by C. E. Case
"So do you," Sophia said.
Leah took a step closer, into Sophia's personal space, so that their clasped hands were at her side, instead of between them. She said, "I'd like to ask you to dance, but there's no music." Sophia's blush deepened, and Leah went on. "So can we go home?"
"Leah, should we--talk?"
"Not tonight," Leah said. She unclasped Sophia's hand, and stroked her wrist, and then up her arm. Sophia shivered.
And then Leah thought of something. "How on earth are we going to get home?"
"Adam gave me his keys and caught a ride with Eric," Sophia said.
"Bless him," Leah said.
"How did you get a friend like him?"
Leah considered. "I sang for him."
Sophia smiled.
"Miss Medina!" someone shouted. Sophia turned around. She grabbed Leah's hand, gave it a quick squeeze, and walked off to greet the couple rushing toward her.
Leah sighed. She had been so close. She went to the bar for a drink, to waste time, ended up with a Shirley Temple. No falling asleep drunk tonight. She sipped the sweetness, let the bubbles tickle her nose, smiled at the bartender. He had no idea who she was and Leah was tempted to tell him, as his eyes followed Sophia across the room. She was the one taking Lady Macbeth home.
Sophia came to the bar. The bartender flushed, but she ignored him." I have to stay. There's going to be cake."
"Cake?"
"And photos," Sophia said.
Leah draped an arm along the bar, behind Sophia's back."I'll wait."
"Thanks."
"Do I get cake?"
"Yup," Sophia said.
"Is that against protocol?" Leah dropped her hand behind the bar, settling on Sophia's back, just above her ass.
"I don't care."
Leah squeezed her waist and Sophia sighed with pleasure and took a sip of the drink the bartender handed her. When she turned to Leah, the scent of gin wafted between them. Leah licked her lips.
"Miss Medina!"
Leah was beginning to hate the sound of that.
"Can we get a picture?" Glick Brice lifted his camera, and smiled charmingly at them. "It's for the Daily," he said. Leah frowned at Sophia.
"Independent weekly," Sophia said.
"Ironic, right?" Glick asked.
"It caters to the gay community, you know," the bartender said behind them.
Leah looked over and said, "You can't be in our picture."
He sulked.
Leah tucked herself against Sophia's side and gave Glick her celebrity smile. Sophia wrapped an arm around Leah in turn.
"Fabulous, girls," Glick said. "I can't promise you the cover, but at least a quarter page."
Leah kissed Sophia's cheek. "You'll be famous."
Glick snapped a few more as they sagged against each other, and then let his camera hang around his neck as he pulled out a notebook. "Sophia Medina," he spelled it out. "That's your stage name?"
"Yes," Sophia said.
"And Leah Fisher?"
Leah nodded.
"I'll grab your bios from the playbills," Glick said. "Thanks, ladies. Oh, there's the deputy mayor. Excuse me."
Sophia gave a little wave.
Leah cupped the back of Sophia's neck. "Where were we?"
"Not here," Sophia said, and twisted away, a little.
Leah slumped against the bar. "This is the worst party ever."
Sophia smiled and lifted her drink.
Leah clinked hers. "To us?"
Sophia nodded, and took a sip of the gin and tonic. Leah ran her fingertips down Sophia's arm. Sophia closed her eyes.
Leah said, "In three seconds, someone is going to call your name."
Sophia shook her head. Leah put her glass on the bar, and took Sophia's hand, and tugged.
"Where are we going?"
"The bathroom."
"I don't have to go to the bathroom."
"Neither do I."
Sophia bit her lip as Leah pulled her along. The sea-green-painted bathroom was cramped, and smelled of potpourri. The two tiny stalls were empty, and there was enough space for Leah to wedge herself against the door and pin Sophia against the sink.
"Leah," Sophia whispered.
"Just for a little bit," Leah said. "Or I'm going to go crazy."
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her makeup was still intact and her hair, moussed and styled by the men in her life, had not strayed from the setting. She looked perfectly normal in her opinion and not like the sex-crazed maniac she felt like. She swallowed and looked at Sophia.
