Merido's Daughter by LJ Maas 9 page

"We really...don't have...time for this, baby." Tessa panted.

Casey ran her tongue in one more extra firm stroke against her lover's, now throbbing clitoris.

"Do you want me to stop?" She asked quickly.

"Oh, yes!" Tessa's moan of pleasure was directed at the young woman's previous action so when Casey stopped completely, Tessa's eyes snapped open. "I--I mean, no!"

Casey performed the same routine and stopped quickly. "Was that a no, I want you to stop or a no, I don't want you to stop?"

"It...I...oh, God!" Tessa shook her head to try to will a little bit of sense into it. She figured that the reason her brain had refused to function was because all of her blood was now flowing straight to other parts of her body.

"I...oh God, please...I mean...Oh Casey, just don't stop eating me." Tessa finally blurted out, her hips thrusting forward shamelessly.

Casey smiled at Tessa's enthusiasm and positioned the dark-haired woman's foot on the rim of the tub.

Spreading her legs wide, Tessa released a growl that rumbled through her chest when she felt Casey's insistent tongue lapping at her center. Her hips began to rock against the young woman's fingers, thrusting inside her, and she placed her hand on the back of the small blonde's head.

"Please, baby...harder."

Casey wasn't sure whether the dark-haired woman wanted her to suck harder on the swollen clit she had in her mouth or if she wanted a stronger motion from her fingers. She decided to do both and the combination skyrocketed Tessa into an orgasm that left her body shivering and her legs unable to hold her own weight any longer. She sank down to the edge of the tub and held Casey in her arms.

"Oh, I'll get you back for that one too, little one."

"I'm counting on it." Casey teased.

Dressed and finally ready to leave the sun was just beginning to peek over the eastern hills. Tessa wrapped her arms around the small woman and kissed her tenderly.

"You have to remember, sweetheart that when we walk out of this house we can't be lovers." Tessa whispered.

Casey raised her head, a shocked expression on her face.

"That didn't come out right." Tessa grinned. "I mean, that to the rest of the world we can't appear to be lovers."

"That makes me feel a little bit better. How long, Nikki? Will we always have to live this way?"

"No, love, it won't always be this way, I promise. It's just that...well, there are things that I--"

"I know. Things you can't talk about, right?" Casey looked up with love radiating from the sea-green depths of her eyes.

Tessa nodded and pulled the small woman tightly to her body, enjoying the silken texture of the golden hair against her cheek. She didn't want Casey to see her face, but more importantly she didn't want to have to look into Cassandra's eyes. She held the smaller woman within muscular arms and said two quick prayers. One, that Casey would someday forgive her for what she had to do, and two, a prayer of thanks for this feeling of love, no matter how long it should last.

"I wish I knew what it was." Tessa said.

Casey pulled away to look into the blue eyes that sparkled with caring and desire. "What what was?"

"The one thing I did right to get you."

They shared a kiss that was equal parts devotion and desperation. Tessa held the door open and, taking a deep breath, Casey walked across the threshold to become Meridio's daughter once again.

Things couldn't have gone better if they'd planned it out, right up until the point when Casey was on about the fourth step headed up to her room when her father's office door opened up. The blonde panicked for a second and clutched the handrail in fear. She was much too far away from the top of the landing to run for it so she did the only thing she could think of. Turning around quickly she hit the bottom step just as Andreas Meridio came into view.

"Good morning, Pappa. Did you have a pleasant evening?" She said cheerily.

"Well, well, I am surprised to see you out of bed so early this morning. I'm glad though. I have some business associates on the island and they have a fondness for the steeplechase. I want you to have breakfast and put on your riding togs. I need your help in impressing these men. Katalavaynés, Máhtia Mou?"

"Of course, Pappa, I'd love to." Casey said with a bright smile that changed to a grimace as soon as her father was out of sight. Dear God, this is going to be the longest day of my life.

"Good morning, Miss" Olympia said as Casey entered the koozéna .

