Focus of Desire

by Kim Baldwin

  She forgave Kash fully and let go of the rest of her anger. “Well, I guess you’re damn lucky, then, that the feeling is quite mutual.”

  “Mutual?” Kash’s face relaxed and a relieved grin turned up the corners of her mouth. She still had her hands firmly in her pockets, as though she didn’t know what to do with them.

  “Very. I love you, too, Kash.”

  The grin got bigger and Kash bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. “Great. That’s great!” It was kind of adorable, actually, Isabel thought, the way this worldly playgirl had been suddenly reduced to acting like a schoolgirl with her first crush.

  “You really look hot, by the way,” Isabel said. Kash had never appeared more…movie-star dashing seemed the right description. Her tanned skin against the white shirt, the flattering cut of her suit, the light brown highlights in her hair from her time in the sun.

  Kash’s expression gained an aw-shucks kind of Cary Grant debonair that fit right in with her tuxedoed elegance. “Uh…hungry?” she asked, running a hand through her hair. “They’ll send up the food as soon as I make a call.”

  Eating was actually the very last thing on Kash’s mind. Her stomach was in knots—she loves me!—and all she could think about was how badly she needed to touch Isabel. All that soft, fair, delectable skin, just out of reach, aching to be kissed and caressed. She was nervous and excited and terrified in a way she had never imagined she could be. Though she thought she had experienced almost everything possible about sex, this felt entirely different. As it should be. This time I will really be making love.

  She had imagined it many times in the past weeks. Hoped for it. Prayed that her stupidity hadn’t killed any opportunity for a future with Isabel. Remember. Slow. Tender. But she wanted to tear that dress off Isabel. I’ve wanted you for so long. And since you, I’ve wanted no other.

  And now what? She was on unsteady ground, already so aroused she was ready to blow, but Isabel’s needs and wants were what had become most important to her, which was a rarity. I so want to please you, Isabel.

  Isabel swallowed hard. The way Kash was looking at her—like her dress was transparent. Hungry, all right, but certainly not for what room service has to offer. So why are you holding back?

  She thought she knew the answer. You’re waiting for me, aren’t you? “Don’t tell me you’re really thinking about food at a time like this.” She smiled encouragingly as she walked slowly toward Kash and was relieved to see her breathing visibly increase as she neared.

  Oh, Isabel. What you do to me. Who can resist that? Who? “All I can think about is how much I want you.” Kash pulled Isabel to her as soon as she got within reach and kissed her, hard. Fiercely. She splayed one hand across Isabel’s bare back, and her heart soared at the first touch of warm skin beneath her fingertips. She let the other hand descend to Isabel’s ass and fondled it firmly as her tongue filled Isabel’s mouth.

  Isabel surrendered eagerly, instantly molding her body to Kash’s and wrapping her arms around Kash’s neck. She sucked lightly on Kash’s tongue and moaned, long, a needy sound from the back of her throat.

  Oh, Christ, Isabel. When you do that…Kash felt many of her resolutions to herself slip away as she kissed Isabel. Trying to prolong this moment felt close to impossible. She knew she was already wet; hell, she’d denied herself for so long that by the time today dawned she was so profoundly horny in anticipation she had barely managed to keep from getting herself off.

  Isabel’s tongue sought its own opportunity for exploration, and she allowed it, granting Isabel access to the warmth of her mouth. Their tongues stroked—deep, wet, slow exchanges. Isabel nipped her lower lip and she responded with an answering bite, proprietary. Their mouths conveyed what words could not about how long and how much they had wanted and waited for this.

  Their lips parted, but just barely. They remained locked together, every possible inch of their bodies that could touch pressed against the corresponding body part of the other—thigh, pelvis, stomach, breasts. Even their foreheads still touched. Both of them were breathing hard, but they were reluctant to disengage even the slightest bit.

  “God, Isabel…so much…” Kash felt as though every muscle in her body was tight as a bowstring. She was poised, and ready, instinct urging take her, just take her to the bed and throw her down on it. Enough already!

