All in all, Laura did not regret her night with The Boys. Her asshole was sore for days after the rough reaming they had both given it, but the rest of her was none the worse for wear. And being sandwich-fucked twice by those monster cocks had brought orgasms she could still almost feel the power of when she remembered them. There was a lot to be said for huge, insatiable young cocks. Though I wouldn't give up a beautiful, wet, black pussy for one, she smiled to herself.

In fact, the very night after it she spent with Trina, screwing tenderly in Trina's bed while trying not to wake up Shawna in the next room. The following day was Sunday, and Randi tried to come over, but Laura begged off, citing a small cold she didn't want to pass on. In reality, she needed a rest from constant rutting. I'm a goddamned horny slut if there ever was one, she thought.

But Sunday afternoon, she got a phone call. "Laura?"

Oh god! she thought, her heart skipping. "Jonelle? Is that you?"

"Yes."

"Where are you?"

"I'm here," Jonelle said softly. "In town. My husband's here at a business meeting at the Claremont Hotel."

"Oh god . . . can I see you?"

"I thought . . . you know, he has to go to this dinner tonight. No spouses. I thought . . . maybe we could have a drink, you know? Talk?"

"Of course. Do you want me to come over there?"

"We could meet in the hotel bar. I . . . would just love to talk with you."

Jonelle was so stilted and formal, so remote, that Laura didn't know quite how to take it. But she would do anything to see Jonelle. All the desperate love she had repressed so resolutely during the year and a half since they had seen one another last came flooding back into her.

"I'm dying to see you, Jonelle," she said, honestly. "What time do you want me to be there?"

"Six?"

"See you at six." I love you, Jonelle. She didn't say it aloud.

Then she spent the hours until six wondering how you could love two people, Jonelle and Trina, so completely at the same time. But it was no use trying to figure it out. She drove over to the Claremont in great excitement but having no idea what to expect.

Jonelle was waiting for her outside the cocktail lounge. Laura, who had not seen her for over a year, was stunned by her beauty. My god, what a shockingly gorgeous woman, she realized. I'm lucky just to have shared a bed with her. People would die to sleep with an angel like this.

The only thing that separated Jonelle from most beautiful women was her shy, quiet modesty and self-effacement. She didn't stick out, she didn't flaunt her stunning looks, and people might stare but quickly looked away, as if it were ruder than usual to look at her too long. But Laura didn't have that problem. Her eyes drank in every inch of Jonelle.

"Oh my god, you are the most gorgeous creature I've ever seen," she said to Jonelle, grabbing both of Jonelle's hands and squeezing them. "I forgot how utterly stunning you are."

"Shush, you making me blush," Jonelle said, looking around nervously, as if people could tell from this that she and Laura had slept together.

Laura dropped her hands. "I'm sorry," she smiled. "Truth hurts, doesn't it."

"Let's go in and sit down so we don't be so conspicuous."

She and Laura found a small table in the corner of the bar. They ordered. They fidgeted nervously and made small talk. Laura suddenly realized that Jonelle would not have accompanied her husband to this meeting if she hadn't wanted to see Laura.

She let her eyes speak now, looking deep into Jonelle's when she got the chance, letting her eyes throb in love and fascination. "I've missed you so much," she whispered. "I tried very hard to forget you. Impossible."

"Me too," Jonelle smiled ruefully. "I . . . get these dreams about you."

Laura scooted forward in her chair. "Tell me about them."

"Not here." Jonelle shook her head. "Too . . . you know. Too too."

"Would you like to go for a ride? You could tell me about them then?"

Jonelle perked up. "That might be nice."

They paid for the drinks, leaving them half-finished, and walked to Laura's car. Laura drove toward the bridge.

"Now you can tell me," she whispered. "We're alone."

"Are you driving to your place?" Jonelle asked.

"Do you want me to?"

Jonelle stared straight ahead, out the windshield, not answering.

"How long does your husband's dinner thing last?"

"Until ten, I think."

Laura drove straight for her apartment. Jonelle had been there, though years earlier. But she recognized it. Laura didn't hurry to get out of the car.

Finally she asked, "Do you want to go in?"

Now Jonelle's deep brown eyes locked into Laura's, pulsing and throbbing. "Laura . . ."

"I love you, Jonelle," Laura interrupted. "Whatever you want is okay."

"I feel like I'd be cheating on him." She looked down and twisted her fingers.

