by Viola Grace
She showered, hoping maybe by the time she finished, Skye would be home. The living room was the way she’d left it so she went to bed. No matter what happened, she knew her subconscious had released everything she’d been hiding. She drifted into a peaceful sleep and awoke with a jolt when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. She smelled the light fragrance of Skye’s perfume.
“I read your note,” Skye whispered. “How did Ian take it?”
Lara sat up slowly. “He’s okay. There’s some food in the fridge if you’re hungry. What time is it anyway?”
“A little after midnight. I grabbed some dinner downtown.” She sat on the edge of Lara’s bed. “You made a special dinner, didn’t you?”
Lara’s cheeks grew warm. “I…I shouldn’t have assumed…I mean you might have a girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t return your call. I drove around for hours, trying to clear my head. And no, I don’t have a girlfriend.” She touched Lara’s cheek with the back of her hand.
Lara grabbed Skye’s hand and held it tightly. “How could I have been so blind all these years?”
“It wasn’t the right time.”
“And now?” Lara whispered hopefully.
Skye slipped out of her clothes and climbed into bed.
Lara shivered with anticipation as Skye’s soft warm body stretched out next to her. How many times had they shared the same bed through the years and talked for hours about their hopes and dreams? How must Skye have felt wanting her, but knowing she couldn’t touch her? Now things were different and Lara didn’t know what to do. What she did know was she felt truly alive for the first time in her life.
Skye’s fingers trailed down Lara’s arm, then she turned her face toward her and tenderly outlined Lara’s lips with a fingertip. Lara became wet and a longing surged through her unlike any feeling she’d ever felt before. She pressed her body closer to Skye’s. “I’m afraid,” she whispered.
“Don’t be, baby,” Skye whispered into her ear before gently nibbling on an earlobe.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Just do what comes naturally.”
Lara ran her hands over Skye’s body, feeling more aroused as she explored. Skye rolled on top of her and kissed her neck before finding her lips. Skye’s kiss was the sweetest most tender she had ever received and it made her want more. She parted her lips and hungrily accepted Skye’s tongue as her legs wrapped tightly around her body. Her hands cupped Skye’s ass and she heard her moan.
Skye shifted her body and Lara thought she would explode as Skye ground herself into her.
Lara panted and spread herself wide as Sky moved off her and placed her hands around Lara’s ankles. She rested her face briefly in Lara’s damp mound, then spread her lips.
Lara screamed with desire as the tip of Skye’s tongue touched her clit. She grabbed the sheet as Skye manipulated her clit, bringing her to an explosive climax.
Skye planted a trail of kisses on Lara’s flesh as she made her way back up her body, finally reaching Lara’s hungry lips.
Lara couldn’t get enough of her. The scent of Skye filled her nostrils. She wanted to crawl inside of her and never break the wonderful oneness they now shared.
Skye moaned as Lara gently inserted a finger inside of her, finding her waiting clit. “Fuck me, baby,” Skye pleaded.
All the insecurities of not knowing what to do evaporated as the need to satisfy her lover the way she had just been satisfied overpowered her.
“Yes,” Lara panted as she tenderly suckled Skye’s breasts in turn before moving to her lover’s moist pussy. She buried her face in Skye’s vagina before dipping her tongue inside. She quickly found Skye’s clit and softly sucked on it enjoying the way Skye screamed her name as she came.
Later they lay side by side, exhausted, but satisfied. Skye put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. “You were wonderful.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you,” Lara said, snuggling close to her.
“That’s a promise I’ll hold you to.” She squeezed Lara’s shoulder. “I don’t remember the end of the emerald story, do you?”
“Yes. If I’ve acknowledged my hidden desire, the necklace will remain static. If not it will still glow.”
“Let’s see if it worked.” She smiled confidently. “I have no doubt that it will.”
“Me either.” Lara retrieved the necklace, put it on, then waited, but nothing happened. After ten minutes, she snuggled back up to Skye. “It looks like you don’t need to go looking for a roommate now.”