"Morning, Olympia. I need some of your strongest Greek Coffee."

"Make that two." Tessa's voice startled both women.

"That's easy enough." The older woman responded and turned back to the stove.

Tessa leaned on the counter next to Casey, and quickly scanning the area, she raised her index finger to the young woman's lips, the small blonde kissing the digit. The Karê rapidly pulled her finger away, but not before Olympia turned to face them, two coffees in hand.

The older woman looked hard at both young women and she slowly shook her head.

"I only hope you two know what you're doing." She said, mostly to herself, since neither Tessa nor Casey would raise their eyes.

"I have to go to work. Have fun sleeping all day." She whispered to Casey as she left with her cup of coffee, acting as if she hadn't heard the cook.

"Oh, haven't you heard? I get to entertain father's friends at the steeplechase track today." Casey said tiredly.

"Aren't you a bit wobbly for those jumps today?" Tessa asked with concern.

"I'll be okay." Casey replied, hoping that she didn't fall asleep in the saddle at any point during the day.

"Tessa, come in." Meridio said.

Tessa stood at the entrance, without coming right in, every morning for the past five years. Propriety dictated it so and the Karê wasn't one to break too far away from Greek tradition.

Tessa had barely taken her seat and a sip of her coffee before Meridio placed a manila folder in front of her. Upon opening the binder, she stared into the face of a man who was vaguely familiar, but whom she'd never met.

"Do you know him?" Meridio asked.

"I know of him. I've heard things...all bad. Why?"

"He's our new connection. Our friends across the water are shaking their organizational infrastructure a bit. He will be the man we deal with from now on."

"Lovely." Tessa exclaimed, closing the folder.

"I've invited them to lunch and to the horse track. He has a fondness for the steeplechase and good horses. We can make a present of one of our good mares. It will go a long way with a man like that. I want you to come along for obvious reasons, but Cassandra's going to be there and I don't want any of his men thinking she comes as part of the gift. I want it made very clear that she is my daughter, Katalavaynés?"

"Absolutely." Tessa shared her usual serpentine smile with her employer. "Trust me, if anyone of those men lay a hand on your daughter, it will be a very bleak day for his parents."

Meridio rose and placed a hand on the Karê's shoulder. "Good woman, I know I can depend on you to stay with Cassandra every minute, Tessa."

"You can count on me, Mr. Meridio." The dark-haired woman smiled broadly once her employer's back was turned.

Casey closed the door to her room and began to strip off the clothes that she still wore from the previous evening. She walked across the room and tossed the garments into a large wicker laundry basket. She stepped into the walk-in closet to find her riding pants and a pale green polo shirt, along with freshly polished boots hanging right in front of her. That Olympia is so damned fast, what would I do without her.

Turning with the hangars in hand she thought she heard a faint click in her bedroom. Walking out of the closet she noticed that a breeze blew in from the balcony door that was slightly ajar. Funny, I don't even remember opening the doors. She laid her clothes across the valet chair near the dresser and moved to close the doors.

Quickly a hand covered the woman's mouth and a warm body pressed against her naked flesh from behind. Casey recognized the familiar cologne immediately.

"I told you it would be when you were least expecting it, didn't I, little one?"

The hand slipped from her mouth and it began a possessive exploration of the front of the small blonde's body, a deep moan vibrating in her ear.

"Good, God, Nikki! You scared the hell out of me." Casey wasn't sure whether it was fear or desire that had her breathing so hard.

"I think I should get points for having impeccable timing." The tall woman replied, indicating the naked body wrapped in her strong embrace. With one arm locked around the blonde's waist, the other boldly caressed a path that began to ignite flames of passion in both women.

Tessa let her fingertips run along the definition of muscles in her lover's abdomen, bringing them up to cup the underside of a firm breast. She reached in and let her lips and tongue taste the smooth skin of the small blonde's neck, moving up to capture the soft earlobe within her perfect white teeth. She let her tongue swirl over the small bit of flesh in her mouth, while at the same time allowing her thumb to lazily stroke a quickly tightening nipple. Casey groaned out loud at the exquisite touch, arching her back into the Karê's caresses, trying to press her flesh harder against the woman's hands.

