Les Tales (28 page)

Kai's face grew cold. “I'm not going to treat you like a whore, Chloe. That's insulting to both of us.”

“It won't be like that.” She cut into her omelet, giving herself time to formulate the best argument to convince Kai. “I want to escape for a while. You may need someone to get your papers together, maybe arrange for dinner with your colleagues.”

“I don't know. . . .”

“But
I
do. Why don't we try it? I honestly don't want to face being in Georgia alone with this thing looming over me. Over
us.
I know it's cowardly, but just try to see things my way a little. Okay?”

Kai sighed, a torn look on her face. “There's a contract involved?”

“There can be. I can put one together if you like.”

“No. Let's not do that. It makes me feel like I'm hiring you.”

“But you are. And this way, you don't have to worry about losing control and trying to have sex with me.” Chloe smiled gently. “I'd even wear a chastity belt if it helps.”

“That wouldn't stop me from getting what I want, believe me.” Kai cleared her throat and went back to her spicy eggs.

Chloe and Kai didn't end up drawing up a contract, but they might as well have. When they got back to the apartment, Kai immediately set up the office as her bedroom, firmly putting at least that boundary between her and Chloe.

“Now that that's all settled, let's see if we can get back to some sort of normalcy,” she told Chloe.

Kai stood in the living room with her hands in her pockets. The bright autumn light from the windows fell on her beautiful face, over the rippling length of her locks, the curve of her breasts in the buttoned-up shirt. Chloe couldn't stop her eyes from lingering on those breasts. The pulse in her throat tripped as she wondered what it would have been like to taste them, feel their tips harden under her tongue.

“We should probably go outside and do something,” Kai said as she watched Chloe's face and the desire that had to be written plainly on it.

Chloe blushed. Yes, they needed to go outside for the sake of her sanity and this invisible contract of theirs.

Chloe had never been that much into sex. It was something she could take or leave. When she'd shared her virginity with Nicole Walker in college, it had been a nonissue, two young women sharing pleasure one night after a party. Nicole had been ravenous for sex, but Chloe had only shrugged, going along with the demands of her sudden girlfriend because what Nicole made her body feel was pleasant.

But she'd never truly
desired
someone before, until Kai touched her. With her, Chloe wanted more, wanted to do more, see more, wanted that explosion between her thighs to go on forever.

“And you're sure you don't want to reconsider this ‘companion' thing?” Kai asked.

“I'm sure.”

Kai sighed softly. “Then let's get out of here.”

They left the apartment in search of New York in autumn. A train ride and a slow meander through the city took them to Central Park. There the fall leaves were in full glory, fluttering around them to the ground like pieces of sunshine. At the park, Chloe strolled at Kai's side under the bright leaves, her hands tucked into her jacket pockets, while sunlight lightly kissed her face and throat.

“Thank you again for allowing me to stay here with you, Kai. I really appreciate it.”

“I'd thank you for not thanking me for being an enabler,” the other woman said dryly. “You should be back in Atlanta, confessing our sins to your mother, not hiding out here with me.”

“But I'm not hiding out.” Chloe spun once, flaring her jacket around her hips as she gestured at the park and the people in it. “I'm with you, and we're strolling under the sun, where anybody can see us. Mom will know everything soon enough. For now, I just want to
be.
”

“Right.” Kai's look was a mixture of cynicism and amusement.

Chloe smiled. Despite the sensual tension between them, she was enjoying their walk. Having Kai at her side was a natural high. The leaves crackled under their footsteps, and the air was crisp, smelling like happiness. Someone nearby was roasting peanuts, and the scent of dying leaves drifted through the air. The park was the perfect blend of empty and beautiful, the leaves and other sights bright enough to bring out the strolling locals, but the tourist season at enough of a lull that the paths weren't so congested.

Chloe sighed in contentment. “How long have you had this apartment?”

“About six years now, give or take.”

“Really? How come I didn't know about it? I came to New York at least half a dozen times while I was in college. My friends and I could have crashed at your place.” She gave Kai a cheeky grin, knowing that would never have happened.

“I'm never in the mood to entertain children, Chloe.” Kai's eyes flashed an unknown emotion.

“It's a good thing I'm not a child, then.”

They stopped at a stall to get hot cocoa, Chloe buying them both a hot cup, which Kai accepted grudgingly.

“I thought you were my companion for the next few days,” Kai muttered, taking her cup from the vendor. “Shouldn't I be paying for all your expenses while we're here?”