  But another inner voice was battling for dominance now, the one born during their time apart. The one that had spent endless days contemplating what her life would be like with, and without, Isabel. She wanted to do everything right, and she had vowed to herself to make it an evening Isabel would remember well. The best. “Tell me what you want,” she managed, though her throat was so tight her request came out funny, in kind of a breathy exhalation.

  “I want what you want, Kash.” Isabel squeezed her tighter and kissed her cheek wetly before she moved her mouth to Kash’s ear. “I want your hands on me. And your mouth.” She sucked on Kash’s earlobe, and Kash’s clit felt every movement of her mouth.

  “I want us to get these damn clothes off so I can feel you against me,” she continued in a provocative purr. “And on top of me and, most of all, inside me. Filling me up and making me come.”

  Kash whimpered and gripped Isabel’s ass tighter.

  “So if you don’t get me in a bed in about ten seconds I’m going to have to take control of the situation and drag you there myself.” Isabel barely got the words out before Kash was propelling her, with firm hands on her waist, directly to the suite’s king-sized bed.

  When they stood beside it, Kash loosened her grip and put her hands lightly on Isabel’s shoulders, pausing as her fingers slipped beneath the straps of her dress until Isabel met her eyes. Only then, when she saw the clear desire there, the need as demanding as her own, did she pull the straps down and expose Isabel’s breasts.

  She sucked in a breath at her first glimpse of those soft swells, the ivory skin, the nipples pink and erect. They were round and high, and a bit larger than her own, and she had begun the task of choosing which to taste first…when she became aware that Isabel had a hand on the clasp of her trousers. From long habit alone, she reached down to stop her.

  “Please, Kash. I need to feel how wet I make you.” Isabel continued as though unimpeded—for although Kash’s hand remained wrapped around her forearm, it was a loose and unenthusiastic restraint.

  By the time Isabel had the clasp unfastened and the zipper down, Kash had withdrawn her hand completely. She could deny Isabel nothing. For the first time in a very long while, she wanted to touch someone so badly that it would drive her mad if she didn’t. And she couldn’t deny herself, either. She wanted and needed Isabel’s touch.

  When Isabel loosened the buttons low on her shirt and lightly grazed her abdomen, the heavy thudding of her heart in her chest almost overwhelmed her. She found it hard to breathe. “Christ, Isabel.”

  “All right?” Isabel put her mouth on Kash’s neck as her hand widened its caress of Kash’s lower abdomen.

  “Yes. Very.” It was hard to speak. “But…not yet. As soon as you touch me, I’ll…I won’t last long.”

  “Sure, Kash.” Isabel’s gentle exploration detoured around Kash’s waist, sensitizing the skin it passed over. Her tongue traced Kash’s jawline just as lightly. “Why don’t you finish taking my dress off? That will delay things a bit.”

  “Not necessarily,” Kash confessed, smiling, and she could feel Isabel’s satisfied chuckle as a low vibration against her neck. “But yes. Please.”

  Isabel turned to allow Kash access to the snap on her dress, low on her back.

  As Kash unfastened it with trembling hands and let the dress fall to the floor, she kissed Isabel between her shoulder blades. Isabel hummed her approval, stepped out of the dress, and faced Kash, wearing only her heels and brief silk panties, a shade lighter than her dress.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “You are…a feast for the eyes, Isabel.” Kash drank in the we
ll-proportioned curves and planes of Isabel’s body, letting her eyes linger on the wonderful subtle shadows created by breasts, hip bones, navel, and the V of her legs, taking mental photographs of the unique landscape she had hours ahead to explore. She could feel herself getting wetter by the minute, and she imagined how Isabel would find her when she finally touched her there.

  The anticipation was excruciating. She was dizzy with desire, dancing on the precipice of pain.

  “I’m glad you think so. Now it’s your turn.” Isabel stepped close again and reached up to unbutton the remaining buttons on Kash’s shirt. She brushed her fingertips into the crevice between Kash’s breasts and popped the first button. “I really love your body.” The second button went. Her touch was perfect torture in its teasing indirectness. “I only got a glimpse that first day in your studio. When you changed your shirt?” The third button went, and the shirt fell open, revealing Kash’s white lace bra, stark against her tanned body. “So beautiful,” Isabel said, reverent, adoring.

