She was still tormented by dreams of Dawn—tormented and wildly excited, at the same instant, in the same dreams. In every one of them she and Dawn were fucking, sometimes in a sharp, groaning frenzy, sometimes in sweaty, panting turmoil, other times with slow, rhythmic, piercingly romantic sensuality. Goodness, Laura would think, pulling herself almost physically up into consciousness from these phenomenal dreams, I really am a little over-libidinous, aren't I. Down, girl.

I fuck myself silly at every opportunity, most recently with Yvette and Rhonda, with Shontay, with Ada, with Cecilia, with Randi and Shavon, with Charise and Mavis and Jane whenever I get the chance, and still I can't get this enchanting girl out of my mind.

Nor was it only a physical obsession. Even though her dreams of Dawn all involved scorching sex, throughout the day, as she went about her daily routines and work tasks, Laura would find herself actually aching, her heart aching, her whole body aching, for Dawn. I love that girl, she thought. I love her, I can't help it. I know I fall in love too easily . . . and I certainly adore all the others. But this one . . . I can't get her out of my mind. I have to see her. It hurts not to see her. I don't even need to sleep with her. I just have to see her. Or I'll die.

Risking all, she called Dawn's number one evening about six-thirty, when she was relatively sure Robert would have already gone off to work. Instead, he answered the phone.

Oh god. "Robert?"

"Yes."

"This is Laura. Remember me?"

Robert was a relaxed, friendly type of guy. Laura knew that under any other circumstances she would like him. "Oh yeah . . . Laura. You're the one who looks like a model."

Laura laughed graciously. "Is Dawn there? I wanted to talk to her about whether she's heard anything from—" Laura charged on, giving him a reason for her call.

But Robert cut right across. "She's out at the library. At the college, you know? Studying. I think it closes about ten. She'll be home after that, I think."

"Oh." Laura tried not to sound too disconsolate. "Can you tell her I called?"

"Sure. No problem."

"Let me give you my number."

Robert wrote down her number. "You want her to call tonight? You still going to be awake?"

"Yes. Tell her to call, if she feels like it."

Laura's heart was pounding. Will you be there? she wondered. How come you're not at work? I thought you worked nights. If she does call, will we be able to talk? Will the tone of her voice betray something? Some intimacy we don't really want you to know about? Will she want to call? Does she still love me too? Does she ever have dreams with me in them?

When she hung up the phone, she realized that she was flushed and breathing hard. God, I hope he didn't hear me, she thought. Hear me gasping . . . stammering. I hope I was calm and casual. Robert, I love your girl friend! I'm sorry, I can't help myself. I adore her . . . and I'll die if I can't feel her body against mine again, soon!

But Dawn did not call. And Laura did not sleep well. The following day she had almost talked herself into leaving early and driving to Dawn's apartment, just on the chance that Dawn might be there. The impulse was nearly impossible to resist. But before she could leave, she got a call from Rhonda's secretary, asking her to drop by Rhonda's office immediately.

They had not spoken since their night in bed with Yvette, though only a few days had elapsed. In fact, Laura had run into Yvette in the hallway, and both had nearly dissolved in mirth mingled with renewed sexual excitement, just remembering it. But Rhonda now seemed determined to pretend it had never happened.

"Sit down, Laura," she said crisply.

She was all business, tightly coiffed, her lips pinched and her smile hard, glinting with the sheen of her self-confidence and power. Laura may have fucked her into a shuddering mass of moaning and spasming ecstasy only a few nights earlier, plowing her blonde pussy into paradise with Rhonda's own strap-on dildo, but there would be no acknowledgement of that fact here. Of course, Laura noted, Rhonda's secretary was still in the room.

When she left, Rhonda herself got up from her desk and went over to the door, pushing it nearly closed. When she came back, Laura could see a flicker of recognition in her eyes. Rhonda sat down again and composed her face, looking at the papers on her desk.

"I had fun the other night," she said under her breath, without looking up at Laura.

Purposely, Laura remained silent until Rhonda was forced to look up at her. Then she looked deep into Rhonda's eyes. "I did too. More than fun," she added, softly.

A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Rhonda's lips. "Maybe . . . now and then . . . we could . . . you know, be better friends than we are."

Laura grinned. After all, Rhonda was a vice president. She couldn't just come out and say, Let's get together and fuck more often.

"I think that might be a great idea," Laura said, not letting Rhonda's eyes escape hers. "I sure would like to know where you got . . . that . . . you know—"

A charming pink flush suffused Rhonda's face, reminding Laura of how she had blushed so red in the presence of Yvette and Laura, when Rhonda had been completely naked, and the redness had descended to her shoulders. This time, however, it was only a pale, pink flush, quickly disappearing.

"You mean the . . . toy?" Rhonda cleared her throat, looking nervously toward the half-closed door to her office.

Laura nodded. Quickly, Rhonda slid a memo pad under her hand and scribbled something onto it. She ripped off the page and pushed it to Laura. It was a web address.

"It's top of the line," she whispered. "Kind of expensive."

"But worth it," Laura's eyes twinkled.

Rhonda gave her an embarrassed grin. "Yes." She took a deep breath and pulled over another folder from the corner of her huge executive's desk. "Look, I need a favor. These are the papers to get that project underway with Decision Resources. I know you've worked with them. Do me a favor and run these down to Burlingame, to their office. The papers are very confidential and proprietary. I really can't trust anybody else to do it, especially not a messenger service."

"When do they need to be there?"

"This afternoon. If you leave now, you'll be able to beat the bad traffic."

Laura shrugged. It would save her from herself. She was about to dash wildly over to Dawn's apartment, not even knowing if Dawn would be there. When she had called last night, expecting Robert to be at work, he had answered the phone. There was no telling what disastrous scene would develop if she gave in to her impulses.

"Okay . . . I'm your girl," she said to Rhonda, picking up the folder and getting up from her chair.

Rhonda put one hand on Laura's hand, the one gripping the folder. Her eyes burned into Laura's. "You know, two can be as good as three," she whispered. "Sometimes."

"I know," Laura murmured. "What's your calendar look like?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not free until next Thursday night. Want to pencil it in?"

Laura nodded. "Give me a call to confirm."

In her car, driving down to Burlingame, Laura realized that she was going from one sticky situation right into another. She had not seen Deshona since the night Deshona had showed up drunk at Laura's apartment, after a fight with Charles, her ex-husband. She had passed out, but the next morning she and Laura had attacked one another insatiably. Laura had driven her home only to find Charles's car parked outside.