“I’ve already got one,” she replied as her lips hungrily sought Lara’s once again.”
BEHIND THE JADE TIGER
Christie Gordon
Jordan shifted his pale-blue eyes to the picture windows of his loft and looked out over the twinkling lights and squat buildings of downtown Scottsdale at night. There it was, the place he wanted to go to. A phone receiver pressed against his ear. “I’m telling you, it’s the best way to get a girl. You know how they love those gay bars.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. If you really want to go there, you’re on your own, dude.”
“Shit, Steven, don’t make me beg.” He raked his hand through straight, reddish-brown locks, angling down across his eyes and over the collar of a trendy black T-shirt. His lean and muscular build pulled the fabric tight across his chest.
“I won’t because I’m not going.”
“Fine. While I’m getting it on with some hot chick, you’ll be all alone.” Walking toward his kitchen, he sighed and slammed the phone down on a granite counter. “Asshole.”
He stuffed his hand into the front pocket of his low-rise jeans, passed the silver skull of his belt buckle and took one last look around his loft. A modern, black leather couch sat opposite two chairs while sleek, cherry-wood end and coffee tables sat between and around them. Architecture trade magazines lay sprawled in a neat row across the top. He let out a soft chuckle. “Shit, maybe I am gay.”
He strolled to a small table resting next to the door, grabbed his keys and stopped. Was this really a good idea? Hell yes it was. Margie told him all the hot chicks dug that place and he was going. It was about time he got laid. Six months without sex was enough to drive any twenty-three year old insane. And the nightmares were getting worse. At least if he had someone in his bed, he might not have one tonight.
He opened a tall door, stepped beyond it and shut it behind him. “I’m going.” As he walked the hallway, his eyes focused on the strange doorknocker a new tenant installed. It was in the shape of a tiger and made of some green stone. Was it jade, maybe?
He shivered as he passed. Whatever it was, it reminded him of something, more like a mixture of feelings he couldn’t quite describe. Déjà vu, yes, that’s it.
After fumbling for his identification with the front door bouncer and paying his five bucks, he stopped just inside the bar. Disco lights flashed over a crowd of mostly male dancers and people chatting at tables. Techno music swept over his ears and pounded in his chest, matching his quickening heartbeat. Nothing to be nervous about, it’s just a nightclub. He slipped through the crowd and stepped up to the bar. A blown-glass counter glowed from underneath in hues of gold and chocolate.
A bald man, naked from the waist up and heavily muscled, turned to face him. “What can I get you?”
He opened his mouth.
“He’ll have a gin and tonic, Harry.”
He twisted his body. His breath caught in his throat. Beautiful. What the hell was he thinking? His eyes roamed down the shorter, lithe frame of a young Asian man with large, brown eyes and dark hair framing his face in wispy layers. Long, red braids, no bigger than a pinky finger each, fell down over his tanned shoulders and leather vest. Numerous thick, silver chains hung around his neck and wrist and silver hoops adorned his ears.
“Hi, I’m Kira.”
“K-Kira?” His tongue felt thick and his mind reeled. Snap out
of it. This is a dude, Jordan, a dude.
“Yeah, it’s Japanese. You have a name?” A wide, flirtatious smile curled Kira’s lips as his body slowly swayed to the rhythm of the music.
“I-I’m, uh, Jordan.” Letting out an exhale, he willed his shoulders to relax.
Harry placed a drink on the bar in front of him. “That’ll be seven dollars.”
“I’ll get it. After all, I did order it for you.” Kira slipped a hand into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a wad of bills. He rifled through them and slapped a ten on the bar. “Keep the change.”
“Thanks.” Harry grabbed the money and walked back to the till.
He snatched the drink, lifted it to his lips and drank a few gulps. Burning lit up his throat. He coughed.
“Take it easy, it’s not a shot.” Kira laughed, a soft, sensual laugh and rubbed his palm over Jordan’s back.
