The Ultimate Betrayal (4 page)

“Well, can you blame him? Your scent is intoxicating. I might lick my own hand after I delve into your luscious juices. Just push him away. Eventually, he gets the message.”

Lara groaned as Espresso poked his head between the seats. She scratched his chin and then pushed him back. “Not today, Espresso. You just march your furry butt back and curl up to take a nap like a good boy.”

Espresso’s eyes turned to tiny emerald slits as he swished his tail back and forth before settling into one of the bucket seats in the rear of the car.

“See, he just needed a few little pets.” Rachel raked her gaze across her wife’s business attire. “Not that I don’t love you in your sexy suits, but are you trying to make this challenging for me?”

Lara eased the car into traffic as they exited the airport arrival area. She grinned at Rachel. “Nylons and panties are in my purse. I wanted to feel the breeze between my legs.”

Rachel moved her hand up Lara’s silky leg and pushed the skirt up. “
Mmm
, commando, and someone is especially happy to see me. I should have noticed you weren’t wearing pantyhose—how unobservant of me.”

Rachel’s hand kept circling dangerously close to Lara’s clit and her frustration peaked as she blurted out an order. “Stop teasing me. I’m ready to burst.”

“Mm hm. Patience is a virtue you know. Maybe I want to merely get you ready for when we get home.”

Rachel’s lazy smile was Lara’s undoing. “I have no patience and I can’t wait. We can do the slow tease later, right now I just need quick and precise.”

“As soon as you get on the highway,” Rachel purred.

Distracted, Lara nearly plowed into a car speeding to her left as she tried to merge onto I-5. She jerked the wheel to the right just in time. “Okay, maybe I can wait until I’m safely on the highway,” Lara agreed.

The black Tesla jerked forward several times as Lara’s foot pushed against the gas pedal and her head hit the backrest in ecstasy. The appetizer before the full meal was enough to stir her hunger.

Chapter Six

Sophia looked out the window of her luxury high-rise penthouse in the exclusive New York City building, Central Park West. The gray sky mirrored her mood. Her wife had left early that morning after two glorious weeks in which they’d felt like a normal couple.

She hadn’t wanted to spend their short time together fighting about the pitiful amount of time they managed to share with one another. Sophia didn’t care about the money. She desperately wanted her wife to give up the west coast office. Since she’d opened the office, Sophia felt like she’d begun to slip away from her.

Sophia did her best not to put pressure on her hard-working spouse and the old arguments remained strictly off the table during the precious two-week visit. She chuckled to herself as she realized that’s exactly what it felt like—a two-week visit.

Sophia was grateful for the fact that the visit coincided with her spring break. She loved teaching and was fortunate enough to have a lot of free time during the university breaks. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else, but she’d grown tired of city life.

Sophia’s roots were in the sparsely populated cities in the rural Midwest. Good old boys, mom and apple pie, did not create an easy life while growing up as an out and proud lesbian. She thought she’d died and gone to heaven when she first learned of a university that taught gay and lesbian studies.

The shiny new bobble that was New York City had not worn off for many years and her return to the city seemed inevitable, but lately Sophia had begun to think about other things that she wanted from this life. She wanted to spend more than two weeks at a time with her wife and she wanted to have kids. It wasn’t too late—yet.

She’d just turned thirty-five and she could feel her biological clock ticking loudly in her head at night. The ticking got especially loud when she found herself alone in the five thousand square foot luxury penthouse. What good was a boatload of money when you rarely were able to enjoy the fruits with the one you loved?

Fawn, her tan tabby, waddled closer and barely made it up on the arm of the plush moss green sofa resting perpendicular to the floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the twinkling lights of the city.

Sophia smiled down at her sole companion. “Who keeps feeding you treats? Pretty soon you won’t be able to jump up on the bed and then what’ll you do? Maybe while your other mommy is away again, I can keep you on a strict diet.” Sophia stroked his soft fur and could feel him purr as she absently continued massaging his head.

