Casa Parisi

by Janet Albert

  "I'm sorry I ran out on you," Lucia told them. "I couldn't take it when I saw that the tree was gone and I--I lost it. It seems stupid, I know. It was just a tree."

  "It wasn't stupid, not one bit," Kristen said.

  "We'd do anything for you. I hope you know that." Paula put her arm around Lucia and then looked at Kristen as if exchanging an unspoken message. "We should go home. It's been a long day. Will you call us tomorrow before you leave?"

  "I will," Lucia said. "Thanks for dinner and for everything else."

  "I loved meeting you both and I hope I see you again," Juliet said.

  "We loved meeting you," Paula said. "Take care of our friend."

  "Lucia, please say it's not the last time we're going to see you," Kristen said.

  "It's not. You have my word."

  "We don't want to lose you," Paula said. "We love you."

  "You won't lose me. I promise," Lucia said. "I'll be in touch."

  AFTER PAULA AND Kristen departed, Lucia leaned on the bar and buried her face in her hands. She shook her head gently from side to side. Juliet also noticed that Lucia's hands were trembling. Taking one of Lucia's hands in hers, she tugged at it until Lucia uncovered her face. "We should get out of here."

  "Hold on. Let me finish my drink." Lucia took a long swig and cringed.

  "How many of those have you had?"

  "I don't know. I wasn't counting."

  Juliet pulled on Lucia's hand. "Come on, let's go."

  Lucia slid off of her barstool and stood by Juliet, but as they started to walk she lost her balance and had to lean against Juliet's side. "I've had too much to drink."

  "Just hang on to me." Juliet led Lucia away from the bar.

  As they passed the dance floor, Lucia stopped and held Juliet so she couldn't move. "One dance and we'll leave." Without letting Juliet protest, she pulled her onto the dance floor, into an open space, and began swaying to the music.

  Juliet was unsure of what to do so she danced. A thumping bass beat vibrated the floor and traveled from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head. As soon as the song ended they stood facing each other, breathing heavily. They hadn't moved yet when the lights dimmed and a slower song began to play. Juliet tried to step away, to get off the dance floor, but Lucia grabbed her and urged her into her arms.

  Being held by Lucia stirred up exquisite sensations unlike any Juliet had ever known. Her body began to quiver and she wondered if Lucia was aware of it. Soft breasts pressed against hers while Lucia's warm breaths caressed her neck. The wonder of what she was feeling was all she knew, all she wanted to know.

  "You smell so good," Lucia whispered.

  Juliet's next breath caught in her throat as Lucia's hand slid beneath her shirt. One stroke of her bare skin and she was set on fire.

  Her heart hammered so hard she was certain Lucia felt and heard every beat along with everyone within a ten-foot radius.

  "What are you doing?" Juliet whispered in Lucia's ear.

  "I want to know how you feel."

  Juliet now understood how she should have felt when Andre or the other men she had dated touched her. There was no specific point where she left off and Lucia began. She was caught in a current of desire and she couldn't pull away.

  Lucia moved her head until her lips were a mere inch from Juliet's. "I want to kiss you," she whispered. She moved the hand she'd kept on Juliet's bare back to the satiny skin of her midriff, her fingers resting just below Juliet's breasts.

  Juliet felt her nipples constricting, her pulse pounding between her legs. She had to breathe in short, rapid bursts. She was more sexually stimulated than she'd ever been and it terrified her. The source of this intense desire was not only a woman, she was her boss and her friend. "I don't know how to handle this," she whispered back.

  Lucia dropped her hands to her side and stepped back. "Jesus. What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn't be touching you like that. I don't know what I'm doing."

  "Don't worry about it."

  "Don't worry about it?" Lucia shook her head. "Fuck."

  "Let's just get out of here and go to our room. We both need to get some rest." The surge of desire Juliet had only moments ago faded as they exited the bar along with any evidence that Lucia would remember her actions the next morning.

