Love & Devotion

by Jove Belle

  “I’m sorry, Lonnie, really I am, but Buddy’s here…” If Lonnie kept talking in that sweet-as-molasses voice, if she said just the right things, KC might be persuaded. Emma could watch Buddy for a few minutes. But how would she explain herself? Give me just a minute, Emma. I’m just going to get Lonnie off over the phone, then I’ll be right back out. No, that just wouldn’t do. “What are you doing later?”

  Buddy made it to the second drawer and the dresser wobbled. KC dropped her phone as she dove for him. He giggled and said, “Wow.”

  KC stared at him. Trina didn’t mention that he was talking yet. “Say it again, Buddy. Say wow.” She picked her phone up with her free hand but didn’t put Buddy down again. She was pretty sure Trina wouldn’t want him back after her dresser flattened him. “Sorry. Buddy almost fell.” She sandwiched the phone between her ear and her shoulder and flew Buddy around the room like Superman. “So…later?”

  “I’ll be at my office this afternoon.” A few years ago, while KC was away at college, Lonnie took up selling real estate. She kept an office in town for meetings and such. “Come by?” Lonnie still sounded put out, but resigned.

  “Absolutely. Three-ish?”

  KC ended the call feeling conflicted. She hated disappointing Lonnie for any reason, but she couldn’t help but wonder if their relationship would ever balance out to the point where Lonnie thought about KC’s needs.

  She let Buddy walk when she left the bedroom. He ran down the hall, laughing all the way.

  Emma leaned against the counter, her purse and keys in her hands. “Dishes are done. I best be going.”

  “Were we done talking?”

  Emma nodded and pulled her cigarettes from her purse. She tapped a cigarette out of the pack. “I think we are, KC.”

  KC didn’t have an answer to the defeat in Emma’s tone. Until her friend was ready to share what was going on inside of her, KC couldn’t do a thing.

  “You want to wait until we get ready?”

  “I think I’m just going to go.” Emma slipped the cigarette between her lips, gave KC a sad wave, then stepped out the kitchen door. She lit the cigarette as the door swung shut behind her.

  “Huh.” KC picked Buddy up. “Just you and me, boyo. Let’s get you dressed.”

  *

  Over Easy was over-full when KC finally arrived, fifteen minutes late and without her makeup. Maybe Trina wasn’t totally exaggerating when she complained about how much time Buddy took up. To be fair, though, Lonnie’s phone call and Emma’s departure had distracted her.

  “About damn time.” Kendall thrust a menu into KC’s hand before she could even sit down. She dropped the menu onto her plate to keep from dropping Buddy on the floor. Kendall expected KC to be able to juggle children and the rest of life with the same proficiency of Lady Madonna. After all, Kendall balanced a marriage, three kids, and a law practice without breaking a sweat. The least KC could do was show up to breakfast on time prepared to order. “You look like shit.”

  KC settled Buddy in his high chair and gave Trina, then Kendall a kiss on the cheek. “If this is how you’re going to treat me, I’m going to start inviting Mama. Then you won’t be able to get away with swearing at me in public.”

  “Are you saying you wouldn’t look like shit if Mama were here?” Kendall was a litigator. KC had yet to win an argument with her.

  A glass of water and orange juice waited in KC’s place at the table. She drank half the water in one go. “I love whoever ordered this.”

  Kendall smirked.

  “Did you order my breakfast, too?”

  “No. And here comes Roxy, so stop talking and start deciding.”

  “Hey, girls. You ready?” Roxy held her order pad like a weapon, ready to discharge at a moment’s notice.

  “I’ll just have toast. And an egg for Buddy. Scrambled.” Trina handed the menu to Roxy without opening it.

  “Jesus, Trina, you’re supposed to be eating for two,” Kendall said.

  Trina glared.

  “Rox, give me the ranch breakfast. Eggs over hard, bacon, and can you put some gravy over the hash browns?”

  “Toast or pancake?”

  “Pancake.” KC had a craving left over from Emma’s breakfast.

  Roxy nodded and turned toward Kendall.

  “Sheesh, KC, you picking up the slack for Trina?” Kendall sipped her coffee. “Can I get the fruit platter?”

