Patching things up with Shontay had its advantages and disadvantages. Now that Taneesha was out of the picture, Shontay wanted to sleep with Laura almost every night, and Laura had never been one to turn down an ardent and enthusiastic lover. She was saved from an overdose of Shontay by Shontay's own reluctance to risk anything at all in Laura's apartment, since it might mean running into her parents, or, even worse, having them overhear her screaming in ecstasy while Laura fucked her senseless.

On the other hand, Laura was dying, aching, yearning to see Dawn and could barely stand their necessary separations. Finally, Dawn managed to get an evening free from Robert, and she and Laura fucked so heatedly in Laura's apartment—using gags to prevent unseemly noise—that they nearly put one another in the hospital. Still, it was a sweet and scorching reunion, and afterward Dawn began musing out loud about moving out on her own so that she could see Laura more often.

This made Laura's heart palpitate dangerously until Dawn acknowledged that she was as poor as a church mouse, living precariously on scholarship money, and couldn't make it alone. Also, she was fond of Robert and hoped Laura could understand that. It had nothing to do with their, her and Laura's, relationship. Laura musn't worry.

In fact, Laura was slightly relieved, since now that she was embroiled with Shontay, it was hard to figure out how she would be able to see Dawn regularly, should she indeed move away from Robert. In fact, Shontay's demands also began to cramp Laura's style with Randi, who had starting drifting back to Laura now and then, even though she was still involved with Nate, one of the company attorneys.

This plunged Laura back into a situation wherein she was involved with more than one girl at work at the same time, which created inevitable dilemmas she preferred to avoid. Randi, for example, came into her office the very day after she and Shontay had had their little fuck party in Shontay's father's easy chair.

"Guess who's going to be my new boss," she asked Laura. "Did you get the message . . . about the reorg? That skinny scarecrow bag o' bones Shontay Gibson. Have you met her? You probably have . . . all you directors stick together, go the same meetings, share each others' secrets, right? Shit, I ain't looking forward to that, no ma'am. She's a stone cold bitch, if there ever was one. Everybody hates her."

Laura said nothing. She tried not to let her face color. She looked down at her desk and shuffled some papers and folders. It would not be too smart anyway to look at Randi, who was as usual stunning and vivacious, swishing her braids sexily around her neck and shoulders, knowing the effect it had on Laura. She was wearing a tight white skirt that showed off her long, spectacular legs, and a red silk blouse that clung seductively around her breasts, those breasts that Laura had love-mauled so often and yearned to do again.

Randi leaned over and whispered, pressing her advantage.

"At least we know Laura isn't going to be chasing after her, even though she's a sister. Kind of a sickly-looking yellow one, if you ask me. Scrawny, right? Only half a sister, if you ask me. Laura don't like yellow, she like black. That skinny bitch think she's hot shit, so full of herself. Got a neck like a giraffe. In fact, she looks a little like a giraffe herself, don't you think? Yella girls make me sick. And bony? I know you love that dark meat, Laura, but there ain't even any meat on those bones. Ain't dark, either, what little there is. Right? At least we know Laura likes meat." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial murmur now. "You like meat . . . don't you, Laura?"

She leaned against Laura and rubbed one full breast against Laura's arm. Laura looked down at the bulge of Randi's breast touching her arm through Randi's red blouse. Only a few months earlier, she recalled, they had slumped to the floor beside this very desk, and Laura had tongue-fucked the girl's beautiful meaty black pussy until Randi came without warning. Meat . . . you bet I love it, Laura thought, feeling the familiar sexual electricity flow through their bodies from one to the other.

She looked up, and Randi could see it in her eyes. Oh god, I love to do it with you, Laura thought. You and I are so bad for each other, just like gasoline and a match.

"Been a while, hasn't it, Laura?" Randi whispered, grinning significantly, her dark eyes pulsing and swirling. "I kind of miss it. How about you?"

Laura swallowed. "I miss it." Her eyelids suddenly fluttered involuntarily, betraying her arousal. "God . . . I miss it."

In a very intimate gesture, Randi grabbed Laura's wrist and drew it closer to her so that she could look at Laura's watch. "It's three-thirty. We can leave at five."

She stroked Laura's palm suggestively with her fingertip, letting her hot black eyes bore into Laura's, daring her to back out.

"My place?" Randi breathed.

"Oh yes."

"Why don't you drop by home on the way and pick up a few of those fun little thingees you keep under the bed."

Laura felt the hot blood rise in her throat. A fierce erotic pulse began hammering behind her ears. She nodded.

"Yes . . . I will."

Randi's grin grew even broader. "I'll have a martini waiting for you. I still have that red teddy I loaned you . . . the one that matches mine."

Her eyes glimmered with promise.

Even though it was only a hour and a half, Laura could barely get through the rest of the afternoon. It was one thing to break down Shontay's resistance, to teach her how to enjoy her long, lovely body in ways she had never dreamt of, but it was another thing entirely to anticipate incendiary sex with Randi, a woman whose lust was just as fierce and lasting as Laura's own, and whose depravity also came very close. Laura was embarrassingly wet after just this brief conversation, and she had to force herself to concentrate on work in order not to count the minutes.

After work she dashed home to pick up a few toys, stashing them in a small hardshell briefcase so it would look like business papers. She purposely brought the strap-on dildo with the convex ridges, which, though it was identical to Rhonda's, she had not yet used elsewhere since she and Dawn were totally committed by now to the Double Penetrator. She did not bring any gags since Randi lived in a condominium that was only a few years old and very well-insulated for sound. It's just because I live in this damned old building that I have to worry so much about noise, Laura thought, again thinking briefly that she should move.

Instead of rope, which would take up too much space, she tossed in the handcuffs. They actually were not as much fun—she wouldn't be able to tie up Randi's luscious breasts, for example, which aroused them both—but on the other hand the handcuffs had a kind of sinister appeal all their own. While she was quickly changing out of her work clothes, the phone rang.

"Oh shit, I'm so glad you're there," said the strangely familiar voice.

Laura shook her head slightly to clear the cobwebs, mostly generated by the background hum of her rising lust as she contemplated Randi waiting for her, probably wearing her own red teddy, her thick, swelling nipples visible beneath the red silk. She would be mixing Laura a martini, swishing her long braids around her naked shoulders, practicing every gesture that made Laura cream and quiver.

"Kim? Is that you?"

"No, it's Tinkerbell. Of course it's me. I'm at the airport."

