Black Silk (31 page)

If Joceri was going to stop this, it had to be now. They should talk. What about a condom? How many women had he been with?
Safe. She wanted to be safe. She watched Rene’s hands travel across her chest. He cupped one breast on each hand. They were
small, only slightly overfilling his hands. She had once thought about getting them enlarged but decided the risk was not
worth it. He softly turned the nipples between his fingertips. They were hard and almost quivered beneath his touch.

He put his lips next to her ear. “You know, Joceri, I’m a one-woman man. One at a time. For as long as we can make it work.
It’s been five months since I had anyone… waiting on you and just didn’t feel like messing around. Longest time in my life,
woman. Celibate, I mean. So if this isn’t what you want, now’s the time to say so. Because I plan on being around for a while.”

Joceri was breathing hard. She needed to feel him. She leaned back into his chest arching back just a little. “What about...?”

“Everything you need, Joceri.” His lips were on her shoulder, he was turning her to face him, her back to the sea, his mouth
filling with one breast as he gently sucked it. And then pulled away. “I swear baby, everything you need.”

She pushed him back. “Does that include condoms?”

“Hell, woman, that’s what
I
need. Of course. I mean I got everything else. Condoms, that’s just the mechanics.” He looked at her and saw that her bottom
lip was lightly trembling. He leaned forward and gently nipped on it. Pulled it softly with the edges of his teeth and then
settled his lips around hers, waiting for her to open her mouth and invite him to move forward. She sighed again and began
to kiss him back. This time he pulled away. “Everything you need… and nothing you don’t.”

Her damp suit clung to her hips as he pulled it down past her knees and to the side. He left his own on, just taking the time
to look at her. Smiling and looking. “You one pretty mama.” He laughed and lay down next to her. “I’m going to enjoy getting
to know you.” Rene’s hands moved slowly, as if he was measuring every inch of her. And then his fingers would stop at the
elbow crevice, at the wrist bump, at the shoulder hollow, and each time they stopped they were replaced by his lips, which
smoothed, tasted, breathed hot, then cooling air around her. There was nothing then except the surf, quiet at first, barely
there at the edge of her mind, and the gulls above, calling out to each other, and his lips and fingertips discovering the
round of her abdomen, grazing around the backs of her thighs, separating the hairs between her legs, licking the salt and
syrup that were trickling out from between her legs.

It had been so long that she wanted to hurry, to feel him inside her now that she had decided to let this happen, but he wasn’t
going to let her rush it. When he finally entered her he stayed on top for only a moment before rolling over and letting her
sit high above him, holding on to her hips, which circled in wide, dark arcs, echoing the eddies of water that circled the
rocks in the cove. As Joceri rocked the waves seemed to get higher and higher; she heard her own moans and could not separate
them from the ocean’s foam, sizzling as it melted into the sand. He went deeper inside her and she gripped his hips and was
inside the water’s currents swirling and turning until the tight rope that bound her ankles and thighs fell away and she was
inside herself and swallowed in his touch and gasping for air that poured through her skin, every pore open and alive. Finally
damp and sticky, laughing she collapsed on his chest just as she felt him tremble and heard him call out her name across the
ocean’s expanse.

“That was nice,” Joceri sighed, nuzzling his neck.

“Just a beginning, woman. We got a lot of places to go and things to see.”

“For example?” Joceri teased.

“Wait till you see the moonrise. I tell you it’s a beautiful sight. A beautiful sight.”

“I’ll bet.” Joceri closed her eyes and listened as the otters began to bray, and the water washed against the shore.

_________________

by Kathleen Morris

Kim moved through the mass of elegantly dressed wimmin talking in well-educated, modulated tones. She stopped at an occasional
clique to chat, then moved on, heading for the double French doors which opened on to the terrace. The cool air pushed its
way through her mauve-colored chiffon cocktail dress. She stopped for a moment to enjoy the pleasant sensation on her skin
and then continued over to the stone wall that separated the house from the sculptured gardens beyond, with a sigh.