  KC and Trina regarded one another, then turned toward Kendall.

  “What? My suit was a little tight this morning. Too many Sunday dinners with Mama.”

  The sisters nodded and Buddy banged his spoon against the table.

  KC segued. “Speaking of…I won’t be there this coming Sunday. Don’t let me forget to tell Mama and Daddy.” Not that KC planned to see either of her sisters again before then.

  “Why not?” Trina took the spoon from Buddy and gave him a package of saltines.

  “He had some Cheerios this morning,” KC said.

  Buddy chewed on the cellophane wrapper until Trina took the crackers away and gave him the spoon again. He blew bubble kisses against the back of it.

  “I swear,” Trina wiped his face with a napkin, “he’s like a tiny little spit factory.”

  “What about words? His mouth produced any of those yet?” Kendall asked.

  “No. And Jackson is getting impatient.” Trina’s shoulders stiffened, and she took the spoon and set it just beyond Buddy’s reach. “He wants me to take him to a specialist.”

  “That’s ridiculous.” Kendall spoke in her lawyer voice. Good luck to Jackson if he ever mentioned that plan in front of the family protector. “He’s only two.”

  “Besides, he said a word this morning.” KC hadn’t intended to bring it up. Trina wasn’t likely to be impressed when she heard about her son’s near-death experience involving KC’s bedroom furniture.

  Trina stared at KC, her mouth open slightly. “What? What did he say?”

  “He said wow,” KC answered, still not sure she should be volunteering the information.

  “When was that?” Trina didn’t look convinced.

  KC smoothed Buddy’s hair. “Oh, you know,” she gestured vaguely, “this morning.”

  “I don’t know why Jackson is worried about it.” Kendall took up the conversation. As the oldest sister, she also had the most experience raising children. “Melissa started talking before she turned two, but Emily had barely started when Winston was born.” Emily was three when her baby brother was born. The family joked that she started talking specifically so she could welcome Winston to the family.

  “I told Jackson that, but he isn’t satisfied.” Trina paused, her brows drawn together in a thoughtful frown. “And I’m sorry, KC, but one word uttered out of earshot won’t help. If Jackson didn’t hear it, it didn’t happen.”

  Kendall shook her head. “That man is a fool.”

  Trina didn’t respond to Kendall’s disparaging remark. Instead she asked, “Why won’t you be there Sunday?” It was an impressive redirect of topic.

  “I’m going to Austin with Emma. She’s taking a job there.”

  “Well, give her my congratulations next time you see her. I’ll have my assistant drop a card in the mail,” Kendall said.

  “Doing what?” Trina had dark circles under her eyes, and KC wondered if Kendall had told her she looked like shit, too. Trina had managed makeup, so Kendall probably gave her a pass.

  “What’s up with the full face, Trina?” KC made a sweeping circular motion in front of her own face.

  “Oh.” Trina touched her fingers to her cheekbone and winced. “I haven’t been sleeping well. Foundation and cover-up are required before I venture into public.”

  Kendall stared at Trina a beat longer than normally considered polite, her head tilted to the side in contemplation. Finally she sipped her coffee and turned toward KC. “What was the job offer?”

  “I’m not entirely sure. Something at an affiliate news channel.” Emma had s
tudied journalism in college. She had designs on production. The details were more than KC could keep up with, but that was true of any career outside of teaching.

  “Fabulous news.” Trina didn’t sound excited, just tired.

  “You know, I can keep Buddy for the day. He and I get along just fine.” Lonnie would absolutely kill her if she canceled this afternoon, especially after turning her down this morning. But what kind of sister would she be if she didn’t at least offer to help?

  “If you’re feeling lonely, little sister, you can take my three any time you want. Mel gets out of school at two forty-five, and you can pick up the other two from daycare right now if you’d like.”

  Roxy delivered their food. She’d been waiting tables at Over Easy since her parents opened the restaurant when she was twelve and knew how to do her job without being intrusive.

  “Thanks, KC, but Buddy has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. He can’t miss it.” Trina set the egg in front of Buddy and helped him grip the spoon the right way.