“I don't think we need to take things that far.” Chloe paid for their drinks, then tucked away her wallet. “This is my treat to myself and a thank-you for letting me inconvenience you in your own home.”

They started walking again, sipping their cups of hot cocoa.

“You're not an inconvenience, Chloe.”

“And you're not a very good liar.” She cupped her hands around the warm Styrofoam container. “I know you're uncomfortable with me here. For various reasons. I'll try to minimize the awkwardness as much as possible.”

“It's awkward only because I want you.” Kai's voice was a hot whisper, one that Chloe felt deep in her belly. “I've always enjoyed your company, Chloe. When you were a child and even now, when you're making my life far more complicated than it needs to be.”

“Thank you for saying that.”

Kai glanced at Chloe, her mint-ginger eyes haunted. “What? For confessing that even now I want to drop to my knees and give you something we both want?”

Chloe flushed with pleasure and arousal, gripping her cocoa tighter. “Yes.”

She and Kai took the bridle path under the Gothic Bridge as bright yellow and orange leaves scattered on the wind around them. The edges of their clothes fluttered in the mild breeze.

Chloe sipped her cocoa, slowly coming to terms with the decision to tell her mother about what she had done to Kai. Seduced her, brought the tall woman tumbling down into sexual abandon with her. And what a tumble it had been.

Flashes of the night before came to her: Kai's hands cupping her breasts, lust-drugged green and gold eyes staring down into hers, tender fingers parting her pussy lips, then sliding, inch by inch, into her soaked cunt. Chloe trembled with arousal, happy she would have those memories until the end of her days.

She sighed and, unthinkingly, looped her arm through Kai's.

The other woman looked startled for a moment before she relaxed against Chloe. A sudden wind swirled leaves in the air, some catching in Kai's locks for a moment before flying away, the bright red and yellow leaves a fleeting kiss of color against her skin.

“You have something . . .” Smiling, Kai reached out and plucked a leaf from Chloe's hair. Her fingers brushed against Chloe's cheek as she untangled the leaf from her coils. She let the leaf fall but traced a finger around her ear.

Chloe shivered, unconsciously lifting her mouth to be kissed.

“Kai, is that you?” A woman's voice.

Kai's head jerked up. Then she smiled.

“I thought that was you!” The woman who had called out to her muttered something into the phone she had at her ear, then tucked it in the pocket of her shorts before flying toward Kai.

She threw her arms around Kai's neck, forcing Chloe to pull her hand away and fall back.

Kai leaned into the beautiful woman's enthusiastic embrace with a grin. “Adi,” Kai greeted with the warm smile. “Good to see you.”

Adi could have been a model. She was tall and had a graceful galloping walk. With skin like sweet blackberries and a brilliant white smile, she stood out like a diamond among the others strolling through the park. She had short natural hair cut close to her head, a regal neck, and a gorgeous body. She wore a slim-fitting black jacket, a scarf, and cream shorts over black tights that showed off mile-long legs. The cream and black wedges on her feet were precariously high.

“Girl, you look good!” She released Kai to pull Chloe in with her wide and infectious smile. “And you do too, honey. Whoever you are.” She leaned in and pecked Chloe on the cheek. “You are gorgeous!” Her appraising gaze seemed to take in all of Chloe, from the toes of her high-heeled black boots to the thick kinks in her hair.

Kai smiled down at the two women. “Adi and Chloe, meet each other.”

“A pleasure, darling.” Adi touched Chloe's arm, then brushed a finger across Kai's cheek. “You look so happy. Is this a new thing or a seasoned love affair?” She looked at Kai as she asked the question but invited Chloe to answer as well. “I haven't seen you in at least a year and a half. Not since Black Pride.”

“We're actually not together,” Chloe said before Adi could go any further. “Kai is a family friend.”

Adi laughed, throwing back her pretty head. Her teeth flashed in the late morning sun, and her laughter rang out loud and long, attracting more than a few stares. “If you two haven't fucked yet, I'll eat this entire park full of dead leaves.”

Chloe watched, shocked, as color flooded Kai's cheeks. Who was this woman who could make Kai blush like a fifteen-year-old?

Adi laughed again. “Good for you, Kai. I'm sure your performance was stellar, as usual.”

“I'm going to let you go before my face catches on fire, Adi.” Kai shook her head, her cheeks still dark with embarrassment. “I'm never ready to play with you.”