"Tell me what your dreams are like," Laura suggested, changing the subject. "The ones with me in them."

"You know. We . . . do it. Some times I have a climax. Just from the dream."

"Let's go upstairs," Laura said. "I'll die if I can't kiss you."

Jonelle nodded. "Me too."

They went up to Laura's apartment. Laura tried to act nonchalant about double-locking the door. She was quivering inside. Jonelle was enchantingly beautiful. Maybe marriage agreed with her. Or just aging a few years had given her this extra touch, this exquisite appeal. Or maybe it's just because I haven't seen her for so long.

They hadn't moved from the door, after Laura locked it. Laura reached up and touched Jonelle's incredibly smooth dark cheek with her fingertips.

"You are so incredibly beautiful," she murmured. "I can't believe I ever kissed you before."

Their faces were very close. The apartment was still dark, with only city lights and moonlight coming in through the windows. Jonelle looked down at Laura's mouth.

"You did," she murmured.

Laura pressed her lips against Jonelle's. Jonelle responded immediately, dropping her handbag to the floor and embracing Laura, kissing her back heatedly. It was a long, very ardent kiss. Laura's heart nearly exploded with love. She could feel her pussy throbbing too. It had already been wet, from the moment she saw Jonelle, but now it got wetter. But mostly, she felt an overpowering love, even stronger than her lust.

Both of them realized they were crying when they felt the salty tears on their lips. They pulled slightly apart. Jonelle's cheeks were shiny with tears. Laura felt her own tears sliding down her face.

She pulled Jonelle quickly down the short hall to the bedroom.

"Leave the lights off," Jonelle whispered.

"I want to see you."

"Leave them off. Remember our first time? Here, when I came and got in your bed? It'll be like our first time."

Laura kissed her long, smooth, black neck and unbuttoned her blouse down the front, kissing Jonelle's skin as her fingers pulled open the cloth. Jonelle slipped her fingers under Laura's belt and pulled her shirt free. She unfastened Laura's buttons while Laura kissed her shoulder, her throat, her smooth chest. Laura found the clasp between Jonelle's bra cups and undid it.

Up until this point, they had been fairly restrained and calm. But now their urgency began to show. Jonelle's small naked breasts and large, swelling black nipples thrilled Laura, and she sucked one breast almost entirely into her mouth, pinching Jonelle's nipple against the roof of her mouth with her tongue.

"Oh!" Jonelle whimpered softly.

Laura pushed her onto her back, unzippering her skirt and pulling it and her panties down Jonelle's thin, beautiful legs. But Jonelle was busy too, unclasping Laura's bra, filling her hands with Laura's naked breasts.

"I love you," Laura panted, sucking Jonelle's other breast hungrily.

"I love you, Laura," Jonelle gasped, moaning as Laura devoured her big soft nipples, which grew harder in Laura's mouth. "Want to taste you too."

Laura scooted around on the bed so that her naked breasts dangled in Jonelle's face while she squeezed and devoured Jonelle's lovely small breasts herself. She moaned involuntarily as she felt Jonelle guide one of her nipples into her mouth, then suck it sharply.

"Unhh . . . ohhh!" Laura gasped.

It was the perfect solution for them both, and they continued sucking one another's nipples until they were squirming and whimpering uncontrollably. Again Laura scooted back, and they embraced, pushing their wet nipples together and kissing heatedly.

"Ohhnnn . . . I knew it would happen," Jonelle moaned. "Nobody ever makes me feel the way you do. Oh Laura!"

"I want to eat you," Laura breathed into her ear, quickly shedding the remainder of her own clothes, so that now they were completely naked, coiling together, feeling each other naked body for the first time in a year and a half. "I want to lick your beautiful pussy," she murmured, getting no resistance from Jonelle as she slid down the girl's beautiful, undulating body.

Jonelle's pussy had always been one of the two or three most beautifully shaped that Laura had ever kissed, and if she had not been so hungry for the girl, she would have taken a few moments just to admire it. The beautiful black juicy flower with the glistening pink interior was unusually wet, and Laura slid her tongue right into it, bringing a soft yelp of pleasure from Jonelle.

"Oh yes . . . oh yes!" she panted, her back arching, her pelvis quivering. "Oh yes!"

"God, honey, you're going to come fast," Laura murmured, licking the sinuous petals of Jonelle's pussy.