  Chapter Eighteen

  THE INSTANT THEY stepped inside the hotel room Lucia took off running for the bathroom. Juliet heard her throwing up and when she failed to emerge after a reasonable amount of time, she went in to check on her. Lucia was sprawled on the floor in front of the toilet bowl. Kneeling on the floor alongside her, Juliet placed her hand on Lucia's shoulder. "Do you feel like you're going to be sick anymore?"

  "I don't think so."

  "See if you can stand up." Juliet helped Lucia to her feet and then guided her to the sink. She wet a washcloth with cold water and pressed it to Lucia's forehead.

  Lucia moaned. "That feels good."

  "Why don't you brush your teeth and I'll help you get into bed?" Juliet stood next to Lucia until she finished that task, aware of how small she seemed, how vulnerable. Was it resignation she was sensing? Was it defeat? Whatever it was, it was new.

  Once they were next to Lucia's bed Juliet handed her the pajama top she'd slept in the night before. "Here, put this on."

  Lucia stripped down to her panties, threw her clothes on the loveseat, and slipped the soft, cotton top over her head. "I've had a lot more to drink before, but I've never been that sick."

  "You're upset. That's part of it."

  "I've been upset before, too." Lucia pulled the covers down and got in bed.

  "Try to sleep. You'll feel a lot better in the morning." One brief glimpse of Lucia's breasts had made Juliet's heart race like it had on the dance floor. She wasn't so naïve she couldn't interpret the signals her body was sending out. What she didn't know was where it would take her and what she would do about it when she got there.

  Lucia peeked out from beneath the covers. "You've been so good to me and I don't think I can sleep unless I know things are okay between us."

  "They are, trust me," Juliet said. "Now go to sleep."

  With a sigh that sounded more like surrender, Lucia rolled onto her side away from Juliet. A few deep breaths later, she was quiet and apparently asleep.

  While Lucia slept, Juliet showered and got ready for bed. Although tired, she felt too stimulated to sleep, so she tried to read. Before long the book slipped out of her fingers and startled her awake. She read a little more, but when the book fell a second time she set it on the night table, turned off the light, and closed her eyes. It had been an evening of revelations, the most startling one being the arousal she had experienced when Lucia touched her. That arousal still lingered and Lucia's words, "I want to kiss you", played over and over again in her mind.

  Tomorrow, when she felt rested and her runaway emotions were under control, she'd try to make sense of her feelings for Lucia. Right now she was in no proper state to figure anything out. All she could think of was how that kiss would have felt. She fell asleep imagining it.

  "NO! NO! OH, God, help me!" Lucia's screams pierced the stillness in the room.

  Having been jarred out of a deep sleep, it took Juliet a second or two to shake off her transient disorientation and figure out where the screams were coming from. When she realized they were coming from Lucia, she jumped out of bed to check on her. "What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

  Lucia could only nod. She was sitting bolt upright, her eyes wide, her arms wrapped around her chest. "Help me," she sobbed as she rocked back and forth.

  Without wasting a second Juliet climbed into bed with Lucia and held her. "Shhh, it's all right. We're in the hotel room, in Atlanta. Everything's all right."

  Lucia lay back down taking Juliet with her. She stretched her body against the length of Juliet's and rested her head on her shoulder. "Please stay here. Don't leave me."

  "I won't. I'm right here." Juliet stroked Lucia's
hair. "Tell me about your dream."

  "It was awful."

  "Talking about it might help," Juliet suggested.

  "Devin. She was--" Lucia had a hard time getting words out. She sounded as if she couldn't breathe let alone speak. "I can't breathe."

  "Yes you can. Breathe with me." Juliet held her closer. "Take a deep breath in and blow it out. Now, let's do it again." Juliet repeated the same sequence a few more times until Lucia was calmer.

  "It's my fault--all my fault."

  "What's your fault? Tell me."

  "That she died. It happened because of me."

  Juliet shifted so they were lying on their sides facing each other. Her eyes never left Lucia's. "It was an accident. You weren't even there. How could it be your fault?"

  "I should have refused to go into work and I should have picked up the cake like I said I would. I was supposed to die, not her." Lucia's eyes held all the anguish they could possibly contain.

  "No one was supposed to die. How do you know you would have been in that exact place at that exact moment? How do you know it would even have occurred?"

