Sugar Page 11

  Emily had her hands over Nan's eyes, and they were both flus¬tered and giggling. If Sugar hadn't known otherwise, she'd have taken them for lovers. "You haven't met the last guest of honor! It's She-Devil herself!"

  Nan blinked after Emily removed her hands. "What are you talking about? What have you done with my kitty?"

  Emily whisked the Mylar away, and after a stunned moment, Nan let out a squeal that a fifteen-year-old couldn't have matched. "It's perfect]"

  Sugar grinned to herself, taking note of the tears in Nan's eyes. It really didn't matter to her what her work resembled, it was the reaction of the person she'd created it for that really mattered. Most of the time she wasn't around to see it.

  "Time to have some," Annette pronounced. Considering how much Sugar had seen her drink so far, she was remarkably poised. "Who's got a knife?"

  "No way!" Nan moved protectively over the cake. "You can't cut it up."

  "Not yet, anyway," Emily said. "We need lots of pictures."

  "The light's terrible," someone observed.

  With a preliminary burst, the lights came on, and everybody laughed and clapped. "Just in time!" Emily picked up a camera tucked under the presents stacked on the sideboard. "Say cheese!"

  Within a few minutes bluesy jazz was wafting from the stereo

  and Nan settled down to open her gifts. Emily took Sugar by the arm, pulling her to die sideboard. "If we're quick, we can cut the cake now before Nan realizes it. I didn't think she might want to leave it intact. Let's make her slice something unrecognizable."

  "I should have warned you—it's happened before." Considering that she was mildly tipsy, Sugar neverdieless made short work of slicing up the cake that had taken her so many hours to create.

  "Does it bother you to destroy your own work?" Emily handed her another plate for the next piece.

  "No, not at all. It's meant to be eaten. It's food, the best I can make. This is the part I like best."

  Maybe it was the alcohol that gave her the lack of inhibition required to pick up a bite's worth of cake and offer it to Emily. "Open wide."

  Emily's laugh was sultry as she leaned forward to take the prof¬fered morsel. "I don't think I'll have any trouble at all doing that for you." Her intense blue gaze didn't leave Sugar's face until after the cake was in her mouth. Then it was Sugar's fingers that had her attention. With a small sound only Sugar heard, she caught them between her lips.

  The light, teasing sensation of Emily's tongue on her fingertips brought a searing heat to other parts of Sugar. She'd had too much to drink. It had been too long since she'd been so obviously desired.

  "Oh . . . my." Emily breathed out as Sugar gently pulled her hand back. She closed her eyes for a moment as she savored the cake. "That is incredibly good."

  "Thank you."

  "So is the cake," Emily added.

  Blushing, Sugar went back to plating pieces. When Nan got to Emily's gift, Sugar watched from a distance as Emily helped pull the paper off the large box.

  "I'm so glad the power came back on," Emily said as a large, elaborate karaoke machine was revealed.

  The two women embraced as Nan exclaimed excitedly. Sugar grinned as the gathering divided into two camps. One perused the playlists and chose songs to perform. The other reviewed the con¬nection instructions and organized a work detail. She sighed. She loved lesbians. No one waited around for permission to do any¬thing. Work got done. Fun was had.

  Nan looked a little sad when handed a piece of cake, then shrugged and joined everyone else in enjoying it. Sugar found her¬self on the receiving end of many compliments and, even better, four business cards.

  "I really do want to see an investor's prospectus," Elaine said in a low voice. "Emily is never wrong about trends. She knows a winner when she sees one."

  For what felt like the hundredth time that night, Sugar blushed. "I have to admit I hadn't thought of seeking outside investment."

  Elaine nodded. "I guessed. I admire someone trying to build something out of nothing but their own wits and talent. With Emily's ideas and drive, though, you could see results in months instead of years. Besides, for someone in TV, Emily is remarkably genuine. It's not hard to be her friend."

  Sugar didn't know quite what to make of that or the look in Elaine's eyes. She felt as if she'd been encouraged but warned, too.

  The lights were dimmed after a while and Sugar found herself dancing with Emily.

  "Just like the night we met," Emily whispered in Sugar's ear.