"Sshh," Tessa whispered into the small blonde's ear. "If you make any noise, I'll have to stop." The low voice continued.

Casey didn't know if her lover was trying to warn her or threaten her. She did know that there was no way that she was going to risk having the dark-haired woman stop at this point.

"I don't want to hear a sound, not a moan or even a whimper." Tessa said teasingly. Tessa grinned as she felt the frustration flow through the small blonde's body.

She raised both hands and began to knead the firm mounds of flesh within each hand, grasping the pink tips and rolling them between her thumb and forefinger. Casey endured the slow torture as long as she could before her own hands found their way on top of Tessa's, pressing the larger hands under hers against her firmly.

"Is this what you want, baby?" Tessa halted her kisses momentarily to whisper in Casey's ear, as she pinched and pulled the hardened points of flesh with a rougher touch.

Casey nodded vigorously and Tessa chuckled at the small blonde's attempt at silence. The dark-haired woman slid her hands down and across smooth, quivering flesh, which fluttered when the palms of her warm hands brushed lower, across the light down of her abdomen. Both hands swirled their fingers within the flaxen colored curls, teasing themselves lower into the warm wetness, only to abruptly change direction and brush through the curls once more.

Casey was trying hard not to make any noise at all. She knew they had to be quiet considering where they were, but it also occurred to her that this was a little power game of Tessa's. Deep down it was a way for the Karê to assert her dominance and even though the small blonde hated to admit it, even to herself, it thrilled her. Tessa was a woman of her word and Casey wouldn't be at all surprised if her lover pulled away only to leave her wanting. This fact, not knowing whether the dark-haired woman would give her release or not excited Casey in a way that she'd never felt before.

Tessa slid the fingers of both hands deep into the blonde nest of curls, unable to contain a groan herself at her lover's wetness.

"Oh God, baby...you feel so good."

Tessa felt Casey legs begin to tremble weakly and didn't think the small woman was going to last too much longer.

"Kneel down, to the floor." She commanded.

It was a good thing. Just as the Karê commanded her to kneel, Casey felt her knees buckle. She sunk to the floor, her lover on her knees behind her. Tessa sat back on her heels and pulled the smaller body to lean back against her. Casey turned her head and reached up her hand to grab a handful of raven hair. It didn't take much effort to pull a more than willing Karê's lips to her own.

Tessa's mouth swallowed any noise the small blonde was making, the dark-haired woman's fingers continuing to stroke the silky, wet folds of her partner. With one hand she began to stoke a throbbing clit, the other poised two fingers at her entrance and pressed against her sex in a teasing manner. Casey finally broke her lips away from the kiss, breathing hard, her eyes closed; she leaned her head back against her lover's shoulder.

"Oh please, Nikki." Casey murmured.

"Please what?" Tessa asked, knowing full well what the blonde desired. The Karê's center began to throb painfully at the slow and careful seduction and she began to grind her own hips against her lover's backside.

"Please...I want to feel you inside me."

"Mmm, inside you? Why, baby?" Tessa urged.

Casey could barely think considering the fact that every brain cell and nerve synapse was firing between her legs at the present moment. She understood completely what her lover wanted to hear. Dear God, Nikki, do you know how hard it is giving that up to someone?

"Because it feels so good when you fill me up," Casey turned her head and once more captured her lover's lips. Pulling away to catch her breath she continued. "Please, Nikki...I'm begging you...please, fuck me."

Tessa took the woman's mouth, her tongue exploring hungrily even as the thrust of her own hips grew stronger.

"That was a good answer, baby. Because you asked so nice and because you look so damn hot begging me like that..."