  “I can pick him up afterward.” KC stirred the gravy into her hash browns. If she was going to say to hell with her waistline this early in the morning, she wanted to be able to taste her extravagance in every bite.

  “He’s getting his two-year-old vaccinations. You won’t want him.”

  Kendall snagged a piece of bacon from KC’s plate. “It’ll be good for her. Let her take him.”

  “Your fruit’s not going to help if you eat your fill off my plate.” KC buttered her pancake and then spread blackberry jam over the top.

  “Just you wait.” Kendall speared a chunk of melon and jabbed it in KC’s direction. “Eventually you’re going to have a baby or turn thirty. Then we’ll see how much you’re laughing.”

  “Fat chance she’s going to have a baby.” Trina nibbled her toast.

  “And why is that?” KC bordered on scandalized. Trina avoided all talk of KC’s sex life like it was a plague of flying locusts. “Being a lesbian doesn’t render me incapable of reproducing.”

  Trina shook her head and kept eating her toast. She didn’t comment further.

  Kendall took up the challenge. “Biology 101. Makin’ babies requires sperm.”

  Trina nodded. Kendall smirked. Buddy threw a fistful of eggs. KC rolled her eyes. “They sell that stuff. Hell, I can order it off the Internet and have it delivered straight to my door.”

  “Really?” Trina’s eyebrows just about climbed off her head.

  “Pssshh.” Kendall was not impressed. “You can get it delivered straight to your vagina for free if you do it the old-fashioned way.”

  “Yuck.” KC set her fork down. “You’re going to ruin my appetite.”

  “I call dibs on your bacon.” Kendall stole the remaining piece.

  “You want babies, KC?” Trina asked quietly.

  “Of course.” KC hadn’t really thought about it. At some point she’d have a family of her own. It was just the order of things. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  Trina shrugged and gave her half-eaten piece of toast to Buddy.

  “Really?” Kendall looked like she wanted to say more. KC prayed she wouldn’t.

  “Really.” KC tucked into her hash browns before Kendall could target them next. Silence was her best option with the direction the conversation had turned, and keeping her mouth otherwise occupied was the best way to stay quiet.

  She tried to picture her future with Lonnie. If she focused on imaginative sex, Lonnie worked fine. The second her musing switched to anything that spoke of longevity in a relationship, Lonnie disappeared from the scenario. Emma hovered in her mind, but she wouldn’t fool herself into thinking her relationship with Emma equaled anything more than friendship. They had no future together. KC put away her uncertainty and focused on the day ahead. She might not know her path to contentment, but she didn’t expect to find it over breakfast either. She sighed and took another bite of her breakfast.

  Chapter Four

  KC’s stomach clenched with that giddy happy feeling that came along with getting to see Lonnie. She had taken extra care as she dressed for their meeting. She’d even shaved her legs, a chore she detested, but Lonnie was always very vocal with her appreciation of it.

  After breakfast with her sisters, KC ran a few errands, recorded two lectures and uploaded them, graded a virtual stack of essays, and thought ceaselessly about what she wanted from her meeting with Lonnie. First on the list: orgasm. Preferably followed by more orgasms. To that end, she’d decided to try something a little different.

  “Hello, darlin’. How can I help you?” Lonnie obviously didn’t recognize KC.

  KC wanted to draw the charade out, to play the part of the man she’d dressed to be. She’d braided her hair and tucked it up under a fedora and wore tailored men’s slacks with a crisp white button-down shirt. Hell, she even sported a tie to complete the look.

  She took a couple of steps deeper into the reception area, her right hand resting high on her thigh in her best imitation of the gangsta stride. If she had a real cock, her thumb would have brushed against it with every step. When her student-teacher rotation took her through a Seattle high school, she’d laughed at the male students who walked that way. Now it gave her a perfect form to imitate.

  “I’m sure you can think of something.” KC pitched her voice deeper and gave her not-so-manly parts a squeeze.

