Demons are Forever

by Kim Baldwin; Xenia Alexiou

  Landis opened her mouth but nothing came out.

  “I didn’t think so,” she said. “Women like me are nothing but objects to you. So why the hell do you care what happens to me?”

  “Because I got you in this mess.”

  She laughed. “You won’t even deny I’m nothing more than an object.”

  “I…” Landis looked genuinely hurt, which didn’t make sense. “This isn’t about you or your occupation, it’s about—”

  Landis was right about that, but Heather couldn’t let go of the topic, though she wasn’t sure why. “It’s about you using women. How can you do that, being a woman yourself? I doubt it’s hard for you to get laid, so what is it? Do you like degrading women? Does it turn you on?”

  “Don’t take your frustrations for the life you’ve chosen out on me,” Landis shouted.

  Heather was surprised; she’d never heard Landis raise her voice, not even when Dario provoked her.

  “I’m not one of your hairy-assed clients asking you to scream my name during fake orgasms,” Landis said loudly. “If you have a problem with what you do, then look for other solutions. You could have tried to find something else to support you and your brother, but this is what you came up with. You chose to sell sex.”

  “Are you saying it pleases me to have sex with strangers for money?” she shouted back, and a couple passing by paused briefly to gape at them. “Do you know what it does to me, every time I have to be with some guy?”

  When Landis didn’t answer and continued to look aloof, her rage deepened. How dare Landis think she enjoyed this life? That would imply she was no mere call girl, but a real whore at heart. “I know you think I’m disgusting, but that doesn’t mean you can stand here and insult me.”

  Without thinking, she raised her hand to slap her, but Landis caught her by the wrist. She tried to pull away, but Landis wouldn’t let go. “Let me—” She froze when she glanced up at Landis.

  The look of indifference she’d seen there had been replaced by hurt.

  Landis lifted her hand to her mouth and kissed her palm. “Yes. I know what it does to you, and I hate it,” she whispered. “I hate what you do, and I hate every man who’s ever touched you.” She put her free arm around Heather’s waist and pulled her closer. “And no, you don’t disgust me.” She kissed Heather’s wrist. “As a matter of fact, I find you amazing.”

  Before she could fully register what was happening, Landis was kissing her softly on the lips. Such a sweet, brief kiss, in stark contrast to the fury raging between them seconds earlier. She should resist, but the exquisite sensation of their lips together mesmerized her.

  “You are so damn beautiful it hurts to look at you.” Landis bent to kiss her neck and Heather trembled. “You’re giving…” Landis kissed the other side of her neck and Heather let her head fall back. “And caring…” She closed her eyes as Landis’s mouth brushed the corner of her lips. “And brave…” Landis pulled her closer until their bodies touched. “And I’m going to die if you won’t let me really kiss you.”

  She opened her eyes. Landis’s lips were a breath away. Desperate to kiss her, Heather pulled their mouths together. The world melted away. Soft, tentative explorations with their lips, their ardor building until both were breathing heavily. She loved kissing women—so much so that was why she never let her johns kiss her; she didn’t want to taint such profoundly personal contact. But it had been such a long time since she’d kissed a woman, and Landis was such an amazing kisser, that this moment aroused and excited her more than she would have thought possible.

  Landis cupped the side of her face as they kissed, and when her thumb brushed the edge of her mouth, Heather licked it seductively with the tip of her tongue.

  Landis threaded her fingers roughly through Heather’s hair, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss. Her heartbeat accelerated in an instant, and she kissed Landis back with equal passion, their mouths and tongues claiming each other in a frenzied unleashing of the energy that had been building between them.

  She wasn’t sure whether a minute or a day had elapsed before Landis pulled away.

  “Come with me?” Landis looked as aroused as Heather felt.

  “Where?” she asked suspiciously.

  “I don’t care.” Landis’s voice was husky.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  hase waited, her body thrumming with desire, as Heather considered how to respond. “Get us back to the hotel,” Heather finally said, taking her hand.She was surprised, but said nothing.“Yes, I know what I’m doing,” Heather added, as though she’d read her mind.