"Looking for someone to pick up?" Laura teased her.

Kim had picked up Laura in the Dallas airport, the boldest and maybe the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her. They had nearly burned down an airport hotel room together.

"Yes: you. How quickly can you get here? I don't have the money for a cab. They only want about fifty bucks to drive you up to San Francisco."

Laura's brain worked frantically. She craved Randi wildly. She couldn't just abandon Kim at the airport. And of course, she suddenly craved Kim wildly too.

"I think it's more like forty," she said, stalling. "Look, run outside and get a cab. For the most part you're heading counter-commute, so you should be here in about thirty-five to forty minutes. I'll come down and pay the cabbie. If you don't see me standing out there, just tell him to wait and ring my bell."

"Are you sure? Are you sure you're going to be there? I don't feel like spending my time in jail tonight with a bunch of smackheads and bull dykes."

"What a thing to say about our fair city," Laura said in mock dismay. "I will definitely be here. I want to take you to meet someone."

"I don't know . . . I'm pretty tired. I was hoping for a bath and . . . you know."

"You won't be tired any more when you see her."

"Laura, you sound like you're getting to be as bad as me," Kim said, with a suggestive smirk that easily traveled down the phone wires to Laura's ear. "See you in a few minutes."

"I'll be waiting."

"I hope I remember how to ring your bell," Kim added before she hung up.

Apart from wondering why Kim had arrived at the airport at five-thirty p.m. with no advance warning, Laura was doubly excited and had butterflies. Oh well, it's her all over, she thought, picking up the phone again to call Randi. She explained that she would be about an hour late because she was bringing a surprise. Randi didn't know whether to be eager or disappointed.

"The ice in your martini is going to melt," she complained, querulous and coy.

"That isn't all that's going to melt," Laura breathed into the phone. "I'll see you in an hour."

About forty-five minutes later, Kim arrived in a cab. Laura was waiting on the sidewalk for her. The cab driver, a young man in his twenties, suffered from a case of paralytic awe as he helped Kim out of the cab. His jaw dropped and stayed down as he contemplated these two stunning women and held out his hand while Laura counted bills into it.

Kim, of course, was incredibly striking. There was no denying it, Laura realized. Not really beautiful in any conventional sense, she nevertheless had an arresting physical quality that instantly made everyone look at her, no matter where she was. Tall and slender, she had long, slim, tapering legs that she rarely concealed (I wonder how she dresses during those Minneapolis winters, Laura wondered), her hair a shoulder-length cloud of bronzed wavelets that billowed carelessly around her shoulders.

And she was golden, with startling green eyes. She was a golden girl, if ever there was one, her skin burnished to a rich, luxurious glow. Laura had never discussed Kim's ancestry with her, but she knew it was almost unfair to characterize her as 'black,' even though she clearly had some African blood in her. She seemed also part Asian, part Tartar, an impossibly gorgeous mixture of the best parts of many races. And her green eyes were like those of an exotic cat.

She had with her two small pieces of Gucci luggage, which she and Laura took upstairs. Laura wanted to dash off to Randi's with her, but neither one could resist a kiss, which Laura feared might turn quickly into more. Instead, it turned out to be a slow, searching, emotional kiss by the front door, a lingering, sensitive kiss, not the flaming death dive that Laura had half-expected.

"Mmmm, that was good," she said, playfully wiping her lips on the back of her wrist. "To what good luck do I owe this visit? I suppose you couldn't have called first."

"I never call. It's my job to spice up your life a little, and bring a little danger into it. If you're fucking some chick, I'll wait. She can't do you as well as I can anyway. And I'll thank you not to wipe off my kiss like it was a disease."

Laura feigned shame. "I'm so sorry. Maybe you'll have to give me another one."

Kim's startling green eyes crackled. "You better not risk two. When I see you, I get pretty horny. Just like that time in the airport. I may go out of control."

A clever, saucy little grin tugged at one corner of her mouth.

Laura couldn't resist. "What would you have done if I refused to go with you?"

Kim shrugged. "You wouldn't. I could see it in your eyes. Anyway, you wanted to fuck me just as much as I wanted to fuck you."

"You're right. I did." Laura leaned close and kissed her again, stopping the kiss only when it began to flame up, as Kim had warned it would. She pulled her face back. "I want you to meet Randi. She's this gorgeous black girl with long braids whom I've been having an off-and-on affair with for a couple of years now."

Again the curious little grin from Kim. "Is Randi randy?"

"Would I keep coming back if she weren't?"

"I'm starting to feel pretty randy myself. Let's go."

It took only about ten minutes to cross town to Randi's place, and she greeted them at the door wearing, as Laura had predicted, the red silk teddy that she had worn the first time she and Laura had made love. Her eyes widened when she saw Kim. Everyone was startled when they saw this exotic girl, and Randi was no exception.

She did not look disappointed, only a little curious as she let them in. She was not exactly dressed for company, but instead of being embarrassed she acted as if she were actually wearing an evening gown. Laura noticed that she had got yet another tattoo, a graceful filigreed chain of curving purple links that fell across one bare shoulder.

"So nice to meet you," she said sweetly to Kim as Laura introduced them. Her eyes flashed at Laura. "I only have one other red one. But I do have a champagne semi-transparent one that Nate gave me." She turned her eyes back to Kim. "She would probably look great in it."

"Are we dressing for drinks?" Kim cracked sarcastically.

"Unless you'd rather undress for them," Laura smiled.

Kim actually leered at Randi. Laura had been right, Randi was very alluring with her large, swollen nipples sliding back and forth under the red silk when she moved. You could see the thick, protruding centers as well as the soft, swelling areolas. You could also see the round, bulging sides of her breasts peeking out, and of course the rich dark brown flesh of her shapely thighs. She tossed her braids coltishly, reminding Laura momentarily of Taneesha, who was always doing the same thing.

Kim caught a handful of her braids and held them gently, examining them closely. "God, these are beautiful, Randi," she said. "How long does it take to have them done?"

Randi flirted. "Takes forever."

Laura saw their eyes lock. She knew at that moment that a sizzling evening lay ahead, for she could easily detect the heat traveling between these two strangers, and she knew herself how hot they both could be in bed. Immediately an insistent throbbing began deep inside her own cunt, and she could feel it oozing and tingling. Randi smiled mischievously at them both.