That had been about two months earlier, and Laura had not heard from her since. Even though once Laura had felt a love for Deshona nearly as intense as the love she now felt for Dawn, their relationship had always been complicated, blighted both by Laura's involvement at the time with Randi, of whom Deshona was fiercely jealous, and by Deshona's on-again off-again relationship with Charles. Although her feelings were still pretty intense, Laura had allowed them to drift to the rear of her consciousness in part out of self-preservation, becoming involved with Dawn, and Shontay, and Ada, submerging her thoughts of Deshona if only to spare herself the pain.

Now she was driving right back down into the trap. Maybe she won't be there, she thought. She knew Deshona, though she was a principal in the firm, came only sporadically to the main office, preferring to work out of her home, and traveling a lot on business. I can probably just drop these off without having to see her, Laura thought, wondering if that was good or bad. She knew if she saw Deshona her heart would skip and her pussy would throb in longing.

When she reached the main office, Deshona's administrative assistant told her she would have to run the papers up to Deshona's house. She was at home preparing for a business trip, and she wanted to take the papers with her. Laura was about to ask if they couldn't messenger them up to her, but then she remembered that Rhonda had insisted that she deliver them by hand.

"Do you know where she lives?" the aide asked.

"I've been there once," Laura lied. She had had some of the most stirring and emotionally wrenching sexual experiences of her life in Deshona's house.

Glumly, she drove up into the wooded hills. I hope that prick Charles isn't there, she thought, though she had never met Charles. She had long hated him anyway. He was after all her chief rival for Deshona, and he also appeared to be winning. Deshona, when things were going badly with Charles, appeared to adore Laura, and craved hot and repeated sex with her, but when he beckoned, she would not call Laura at all.

On top of that, Deshona—perhaps to make Laura jealous—had told Laura stories about Charles, his large cock, and how he loved to fuck her from behind while rubbing her miracle of a back, things Laura had done to her too and which made her wish Charles would fall into a vat of boiling lard. She did not need to meet him to hate him.

When she pulled up into Deshona's driveway, she spotted only an expensive gun-metal blue Mercedes parked out front, which she knew was Deshona's car. She did not see anywhere the black Corvette that apparently belonged to Charles. Very unsure of herself, she got out of her car and climbed the steps. She could detect a weak vulnerability inside herself that she despised, a fear of rejection deeper than any she had felt in a long time. She can be so cold, she thought. Will she be happy to see me?

It took a long time for Deshona to answer the bell, but Laura could hear Molly barking inside, which was a comforting sound since she knew and had a friendly relationship with Deshona's dog. She was also pleased that Charles didn't answer the door, having parked his car in the garage or done something else to conceal his presence from Laura.

"Laura!" Deshona said, as she opened the door.

"Uh . . . hi," Laura said, awkwardly, holding out the folder. "The papers. You know, the ones you were expecting. Rhonda Reardon made me bring them down to you."

An amused smile passed over Deshona's lips. Laura's heart was fluttering. Deshona was gorgeous. Just the sight of her made Laura's heart skip. She knew again why she had been so attracted to her, why she had risked the most damaging bruises to her feelings in order to break through the ice shield that Deshona habitually threw up against the world.

She flattered herself that her appearance was having the same effect on Deshona since Laura could see in her eyes a brief flare of excitement, as well as an uncharacteristic nervousness. Deshona wore white pants and a loose-fitting green sweater that draped itself naturally around her large, round breasts. She was a very small woman, deliciously shaped, but with over-large breasts for her frame, breasts which Laura had devoured hungrily many times. She clearly had not meant to dress provocatively, but she noticed Laura's eyes on her breasts.

She said nothing but let her eyes tell Laura that she had seen Laura looking. She opened the door wider. "Come in. I just made a pot of tea. You can meet my niece."

Oh well, Laura thought, disturbed to have been caught in a transparently lecherous glance, probably everybody looks at her boobs. They're beautiful. And pretty big for her lovely little body.

"I can only stay a moment," she said, stepping inside.

Deshona gave her a disbelieving glance and showed her into the living room, where they had fucked so excitedly when Deshona's ankle had been in a cast. And there, sitting on the very same sofa where Deshona's exquisitely-shaped pussy had emitted a small gusher of ecstasy juice when Laura had brought her to an especially intense climax, sat a very beautiful young girl in long, enchanting braids, reading a magazine.

Laura's eyes nearly betrayed her by making a happy, exultant, sexually-charged, raucous noise of their own as they quickly took in the sight of this gorgeous creature. She had to cover quickly so that Deshona would not see her libido-meter rising into the stratosphere. The girl was young, maybe twenty, and small like Deshona, though not quite as petite. She wore a short, tight black skirt that revealed lots of her bare legs, and platform shoes, now so in vogue, with thin rawhide strands crisscrossed up her shapely calves. She had a dazzling smile, white, even teeth, much darker skin than Deshona, smooth black skin, and friendly, shining eyes.

"This is Taneesha Reynolds, my sister's daughter," Deshona said. "Taneesha, Laura Robbins. Laura works for a company we're going to be doing a project for. She brought me some papers." She turned to Laura. "Taneesha lives in Michigan. She's out visiting for a few days. Spring break."

She looked away so that Taneesha could not see her face and gave Laura a sly, ironic smile, as if to say, We all have our trials in this life!

"Pleased to meet you, Laura," Taneesha said, getting up and taking Laura's hand.

Her hand was cool and graceful, and she looked directly into Laura's eyes, which Laura found thrilling, even though Taneesha's eyes didn't seem to reveal anything very deep behind them. She was, nevertheless, physically gorgeous, and Laura could not ignore her beauty. She felt tingles actually run through her arm and once again realized that she must not seem sexually electrified by Deshona's niece, even if she was. Deshona knows what a sex fiend I am, she thought, fighting back a hot blush. She'll know in a second if I show that I want this lovely girl.

"You know," Taneesha said brightly, "you look a lot like that old model that used to do the lingerie ads." She pointed a finger at Laura, thinking, then exploding in a victorious little whoop. "Victoria's Secret, that's it! Right? Stephanie . . ." She snapped her fingers, doing a very fetching little act for Deshona and Laura as she tried to dislodge the name from her memory. "I can't remember her last name."

"Seymour," Laura said, feeling a little dour, but trying not to show it in the face of this impressive ebullience.

