Les Tales Page 31

  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 h
avoc 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.

  Chapter 10

  It was well after midnight when Kai came home. But Chloe was expecting her. Lit candles flickered around the apartment; all the windows were open to allow in the urban stars of New York City, the streams of light from passing cars, the whisper of traffic. A pot of apple cider sat on the stove, perfuming the rooms with the scent of apples, cinnamon, and cloves.

  The living room was draped in shadow and dancing candlelight when Kai’s key sounded in the door. Chloe waited. She handed a surprised Kai a drink, took her keys from her hand, and put them in the small wooden box she kept on the wall shelf.

  Kai smelled like the outdoors, fresh and crisp, with a hint of sweetness, like she’d been to a hooka bar.

  “You smell nice.” Chloe tugged off Kai’s scarf and draped it over the coatrack. Took her briefcase and laid it with care on the rack as well.

  “What . . . what are you doing?” Kai stood frozen with her arms wide, the drink held obediently in her hand, as if she didn’t know exactly what to do with it.

  She stared around the apartment at the candles, at Chloe, who had dressed carefully for the night in a clinging red dress that bared an indecent amount of cleavage and stretched tight across her bottom. It was a dress she’d bought with seduction in mind, a dress that even she wouldn’t wear outside the house. The stilettos she wore with it were equally scandalous. If shoes could scream “Fuck me now!” it was that pair.

  Chloe unbuttoned Kai’s jacket, tugged it off, maneuvering it around the tumbler of whiskey in Kai’s hand. She turned around unnecessarily to put the jacket on the coat rack, giving Kai the full view of the red dress, rocking her hips with each step.

  “I’m being a companion. What we agreed on.” She took Kai’s hand and led her to the couch. “Is whiskey okay? I can get you something else if you’d like.”

  The woman she wanted to be her lover again faltered just a few feet behind her, linked by the tether of Chloe’s fingers, watching, Chloe knew, the sway of her ass under the dress.

  “Chloe . . .” Kai’s voice was hoarse.

  With their hands joined, Chloe walked her to the couch, gently shoved her into its depths before kneeling before Kai. She pulled off her leather ankle boots, revealing thin black socks that clung to her slender feet. Kai’s feet were warm in Chloe’s hands, the bones narrow and pronounced. Chloe peeled off the socks and tossed them aside.

  “Chloe. Stop.” Kai swallowed audibly.

  “I’m not doing anything,” she said as she brought Kai’s feet into her lap and slowly began to massage them. “You’ve had a long day. I’m trying to make you comfortable.” Chloe pressed the heel of one foot between her thighs, leaning forward until Kai’s toes touched her breasts. Her nipples, hard before, pressed like diamonds against the thin material of her dress.

  “This is much more than that, and you know it.” But Kai didn’t remove her feet, only stared down at Chloe with dazed eyes, a hand still clutching the tumbler of whiskey, whose contents sloshed dangerously but did not spill.

  “I’m seeing to your wants. Your needs.” She pressed the heel even more between her thighs, releasing a silent gasp as it ground into her clit. “Don’t you want me to do that?”

  The bones of Kai’s feet were delicate under her hands, almost like a bird’s. A surprise since she’d always thought the other woman so strong, steel wrapped in brown velvet. Chloe used her thumbs to press into the soft flesh, the balls of her feet, between her toes, her instep, until Kai relaxed on the couch, her head falling back, her lips parted on a sigh. From the floor, Chloe looked up at the woman she loved. At her beautiful body stretched out on the couch, its strength, its perfection, its uniqueness.

  Although she’d tried time and time again, she’d never been able to find another woman like Kai. It was time she stopped trying to duplicate this woman who’d captured her heart before she’d been aware she had one.

  Chloe stopped massaging Kai’s feet once she was completely relaxed, her breathing even and calm. She still hadn’t touched her drink. Chloe put Kai’s foot on the floor, on the outside of her
thigh. Kai’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked down at Chloe, her gaze bouncing away from the ripe breasts spilling from the scooped neck of the red dress. Her tortured gaze landed on Chloe’s eyes.

  “Chloe.” Her voice was low, rough. “We talked about this. You know this can’t happen again.”

  “I got a job here.” She knelt with her hands in her lap, eyes downcast. “I’m staying in New York.” She lifted her lashes to stare at Kai. “I won’t be in Atlanta much anymore.”

  “This still can’t happen, Chloe. For so many reasons.” Her hand clutched the whiskey, and she finally brought the tumbler to her lips.

  “I probably won’t see you again,” Chloe said, although it nearly made her sick to realize that could be true. “You shouldn’t tell Mom what happened between us. I’ll stay here and work. You go back to Atlanta on your own tomorrow and leave me here. By the time you come back to the city for another business trip, I’ll have my own place.”

  Kai blinked slowly, her lips glistening from the whiskey. She looked dazed. “That’s not realistic.”

  “What’s not realistic is to tell Mom and not expect her to be upset. I don’t want to destroy your friendship with her. It’s better if you go back to Atlanta alone. We don’t ever have to see each other again, and she never has to know what happened between us.”

  “And that’s why you’re on your knees, like this?” Kai gulped the whiskey again, wincing from the drink’s bite.

  Chloe flushed. How could she find the words to say that she wanted to taste Kai just once? That she needed the feel of the other woman’s most intimate flesh on her lips, a feeling to carry with her for the rest of her life?

  “Kai.” She touched the legs on the other side of her, slowly moving her hands up to lean thighs, then narrow hips. Kai was frozen under her touch. “I want to make love to you. Just once.”

  Before Kai could deny her what she wanted, Chloe climbed into her lap and kissed her.

  It was like the first time. Kai’s surprise that their mouths connected. A stillness. Chloe cupped her cheeks and deepened the kiss, keeping control this time, then straddled Kai and breathed against her mouth, licking the irresistible firm lips until they parted. Chloe made a soft sound of relief and pleasure. Half the battle was won.