Change of Pace

by Radclyffe

  Oh God, no! I can’t do this now.

  Sonja eased the clitoris between her lips and gently, rhythmically sucked. The clitoral tonometer spiked again to maximum levels and maintained that pressure.

  “She’s pre-orgasmic,” Early said clinically, marking a note on a scrolling piece of paper that showed sharp spikes and a steady line very near the top of the page.

  As Van watched, the subject closed her eyes, arched her back, and opened and closed her fists with desperate intensity.

  “Please, please. Oh, suck me harder, please. I’m going to come soon. Make me come now...make me come.”

  Early started a counter on the computer to record the time in hundredths of a second.

  Van could almost feel the rigid clitoris swell against her tongue and taste the ripe promise of passion. She fought back a groan when Sonja delicately danced her fingertips over the moist swollen flesh of the woman’s sex, dipping her fingers into her and then out as she licked and sucked.

  The subject sobbed softly and thrashed her head back and forth. “Oh yes! Oh, I’m going to come...oh, it feels so good! Oh...I’m coming now...” Her pleas ended in a final desperate wail as her heart rate screamed into the 160s and the strain gauge clamped to her exploding clitoris flew off. The stimulation levels peaked and fluxed at max levels as Sonja gently licked and kissed the erratically pulsating clitoris throughout the subject’s orgasm, not stopping until the woman in the study module lay quiet and utterly spent.

  “Oh, that was so nice,” the subject murmured thickly, her breathing finally evening out as her heart rate slowly returned to baseline. Her clitoris remained swollen but without the tonometer, Van could not judge the rate of her recovery.

  “We’ll have some data skews at the end here,” Early remarked with moderate irritation. “We’ll have to find a better way to attach the clitoral strain gauge.”

  Van couldn’t take her eyes off the subject’s face, having never seen anything as beautiful as a woman in the first seconds after orgasm. As she watched, Sonja placed one more delicate kiss on the tip of the woman’s clitoris and then glided away.

  “Do you feel that you could achieve orgasm again?” Early asked after keying the microphone. “We’ll need to reattach the tonometer to run another sim.”

  The subject slowly turned her face towards the booth. “Not yet. I...oh God...it was really intense. I don’t think I can go again for a while.”

  “Okay, no problem, then,” Early said. “Take your time getting dressed, and we’ll go over the details of your next session when you’re ready to leave.” She reached out and dimmed the lights in the outer room before turning to Van.

  “What do you think? Time to run a parallel sequence with another subject?”

  Van thought of Sonja or one of the other lab assistants expertly manipulating Robbie to orgasm. Her head ached.

  “I might have a slight problem.”

  “You can’t just fire me,” Robbie protested as soon as she sat down in Van’s small, cramped office. She’d been rehearsing her arguments for a week, ever since the morning that Van had contacted her to inform her that she would no longer be needed for the study. She’d been so stunned at the unexpected call and the surprisingly devastating news that she hadn’t even asked why.

  Van leaned back in her desk chair and placed her reading glasses carefully on a pile of reprints that she had been perusing without actually reading. “It isn’t an issue of being fired. Your role in the study is simply over.”

  “Why? I know that the study is ongoing and that there are other sessions that I haven’t participated in yet.”

  “We don’t use each subject for every stage in the study,” Van answered patiently with a small shake of her head. She was ridiculously pleased to see Robbie, even though she had been studiously avoiding all thought of her since their abrupt final phone call. At least she’d been attempting to avoid thinking of her. Even immersing herself in work didn’t completely obliterate the heart-melting innocence of Robbie’s smile or the terrible, wonderful memory of her arousal.

  “Well, you have to let me back into the study. Because something’s broken and it needs to get fixed.”

  Van’s brows furrowed as she leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”

  “I can’t come anymore.”

  “What?”

  Robbie leaned forward as well, and had the desk not been between them, she would have put her hands on Van. Somewhere. Anywhere. She was desperate to touch her. “I. Can’t. Come.”