  Isabel slipped Kash’s suit coat and shirt off and reached for the front hook of Kash’s bra. When it, too, was undone, she stared openly and admiringly at Kash’s breasts and licked her lips. What a magnificent body. “I’m going to taste every inch of you tonight,” she promised. Isa was back, with a vengeance, and she wanted to play.

  She placed a palm on Kash’s chest, between her breasts, and gently pushed her to sit on the edge of the bed. “Tell me, Kash…do you like to…watch?” Reaching down, she removed one of her heels while she waited for Kash’s answer. She moved slowly, provocatively, then tossed the shoe casually aside.

  Kash smiled and nodded.

  “Thought so.” Isabel peeled off her other shoe and did the same. Next, she put one hand on each hip and slipped her fingers beneath her panties, ready to peel them off. But she paused, enjoying the way Kash was eyeing her. A muscle in Kash’s jaw jumped as she waited for her to remove that final barrier to an unobstructed view. “I like it when you watch. Of course, as long as you’re not taking pictures that you shouldn’t…” She couldn’t help the one reminder of the hot-tub photos, but her remark carried only a hint of reproach.

  “Never again. I’m so sorry, Isabel.” Her voice was sincere.

  “Apology accepted. I might have a way you can make it up to me,” Isabel said teasingly.

  Kash’s eyes were fixed on her panties. “Anything. Anything at all. Now, please take them off. Please. Take them off now and come here.” Or I’ll have to rip them off you. Really, I will.

  At the urgency in Kash’s voice, Isabel took mercy, or perhaps she, too, could simply wait no longer. She slid the panties quickly down her thighs and off and stood naked before Kash, her legs slightly apart. Her cheeks were flushed, and Kash could see she was breathing fast. But her eyes showed the depth of her desire and it was that—the undisguised hunger, the unrelenting need every bit as intense as her own—that made her clit begin to throb as Isabel started toward her.

  Kash caught her scent just before they touched, a mixture of perfume and arousal that sent her blood roaring through her veins, the noise in her head from it deafening. She put her hands on Isabel’s hips and held her there at arm’s length for a few moments to appreciate both her breasts—which were roughly at eye level from where she was sitting—and also, so close, the fine silky hairs at the apex of Isabel’s legs. Her mouth watered. God, I need to taste you. So bad, so fucking bad I’ll die if I don’t.

  Isabel’s hands were in her hair, fierce against her scalp. Kash knew Isabel was desperate, too, like she was. It was too much. Too much. It was driving her crazy. Enough.

  She spun Isabel around and put her hands purposefully on Isabel’s ass, caressing her firmly, thrilling at the soft skin and the eager response of Isabel’s body, pressing back into her touch. She teased her with a glancing fingertip up the inside of her thigh and heard Isabel moan as she spread her legs, inviting more.

  Yes, Isabel. Soon. I can see. I know.

  Kash smoothed her hands over Isabel’s back, then stood and wrapped her arms around Isabel’s waist, reversing their positions until Isabel faced the bed. She could tell how turned on Isabel was by her rapid breathing, and she had no thought, no reason now, no need but the primal need to taste Isabel’s desire, to discover for herself the effect she was having on the woman who had captured her heart.

  She pressed forward into Isabel, her nipples so hard and sensitized they sent a wave of pleasure through her with each brush against that lightly freckled back. Pushing more insistently, she curved her body to Isabel’s until Isabel was bent over the bed, supporting her weight on her outstretched hands.

  Isabel’s legs were trembling in anticipation and her scent hung thick in the air, a heady siren’s call. Kash shifted, kissing her way down Isabel’s body, her hands making a path along her back, hips, and legs, as she reached her knees.

  Ignoring her own clit’s demand for attention, she gently urged Isabel’s legs farther apart, fingertips tracing through the soft triangle of hair as she savored the sight and smell of this moment, one she had imagined often during their time apart.

  But never in those daydreams had she come close to how she felt now that the real thing was at hand. So wet. All for me. Only for me.

  Her tongue stroked the length of Isabel’s sex, tasting her, exploring and memorizing how her body responded. She delighted in the way Isabel moaned and moved and sighed.

