Lara reached over and rested her hand on Danas, who let it stay there.

I havent she rocked her head to one side then the other, I havent been out with anyone for.

Neither have I, Dana, she let a bright smile play across her lips, trying to convey confidence she didnt exactly feel — yet,
she told herself. Well figure it out as we go along. Whatever we do,
itll be right for us. – x – The date went exceptionally well. Awkward
nervousness sluiced easily away after their confessions. Conversation
was full of questions; both were careful to afford each other a chance
to talk and both listened with rapt attention. Dana felt completely
safe. She realized later that she hadn’t once worried about a fan
discovering her eating dinner, touching hands, and leaning close to a
woman. To the casual observer it had to appear to be what it was: an
intense first date. The sexual tension was thick and exuded from both
women until it seemed the entire restaurant was slowly closing in, the
walls pressing against their table, crushing them even closer together.
Lara drained the last of her wine and leaned back from the table, her
heart constricting ever so slightly at the gleam in Dana’s green eyes.
So like the sea. So endless. So beautiful. “Dana–” her voice cracked
and she had to clear her throat in order to try again, “I think we
should go.”
Dana nodded, not bothering to trust in her own power of speech. She
reluctantly looked away and caught the attention of their waiter. He
was a small man, well muscled and cautiously packed into his suit. He
had been hovering nearby all night and had proven to be a diligent
host. He slipped the plastic credit card folder onto the table, gave a
slight bow and left.
Lara made to reach for the folder, but Dana’s fingers had found it
first. She caressed Dana’s hand gently as they fought a silent battle
over the bill, eyes locked on one another. Stronger fingers won out,
and the billfold skittered toward Lara.
“I want to–” Dana began, but was immediately silenced by a raised
eyebrow from Lara. She had lost their minute skirmish and would
definitely be dealing with the consequences. Instead of continuing that
train of thought, she fumbled in her purse and brought out a few bills.
“I’ll take care of the tip,” she said.
With everything squared away, the two women locked arms and exited the
restaurant. They walked a short distance, Lara leaning her head on
Dana’s shoulder, feeling as though she were in exact alignment with
every earthly aura. With a gentle tug, she managed to maneuver Dana
into a receded, darkened doorway.
Streetlight flickered tenderly against the sidewalk, bearing silent
witness to the activities of two inconspicuous women. Lara grazed
Dana’s neck with her lips, starting at the cupped line at her
collarbone, savoring the taste with a fluttering of kisses and tongue
trailing slowly upward. She felt Dana’s pulse quicken against her lips.
She lingered there, tracing a slow circle with her tongue, gently
sucking Danas skin into her mouth, against teeth that nipped just hard
enough to evoke a sharp intake of breath. Dana couldn’t figure out
where to put her hands. She tried putting them around Lara’s waist, but
she felt awkward. And distracted. Every kiss, lick and nip felt like an
electrical current headed due south, and she was starting to shake. She
tried wrapping her arms around Lara’s neck but–. She pulled away. “I
… I just cant get….” She slumped unhappily against the door. “I
dont know what to.” Lara threw her head back and laughed. “Dana,” she
looked into her eyes, “don’t try to think. This isnt a tennis drill.
Just let your body do what it wants, what it knows best. It’ll be all
right.” “Really?” Dana looked worried.
“Really,” Lara pressed against her and kissed her deeply. Dana kissed
back, her tongue slipping into Lara’s mouth, feeling a sweet surge of
desire in her stomach that made her hamstrings clench. Her hands
followed her longing, resting on Lara’s hips, pressing thumbs into the
seam between hip and thigh, before sliding around, stroking, enjoying
the sensuality of Lara’s dress sliding over her body, pulling her hips
against her own, and thrusting slowly against her. Lara moaned softly,
dropped one hand to the top button of Dana’s shirt, fumbled momentarily
before freeing it, then the next and the next, until there was enough
room to slide her hand inside. Dana gasped at the response of her
breast to Lara’s touch, the nipple swelling and hardening as Lara
lightly rolled it between her fingertips while cupping her breast in
her palm. Both women were breathing hard now, their hands hungrily
exploring one anothers bodies, mouths tasting, lungs inhaling the
musky scent of hunger for more. Dana coaxed Lara on, with strokes and
whispers paced to the quickening rhythm of her breath. I want you. I
want you. I want you.
