Les Tales (24 page)

The Ferris wheel swept them high in the air once again, and Chloe simply relaxed at Kai's side, sharing laughter and bathing in the liquid sunshine of her smile. It felt peaceful and right to be with Kai at the top of the world, with no one else around.

With a deep breath, she savored the sounds: the determined cheer of the carousel organ, laughter and conversation rising from the people below, the rattle of the roller coaster and its passengers shrieking in fear and delight.

“Thanks for coming over to see me, Kai,” she said, looking over the fairgrounds, only half expecting to see Zahra and her date. “I'm glad you did.”

“You're welcome.” Kai's voice wrapped around her like sun-warmed winter fleece.

Earlier, being with Zahra had made her feel like a kid again, bubbling with irrepressible, irresponsible energy. It had felt good. But with Kai, she felt all of her twenty-three years, all the yearning and desire she'd stored up since she'd fallen in love. She wanted to be a grown-up and a mature woman for her. But why, when Kai was not
for
her? Chloe twisted the strap of her purse, trying to push those unwanted thoughts out of her head. She needed to leave for New York ASAP.

When the ride ended, Kai helped her from the car with a warm hand around her waist. The other woman's leather jacket brushed against Chloe, bringing with it the smell of Kai's condo, making her think about Kai's bedroom. Her bed. The two of them making love. A tremor darted through her.

They left the field with the Ferris wheel, their footsteps muffled on the hard dirt ground, arms lightly brushing. The sun was both dark and bright at the horizon, burning away the last of the afternoon and leaving behind trailing ribbons of golden clouds.

“It's been years since I've been here,” Kai said. “Noelle told me you were coming here with your friend, but I had no idea it was on the same day Tanya and Tori wanted to go.” She mentioned friends she'd known since college. Partners in business and love. “The place hasn't changed one bit.”

Chloe shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “I know
you
haven't changed.”

“You're probably right.” Kai seemed thoughtful. “I look at all these people around us—a lot of them I grew up with—and realize it's true. They have husbands, wives, kids, gray hairs. And I'm still the same.” Her eyes flashed to the crowd on the path with them, some obviously coupled, others with friends. “Alone.”

“I didn't know you wanted . . . that.”

Throughout her life, Chloe had seen Kai with many women. Gorgeous women whom she sometimes brought around Chloe and her mother, and whom everyone seemed to know about. Glamorous women who'd just never stayed around.

“Everyone wants companionship, Chloe. That's why I was so happy when your mother found Duncan. It's not just about having someone to raise a child with. It's also about having someone to keep warm on winter nights and to tell secrets to. Someone who understands most things about me.”

She had never heard Kai talk like this before. “Are you just saying that because you're hanging out with Tanya and Tori today?” She knew the two women were deeply in love and had an identical glow of absolute contentment when they were together. It was both sickening and enviable.

“Partly,” Kai said. Some of the tightness she'd had earlier around her mouth returned.

“Well, you know that hanging out with a couple will make anyone feel like a third wheel.” Chloe gently bumped the other woman's shoulder. “Plus, it's cuffing season. This cold weather makes everyone want to hook up.”

Kai guided her around a trio of giggling girls who'd stopped in the middle of their path. “It's about more than hooking up. I can have that anytime I want.”

Wasn't that the truth? Kai could get it right there at the fairgrounds, under the setting sun, with the carnival sounds wailing around them and Chloe on her knees, begging for a taste.

Stop. It.

“It's good to know you don't suffer from low self-esteem.”

“True.” Kai laughed. “That was never one of my issues.”

Yeah. She had always been confident. Something else Chloe had always liked about her. She smiled to herself. She loved Kai for that and so much more. The woman was an important part of her life, one that she didn't want to lose. And she couldn't afford to let her infatuation blind her to that.

She put on a determined smile and hooked her arm around Kai's. “Come, Helen of Troy. Let's see if you can win me a prize.”