Her sigh was loud enough that if anyone had been in the master bedroom, they might have heard the depression in that one quick expulsion of air. “Oh Fawn, remember when we first got together, we couldn’t keep our hands, or any other part of our body, off one another. I don’t want to feel like an old married couple. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was cheating on me, but how in the world would she have time. Running two successful offices on opposite sides of the country doesn’t leave time for much else besides working, eating, and sleeping. I need to get a life that doesn’t revolve entirely around my wife’s business schedule. Let’s call Aunty Joy and see what she’s up to tonight. I’m done moping around for now.”

Sophia picked up her smart phone, swiped the large screen, and punched several buttons until she heard her best friend’s voice. “Hey, Joy. Yeah, she left this morning. I’m bored, depressed, and something else I don’t care to mention. Get two. I’ll be able to devour one whole container myself. Yep, nothing like ice cream therapy to cure whatever ails you. Oh yeah, can you also pick up some double A batteries? Oh, shush, it’s for the something else I didn’t want to mention and no, you cannot watch.”

Sophia chuckled as she ended the call. “Now, why couldn’t I fall in love with Joy, who is a constant in my life and who I’m sure will never fall prey to the dreaded lesbian bed death.”

As Sophia wondered why she hadn’t heard from her wife yet
,
the ding on her phone signaled that a new text message had arrived.

Flight delayed. Just got in. Love u.

Love u 2. Call me tomorrow after u get some sleep.

OK

At least Sophia wouldn’t worry about her wife making it safely back to her satellite office. Sophia wondered if her love felt as lonely and lost as she did every time she left.
Probably too busy to get lonely.

Hearing the doorbell, Sophia scurried to the door to let her best friend and the two pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream into the penthouse.

“About time you got here. Did you have to milk the cow?” Sophia asked.

“No, smartass, but I almost had to pay Johann in ice cream to let me come up this late at night. He told me chocolate chip cookie dough is his favorite and then he gave me his best puppy dog eyes. Too bad for him that I’m a big old dyke and those puppy dog eyes only work when they are attached to a buxom blonde.”

“Ooh, is that the color of the week now?” Sophia prodded.

“Ha
ha
. I’ve always been a sucker for blondes,” Joy offered.

“And brunettes and redheads and silver foxes, anything with two legs….”

“I’m ignoring that because I know you’re distraught because your honey lips just left. How long will she be gone this time?” Joy asked.

“Honey lips?
Ew
, that’s just wrong. She’ll be gone for a whole month,” Sophia lamented.

Joy whistled. “Whoa. She’ll be gone for her fortieth birthday. I thought you were planning a big surprise party for her?”

“I was, but my plans just got shot to hell when she laid the big bomb on me today. She was terribly apologetic, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that I won’t get to spend the big day with her. Poor baby.” Sophia plucked the pint of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate chip cookie dough from Joy’s hand and walked into the kitchen, retrieving two spoons.

Stainless steel appliances with a built in wine refrigerator adorned the kitchen. The imported Italian marble countertops sat on top of rich, cherry wood. Her wife insisted on the best of everything, but Sophia would gladly trade it all in for a normal marriage where people got to sleep together every night.

“Why don’t you just go to her? I’ll bet she would love the surprise. The university loves you, I’m sure they could get someone to cover your classes for a few days,” Joy offered.

Sophia waved Joy into the living room and plopped down on the sofa next to Fawn, while Joy settled into the leather recliner. Sophia started laughing when Joy removed the top to the ice cream and didn’t know where to put it after snuggling into the comfortable chair. She popped up from the sofa and grabbed the top, placing it next to the cap on the coffee table that she’d already removed from her pint. A plastic bag settled haphazardly next to the chair where Joy had tossed it. Sophia suspected it contained her batteries. She was thankful that Joy hadn’t remembered to tease her about them.

“You know, Joy, that isn’t a half bad idea,” Sophia said, getting excited. “I think I’ll do it. I can surprise her at her office. God knows why she decided to set up an office in
loggersville
. I suppose all those
Microtech
millionaires might be reason enough, but geez it rains there all the time.”

“I heard the Seattleites are wild in the sack. All that free love, granola shit makes them completely unconventional. I wouldn’t mind taking a trip out west to check it out. I feel an illness coming on and I’m sure in two weeks it will be a full-fledged contagion that I must absolutely resist exposing others to. Take me with you, please,” Joy begged.

