April's growling stomach woke Jasmine from a deep, contented sleep. She was lying on her side facing the French doors that stood on the opposite end of her room, and opened out onto a large balcony that had it's own set of steps leading down to the side yard. She smiled as she felt April spooned against her back, her arms draped over Jasmine's waist. She felt good, happy, and knew that she and April were finally on their way to having a future together. A very long one, she hoped.
Looking around her room, she studied the big, brown leather couch that faced the fireplace that was built into the wall facing the bed. Her room was done in rich, dark tones, browns and hunter greens that were more suited for a man's room. Actually, the room had been her father's. He'd slept here whenever he and her mother were having a row, and had decorated the room himself. Staying here always made her feel closer to him. She always felt saddened at the memory of that day in the kitchen, when her world exploded apart. It had taken a very long time before she had finally understood what had driven him to destruction that day. Love, passion, could be a powerful, all consuming thing; a creature that drove all rational thought away. She snuggled against April and knew that she finally understood what that felt like, being so involved with someone that the rightness of your world depended on them. It was a scary feeling sometimes, but could also fill a person's heart with so much happiness; you felt like you were floating through air, your feet never touching the ground.
She felt April stir against her and smiled. Their tempers, and mountains of pride, sometimes caused the two of them to fight something awful, but Jasmine knew April loved her as much as she loved April, and knew that April would never lift a finger against her. Maybe that's where her parents had gone wrong. They had a fierce passion, but not enough trust, enough love. Staring into the darkness, she wasn't afraid of her and April falling into the same trap. They may fight and scream, even throw things at each other at times, but they'd never cause each other physical harm. Instinctively she knew they would both draw the line there.
She remembered the day she and Jade had moved back into this house, as adults. Jade had been concerned when she had chosen this room for herself. A picture of Jade's face that day, frowning, concern in her eyes, formed in her mind and she suddenly missed her sister something awful. Again, her temper had gotten the better of her and she'd been to busy yelling instead of listening. Well, she'd fixed things with April, now it was time to patch up her relationship with her sister, if she could find her. Jasmine twisted around to face April. Watching her sleep, she wondered how much progress April had made on her sister's case. John had told her a little bit, but they'd quickly moved on to discuss her feelings for April, so she hadn't gotten full disclosure concerning the meeting between April and her uncle. April's stomach growled again and Jasmine smothered a laugh. If she could get April to wake up, maybe she would fill her in on what she'd found, while they raided the kitchen for a midnight snack.
Jasmine gave April's shoulder a gentle push. When that didn't work, she shook a little harder. Finally, she watched as April pried her eyes open, saw blurry eyes stare at her for a minute, then watched a sleepy smile spread across April's face as she realized were she was and who she was with.
"You real?" April muttered.
"Very much so," Jasmine replied with a chuckle. April was so cute when she was half asleep.
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart, hope to die." Jasmine pressed her lips to April's and felt April tug her closer.
"Mmmm. That's nice." April's voice was still thick with sleep and Jasmine decided she liked the sound of it.
April's stomach growled again and this time Jasmine couldn't stop herself from laughing. April gave her a sheepish grin and eased herself into a sitting position, wiping the sleep dust from her eyes. Jasmine rested her head against April's stomach and kissed the hummingbird that sat low on April's abdomen, just above her mound.
April groaned as she felt a spark of excitement spread through her. "Mercy, angel, show mercy. I want you, but I think I'm too sore to do very much," she said, laughing.
Jasmine knew there was an evil grin spreading over her face as she remembered the day's events. Once they got home, they'd gone straight to her room and had spent the rest of the day making love, over and over. Sometimes they'd been rough with each other, desperate with passion. Other times they'd just gone slow, exploring and enjoying each other. Jasmine wondered if there'd ever come a time when they didn't feel the need to jump each other's bones at every available moment. Lord, she hoped not.
With another quick kiss, she climbed out of bed and went in search of a robe. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw April sitting naked on the edge of the bed, yawning and still trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes. She felt a little spark ignite low in her belly and briefly considered going another round, then remembered how sore April said she was. Thinking it best to give her lover time to regroup, she fished a second robe out of her closet and tossed it at April.