They made the rounds of the fair as the day drew to a close and the sky darkened enough to allow the fair's lights to glow brilliantly against the somber sky. Kai won Chloe a gigantic panda at the ringtoss; then Chloe bought her boiled peanuts as a thank-you. They were Kai's favorite thing to eat at the fair, but she didn't treat herself often.

The night glimmered around them as they talked about everything from Chloe's experiences in LA to Noelle's celebrity clients to the next meeting that Kai had out of town. The latter was a trip to New York that promised to be incredibly informative in parts but also incredibly boring.

“You should bring someone with you,” Chloe said. “Don't the other execs bring their wives and husbands?”

“They do, but you're forgetting I have neither one.”

Chloe hugged her panda tighter as she squeezed between two groups of posturing teenage boys. “You could always get an escort and have her be your companion on the trip.”

Kai's eyes widened. “What?”

Chloe laughed. “Get your mind out of the gutter. You don't have to sleep with her.”

“I don't need an escort, Chloe.” Kai scowled at her.

“It's not what you think.” She smiled again at the other woman's shocked face. “My first roommate in college was an escort. Sometimes guys would pay her to just fly with them to a meeting or a family event. She got a free flight, meals, and gifts. And all they wanted was a pretty girl who would listen to them and be there if they got bored.”

“Jesus.” Kai shook her head. “Just don't tell your mother about this ex-roommate. She'll have a damn heart attack.”

“Mom and Stacia got along.”

“But I bet Noelle didn't know how she was paying for her tuition.”

“You're right about that.” Chloe shrugged. “She invited me to come along with her on a few trips.”

“What?” Kai stopped in the middle of the crowded path. People bumped into them, shooting annoyed looks at Kai, who refused to move or even acknowledge them. “Tell me you didn't go with her. Those so-called sexless trips can change at the drop of a dime, Chloe. Those men are nothing to play with on their own territory.”

Chloe toyed with not telling the truth. But she'd never lied to her mother or Kai about anything. Kept things from them, yes, but never lied. “I went with her.”

“Are you serious?” Kai's eyes snapped. She grabbed Chloe's arm, giant panda and all, and dragged her out of the path of traffic, seeming to be aware for the first time that they were obstructing the path. They stumbled to a halt near a paddock, where a pair of horses lazily fanned their tails against flies. “You could have been—” She bit off whatever she was going to say. “Tell me what happened.”

“Stop treating me like a child.” Chloe tried to shake off Kai's hold on her, but the other woman was strong, her fingers biting into her skin, even through the layers she wore. “It was years ago. And nothing happened. I went with Stacia on a trip to Dubai to see some guy. Everything was cool. He fed us, told us to sleep in the same bed, came in the room to talk with us every night and watch us in the bed. Then he took us back home to LA. End of story.”

Hectic color flooded Kai's cheeks as her hands tightened around Chloe's arms. “Why the ever-living fuck would you do something like that?”

The curse shocked her. “Stop acting like it just happened a few weeks ago. It was freshman year. I'm obviously unscathed from the whole experience.”

“This is serious.” Kai's eyes snapped again. Her mouth thinned. “He could have raped you or shared you with his rich friends, then dumped your bodies in the desert. What the fuck?”

Chloe could feel Kai's hands trembling, feel the waves of anger rolling from her body. She took a deep breath to keep herself calm.

“It's okay.” She pressed her palms against Kai's chest through her leather jacket. “I haven't been that stupid in a long time.”

“Noelle and I worried enough about you being so far away.” Kai's fingers tightened even more on her arms. “We never dreamed you'd do something like that.”

“It was something I did in college to make some extra money. I won't do it again.”

Kai narrowed her eyes. “Did you sleep with any of these guys?”

“Of course not. I went with Stacia only a couple of times. It was fun, and nothing happened.”

“A couple of times . . . ? Sweet Jesus.” Kai abruptly released her arms and stepped back. “Chloe . . . I think you're giving me a heart attack.” One of the horses in the paddock nearby snorted.

“Stop living in the past, Kai.” She tried for humor and a smile. “I made it to the ripe old age of twenty-three without anything happening to me.”