"You guys aren't really playing fair if you don't change into the teddies," she pouted. "I feel like the only drunk at a party. Look, I'll make the martinis and you change. Here, I'll get one for . . . god, I forgot your name already."

"Kim."

"Right. You have that long, gorgeous body," Randi said pointedly, letting her eyes roam up and down it. "But I'm tall too. I imagine it'll fit." She led them into her bedroom. "Just don't tell Nate. He'd freak if he thought I was letting someone else wear this."

She removed a clearly expensive champagne mesh teddy from a drawer and handed it to Kim, who shot her one of those bold, green-eyed, searing sexual glances, her specialty.

"What would he say if he knew you were having a teddy party with me and Laura?" she asked.

Randi smirked, showing her dimples. "He'd demand to be invited."

Kim twirled the champagne teddy on the end of one long finger. "Then I certainly won't tell him," she said, satirically. "It's girls night . . . no nasty long dicks."

Laura batted her eyelashes dramatically, placing the briefcase she had bought on the bed. "Don't be so sure," she smiled.

Randi raised her eyebrows, then left to make the cocktails. Both Kim and Laura followed her out of the room with their eyes. The red teddy covered very little of her scrumptious body, and they couldn't take their eyes off it.

"You're right . . . she's to die for," Kim said under her breath to Laura. "The braids . . . the tattoo . . . god, it makes you want to grab her and pull her down on the bed and find her g-spot in a quickfire hurry."

"Steady, girl. Better put on your costume."

Kim dangled it from her finger, breaking into a grin. "I think I'll almost feel like a Victoria's Secret model myself when I get this on."

She began to unbutton her blouse and unzip her very short skirt. They were temporarily alone together in Randi's bedroom, and Laura realized that she and Kim had not fucked in over a year. If she takes off one article of clothing, it's all over for us, Laura realized. I won't be able to keep my hands off her.

"I think I'll change in the bathroom," she said skittishly. "Don't want to spoil the . . . what shall we call it, the flow? The buildup?"

Kim grinned at her salaciously. "I think you want to find my g-spot, Laura," she said, in a kittenish voice, flirting. "Coward," she winked as Laura slipped around the corner into the bathroom.

Seconds later they joined one another in Randi's small living room. Laura and Randi both seemed briefly uncomfortable, though Laura knew they would not be if they had been alone, but Kim strode around as if it were actually her apartment, not Randi's. And she had the advantage of being the odd one out, not only strikingly exotic-looking by nature, but also the only one not wearing red.

Fishnet is a killer, Laura thought, as she looked hungrily at the girl's body. The champagne teddy was made of mesh with wide holes, and no part of Kim was invisible. She had the most incredible deep bronzed skin that Laura had ever seen. And her body, though long and slender, and very fine-boned, was completely alluring, with a tiny waist, and full breasts that were even a little larger than Laura's. Her silky brown nipples were perfectly formed soft cones with thick tongue-tempting centers, and they kept poking out through the small holes in the fabric as she walked. Neither Laura nor Randi could take their eyes off them.

"I wish that thing looked that good on me," Randi said in a hushed voice.

Kim gave her a lubricious stare. "Maybe we ought to take turns modeling it for each other."

Randi grinned and handed each of them a cold martini.

"Only drink half," Kim ordered, raising her glass. She winked, wickedly this time. "You want to be oiled up . . . but not numb."

There was hardly any question of drinking more anyway. As soon as Laura and Randi also raised their glasses and drank, they all put them down on the bar, and Laura took Kim in her arms.

"You'll have to excuse us," she feigned an apology to Randi. "We're old friends and only got a quick kiss in the car." It was a little lie and wouldn't hurt. "This girl is like stick of dynamite, and if you don't get a friendly kiss in the beginning, you won't get one until three days later."

"In three days you'll be too weak to stand up, let alone kiss me," Kim threatened, with a beguiling smile.

Randi grinned and raised her eyebrows as she watched them kiss. Laura's hands were all over Kim, and she nearly drove her tongue down Kim's throat. The fishnet teddy somehow made her blood boil over. She felt Kim's hands racing over her own half-naked body too, but it was nothing to the feel of the flimsy netted cloth sliding over Kim's gorgeous golden flesh under her fingers.

"I didn't realize we were going to get to the bedroom so fast," Randi murmured softly, "but maybe we better."

Kim and Laura broke off their kiss and turned their faces to her.

"Last one in the bed is a rotten egg," Kim said with a straight face.

In the bedroom, Laura moved the briefcase to the small chair at Randi's vanity table, and Randi pulled down the bedspread and the top sheet. A red spaghetti strap slipped off one of her gleaming shoulders, the one with the new tattoo, and Kim bent over to kiss it.

"I want to kiss your tattoo," she breathed sexily. "I want to lick it. Randi, you have such beautiful skin."

"Wait till you see my other one," Randi smiled.

"She has an ankh on her tummy," Laura said, hastily trying to pull off Kim's teddy without tearing it. "Help me with this, Randi. You're the one who doesn't want Nate to see it torn or ripped."

"God, don't tear it! Here . . . like this."

They pulled the straps off Kim's small, fine-boned shoulders and slid the mesh down her long midriff to her hips. Randi was fascinated by her red-gold hair and filled her fingers with it, catching Kim's mouth with hers, kissing her hungrily. Kim tangled her fingers in Randi's braids, and Laura was unable to keep first her hands, then her mouth, off the girl's high, round, perfect young breasts.

So often to her Kim seemed to have the body of a female panther, a golden one, full of raw animal power and tension, but these breasts that filled her hands always astonished her by their size and their springy perfection. They weren't huge but were definitely larger than one would expect on this long, lithe, slender body, and Kim's soft brown nipples quickly stiffened between her lips.

"Ahhhhh! Oh . . . Laura . . . oh yes you can keep that up," Kim panted, eyes glazing over as Randi and Laura both eased her down onto the bed.

Laura's eyes caught Randi's, telegraphing her feeling that the two of them should wholly devour this beautiful creature together, and Randi smiled in agreement. She quickly shed her own red silky teddy while Laura bent her mouth again to one of Kim's nipples. Then, completely naked now—her beautiful body just as much a temptation to Laura as Kim's—she took Kim's other breast in both hands and lowered her mouth to it, while Laura speedily undressed.

