She stayed long enough for a second beer and
when the alcohol finally seeped into her muscles and she knew she’d be able to
sleep, she headed out into the night alone. Fifteen minutes later she was back
in her apartment, stripping off her clothes by the side of the bed she hadn’t
slept in in three years. As she pulled back the covers and slipped nude
beneath, she thought back to the fleeting kiss she’d stolen from Emily.
She smiled to herself. Stolen kisses.
Something she hadn’t done since she was a teenager. She hadn’t had to steal
kisses after that. Willing women were always quite willing to give them. The
unanticipated desire for Emily’s was as fresh and innocent as anything she’d
experienced during those first youthful couplings, and that realization was as
troubling as it was impossible to forget.
*
“How much is that?” Emily asked when the
cabbie double-parked in front of her apartment building.
“The other miss took care of it,” the driver
said, turning in his seat with a wide smile. “Very generous.”
“Oh, thank you, then.” Of course Derian had
taken care of it. Derian was obviously very used to looking after women. Her
confidence and easy way of taking control did not strike Emily as overbearing,
but merely customary. And, she had to admit as she fit her key into the foyer
door and made her way up to her apartment, she’d enjoyed being pampered.
She’d grown up wanting for nothing—she’d gone
to good schools, had all the clothes she’d needed, had the advantages of her
father’s station and her family’s position, and never given much thought to her
wants. As a child and young teen, her needs had always been met. Life had
changed after the accident, but then she’d been too focused on what she must do
to be concerned about luxuries, physical or otherwise. All she’d wanted was to
succeed. She was doing that. She wasn’t there yet—she still had goals, things
she wanted to accomplish at the agency. And she was still far from securing
Pam’s future.
She was so used to every day being another
step toward achieving all that, the evening with Derian had unexpectedly
awakened her appreciation for things she had put aside. Simple things like
enjoying a woman’s attention—and Derian was a master at that. She had friends
she talked with, socialized with, but none of them gazed at her with the
intense focus that Derian had all evening. Derian’s attention was so absolute,
Emily could easily have believed she was the only thing in Derian’s world that
mattered. For a few hours, she’d let herself enjoy the feeling, knowing all the
while it couldn’t be true.