"Yes!" Now Taneesha aimed the finger at Laura like a gun and fired. "Bingo. Exactly. That's the one. You could be her twin."

Deshona grinned at Laura, raising her eyebrow. "You two old models," she cracked. "We trade in the old models, don't we?"

"Oh, I didn't mean to say 'old,'" Taneesha hastily assured Laura. "I just meant . . . she kind of . . . retired, didn't she? Like, I mean, I don't see her in their ads any more. That doesn't mean she's old."

"Make her squirm, Laura," Deshona teased. "You old thing, you. How does it feel to be old?"

Laura laughed good-naturedly. "I guess you and I are starting to seem ancient," she said. She looked at Deshona, giving her a blatantly sexual glance, as if to counteract whatever undertones of desire Deshona might have picked up by watching her gaze into Taneesha's dazzling, but curiously vacant, eyes. Laura even let her own eyes drop briefly again to the jutting globes of Deshona's firm breasts under the loose green sweater.

"Taneesha was just heading for the mall, weren't you, dear?" Deshona said, pursing her lips with faint distaste.

"Actually, I was thinking of it," Taneesha said. "They're having some awesome sales."

"I'll go get you the keys. You promise to be careful driving Auntie's Mercedes?"

"Oh, of course I will. Gosh, I drove my Mom's all the time until I got my Beamer."

"Come on, Laura. We can talk."

Laura followed Deshona into another part of the house.

"Taneesha grew up in Grosse Pointe," she said, speaking softly to keep from being overheard. "She's a Valley Girl, only from Motor City. Who knows what they call them back there. Daddy's an executive at Chrysler. She hasn't really known any privations in her short life, shall we say? Gag me with a spoon." She made a face.

Laura laughed. On the other hand, airhead or not, the girl was impossibly gorgeous. Laura could still feel the touch of Taneesha's fingers on her hand. She wondered if there were something behind those eyes she wasn't seeing. Everyone had some substance, somewhere. You just had to dig sometimes to find it. And god, what beautiful braids, so thin and long. I'd like to feel them sweeping across my body, or hanging into my face, with her on top. Taneesha's braids reminded her a little of Randi, who wore them most of the time. I just die for braids, she remembered.

But she also remembered that Deshona hated Randi, and also seemed to hate her braids, which to her made Randi seem falsely vivacious, reckless, even cheap, maybe even too 'ethnic' also, a stigma in Deshona's eyes, something she had tried to rise above by brains and style and business sense.

Oh well, I'm only speculating, Laura realized. She stood behind Deshona in the bedroom as Deshona retrieved her car keys from the bureau, looking at Deshona's cloud of elaborately curled, expensively 'done' hair. Yours would look good in braids too, you lovely, icy, hard-ass woman, if you would let yourself lighten up a little.

Deshona turned around and saw her looking. Her black eyes suddenly became liquid with warmth and sensuality. "What are you looking at?"

"What do you think," Laura said, softly. "Last time I saw you, you were hung over. You looked . . . breathtaking. Imagine how you look to me today."

Deshona said nothing. Her dark eyes pulsed and throbbed, it seemed. "Can you stay a few minutes?" she whispered. "I mean, after she leaves?"

Laura nodded. Without another word, she followed Deshona back to the living room, where Deshona gave Taneesha the keys to the Mercedes.

"Do I have to be back by a certain time?" Taneesha asked, turning her body in such a way that Laura could admire her legs, her pretty round ass, and her swishing braids. She didn't seem to have much in the way of a bosom, but the rest of her was undeniably delicious.

Is she flirting with me? Laura wondered. How could she be. She doesn't know I like girls. Especially girls like her, who are to die for. She probably just flirts with everybody, male or female. It's just an "I'm so gorgeous and sexy, how could you not want to eat me alive, if only I gave you the chance, which I won't" sort of attitude, right?

Deshona shook her head, half in exasperation at the same performance Laura was witnessing. It was growing clearer than ever that enduring a visit from her niece was more a favor to her sister than an opportunity Deshona took because she liked spending time with Taneesha. "I'm being picked up by an airport limousine at three. If I'm not here when you get back, let yourself in. You remember the alarm code, right?"

Taneesha grinned and nodded. "See you, Laura. Hope I see you again before I leave."

"Me too," Laura said, trying to sound indifferent, but unable to keep her eyes from licking the girl's supple, dark, flexing calves.

Quickly, however, she tore her gaze away to keep Deshona from seeing it. They watched Taneesha drive off, peering through one of the house's tall front windows. Then Deshona turned to Laura.

"Alone . . . at last," she sighed satirically.

"You're not alone. I'm here."

Deshona looked deep into her eyes, looking somehow sad, sadder than Laura had ever seen her look. Often she was cold, aloof, withdrawn, caustic, but rarely or never sad. Laura wanted to enfold her. All the love she had felt for Deshona came pouring back into her. I really cared about this woman, she recalled. I cared for her more than she wanted me to, I think.

"What are you sad about?" Laura prompted.

Deshona shook her head and looked to the side. "I'm not." Then she looked back at Laura, her eyes glittering with a thin film of water, which was in no danger of spilling over. "I've missed you, Laura."

"If I kiss you, will someone walk in on us?"

Deshona laughed softly and gave her a tight smile. "You mean Charles?" She shook her head. "He's in Mexico. He has his own import business. Won't be back until Friday."

"You're going to let that gorgeous, bubble-brain girl stay here alone while you're gone?"

Deshona grinned. "Nothing escapes that sharp mind of yours, does it, Laura. Actually, my sister is flying in tonight. She'll be here just a few hours after I leave. So you don't have to worry about the cute little bird-brain." Her eyebrow went up skeptically. "Say, isn't she just your type? Maybe that's why you're worried. You'd like to snuggle up to her little booty, wouldn't you. I know how you like the sisters. Especially the airhead flirts. And you really dig those African hair styles. I'll bet you'd like to rub your face in that little black coozy, wouldn't you."

Laura acted shocked. "All I asked was if I could kiss you. You don't have to be mean about it. If not, just say no."

Deshona softened. She blinked. She knew she had gone over the line. "I'm sorry." Again the haunting sadness Laura had seen there moments ago showed up in her eyes. "You can . . . do that . . . but let's move away from the window."

"How about over here?"

Laura drew her a few steps to the side of the drapes, pushing her back against the wall and bringing her own face closer, until their mouths were only inches apart. Without yet touching, they could almost taste each other's warm, pleasantly fragrant breath.