Now they were all naked, and Laura and Randi stretched out on either side of Kim, tonguing and sucking her nipples at the same time. Kim fluffed Laura's thick mane of chestnut hair with one hand and twirled Randi's long braids in the fingers of her other hand, moaning softly, eyes rolling upward, then squirming with her hips as the sensations grew even hotter.

"Ohhh! Ohhnnnnnn! Oh yes . . . oh yesssss . . . do it harder!" she moaned, lifting her head up from the mattress at intervals to watch their busy mouths on her wet nipples, then letting it fall back with a thud as the effort to keep it up grew too great.

Now, in addition to sucking her marvelous, thick, brown nipples and squeezing her firm breasts, they both began to explore the rest of her upper body with their lips, meeting between her breasts and kissing one another passionately, with searing hunger, then moving on, kissing Kim's neck, her ears, her collarbones, her forehead, her mouth, then pausing for another searing kiss with each other before descending again to Kim's wet, erect brown nipples.

This time their mouths stopped there but their hands kept descending, stroking the long, taut, clenching muscles of Kim's velvety midriff, caressing her already-churning hips, gently forcing open her thighs.

"I can't believe you brought me such a beautiful surprise," Randi purred, now sliding down Kim's body, kissing Kim's golden midriff and belly with exquisite sensuality. "Kim . . . you are so beautiful . . . you have such beautiful golden skin."

Kim moaned softly, twisting under Randi's lips.

Laura smiled down at Randi, now pinching and twirling both of Kim's erect, wet nipples in her thumbs and forefingers—first the gummy-textured areolas, then the stiff center stubs, then the damp areolas again—then sliding down the girl's splendid, glowing, undulating body too, joining Randi below Kim's waist.

"Do you think we can do it together?" Laura asked in a barely audible voice, nodding at Kim's pussy, which was now open and wet, the long, sinuous, glistening pussy that Laura remembered, a paragon, a perfect pussy with thin wavy black lips and a deeply pink interior, all runny and juicy, fringed by a soft furze of the same bronze hair that she had on her head.

Randi nodded, again showing her dimples with a slow, knowledgeable smile as she extended her tongue past her teeth in a gesture of undisguised and unashamed lust. "I think so."

Laura did not recall ever having done this, but she was willing to try. Her nose, for some reason, seemed extra-sensitive, and she could feel her nostrils and her head filling with the ripe, thick aroma of Kim's excited cunt, a sensation that somehow heightened Laura's desire to the breaking point. I want her . . . I want her pussy . . . I want them both! So bad!

Randi, being lower down than Laura, found it quite easy to slip between Kim's long, thin, spreading legs and she immediately brought her thick, sensual lips up to Kim's puckered slit.

"I think it needs to be a little higher," she whispered to Laura, looking up.

Laura nodded. Quickly, she snatched a pillow down from the top of the bed and together they maneuvered Kim's pretty little ass onto it, so that now her groin was uptilted and in a prime position for a dual mouth-rape.

"Oh god . . . you guys . . . hurry!" Kim panted, her face torn by urgent sexual need. "I can't take it . . . I can't wait . . . please! Please hurry!"

Mmmmm, we've got the g-spot girl where we want her now, don't we? Laura thought, gently combing Kim's shiny dark gold pubic hair with her fingertips. Begging us, eh?

She watched as Randi again extended her long pink tongue and slithered it between Kim's long, wavy cunt lips. Laura could feel Kim's supple body quiver and stiffen slightly as it went in.

"Oh!" she gasped in a small, faraway voice, her eyes glazed as she looked up at Laura.

Kim nodded. She nodded fast at Laura, meaning 'You too!' Then her eyes rolled up again as she was overcome by the sweet sensations of Randi seriously beginning to lick her beautiful pussy.

"Annngghhhh! Oh yes!"

Randi had learned from Laura—and, Laura thought ruefully, also from Rhonda—how to do this with exquisite skill, and for a few seconds Laura let her proceed, watching her tongue explore the soft wet folds of Kim's lovely pussy, watching her spread the girl's slick, swollen cunt lips with her fingers and push the tip of her long tongue deep into the wet, shiny pit. Kim moaned and clawed her own thighs spastically.

But Laura could only wait so long, and admire this sight from afar for so long, before the urge to join Randi was irresistible. She lowered her own face into Kim's groin, and though it was a tight squeeze, managed to get her own lips close to the girl's pretty little swollen clit, now nubby and wet and glistening just above Randi's tongue, which was drilling into Kim's inflamed slit passionately.

Randi, her wonderful, sensual lips wet with Kim's pussy juices, grinned up at Laura. "Is my pussy this beautiful?"

Laura raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "How could you think otherwise? You two have the most luscious, lickable cunts I know."

"Oh! Unnhhhh! Oh!" Kim gasped, churning her hips in a slow, infinitely sensual grind. "Oh yes! Oh god!"

Her hands fluttered up from her sleek golden thighs to their heads again, and she feverishly caressed their hair.

"Are you going to kiss me, Laura, now that I've got her pussy cream all over my mouth?" Randi murmured.

Laura didn't even answer but turned her face up and mashed her mouth against Randi's aggressively, licking Kim's warm, tangy cunt juice off her lips and then stabbing her tongue into Randi's mouth. It was a quick, voracious kiss, and quickly over. Then they both turned their attentions to Kim's beautiful inflamed and runny quim and began to assault it hungrily.

Laura immediately began to stroke the wet, pinkish nub of Kim's clit with her tongue, while Randi tongue-fucked her wet slit more forcefully. Kim went wild. The feeling of their two hungry mouths devouring her pussy drove her into a squirming frenzy, and she began bucking and swirling her hips, whimpering and moaning urgently, digging her fingers into their scalps through their hair, twisting Randi's braids around one hand, whooping and gurgling softly with fierce sexual excitement.

"Auungghh! Oh god . . . yes . . . oh yes . . . it feels so good! Oh unghhhh!" she cried out as Laura look her clit between her lips, pinching and sweetly tormenting it.

"You're getting all the good part, Laura," Randi grinned. "Let me have a crack at that pretty little clittie too, okay? Let's switch."

Laura shook her head. "I want to make her come. She's almost ready."

"Selfish," Randi pouted.

"Okay . . . go ahead."

Half-reluctantly, Laura switched places with her and began to lick the lower portion of Kim's long pussy, also sliding one forefinger up into the tight wet sleeve, probing, fucking her with it. What if I did find her g-spot, this very time? Laura wondered idly, since Kim was so aroused and excited now that she appeared on the verge of coming any second. Randi was slurping and tongue-tickling her clit now with completely focused intensity.

