Heart's Tempo

by C. L. Ryder

  When Frankie was on his way out, I decided that it was probably the best time for me to slip away too. Linda gave Frankie a warm hug and completely ignored me, Michael gave me a stiff handshake, and Winny shook my hand too. I felt her palm a small slip of paper into my mine. “Thanks for coming in today,” she said formally. Yeah, keeping things secret was going to be more difficult than I thought. Or feeling good about it, at least.

  Outside, Frankie stopped me by my car. “You two really need to be more careful,” he said in a low voice.

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “I'm her photographer.”

  “I’m serious, Lily. Look, I’ve known Winny for a long, long time. Sometimes she doesn’t think things through all the way, she just…does them. She really likes you. No, it’s more than that. I know that because otherwise she wouldn’t have done something as risky as introduce you to Linda. That woman is like a hawk.”

  “All I did was shoot some photos, they heard us talk about our fake project, everything's cool,” I said. “If anything, it gives us more legitimacy to be seen together. But I understand. I’ll be careful.”

  He nodded. “Well, I've got to go be the voice of a rabbit or something. I’ll see you around. Remember! Be careful. Try not to go out in public too much. Paparazzi suck.”

  “Don’t worry,” I called after him. “We’ll be careful.” I said this, fully believing that I knew what I was doing. We were being secretive. Nobody would suspect a thing, we had a legitimate reason to be seen together. Besides, all we needed to do was to make sure we saved any intimate stuff for the apartment.

  The inside of my car was baking from sitting in the sun for the past few hours, so I started the engine and turned on the air conditioning. I turned up my palm and looked at the little scrap of paper that Winny had passed to me. It was torn from a piece of sheet music and folded in half. I opened it and laughed.

  Meet me tonight. 11PM

  There was an address written below that was not her apartment’s. I sighed into a resigned chuckle. So much for trying not to meet in public too often. What was I going to do? Say no? I couldn’t do that. I was sure I’d do anything Winny asked of me at this point. It was pretty clear to me now that I had fallen in love with the girl.

  Eight

  The address Winny gave me was out in Santa Monica, near the famous Santa Monica pier, and checking the location on Google showed that it was some women’s clothing store. Frankie’s warning was on my mind. Why did Winny want to meet me out here? Santa Monica was a major tourist attraction, and it was surprisingly crowded for a Sunday night. The bars were open, tourists were walking the 3rd Street Promenade, there was bound to be plenty of people here who would recognize her.

  I parked my car in one of the public parking structures and walked towards the address located right on the promenade, which still bustling with people. Street performers danced and did magic tricks for gathering crowds while couples, families, friends, and everyone in between strolled the streets. The bars were open, and people were getting their drink on despite it being Sunday. I found the clothing store and wondered if I should go inside, and did a quick glance at my phone to check the time. It was five past eleven. I was about to walk into the store when I heard my name.

  “Lily.”

  I turned, surprised, and saw a girl in an old flannel shirt and jeans wearing dark glasses and a cowboy hat standing against the wall by the entrance. She had a guitar case next to her, and I had just figured her for another street performer, but on closer glance I realized that it was Winny. She grinned.

  “I thought you were a homeless person,” I said honestly. She lowered her glasses for a second to give me an ocean blue wink, and I greeted her with a fast kiss. It made me a little nervous, but even more than that it was exciting. I wondered if this was how flashers felt, walking around in public with nothing under their coats or skirts, knowing they could be caught at any moment.

  “That’s the idea,” she said. “Hey, I wanted to apologize for today. I didn’t mean to put you in an uncomfortable position.”

  “It’s probably best I limit my contact with your mom,” I said, giving her a thin smile. “Wouldn’t want her to suspect anything.”

  “Suspect anything? Nah, she wouldn’t suspect anything.”

  “Frankie seems to think we should be more careful. He talked to me, and said we shouldn’t go out together in public so much.” I looked around. “But I guess it’s too late for that, isn’t it?”

  “My mom loves Frankie. She’ll listen to anything he says, and Frankie is looking out for us. Don’t worry, Lily. We’re fine.”

  “Okay,” I resigned. “So what are we doing out here anyway?”

  She gave me that smile of hers and then laid out the guitar case onto the ground, undoing the latches and pulling open the lid to reveal a well-used acoustic guitar. “You asked me about my original music the other night,” she said. “And for the first time in a while, I got a hankerin’ to play it. So I’m going to play for you.” She pulled the guitar out, strapped it around her neck, and pulled up a sign in the open case that said, “All proceeds will go to the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.”

  “Out here?” I asked in surprise. “Why not play at your place?”

  “Because it’s more fun this way. Now, do you want to hear me play or not?”

  I held up my hands in surrender and walked in front of her, her solo audience member. She cleared her throat, and began to play.