She was bored. The same wimmin gathered at every event she’d been to this summer. Boat rides and barbecues, brunches and golf
outings—and now this fund-raiser for some wimmin’s arts foundation. The same wimmin. She’d been through the interesting ones
already, none intriguing enough to continue with beyond a week or two.

It was a dark and clear out, the constellations of stars lush and bright in the country sky. She imagined herself walking
down the flagstone path that wound through the gardens on the arm of her partner, a gentlewomyn in tailored linen. She was
athletic, smart, funny, and successful. And of course, she adored Kim.

“Is this a private party?”

The soft music playing in the house floated out to Kim, and she turned from the phantom lovers reluctantly to face her friend
and host, Lynn. Following just behind Lynn was a womyn Kim had never seen before. Kim’s eyebrows raised in question, and Lynn
smiled playfully as she began introductions.

“Kimberly Somers, I’d like you to meet Tracy Landon. Tracy is a deputy sheriff up here.” Lynn’s voice lowered slyly as she
said the last.

Kim quickly assessed Tracy. She was a handsome womyn, tall—and that was saying a lot for the five-foot, ten-inch Kim. Her
hair was locked. The salt-and-pepper serpents were impeccably groomed and showered over her shoulders. Tracy’s body was lean
and hard beneath her clothes, and Kim trembled inside as she sensed the rippling strength in Tracy’s broad, swimmer’s shoulders.
Her face was slightly square; a friendly smile revealed charmingly crooked teeth.

But she was wearing a crumpled blend jacket over black khaki trousers. And boots. Boots! Kim sighed. Too bad.

Still, she smiled politely as she allowed Tracy to shake her hand.

“Pleasure. Are you our security for the evening?”

Tracy’s jaw tightened slightly, but her voice was even as she replied, “No, ma’am. I’m off duty. Tonight I am just a supporter
of the arts, like you.”

“Hmmm. How nice.” Kim looked down at her glass. “Empty. Anyone want a refill? I sure do.”

Tracy took the glass. “Why don’t I get us all fresh ones?” She nodded her head at the ladies and then disappeared into the
house.

“Utilize the butch.” Lynn smiled as she watched Tracy stroll back inside and make her way to the bar. She turned to Kim. “So,
what do you think? Not bad, huh? She’s a local, but nice enough. And she’s been watching you all evening. Huh? Huh?”

Kim looked back toward the house and then, lowering her voice, said, “You have got to be kidding. Look how she showed up for
this event. Hello? This is a cocktail party, not hoedown at the corral. And boots?” Kim rolled her eyes. “She’s probably wearing
tube socks.”

“She isn’t that bad, Kim. And I’m not talking about marriage. I’m talking about a little fun till the end of the season, for
pity’s sake.”

“Right. Then why don’t you take her? You’re much more interested in soaking up the local flavor than I am anyway.”

“Don’t think I wouldn’t if I didn’t come up here every year. But, oh my God, what a disaster if she tried to attach herself
to me next year. Can you imagine? And you’re just here for a few more weeks. She does seem kinda nice—and she’s got a great
bod.”

“Forget it, Lynn, okay? I can’t even imagine how you’d think it. Me—with a yokel cop who says
ma’am?
Where could we go together? The local crab and beer joint? Because you know I couldn’t be caught de—” Kim looked up just
in time to see Tracy place the drinks angrily on the stone ledge, turn, and stalk, back rigid with anger, through the party
and out the door.

Lynn’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh m’God, that was horrible. She had to have heard us.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, you got her fifty-buck minimum contribution, didn’t you? So? I doubt we’ll die if we don’t
get that invite to the crab and beer fest.”

Lynn gasped, and then doubled over with laughter. “You are awful!” She covered her mouth to stifle the giggles. “And she did
only give fifty dollars.” A second later Kim was laughing, too.

Finally, Kim dabbed her tears and said, “All right. So the evening won’t be a total wash, let’s go back in and have another
look at the B list.”