"If you kiss me," Deshona murmured, "I want to warn you I'm not responsible for what happens. I've thought of you every day since . . . that morning, when I was hungover."

"Why didn't you call?"

At first Deshona didn't reply. She just stared deeply into Laura's eyes, then let her own eyes fall to Laura's lips. "Why don't you quit asking questions and get on with it?"

Slowly, Laura moved her face closer. Her lips brushed Deshona's. She extended her tongue and ran the tip of it across Deshona's full lower lip. It was a slow, excruciating tease on her part, and she realized that Deshona was cleverly teasing her back, not moving, barely even breathing, staring in a smoldering way into Laura's eyes while Laura ran the tip of her tongue all over her lips. Finally, Deshona's own tongue slid out to meet Laura's.

Laura could feel her blood leap. She believed Deshona felt the same thing at almost the same instant since she heard a tiny, helpless gasp coming from her throat.

Their mouths came together in a searing, voracious kiss. Only their tongues and lips had touched up until now, but they grabbed one another almost desperately, embracing, digging their fingers into each other's flesh through their clothes.

Laura was often aggressive with her lovers, but it had been a long time since she was this rough. She pushed Deshona back into the wall next to the drape, crushing her small body against it, raping Deshona's open mouth with her tongue, biting her neck, running her hands up under Deshona's sweater, squeezing her hard, round breasts through the cups of her bra. Deshona kissed her back almost as hard, groaning softly, panting.

"I think you missed me too," she panted into Laura's hair, letting her hands fall to Laura's ass, squeezing Laura's buns through her skirt.

"God, yes!"

Deshona's dark eyes were murky with sex, and her body sagged slightly between Laura's and the wall. Laura continued kissing her heatedly, nipping her earlobes, trying to get her sweater off but unable to keep her lips from skimming and sucking Deshona's warm, smooth skin.

"Oh god . . . I want you . . . I want you!" she panted into Laura's neck. "I need you, Laura."

"Help me get this off," Laura panted.

"We can't do it right here," Deshona protested.

"Why not?" Laura murmured, coaxing Deshona to put her arms in the air while she pulled the sweater up over her head, freeing it from the cloud of Deshona's curly hair. "I can't wait."

"God, I can't either," Deshona gasped, tossing the sweater across the room.

Laura already had her own blouse off and her skirt unzipped. Deshona slid both hands under Laura's panties while Laura embraced her, unfastening Deshona's bra behind her back and sucking her neck in a frenzy at the same instant.

"Ouchhhhh! Don't you give me a hickey, girl," Deshona half-panted and half-giggled, trying unsuccessfully to slip out of Laura's grasp.

"I'm going to leave hickeys all over your body," Laura teased her, pulling off the loose bra, freeing Deshona's large round breasts, and pinching the hard little berries in the centers of her wide areolas.

"Hhhhhh! God . . . I love it when you do that," Deshona winced with pleasure.

"Do you love it when I suck them too?" Laura grinned, cradling both incredibly hard melons in her palms.

"Yes. Take yours off too. Here, I'll help you."

They were both in a very big hurry and quickly slipped out of the rest of their clothes, kicking their shoes across the room, then sliding together to the floor beside the window. Now they were completely naked, coiling together, stroking each other, kissing ravenously again, and whimpering softly.

"Ohhhh . . . it's been so long," Deshona moaned and breathed into Laura's ear, biting Laura's earlobe too, sliding her hand down to Laura's crotch. "Did you save some of this beautiful pink pussy for me? Oooohhh," she giggled softly, "it's all wet and gooey and nice. I think I want to kiss it."

Laura was very aroused by Deshona's fingers in her pussy, but she already had her hands and mouth all over the girl's incredible breasts. They were so round, so hard, so big for her small body, so firm that you could barely get her dark brown nipples into your mouth. Her areolas were flat, and a little jagged at the edges, with tough little stubs that stuck up in the centers, and the hard balls of her breasts were so taut that sucking the whole thing, areola and all, into your mouth took extra effort.

But Laura was equal to the task. Holding one of Deshona's hard breasts in both hands, she squeezed the ball until the nipple began to swell up from the surface, the center stub stiff and rubbery. She attacked it feverishly with her tongue, stabbing and stroking it, while Deshona looked down at her.

"Oh!" Deshona gave a soft gasp.

Laura bared her teeth and rubbed the edges of them against Deshona's areola.

"Oh yes! Oh . . . suck it, Laura. Suck it hard . . . yes . . . oh god, yes!"

Deshona's erect nipple was shiny with Laura's saliva, and Laura slowly sucked the entire thing into her mouth, squeezing Deshona's breast, sucking it hard, until tiny, wheezing, frantic moans started being pinched off deep in Deshona's throat. Laura sucked it hard and even bit it gently, letting her teeth sink into the edges of Deshona's areola, not into the nipple itself, and this was enough to turn Deshona's moans into tight, almost hysterical whinnying.

"Unnhhhnneee! Unhhnngggeee!" she whinnied, shaking and twisting now. "Yes! Oh yes . . . nobody ever sucks them like that!" she panted, almost incoherently. "Do the other one. Oh shit . . . Laura . . . you're going to make me come if you keep doing it that hard."

"Mmmm, that's the idea," Laura purred to her, assaulting her other round, hard breast in the same manner, then bunching them both together and letting her mouth move hungrily from one nipple to the other, then back again.

She doubted that Deshona, unlike Ada, would come just from this, but she wasn't opposed to trying it. But finally Deshona grabbed Laura's head and pulled her face up. Deshona's dark eyes were glazed and streaked with frantic sexual need, which Laura understood since she felt exactly the same way.

"I want you to come with me," Deshona said, in a hushed, almost solemn voice. "I want us to come together. I don't want you . . . making me go off, like you always do. I want to come with you, you come with me, we both look into each other's eyes and come. Please. I keep thinking of it. Coming with Laura . . . looking into her eyes . . . and coming."

Laura smiled and kissed her. "I can't think of anything I'd rather do."

"God . . . I'm so close!" Deshona whimpered to her, half-smiling. "You get me so supercharged."

"Me too," Laura confessed. "Sucking your boobs like that makes me want to explode."

While cooing to one another, they had effortlessly slid their hands down to each other's crotch. Lying on half on their sides and half on their backs in order to part their thighs slightly, facing one another, they began to finger each other's wet, warm cunt. Deshona's small body quivered as Laura's finger grazed her swollen clit.

"Oh! I never come so fast as I do with you."