  “I know you don’t want to hear it, but you can trust me.”

  Heather squeezed her hand. “I want to.”

  The clock in the lobby read ten past midnight as they stepped into the elevator. Chase pressed the button for the fifth floor. “I’m going to let Jack know we’re back.” She dialed Jack’s cell.

  “Stop sighing or I’ll put a pillow over your head,” she heard Jack say distantly to Dario when the connection went through. Then, to her, “Find her?”

  “Yes. We’ll be in my room. Don’t disturb us unless it’s a matter of death and death.”

  “Why?” Jack asked. “What’s going on?” She didn’t answer. Jack’s quarter should drop any second. “Are you two about to—” Jack whispered into the phone.

  “Good night, Jack.”

  “One of us is going to have a good night and it’s sure as hell not going to be me. Be good to her.” Jack hung up.

  She opened the door and let Heather go inside. Heather went to the middle of the room and stopped there, glancing about.

  Chase remained just inside the door, looking everywhere but directly at Heather. A jittery anticipation and a totally unfamiliar nervousness infused her. She’d been in similar situations too many times to count and, until now, it had always been easy and predictable. How ironic. Here she was, a sex veteran with a beautiful woman in her room, and she didn’t even dare look at her. Heather didn’t say anything either, as she observed the room like it was a study in art history. And there wasn’t much to see. The room was a duplicate of the one Jack and Dario were in. Say something. “I, uhm…can I offer you something to drink?”

  “Is Landis your real name?” Heather spoke at the same time as she turned to face her.

  That was awkward. “Yes. Landis Coolidge.”

  “And you’re a graphic novelist?”

  “Of course.”

  Heather laid her purse on the table. “What do you have?” She looked uncomfortable. “I mean, to drink.”

  “Nothing, but I can call the reception desk.”

  “No, that’s okay.”

  Chase approached her slowly, fists clenched at her side. She was acting like a complete idiot and couldn’t help herself. It was like having an out-of-body experience. She stopped a foot away from Heather. “I don’t know why—”

  “You feel as uncomfortable as you look?”

  She smiled. “This has never happened to me before.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “I noticed.” Frustrated, she sat on the bed. “It’s not like either of us lack experience.”

  Heather frowned. “Thank you for reminding me.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” She got up. “I mean…I don’t know what I mean. God, why am I being such an idiot?” She sat back down. Could she act more like a fool?

  Heather came over and squatted so they were eye to eye. “We don’t have to do this.”

  Heather was so close again, all she had to do was reach out. She raised her hand hesitantly but stopped before she touched Heather’s face. “What the hell is wrong with me?”

  Heather started to touch her knee but pulled away as well.

  Chase knew nothing was wrong with the chemistry. They’d had plenty of that, since just a few moments ago they were ready to do it in the middle of the street. “I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve never had this…I already said
that.” She sighed.

  “You know, maybe we’re both too tired.” Heather stood. “Or maybe you reacted without thinking out there. Let’s face it. I’m not exactly the type you go for.”

  “What type is that?”

  Heather crossed her arms and scowled. “Would it help if you paid me?”

  “Do you think this is about you being a call girl?” She couldn’t believe Heather had just said that.

  “What I think is that my worst nightmare has come true. That a beautiful, interesting woman I’d like to get to know has found out what I do and can’t deal with it, even though she thought she could. Because every time she looks at me all she sees is a…a…” Heather blinked hard, obviously fighting tears. “I feel like an idiot for losing control out there and letting myself think I could get away with this.” She was talking so fast, stating so many things, Chase didn’t know what to react to first.

  “Heather, this…my inability to be normal right now…isn’t about you. I’m not sure what it is, but I know it’s me.”