Lynn smiled as they linked arms and went back to the party.

The party had wound down hours before with no interesting developments. Kim lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She was too
wired—and too hot—to sleep.

It was not quite one o’clock in the morning. She sat up, deciding that a long drive might relax her. She smiled to herself.
Maybe she’d take a long drive—back to the city. She was getting sick of all this damned bucolic beauty anyway. She picked
her discarded cocktail dress from the chair beside her bed and slipped it on. Running her fingers through her hair, she picked
up her shoes and headed out.

Once she cleared the tree-lined drive of the property, Kim turned on the radio and opened the windows. As she suspected, she
felt herself relaxing as she sped down the dark, narrow roads. A familiar song came on and Kim turned up the volume, singing
along.

Lights flashed in her rearview mirror. Turning down the music, she heard the sirens as the flashing lights grew closer. She
put her foot on the brake, watching the speedometer drop from eight-five to seventy… sixty-five… sixty…

“Please, please let it be an ambulance racing to some emergency up ahead,” she prayed. But as the lights drew closer, the
car slowed. A police car.

“Pull over and turn off the engine,” the bullhorn ordered.

“Shit, shit,
shit,
” Kim cursed as she pulled onto the gravel, stopped the car, and cut the motor. The police cruiser pulled off a few feet behind
her, the siren dying with a whine.

She heard a door slam, boots crunch on the gravel toward her. A gun belt, khaki uniform, leather glove on the driver’s door.
“May I see your license and registration please?” A womyn’s voice.

Handing her papers over, Kim tried to keep her voice steady. “How fast was I going, Officer?” she asked, knowing full well
the answer. The officer didn’t answer. She just continued studying the license, her flashlight shining into Kim’s face, hurting
her eyes.

“Is there a problem?” Kim shielded her eyes and tried to look up into the face of the officer.

“Step out of the car please.” The voice was curt, no nonsense.

Damn female cops,
Kim thought as she unbuckled her seat belt.
Always have to be tough, gotta prove they have balls or something.
Kim realized charm might not get her off this time. Well, one more try. As she stepped from the car, she asked in as innocent
a voice as she could muster, “Is there a problem, Officer?”

“Three. You were going fifty miles over the speed limit, your right taillight is out, and you… are a snotty, rude bitch.”

Kim squinted her eyes at the face beneath the cap’s visor. “Tracy? Oh God. Is this about earlier? Look, I didn’t mean what
I… I mean, I’m sorry about earlier this evening. My behavior was completely out of line. I was just blowing off steam—I’m
not really like that.”

Tracy just stared at her, her mouth tightly pressed.

Kim thought quickly. Maybe she could work this out… maybe. She tried again. “Listen, let me make it up to you. I’m really
very nice, once you get to know me. Why don’t you come by the house and have breakfast with me tomorrow? We’ll start over,
make believe it’s our first meeting, and forget this whole evening happened. What do you say?” She smiled hopefully.

Tracy adjusted her cap before she answered. “Well, that might make up for your earlier rudeness. It might even get you off
on these tickets.” She paused for a moment, as if considering, then continued, “But I think I’ve already met the real you.
And she is snotty bitch to the bone. So… I think not.”

Kim was shocked, then insulted, and then angry. “How dare you?” Kim’s hand flew up to slap Tracy’s face, but Tracy was faster.
She caught Kim’s wrist, spun her around, and pushed her up against the car.

“Oh really. Now you’re attempting assault on an officer? Very stupid. And common. Is that the way you play?”

Tracy’s voice was low and menacing. “Put your hands on the hood and spread your legs.” When Kim hesitated, Tracy grabbed a
handful of her hair and jerked her head back, hissing in Kim’s ear, “
Do it.
I won’t ask so nicely again. I’ll just cuff you.”

Kim assumed the position quickly. She was furious, but she didn’t say another word. She knew Tracy would make good her threat.
Handcuffs. Kim shivered. She could hear Tracy moving behind her but didn’t dare turn around.