"Are you going to?" Laura smiled, panting, now rubbing Deshona's pussy even harder, her hand moving in fast, swirling circles.

"Yes!"

The first time Laura had ever slept with her Deshona had confessed that it usually took her a long time to come, and sometimes she didn't come at all. But it had never been a problem to them—it could never be a problem to me anyway, Laura thought, since I just want it to go on and on; I wouldn't care if she took 3 hours to come—because Laura always heated her up so fast, and to such a frantic pitch, that she usually came easily in only a few minutes.

That was exactly the case now since Deshona was almost out of control in merely seconds, mewling and writhing on the carpet, squeezing Laura's hand between her thighs and pumping, rolling over closer, sliding her own fingers urgently up into Laura's throbbing pussy. And Laura easily matched her urgency, kissing her feverishly, squeezing Deshona's incredible round breasts and pinching her nipples with her free hand, gazing hypnotically deep into Deshona's eyes, which more and more reflected the gathering inner storm that was about to erupt.

"Oh yes! Oh yes!" Deshona gasped, rolling into Laura now, pushing her breasts against Laura's, biting Laura's lower lip. "Do it hard!"

"Unghhh!" Laura groaned, feeling Deshona's rapidly-moving hand begin to rape her own pussy frantically. "Unmghhhh! Yes!"

Deshona dropped her face momentarily into the slope between Laura's neck and shoulder, burrowing herself into it, keening and grinding her pelvis down into Laura's hand.

"Oh god . . . Laura, I love you I miss you so much I need it now now! Ungghh! Now! Ungghhh! Now!"

"Yes, baby, yes, now!" Laura panted, feeling the impossible surge well up in her too at the same moment.

We are going to come together, she thought, only an instant before the explosion. Then the world simply went up in flames. Clinging together, wheezing and grunting in a violent, shared paroxysm, they both began to climax at almost the same second. Laura could see the crushing blow that hit Deshona from the way her dark eyes suddenly glowed and then went opaque, as if the sharp turmoil of pleasure inside Deshona's body were so acute that the outer world just ceased to exist for her.

"Annnngghhmmnnnggeeee!" Deshona cried out, thrashing and undulating wildly against Laura, her face clawed by a shattering ecstasy. "Unnngghhmmmiiinneeee!"

And Laura felt the jolts at the same instant, ripping her insides open with unbearably hot and intense pleasure. She already had one arm around Deshona's shoulders, and she now could not resist the impulse to crush Deshona's small, curvy body against hers, groaning into the girl's shapely brown shoulder and coming in scalding, pulsing spasms.

"Ohhhnnngggg! Ungghhh! Auunngghhhhh! Oh . . . Jesus! Auunngghhhh!" Laura groaned, almost gagging on the uprush of ferocious jolts that wrenched her.

And yet she wanted to look into Deshona's eyes, to see the scalding, scorching ecstasy there, and she lifted her face from the girl's shoulder, now damp with a thin film of sweat, and gazed at her face, seeing in her dark eyes a stunned, star-traveling trance of rapture, as if Deshona had been struck by a force too powerful to believe. In fact, Laura felt a little like that herself and could still feel the tingling and the electrical tremors that rippled through her flesh following this almost-paralyzing orgasm.

And yet, there they were, she thought, half-amused, in the back of her mind: lying naked on the floor in Deshona's stylishly-decorated living room, all tangled together and trying to get their breath, with their clothes scattered carelessly all around them, where only minutes earlier they had been bantering with Deshona's beautiful niece. Her fingers were still inside Deshona's snug, warm pussy, and she could feel telltale signs of the extra little gusher of juice the girl often emitted, especially when she came as hard as this.

Deshona sensed it too, her eyes coming slowly back into focus. Her fingers were also still embedded in Laura's gently-pulsing cunt, still moving tenderly now and then, stroking Laura with deep, intimate finesse.

"Uh oh, I think I made another little wet on you," she whispered, with a warm, charming smile. "Hope I didn't get any on my expensive carpet."

Over Deshona's shoulder, Laura could see the dog, Molly, sitting in the doorway, tongue out, panting, looking at them curiously. "I think we gave Molly a thrill," she murmured, kissing Deshona's cheek, her other cheek, her forehead, her lips finally. "I know we gave me one."

"Me too," Deshona grinned, extracting her hand now and sitting up. "I've got to get a towel and wipe this up before it sinks in and smells."

Laura held up her wet fingers and licked them sensually. "Mmmm, I want to lick where this came from," she said softly, suggestively.

Deshona made a face. "I don't see how you can do that."

"Simple. I love your pussy. You have an exquisitely gorgeous pussy."

"I know," Deshona grinned. "You've told me before. I guess it's 'love me, love my pussy.'"

"I love them both."

"Don't you ever get enough? God, I feel like I just had a warehouse dumped on me. I haven't come that hard since the last time we did it."

Having completed licking her fingers, Laura reached out and dragged Deshona down again with her on the carpet, being careful to avoid the wet spot. "I don't ever get enough of you," she purred, beginning to kiss Deshona's round, naked breasts again.

But Deshona giggled, wriggling free. "We've got to clean it up. Go in the bedroom. I'll be in after I mop up the mess."

Laura hopped up. "Come on, Molly. You can keep me company while we wait for this woman to bring me her gorgeous pussy, so I can sing my love song to it."

"Just go wash out your mouth if you plan to kiss me again," Deshona shouted after her as she and Molly pranced down the hall in the direction of Deshona's bedroom.

While waiting, she scratched Molly behind the ears and looked at the bed. Molly was very interested in the smell on Laura's fingers, and Laura was interested in the bed. She and Deshona had screwed in it before, during one of Deshona's periodic estrangements from 'Charles'. But Laura knew he was screwing her in it on a regular basis now, and the thought made her slightly nauseous.

She went in the bathroom and, as a courtesy to her hostess, washed out her mouth with Lavoris and washed off her fingers with antibacterial soap. There, I hope that makes you happy, darling, she thought. Now I am going to lick your pussy until you scream.

She went back into the bedroom and pulled the spread down, exposing the sheets. Silent as a cat, Deshona suddenly appeared behind her, pushing her hard breasts into Laura's back, kissing her shoulders and slipping her own hands under Laura's arms, encircling Laura's body and cupping Laura's breasts in her palms.

"Did you wash your mouth out, you bad thing, so I can kiss you?" she murmured.

Laura turned and pulled her down on the bed playfully, forcing a hot, wet kiss on her. "You decide. Did I?"

