's neck. She leaned back, taking in her lovely partner. She had nothing to add, completely content to just gaze at her.

"We'll eat, then spend the rest of the afternoon in bed." Ryan looked up at the sky and took in a deep breath. "We'll open the window and have a nice breeze blowing over us. It'll be fantastic."

"Being with you is fantastic. Sometimes I wish I'd known who I was and what I wanted that ﬁrst day we'd met so we could have gotten to the good parts faster."

Ryan shrugged. "You weren't ready. I probably wasn't either." She bent and kissed Jamie, making her touch soft and sweet and tender. "Now we are."

Jamie's smile was so bright it was almost blinding. "We sure are. Together we're ready for anything."

The End For Now

I'm going to add quite a few pages in the relatively near future. The scenes I want to write belong in this book, but I'm working on another book and don't want to stop. So I'll do them later and add them at that time. I've just been promising this for so long that I got tired of waiting for me to ﬁnish!

What's Ya Poison?