Dana, Lara sighed, oh yes, Dana, please. Dana kissed Laras ear,
exploring its folds with her tongue, then whispered hoarsely, I think
I need to take you home before I embarrass us both. Lara stiffened and
pulled away, hands on Danas shoulders. Her shock was palpable. God, that was so much like Susan,
her heart flipped over against her breast. ImIm sorry, her lip
trembled, I thought…I guess. She pivoted and stalked away with as
much dignity as she could muster, heels clocking on the sidewalk. Dana
watched her walk away, momentarily baffled. Then her hands flew to her
mouth. NO! LARA! She ran after her, No, thats not what I
meant.Lara, wait! Wait! She caught up with Lara, grabbed her hand and
tugged her around. No, oh Lara, Im so sorry, Im so stupid! Im such
a dork!
She slapped her forehead. I meant, I want to take you home She took
Laras face in her hands and brought it close to her own. With me to
my place or your place or yknow? For coffee, or drinks or s”, she
fell into Laras eyes, “omething. Oh, Dana, Im the dork for just. Im so s–. In the soft
coral glow of the sodium arc light overhead, Dana silenced Laras
apology with her mouth. The CEO of Subaru could have driven by with a
video camera, and she could have cared less. There was nothing in her
world at this moment beyond this beautiful girl in her arms with hair
like burnished copper, eyes like sapphires, strong fingers that twined
around her heart.
Beneath the streetlight, they kissed again, mouths and hands lingering
where they most wanted to be. Then, wrapping their arms around one
another and sauntering back to the car, they left a trail of giggles
and snickering words back and forth like dork and geek. Neither
enraptured woman heard the faint clicks of the digital camera, or saw
the tall man with the trim mustache and ice-blue eyes step out of the
shadows, smile, and walk the other way, whistling something off in a
minor key.

Chapter Three
The front door of Dana’s home banged in, stopping rather violently
against the wall and leaving a crescent shaped indentation in the
paint. Purses and jackets were dropped carelessly as Dana grappled
distractedly with door, her left hand encircling Lara’s waist and her
lips pressed in the soft hollow of her neck. Her right fumbled a few
times for the door ***** and missed. Giving up, Dana placed her hand on
the small of Lara’s back and changed tactics, kicking the door shut
with her foot.
“Mmm,” moaned Lara before applying a gentle pressure to Dana’s
shoulder’s with her hands, forcing the two ever so slightly apart.
“Dana.”
Startled, Dana stopped then stepped back. Her hands fell to her sides
and she stiffened, her eyes coming up to look at the expression on
Lara’s face. Her eyes narrowed and she felt confusion flowing through
her. Although she had been afraid that Lara had changed her mind, it
was blatantly obvious that was not the case. She opened her mouth, and
then closed it again. And finally, “What?” came out in a ragged,
tortured whisper.
Lara couldn’t help but laugh. “God, we’re a mess. We’re so full of
misunderstandings and miscommunication. You,” Lara closed the space
between them, but didn’t touch Dana, who seemed utterly confused and
didn’t move, “are beautiful.” She slowly walked around the tall tennis
player and stood beside her to whisper in her ear. “Let me spell out
exactly what I want,” she said as she moved again to stand behind Dana.
So close, yet still not touching her. She could tell Dana was trembling
and the power she felt was beyond anything she had ever experienced
before. “Lara” “Shh. Listen to me. Just listen.” Exercising power was
not something Lara was keen on, but in this instance she wanted Dana to
understand and understand well. She didn’t want either of them
second-guessing themselves anymore. She had done enough of that in
previous relationships and it was important to her self-healing process
not to repeat prior mistakes. As Lara stood thinking, Dana stood
tremulous. “I–” Lara placed her hand on Dana’s back and felt the other
woman jump, “want–” she turned Dana to face her, “–you.” Dana audibly
sighed and at length was brought to motion. She tugged Lara to her and
used her lips to express herself without words. She planted a flurry of
kisses everywhere. Eventually she took Lara’s hand and led her through
the house to the living room where she pushed her onto the couch.
Kneeling at Lara’s feet, Dana lifted one of those beautifully sculpted
legs and massaged the length of her calf. When she came to Lara’s foot,
she removed the shoe, fingers working into the flesh.