  “Have you tried?” Van colored. “Well, of course you have, or you wouldn’t know that you couldn’t.” She took a breath, not truly wanting the answer to her next question. “Are you speaking of orgasm during an intimate encounter with a partner?”

  “No.” Robbie ground her teeth. “I’m talking about me, myself, and I. My usual partner. The one who never fails to give me exactly what I need in whatever time frame I happen to be in the mood for. A five-minute quickie for medicinal purposes. An hour of slow satisfaction with my favorite erotica collection.”

  “Ah,” Van began delicately. “Sometimes, we can experience a temporary decline in libido or a transitory inability to achieve...”

  “Nope. Not me. Never.” Robbie took a breath. “I know exactly what the problem is.”

  “What?” Van asked anxiously. She couldn’t bear the idea that Robbie might have something seriously wrong.

  “It’s the study.”

  “The study?” Van paled. “That can’t be the problem. The study does nothing more than record your responses to sexual situations or stimulation. It doesn’t...”

  “I’m imprinted.”

  “Imprinted,” Van echoed as if she’d never heard the word before.

  “Uh-huh. Imprinted. On you. I can’t come without you.”

  Van’s mouth opened to form a silent “Oh.” After a moment, she swallowed painfully. “I don’t think we’ve ever encountered that result before.”

  “Well,” Robbie said matter-of-factly, “you can start writing the case report. Every time I start working myself up, things move along nicely, just like always. I almost get there. Almost. But when I turn my head and open my eyes for that final push, you’re not there.”

  “I’ll have to talk to my colleague.” Van couldn’t think. She was flattered, aghast, concerned, and terribly aroused. All she could see was Robbie turning toward her, searching with her eyes as her body quivered on the brink, and finding her, tumbling into ecstasy. The image was devastating. Devastatingly wonderful. “I’m not entirely certain how to reverse this phenomenon. I suppose we could try aversion therapy or behavioral modifica—”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Robbie interrupted. “Let’s go out on a date.”

  “So what did she say?” Robbie’s best friend TJ asked.

  “She said,” Robbie replied, straightening on the bar stool and assuming a clipped, formal tone, “‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible due to our previous professional relationship.’” Robbie licked the salt from the back of her hand, downed the shot of Cuervo Gold, and sucked the lime with angry relish. “She’s driving me nuts.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to camp out on her goddamn doorste—”

  “Uh, Robbie,” TJ interrupted. “Didn’t you say that she was about five-six with legs for days and a face like a Greek goddess?”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “Do Greek goddesses wear denim jeans and high-heeled boots?”

  Robbie snorted. “Not the last time I looked.” With her good humor trying to resurface, she swiveled at the bar and followed her friend’s gaze. The blood drained from her head and pooled directly between her thighs. Van threaded her way determinedly through the crowd toward them.

  Her hair was down...

  It was wavy. Beautifully thick and glossy and Robbie wanted to get her hands into it immediately.

  ...wearing the aforementioned denim jeans...

  They were skinti
ght and faded in just the right places and Robbie wanted to get her out of them immediately.

  ...and looking at Robbie as if she were the only woman in the room.

  Robbie’s heart danced in her chest, her stomach flip-flopped, and her clitoris shot straight into high alert.

  “Van?” To Robbie’s horror, the word came out with a squeak of disbelief. Oh cool, Burns. Way cool.

  “Hi, Robbie.”

  From beside them, a voice interjected, “Hi, I’m TJ. I was just leaving. Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you, too, TJ,” Van said without taking her eyes from Robbie’s. “See you again sometime.”

  “Yeah, right. Right,” TJ muttered as she made herself scarce.

  Softly Robbie asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you. I called your apartment and one of your flatmates said you were probably here.”

  “Yes, but what are you doing here?” Robbie’s eyebrows drew together into a frown. “This isn’t part of the study, is it?”

  The corner of Van’s mouth lifted. “And what if it is? I thought you wanted back into the study.”

  “That’s because I was desperate.”

  “Oh, and now you’re not?”