The touch and the low and seductive quality to the young Asian man’s voice rushed a familiar feeling into his groin, a feeling he usually got around women, not men. He stepped away. “I’m okay.” Holy shit, this is not what I expected at all. Where are the women?
“Okay? I’d say you’re better than okay, much better. You’re stunning.” Kira lifted a beer bottle to his lips and licked the glass tip, swirling his tongue before putting it to his mouth and taking a long swig.
Heat rushed his groin, making his cock pulse and swell. This guy is too much and I’m not gay, damnit. The stuff he did with that guy in high school didn’t mean anything. He was young. He didn’t know any better.
He forced his gaze away from the captivating young man in front of him to roam the bar for any sign of the opposite sex. His eyes stopped.
Two blonde women huddled together across from him at the bar, looking down at a cell phone.
One glanced up at him and winked. Hell yes. He smiled.
“So, what are you into, Jordan?”
“What?” He brought his gaze back to study Kira, whose demeanor changed to something bordering on sadness.
Kira’s brows furrowed and he bit his lower lip. “I asked you what you were into.”
“I’m not sure what you—”
“Hey,” a woman’s voice called out.
He twisted to face one of the blonde’s from the other side of the bar, now standing next to him.
Her hair fell in waves over an obviously fake pair of breasts, shoved up high under a low cut, red dress. Smoky eye makeup and deep-red lipstick made her face look too made up.
“Hey.” He smiled at her. This was more like it. This was what Margie talked about.
“So are you gay or straight?” Reaching her hand out, she ran a long fingernail down his chest. “Because my friend and I think gay guys are really hot.”
“Uh, I’m, I’m gay.” He threw an arm around Kira and drew him near. “This is my, um, my lover, Kira.”
Kira glanced up at him and back to the woman. “Really…” A smirk curled his lips. “Let’s dance, lover.”
The woman giggled. “Yeah, go dance for us and do something really hot.” She brought a short glass to her lips and took a sip from a skinny straw.
“Um, sure.” A tug pulled his arm away from his body and led him toward the dance floor. He turned as the beautiful Asian man towed him into a crowd of churning people and flashing lights. Kira’s body pressed flush against his and his arms wrapped around his waist, swaying in a languid dance to the beat.
Tingling and humming raced along his skin in every place Kira touched him. An ache started deep in his heart and spread down to pool in his groin. He let his hands run a timid trail up Kira’s back to rest on his shoulders. How he yearned to draw him near, to taste him. He licked his lips. What was happening to him? Why did he feel like this? He glanced at the blonde woman at the bar.
With a dumb smile, the woman held up her glass in solute.
He forced a grin and nodded. The ache in his groin deepened. He willed his body to move against Kira’s without giving into the strange urges invading his body.
Still swaying, Kira parted his legs with his knee, bringing their hips together.
Oh God, Kira’s hard. His eyes closed as his swelling cock brushed and ground on Kira’s erection through their jeans. Pleasure seared into his groin and raced through his body. If he looked down, he’d be lost.
A soft moan escaped Kira as he placed his head on Jordan’s chest and drew him nearer.
He fought to keep control, to not let the delicious sensations flooding his body overrun his reason. Light flicked over his vision. Bodies danced in a serpentine rhythm around him, brushing and bumping against him, forcing his aching cock to grind over Kira’s. Oh God, I can’t help it, I can’t stop, I can’t…
Kira’s lips claimed him, hard and insistent.
Need flooded out of his mouth as his tongue parted Kira’s lips and entered, probing and penetrating with all the frustrated desire in his soul. His arms seized him as if he’d never let him go.
Moaning, Kira lifted his arms to hold tight to his head. He thrust his hips harder, faster, into his, as if taking all he could from him.
The dance floor vanished. Fluffy snowflakes floated down from a gray sky. The scent of pine wafted in the air. Trees stood like sentries all around them. Silken cloth slid across his skin and a chill shivered down his spine. He opened his eyes.
Kira broke the kiss.