Sophia parted her lips, panting, and her eyes were wide.
"Too much?" Leah asked, her thigh already between Sophia's legs, and her hand around Sophia's waist, protecting her back from the sink edge. She brushed hair away from Sophia's face, the black strands giving way to smooth skin.
"I'll tell you when it's enough."
Leah leaned in and then hesitated, her mouth hovering just in front of Sophia's. She waited for the cell phone to ring or the knock to come at the door or Sophia to protest. There were no sounds beyond Sophia's breathing, no signals other than the tingling in her hands and the low ache that insisted she kiss Sophia. So she did. Sophia mewled against her lips, a faint cry of need that compelled her. Sophia's arms went around her neck. Leah braced herself with both hands against the sink, leaning into Sophia, offering her mouth for kisses. Already her heart was racing.
Sophia tugged on her lower lip. Leah snaked out her tongue to protect herself and met Sophia's. Warmth turned to heat, tongues met. Leah could only hold herself up by pressing herself against Sophia's body. Sophia squeezed her neck, tangling fingers in her hair and tugging as she enticed Leah's kiss. Leah abandoned the sink and held Sophia close. If she sank, she sank.
Something banged into the door, which only half-opened as it slammed into Leah's hip. She yelped. Sophia bit into her lip and she yelped again.
"Sorry," a woman's voice called.
Leah let go of Sophia and ducked into the passage beside the stalls, and Sophia gingerly opened the door. "It's okay," she said.
"Tiny bathroom."
"Yeah." Leah waved the woman into the stall and then met Sophia's eyes.
Sophia laughed.
Leah went back to the sink. Her hair was now tousled from being pulled, her eyes and lips were swollen, and her lipstick was smeared. But she mostly still looked like herself. Sophia, too, was wild-eyed but not indecent. "I'll see you at the bar?"
Sophia nodded.
Leah escaped. Her drink was gone. She ordered a new one, just water and lime, earning a scowl from the bartender. She put a dollar on the bar.
"When's cake?" she asked.
He went into the back to check. Sophia came out of the bathroom, waved at her, and went over to the Macbethians. Leah wanted to kiss her again so much that she clutched the bar to keep from running across the room. Having a taste, tempting her desire, had been worse than denying herself completely. She gulped her water and made herself not look at Sophia.
Ward came up behind her. "Waiting for cake?"
"I am," Leah said.
"You think they'll let experimental-musical-sters like us partake?"
"You've been getting it, too?"
"Yes. Everyone loves theater as long as they've heard it before a thousand times."
"Works for Shakespeare," Leah said.
"Yeah."
"Sorry you took the part?"
Ward leaned on the bar and shook his head. "Everyone who comes to see me--They'll know. They'll feel it. They'll be the special ones."
Leah pressed her forehead against her glass. Waiters wheeled out the cake with blood-red icing.
"Apropos," Leah said.
"Cool," Ward said.
"It's like a wedding. As soon as we eat the cake, we can leave."
"To the happy couple," Ward said, raising his glass of water.
Leah clinked.
Glick was there taking photographs as the directo
r, Macbeth's lead, and Sophia smiled and cut the cake, all three hands on the oversized knife. And then the waiter took over and Sophia took the first two pieces and struggled through the mass of people.
"I hope one of those is for me," Ward said.
"Go away," Leah said.
He slunk toward the cake and Sophia came to her side.
"No forks?" Leah asked.
"I thought we could eat back at the hotel," Sophia said and then looked away, as if avoiding the way Leah's expression changed.
"Do you need to say goodbye to anyone?" Leah asked.
"Nah."
Leah took the cake from Sophia. "Lead the way."
Sophia raised her eyebrows. "You have the keys."
"Oh, right."
They headed straight for the door, ignoring all cries of "Miss Medina!" and "Miss Fisher!" and refusing to talk to anyone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sophia drove to Adam's with Leah's hand resting on her thigh. When the car stopped, Leah looked longingly at the house. The lights were on in the living room.
"Would you--um," Sophia started.
"I was just thinking, a shower, maybe some more makeup... I'm fine. Right? I'm fine," Leah said, mostly to herself. She glanced at Sophia as they got out of the car.