They paused to kiss one another again, while Laura continued to twist her finger up into Kim's tight, warm, buttery cunt. Both of them derived immense pleasure from the intermingling of their own saliva with Kim's flavorful warm pussy juices, and this time their kiss was longer as their tongues coiled and snaked together. Then they returned to their feast, knowing beyond doubt that only seconds remained before the delicious long golden whimpering girl erupted.

Kim's moaning had subsided into a low, continuous growl, and she quivered and flexed periodically, still undulating and churning her hips, her face contorted as she awaited the full impact of the orgasm that was clearly beginning inside her body.

"Suck her . . . she's going to come," Laura whispered to Randi, also beginning to fuck Kim harder with her finger and to absolutely inhale the girl's long wavy cunt lips, sucking them into her mouth, licking them ardently.

"Oh yes . . ." Randi gasped, lashing Kim's clit with her tongue. "Are you going to come, baby? Are you going to come now? Come on . . . come for Randi . . . come hard . . . yes . . . I'm going to suck your little clit until you scream, baby."

Kim's whole shuddering pelvis suddenly jumped right off the mattress, jerking and twitching in midair, then falling back and pumping wildly as a sharp spasm shook her entire body. This unexpected, violent movement flung both Randi and Laura aside, but they quickly recovered and swarmed over her again as she began to whinny helplessly and come extravagantly.

"Unnngghhiieieeee!" Kim wailed, every inch of her long golden body clenching and shuddering as a protracted series of orgasmic waves wrenched her. "Ohhnnggg . . . ummnngghiiieeee! Oh god . . . oh shit . . . ohhnnngghiiieeee!"

The first violence of her orgasm was too intense to last more than a few seconds, but it was followed by a lengthy swoon of continued coming as she stretched and flexed, moaning, stiffening and dissolving into sharp little quivers, while Laura and Randi continued more gently to bring her down slowly. Finally, the effort of both of them trying to lick and fuck her pussy at the same time became too great, and Randi pulled away, leaving the inflamed and swollen seam entirely now to Laura, who was happy to have it all to herself.

She knew that Kim was like herself and wouldn't stop at one if she had a little help. And Laura, not having tasted the girl's exquisite pussy for a year or more until now, was very happy to oblige. Quickly she spread open Kim's long, wavy pussy lips with her fingers and began to lick the creamy dark pink interior, now runny with the extra nectars of her recent orgasm. This time she used no finger, only her tongue and her lips, and since Kim was already skimming, plateauing, moaning and twisting, she did not hurry either.

"Oh honey . . . I love this pussy," she purred to Kim, stroking it with her tongue, teasing Kim's clit. "I am going to make you beg."

She pushed aside the pillow on which Kim's pretty little rump was resting, no longer needing it, and slid both hands under Kim's small, firm buns, cradling them in her palms. Now she could truly feast on the wet, puckered gash, and she lavished all her skill on the flaming, hot-pink trench, until Kim was again undulating, and her moans were keening up at the end, her voice clotted with fresh need.

In the back of her mind Laura found herself wondering how Randi could have abandoned this delicious quim to her alone. She realized that Randi had momentarily left the bed, having felt it dip slightly, but she was so involved in the erotic instant, with her tongue sunk halfway in Kim's delicious wet slit, that she barely noticed anything else until she felt the bed dip again slightly behind her.

Laura was stretched out now between Kim's yawning thighs, very busily involved in her project, which was to sweetly torment Kim into another sharp orgasm by teasing her and prolonging its arrival indefinitely. She didn't really notice what was happening until she felt Randi's fingers on the backs of her thighs, pushing them apart, and then felt something slide up into her own wet pussy from behind.

"Unhhhhh!" she gasped, eyes watering briefly, and looked back over her shoulder.

There was no mistaking the feel of the nine or ten convex ridges that rose from the surface of the strap-on dildo as it slid into her cunt all the way. Behind her, kneeling on the mattress and leaning forward over Laura's ass, Randi smiled down. She withdrew the long dildo—still holding it steady with one hand—then, pumping her hips forward, pushed it firmly back into Laura's pussy, watching the expression on Laura's face.

"Unhhhhh!" Laura groaned again.

"Oh . . . you like that? I didn't know you brought this new toy, Laura. You should have told me. So . . . interesting-looking."

All Laura's eyes could focus on was the gentle dancing and bouncing of Randi's delectable naked breasts and gleaming black nipples as she plunged the strap-on cock forward again into Laura's throbbing cunt.

"Unhhhh!"

"I bet those ridges feel like heaven when they slide up into your pussy like that."

"Unhhhh! God, it feels wonderful!"

Randi ran her hands all over Laura's naked ass, first massaging the firm round moons, then lightly slapping them as she fucked Laura's pussy in a more methodical, regular rhythm. Laura realized how horny she was, how much sexual pressure had built up in her body by now, as she felt the long, ridged cock slide in and out of her pussy, and also inhaled the ripe, musky odors of Kim's aroused pussy, all of which combined to make her feel like a swelling hot bubble about to burst.

She turned her face back to Kim's swollen, gaping red pussy, assaulting it with renewed vigor and passion, knowing now that if Kim didn't come quickly she would get lost in the rising, upwelling force of Laura's own imminent orgasm. She went directly this time for Kim's clit, now completely erect and exposed, a hard little bead a the top of her long wet open cleft, tongue-mangling it until Kim was whooping and her hips were jerking frantically. Oh, honey, you're going to come! Laura realized. And so am I!

Randi knew it too. She began to fuck Laura harder with the strap-on dildo, leaning forward a little more over Laura's back, running one hand under Laura's body to grasp and clutch Laura's breasts, and holding the dildo with her other hand, spearing it forward into Laura's flaming pussy.

"Aungghh!" Laura groaned, wincing as she felt the end of the dildo ram into her cervix, spraying scalding nails through her flesh, but also making her quiver in a deep response that signaled the beginning of the end.

Randi plunged the cock deep into Laura's cunt with each thrust, now panting and huffing and grunting softly herself.

"I . . . never . . . fucked anyone before . . . like this," Laura could hear her chanting, half out of breath, as she ripped the cock into Laura again and again. "It's so great . . . to fuck you like this . . . Laura."

"Ungghhh! Owwnncchhh! Oh yes! Yes . . . Randi . . . yes! Ungghhh!"