  You know those scenes in romance movies where something amazing happens and all the sound drops out as the camera slowly and dramatically zooms in on the main character’s face? That basically happened to me. I’d heard Winny sing all those times before, but when she opened her mouth and strummed those first notes on her guitar, it was the first time I had ever heard her sing. It was her voice alright, the smooth clarity I knew from her pop music, but the style in which she sang was different now. It was bluesy, folksy, and nothing like the dance pop way I had heard her using earlier that day. It was beautiful, and it sent chills down my spine, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed her. Almost immediately, people began to stop and listen. Soon a crowd had formed, with me front and center. People began taking out cell phones to take video of her, and I wondered if any would end up on the Internet, and if they did, if anyone would figure out the identity of the singer.

  Just as this was going through my mind, I heard a girl whisper to her friend, “Doesn't she sound kind of like Winona Heart?”

  “Oh my God, you’re right!”

  “Why is she wearing sunglasses at night?”

  “Maybe she’s blind?”

  I felt my heart jump, and I hoped that no one would make any further connections. And if they did…then what? There would be a bit of a frenzy, for sure. Screaming girls, autographs demanded, lots of selfies, but that was it. Nobody would see us and suspect anything. I relaxed. Winny played. It was wonderful.

  Applause erupted when she finished the song, and everyone’s attention seemed to be patiently trained, excitedly waiting for her to begin the next one. She did, and when I glanced around I was surprised to see that a huge amount of people were gathered watching, and her guitar case was quickly filling up with cash. And despite the crowd, despite the dark glasses covering her eyes, I could feel that Winny was singing only for me.

  “I wrote this last song recently, today actually, for someone really special to me. I never thought that I would fall in love, but here I am. And that's the name of the song.”

  There was a murmur of quiet laughter and touched sighs. A wave of warmth spread through me, tingling my heart and my fingertips all the way down to my toes, and I smiled. At that moment I was absolutely soaring.

  We left afterwards, and just in time too. I heard people commenting that Winny deserved to be famous, that they wondered if she had a CD, and also a few whispers that they were positive that she was Winona Heart in disguise.

  We were back at her apartment, and the moment the door clicked
shut behind us I let her have it.

  My lips crashed against hers, our tongues eagerly exploring one anothers. She was going for my t-shirt, and it was quickly off my shoulders and on the floor and her warm palms were caressing my back and my neck, unlatching my bra. I tugged at her shirt too, and she wriggled out of it and I helped her, yanking it down so hard there was a loud CRRRIP as one of the seams tore. She tossed the tattered remnants of the shirt onto the floor and I let my hand glide up her stomach to her breasts, reveling in her gorgeous physique.

  I was soaked through, the heat pulsing between my legs. Nothing was going to stop me this time. All apprehension was gone. Just like she was reading my mind, Winny’s hand fell from the small of my back, gave my ass a quick squeeze, and deftly worked open my pants. Then her hand was slipping down into the band of my underwear, her fingers gliding through the curl of my pubic hair, and, oh fuck, dipping into my wetness.

  She slowly started to move her fingers around my clit, her other hand curled around the back of my neck. “Is it your first time?” she asked, her voice soft and smooth. I nodded. “Mine too,” she said.

  Then she started to stroke my spot–strong, languid movements made my eyes roll back—and my hand desperately moved for the lip of her pants, wanting to feel her wetness and warmth on my fingers. And then I did, my fingers soaked immediately in her excitement. Another girl’s pussy. Winny’s pussy.

  I got her underwear down too, and we both massaged each other as we kissed, our lips groping, tongues intertwining. I pushed myself up against her, dying to be closer to her.

  We took our excitement into the main area of the loft, where I pushed her back onto the raised bamboo mat sitting area in the middle of the room. She fell back onto her butt, and I quickly dropped between her knees, tugging her underwear down to her ankles and then tossing them aside. Her pussy was swollen and pink, glistening with wetness, and it was the very first I’d seen in person asides from my own.

  And then it became the first I’d ever tasted.

  “Oh, wow…” Winny sighed as my lips encircled her hole, caressing her clit. I was worried that I might not do it right considering it was my first time, but looking up into her eyes I saw nothing but pleasure. She ran her fingers through my hair, and I felt her pulse and twitch lovingly around my tongue. I swirled across her opening, tasting her deliciousness. She was intoxicating.

  When Winny was close to orgasm she leaned back onto one elbow and gripped my hair with her hand, grinding herself into me. “Look at me, Lily,” she said urgently, her voice thick with an ecstasy that I then saw in her eyes, a look that instantly made my pussy ache for her and, from that point on, could bring me immediately to arousal. It was the look of a woman deeply in love, an expression that was reserved only for the most passionate moments, and one that was reserved only for my eyes. Then her expression tensed, a strained groan escaping her lips. “Fuck, I’m coming!” I moved my mouth on her a little faster, and felt the throb of her against my tongue as she shook and tensed.

