by Sacchi Green
Everything matched, not a hair out of place, not a chipped nail or a makeup smudge. Everything this woman wore was assembled with such care and thoroughness that she might have been playing a part onstage. With one exception: one of her rings was a giant, gaudy bit of bling that didn’t match her industrial-style silver earrings, necklace and watch. The ring was a mass of ornate curlicues around a faceted glass stone that was far too large and shiny to be a real diamond.
“Nice ring,” Kendra drawled as the station signal beeped to let them know that their train was coming in.
“Like it?” Scarlet smiled at her upraised hand. “I—” The noise of the onrushing train cut her off. But for one crazy moment, Kendra could have sworn that she said, “I stole two others nearly the same size in Monte Carlo last year.”
“What?” Kendra looked at Scarlet as closely as she could as she trailed the other woman onto the train. She reached for her phone, wondering if she could do a quick search on jewel thefts in Monte Carlo without arousing too much suspicion. But they were alone in the train car and headed into a tunnel, so there would be no signal even if she tried to manage a text message.
They were sitting down and Scarlet was resting her hand on Kendra’s arm, caressing it, stroking it until Kendra, watching it, thought she might go up in flames. “You’re so very strong, detective. I do like a nice strong girl.” Scarlet looked up at her through thick black lashes, her gaze an invitation.
A tiny bit of Kendra’s remaining common sense prompted her to ask, “How did you know that I’m a detective? Maybe I’m just out of uniform.” Scarlet’s hand was on her thigh now, and common sense was becoming very hard to come by. Self-control was going to be next. Kendra hoped that she wasn’t actually panting.
Scarlet smiled at her. “I saw you on TV when the mayor commended you and your partner. I pay a lot of attention to the police force. You could say that they’re terribly important to me. And you were such a stud up there on the podium that I couldn’t resist tracking you down. Do I scare you, detective? I wouldn’t want you to have to use those cuffs on me.” She watched Kendra through lowered eyelashes, her expression schoolgirl demure and about as real.
It was an invitation that Kendra couldn’t ignore. She reached over, tilted the other woman’s chin up and kissed her. Then Scarlet’s hand was wrapped around her neck and buried in her hair and Scarlet’s tongue was in her mouth. She tasted like piña coladas, expensive lipstick and lust and Kendra responded to all three, picking her up and swinging her onto her lap so that the other woman knelt on the seat with her thighs on either side of the detective’s. Scarlet wriggled up close to Kendra, pressing her lithe body against the detective’s and shoving one of Kendra’s hands up under her skirt.
Kendra held back a moan and a moment of panic. Transit police or more passengers could enter the car at any moment. This was nuts. She didn’t know this woman, and even suspected her of being a criminal. This had to stop…but her hand had developed a will of its own and was stroking Scarlet’s thigh. Her smooth, silky thigh above her lacy garter belt. Kendra deliberately stopped her hand just shy of Scarlet’s panties, ignoring the other woman’s efforts to pull her hand farther up.
Instead, she broke off their kiss, running her tongue down Scarlet’s neck and gently nipping her shoulder. Part of her brain noted that they were pulling into a station, and she adjusted them a little bit so that what they had been on the brink of doing was slightly less obvious. Scarlet’s mouth was at her ear, her teeth nibbling her earlobe. Her voice in Kendra’s ear whispered urgently, “Oh c’mon, detective! If someone gets on, let’s give them a show. I like an audience for my performances. Don’t you?”
She shifted her body on top of Kendra’s and ground her hips against the detective’s. The wave of pure desire that swept over Kendra just then made it hard to talk, to tell this woman that, no, she never made love with an audience. And the thought of doing it was revolting and gross. And unbelievably hot.
Then Scarlet’s hand was under her jacket, kneading her breast and tugging her nipple into an excruciating point and who needed to think right now?
With a growl, she buried her face in Scarlet’s cleavage, biting and licking every bit of bare skin she could reach from that angle. Scarlet yanked one of her small breasts free of her bra’s lacy cups, holding it up with her fingertips so that Kendra could engulf it with her mouth, sucking and nibbling until she could feel the other woman’s groan start at her toes and work its way up.