Lights flashed in his face. Thrumming streamed in through his ears and played inside his chest. People danced all around him. He shoved his dance partner away. “What did you do to me?”
Confusion and something resembling hope washed over Kira’s face. “What do you mean?”
“Did you give me some fucking date rape drug or something?” His lips still tingled and his groin begged for more.
“No, of course not. I would never do something like that to you.” He grasped Jordan’s arm. “Tell me what happened. Did you see anything?”
He yanked his arm away, glaring. “You drugged me.”
Lunging forward, Kira placed a rough kiss on his mouth while clutching his shoulders and tugging him down.
The snow, the cold, the trees, it all came back. The sorrow, oh God, the sorrow. Stinging filled his eyes as tears blurred his vision. The ache in his heart swallowed him, fed on him, ravaged him. “No!”
Kira held tight to his arm and hauled him across the dance floor, through a hallway and out the door.
He struggled to maintain his emotions as he trudged behind him. He had to get out of here. Something was not right. Something was very, very wrong. “Wh-where are we going?”
“To the loft.” Kira’s red braids swung across his back as he led him up the sidewalk, passed tall palm trees and squat cactus.
“What loft? You mean my loft?” Confusion muddled his mind. How would Kira know where he lived?
“No, mine.”
“Huh?” He lifted his eyes and looked up at the glass walls and clean cement lines of his building. “Y-you live here, too?”
“Shut up. I have something to show you.” Kira stopped at the entrance of the building and punched in a number to a keypad. A click and a tone sounded. He opened the door and led him inside.
After a quick ride in an elevator and a walk down his hallway, they stopped at a door down the hall and opposite to his own.
He looked at the door. The familiar jade, tiger knocker hung at eye level, snarled at him, as if daring him to enter. “Hey, you live here?” He pointed at the knocker. “I’ve walked by this thing a million times.”
Kira shoved a key into the lock. “I know.” He opened the door, stepped inside and waited for him to enter before shutting it.
“Who are you?” His eyes tried to focus in the darkness. City lights twinkled through the windows, casting a faint glow inside the loft.
The beautiful Asian man flicked a wall switch, turning on dimmed recessed lighting in the high ceiling. “I’m Kira, remember?”
He startled, stepping back. “Holy shit.”
The configuration of Kira’s loft was the same as his, in reverse, but all the same furniture, just arranged in opposite positions. He faced him. “Who are you?”
Kira’s brows furrowed and he lowered his head. “I hoped you’d remember by now.”
Fear threaded through his body and settled in his bones. He let his gaze wander back over the contents of the loft. A red kimono with a gold design rested in a glass case hung on the wall. A blue kimono with the same gold design hung in another glass case next to it. A wave of sorrow washed over him. The tears returned.
“What do you see?” Kira stepped closer.
“Nothing.” His voice wavered. He walked passed him to the living area and looked around. “Japanese artifacts…” Long swords in sheaths, porcelain dolls and ivory carvings littered the tables and walls around him. They taunted him, toyed with something inside him, pleading to be released. Oh, how I hate them. But why? He never knew, never could quite put his finger on it.
“What do you feel?” Kira walked out to the living area to stand beside him.
Rage came out of nowhere to lodge in his gut. His fists and teeth clenched. “I hate you.” He glared at him.
Frowning, Kira’s brows tensed and tears shimmered in his eyes. “Do you?” He wrangled his fingers in front of him. “Please, I only did it for you.”
The anger vanished. Heartache and longing flooded his heart, taking his breath away, making his lips purse. His eyes focused on the red kimono. A chill ran down his spine. The scent of pine floated into his nose.
Kira pulled him close and placed an anxious kiss over his lips.
He ran through deep snow. His heart raced. His blue kimono billowed out behind him. Where was Kira?
Steady footsteps raced up behind him.
“Hurry, Kira.” Reaching out, he grasped Kira’s hand. They ran together.
Shouts echoed off the trees. Thrashing and movement filled the air. Kira fell.
Red, blood red, even under Kira’s red kimono.