“Fine, honey. But you should come to the party I'm having this weekend. The bae and I are having a cookout on the roof. Bring your honey. We'll make her feel welcome, and you'll have a real good time.” She kissed Kai quickly on the cheek, leaving a touch of her bright purple lipstick. “Don't tell me no.” She slipped a card in Kai's pocket. “In case you forgot our address and number.”

Adi squeezed Chloe's arm. “See you then, hot stuff.” Then she was off, a strutting peacock on the path with her cell phone back at her ear.

“Oh my God!” Chloe stared after the leggy woman. “Who is that?”

“An old friend.” Kai tucked Chloe's arm back through hers, and they continued walking down the leaf-strewn path. “I've known her for years.”

“And you slept with her.” Chloe raised an eyebrow.

“Once. Years ago, when I was at NYU.”

At Chloe's narrowed look, Kai raised a hand, laughing. “It was just once, and just enough for us to know that it wouldn't work. She tried to hook me up with one of her friends about a week later.”

“That's weird.” Chloe shook her head. Since she had slept with Kai, she couldn't imagine trying to give her to someone else.

They continued down the paved path, passing a light trickle of people enjoying the late morning air, women with their children bundled up in strollers, joggers, groups of giggling teenagers who appeared to be skipping school.

“Do you think everyone can tell that we've slept together?” Chloe felt a shudder run through Kai's body after she asked the question.

“Shit,” Kai muttered. “I hope not.” She rolled her shoulders under her elegant coat. “It might just be Adi. She's very perceptive. On the morning after she and I slept together for the first and last time, she said that she would love to keep me but couldn't, since I was meant for someone else.”

Chloe made a noise. “And ever since then she's been trying to set you up with random lesbians all over New York?”

“Pretty much. She insists she's just trying to help my woman find me.”

Chloe bit her lip. “Do you think I'm that woman?” She held her breath, wondering what Kai would say.

But she said nothing, only glanced down at Chloe with an unreadable expression. Then she finally sighed a word and looked away to stare ahead at the path.

“Shit.”

Chloe woke up to the sound of Kai moving around the bedroom. The other woman was quiet, but Chloe heard the muted tread of her bare feet across the rug and the hardwood floors, smelled the oils she had recently smoothed on her skin after her shower.

She turned over in the bed to watch Kai, dressed in dark slacks and an unbuttoned dress shirt, slip beyond the bedroom door.

Since their morning in the park, Kai had avoided her as much as she could in the shared apartment, working long hours behind the closed door of her office, leaving first thing in the morning, before Chloe even woke, staying out past midnight some days. Even though Chloe knew why the other woman did it, her avoidance still hurt.

She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for a long time, before she finally got up to tidy herself in the bathroom, then make her way to the living room.

Down the hall, she could hear Kai moving around in her makeshift bedroom. Within moments, she emerged, dressed for work in a gray pin-striped suit and a paisley tie. She had her hair pulled into a neat French braid. Tiny diamond studs sparkled from her earlobes.

“Good morning.” Chloe yawned and curled her legs under her on the couch.

“Good morning, miss.” Kai was so utterly calm. So handsome. Chloe felt her heart clench, but she kept the welcoming smile on her face.

Kai checked her watch as she straightened her tie. “I'm heading out to my meeting.” It was almost eight in the morning. “I probably won't be back until late tonight.”

As usual.

“Okay. So you'll be back around midnight?”

“Something like that.” Kai disappeared into the kitchen.

Chloe heard the sound of a cup being pulled from the cupboard. The trickling of liquid.

“Don't wait up for me,” Kai called. “But make sure you're packed. We'll be leaving here tomorrow afternoon.”

The three days in New York had passed more quickly than Chloe had anticipated. Part of her had hoped that they would stay for Adi's rooftop party, which was to happen the next day, Saturday. Despite knowing better, she'd imagined showing up at the party with Kai, the two of them acting like a couple, dancing beneath the Manhattan stars in their rooftop refuge. But that was a fantasy.

“I'll be ready to leave by then,” Chloe said.

Kai nodded and went to drink her coffee at the dining table while she read the newspaper. Chloe sat back on the couch and allowed herself the luxury of slowly waking up, enjoying the silence. Beyond the windows of the apartment, the day was bright and getting brighter. She gazed at the light sparkling off the glass of nearby buildings, heard the faint hum of traffic nine stories below. Peaceful.
How easy,
she thought,
it would be to get used to this type of life. With Kai.