Chloe remembered once telling an old girlfriend about her adventures with Stacia. The woman, another Kai clone, had reacted in much the same way Kai was now.

Chloe treated Kai the same way she had treated her girl then. She twined her arms around her neck, allowing the stuffed panda to fall at her feet. “I'm here, and nothing ever happened to me.”

She inhaled the sweet and spicy scent of the woman she desperately wanted, telling her rioting body to calm down. They were sharing nothing more than a hug between two adults who respected and loved each other platonically. But she felt her nipples tighten under her jacket, shivered at the tendrils of arousal that began to wind through her body.

Kai was stiff against her for a moment before she returned the hug, clinging fiercely to Chloe. “Do not ever, ever tell your mother about this.”

“I won't. You see, I didn't even want to tell
you.
”

The older woman met her eyes. “I want you to tell me everything, Chloe. Everything. I can't say I won't judge, but I promise not to fly off the handle or betray your trust.”

“Okay.”

Kai's breath stroked her neck, making her tremble. Unable to help herself, she wriggled against Kai, seeking relief for the ache in her nipples, between her legs. She heard Kai's soft gasp, felt her stiffen against her a moment before the older woman's hands dug into her lower back, convulsively clasping her closer and into her hips. Chloe's belly clenched hard, and a moan of surprise and excitement slipped past her lips.

Kai jerked back, her eyes dilated to almost black. She adjusted her jacket over her shoulders as her gaze flickered away, looking everywhere but at Chloe. “Now, where were we heading again?”

They continued on through the fair, but things weren't the same. Chloe was even more aware of Kai as a woman, of the lean length of her under her clothes, the scent of her, the way their bodies fit perfectly together.

It wasn't long before Kai asked her if she was ready to leave, and she gratefully said yes. On the mostly silent ride home, Chloe texted Zahra that she was leaving the fairgrounds. They drove back to her mother's house in the quiet intimacy of the car, the heat blowing out of the vents and making Chloe's cheeks prickle. They spoke of nothing important as Kai expertly drove the black Audi through the lamp-lit streets. Talk radio droned on in the background; the tires hissed over the road.

In the driveway, she wished Kai a good night before letting herself into the house, hugging her panda tight. She closed the door behind her just as her stepfather walked in from the kitchen with a cup of something hot. Her mother followed behind him a few moments later with her own cup.

“Evening, Chloe,” Duncan greeted her in his thick Jamaican accent. “You're back early.”

Her stepfather, an airline executive, had met Noelle Williams when Chloe was six. The family story was that they met on a Tuesday and he asked her to marry him that Friday. He'd fallen quickly and hard for the single mother. Luckily, the falling had happened both ways.

“Yes, honey.” Her mother glanced at the clock on the wall. “It's barely eight o'clock.”

Her stepfather sat in his armchair and set down his hot cider on the coffee table, glancing briefly at the TV, which was showing the beginnings of some live talent show. “You getting old so soon?” His mouth lifted in a grin.

She smiled weakly back at him. “Just tired.”

For some reason, she didn't want to tell them that it was Kai who had dropped her off. “Zahra ran into a friend at the fair. She's going to hang out with her for a while. I just wanted to come home and get out of the cold.”

Her mother briefly kissed her cheek in welcome before sitting and stretching out her sock-clad feet to touch her husband's. She curled long fingers around her cup of cider.

“California thinned out your blood, honey, she said. “It's really nice today for fall.”

“But really cold for California.” She dropped onto the couch, at her mother's side. “What are you guys watching?”

Her mother named a show that Chloe had no idea existed. “Oh.”

“So did you guys have a good time?” her mother asked. “If I'd thought about it, I would've bought tickets for all of us to go together this week. But I know that Kai had plans to go with another couple, so . . .” Her mother shrugged.

“It was great.” Chloe forced a smile. “I probably ate my weight in junk food there today.”

“Yes, that's Kai's favorite part of the fair too, but she won't allow herself to eat as much of that stuff as she'd like. Sometimes I swear she just goes to the fair to torture herself with things she can't have.”