  "But quieter," Sugar noted. "I couldn't hear myself think."

  "I was really sorry not to have gotten your name that night. Maybe it was fate that brought up your Web site on an Internet search. I recognized you right away, was blown away by your work, so I set up that appointment."

  "I was there with a friend and left when she did." She had looked around for the gorgeous redhead who had liked to dance face-to-face, back-to-back or with thighs and arms tangled, but she hadn't been able to spot her in the crowd.

  "I'm not a big club-scene gal. But every once in a while it's nice to polish the floor with someone who excites me."

  At the time, Sugar had attached little importance to the time spent dancing with an unknown woman. It had felt good, but she'd had too much to drink, too. The next day it hadn't been at all dif¬ficult to imagine that the attractive redhead who had danced with her had been drunk as well. Now she was dancing with that woman again, neither of them was more than slightly inebriated, and cir¬cumstances were very different.

  There was no space between them and Sugar found herself not the least bit surprised. Emily was a woman of ambition and drive, who knew how to work a crowd and discuss big dreams with ease. They were skills Sugar hadn't ever possessed, but getting to know Emily would no doubt provide opportunities to learn. Maybe she was some kind of project to Emily, but the warmth in Emily's hands on her waist said it was more than that.

  She'd felt like a nervous schoolgirl with Charlie, and maybe that was because Charlie was a kind of hero. Tall, dark and hand¬some, Sugar mused. Emily was dynamic, vivacious. She'd seen Sugar at her very worst and yet was still attracted. To be fair, Charlie had seemed attracted as well, maybe, but Charlie was a girlish fantasy. Sugar didn't feel like a schoolgirl right now, she felt very much a grownup. And it was grown-up things she was think¬ing about as their bodies pressed closer and closer.

  They swayed together more and more slowly and Sugar found herself recalling Emily's bedroom. She dreaded the idea of Emily asking her to stay the night, but she wanted Emily to ask, too. She didn't know what her answer would be. It wasn't like her to get intimate with someone she'd just met, but Emily was like no one she'd ever met before.

  The party began to break up. Annette precipitously retired to a distant bedroom, predicting a miserable morning. The rain had let up. A light drizzle fell as Nan's gifts were taken out her car. Several women, Elaine included, made a point of saying how glad they

  were to have met her. One even reminded her, in a low voice, that her home number was on the back of her business card.

  It had to be the sweater, she thought, the tight sweater—and that she was a novelty. The house burns down and she's suddenly sexy? She didn't think that was the way it worked.

  Julie and crew had long since packed up and headed out. Emily closed the door behind the last guest and leaned against it, gazing across the foyer at Sugar. With the exception of Annette, no doubt passed out somewhere else in the house, they were alone. Sugar's heart was pounding.

  "I left my smock and shirt upstairs."

  "I know. I could go up and get them." Emily pushed off from the door. She was naturally graceful and Sugar found it impossible to look away. "Or you could come with me."

  "I think," Sugar said unsteadily, "it might be best if you got them." If they went upstairs they'd go to bed, she was sure of it. It was hard to think. She really wanted to experience where this heat and excitement boiling throughout her body would lead. She'd wanted a
woman before, but it hadn't felt like this.

  Emily looked disappointed, but she went up the stairs in a whis¬per of silk. Sugar returned to the lounge, where the fire was nearly embers.

  Her mind turned over the glitter and laughter of the evening, trying to sort it all out. She'd liked the attention, liked the appre¬ciation of her work, but how much of that was party and fluff, and how much of it had been real? How much of what she was feeling for Emily was based on fleeting attraction, and how much was something more? What was "something more" anyway?

  "Here they are," Emily said as she entered the lounge. "When was the last time you had a drink?"

  "An hour, maybe two. Before we were dancing."

  "I don't want you to drive out there if you're not sober." Emily had taken off her shoes, and her feet made no sound as she padded across the soft carpet to join Sugar in front of the fire.

  "Alcohol isn't why I'm feeling dizzy."

  "Why, then?" Emily's hand cupped the back of Sugar's neck. "Is it because of this?"