  I wiped the side of my mouth with the back of my hand. Then Winny took my arm and pulled me up to her, soul kissing me and licking what remained of her wetness from my lips. “You’re naughty,” I commented, grinning, and then let out a little gasp as I felt her fingers on my spot. She drew me in and guided me down onto the bamboo mat. I got on all fours, bending over and pressing my ass out to her.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said, and she bent over and laid a light kiss on my ass cheek. “Don’t move.”

  She went away and came back with strap-on dildo. Then I felt her fingers on my opening, circling and slicking it with my wetness. I shivered and let out a soft moan. I wanted her so badly, my ass practically trembling in wait for her to fuck me.

  I reached back and spread myself open for her. “Come on and do it,” I said.

  She came forward, the black dildo strapped to her crotch, and pressed the head up to my entrance. Then she gripped my waist with and slowly entered. There was the overwhelming feeling of being pushed open, then of fullness, and I inhaled sharply as I felt the hard bulge of the dildo pushing deep into me. I let out a long moan as she pressed in deeper, my pussy swallowing up the toy. It’d been so long since I’d had anything inside me so it did hurt, but the joy of having her do this to me overwhelmed that. All I wanted was for her to fuck me. Then her hips started, and soon I was shouting for her to fuck me harder as her fingers pressed into the flesh of my ass, grabbing me hard and pulling me against her as she slammed in deep.

  Even though I had never enjoyed sex with a man, this felt completely different, with each thrust sending explosions of pleasure through me in a way that I had never known before and never could’ve imagined. I throbbed with waves of ecstasy that were coursing through me from the inside out, and I knew I would hit the climax soon. The hand that I had on my asscheek reached back and Winny took it, and she squeezed my hand until the orgasm hit me. A wave of pleasure erupted through my body and I tightened down on the toy as my muscles contracted with climax, our cries of unified pleasure filling the walls of her apartment.

  Winny withdrew from me, and I lay panting silently on the mat. She took the toy off and dropped it on to the tatami mat, and then took my hand. “Let’s lay down in the bed together,” she whispered. I did my best to stand, and she helped me into the bed, both of us enveloped by the warm afterglow of our union. She kissed me on my forehead, then my nose, then my lips. “I love you,” she said. “I’m completely, positively, insanely in love with you, Lily.”

  I smiled and stroked her cheek. “I think I might’ve been since the moment we first met,” I told her. “You’re amazing.”

  She laid down and wrapped her arms around me, and I cuddled her back, nuzzling my face up into her neck where I could take in her comforting scent. It was mixed now with the slight pang of her sweat and the musk of sex, a gorgeous smell, really. At that moment, I wasn't thinking about the fact that we were a secret and that the love we felt had to stay hidden. I was just happy, so happy that I wished I could exist in that moment forever, basking in the warmth and love of a woman who I felt things for which I could never have imagined myself feeling for anyone.

  Nine

  The next day, I woke up to the savory smell of frying onions and sizzling meat. For a moment I forgot where I was, then remembered what had happened the night before and rolled over to look at the empty space where Winny slept. I reached out and touched it, smiling, and then sat up from the billowy mass of white sheets that made up her king sized bed. Winny was singing to herself as she cooked, her voice so clear and perfect that it sounded like she was playing music from a set of speakers.

  I slid out from the bed and walked out naked from the bedroom and down into the loft’s open living space, where Winny was busy at the kitchen working over the stove. She had on a black apron, with a plain t-shirt and a pair of revealing gym shorts beneath it. Damn did she look sexy. Here in the crisp white daylight that was streaming in through the loft’s and framed by the immaculate design of her interior decorating, Winny looked like she was in a photo shoot that would end up as the enticing centerfold in some entertainment magazine. That’s when I remembered that I had my camera with me. As a photographer, a shot like this was too good to pass up.

  My camera bag was sitting on the chair where I had left it night, and I quietly pulled it out and framed up a shot of Winny. The click of the shutter drew her attention, and she turned around, saw me with the camera and grinned as I burst off a series of shots and captured the whole sequence.

  “Do I get to take a picture of you?” she asked coyly, eyes flicking up and down my naked body.

  I put the camera down and strolled up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. I let my crotch push up against the round swell of her ass, and my breasts push firmly to her back. A warm ache filled the spot between my thighs. “Do you want to?” I replied. “Want me to pose for you?”

  She must not have been expecting to hear that answer because she g
ave me a quick look of surprise before turning around to kiss me. Her hand snuck down and gave my ass a little squeeze. “I want you to do more than just pose, Lily,” she said with a little gleam in her eyes. “So why don't you just hold that thought for after we have breakfast. The food’s almost done.” She gave me another quick kiss before turning back to the stove. “I hope you’re hungry, because I made a lot.”

  I was starving, and for more than just breakfast. I gave her a pat on the ass. “Anything I can help with?” I asked, walking over to where my clothes lay strewn across the floor from the night before.