She didn't know how she had the wits left to think at all, but it occurred to her during this pounding that Randi indeed had a few reasons to have accumulated some hostility toward her, and the sexual excitement of the moment had given Randi all the excuse she needed to punish Laura by inflicting this vicious and thrilling rape on her. Laura realized that she had pulled up her knees slightly and was digging them forward into the mattress, thereby elevating her ass and pussy, and gyrating her groin back into each one of Randi's stabbing thrusts.

She couldn't help lifting her head and turning it to look back over her shoulder one more time, as if she could see the hammering cock drive directly into her crammed pussy, which was of course impossible, though she could catch sight briefly of the wet, glistening shaft each time Randi pulled it out to the edge of her clasping cunt. As soon as her eyes focused on Randi's swaying breasts, and the grimace of concentration on her lovely face, the pole speared her again, and everything dissolved in a red haze as she was driven forward by the force of Randi's thrust. Her mouth came to rest on one of Kim's slender, golden thighs, and she clumsily kissed her way back up to the girl's oozing, shiny slit, which she hurriedly slurped and licked, then sucked in a purple frenzy, feeling Kim's body give another deep shudder in anticipation of her rising climax.

"Anngghhh . . . Laur—" she gasped, her pelvis again rising off the sheet, her breath ragged, punctuated by short squeals from deep in her throat. "Ohnngg! Auungghiiiiieeeee! Ohhnnmmmmggghiiieeee!"

Her hard little buns were still cradled in Laura's palms, and Laura could feel them clench as a big, wrenching orgasm shook Kim again, tossing her slender body around as she pushed her pussy hard into Laura's mouth. Then Laura began to come herself, and all sensation centered in her exploding pussy.

"Aunnngghhhh!" she cried out, impaled on the ridged cock that Randi kept ripping up into her cunt. "Onngggmmmhhh! Ungghhh! Oh god yes . . . yes yes! Auungghiiiieeee!"

She gave into it, letting the hot, rushing, rolling pleasure consume her writhing body, gritting her teeth as the fierce spasms shook her flesh, moaning and keening and gasping, her cheek pressed against Kim's silken thigh as the waves of a lengthy orgasm swept her along. Randi finally fucked her more slowly, as Laura's climax began to wane, now holding Laura's hips, sliding the strap-on dildo in and out of Laura's pussy as if reluctant to stop.

She was still fucking Laura even when the orgasm had dissipated completely, relentlessly, slowly grinding forward, running her fingers lovingly over Laura's ass. Kim, looking blasted and ravaged by her two powerful orgasms, eventually propped her upper body up on her elbows and squinted at them both.

"You guys want to rest for a moment?" she asked, ironically, giving them both a wan but sarcastic scowl.

Randi, who seemed to have been momentarily hypnotized by the rhythm of her forward and backward thrusting, shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs.

"Oh . . . sure," she said, as if half-embarrassed, withdrawing the strap-on dildo carefully from Laura's plundered pussy. "I . . . guess I really got involved. I never did anything like that before. It was . . . fun."

Slowly, Laura rolled over onto her back, feeling enjoyably ravished. She smiled. "I could tell you were having fun," she said softly.

"You're a pretty good fuck, Laura," Randi said, sassily. "I guess the fellas don't know what they're missing."

All three of them could not help staring at the bobbing, wet, well-greased, ridged stalk that protruded from her crotch, held in place by the black straps of the harness that hugged her hips and dipped under her ass.

"Who's next?" Randi asked playfully. She looked pointedly at Kim, who still had a dazed, stupefied look on her face, still recovering.

"I think you better take that thing off, Randi," Kim said, wearily, suddenly regaining her focus.

Randi giggled. "I won't. It's my cock. I never knew what it feels like to have one. I want to fuck you next."

Laura shook her head in mock exasperation. "What are we going to do with her, Kim?"

"I don't know," Kim cracked softly. "We might have to hold her down and fuck her together."

Randi smirked at both of them, caressing the long, bobbing stalk of her 'cock,' as if daring them to make good on their threat.

"I've got an idea," Laura said, rolling sideways off the bed.

She found the briefcase open on the vanity table chair, where Randi had left it after taking out the strap-on dildo. She winked surreptitiously at Kim, who distracted Randi by slinking up to her and caressing the wet dildo with her long fingers, licking one of Randi's thick black nipples sensually with her pink tongue. Randi looked down at her mouth, watching, biting her full lower lip as Kim closed her lips over the plump, round nipple.

While they were locked in this intimate moment, Laura slipped back onto the bed directly behind Randi. It was very little trouble to draw Randi's hands back behind her, by the wrists. Laura slipped them into the handcuffs and had them locked before Randi even knew what was happening.

But as soon as she felt them snap shut, she knew. Her head whipped around, her long braids swishing and several of them striking Laura on the shoulder.

"Wha—?"

"Surprise!" Laura said, with a bright smile. "Your turn."

Randi looked down, pulling both locked wrists to the side so that she could see how they were totally imprisoned in the iron cuffs. Her face crumpled in anguish.

"Laura . . . you take those goddamned things off me right now!" she snapped, eyes tearing suddenly with fear.

Kim only glanced down at Randi's handcuffed wrists and smiled mysteriously. She was not about to surrender this opportunity and now took both of Randi's delicious breasts in her hands and began sucking both of her large nipples hungrily. Randi could not help but notice. Her attention was drawn back to what Kim was doing. She began to pant, and Laura and Kim together eased her carefully down on the mattress.

Laura pulled the harness of the strap-on off Randi while Kim continued to suck and pinch her nipples, and Randi began to squirm.

"Oh god . . . ohhhhh shit let me go!" she whimpered, twisting and writhing, her body growing more desirable by the second as she struggled to get free. "Laura . . . you get my hands out of those things right now, you hear me! Now! Right now! Ooooohhh!"

Laura was pretty eager to fuck Randi herself with the strap-on, but first she couldn't resist the chance to press her whole body against Randi's from behind, rubbing her naked breasts into the girl's long, smooth back, caressing and kissing her shoulderblades, which were protruding unnaturally because her wrists were so tightly linked by the handcuffs, running her hands around Randi's body to grasp her breasts and hold and squeeze them while Kim sucked them voraciously. In order to do this, she momentarily had to drop the strap-on next to their writhing bodies on the mattress, and when she again fished for it with her hand, she found that Kim had grabbed it and was smoothly slipping into it.