“Absolutely. We can play tourist while my lovely wife works her ass off. I don’t know why she’s never let me visit. There are a few places that I’d love to see. They have Orca whales in the sound right outside some cluster of islands not too far from Seattle. I want to see the whales,” Sophia enthused.

“We can go see the whales only if you promise I won’t have to put on some smelly jumpsuit that five hundred sweaty people previously wore. I saw this special TV show once about those whale watching tours and what those people wore was simply disgusting—not to mention totally unflattering to the figure. I want a luxury boat for our whale watching adventure. Oh, and you need to take me to a gay bar so I can meet the local talent,” Joy insisted.

“Deal. Thanks for coming here, Joy, and cheering me up. I don’t know what’s happening with our marriage, but I get the feeling that she’s slipping away from me. We made it through the scary sevens, but after ten years, we should be more settled. Something is off. I can’t put my finger on it, but I feel like I’m missing something really important. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but as my granny always said,
just cause you’re paranoid, don’t mean they
ain’t
out to get you, honey
.”

“She did not say that. You’re making that shit up,” Joy said.

“I am not. My granny was bat shit crazy, but a wise woman just the same.”

“Is she the one that drank a glass or two of red wine every night?” Joy asked.

“Yep. That’s the one. My other grandma was the hussy with six different husbands.”

“Okay, now you’re pulling my leg.”

“No, I’m not. I swear. She was a real looker in her time, but she got bored easily and the men she married never seemed to keep her satisfied for too long. She married her last husband in the nursing home, but that only lasted six months before he caught her in bed with the guy down the hall. Granny had an active libido all the way into her eighties. Grampa number six caught her with her legs spread eagle and old man Harold’s head nestled right in the middle. He couldn’t get it up anymore, but granny swore his tongue was golden.”

Joy burst out laughing. “Damn, girl. No wonder you’re a lesbian, our equipment functions well into old age and it sounds like to keep up with you and your ancestors, that’s what it takes to keep you happy in your golden years.”

Sophia looked at her best friend. “Joy, are you really serious? Will you go with me to Seattle? I might need someone to pal around with while I’m in a practically foreign land.”

“You know you can always count on me. Besides, I’d love to drool over your wife again. She is a fine looking specimen, even though she is so not my type.”

Sophia got a dreamy look on her face. “She is something, isn’t she? I hit the jackpot when I met her. She’s beautiful, charming, intelligent, rich, and mine, all mine. Now if we could just reside in the same city three hundred and sixty five days a year—life would be perfect.”

“You’ve been living apart like this for at least two years. Why are you, all of a sudden, desperate for your best friend’s ice cream therapy?” Joy asked.

“I want to have a family,” Sophia blurted out.

“So, Miss Perfect doesn’t share your long-term plans, huh?”

“Well, I thought she did, but lately she keeps dodging the subject and whenever I try to have a serious discussion about it, we go down the bad road. I see her so little as it is—I’ve just stopped mentioning it,” Sophia admitted.

“Oh hon, you two have to get that settled and soon. Being on the same page about having kids is one of those make or break marriage subjects. Didn’t you two discuss that when you got married?” Joy asked.

“We did, but that was before her business took off and she became so successful,” Sophia explained.

“Have you ever thought of marriage counseling?”

“Are you kidding? You’ve met my wife. She has serious control issues. No way in hell would she agree to that.” Sophia stuck her spoon in the ice cream container, dug out a large chunk, and wrapped her mouth around the spoon, letting the creamy sweet treat melt on her tongue. “
Mmm
, that is orgasmic. Something I’ve been missing lately.”

Joy picked up the plastic bag sitting next to her chair, pulled out the package of batteries, tossed them to Sophia and began singing. “Sisters are
doin
’ it for themselves.”

Sophia chuckled. “Yep, you got that right. I always thought that being a lesbian would ensure that I’d never have to revert to
doin
’ it
for myself.”

“Oh, honey, sometimes it’s fun to incorporate that into the total love mix. Nothing wrong with a little toy action now and again.”

Sophia scooped out some ice cream and held her spoon up while Joy dug out her own treasure as they clicked their spoons together. “Amen to that.”