"I hate tasting my own pussy juice," Deshona giggled, squirming away.

Laura caught her and they wrestled and tussled for a few seconds, enjoying the feel of their smooth, naked bodies rubbing together. Finally, Laura got Deshona onto her stomach and began kissing her phenomenal back, stroking her firm, lovely round bottom with both hands.

"I ought to spank you for being so naughty and avoiding me," she growled softly, teasing, letting a playfully menacing tone creep into her voice.

"You wouldn't dare," Deshona said, smiling back over her shoulder, enjoying the way Laura's was sensually massaging her ass.

"Oh? You don't think so?"

Lifting her hand, she let the flat of her palm lightly strike one of Deshona's firm dark brown buns, not too hard but hard enough to sting a little.

"Oooohhh . . . that kind of tingles!" Deshona laughed.

"Mmmm, you like that, don't you. I'll bet the other one wants to feel it too."

Still smiling, though ambiguously this time, as if the situation were not entirely amusing, Deshona cocked an eyebrow, the same one she had cocked while accusing Laura of desiring Taneesha, which she had been totally correct about. "Don't you dare," she warned Laura under her breath.

Always up for a challenge, Laura grinned and smacked her harder with the flat of her hand on Deshona's other firm, round buttock.

"Ownnchh!" Deshona gasped. "Oh shit . . . that does feel kind of good," she giggled afterward.

Laura saw a little water come into her eyes. She let her hand rest on one round, firm globe of Deshona's delectable ass, feeling a sexual rush that she knew was nearly equal to what Deshona must be feeling. Her fingers were just inches from Deshona's oozing pussy. It would be so easy just to slip them down under her buns and into it.

She knew Deshona half-expected her to do it. Instead, Laura teased her by lifting her palm and slapping the globe of flesh again, but this time more lightly, watching the beautiful firm round flesh jiggle slightly.

Deshona looked back over her shoulder, expectantly. "Oh . . . you really are mad at me, aren't you," she grinned, letting a look of mock fright pass across her face.

And this was a peculiar moment for Laura, since she actually was a little angry at Deshona for all her shilly-shallying with Charles, for letting Laura comfort her, and fuck her, and love her, and then running back to him and not calling Laura at all. Not even once. And yet it was a playful moment, and crackling with an undercurrent of sexual electricity, which Laura did not want to spoil by indulging her anger.

She remembered when she had spanked Randi, which had resulted in a sexual meltdown on more than one occasion. Deshona hated Randi, and it was very bizarre that they would both respond in almost the same way. Deshona was nearly flirting with her, wiggling her beautiful naked ass slightly, as if daring Laura to continue.

"You're kinky, Laura," she breathed, her eyelids heavy. "You want to punish me, don't you."

Tightening her lips into a thin, menacing grimace, Laura said nothing and raised her hand again, this time letting it descend again with a crack on the first round buttock she had spanked. Deshona's face froze in shock. More tears came into her eyes.

"Ouch! Shit!"

The smack of her hand this time against Deshona's ass sent a hot, thrilling tingle all through Laura's body. She could feel prickly fires awaken in her cunt, and the pulse hammered in her throat. Even though Deshona's eyes blurred with tears, Laura could see them fastened on Laura's swaying breasts, which moved when Laura delivered the blow.

"You could have called," she said softly, glowering at Deshona, lifting her hand again.

She knew Deshona could have wiggled her body to the side to escape, or rolled over, but she also knew they both were enjoying it too much. Laura could even see the erotic pleasure Deshona was receiving from it mingled in her dark eyes with the obvious pain.

"You've been a bad little girl," she said under her breath, smacking the other side of Deshona's exquisite ass again.

"Ohhnnnn!" Deshona's forehead furrowed with distress and pain. "Owww! Laura . . . please!"

But neither one could really tell whether this 'please' meant 'Please stop' or 'Please pour it on'.

"A bad little girl . . . with a beautiful bottom," Laura panted, smacking Deshona's ass twice more with the flat of her palm, this time stinging blows that made Deshona whimper.

Deshona was also panting now too, though, squirming on the sheet, somehow uptilting her beautiful round ass into each of Laura's slaps, gasping, emitting little pinched-off squeals deep in her throat, but making no real effort to get away. Laura could feel the sexual tension building to an explosive point. Deshona's eyes, when she looked back over her shoulder, were now not only murky from wild sex but also red and half-delirious. Laura realized that both of them were enjoying it far more than they would have thought.

There was even something magical and mystical about it to her. The feel of Deshona's firm round cheeks against her palm somehow sent crackling through Laura's body a wildfire of lust. The way Deshona squirmed and wept and whimpered on the sheet but made no attempt to escape transfixed Laura with fierce, magnetic excitement, and she sometimes paused between blows to feel the ripple of Deshona's ass muscles under her sensitive palm, to feel the smooth, inflamed skin of Deshona's ass against her trailing fingertips.

"Oh god . . . oh god!" Deshona gasped. "Oh shit . . . owwnchhh! Aiieeee! Oh Laura . . . oh Laura . . . oh god yes! Do it faster! Yes . . . you're right . . . I've been bad. Do it hard! Owwngghhh! Ungghhh! Oh!"

And now both of them were lost, caught up in the hot frenzy of it, unable to control their wild needs. The bed was shaking, both of them were mewling and panting, Deshona was burrowing her face into the sheet but raising her ass to Laura at the same time, and Laura was whacking it hard with her hand, feeling the tingle shoot through her arm and somehow flow in a hot current directly to her throbbing pussy, while she saw Deshona grimace with acute sexual pleasure and heard her whimper almost hysterically.

The wet, shiny red seam of Deshona's inflamed pussy was now visible—in fact, impossible to ignore—just below the bulging moons of Deshona's ass cheeks, and Laura's eyes could not look away from it. She could smell it too, all musky and aromatic and wildly arousing, a festering, juicy slit of cunt-honey. She loved Deshona's pussy, which was among the most exquisitely shaped she had ever seen or tasted, and she never wanted to end a moment like this one without being able to taste it again.

And yet, given what they were now doing, she knew that licking Deshona's peerless quim would not deliver what they both craved. In fact, Deshona was now growling half-hysterically into the rumpled sheet.

"Ungghhh . . . fuck me, Laura . . . ungghhh . . . please . . . please fuck me," she groaned, her words half-muffled and obscured by the crumpled sheet under her face.