  Heather turned her back. “Whatever you say,” she mumbled. “What-ever-you-say. Listen, I’m exhausted and need to get some rest. I’ll take this room, if you don’t mind. I’m in no mood to see his ugly face any time soon and need to get a decent night’s sleep.” She walked to the bathroom and never looked back. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Landis.” The door closed behind her.

  Chase stared at the door as though it held the answer to who had abducted and taken over her body. She dropped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She knew Heather wanted her to leave, but she couldn’t even if she wanted to. She was incapable of putting any more distance between them.

  How could Heather get angry with her, when she appeared just as disoriented and uncertain? What if Heather’s reaction was a defense mechanism? Something she did without thinking, when she felt judged because of what she did? Chase had made it clear she didn’t care about all that.

  But Heather clearly had problems herself fully accepting the decisions she’d made. And that probably meant she couldn’t allow herself to believe that anyone else could, either. Was she looking for a reason to run and escape whomever from condemning and dumping her? It disturbed her to see how money could make such a beautiful, wonderful woman feel so insecure. And the worst part was, she’d just contributed to making Heather feel inferior by making her feel undesired.

  She heard the water running in the shower. She had never wanted any woman more. Had never yearned so to protect and care for anyone, had never wanted so much to make any woman smile and take her away from everything that had ever hurt her. All I want to do is love you.

  The sudden realization terrified her and she jumped off the bed. Damn, this wasn’t supposed to happen. She paced the room and stopped in front of the bathroom door. Caressing the frame, she stopped with her hand on the handle. She tested it and it wasn’t locked.

  She took a deep breath and opened the door. She couldn’t see Heather through the glass of the shower because of the steam.

  She took another deep breath and approached the glass. “You’d really like to see me again?” was all that came out.

  Heather slid the door open and stood naked before her, water cascading off her in sheets. She looked relieved and happy, but didn’t reply.

  Chase took her time looking from Heather’s eyes, to her mouth, and then all the way down her amazing body. She swallowed hard. “I asked if you’d like…”

  Heather grabbed her by the hand and pulled her under the water. Their mouths met in fury and hunger, and she didn’t know whether she or Heather removed her clothes, but in seconds their naked bodies clung fiercely together under the spray.

  “You feel so good,” she murmured as she rubbed against Heather, nuzzling her neck, inhaling the fragrant citrus essence that lingered from her shampoo. “Smell so good…” She nipped at the delicate skin beneath her ear. “Taste so good.”

  Heather wrapped her arms around Landis’s neck, as much for support as the thrill of touching her. The feel of Landis’s body pressed against hers, the sensation of those soft lips along her skin, made her dizzy. She’d schooled herself so successfully to shut down physically and emotionally during sex that touching Landis was as though she’d been reborn with a new body, hypersensitive to the slightest brush of flesh against flesh. When Landis’s hands slid slowly down her back to clench her ass, her heart fluttered like it had suddenly sprouted wings.

  If she didn’t slow things down, she’d come before Landis even reached her area of greatest need.

  Heather gently extricated herself from their embrace. “Not so fast,” she said playfully as she reached for the shower gel the hotel had provided. Landis looked at her with glazed, heavy-lidded eyes, confusion in her expression. “I’m going to explore every inch of that incredible body of yours until you beg for mercy.”

  Landis trembled as Heather turned her, facing away, and lathered her shoulders and the back of her neck, kneading away the tension in the soft musculature along her spine. Landis groaned and surrendered to her touch, visibly relaxing as she put her hands against the wall of the shower for support.

  Soon, the therapeutic touch became more sensual, as Heather extended her caresses to fleeting, maddening brushes around Landis’s sides to her breasts and down to her ass. Here and there, she touched rough places in the smooth flesh of Landis’s back and hips; healed scars that made her wince and wonder at their origin.

  She stooped to continue her tactile exploration of Landis’s exquisitely sculpted body, smoothing the lather into her ass and legs. She could feel the muscles beneath her fingertips tense as she slid her hands up Landis’s inner thighs, stopping just short of her groin.