  But all too soon, Isabel stopped her—pulling away unexpectedly, panting for air, until she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her pupils were so dilated the irises were thin bands of blue. “Not…not yet.” Her voice was gravel thick and unsteady. “Not yet.”

  “Fuck, Isabel,” she groaned. “You taste so good. So hard to stop…” Kash made fists of her hands to keep from giving in to the driving urgency to regain control. She wanted to make Isabel come right then, and the denial of that desire, even briefly, both frustrated and exhilarated her.

  “Soon,” Isabel promised as she threaded one hand through Kash’s hair. “It’s…it’s so much…” she said breathily. “So intense. I just want it to last.”

  “Isabel…” Kash stood and tried to force her racing heart to slow, but it was a useless endeavor. She was beyond the point of no return, well beyond, in the danger zone, in fact—at risk of imminent spontaneous combustion, she was certain.

  There was nothing else to do. She took Isabel’s hand and placed it atop the open zipper of her trousers. “Take them off.”

  Isabel’s hands were immediately on her hips, pushing her pants down and away, leaving her in a black thong.

  “Oh, God, I do love that, Kash.” Isabel ran her hands over Kash’s muscular thighs to her ass, fingertips following the erotic frame of the string.

  Kash shuddered involuntarily and pressed her legs together, feeling a sudden surge in the moisture between them. The pressure for release was so acute she worried she would come at the first glancing touch of Isabel’s mouth, but she could stand no further delay. “Off,” she pleaded in a hoarse croak.

  Isabel removed the final barrier between them and slipped off the bed to kneel in front of her as Kash spread her legs. She could feel warm exhalations on her stomach as she took Isabel’s head in her hands and urged her forward.

  Isabel’s arms encircled her thighs, trapping her, as that wonderful mouth slowly descended. The throbbing in her clit intensified with each puff of breath, stroke of tongue, and nip of teeth, until the sensation was beyond unbearable.

  More forcefully, she led Isabel’s face where she needed it, her fists in Isabel’s hair, the anticipation dreadful, her body singing out for deliverance.

  And when it came, finally, that sweep of tongue across her clit, the sweetest of caresses across the very core of her, her whole being cried out with the joy of it. She felt almost airborne for an instant, lifted out of her body, until the next stroke brought her crashing back to earth, every cell in agony for more. She needed so much more. But she couldn’t
find words to ask.

  She pressed harder against the back of Isabel’s head as she pushed her pelvis forward, a slow, easy rhythm against Isabel’s mouth. Isabel grasped her ass, fondled her, matched the rhythm of her thrusts, and soon her tongue was also laving her, firmly in sync. Her touch was exquisite, torturously exquisite, and she gave herself over to it, let it build and take her with it, higher and higher, until she could bear no more.

  Sounds escaped her—a grunt, a whimper, a wail of anguish—and then Isabel took her, pushed three fingers into her and drove her forward, then sucked her hard and shattered her, sent her into a maelstrom of feeling that tore through her and blew her apart, and left her raw and gasping in its wake.

  Collapsing on her back on the bed, she opened her arms and Isabel slipped into them, coming to rest half atop Kash, head nestled into the crook of her shoulder and one leg casually across her thigh.

  “Christ, Isabel, you wasted me on the first go,” she griped good-naturedly, still pondering how easy it had been to let go completely with Isabel, easier than she’d imagined it would be. But then, really nothing to do with Isabel had been what she had expected, from their first meeting until this moment.

  And thank God for that. Somehow, Isabel had slipped past all of Kash’s cynicism and carefully built defenses and had gotten her to trust again and, perhaps even more importantly, to dream again. She had shown her there was more to life than the enviable-looking but ultimately unsatisfying indulgent lifestyle she had fallen into.

  In recent weeks, Kash had allowed herself to imagine the possibilities, and she had been somewhat surprised to find herself getting so excited about the prospect of sharing simple things with Isabel—things that ordinary people took for granted: Coffee in the morning. A summer sunset at the beach. Most of all, she had wondered how it might feel to wake up with Isabel in her arms, perhaps as they were right now. The position was unfamiliar, but wonderfully so. Yup. I can get used to this. As easy as falling off a log.