She gave up her struggle to hold her hand still, instead letting it slide up Scarlet’s thigh to her soaking wet panties. She ran her fingers over them, gratified at the abrupt tilt of the other woman’s hips that followed her movements. “Inside me, detective. C’mon, baby. You going to make me beg?” Scarlet murmured the words in her ear, her voice caressing enough to call up a full body shiver.
It would be tempting to see what this woman could do if she was really begging for it. Kendra grinned into the sharp point of the nipple that she held clenched lightly between her front teeth. But then, turnabout might be fair play. Kendra twitched a little at the thought of what she’d be willing to do to get this woman to say yes to her. And act on it.
She sent her fingers up and around Scarlet’s panties, until she could bury them into the wet welcome that awaited her on the other side of the satin barrier. Scarlet moaned and humped her hand, rocking forward to take in as much of Kendra’s hand as she could. It was so sweet, this beautiful woman’s desire, so novel and lovely, that it was almost enough to shut off the detective part of Kendra’s brain.
But not quite. On autopilot, her brain ran through everything she’d done and seen at the station recently, cataloging and searching her memories as she was trained to do, looking for the one that would tell her why Scarlet looked familiar.
What came back was a photo on a case file that she’d seen some colleagues passing around at a meeting. “Interpol says she’s one of the best they’ve ever seen. And my buddy says she’s hotter than hell, even better than her picture. The cops in Macao and Monte Carlo and everywhere else on the effin’ planet are looking for her. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll come here next.” The conversation had trailed off into chest-thumping commentary about what they’d like to do with a gorgeous female jewel thief and Kendra had tuned them out. It wouldn’t be her case unless the woman killed someone, so what did she care?
The tensing of Scarlet’s thighs overrode her thoughts as she brought the other woman to orgasm right there on the train, just as it entered a new station. Head tilted back, red lips parted in a series of moans and cries, Scarlet had given herself up to the moment, and Kendra wanted that moment to last. Maybe she was wrong about who this woman was. Why would a world-class jewel thief go slumming at Riley’s to pick up a detective, after all?
Then Scarlet’s lips fastened on hers, her tongue so urgent that wrestling with it, added to the press of Scarlet’s body on hers, was enough to drive any other thoughts from her head. She barely noticed that they weren’t alone in the car anymore. She did finally open one eyelid, just a slit, and verified that the couple who’d gotten on were sitting far enough away not to pose an immediate threat. Kendra was willing to take that for now.
Or at least she was until Scarlet began wedging her hand down her pants. “We’ve got an audience,” she growled, breaking off the kiss and moving to intercept those enticingly long fingers, now suddenly ringless. Where did it go? It might be evidence.
“Let them watch. We’ll show them how it’s done,” Scarlet whispered and ran her tongue down Kendra’s neck. “You’ve got a gun to hold them off if they want to participate. I don’t like sharing.” Scarlet gave her a satiated half smile, like a happy cat’s, and tweaked her nipple, pulling a suffocated moan from Kendra’s closed lips. “I’ll keep an eye on them. Let me finish what we started, detective. Trust me.”
Kendra’s instincts all woke up. Could she really trust this woman? How far? At least the train tunnels would block eno
ugh Wi-Fi signals that they probably wouldn’t end up on YouTube if the car’s other occupants had cell phones. Probably.
Scarlet took advantage of the lapse in Kendra’s attention to shove her hand down her pants and Kendra felt her hips rock forward to make more room for her, her body responding as if it belonged to someone else. Scarlet, perhaps. Not that she’d be able to relax enough to come, not here and now. She was certain of that much.
But Scarlet’s fingers said something entirely different as they slid into her and one finger found her clit. Kendra jumped a little at the shock of the sudden, longed-for contact and Scarlet leaned down to kiss her again, her exposed breast rubbing against Kendra’s until the detective wondered if she could slip her T-shirt off under her jacket. She wanted to be naked with this woman so badly, she wasn’t sure that the location mattered anymore.
“Just me. Just my hand and your pussy. That’s all that matters. Give me what you want to give so badly,” Scarlet crooned as she covered her face with little kisses. “I can feel how much you want to come for me, baby. Let me get you there.” The pressure of her fingers increased, sending a spark of pure fire through Kendra, circling and pushing in just the right amount.
