In heavily accented English, the beauty asked, “You are the doctora?”

“Depende,” Lauren pulled away slightly, “Eres la enfermera?”

“Si tu quieres,” she pulsed with warmth, reached for Lauren, and tangled her fingertips into blonde hair. She leaned into her ear, “Soy un regalo.”

“A gift? From whom?” Lauren tilted her head back, never breaking eye contact.

The girl grazed her lips against Lauren’s jawline. “Your friend with the dark hairs.”

“Aha.” Kenzi. Payback. She knows my type.

She was meant to be beautiful, in the way that love in the night is meant to be beautiful: a little dark, wrapped in a coat of secrets, eyes moist and inviting – most of all, ardent and fleeting. Kenzi understood at last, Lauren thought, and this gift—payback, whatever she wanted to call it, arrived as a symbol of their solidarity in forging ahead, spilling like water come what may. They breached the final bank together and this woman sealed the deal.

The woman unfolded her body and stood. Stepping backwards, her eyes locked onto Lauren’s and with an extended arm she offered herself. Venga. ”Come,” she said, pulling her towards the private rooms upstairs.

They were in a private cubby with a door, the size of a small bedroom, and it was lit, barely, by strings of tiny white lights trimming the ceiling. The woman clicked the door shut and slowly advanced toward Lauren. Without ceremony the shapely woman eased Lauren onto the couch and straddled her. Her body set a languid pace and she regarded Lauren as if she were a longtime lover, savoring long caresses, inhaling the heat of her breath and with every touch encouraged Lauren to receive her. Lauren shivered as the cold leather of the woman’s mask brushed against her cheek, a cheek she turned away slightly to avoid the woman’s lips.

”This woman is lucky, your great love.” She spoke softly to Lauren, her lips grazing against her ear lobes.

”Lucky, yes…but she never was, or will be, mine.” She pushed back to look at the woman hovering above her. ”That’s a strange thing to say to someone you just met.”

”Los pequeños detalles.” The girl’s touch radiated tenderness and care, and it seemed as if by looking at her she could sense the reasons behind Lauren’s reticence. She held little distance between them and grazed two fingers along Lauren’s lips. ”You will not let me kiss you.”