  The brush of Emily's lips over her own drew a small moan out of Sugar. "Yes," she breathed, and then Emily's lips were on hers with increasing pressure.

  They stayed like that for a long while, the brush of lips mixing with smaller nips and longer kisses. Their bodies were a slow, yielding melt of hips and thighs finding the way that fit best. When Sugar filled her hands with Emily's silky hair, it was Emily who moaned.

  "Do you ever think," Emily said between kisses, "that there are moments you could die a perfectly happy being?"

  "Yes," Sugar murmured back. "Like right now. This is perfect."

  "What about this?" Emily's hands finally left Sugar's waist, glid¬ing upward to caress Sugar's back.

  Sugar involuntarily arched, it felt that good, and she realized her breasts were straining against Emily's. "Also perfect."

  "Good." Emily's hands moved back to Sugar's waist, then once again journeyed up the length of Sugar's back. But this time her hands were under the sweater and Sugar gasped into their next lass.

  She wanted to feel Emily's skin, too. The waist of Emily's top was too close-fitting to get her hands underneath, so Sugar instead hesitantly slipped open the bottom button, unfastening it slowly enough for Emily to pull away if that wasn't okay. Emily didn't pull away, and Sugar undid the next button so she could smooth her hands over Emily's stomach.

  She tasted Emily's responsive moan in their kiss. The last of her restraint evaporated, then, and more buttons opened as Emily began to draw the sweater over Sugar's head.

  She gasped as she realized Emily wore no bra. Emily pulled hard on the sweater and Sugar had to raise her hands over her head, letting go of Emily in the process. With a hammering thrill, she felt her own bra being pulled up with the sweater. The sound of her clothes lightly dropping to the floor sent a thrill up her legs.

  Emily murmured, "My heavens, so lovely," then simply, "Yes," as Sugar in turn pushed the unbuttoned shirt from her shoulders.

  Nipples met as kisses became wild. Hands grazed shoulder blades and ribs, then she and Emily both half laughed as fingers found their way to breasts.

  "This feels extraordinarily good," Emily said, smiling. "Delightful."

  "De-lovely." Sugar's nerves were no longer jangling with warn¬ings. They were ringing with abandon.

  "I think I'm not going to be able to stand up much longer." Emily drew Sugar to the long sofa that faced the fire. She sank onto her back, inviting Sugar to stretch out on top of her.

  The kisses seemed endless but always new. The sound of their taut breathing and the press of skin on skin sent tingles the length of Sugar's spine. Emily was arching under her in a rhythm that matched her own, as if they had never stopped dancing.

  Sugar had no idea how long they had been moving against each other, but her hips were between Emily's legs now and their rhythm was taking on a new urgency. Emily was nodding into their kisses and with each breath a soft sighing "yes" escaped her.

  "Are you sure?" Sugar kissed her way down Emily's stomach. She had to listen for Emily's answer over the roar of her own blood in her ears.

  "I think if you don't touch me soon I'll explode."

  "I'm feeling that way myself." Sugar raised up a little to unbut¬ton, then unzip Emily's soft pants. Moving up again, she stretched the length of Emily's body and their kisses grew longer, deeper. Sugar tasted the depths of Emily's mouth and offered her own in return. She shook off a sensation of falling, but it was a struggle to remember where she was. The world was contracting around them until there was nothing but the sound of their rising passion.

  Her hands slid across the small of Emily's back, then downward to push the pants lower. Emily shuddered under her.

  "I want to feel you," she said with a gasp. She struggled to sit up. "Please, Sugar."

  Sugar's knees were still spread when Emily slid out from under her. Emily's pants slithered off her in the process and Sugar shiv¬ered as Emily's scent reached her sensitive nose and her mouth watered in response. She barely had time to register how much she wanted to taste Emily when Emily's hand pressed hard into the crotch of her jeans.

  "I want you," Emily said, her blue eyes dark with passion. "I want this."

  Sugar thrust herself down on Emily's hand as she frantically unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down. Emily just as quickly moved her hand from fabric to Sugar's exposed flesh, cupping it with a sound like a growl.

  "Oh, please, yes," Sugar said, and a moment later Emily was inside her and they both froze, only their eyes in motion as they sought each other's gaze.