  As they talked, Van moved closer until her hips lightly pressed between Robbie’s thighs. Her right hand rested on Robbie’s left leg just below her crotch. The little space between them shimmered with the heat of their bodies.

  “No,” Robbie murmured, tilting her pelvis forward until her fly snugged against Van’s. “Now I’m downright dying.”

  “Well,” Van allowed the weight of her body to rest against Robbie’s while bringing her mouth close to Robbie’s ear. “There is one part of the study we didn’t get to.”

  “Whatever it is,” Robbie replied as she circled her arm around Van’s waist and pulled her tight into her crotch, “I’m in.”

  “We’ll see.” As she’d done that first day, Van whispered, “Follow me.”

  To Robbie’s everlasting gratitude, Van’s building was only a short block from the bar, and in five minutes they were climbing the stairs to the second-floor apartment. They’d said almost nothing on the brief, fast walk, but Van had reached down and boldly taken her hand. The shock of Van’s skin against her palm had made Robbie gasp in surprise. Van had only looked at her and grinned.

  “Come on. The bedroom is back here,” Van murmured as she led the way through the apartment.

  “Uh, what—”

  “Don’t worry.” Van stopped and turned so abruptly that Robbie walked into her. When she did, Van put her arms around Robbie’s neck and her lips on Robbie’s mouth.

  “Oh,” Robbie groaned as she slid her tongue into Van’s mouth. It was better than any fantasy, and she’d entertained more than a few lately with herself and Van in the starring roles. She would have been happy to stand rooted to that spot the entire night, stroking the inner surfaces of Van’s lips, sucking the tip of her tongue, probing for the spots that made her arch and groan. The pressure in her belly was a constant distraction, but she was in no hurry to relieve it. Eventually, it was Van who drew away, gasping.

  “We mustn’t take this out of sequence. It will skew the data.”

  “There’s some order to it?” Robbie sucked on Van’s lower lip, then bit gently.

  “Oh, yes,” Van moaned. “A...definite progression. Mmm, you have wonderful lips.”

  Robbie’s head nearly burst. She was so desperate for Van’s touch that she wrapped her fingers around Van’s forearm to guide her hand between her legs. As if sensing her intent, Van stepped away. Her eyes were glazed, her chest heaving.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “Then when?” Robbie asked urgently. “God, I want you.”

  Van smiled knowingly. “Really. On a scale of one to ten...”

  Robbie growled and took a step closer, reaching for Van’s hips. “Seven.”

  Van backed away. “Really. Well. We should move on, then.” With that, she turned and hurried into the bedroom. Robbie hesitated only a second and then bounded after her.

  “Stand by the side of the bed, please,” Van said in as even a tone as she could muster. All she wanted was to feel Robbie’s mouth again and hear her deep soft sounds of pleasure. With hands that trembled, she caught the bottom of Robbie’s T-shirt and lifted it off over her head. Her gaze fell to Robbie’s chest and she moaned. “Beautiful.”

  “Touch me,” Robbie pleaded, all semblance of pride gone. “I can’t take any more.”

  Van nearly broke, but with her last remnant of control, merely reached out and unsnapped Robbie’s jeans. As she pushed them down, she allowed herself the pleasure of trailing the backs of her hands over Robbie’s thighs. “You forget, I know exactly how much you can take.”

  “You weren’t touching me before.” Robbie’s nipples were hard, her hips thrusting into empty air as the passion beat through her depths. She managed to step free of her jeans, but her knees were threatening to give out. “Before I was only imagining it was you. I’m going to come standing here in a minute.”

  “On a scale of one to—”

  “Oh God,” Robbie moaned. “Nine. Please.”

  “Lie down on the bed,” Van whispered, trembling. As Robbie did, Van began to undress. She watched Robbie’s eyes, her face, the rise and fall of her breasts, knowing with certainty exactly what she was feeling. She knew every nuance of Robbie’s arousal. When she inadvertently brushed her fingers over a bare nipple and it stiffened, Robbie moaned and smoothed the fingers of her right hand along the inside of her right thigh. Van recognized it as a move Robbie made involuntarily when she was highly aroused and needed to touch herself. Van smiled, stepped free of her slacks, and stretched out on the bed beside Robbie. She placed her hand in the center of Robbie’s abdomen, circled over the tight muscles slowly, then gently brushed Robbie’s hand away from her leg. “I can’t let you touch yourself. You’re already far too excited.”