"Oh god . . . I know!" Jonelle gasped. "Do me, Laura, fuck me! Eat me fuck me quick!"

But Laura didn't want it to be over so quickly. She knew that if she touched Jonelle's clit with her tongue, Jonelle would come in torrents. But Jonelle's delicious, slender, writhing body filled her with lust and wild sexual excitement. She refused to touch Jonelle's clit until she was ready to, and instead she kissed her heaving, smooth, dark belly, and her inner thighs, and kneaded Jonelle's hard little naked buns with her hands.

"Oh god, I love you, god I love you," she murmured over and over again to Jonelle, who was more desperate each second with frantic sexual need.

Finally Laura gave in. She didn't want to stay away from Jonelle's delicious pussy either. Her tongue swooped into the puckered, glistening cleft and stroked Jonelle's engorged clit, licking it roughly several times, knowing what would happen.

"Oh! Annggh!" Jonelle gasped hysterically.

Her body stiffened, then shuddered fiercely as a stupendous orgasm began to wrench her. Her fingers dug into Laura's scalp as she pulled Laura's face into her pussy, clamping Laura's head with her thighs and pumping hard as the rest of her body undulated in rhythm with the spasms that were wracking her lovely flesh.

Laura stayed with her, licking Jonelle's clit hard again and again, as the girl sank quickly into the deep rapture of her famous swooning orgasms. Now her thighs yawned open, releasing Laura's head, and her hands fell away to the sides as her body yielded to a rapture Laura felt was much deeper than she herself had ever experienced. She slid up to embrace the coming Jonelle, cooing to her and kissing her fantastically smooth cheek as Jonelle came for another thirty seconds.

Then she blinked and smiled weakly at Laura. "God, I knew it, I knew this would happen," she croaked softly. "I knew you would do this to me. Nobody ever made me come like this but you."

"Not even a little?"

Jonelle grinned. "Maybe a little, but not like that."

"I'm so envious. You come so hard."

By now Jonelle had regained her strength, and she pulled Laura down next to her, rolling over on top of her. "You gon' come hard too, girlfriend," she giggled, "once I get through with you."

"I hope you'll never be through with me," Laura sighed, opening her legs, yielding her body to Jonelle.

This was rapture. This was the most complete ecstacy Laura ever knew, even more than with Trina, perhaps because her relationship with Jonelle was older, and because they were tragically separated by living in different cities. Jonelle's tenderness was completely effortless, and her deep love for Laura came through every caress.

But Laura was just as sexually aroused as Jonelle had been, and it took very little to make her come too. Jonelle slid two fingers up into Laura's sopping wet pussy as she tongued Laura's clit, and in seconds Laura was shaking the bed with her gyrations, panting, whooping softly.

"Oh god . . . honey, yes! Do it harder! Ohhhnn . . . oh yes! Yes! Unghh!"

"Mmmm . . . you like that as much as I do, don't you," Jonelle purred, licking Laura's throbbing pussy more aggressively, stabbing Laura's clit with the tip of her tongue.

Laura came almost without warning. "Oh shit . . ." she gasped, feeling the breath leave her lungs as an orgasm seemed to just swell up inside of her and burst.

It was a love orgasm, a sublime, blossoming explosion of ecstacy that bundled together all her sexual need for Jonelle with the intense emotions she felt for her. She gave herself up to it completely, and each shock seemed to kill her again with coming, until she wound up, with Jonelle's continued attentions, coming two more times before Jonelle even removed her fingers.

Breathless and stunned, she lay back into the pillows, gazing up into that exquisitely beautiful face. "You and I are the best ever," she gasped, smiling in gratitude.

"Sure is the best I ever had," Jonelle said, modestly, although alluding to Laura's much broader sexual experience.

"The best I ever had too," Laura said, staring straight into her eyes.

Jonelle cuddled with her. "You know, sometimes when I . . . you know, do that, I think of all the other beautiful women who've licked you there. And I don't think I could come close to them. You're the only one I . . . you know, ever licked."

Laura gave her a long, soulful kiss. "I know you won't believe me. But I'll say it anyway. I never had an experience like this with you because the love is so intense between us that when I come, it gets all mixed in, and I just . . . just . . . it's indescribable."

"I know what you mean," Jonelle crinkled her nose. "Like I have those deep lose-my-breath comes sometimes. With men, of course, since your the only lady I've ever been to bed with. See, you got me blushing again. But even when I have one, say with my husband, it ain't like the one I just had, any of them I have with you. Guess you're right, it's because of the love. That makes me fall off the edge like that."

