Cruising the Strip by Radclyffe, Karin Kallmaker Page B

Brandy was thinking.
    The first door was locked, the second revealed another couple with the same idea. If they were even aware of the door opening, they didn’t show it. A third bedroom was equally occupied, and the bathroom was usable only if one could ignore the noises coming from behind the glass shower doors.
    Brandy sighed with frustration.
    “Over here,” Tess said. She pulled Brandy behind a not all that large potted palm.
    “Baby, anyone can see us.”
    “Ask yourself who here is going to arrest us?”
    Brandy’s pulse reached a boil. “I see your point. So I’ll fuck you right here?”
    For an answer, Tess gave her a slack-jawed look and undid the neck of her dress. In moments it was puddled around her ankles.
    “Baby.” Brandy was stunned. Tess was in one of her moods, and she loved those moods, but this was more than…beyond even… She might have stood there, mouth hanging open, but fortunately a little voice inside her shouted, “Shut up and fuck her, you idiot!”
    Brandy unzipped. “All for you.”
    “Now,” Tess said, spreading her legs.
    It felt like the first time all over again. Tess made a sound that had Brandy’s head spinning. She pushed harder, paused when Tess reached down. “Is it okay? Damn, I forgot the lube.”
    “It’s fine, just something…there. Oh fuck, yes, Brandy, please.”
    Tess’s hands went down the back of Brandy’s pants, squeezing and massaging Brandy’s bare ass. The surge of erotic adrenaline drove every other thought out of her head.
    She bit Tess’s neck and fucked her. Held on, fucked her, lived all their nights and days over again, felt that electric current of memories that culminated in the promise of a future that went on like this, full of love and passion and play—fucked her through her first climax, knew there would be a second, and relished that knowledge. She loved this woman, loved being with her, and knowing her body the way she did only deepened the magic.
    Tess said her name, gorgeous in her abandonment. “Don’t stop.”
    “You know I won’t.”
    “Damn it, it’s filling me up, Brandy, you know, please…”
    Their words danced back and forth, no pattern or reason anyone else would understand, but four years and more of working on their own language meant Brandy knew Tess wanted hard, deep, steady strokes now, then short ones, softer while she hovered on the edge of climax again. She listened, heard the sharp whimpers. She pinned Tess to the wall and fucked her, hard, fast, relentlessly, and Tess came again, words and little noises all jumbled together.

    *

    They drifted in each other’s arms on the dance floor, Tess covered, Brandy zipped.
    “That was incredibly fun.”
    “It was,” Brandy agreed. “Want to do it again?”
    “In our room. In just a little while.” Tess ground against Brandy with no rhythm that matched the music, and it was perfect.
    A woman paused next to them as they swayed. Brandy recognized the attractive Latina from the elevator. With a direct look at Tess, she said, “Mind if I cut in?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do.” Tess arched one eyebrow at the woman that plainly said, “Go away.”
    “Sorry. I know you already got some of what she’s packing, and you may have noticed that she’s the only one. But if you’re not sharing, that’s cool.”
    “She’s not for borrowing.”
    The woman shrugged expressively and walked away.
    Brandy looked up at Tess, not exactly confused, but feeling like she wasn’t sure why Tess had put it quite that way.
    For a moment, Tess wouldn’t meet her gaze, but then she did with her serious, open expression that Brandy had always found brave and wise. But at the moment it was tinged with chagrin.
    “I didn’t even ask you if you wanted—”
    “I didn’t,” Brandy assured her. “I really didn’t and I don’t. You’re right. I’m not for—”
    “I want to make it permanent,” Tess said, all in a rush.
    “Are you sure?” Brandy’s heart melted in her