Tessa pressed two fingers inside the smaller woman and she felt Casey's hips instantly thrust themselves down hard on her fingers. She continued to stroke the hard nub of flesh with one hand while matching the rhythm of her lover's hips with the other. Tessa began to feel her own climax rushing upon her and held it off as long as she could, but the feel of this woman's excitement was having an intense effect on her body.

"Oh, Casey." The dark-haired woman groaned, feeling her body's shuddering release begin.

"Nikki..." Casey buried her breathless cry against the warm skin of the Karê's neck.

Casey's hand locked Tessa's wrist in an iron grip and the Karê stilled her movement, feeling her lover's inner muscles spasm, then clench tightly around her fingers. It was as if there was a connection between Tessa's hand, inside the small blonde, and her own groin. Feeling the fluttering of Casey's inner walls against her hand prolonged the release coursing through her own body.

"Théh Mou!" Both women hissed at the same time.

"I don't usually...as a rule...thank God after sex," Casey panted, "but...that was...incredible."

"You look pretty cute like that," Tessa kissed the small blonde's nose as she stood and buckled her skin-tight riding pants at the waist.

"Between you and me I hate them. I'd much rather ride in blue jeans and Tony Lama's."

"You and your bad American habits." Tessa folded her arms across her chest.

Casey ran her palms along the thighs of the tan riding pants then stepped forward and slipped her arms around the taller woman's waist.

"I love you, Nikki." Casey said softly, reaching up to place a tender kiss on the startled woman's lips.

"I...Casey...I don't--" Tessa uncharacteristically stammered, unsure of how to react to her lover's words. Oh Casey, if I feel it why can't I say it?

Casey stopped the dark-haired woman by placing her fingers over the soft lips she'd just kissed.

"I know. I know how hard this is for you, love. You don't have to say anything at all, I can feel what's in here," she finished, placing the palm of her hand over Tessa's heart and rewarding the taller woman with a smile that was as bright as the sunshine.

Tessa didn't hesitate and pulled the small woman to her, holding her tightly.

"You are truly a gift to me, little one." She whispered, trying hard to hold back the tears that burned the back of her eyes.

"Muhammad Bin Yamen, please let me introduce my daughter, Cassandra Meridio. She is an excellent rider and will show you how fine the horseflesh raised on Mýkonos is." Andreas Meridio looked slightly nervous as he made the introductions.

Yamen and his henchmen were quite polite upon meeting Casey. In their eyes she was a woman and looked at as nothing, but they learned to get along with the ways of other countries and the position women attained. The tall, Amazon looking woman, worried them however.

"And, this is Tessa Nikolaidis, my Karê." Meridio finished.

The Libyan visitors made no attempt to shake hands with the Karê, but Tessa never flinched or turned her eyes away from their obdurate stares. She casually folded her arms across her chest and glared back, the perpetual scowl upon her face. She was quite used to situations like this, Old World men who were offended at the idea of working alongside a woman. Tessa's retribution was to simply straighten herself to her full height, a good six feet two with her riding boots on, and look down at the shorter men. They always hated that and the dark-haired woman could barely contain her mirth when she saw a few of them straighten up to try and equal her height.

Casey gave the men a tour through the family stables, giving them more information than they probably wanted to know about horses, and the way they were trained for the steeplechase. Tessa stood back and not only kept a protective eye on the small blonde, but also studied her newest adversary, Yamen. The dark-haired woman listened as Casey spoke and was again surprised by her new lover. She knows almost as much about horses as she does olives. Why in the hell does she dig up dead stuff for a living?

They took a break for lunch, Olympia having prepared a veritable feast on the patio. Meridio and Tessa sat with Yamen, the rest of the men at another table, while Casey was relegated to lunching in the kitchen with Olympia. Under other circumstances, Casey would have been offended and probably would have tried to do something to display that attitude. Today she didn't mind in the least. She didn't like the way the men looked at her. Half of them, including their leader, looked down their noses as if she were nothing more than a piece of fine furniture or a rug beneath their feet. The other half of the men leered at her when they thought no one else was watching. Tessa was always watching, however, and Casey took comfort in that fact.