"How long until you have to go back?"

Jonelle glanced at the clock radio. "I should be back by nine. I think it's over about ten."

"Will he be suspicious?"

"I don't think so. I'll tell him I went to a movie. He would never believe I was in bed with a white girl, ballin' and carryin' on."

"Is he black?"

Jonelle nodded. "A black boy should have a black daddy."

"I guess you're right. I'll try not to imagine him making love to you. I'll bet he loves to do it, you're so beautiful."

Jonelle grinned. "He wore me out at first. Now he's a little more considerate."

Laura embraced her. "But I'm not. If I only get to see you every year-and-a-half, I want to fuck your beautiful brains out each time. I want to fuck you with my pussy before you leave."

Now Jonelle beamed, glowing with happiness and renewed sexual excitement. "I was going to suggest the same thing!" she said. "You know, I dream about doing that with you. Dream about it."

"Ummmm, I'll bet we can top any dream," Laura said. "But I want to start this way and end up that way."

She kissed her way down Jonelle's naked body until they were in a sixty-nine position, and then, with Jonelle's tongue and fingers doing ingenious things to her own aching pussy, she gave full reign to her passion for the juicy black-lipped flower between Jonelle's sleek thighs, caressing it lovingly with her tongue, exploring every crevice and curve, until Jonelle was whimpering audibly, her hips twisting in excitement. Laura knew exactly how to bring Jonelle to the peak without letting her fall over the edge, but Jonelle was just as hungry for Laura, and her skills weren't as highly polished.

In only about thirty seconds she had Laura going out of her mind in a fit of delirious sexual need. Laura knew that if they didn't press their two pussies together right now, they would both come like this, and then have to build up to it again. Quickly she sat up and twisted her legs into place, interlocking them with Jonelle, who was already reeling in the outer regions of a profound sexual trance.

"Oh honey, quick!" Laura panted. "Push your pussy into mine, oh god, yes, come with me, I want to come with you, I want us to come together!"

"Ohhnnn Laura . . . ohhnnnn Laura!" Jonelle moaned, her eyes swirling in a feverish trance of lust as she gazed deep into Laura's. "Fuck me with your pussy . . . please! Fuck me with your pussy."

"Oh yes, baby, yes!" Laura panted, inching her groin forward until her wet pussy mashed into Jonelle's.

She was so sensitized to the beautiful girl and their intense shared emotions that it seemed as if she could feel even the tiniest contour Jonelle's wet labia sliding against her own, even feel the small nub of Jonelle's clit as it brushed and pushed into her own. And miraculously, she realized that Jonelle could feel it too.

"Oh god . . . oh Laura, I feel you, I feel your pussy, I feel your little clitty against mine," Jonelle gasped, eyes rolling back, overcome by almost unbearable sexual feelings.

"I feel you too," Laura panted, swirling her hips and relishing the feel of her pussylips slipping and squinching into Jonelle's.

Both of them could only bear a few seconds of this intensity. Their clits were directly kissing, sliding and pushing together, and it drove them both into a frenzy of need. Groaning and gyrating, they pumped their groins together in a wild crescendo.

"Oh yes . . . oh yes!" Laura gasped, feeling they were a split second away.

""Oh god . . . Laura!" Jonelle gasped, her eyes catching Laura's as they both careened toward the inevitable explosion, her eyes filled with intense desire.

"Yes . . . now, baby, now now!" Laura panted.

"Auuggnnhh!" Jonelle groaned, beginning to come.

Laura spilled over in a hot torrent of coming just a split second behind her. "Ungghh! Oh! Anngghiiieee!" she cried out, her moans of ecstacy mingling with Jonelle's.

They writhed and moaned together, their throbbing cunts completely united, until the powerful spasms began to wane. Even when it was over, they were not quick to disentangle their bodies, but lay whimpering and sighing in the grip of the most total bliss they had ever experienced together. Laura had done this many times, done it with nearly every one of her lovers, and yet never had it exceeded this time in sheer intensity.

"You take my breath away," she murmured to Jonelle as they finally separated, then embraced, kissing tenderly as a culmination of a very profound sexual union.

"I know I never felt that with anybody else," Jonelle whispered back, wide-eyed.