  "I don't."

  "Well then?"

  "I was too busy, always too busy." Lucia sounded frantic. "I had my secretary call her and tell her she had to get the cake. I didn't even talk to her. I didn't tell her--"

  Juliet rubbed Lucia's back. "What? What didn't you tell her?"

  "I didn't tell her I loved her. When she called me back I was abrupt with her. I was mean. I was stupid. I hung up on her!" Lucia's sentences shot into the darkness like short bursts of machine gun fire. Finally she paused and sucked in a huge breath. "How could I have done that to her?"

  "You did your best at the--"

  "No I didn't! I should have been nice to her. I should have told her how much I loved her. I should have treated her right. We were having a commitment ceremony that day." Once the door to Lucia's buried feelings had been flung open, everything came pouring out as if it had been held inside under pressure. "She was safe. She was alive. And I was so damn self-centered I sent her to her death."

  Juliet gripped Lucia's shoulder. "Listen to me. Sometimes we're all selfish. It still doesn't mean you caused her death. There was no way you could have known she would have an accident."

  "I know, but--"

  "But it was an accident." Juliet gently emphasized her point. "Terrible things happen in this life. You can't blame yourself. Tell me you know that."

  "I guess I know that."

  "Of course you do." Juliet touched Lucia's cheek. It was wet.

  "Why did such a beautiful young woman have to die? I loved her so much and in a split second she was gone forever. I never thought I'd be called into work. I was angry about it, but there was a problem with a contract and we would have lost a major account if I had refused to go in. I could have lost my job."

  "You did what you had to do."

  "That sounds so trivial now, so self-serving. I would have chosen to lose my job if I had known that I was going to lose her instead."

  Juliet held Lucia and just let her talk.

  "I was irritable that morning. I fussed about some of the things we had to do to get ready for the party as if she could have done anything to make it easier. As usual, she was the one who'd done most of the preparations without any help from me. I didn't kiss her or touch her or say goodbye when I left to go to the office. I never thought--"

  "Keep going," Juliet urged. "You need to get this out."

  "I never thought I wouldn't see her again."

  "It wasn't so bad to say that out loud, was it?"

  "No," Lucia whispered. "You know what bothers me even more?"

  Juliet didn't feel an answer was required. She waited for Lucia to tell her.

  "Her death gave me a brand new life, the life we used to dream of having, the life I now have to live without her." Lucia's body shook as she began to sob. She cried all the tears that she had stuffed away, released all the sorrow she had stored up inside.

  "Let it go," Juliet whispered.

  Eventually Lucia stopped crying. She sat up long enough to grab a few tissues from the table, blow her nose, and dry her eyes before returning to Juliet's embrace. "I should have told her I loved her, on that day of all days."

  "Tell her now."

  "I loved you, Devin, so much. I'll always love you."

  "What else do you want to tell her?"

  "I want to tell her how sorry I am." Lucia lifted her eyes. "I can't do this. It hurts too much and I'm not strong enough."

  "You're the strongest woman I know."

  Lucia's eyes were filled with anguish. "I miss her so much. I dream about her all the time. Tonight I dreamt her face was bloody and mangled. It was--it was awful."

  "It was only a dream. It wasn't real." Juliet rolled onto her back taking Lucia with her. She continued to hold her and when she was quiet and calm she disentangled herself so she could go to her own bed. "Try to sleep. I'll be right over there."

  Lucia grabbed Juliet's shirt. "Please don't leave. It comforts me to be next to you."

  Juliet lay down and secured her arms around Lucia. "Okay. I'll stay."

  Gradually their breathing fell into a pattern and as far as Juliet could tell, Lucia had fallen asleep. As she held her, Juliet's thoughts were consumed by the softness of Lucia's breasts against her side and how incredible it felt to be so close to her. Desire, quite out of place under the circumstances, had made its burning presence known again. She'd have to deal with it somehow, because she believed, based on the events of the evening, that Lucia's sexual advances had been due to excessive drinking and a precarious emotional state. More than likely, they would not be renewed when a new day dawned.

