to taunt the help.”
Xandi laughed. “Have you ever been tempted to just say to hell with it and shift, right in front of everyone? I bet that big jerk would have peed his pants.”
Still grinning, Keisha glanced over her shoulder as Xandi found them seats at a table near the back. The bouncer watched them.
A waitress brought menus. Xandi studied hers, but Keisha couldn’t concentrate. She felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. A shiver ran over her arms. She shuddered.
Xandi looked up, obviously sensing Keisha’s discomfort. Is something wrong?
“I don’t…” Keisha turned slowly and looked across the crowded restaurant toward the entrance. The bouncer was leaning over, obviously in deep discussion with a small, dark-haired man. Suddenly he looked directly at Keisha and Xandi and pointed. The man looked up, hesitating as if giving his eyes a chance to adjust to the dark.
Keisha felt her heart skip a beat.
“C’mon. Act like we’re going to the restroom.” Keisha grabbed her purse in one hand and Xandi’s wrist in the other and dragged her to her feet. “Get your bag.”
Walking quickly, fighting the urge to run, she found the narrow hallway to the restroom and from there a door that led through the kitchen. Ignoring the cook’s orders to go back the other way and Xandi’s questioning looks, Keisha dragged her friend through the small kitchen and out a door that led to a dark alley.
What’s going on?
Carl Burns. I’m positive that was him talking to the bouncer, and the big oaf pointed directly at us. “Hurry.” Keisha hiked up her calf-length skirt and took off at a run down the alley. She heard Xandi’s footsteps just behind her.
Keisha heard her thoughts as if Xandi had spoken aloud.
We’d move a lot faster if we shifted.
Without slowing her pace, Keisha shook her head. That’s the last thing we want to do with a tabloid reporter on our tails. I think his camera is surgically implanted.
Within minutes, the two of them rounded a corner across from Keisha’s home. Breathing hard, they ducked behind some shrubbery. Keisha studied the street in front of her house. “Looks clear. Let’s make a run for the porch and get inside. I do not want to talk to that man!”
They raced across the street and up the stairs. Gasping for breath Keisha fumbled with her keys.
Hurry, hurry, hurry. Xandi’s frantic mantra echoed in Keisha’s mind.
Keisha jammed the key in the lock and twisted, then ripped the door open. Stumbling over the threshold, Xandi slammed the door behind them. Keisha twisted the deadbolt and both women leaned back against the door, gasping for breath.
Xandi turned to Keisha and burst into nervous giggles. “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
Keisha slumped against the door and sighed. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Why does he keep following me? At least he’s so familiar to me now, I can usually sense when he’s near.” She shoved herself upright. “C’mon. I’ve got some stuff in the freezer we can heat up for dinner. Hanging out in town has suddenly lost its appeal.”
“You need to call Anton and let him know what’s going on.” Xandi sipped her glass of wine and tried to look relaxed. She couldn’t pull it off. Her actions felt jerky and her veins practically sizzled. She’d been running on adrenaline ever since they’d fled the restaurant and the slimy reporter. If she didn’t find an outlet soon for all her pent up energy, she knew she’d explode.
“I know. I’ll wait and call him in the morning, before his meeting.” Elbows resting on her knees, the wineglass clasped in both hands, Keisha turned her head to look at Xandi. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “At this point, I think we can charge Burns with harassment. Anton wanted to call the newspaper and complain the last time he followed me, but I wouldn’t let him. My mistake, I guess. Anton worries so much about me. He’d want to fly out here immediately, and he can’t do that. Let the man at least get a good night’s sleep. There’s nothing he can do tonight, anyway.”
She set her wineglass down and rubbed her hands up and down her arms, as if warding off a chill.
“Agreed.” Xandi gave Keisha a sideways glance, then spoke in a soft, seductive drawl. “You look as wound up as I feel. Obviously, with Burns following you we can’t shift and run, but there’re other ways to burn off excess energy. Might take our minds off of things.”
Keisha answered with a broad smile. She took a final sip of her wine, then both women set their glasses down and headed for the bedroom. At the last moment, Keisha leaned over and whispered softly into Xandi’s ear, “I’m the alpha bitch, sweetie. Remember?”
“Like hell you are.” Laughing, Xandi swatted Keisha on the butt and chased her through the door.
They kissed, briefly. Xandi could kiss Stefan for hours and never grow tired of the feel of his lips on hers, but for some reason, when she was with Keisha, Xandi wanted more direct, more physical contact than mere kisses. She slipped her sweater over her head as Keisha removed hers. Their bras landed on the floor and Xandi moved into Keisha’s embrace.
There was something immensely erotic about rubbing their taut nipples together, standing breast to breast, hips thrust forward, their hands grasping one another’s buttocks and kneading firm flesh through fabric.
Equally erotic was the difference in their color. Xandi’s fair skin against Keisha’s darker tones never failed to excite her. Keisha’s nipples were the color of dark berries; Xandi’s were lighter, the areolas larger and more defined. Standing together, rubbing lightly against one another emphasized their differences as much as their similarities.
Keisha was the first to pull away and slip out of her skirt and underpants. Xandi didn’t waste a minute. Naked, trembling with need as much as the adrenaline rush still coursing through her body, she pulled Keisha back into her arms, this time bending down to take one of Keisha’s firm nipples in her mouth.
Xandi rolled the taut flesh between her lips, drew it in and pressed the nipple tightly against the roof of her mouth with her tongue. She sucked hard, drawing a soft moan from Keisha and a hard thrust of the other woman’s hips against her own.
Xandi arched her back, releasing Keisha’s nipple with a satisfying pop. She felt the scratchy brush of Keisha’s pubic hair tickle her recently shaved mons and moaned. Breath rasping in her throat, Xandi caught Keisha’s rhythm and tilted her hips even closer, rubbing her sensitive pubes back and forth across Keisha’s coarse thatch of hair.
Keisha palmed both of Xandi’s breasts, then quickly slipped her hands lower to grab Xandi’s buttocks once again. With her hips rotating slowly against Keisha’s, Xandi scattered wet, openmouthed kisses across her friend’s throat and along the line of her jaw before covering Keisha’s mouth and breathing in her soft, moaning breaths.
Xandi held Keisha close with one hand tightly clenching her firm buttock in a bruising grasp. She kissed her deeply, nipping at lips and tongue, then slipped her fingers between their bodies and found the crisp nest of curls covering Keisha’s pussy.
So much heat, so slick and ready. Xandi felt the first trickles of moisture along her own inner