  “You touch me, then,” Robbie implored. “I’m dying.”

  Van caught Robbie’s right wrist and guided her hand between her own thighs. Fighting back a moan at the first exquisite touch of Robbie’s fingers on her skin, she murmured, “This is what we call...a parallel...simulation.” Her hips lifted as Robbie’s fingers dipped into the moisture between her thighs. She held Robbie’s eyes, which were hazy and huge with arousal as she closed her fingers around Robbie’s clitoris. “Follow me.”

  “Oh, Van, I won’t last,” Robbie gasped.

  “You will.” Van sighed and rested her forehead against Robbie’s, welcoming the heat that flooded her thighs as she stroked Robbie and Robbie returned her caress. “Remember, I know you. Now, I want you to know me.”

  A minute passed, an hour, a lifetime as, eyes holding each other fast, they climbed past passion to the crest of wonder where pleasure transcended flesh. Shuddering, smiling tremulously, Van whispered, “Now, Robbie. Now.”

  As their hands blurred, Robbie pressed close, her vision filled with the image that never failed to carry her away. Van. So easy. So right. Only this time, Van was here with her, coming with her. Her eyes were liquid with pleasure, her face soft with surrender, her skin flushed with the first surge of release.

  “Oh, Robbie, Robbie,” Van breathed as she finally closed her eyes and slipped into orgasm.

  “Ahh, yes,” Robbie uttered as her bones melted and her muscles dissolved.

  Finally surfacing, Robbie traced her fingers over Van’s cheek and laughed quietly when Van caught her fingertip and sucked on it. “How many more stages of this particular experiment are there?”

  “Didn’t I mention that earlier?” Van sighed and stretched, a grin flickering on lips swollen with kisses. “This was just the pilot study.” She snuggled against Robbie’s chest, wrapping her arms and legs around her. “And you definitely meet the criteria for inclusion.”

  Robbie found the sheet with one hand and drew it over them while burying her face in Van’s thick, soft
hair. Closing her eyes, she murmured, “Well, Professor. Sign me up.”

  About the Author

  Radclyffe is the author of numerous lesbian romances (Safe Harbor, Innocent Hearts, Love’s Melody Lost, Love’s Tender Warriors, Tomorrow’s Promise, Passion’s Bright Fury, Love’s Masquerade, shadowland, and Fated Love), as well as two romance/intrigue series: the Honor series (Above All, Honor revised edition, Honor Bound, Love & Honor, and Honor Guards) and the Justice series (Shield of Justice, the prequel A Matter of Trust, In Pursuit of Justice, and Justice in the Shadows), selections in Infinite Pleasures: An Anthology of Lesbian Erotica edited by Stacia Seaman and Nann Dunne (2004) and in Milk of Human Kindness, an anthology of lesbian authors writing about mothers and daughters, edited by Lori L. Lake (2004).

  A 2003/2004 recipient of the Alice B. award for her body of work as well as a member of the Golden Crown Literary Society, Pink Ink, and the Romance Writers of America, she lives with her partner, Lee, in Philadelphia, PA where she both writes and practices surgery full-time. She states, “I began reading lesbian fiction at the age of twelve when I found a copy of Ann Bannon’s Beebo Brinker. Not long after, I began collecting every book with lesbian content I could find. The new titles come much faster now than they did in the decades when a new book or two every year felt like a gift, but I still treasure every single one. These works are our history and our legacy, and I am proud to contribute in some small way to those archives.”

  Her upcoming works include the next in the Provincetown Tales, Distant Shores, Silent Thunder (2005); the next in the Justice series, Justice Served (2005); and the next in the Honor series, Honor Reclaimed (2005).

  Look for information about these works at www.radfic.com and www.boldstrokesbooks.com.

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