Sophia tilted her head. She took the cake.
Leah turned away from the house and put her hand on Sophia's back. "Let's go," she said.
They walked together down the street, too enchanted by each other, too worked up, too expectant, to worry about muggers or drive-bys. The theater was dark as they strolled past. They held hands, walking together, listening to the crickets and frogs and the distant traffic. A block past the theater, just before the lights of the hotel became visible, Leah pulled Sophia to a stop. Sophia looked at her curiously. Leah hesitantly leaned in toward her mouth until she could feel Sophia's breath against her lips. She swallowed.
Sophia said, "Um."
"Yes?"
"Okay."
Sophia licked her lips reflexively. Leah kissed her gently enough to not spill the cake, firmly enough to taste those lips, to try and still the trembling in her own body. Sophia hugged her with one arm and kissed her back, letting Leah see her hunger too. She was surprisingly strong even one-armed. Leah broke the kiss when Sophia threatened to rob her of breath.
And the ability to stand.
She opened her mouth to say something, couldn't think of anything reasonable though a thousand mumblings were in her mind. She looked toward the hotel.
"Too much?" Sophia asked.
"I'll let you know when it's too much," Leah said.
Sophia grinned and squeezed Leah's side and resumed walking.
* * *
Leah stood nervously between the beds in Sophia's hotel room. Beige carpet, white sheets, cheap paintings on the wall. The motel didn't seem worthy of her moment. She glanced toward the exit, thinking of them going back home, to the house with the piano.
Sophia had closed the door and then kicked off her shoes.
"Right," Leah said. She sat on the bed and lifted up her foot, bending it onto her knee to undo the strap.
"Let me," Sophia said.
"Really?"
Sophia sat down on the opposite bed and gestured. Leah extended her foot. The touch of Sophia's fingers on her skin sent lightning up her calf. The dull ache that followed her wherever she was with Sophia became urgent, hot desire.
She gasped.
Sophia ran her thumb over Leah's toe.
Leah unwittingly remembered her first time with Grace; awkward, lustful, bad. They'd been drunk and had given into unspoken flirting of a month's duration. Only after several more attempts did they really look at each other and acknowledge what they wanted.
"I want you," Leah said.
Sophia smiled and got the strap undone and loosened Leah's shoe. She looked shyly at Leah, peeking out from under lidded eyes. Leah offered her other foot to Sophia.
Sophia worked off the shoe. Then she dropped her hands to her lap, looking down, and said, "I want you, too."
Leah stood up and took Sophia's hands. Sophia stood with her. Leah tried to control her heartbeat. Standing should be easier than this. They kissed, only lightly.
Then Leah asked, "How does the dress come off?"
"The same way it got on."
"Ripping and tearing?"
"I've never had anyone rip off my clothes before."
"Is it an expensive dress?"
"I--" Sophia halted. She breathed audibly, and quickly, and looked down at her dress. "I can afford a new dress."
Leah sat on the bed and pulled Sophia down beside her. She pressed a quick kiss to Sophia's lips. Sophia kissed her back, coquettishly, but made no move. Leah gathered enough boldness to urge her back on the bed. Sophia smiled. Her longing for what Leah had to give was palpable and Leah wanted to surge forward. She hesitated, considering. Heat pooled. Her chest constricted. Desire was taking her over, making her yield to need.
She knelt over Sophia and captured her lips. The kiss became hard and passionate. Sophia whimpered as Leah's tongue plundered her mouth. She breathed hard between kisses, and then urged Leah back if they paused for breath too long.
Leah grabbed the neckline of Sophia's dress, right above her breast, and yanked.
"Ow!"
Leah ducked Sophia's involuntary kick and tugged again, more gently. The fabric didn't budge. Disappointment warred with frustration as Leah considered. She decided not to try again.
"This always works in the movies."
Sophia brought her down for another kiss. "I think they use a different fabric."
"I think they use Velcro." She resigned herself to kissing and accepting that she lacked the barbarianism her fevered imagination had suggested lurked inside her. She'd had animalistic sex before, but with Sophia she--She buried her face in Sophia's neck and sucked at her throat, and kissed her collarbone and at the underside of her chin.