In LA, things had been so different, wonderful some days, but also colorless. She imagined that life in New York, with all its seasons—brilliant falls, white winters, sweltering summers, and blossoming springs—would be a kind of heaven. If only she had a lover to share it with.

The sound of the newspaper brought her eyes back to the kitchen.

Kai folded the paper and stood up from the table. “The world calls,” she said as she left the kitchen for the bedroom.

Soon she was back, smelling like toothpaste and draping a scarf the color of fresh papayas around her neck. The color brought out the hints of orange in her tie. She carried a light jacket over her arm.

“That's a great color on you.” Chloe jumped up from the couch and picked up Kai's briefcase from the ottoman. “Let me walk you out.”

She self-consciously tugged at the neckline of her flannel pajamas as she felt Kai's eyes on her, remembering abruptly that this was the same pair of pajamas that the other woman had tugged from her flesh before she kissed her, loved her, made her come to life.

With faint color in her cheeks, Kai turned toward the front door. “Are you taking this companion thing too far, Little Bit?”

“Just don't get used to it.” Chloe gave Kai her briefcase with trembling fingers.

“That's a tall order.” The color was still high in Kai's face, a deeper shade under her ocher skin, but a smile plucked at the corners of her mouth. “Even with everything that happened this week, I'm glad you came up. It's been fun having you up here with me.”

The way Kai was looking at her, warm and hot at the same time, as if Chloe was everything that she had ever wanted, made Chloe ache to slide her arms around Kai's neck for a lingering kiss and send her off to work like a real wife.

“Go to work,” she said, giving her a gentle push.

Kai hesitated for a moment before she pulled on her jacket and started down the hallway. “See you tonight, Little Bit.”

Chloe paused in the doorway to watch Kai walk away, her long body graceful and feminine in the masculine suit, her hair brushing against the back of the jacket with each step.

“I'll have dinner waiting when you get home,” she called out with an impish smile.

Across the hall, she noticed another woman in a doorway, kissing her man just before he left the apartment. How domestic and sweet.

The man strolled past her in the hallway. “Good morning,” he greeted.

She nodded back at him, then watched him join Kai at the end of the hall to wait for the elevator. Kai looked over her shoulder, and Chloe blew her a kiss. She could practically see Kai frown, and she hoped that she would pay for her cheekiness later.

“Bye, honey.” Chloe waved. She might as well milk the morning for all it was worth, since the next day she was heading back to Atlanta and would never be in this unique position again.

The elevator bell sounded as the car arrived. She waited in the doorway until Kai had disappeared through its doors before letting the smile slide from her face. The sadness came easily then. New York with Kai was over. Now it was back to her real life.

With heavy footsteps, she went back inside the apartment to pack up her things. She had almost finished when her cell phone rang. She didn't recognize the 212 phone number.

“Chloe Graham speaking. How can I help you?”

She sat on the bed and draped a blouse she was folding across her thigh.

“This is Isabel Ortiz with Generation Next Effects. This is in reference to your recent interview.”

Chloe's fingers clenched the blouse, and her heart rate sped up. Generation Next was the New York studio that she wanted to work for the most, even though she'd hedged her bets with applications at five other studios around the city.

Her heart continued to pound as Isabel Ortiz told her she liked her very much as a candidate and wanted to offer her the position of full-time special effects makeup artist. Her mouth went dry at the offered salary.

A half an hour later, Chloe got off the phone after having set up a time to come in and sign the papers and start the process of working for the company. Her head was spinning.

She sat on the bed, staring down at the phone, running through the conversation in her mind. She would start a week from Monday. Her salary was even better than she'd hoped. She was officially moving to New York. She needed to find a place to stay.

“Oh my God.” Chloe jumped up from the bed, a smile stretching from ear to ear. “Oh my God!”

She wanted to scream and share the news with Zahra and her mother and with Kai. At the thought of the other woman, she froze.
Kai.

Did it make sense for her to go home tomorrow when she had to come back to New York in less than a week? Could she stay in the apartment while Kai was in Atlanta? What did that mean for the talk they were supposed to have with Chloe's mother? What did that mean for
them?

She sank back onto the bed, her thoughts running away from her. When she lived in LA, she hardly ever saw Kai. Except for her college graduation, she had only ever seen the older woman during holidays in Atlanta. Once Chloe went to college, she and Kai never enjoyed the relationship they had had when Chloe was younger.