Kendra’s brain disintegrated into a jumbled mass of fantasies, all of them about this gorgeous woman and all the things she wanted to do with her. But the weight of hungry eyes was making her anxious. Well, that and the possibility that Interpol was looking for her companion. What was a good detective to do?
She risked a quick glance down the car. The straight couple was watching them, but their hands were so busy that they’d have other things to occupy them soon. Part of her cringed at providing a free show for them. “Just us, baby. They’re only trying to have as much fun as we are. Show them how it’s done.” Scarlet’s voice cut across her thoughts and fears as she kissed her eyelids closed, shutting out their watchers.
She could feel Scarlet’s hips thrust against hers, feel the urgency in her breathing and the rapid pounding of her heart. She let it carry her away, shutting away everything except this woman and her maddening, exciting touch. Her thighs locked instinctively and tightened until all of her being centered on that single point of fire being coaxed into unbearable sensitivity. A moment, a breath, and someone was shouting, the sound muted by the train screeching around a corner.
When Kendra came back to earth, Scarlet was grinning at her and licking her fingers, a sight that sent a stab of soft fire through the detective. “My, my. I knew you’d be hot, baby.” Scarlet leaned over and kissed her hard as she tucked herself back into her bra and pulled her dress closed.
“Come home with me,” Kendra murmured as Scarlet tucked her shirt back in. “I’m even more fun horizontal. Or vertical, if you prefer.”
Scarlet swung off her as the guy from the other end of the car approached. “We were wondering if…you two were, um, bi-curious?” He stopped a few feet away, like he expected to get punched if he got too close. It was a good idea on his part; Kendra was considering the option, hard.
Scarlet gave him a twisted grin. “Not tonight. Or probably any night thereafter. I think your lady’s got enough to fuel her imagination for quite a while to come as it is.” She waved him off and he turned and went back to his date, keeping any growling he wanted to do about his dismissal to himself.
“That happen every time you have sex on trains?” Kendra glanced sidelong at Scarlet, her mood turning dark as her brain warred with her body. At the very least, she needed a closer look at the ring. A memory of a certain sparkle crossed her mind, and she couldn’t shed the suspicion that she’d heard Scarlet correctly back at the station.
“Haven’t done this before. Not in this city at least. But I always like to try something new in a new town. Souvenirs are some of the best parts of any trip, aren’t they, detective?” Scarlet’s smile had turned wistful.
Then she gave Kendra a speculative look, and rose slowly, tugging at her dress to straighten it out. She glanced up as if to see what station they were pulling into and Kendra glanced over her own shoulder. Only two more stops to her apartment. She wondered what, if anything, she could say to get Scarlet back there. Though maybe exposing a suspected thief to her meager possessions wasn’t the best idea.
But she couldn’t let her get away, no matter what. She gathered herself to reach for Scarlet as the doors opened.
There was a familiar flash of red on the platform and Kendra realized her pants weren’t fastened any more. She grabbed them with a curse as the doors closed. Scarlet stood on the platform and blew her a kiss. She tapped her shoulder as the train pulled out of the station and after a moment, Kendra realized that she was supposed to check her jacket pocket. There was something hard in it, something that hadn’t been there at the beginning of this crazy night.
The ring was heavy and solid in her hand, the stone sparkling in a way that confirmed her suspicions. She gingerly placed it on the subway window glass and used it to make a tiny scratch. Shit. Was it a memento? Or was the other woman trying to frame her? But that didn’t make sense. All she had to do was to turn it in and say she’d found it on the subway and wondered if there was a report out on it.
She pocketed the ring and contemplated taking a cab back to the previous stop. But Scarlet would be long gone by then. She knew that in her gut. Her aching, empty gut. Kendra rested her head against the cold glass and watched the dark walls of the tunnel blur by until the train pulled into her stop.
It was only when she was trudging up the stairs that she realized Scarlet had been telling her that she’d be sticking around for a little while. Maybe the ring was a goodwill gesture as well as a souvenir. Maybe Scarlet would come looking for her again.
Or maybe she needed to concentrate on being a cop and take a closer look at the other woman’s file to see what she could find out. One way or another, she hadn’t seen the last of Miss Scarlet.