"I can't stand the thought of letting you go. I won't see you again. I want to swallow you," Laura said, kissing Jonelle's body again aggressively, her gleaming, perfect shoulders, her small breasts and large nipples, her smooth midriff. "I want you . . . I want you, Jonelle."

Up until now they had made love tenderly, urgently, passionately, but Laura not only found herself wanting to consume Jonelle totally, she realized that her lust was growing sharper, more aggressive. She wanted to give Jonelle something she would remember, or would not be able to forget.

"You can have me, Laura," Jonelle breathed smokily. "You can have me any way you want. Ohhh! Yes . . . it feels so good when you do that! Yes! Ohhhh!"

"Oh Jonelle, I want to fuck you everywhere, I want to eat you and swallow you and fuck you everywhere."

"I remember the time you . . . you know, did my ass and my pussy at the same time," Jonelle panted. "How it made me come. Do you want to do me again that way?"

"May I?"

Jonelle rolled over onto her stomach and pulled a pillow under her pelvis, uptilting her smooth little round ass to Laura, and spreading her thighs. Now the beautiful wet seam of her pussy was below the firm, swelling moons of her ass, and in the dark crack Laura could see the tiny ring of her asshole. She began kissing the smooth flesh, kneading it, pulling the buns apart and tickling Jonelle's asshole with the tip of her tongue.

"Ungghh!" Jonelle gasped, wriggling and biting her lower lip. "Oh! Laura!"

Laura wriggled her tongue inside, and Jonelle went wild. She squirmed and whimpered softly as Laura tongue-raped her tight asshole, then slid her other hand up to Jonelle's pussy and began to rub it at the same time. Jonelle had only come twice so far, and Laura knew she was capable of far more sexual pleasure than that. One day in Laura's hotel room they had each climaxed more than twenty times.

So now she went after the string of orgasms that would light up Jonelle from head to toe and leave her in shock. Still hungrily tongue-fucking her ass, she slid one finger deep into Jonelle's juicy slit and began to probe for her g-spot. At the same time, she made love to Jonelle's beautiful round ass in a way she had only made love to Chanitra's in the past. And Jonelle's ass was only the tiniest way down the scale of perfection, under Chanitra's. It was beautiful and round and firm, and she kissed and bit and sucked the incredible dark moons, squeezing them with her free hand while dipping her tongue back into Jonelle's tight little asshole.

"Aiieeee!" Jonelle squealed excitedly, looking back over her shoulder at Laura tongue-fucking her ass. "Oh god . . . Laura! You gon' make me come in a hurry, girl!"

"I'm going to make you explode," Laura panted, sure she could find Jonelle's g-spot, after her experiences with Kim and others.

And it didn't take her long, either. Jonelle's sexual excitement seemed to feed Laura's, and she began sucking and tonguing and raping Jonelle's beautiful ass and pussy in a passionate frenzy. Jonelle went crazy, writhing and whimpering, moaning, swirling her beautiful round bottom up into Laura's mouth and hands.

Laura's finger probed and searched inside the girl's pussy, exciting Jonelle even more as she explored, trying to find the spot that would trigger the most horrific and explosive orgasms. She knew she had found it when Jonelle's body suddenly seized up, stiffening in prelude to a killing climax. Helpless cawing sounds came from deep in her chest as her lovely lean body flexed and shuddered.

And then the dam broke. She began to come in violent spasms, her body flexing and writhing, her beautiful face torn in almost unbearable rapture.

"Unnghh . . . oh!" she gasped weakly between waves of coming.

Because Laura did not let her down. As soon as one spasm faded, Laura turned up the heat again, making Jonelle come, not letting her sink into the inevitable swoon. In this way, Jonelle had six orgasms, each one more extravagant and violent than the last, until she was quivering helplessly in the grip of a sexual mania so intense that Laura knew she had to stop.

She withdrew her finger from the girl's pussy, and rolled her over onto her back, pushing the pillow off onto the floor at the same time. Jonelle was still quivering and coming, her body undulating in shockwaves of exquisite, even agonizing pleasure. Laura found herself envying Jonelle, as she often had, for being able to come this way. She held and kissed her while Jonelle sank deep into the orgasmic trance that followed the rapid explosions of her orgasms.

"Ohhhnnnn!" she moaned, shuddering periodically as a fresh wave of ecstacy shook her. "Ahhnnnnn!"