April had her eyes half closed, willing them to focus, when she got a face full of silk. The rope dropped in her lap and she looked up to find Jasmine shrugging into her own robe. She watched the silk skim over Jasmine's body, groaned, and felt a brief moment of sadness as Jasmine's naked body disappeared from view as she tied the belt around her waist. She climbed off the bed onto unsteady legs and almost fell backwards onto the bed as she found her legs too weak to hold her. She heard Jasmine's smug laugh and shot her a nasty look. It took her a few minutes, but she finally managed to get the robe on and knotted the belt into place. She looked up to fine Jasmine watching her, and saw the gleam in her eye, even in the darkened room.
"Later, angel," she muttered and stumbled towards the short hallway that led to Jasmine's private bathroom.
"Need any help?"
The sexy sound of Jasmine's exaggerated southern drawl had heat coursing through April's body. Damn if she wasn't half tempted to turn around and jump Jasmine right there on the floor. Grabbing the bathroom doorway for support, she shot Jasmine a withering look over her shoulder.
"Maybe later."
Jasmine grinned like the Cheshire cat as April shoved the door shut, cutting off her view. She heard the lock click into place, then thought about the key to the bathroom that was tucked away in a little box on top of her dresser. Sweet Jesus! April was right; at this rate, they would end up fucking each other to death. Thinking that would be a fun way to go, she sat down on the bed and waited for April. She should probably just head for the kitchen, get herself out of a room filled with temptation, but was afraid April would kill herself trying to fine the kitchen in this big old house, in the dark.
Minutes later, April staggered back into the bedroom and Jasmine grabbed her hand, dragging her towards the door. "Food?" Jasmine laughed at the hopeful sound in April's voice, then laughed even harder when April's stomach growled again, right on cue.
Holding onto her hand, Jasmine led April down a set of back steps that went from the second floor and ended at the back of the kitchen. It was built over a hundred years ago to allow the servants to move from the kitchen to rest of the house without begin seen on the main staircase. It was very close to Jasmine's room and she always found it very useful, especially if she was trying to sneak to the kitchen, undetected.
As the kitchen came into view, April spotted the counter and immediately thought back to that night she'd done a body shot here with Jasmine. She groaned at the memory and saw Jasmine give her a questioning look over her shoulder. Desperate to get her mind on something else, she pushed past Jasmine and made a beeline for the refrigerator. "Food," she muttered at Jasmine as she passed.
Jasmine shook her head, smiling, and went over to help April raid the kitchen. Ten minutes later, they had a wide assortment of food spread over the kitchen table. Jasmine sat in April's lap, feeding her crackers, laughing as April jerked the food out of her hand, too hungry to have any patience for being feed.
Twenty minutes later, April leaned back in her chair and wrapped both arms around Jasmine's waist. "Oh God, I feel stuffed!"
"It's about time," came Jasmine's sarcastic reply. "I think there's a piece of the table you forgot to wolf down, cher."
"Ha, ha," April shot back. "I haven't eaten anything in almost 24 hours. It's a miracle I didn't pass out today, from all that exercise on an empty stomach."
Jasmine winced at the reminder that, 24 hours ago, April was making love to Alyshia instead of her. But she was with her now, so Jasmine pushed the thought aside and got down to business. "Uncle John mentioned that you found Jade, but there's some kind of problem."
April nodded, then filled Jasmine in on recent events. Once she finished, she watched Jasmine's reaction. She saw Jasmine's eyes fill with concern. Well, that answered that question. April hadn't been sure if Jasmine was all that interested in finding Jade and bringing her home, but now April could tell that Jasmine was really worried about her sister. Now that she knew both of them wanted the same thing, to find Jade, she tried to enlist Jasmine's help.
"Jasmine, do you remember Lonna Tassin at all?"
Jasmine frowned, trying to recall Uncle John's ex-fiancé. Unable to do so, she shrugged and gave April a sad smile. "I'm sorry, cher. I don't remember her at all and I have no idea if Jade does. I can tell you I don't remember Jade ever mentioning her."
April sighed. She was back at square one. Again.
Jasmine watched as April became silent, deep in thought, and felt as if she had physically left the room. She didn't like it one bit. Jasmine knew that this was April's job, and a big part of her life, and she realized that she didn't like knowing there was a part of April's life she wasn't included in. But maybe she could change that. Jasmine wasn't fool enough to consider quitting her job and working with April, nothing like that, but she wanted April to feel comfortable discussing things with her; to know that, at the very least, she could always bounce ideas off of her. And she had ever right to stick her nose into this case, even a responsibility to her sister to do so.
"April?"