  Emily slowly nodded, then her fingers moved slightly and Sugar couldn't stand the tension anymore. "Don't tease me—"

  Emily pushed Sugar onto her back and yanked down her jeans. She was inside Sugar again a moment later and the kisses this time were hot, needy, quick and hard, the same way Emily's fingers were moving inside her.

  Red hair fell around Sugar's face and she gave a disbelieving gasp as an early shudder of climax rippled through her. After all the kissing, this was going to be fast, incredibly fast. "Yes, like that!"

  "You feel so good, so hot."

  Their voices twined like their bodies, sometimes in unison, sometimes in give-and-take. The spiral was sharply upward until Sugar felt something in her give way, something guarded and secret that was now of no importance next to the throbbing con¬tractions of her body. She cried out and Emily strained against her in matching energy. Sugar felt washed in the blue of Emily's eyes as she arched one last time and Emily went deeply inside her again.

  She was sobbing when her body began to feel real again. Emily was on top of her, breathing hard as she made loving, quiet shush¬ing noises in Sugar's ear.

  "That was amazing. I loved that," Emily murmured after a few minutes, while Sugar could only nod.

  A hundred heartbeats later, more or less, she realized Emily's hand on her stomach was wet. She lifted it to her own mouth and was pleased to feel Emily's body tighten at the touch of her tongue. She traced the length of Emily's palm with just the tip and felt another shudder. "Do you like that?"

  "Yes," Emily breathed.

  "Mmm, good." Sugar turned to press Emily into the back of the sofa and wriggled downward until her mouth was level with Emily's breasts. "How about this?"

  "God, yes." Emily moaned as Sugar's tongue flicked one red¬dened tip. "That feels fantastic."

  Sugar took her time, enjoying the hardening texture of Emily's nipples and the responsive thrusts of Emily's hips when she bit down ever so gently. Gradually she moved Emily onto her back and teased both breasts, watching with increasing arousal as Emily's nipples grew more red and distended in the ruddy glow of the last of the fire.

  "Sugar, please," Emily finally said.

  "Please what?" Sugar looked up, feeling that here, at least, she was not the protegee. She knew perfectly well what Emily wanted.

  Emily took Sugar's face in her hands, pulling her up for a hard kiss, dien pushing her down, down
past her breasts, her hips. Sugar took hold of Emily's hands then, gripping them in her own as she lowered her mouth to Emily's open, soaked center. It was hard to say what was intoxicating her most. Was it the utter abandon with which Emily arched her hips, inviting Sugar to taste her? Was it the heady aroma of a sexy woman's desire? Was it her own respon¬sive clenching at the thought of immersing herself in the purest of a woman's passion?

  It didn't matter after her tongue slipped inward to circle and tease. Pleasuring Emily and enjoying every second of it was all there was in Sugar's mind as her tongue reveled, tasted and danced. Emily's legs were tight around her shoulders and her long, fevered moans were the only sound that mattered.

  They reached a peak where Emily's cries were increasingly hoarse and Sugar wanted to hear them break free. Without raising her head she slipped her fingers inside Emily, curling them to find the places that yielded and those that pushed back. Emily's hands were in her hair, pulling her up, and Sugar went into Emily hard, her hips behind her cupped hand.

  "Oh, yes, like that," Emily cooed. Her legs wrapped around Sugar's waist as they kissed frantically. "Like that!"

  Sugar didn't stop moving inside Emily even when Emily went rigid. She felt flutters against her fingers and then her palm was wet, her hips were wet. Emily cried out as she went limp under Sugar. Sugar coiled around her as best she could in the limited space, and for several minutes there was only the sound of their breathing, in matching rhythm.

  Sugar startled awake, then caught herself before she moaned from the crick in her neck.

  Emily stirred under her. "Sorry, I dozed off."

  "So did I," Sugar admitted. "That was ... you were ..."

  "So were you."

  There was a faraway noise of a toilet flushing, followed by a groan of pain and the extremely unromantic sound of vomiting.

  "Oh, Christ," Emily said. "Annette. She'll need a blanket if she's going to camp in the bathroom."

  "I should go anyway—"