But they were briefly out of synch since Laura, in response to her own excitement as well as Deshona's pleas, had begun to spank her faster, gritting her teeth and smacking the girl's round buns fiercely in quick, sharp slaps that drove them both to the very highest pitch of sexual frenzy. Deshona writhed, wincing, groaning, the muscles in her delicious dark brown back that Laura had kissed and rubbed so many times flexing and rippling, her ass now warm to the touch from the blistering thwacks of Laura's palm.

Laura could not resist sliding her hand down now—after another resounding slap that brought tight squeals of pleasure laced with pain from Deshona's throat—below Deshona's inflamed moons, slipping two, then three fingers into the warm, burbling cauldron of Deshona's gaping pussy.

"Ungghh! Oh yes!" Deshona gasped immediately, looking up at Laura, her lovely face contorted by unbearable sexual tension, nodding wildly. "Yes . . . yes!"

Instinctively, she also swirled her ass back, pushing her cunt up against Laura's penetrating fingers. Deshona's pussy was so wet and open so wide that it was very little trouble to quickly push her whole small hand completely into it. Laura realized that it had surprised them both. She had fisted Deshona before, and others, but she had never felt her hand slip so easily into anyone's cunt as it did this time.

Deshona, raising her head up off the sheet with effort, nodded again rapidly at Laura, her black eyes glazed and fiery with fierce need. "Yes! Ungghhhh! Yes! Oh Laura . . . yes!"

Even in her own state of feverish lust mania, Laura let a sly smile pass across her lips. You aren't going to take very long to come this time, sweetie, she thought. I've never seen you so tightly wound as this. Oh, I do love you so much, you darling. You gorgeous darling. You're going to come now. Get ready. (As if you weren't ready, my love.)

She began fucking Deshona's snug, wet pussy with her hand, pushing it in up to the wrist, feeling Deshona's luscious small body quiver under her, hearing the tight, ecstatic mewling that rose out of her lungs. The memory flashed like lightning through Laura's mind of having fucked Randi this way, long ago, after spanking her too. But it was so different now, not only a different woman, but a different feeling. With Randi, it had been barely controlled violence and sharp, almost vicious passion, whereas with Deshona it quickly became a magical, rhythmic dance that they shared, their bodies surging together and apart, Laura's whole hand sunk in the most intimate part of Deshona's body, both of them locked in a profound sexual trance as the gathering storm overtook them.

Laura leaned forward over Deshona's lovely back, letting her own naked breasts skim along the smooth, rippling muscles, grasping the flesh between Deshona's neck and shoulder with her free hand, squeezing it, twisting her fist inside Deshona's tight pussy, kissing the shallows under her amazing sculptured shoulderblades. I love you, I love you, and I love your body. Oh yes . . . come, honey . . . come. I think I might come too, just from feeling you explode.

"Ounngghhh . . . unghhhh . . . auungghhhh!" Deshona moaned, grinding her hips and swirling her pussy back up into Laura's hand, occasionally gagging and gasping as the sensations grew too acute for her to bear. "Ohhnngggg god . . . Laura, yes! Ounngghh!"

"Mmmmm, you like it?" Laura whispered, leaning even closer, mashing her naked breasts now into Deshona's back.

By now Deshona was so deep into a groaning, grunting, writhing rhythm of fucking that she couldn't even reply. Laura, whose lust for her body was very intense already, felt it growing even hotter. She managed to slip her free hand under Deshona's body and grab one of her round, firm breasts with it, squeezing it hard. At the same instant, she crushed Deshona's body against her as hard as she could, plunging her hand deep into Deshona's pussy and sucking the nape of her neck sharply at the same time. This will make her come, she realized, feeling Deshona's small body shudder under her.

"Ungghh! Ouunngghhh!" Deshona groaned.

"Oh yes!" Laura gasped. "Do it, honey!"

"AUUNNGGHHHHH!" Deshona suddenly cried out, her small body almost jackknifing under Laura as a wrenching spasm gripped her.

"Oh yes, baby yes!" Laura panted, clutching her even harder, twisting her fist and again plunging it deep.

"OOUNNGGHIIIIEEEE! Oh . . . oh shit . . . auunngghhhh!"

She came hard, twisting and groaning under Laura, her body shaken by repeated convulsions, her groans increasingly weak and attenuated as the wavelets of her orgasm spread throughout her undulating body, until finally she was cooing and gurgling helplessly in the aftermath of twitches and quivering that swept through her flesh once the full force of her climax had subsided. Now, finally, she lay face down and panting, her body completely still, with Laura still clutching her, embracing her, lying on top of her.

"Oh god, here . . . let me let you breathe," Laura said, rolling off her, carefully extracting her wet hand from the pleasure pit.

As always with Deshona, there was a lot of juice, but this time not so much as she had earlier gushed onto the living room carpet. Still, Laura's hand was shiny wet, and Deshona's thighs were smeared with it. But, looking groggy and beautiful after this crushing orgasm, she rolled over half onto her side, disregarding the wet mess in her crotch, and pulled Laura down roughly next to her, pushing her breasts into Laura's, kissing Laura with a mixture of passionate gratitude and hunger.

"How can you be so good?" she asked, slightly hoarse, dropping her hand to Laura's dripping, throbbing pussy and quickly slipping two fingers up into it. "I'm going to kiss this beauty into heaven right now. No arguments."

She slid quickly down Laura's body and between Laura's yawning thighs.

"You won't get any from me," Laura smiled, sliding her fingers through the soft cloud of Deshona's hair to touch and caress her scalp, gasping as she felt Deshona's tongue on the aching folds of her pussy. "Ahhnnnnn!"

It was all over for Laura in a hurry. She rarely had trouble coming fast, and the excitement of bringing on Deshona's orgasm had wound her tight already. Nevertheless, she wanted it to last, and she tried to distract both herself and Deshona by playful caresses and by talking to her.

"Aren't you going to . . . spank me . . . too?" she panted, slowly moving her pussy into Deshona's mouth, almost unable to stand the sweet pleasure that was pulsing through her body. "And fist . . . fist-fuck me . . . too?"

"Do you want that, you wild little pervert?" Deshona laughed throatily. "Frankly, honey, I don't think you're going to last long enough."

"Unhhh . . . unhhh!" Laura panted, now undulating more rapidly, more and more out of control. "God . . . I don't think so either!"

Five seconds later she was inundated by a sweet flood of coming that seemed to pour through her body like rushing, flowing hot lava, its sweetness heightened by Deshona's continuing, devoted attention to her pussy even while she was coming.