She held her fingers up to her nose and inhaled the other woman’s scent, grinning despite herself. Detective Kendra McClain liked a challenge and it looked like she was in luck. Kendra whistled as she headed home, checking for a flash of red dress around every corner.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
VALERIE ALEXANDER lives in Los Angeles. Her work has previously been published in Best of Best Women’s Erotica, The Big Book of Domination, Best Lesbian Erotica and other anthologies.
LOUISE BLAYDÜN is a writer and academic who loves cats too much. She writes m/m and f/f fiction primarily, but has been known to dabble. She lives in the country with an ever-increasing number of pets.
HARPER BLISS is a lesbian fiction author of romantic and erotic stories with varying degrees of hotness. She lives on an outlying island in Hong Kong with her wife and, regrettably, zero pets.
CHEYENNE BLUE’s (cheyenneblue.com) erotic fiction has been included in over ninety anthologies since 2000. She is the editor of Forbidden Fruit: Stories of Unwise Lesbian Desire. She now writes, runs, makes bread and cheese and drinks wine by the beach in Queensland, Australia.
EMILY L. BYRNE (writeremilylbyrne.blogspot.com) lives in lovely Minneapolis with her wife and the two cats that own them. She toils in corporate IT by day, and writes as much of the rest of the time as possible.
SOSSITY CHIRICUZIO (sossitywrites.com) is a queer femme outlaw poet, a working-class sex radical storyteller—what her friends’ parents often referred to as a bad influence, and possibly still do. A 2015 Lambda Fellow, her recent publications include: Adrienne, Wilde, Glitterwolf, Salacious, Say Please and Leather Ever After.
R. G. EMANUELLE’s (rgemanuelle.com) published works include Twice Bitten, Add Spice to Taste and short stories in numerous anthologies. She coedited the Lambda Award Finalist anthology All You Can Eat: A Buffet of Lesbian Erotica & Romance, as well as Unwrap These Presents and Skulls and Crossbones.
ROSE DE FER’s stories have appeared in Best Women’s Erotica 2014, The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance & Domination, Hungry for More, The Big Book of Submission, Red Velvet
& Absinthe, Darker Edge of Desire, A Princess Bound and numerous Mischief anthologies including Underworlds, Submission and Forever Bound. She lives in England.
FRANKIE GRAYSON, a longtime lover of the literary dark arts, is thrilled that her first published erotic story is with Best Lesbian Erotica: 20th Anniversary Edition. More to come.
D. L. KING (dlkingerotica.blogspot.com), is the editor of the Lambda Literary Award winner and gold medalist, The Harder She Comes, Lammy Finalist Where the Girls Are, and She Who Must Be Obeyed: Femme Dominant Lesbian Erotica, among others. Find her in various editions of Best Lesbian Erotica, and many other titles.
ANNABETH LEONG (annabetherotica.com) is frequently confused about her sexuality but enjoys searching for answers. Her work appears in dozens of anthologies, including Summer Love: Lesbian Stories of Holiday Romance. She is the author of the butch-femme BDSM novella Heated Leather Lover.
ROSE P. LETHE is a corporate copyeditor, copywriter, and watcher of cat videos. After completing an MFA in creative writing, she found she could no longer stomach “serious literature” and has since turned to more enjoyable creative pursuits.
MEGAN MCFERREN enjoys exploring queer history through erotic romance, and illuminating the love that once dared not speak its name. Texan by birth and New Yorker by choice, she has contributed stories to anthologies from Torquere Press and The Liz McMullen Show Publications.
JEAN ROBERTA (jeanroberta.com) teaches English and creative writing in a Canadian university. She writes erotica, fantasy, historical fiction, drama, poetry and nonfiction. She channeled Dr. Athena Chalkdust in Best Lesbian Erotica 2001, 2005, and 2009.
TERESA NOELLE ROBERTS started writing stories in kindergarten, and she hasn’t stopped yet. A prolific author of short erotica, she’s also a published poet and fantasy writer. BDSM-spiced contemporary romances, hot paranormals and spicy science fiction romances are her favorite novels to write. When not writing, she gardens like a fiend.