"Oh baby . . . oh baby oh Jonelle . . ." Laura murmured to her, stroking her, rubbing the whole length of her naked body against Jonelle's as if in the effort to have this intense bliss transferred to her from the touch of Jonelle's marvelously smooth skin.

Jonelle slowly came around, after about thirty seconds of intense swooning, and by this time Laura was fiercely aroused herself. She rose up over Jonelle's prone body, dangling her breasts in Jonelle's face and straddling one of Jonelle's slender thighs, rubbing her wet pussy back and forth on it. It reminded her of the sweet and brutal thigh-rapes Brandi had given her, though Jonelle's thigh was hard and thin, almost like a blade running back and forth in the oozing furrow of Laura's throbbing pussy.

While she went mildly crazy from the sensations, she stared down into Jonelle's glassy eyes and questioned her, panting, sliding her pussy up and down on Jonelle's thigh muscle.

"What does it . . . feel like when you do that?" she asked.

Jonelle slowly lifted her hands to Laura's breasts, squeezing them and licking Laura's nipples sensually with her tongue. "Feels like coming all over again, but even harder," she whispered. "Oh Laura . . . I love your boobs!"

"Ungghh! Laura gasped as Jonelle sucked one of her nipples hard.

"You gon' come too, girl."

"God . . . yes!"

Now Jonelle began flexing and moving her thigh, fucking Laura with it now, and sucking her nipples passionately. But Laura needed more. Panting and now whimpering almost hysterically, she rolled over onto her back, pulling Jonelle on top of her, never releasing Jonelle's thigh from her crotch.

"God . . . fuck me, honey. Fuck me hard! Yes . . . ohnngg like that yes! Ohngg!"

Jonelle knew what Laura wanted, and she delivered it. She bunched up Laura's small, perfect breasts in her hands and sucked Laura's nipples harder than ever. At the same time, she slid her thigh up and down in the wet, slippery groove of Laura's open pussy until Laura was gagging and moaning on a fierce uprush of coming that nearly made her pass out too.

"Auungghhh!" she groaned, coming fiercely, clamping Jonelle's thigh between her own and pumping, riding it, clenching her teeth as the sharp spasms of her orgasm hit her. "Ohnnggg! Auungghhh! Yes! Ohnngggg!"

It was a violent, surging climax, and Laura's writhing, pumping body shook the bed as she came. When it was over, she was still shuddering and mewling as the aftershocks gripped her. Jonelle held her and kissed her, returning the caresses Laura had given her during her earlier swoon.

Laura was still plateauing, still skimming on the surface of the crushing orgasm, when Jonelle decided she had to have it one more time, and slipped her leg under Laura's, bringing their naked pussies together again.

"Got to have it again, girl," she panted to Laura. "Something to remember you by."

"Oh god . . . yes," Laura whimpered, moving her hips in rhythm with Jonelle's motion, immediately feeling her body fill again with a sweet, hot honeyfire of need for the beautiful girl.

Now they had no urgency left and let their bodies communicate in a slow, grinding, tender undulation, caressing each other's leg, moaning softly as the warm flood of sexual pleasure spread through their flesh. Laura had never experienced love-fucking more intense than this, and she knew Jonelle was feeling the same thing. They were so in tune with each other that they came together easily, overflowing at the same instant in a warm, throbbing waterfall of ecstacy, moaning and twisting, pushing their wet, slippery pussies together as if each were trying to push hers inside the other's.

They came down from it slowly, but finally had to concede that there was no time left for this consuming sexual encounter, the most emotional they had ever shared in a string of very emotional and physically exhausting couplings.

"Shoot, I hope he don't be wanting to do me tonight," Jonelle giggled softly as they both slowly pulled on their clothes. "I think we did enough here to hold me for another year and a half."

"Mmmmm, not me," Laura purred, pulled the half-dressed Jonelle to her and kissing her smooth black neck. "I could keep going for hours. You drive me crazy."

Jonelle's eyes throbbed. "You drive me crazy too, Laura," she whispered. "It's why I don't live here any more."

"I know," Laura said, glumly.

She drove Jonelle back to the Claremont, and in the shadows before pulling up to the hotel Laura gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"I love you, Laura," Jonelle whispered, almost inaudibly.

"I love you. Please . . . at least write me."

Jonelle shook her head. "Too painful."

"Call me." Laura's eyes filled with hot tears. "Don't wait a year and a half."

Jonelle was now crying too. "I won't."

Then she got out of the car and ran up to the hotel door, not looking back.