  “You’re killing me,” Landis said between clenched teeth.

  “Turn around.” Heather smiled up at her.

  Landis pushed off the shower wall and slowly pivoted, look-ing down at Heather with such open hunger and desire that she had a hard time maintaining her slow buildup. She squeezed more gel into her hand and stroked her way up Landis’s front, fingertips moving sensually over her thighs and abdomen and along the curves of her breasts. As the steamy water cascaded down off Landis’s shoulders, Heather teased her with soft, circular brushes over her erect nipples.

  Landis moaned again when she trailed kisses and swipes of her tongue over the soft triangle of hair.

  “Come here,” Landis said huskily, helping her to her feet. “It’s my turn.” She kissed her soundly before pulling away with an expression of lust and determination, and took the gel from her.

  “But I’m already clean,” she said playfully, as Landis turned her around and began to soap her back.

  “I don’t care.” Landis pulled her close, grinding her crotch into Heather’s ass as she cupped her breasts from behind. “You’re amazing. So incredibly beautiful.”

  Heather relaxed into the embrace, her head on Landis’s shoulder, her back against Landis’s chest, as Landis caressed her breasts and stomach, sweeping strokes that teased her rigidly sensitive nipples and then dipped low, mere inches from her clit. Moisture pooled at the juncture of her thighs, and her pulse beat loud in her ears as her breathing became ragged with desire.

  “Mmmm, I can’t begin to tell you what you’re doing to me,” she said, as Landis slowly descended to her knees behind her, caressing her back and ass.

  Landis urged her legs apart, and she complied willingly, bracing herself against the wall as another dizzying wave of arousal sent her head spinning. Landis toyed with her, driving her higher with caresses up her inner thighs and soft bites and nips into the soft flesh of her ass.

  When she was about to beg for more, Landis turned her around but remained on her knees. She looked up at her with such intense longing Heather’s breath caught in her throat. But something else was there, too—uncertainty—and she couldn’t understand why.

  “I want to taste you,” Landis murmured, more request than statement.

  “Oh, yes. Pleas
e.”

  Landis spread her legs farther, taking her time, building her to unfamiliar heights of anticipation with teasing sweeps of her tongue, closing in slowly as her clit swelled and throbbed with need.

  By the time Landis’s mouth claimed her, she was so hyper-sensitized she climaxed almost at once: her whole body rigid as the waves crested over her, her hands clutching Landis’s scalp.

  “I…I’m sorry,” she said, once she’d regained her breath. “It’s been so long.”

  Landis looked up at her, confusion in her eyes.

  “I haven’t been with a woman in years,” she explained. “And never with one I wanted so much.”

  Landis smiled as she caressed her way back up Heather’s body, pausing to kiss her breasts as she got to her feet. “I’ve never wanted anyone this much, either.” She looked deeply into Heather’s eyes. “I don’t just want to make love to you. I need to.”

  Chase wanted so much to be inside Heather, but she didn’t know whether she should go there on her own, considering Heather’s past. She yearned to be different than anyone who had ever touched her, man or woman, and for that to happen, she’d have to let Heather take the lead in showing her what she wanted.

  She’d hoped that her words would convey her need, and the hunger she saw on Heather’s face, even after her orgasm, gave her hope.

  Heather took Chase’s hand and placed it on her breast, encouraging her.

  As Chase tweaked the nipple with her thumb, she snaked her other arm around Heather’s waist and pulled her close for another searing kiss. Her tongue conveyed her desire more eloquently than words could have.

  Heather responded by grasping Chase’s wrist, to bring her hand lower. She placed it between her legs, and when Chase slipped her fingers into Heather’s slick, silky folds, Heather sighed and trembled.

  Chase had never been so aroused touching someone else, and as she worked Heather again into another heightened state of excitement, her own body began to ache for release. Soon, Heather was close to climaxing again—she could tell by her firm muscles and irregular breathing, and the way Heather’s clit pulsed under her hand.