  WHEN JULIET'S EYES opened the room was bathed in mellow light and Lucia was still soundly asleep in her arms. Juliet had wanted to comfort Lucia and she had, but for her something else, something more significant, had taken place. For the first time in her life she'd experienced physical intimacy that felt both natural and right.

  "Good morning," she said when Lucia stirred. "How do you feel?"

  "I'm hung over." Lucia did not move from Juliet's arms. "But I feel better and I'm strangely relieved at the same time."

  "I'm not surprised. You let go of a lot."

  Lucia tilted her head. "Thanks for being here and for holding me. If it hadn't have been for you I might have shattered into a million pieces."

  "I wouldn't let you fall apart."

  "I can't believe I cried like that. At the memorial service, everyone cried and I just sat there like a block of stone. I didn't feel anything. I was dead inside."

  "You were in shock."

  "That's true, but I've never cried for her after that, not even when I was alone."

  "Then it's good that you did." Juliet shifted onto her side and faced Lucia. She held her hand cupped against Lucia's cheek. Her heart ran away as she saw Lucia studying her face before letting her eyes drift down to her lips. There was no doubt as to what she had in mind.

  "I'm sober and I still want to kiss you."

  "I want you to."

  Lucia slowly leaned forward until her lips joined Juliet's in a feather-light caress. Gently, she kissed her as if to feel her lips and get to know them and soon afterward her kisses changed, becoming more passionate, more demanding.

  The moan Juliet released as Lucia's tongue entered her mouth mingled with Lucia's sharp intake of air. A fire had been ignited in Juliet and each successive kiss added more fuel to the blaze. She no longer had to imagine how it would be to kiss Lucia because this was real and it far surpassed anything her imagination could have conceived of.

  Again and again they kissed. As Juliet's passion mounted she molded her body to Lucia's in search of the increased contact she instinctively sought. Her feelings had been bottled up for so long they were running wild and she could not rein them in.

  Lucia slid her hand under Juliet's shirt the same way she had on the dance floor only this time she allo
wed her fingertips to trace the silky swell on the underside of Juliet's breasts. Her hand stilled as if to give Juliet a chance to protest before moving up to cover her breast.

  Juliet moaned as Lucia rubbed her nipple. Both of her nipples had become hard and they ached with such intensity she couldn't hold still. Whatever Lucia wanted, whatever she asked for, she would willingly give. She could not say no or stop.

  Lucia lifted Juliet's top and exposed her breasts. "You're beautiful," she whispered as she leaned to take one of Juliet's nipples into her mouth. She sucked it and circled it with her tongue and then went back to kissing Juliet's mouth.

  Having lost all ability to think rationally, Juliet threw her leg over Lucia's hip. She was wet and her panties were soaked. She longed for Lucia's touch, ached to be relieved of the need Lucia had awakened within her. Any control Juliet still might have had left abandoned her when Lucia wedged her thigh between her legs.

  "I want you so much," Lucia said as her mouth returned to Juliet's breast.

  Juliet pressed her center against Lucia's thigh and moved against it once, twice, then a third time before she cried out, shaking all over as she climaxed.

  Lucia lifted her head. "Did you just--?"

  "I couldn't help it." Stunned and self-conscious, Juliet turned away from Lucia and sat up on the edge of the bed. A few heated kisses, some touching, and she had behaved like a hormone ravaged teenager in heat. "We have to stop this. I mean I have to."

  Lucia placed her hand on Juliet's back. "I wasn't planning for that to happen."

  Juliet turned. "I could have told you to stop."

  "Why didn't you?"

  "I didn't want to." Juliet went over to her own bed. "It felt so damn good."

  Lucia ran her fingers through her hair. "You've got that right."

  "I got swept up in the moment. I don't know what came over me."

  "We both got swept up in something, that's for sure." Lucia left her bed and grabbed her underwear from her suitcase. "I'm going to take a shower--a long, cold one."

  Juliet sat on the bed rubbing her forehead. She had no words to describe how Lucia had made her feel, no parameters to measure the desire Lucia's hands had sparked in her, no way to explain what had taken place between them. Her prior sexual experiences had not prepared her for this and she had never reached orgasm that easily.