It was late afternoon and Casey's lack of sleep the night before coupled with the large lunch she just enjoyed, had the small blonde yawning deeply as she tightened the strap on the large bay gelding's stirrup. The horse looked like a skyscraper standing next to the small woman. She tugged on a pair of tight fitting leather gloves. Adjusting the helmet on her head, she took the reins in her own hands, and accepted a foot up from the stable hand. The horse seemed skittish and Tessa saw the muscles standing out in Casey's arms, biceps flexing strongly on the woman's lean arms, as she tried to rein the animal in. Finally Casey's will and firm hand convinced the animal to accept the bit and he shook his head, waiting patiently.

The Karê was impressed at her lover's mastery over the large beast, but she couldn't help noticing the yawn that Casey let out. She walked closer, looking up with concern written across her features.

"You sure you're up for this?" Tessa asked.

"Sure, just wake me up when I'm done." The small blonde deadpanned adjusting a set of goggles over her eyes.

"Case," Tessa lowered her voice so that only the small blonde could hear her. "Are you sure? You could break your back if you fall. I just want to make sure you're alert enough."

Casey couldn't help the smile that that found its way to her face. "Yes, Karê, I'll be fine. Don't worry, okay?"

Tessa gave a smirk at that and gently hit the horse's rump to get him going.

Casey watched out of the corner of her eye as the spectators climbed onto a few special bleacher seats and pulled out their binoculars. The steeplechase was by no means a flat course. The Meridio estate boasted a three-mile cross-country course, but Casey would only be using half of that so she would stay in view of the spectators. The steed was Mávro To Vounó, Black Mountain, and she rode him around to each of the jumps, giving the horse a look at the fences.

Tessa nodded to a stable hand and while Casey still warmed up her animal, The Karê took the reins of a white stallion they called Flash. He was the fastest thing in the stable and Tessa simply wanted to be prepared in case anything should happen out on the course. Hearing the woman she loved tell her she was fine and believing it were two different things, and Tessa didn't like the tickling feeling in her gut that warned her of trouble.

Casey was a supremely light rider, and sat her saddle evenly. Most of the other 'jump' jockeys she competed against were much larger than she was, in the 140-pound range. It took more than speed to win a steeplechase, it took a lot of muscle too. She took a few small practice jumps, a box hedge no more than three feet high, finally testing the gelding's strength over a four-foot rail fence. The small blonde enjoyed having an open field to run on, usually in a steeplechase competition she was vying for position with forty or so other competitors. The sound of the horses hooves surrounded you and echoed like thunder in your brain, the mud and divots of earth flew up into your face and body.

The large gelding was a jumper horse, big and strong. He was trained for the hurdles and didn't know how to do anything else in life but run flat out and lift his body so that appeared to be floating in air for a few precious heartbeats. He was larger than most steeplechase thoroughbreds. The strong animal made it look easy. He enjoyed the weightlessness of the small rider and the way she didn't tighten back on the bit. He could feel the excitement begin to flow like waves from the mistress on his back and it began to infect him as he ran and flexed his muscles proudly. The animal couldn't know that this was the surge of adrenaline that Casey always felt when she started to fly around the obstacle course.

She was three-quarters of the way through with her run when she saw the large center jump coming up. It was a nearly five foot timber fence fashioned after the Maryland Hunt Cup's largest jump. They had just set into their run and Casey felt her vision blur. Hindsight told her she should have just hung on and let the animal beneath her do his thing, but not being able to see clearly, she panicked and in that moment of distraction, she pulled back on the horse's reins. The large animal felt the pull of the bit against his back teeth and instantly dug in his heels. Casey realized, as she was in mid air being thrown from the large animal's back, that this probably wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done.