"Laura! Let me go . . . oh . . . please let me go!" Randi pleaded with her. "It scares me! I can't take it! Let me go . . . get them off me! Please!"

Slipping around to the front of Randi's body, taking the place Kim had abandoned, Laura kissed Randi and winked at Kim over her shoulder.

"Oh honey . . ." she purred, kissing Randi's round, gleaming black shoulders, nuzzling her black neck, kissing her ear, breathing hotly into it. "Don't you want to be fucked? Kim is going to fuck you . . . we're both going to fuck you until you go up in flames, honey . . . right now . . . just give in to it . . . just let us make you fly away . . . let us make you die of coming . . ."

"Ohhhhhh!" Randi groaned softly, then winced as she suddenly felt Kim behind her, pushing the long dildo up into her receptive pussy. "Ungghhh!"

A self-satisfied grin spread over Kim's face as she saw the effect her first, fairly gentle thrusts were having on Randi, who slumped forward and began groaning rhythmically in harmony with each penetration of the strap-on dildo into her pussy.

"Don't make her come too fast," Laura whispered to Kim. "I want to suck that huge clit too when she comes. She has the biggest one you ever saw. Here . . . help me move her so we can both get at it."

"I don't know if you're going to have any luck in that," Kim panted, very aroused again herself by the act of fucking Randi from behind, her exotic green eyes glowing and sparking. "She's pretty far gone already. Look."

It was true. Randi's beautiful face—always a needle of the heart for Laura—was frozen in a grimace of incipient ecstasy, her sensual mouth half open, her eyelids fluttering uncontrollably, her eyes rolling up, showing the whites. A soft groan of unbelievably intense pleasure escaped from her throat each time Kim slid the wet, ridged stalk completely into her pussy.

Just watching it filled Laura with renewed sexual excitement herself. For the past week or so she had been focusing almost exclusively on Shontay's pretty little cunt, so small and neat, a lovely puckered aperture fringed by sparse shiny filaments of black hair, but Randi's pussy was a large, meaty feast of a cunt, a long and wide, gaping seam of wet, pulpy deep pink flesh, edged by thick black curls of opulent hair, and topped by a large whitish marble, the largest clit Laura had ever seen. She had been fucking Randi so long that she could not think of her without feeling her mouth salivate at the thought of Randi's huge clit, which grew and swelled under your tongue, and even got tumid and rubbery, almost hard, before Randi came.

"Auungghh . . ." Randi groaned softly, undulating her groin back into Kim's deeper and deeper forward thrusts, wincing even more as the intensity grew. "Auungghhh! Ohhhh . . . yes! Ohhhhh . . . yes! Auunnnghhh!"

Laura could barely contain the thrill of watching this fat, ridged stalk plunging into the burbling, volcanic honey pot of Randi's swollen, oozing pussy. The thick, black inner lips of her cunt were coated and shiny with glistening fuck-nectars and clung to the shaft when Kim pulled it out. She was now holding it with the fingers of one hand, guiding it into the hot cauldron of Randi's open trench, pushing it in deep, which caused Randi to whimper and groan louder.

"Ungghhh! Ohnnnnnn! Ahhhhh . . . yes, unghhhh!"

Both Laura and Kim had already climaxed—Kim two or three times—but not Randi, and so Laura could easily see why the girl was so overwrought and trembling on the edge of a thrilling orgasm. She realized that Kim was right; she would not get her mouth on Randi's large, bulging, throbbing clit this time. It would have to wait.

Still, she couldn't help stroking her, caressing her, leaning forward to kiss parts of her squirming, quivering body, kissing the new tattoo on her shoulder, as Kim had earlier done. She slipped one hand under Randi's body to clutch one of her breasts, pinching the plump, thick nipple between her thumb and forefinger. Briefly, Randi's red-shot eyes fluttered open, and she smiled a very deep, sensual, fuck-me smile at Laura before groaning again as Kim pushed the strap-on deep into her pussy.

"Anngghhhh!" she moaned, wincing again. "Ohhhhh . . so deep!"

Laura found herself wondering how it could be any bigger than Nate's big cock, which Randi was always bragging to her about. But Kim was now fucking her more vigorously, jabbing it in deep, and on top of that she was now holding onto Randi's handcuffed wrists and pulling her arms back at the same time. This forcibly bowed Randi's body up into a curve, stretching all the muscles along the front of her body, which Laura could feel since she was still clutching one of Randi's delectable firm breasts in her hand.

"Ohhnnngggg!" Randi cried out, her face contorted with acute sexual tension.

She was stretched taut by Kim pulling back on her arms, her breath constricted, her sexual excitement spun even tighter by this new tension. But Kim was a slender, fine-boned little slip of a thing herself and did not have the strength to hold Randi's arms back that way for long. Still gripping them, she lunged forward, burying the strap-on in Randi's pussy deeply, but then releasing Randi's arms to let her fall forward again onto the mattress, which shook under the impact both of her fierce fuck-thrust and Randi's weight.

"Ohhnnnggggg!" Randi groaned again, whimpering and writhing under Kim's fierce fucking.

Watching them, Laura wondered why Randi had not come already. She was taking a wild fuck-pummeling from Kim, who now pulled her handcuffed wrists back again, a second time, bowing Randi's body, causing a long, low whoop of incredible sexual excitement just to disappear into a strangled gasp as it tried to escape from Randi's stretched throat. In fact, Kim pulled her body up so far off the bed that in a flash Laura was able to slip under Randi's taut, arched torso so that when she again fell forward she fell onto Laura instead of the mattress.

She groaned this time with a horribly intense howl, and Laura knew she was already riding the crest of a killer orgasm. And Kim knew it too. Over Randi's shoulder, Laura could see Kim sweating, grimacing, panting in a frenzy, her green eyes glowing as she fucked Randi harder and faster.

"Ungghh! Oh! Ungghh! Awwwonnggg!" Randi gasped, writhing on top of Laura, her body beginning to shudder and quake with involuntary spasms.

"Oh yes . . . oh yes, baby . . ." Laura panted to her, holding her writhing body, kissing her wherever she could place her lips on the girl's sleek, smooth, sweaty flesh, while Kim continued to fuck Randi relentlessly.

For a brief second Randi's red-streaked eyes caught Laura's, but a piercing stab into her cunt from the rear suddenly made them roll up, and she slumped forward, twitching and moaning as her orgasm finally arrived in full force.