"Ohhnnnnnn . . . ahhnnnnnn . . . oh darling . . . oh Desh—" she gasped, her fingertips scrabbling now across Deshona's scalp, buried in the dense, soft cloud of Deshona's hair, her pussy continuing to pulse and throb as Deshona still licked and tickled it with her clever, persistent tongue. "Oh god . . . it's so good! Unhhhhhhh! Oh yes!"

She lost track of time, almost as if she had blacked out, though she knew that didn't happen. But the experience was almost paralytic, though with tenderness more than breathtaking rapture, and it seemed to her as if they were frozen together like that, with Deshona's lips still pressed to Laura's throbbing slit, for an impossibly long time. In reality, it was only a few seconds before Deshona, smiling, in fact beaming with pride from the orgasm she had given Laura, finally sat up.

"Mmm, you did a good one, girl," she said softly. "See . . . I didn't have time to spank you."

"Want to do it now?" Laura asked, looking up at her with a smoky glance.

Deshona smiled, almost bashfully. "I think the fire department's already on the way here," she said. "Anyway, if there aren't enough sales at the mall, or dudes, my niece might be back sooner than we want her. And that reminds me, weren't we supposed to be going over those papers instead of fucking our brains out?"

Laura grinned back, a little ruefully. Deshona had mentioned in the past—and Laura had not forgotten—that her 'ex'-husband Charles's favorite expression involved fucking her brains out. But she let it pass. What else could she do?

Deshona went into the bathroom that adjoined the master bedroom, and Laura, still feeling a little groggy herself following her powerful climax, wandered as if sleepwalking back toward the living room to retrieve her scattered clothes. She was halfway across the living room in the direction of the window, where they had earlier slumped to the floor in a hot sexual frenzy, when she felt something odd and turned her head.

Her heart nearly stopped from the surprise. Taneesha was sitting here, legs crossed, reading a magazine and eating an apple. She smiled at Laura, who was completely naked, and who somewhat foolishly tried at first to cover her body with her hands, but then, realizing it was silly and fruitless, dropped them to her sides.

"Hi," Taneesha said, brightly, as if nothing at all were unusual.

"You're . . . back," Laura croaked softly.

"It was boring," Taneesha said, turning a page of her magazine. She smiled again at Laura, conspicuously natural, not even looking at Laura's body, as if the fact that Laura was naked was the most natural thing in the world.

Calmly, Laura bent down to pick up her clothes, and Deshona's too, while she was at it.

"I guess maybe I should've stayed away a little longer," Taneesha said, though not with any sense of self-reproach.

"Oh . . . well . . ." Laura said vaguely, now holding all the clothes up in front of her nakedness. "I guess I'll . . . go . . . you know, get dressed."

Taneesha gave her a very sugary, innocent smile, as if to say that she had no idea what had been going on but was just being sweet and polite. Dazed and shocked, Laura returned to Deshona's bedroom. She tossed the clothes onto the bed just as Deshona was emerging from the bathroom.

"Did you see a ghost or something?" Deshona asked.

"She's back."

Deshona looked puzzled.

"Your niece. She's sitting in the living room . . . eating an apple."

"Oh shit."

They looked at each other, totally at a loss what to do. Half-disgusted and half-embarrassed, Deshona reached down and began to sort quickly through the clothes for hers. Laura put a hand on her arm.

"Don't let her spoil it," she said gently. She raised both hands to Deshona's face, holding it, kissing her mouth with slow, searching emotion. "This was so special. I love you so much. I don't want this moment to be spoiled."

Tears came to Deshona's black eyes, which she quickly shook away. "The little twit!" she spat. "I've had about as much as I can take of her."

"Shhhh . . . shhhhh," Laura said, soothing her, stroking her cheek. "I love you."

Now a fresh tear did spill out of each one of Deshona's eyes and trickled down her cheeks. "I . . . love you too, Laura. I'm sorry I didn't call. Life is . . . so damned complicated. Sometimes I can't take it."

They both slipped back into their clothes. As she often felt, Laura was sad to see Deshona's beautiful flesh being covered up again. She knew it was an embarrassing situation. They had made a lot of sexual noise, especially Deshona, who had truly screamed pretty loudly when she came. But even if it was a prickly and difficult mess, Laura couldn't help wanting her, even now, wanting to tear her clothes off again, wanting to suck her and bite her and squeeze her and devour her, even now as she saw the characteristic cold, aloof, remote aura begin to surround Deshona as she prepared to face her sister's daughter, who knew now that 'Auntie' had been rutting shamelessly in the bedroom with another woman.

"Let's just act like nothing happened," she said softly, trying to catch Deshona's eye. "I'll just act like I was going to the toilet or something."

"Naked?"

Laura made a smirk-frown. "It's like just denying it. Make her believe she imagined it."

Deshona looked exasperated. "Right."

"Anyway, what does she care if we were fucking?" Laura asked. "It isn't any of her business what you do."

Deshona came close. She stroked Laura's cheek tenderly. "We don't like to let people in our family have more power over us than they should," she whispered. "Don't you feel that way?"

Glumly, Laura nodded. "I guess I should leave."

Deshona caught her before she could leave the bedroom. She embraced Laura gingerly. "I promise to call this time," she said, husky-voiced. "I had fun."

"Fun is hardly the word for it," Laura grinned. "I'll bet your booty tingles."

Deshona giggled, suspending for a brief second her frosty aloofness, which she had dropped momentarily to hold Laura in her arms. "It tingles good. I can't believe I'm as kinky as you are."

Laura pinched her arm. "Bitch," she teased. "Next time I'm going to spank you until you beg me to stop."

"Promise?"

"Just call, okay? I can't call you."

"What about the papers?"

"I don't know anything about them at all. Rhonda just wanted me to deliver them to you."

"What great luck," Deshona smiled. "I'll bet she had no idea we would be doing this."

Laura winked at her. "A little work break," she said. "Are you going to walk me to the door? Does it look too . . . obvious?"

Deshona took a deep breath. "I guess there's no avoiding it."

Together they walked through the living room. They both looked straight ahead so as not to give Taneesha, who was still sitting in the same place, a chance to speak to them. Deshona gave Laura a tight smile as she started to close the door behind her.

"Bye."

"Bye." Love you, Laura mouthed, letting her eyes linger meaningfully on Deshona's.

She walked quickly to her car, afraid of what she might hear inside the house if she lingered on the steps.