She turned into the hotel parking lot and found a spot near the front doors.

“No,” Linda said quietly.

“Oh.” Marissa blinked in surprise. Had she misread Linda’s interest? In the abstract Linda had wanted Marissa but faced with reality, maybe she wasn’t feeling that zing?

Linda reached across the car to turn off the engine. “Marissa.”

The look in Linda’s eyes left Marissa again without words.

“I could never touch you, hold you, kiss you, make love to you and have it be meaningless. I love you. I am crazy in love with you. Every moment with you has meaning and reason. I never want it any other way.”

Marissa’s mouth formed “oh” again but no sound came out.

Linda’s lips curved in the smile that had first caught Marissa’s attention. “How about a night of meaningful sex?”

***

The lights were on, all of them. Linda’s hands moved slowly over Marissa as she said, “I want to watch you.”

Marissa felt self-conscious for a moment then a sensual confidence surged inside her. She knew now that if she did not risk her heart again, she would regret it forever. She stepped back, hands at the buttons on her blouse, and whispered, “Then watch.”

Linda kept her hands on Marissa’s shoulders but made a wonderful sound as each button parted. When the last button was undone, Linda pushed the blouse off Marissa’s shoulders, her gaze so heavy with desire that it seemed as palpable as Linda’s hands on Marissa’s skin.

Her long arms wrapped around Marissa with ease and one hand mastered the hooks and eyes.

“Thank you,” Marissa murmured. She let her bra straps slip down her arms, her gaze not leaving Linda’s face. The obvious hunger in Linda’s eyes thrilled and aroused her.

“This has changed.” Linda ran one finger into the cleft between Marissa’s breasts. “Even more alluring.”

Looking down, Marissa watched Linda’s finger trace the outline of her bra, a new lacey frippery with underwires that felt like steel. She knew she would never be a swimsuit model, never be naturally shaped the way that Linda was, with high, firm and wonderfully round breasts. But she was over finding her breasts an unfair burden. Linda’s fingers, closing firmly on one swollen nipple, ended all debate.

Linda kissed her when she gasped, arms winding her close. They fell on the bed with Linda on the bottom and Marissa’s bra slipping to her elbows until Linda, with a noise a lot like a growl, pulled it out of the way.

“Watching?” Straddling Linda’s waist, Marissa coyly trailed her fingers over her breasts, then lightly stroked her nipples.

“Hell, yes.” Linda’s hips were moving as both hands slipped under the hem of Marissa’s skirt. “Oh . . . these thigh muscles are new.”

She’d never have Ocky’s long, lean legs but she was more than able to lift, tease and grind herself into Linda in response to the strokes of her hands. Then Linda’s hands were between their bodies, putting pressure and heat on the part of Marissa that had been aching for more than a year.