"Auungghhh! Anngghiiieeeee!" she cried out, her whole long body stiffening briefly as a shattering convulsion gripped it.

And it was at this moment that Kim reached forward with both hands and grabbed two fists full of Randi's braids, very close to her scalp, and yanked up Randi's head with wild sexual violence. Laura felt her own insides clench in sympathetic pain as she watched, first, the pain on Randi's face, followed by, second, the influx of a sublime and intense orgasmic rapture that spread across it. For a moment it seemed to Laura as if Randi's first climax was suddenly interrupted by another, more severe, crushing, and throttling orgasm.

She was breathless for a second, her body suspended in mid-climax, her face contorted by excruciating pleasure, so deep that it almost seemed painful. And then she erupted in long, undulating convulsions on top of Laura, whinnying helplessly as each spasm wracked her beautiful, squirming body.

"Auungghhh! Ohmnnnnggg! Ummnngghiiieieeeeee! Oh . . . oh god oh shit . . . ohhnnnggghhiieeeee! Unnnmmmnngghiiieee!" she screamed, her face burrowing into Laura's shoulder, her body glued by sticky sweat to Laura's, her breasts sliding across Laura's, her nipples hard and rasping against Laura's sensitive skin.

For a second Laura reflected that it was not as good as coming yourself, but it had to be the next best thing, lying like that under a beautiful woman who was being driven nearly insane with pleasure by a truly harrowing, toe-curling orgasm. She completely lost track of time—they all did—and had no idea how long Randi lay writhing and coming on top of her, or how long Kim continued to fuck her, or how many times Randi came, squealing and keening and moaning and twitching, or when Kim finally released Randi's hair, or when their rough, intermingled breath finally returned to normal.

But it seemed like forever, and none of them was willing to move. Kim, though she was slender and very light, took care not to lean too heavily onto Randi's back, and was the first to move, finally, almost reluctantly, withdrawing the strap-on dildo gingerly from Randi's thoroughly ravished pussy, and slipping out of the harness. Then, divested of it, she returned to them just as Laura rolled Randi onto her side. Kim resumed her position behind Randi, and she and Laura now had the girl again in a sandwich.

They kissed her tenderly and lovingly between them, until Randi's soft moans returned, but this time not the urgent, passionate moans she had just been emitting; instead ethereal, faint, plangent moans of unbelievable bliss. Even so, in the midst of her deep pleasure, Randi's eyes fluttered open and caught Laura's with a caustic flash.

"You gon' take those handcuffs off me now, you bitch?" she snapped, her black eyes flashing with humor and spite all mingled together.

Feeling guilty, Laura immediately loosened her embrace. "You bet."

She hopped off the bed and went into the living room, where she had left her purse. When she returned, Kim and Randi were kissing. Laura paused in the doorway, watching them. It was a sweet, tender moment. Kim especially seemed more tender than Laura usually expected from such a wild, unpredictable panther of a woman. But then, she thought, she really fucked that poor girl hard. She is a demon for fucking. And the way she pulled her hair . . .

God, it reminds me of the way Dawn and I do it. I didn't realize anybody else ever did that. Randi's head must still hurt.

Unable to stop herself, Laura approached the bed with a guilty, very ashamed-looking expression on her face, stammering slightly, as if unwilling to speak.

"I . . . I've got bad news," she said, trying to keep a straight face. "I . . . left the key at home."

Randi's eyes widened in a quick fury. "You what!"

Laura grinned, producing the key from behind her body. "Only kidding."

With a hostile smile still curling her sensual mouth, Randi rolled over again on her stomach, presenting her wrists, and Laura had her free in two seconds. She held up the dangling handcuffs.

"My . . . who would have ever thought such fun could be had with a couple of steel rings," she said in a hushed voice, dripping with mock awe.

Rubbing her wrists, Randi grinned at her. "We know who."

"You're next, Laura," Kim said quickly, in her typical daring, challenging style.

"Let's pull her hair," Randi purred, now conspiring with Kim, even moving, feinting, toward Laura. "Look at all that hair . . . that beautiful shiny model's hair. There's enough for you and me to pull at the same time and there'll still be some left over. We can fuck her and pull her hair."

Laura smiled tightly, shrinking back from them. It wasn't that she was completely reluctant, but she remembered the horrible, paralytic, lightning-struck expression that had passed across Randi's face when she came—so very similar to the expression that seized Dawn's when Laura was pulling her hair and fucking her—and she could not help recoiling from it inside. Even though Dawn loved Laura to do it, she had never done it to Laura herself, and Laura couldn't help still feeling both the desire and fear of a virgin.

"Let's take a rest . . . and finish our drinks first," she suggested evasively, moving back from the bed, feeling their eyes on her naked body more intensely now than before.

She knew they all three felt temporarily exhausted and wrung out by the sexual event they had just completed and could use a few minutes of rest. After all, she thought, we might all be sexually insatiable, but there are limits. She could see from the relieved expressions on their faces that they agreed with her.

Randi smiled and slipped off the bed into the walk-in bathroom, returning with three large bath towels. She tossed one to each of them.

"Worked up a hot sweat," she grinned with a self-satisfied air, drying off her long, lovely black body, feeling their eyes on it, knowing the pleasure it had given them to fuck it, and the pleasure she had derived from it. "You two are better than any gym."

"I know we're better than Jim," Laura cracked. "The question is, are we better than Nate?"

"Who's Nate?" Kim asked.

Randi winked at her. "You could give him fucking lessons," she said, in a veiled, alluring voice.

She patted the roots of her braids with one hand and winced a little.

Back in Randi's living room, they found their martinis watery and tepid. They threw them out and Randi made fresh ones. In forty-five minutes they were back in the bedroom, but in the mean time all thoughts of handcuffs and hair-pulling had seemed to evaporate, and it was sweet, prolonged, sensual fucking they were after.

Laura did finally get her chance to take Randi's very large clit into her mouth, though she was forced to share it with Kim, who was also awed by its size, and between them they made Randi cry out almost as sharply with pleasure as she had done earlier. Laura and Kim likewise took their turns being the center of attention, but this time only clever and skillful mouths, tongues, and fingers were the tools of choice.

By midnight, all three were so fatigued that they were relieved to call it quits, and Kim returned to spend the night at Laura's apartment, where even in the morning they were too tired to do anything, and it was afternoon before they felt the fires beginning to ignite again.