Tessa leapt upon the white stallion's back without her feet even touching the stirrups. She sped across the course at breakneck speed, flying across the hurdles even more effortlessly than Casey had just done. The small blonde lay on her back and wondered why she couldn't breathe. She rolled onto her side and in the distance she saw Flash taking the jumps more quickly than Casey thought she would even be able to manage, and she thought of herself as a pretty above average rider. Astride the white stallion was Tessa, her dark hair flying around her, a look of fear etched across her tan face.

"My knight on her white charger," Casey managed to gasp breathlessly as Flash pulled up and Tessa jumped from his back.

"Casey, honey, are you okay? Where does it hurt?"

"I...could tell you...if I could breath!" Casey panted with irritation.

She tried to sit up and Tessa breathed a sigh of relief, realizing she could move.

"Looks like you got the wind knocked out of you is all, come on, lets get you on your feet." Tessa responded and quickly pulled the small blonde into a standing position.

The dark-haired woman pressed the flat of her hand against the small woman's diaphragm. "Breathe as deep as you can." Tessa directed.

Casey tried to take a deep breath and simply gasped.

"Again." Tessa said.

The small blonde tried again and as Tessa pressed her hand more firmly against her belly, she felt the tightness ease up. By degrees the spasm ended and Casey was breathing normally again. By this time her father and the visitors had made it to the spot of her humiliation.

"Cassandra!" Andreas Meridio had his daughter in his arms and pulled back to look at her. "Did you break anything?"

"Only my pride, Pappa." She said with embarrassment, rubbing her sore back.

"She's fine. She's a tough one, Mr. Meridio. She just got the wind knocked out of her." Tessa explained.

Yamen chuckled out loud. "Perhaps you should have had sons, eh Meridio?"

The Libyan smacked Meridio on the back as if it was a friendly joke and Casey's father could do little else but take it that way or risk offending his guests. Tessa saw right through the dark man's words. He'd been waiting all day to find something that he could use to his advantage, to stroke his ego, and this was it.

Tessa took Casey by the elbow and lead her back to where the gelding stood.

"Do you hear them laughing over there?" Tessa asked in a low voice. "You know what they're laughing about?"

"I've got a pretty good guess," the small blonde hissed.

"You feel good enough to ride Mávro back to the stable?"

Casey nodded.

"You don't have to do anything but ride back in. Do not," Tessa cautioned the smaller woman, "take anymore jumps. It'll go a long way if you don't let them see you cave, that way we win."

Casey understood the we to be women, and so she gave a little grin and stuck her left foot in Tessa clasped hands, positioning herself once again on the gelding's back.

Meridio turned and saw his daughter in the saddle once again.

"What in the hell is she doing?"

"No problem," the Karê replied offhandedly, just loud enough for Yamen and his clowns to hear. "She just shook it off, she's fine."

Tessa watched as Casey rode the gelding off in the direction of the stables. Suddenly the small blonde turned the horse and they began picking up speed. Even from her distance the dark-haired woman could see the look of wild determination on the young woman's face as she sped toward the five-foot jump. The horse and rider sailed across the fence with at least six inches to spare. Casey then took the large gelding through the rest of the course, trotting back and pulling up in front of the group.

"Nothing to it." Casey smiled.

"Impressive," Yamen had to admit before he turned away.

The men walked away and Meridio turned to Tessa. "See to it she gets home, I'll see that our guests find their way out."

Meridio left and Tessa looked up and raised an eyebrow at the small blonde. "You follow directions so well."

"Sorry, but I couldn't help myself." Casey apologized.

Tessa tried to look angry, but she just couldn't keep the expression going. The young woman atop the horse looked so contrite that the Karê had to smile herself.

"Hey, race ya back to the barn!" Casey took off before Tessa knew what was happening.

It didn't take long for the dark-haired woman to jump into the saddle and come even with the blonde and the bay gelding. Once she passed Casey, she barreled out ahead, flying over the fences like they weren't even there. Casey was mesmerized and pulled Mávro up to a canter. The white stallion and the dark-haired woman moved like one animal, absolute fluidity and strength. Finally Tessa realized she was alone and pulled her horse to a stop, waiting for Casey to catch up.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 544