  “Now listen here, young man.” Lonnie changed from solicitous realtor to scolding mama instantly. KC loved Lonnie’s feistiness. If she’d tried this with a lover in Seattle, she would have ended up with a face full of pepper spray and being hauled away in handcuffs. Lonnie had no reason to think she was in danger, because in Fairmont she wasn’t. Any unruly young man could be put easily back in line with a fiery lecture accompanied by the right amount of finger wagging. “You may talk to folks like that wherever it is you come from, but ’round here we do things different—”

  KC grabbed Lonnie around the waist and pulled her close. She was tired of listening to Lonnie rant. She had an agenda for their meeting, and being scolded like a child was nowhere on the list. Lonnie made her heart beat like a wild horse. And she wanted to let the horses run for a while.

  Lonnie struggled fiercely and KC squeezed her tight to keep her from escaping. This was getting out of hand. As soon as she touched Lonnie, Lonnie lost control of the situation. That was never KC’s intention. She wanted to play, not give her lover a heart attack. Before Lonnie could scream bloody murder, she pressed her lips to Lonnie’s ear. “Baby, it’s me,” she cooed, the words low and soothing. She needed to calm Lonnie down before things got any worse.

  “KC?” Lonnie jerked out of KC’s grasp. Her chest heaved and her eyes were open wide with fear. She slapped KC across the face. “You scared the shit out of me.”

  KC rubbed her palm against her cheek, the flesh hot to the touch. Tomorrow, KC knew, she’d need extra makeup to cover the handprint. “Lonnie…” She didn’t know what to say.

  Lonnie kept her from having to figure it out. She launched herself at KC lips first. “Goddamn, you look sexy.” She breathed the words into KC’s mouth between sloppy open-mouth kisses.

  KC gripped Lonnie’s hands at the wrist and pulled them away from her face. She held them down by her side and said, “There’s a window right there.” She jerked her head toward the large plate-glass window, its view one of the reasons Lonnie had selected this office space.

  “Oh, hell. You made me forget myself.” Lonnie straightened and removed her hands from KC’s grip. KC wanted to hold on a little longer, a little tighter, to see what kind of reaction she’d get, but she let go and Lonnie retreated to her office. “Come on, sugar. I’ve already closed the blinds in here. Hurry.”

  KC forgot all about her practiced man-strut as she rushed to reach Lonnie. On her list of priorities, getting Lonnie naked, and hopefully on her knees, ranked above posturing. As soon as she cleared the threshold, she closed the door and twisted the lock.

  “I don�
��t know what’s gotten into you, but I like it.” Lonnie spread her hands over KC’s shoulders, smoothing the fabric.

  “I want you.” KC led Lonnie’s hand down her front to the juncture between her legs. When she’d slipped into the harness earlier, she wasn’t sure how Lonnie would respond. Now she couldn’t wait to pull out the silicone cock and make Lonnie beg for it.

  Lonnie gripped the width and gasped. “What’s this?” She wrapped her fingers around it and squeezed. “God.”

  Lonnie was a Texas lady. That meant she wore makeup like she was appearing on TV, with her hair high and wavy, and always, always, left home wearing a dress. KC dropped to her knees and pressed her open mouth to Lonnie’s stomach through the fabric. She eased her hands slowly up Lonnie’s thighs, appreciating the feel of real silk stockings and garters. She didn’t stop her upward movement until she reached Lonnie’s panties. “I want these off.” She jerked them down, none too gently, and left them around Lonnie’s knees. Far enough down for Lonnie to spread her legs some, but not far enough for her to step out.

  KC stood abruptly but left her hands resting on Lonnie’s hips inside her skirt. She held her face close enough to feel Lonnie’s breath on her lips but didn’t kiss her. Lonnie’s low, deep moan vibrated down KC’s spine.

  “Open my pants.” KC barely managed a whisper. So much for debonair and commanding.

  Lonnie’s hands shook as she worked the button loose, then lowered the zipper. She started to push them down KC’s hips and KC stopped her.

  “Leave them.” KC kissed Lonnie, sweet and tender. She poured every ounce of emotion she could find into the meeting of their lips. If she had her way, everything that followed would be anything but gentle. She wanted to remind Lonnie that she cared for her even if Lonnie wouldn’t allow her to say the words.

  KC left their lips pressed together after the kiss ended. She held Lonnie quietly. With her eyes closed, she savored their connection.

  “What do you want?” Lonnie whispered.