Most of that was her fault, she knew. She hadn't wanted to be faced with the temptation of Kai and her own overwhelming feelings. New York was closer to Atlanta than LA. How could she keep Kai at bay if she lived and worked so near? Not to mention that Kai had an actual apartment in the city, where she spent at least five days a month, according to her mother. But she knew family members who shared the same city but never saw each other.

Sadness clutched at her throat at the thought of not seeing Kai again. The fact was that she'd seen more of the other woman in the last couple of weeks in Atlanta and New York than she had in the past five years. And it had felt good. She knew she couldn't keep seeing her, though. Kai was torn and in pain about how things had developed between them. Chloe didn't want her to hurt anymore.

Yes. If she lived in New York, she wouldn't see Kai. Her mother's best friend would have to become like a family friend she never had time for. Like her uncle Frank, who lived in Rex, barely a half hour from where she and her mother lived in Atlanta, but whom she saw only at weddings, funerals, and graduations. He was like a stranger to Chloe. She didn't want that kind of relationship with Kai, but maybe that was the only way to get them past this.

She shook herself out of her stupor and called her mother.

When she answered, Chloe could tell she was in the kitchen, probably trying out a new recipe or creating something dazzling for one of her A-list clients.

“Hi, darling.” Her mother sounded slightly breathless, like she had been lifting something heavy or wreaking havoc in the kitchen. “How are things in New York?”

Her mother was an amazing chef. But watching her in the kitchen was like observing a tornado, as she would spin from stove to plating station to fridge to countertop to deep freezer all without pausing. It was a manic ballet Chloe loved to watch.

“I got the job.”

“What?” Pots clanged through the phone; then everything seemed to stop. “You did? Was it with Generation Next?”

“Yes and yes.” Chloe blew out a breath, excited at being able to share the news.

Her mother shouted out in praise. “I knew you could do it, darling!”

“They want me to start in less than a week. On Monday.”

“Oh.” Her mother's voice pulled away from the phone as she spoke briefly with someone else. Then the sounds of the kitchen died away. She was walking away to find a quieter spot. “You just got back from California. Are you ready for that?”

“Yes.” She needed to be. “I'm already here and wouldn't have to spend extra money getting back and forth to the airport if I stayed.” She shrugged, although her mother couldn't see it. “I would just ask Kai if I can stay at her place until I find my own.”

“You know that airfare is not an issue, baby. Duncan's flight benefits get you there for free.”

“I know. But I think the sooner I settle in here, the better.”

“All right. If that's what you want.” Her mother sighed softly. “I'm happy for you, Chloe. But I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been looking forward to you spending a few more weeks here with me. After you went to California, I feel like I barely saw you.”

Chloe didn't call her mother out on her exaggeration. With flight benefits, her mother had been able to fly to LA at least once a month to see her. But she knew it was different for her mother to go upstairs and sit on her bed for chats versus putting her life and job on hold to fly across the country every thirty days to see her child.

“I know, Mom. But you can always come up here and visit me. I'm a New Yorker now.” She creased the edge of the comforter between her fingers, thinking of the decision she had made to stay away from Kai. She didn't want that to affect how often she saw her mother. She couldn't let it.

“We'll see each other, Mom. Don't worry.”

They stayed on the phone for another hour, talking about her experience in New York so far, including seeing the city in all its fall finery, enjoying the streets, which were nearly empty of tourists, and sampling the food.

Chatting with her mother made her realize how long it had been since they'd had that sort of conversation, since they'd lingered on the phone to discuss whatever it was that came up between them, the weather, their feelings, how her mother's business was going. It felt good. It felt like old times, like when they used to picnic in front of the fireplace and drink wine.

There were a few times during the conversation when she thought about bringing up the subject of Kai and what the older woman meant to her. But each time, her courage failed.

Chloe hung up the phone with promises to see her mother soon and then turned her attention back to her nearly packed suitcase, which lay open next to her on the bed. As she folded the last blouse, she noticed a photograph on the dresser of Kai and her mother.

They were young, sitting on the front steps of a house, both wearing sagging jeans and backward ball caps. Kai was grinning at the camera, a handsome teenager with thick, wavy hair down to her shoulders. Chloe's mother wore her hair in cornrows and had her flat stomach bared in a cropped tank top. She had bright red lipstick painted on her sultry smile. They looked like T-Boz and Chilli from TLC, almost like a couple, especially with the baby who sat between them on the steps. Chloe.

She stared at the child between the two teenagers, not seeing herself, but the idea that she could come between these two women who'd been friends for so long. Tears burned her eyes.