Sophia squirmed. She tugged at Leah's dress, leaving nail marks on her skin. Leah found her mouth again. Sophia arched back, giving more of herself to Leah's kiss. Leah settled against shifting body, wanting to pin Sophia down and keep her still enough to kiss each part of her face.
She hadn't expected Sophia to be like this; to yearn for her touch. To pull her close with strength that could not be undone. To make such high-pitched, keening sounds Leah could feel vibrating in her throat. She kissed Sophia's neck, trying to provoke more of Sophia's desire.
Doubts pressed Leah's mind. Only one night of this might tear her to pieces. And trying to build a life from it might be worse. She couldn't tell what was in her own heart beyond lust. She was afraid to look past herself to Sophia. She assessed. Sophia was lying on her back. Her eyes were closed and her lips were parted.
Leah's heart told her it would be stupid to turn away. Stupid to ask questions or to pretend, as she had with Grace, that it wasn't really happening; stupid to try and get it over with. There were moments on stage in Poe when she'd felt a rush of arousal go through her. That heat carried thoughts of Sophia and she'd let Ward touch her, caress her and brush kisses along the curve of her ear. She'd sought to extend the moment into something real. But she'd feel nothing from him. The embers of arousal would diminish and gust away.
Sophia cupped her cheek, urging her up, trying to meet her eyes.
Leah blinked, and focused on her face.
"Hey," Sophia said. "Stop thinking."
"I'm not thinking." She was feeling everything at once, unsure which instinct to follow; to mate, to fight, to flee. She said, "I'm afraid--"
"I'm not afraid." Sophia playfully rotated her hips under Leah's.
Leah grasped her wrist and nipped at Sophia's thumb. At Sophia's intake of breath, at the widening of her eyes, Leah drew it into her mouth and sucked.
Sophia stopped breathing. Her lips remained parted, her eyes focused on Leah's face. Leah met her eyes and felt for the first time, they were linked. They were t
ogether in this. She ran her tongue along the underside of Sophia's thumb.
Sophia twitched.
Leah moved Sophia's wrist and nuzzled along fine blue veins.
Sophia shuddered. Leah moved to the hollow of Sophia's elbow and Sophia let out a shuddering breath. So responsive, and they were just beginning. "Just beginning," she said out loud. Sophia closed her eyes.
Leah wondered how many others had made love to Sophia. Were they gentle? Rough? Did they take or give? Had Sophia had enough experience to know what she wanted from Leah? Did she have enough boldness to tell her? Leah draped Sophia's arm behind her neck and kissed her. Sophia responded eagerly, squirming to get a better connection with her mouth, using her arm like a weight to hold Leah against her.
Leigh wanted to ravish her, but found herself constricted by clothes. She could take Sophia and complete their passion in a matter of seconds, but not fully clothed.
Not even partially clothed. They were meant to be naked.
She left the bed. Sophia reached out for her blindly and then opened her eyes. Leah winked.
"Is it over?" Sophia asked. Her lips twitched into a smile. She tucked her hands behind her head.
"Oh, you'll know."
Sophia smiled with teeth.
Leah reached behind herself to work the zipper.
"I could--" Sophia offered.
"No," Leah said. Sophia raised her eyebrows. "No, lie just like that."
Sophia blushed but settled back on the pillows, the gown riding up to reveal her calf and her ankle and the high-heeled pump she still wore. She kicked it off. Leah lost all focus on the zipper. Her hands trembled. She turned away from Sophia, needing a moment to concentrate. She wanted so badly that she was tangling herself up. She got the zipper down below her waist.
Sophia exhaled audibly.
Leah looked back. Sophia was lying in the same position. Smiling. Leah met her eyes. Sophia licked her lips and dipped her head to give Leah a practiced sexy, smoldering look, which nearly undid her. She turned around again. She pulled the straps off. Her bare back, slightly sore and already marked with Sophia's fingernails, was still guarded by the thin white band of her bra.
"You can do that part," She said, and then held her breath.