Glancing up, she saw that Lara had her head back and was enjoying every
second with eyes closed. Encouraged, Dana brought Lara’s foot to her
mouth and kissed the top of it. She kissed the ankle. She kissed her
way up to the hem of the cute sundress Lara wore, then ran her fingers
along beneath the hem of the dress until she came to Lara’s other leg.
She repeated her attentions. Dana paused at mid-calf where a long pink
and white scar mottled the otherwise flawless flesh. She traced the
scar with her finger. It was about three inches in length and a
perfectly straight line aside from the little puckers here and there
that must have been due to stitches. She looked up at Lara enquiringly.
Lara was smiling. “I fell at work. I was carrying a French knife and
slipped on this enormous spill. If I had been carrying the knife
properly, it wouldn’t have ended up in my leg. Needless to say, I
learned my lesson after a gazillion stitches.”
“Oh my God,” Dana said and kissed the scar. “That must have hurt. You
really are accident prone, aren’t you?” she asked, thinking of all the
little latex finger cots Lara had been wearing on her hand.
“It’s kind of a hazard of the occupation,” Lara said.
Nodding, Dana trailed her fingers the rest of the way down Lara’s leg
to her other foot. She picked it up and began to massage it when
suddenly Lara stiffened unexpectedly. Dana gripped her foot cautiously
between both hands, thinking perhaps she had tickled Lara. She peeked
up and saw a stricken look on Lara’s face.
“Don’t, Dana,” she said.
“Don’t what?” Dana asked, looking down at the foot again to see what it
was she had done to make Lara so suddenly uncomfortable. It was then
that she noticed more little scars marking the flesh between the toes.
Before she could look any closer, Lara snatched her foot away and hid
it quickly behind her other leg, while simultaneously sitting forward.
“*****,” Lara groaned, putting her face in her hands.
“What’s the matter? Did you drop a knife on your foot, too?”
Lara looked up, her eyes dancing with fear, but an almost amused smile
on her face. Dana was so nave and trusting. How could she have
completely forgotten about the scars? The evening had been so perfect.
So perfect. She should have told Dana before she let things get this
far. She could be like anyone else and tell a little fib, a little
white lie to cover the truth–she knew Dana would believe her–but she
refused to do that. Instead, she took a deep breath. “No”
“But–”
“My sweet, innocent Dana,” she whispered. She brought her foot out
again and let Dana look more carefully, watching her face. Dana studied
the scars, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. Watching the realization hit
Dana was like watching having her own heart ripped out. At least to
Lara it felt like the equivalent.
“They’re not”
Lara nodded. “I’m so sorry, Dana, I should have told you.”
Dana stood up abruptly, towering over Lara, her face filled with pain.
“You’re an addict?” She stepped back, forcing distance between herself
and the woman on her couch. She watched as Lara shook her head, tears
running down her cheeks.
“I’m not, Dana! I’m recovered. Please, don’t go,” Lara pleaded. “I can
explain!”
But Dana couldn’t hear her. She kept backing away, emotions in turmoil.
She finally reached the front door, leaned down and snagged her purse
and jacket from the floor. Turning, she wrenched open the door and
ducked out. It slammed behind her.
– x – Alice Pieszecki groaned. She’d been sitting behind her desk for
what seemed like fifteen hours today trying to coax a story out. Her
monitor held only about a quarter of the story that was due in two days
and Alice was struggling wildly to get it finished. She didn’t feel
connected to the story and knew she’d never get into it.
She groaned, leaning back and pinching the bridge of her nose between
her thumb and forefinger. Alice decided that it was time to go home
just as her boss, Marc, popped his head into her cubicle. In his hands
he held a large envelope. “Alice, I just got this. It was Fed Exed to
the office, like 10 minutes ago. I want you to take a look. If you
think this story is worth following, I’ll give the one you’re currently
on to Eliza. I think we need your, uh, unique point of view on this
one,” he said. “Okay,” Alice said, accepting the package.
“Perfect. Have a great night,” he said, disappearing again.
Rolling her eyes, Alice brought out her scissors. She would love to get
rid of her current story, but she was sure Marc had something even
worse for her to work on. But at least he was letting her decide
whether she thought it was worth it. She sliced through the plastic
packaging and pulled out the envelope within. She slid the contents
onto her desk. “Oh, *****!” she exclaimed. Her heart began to hammer in
her chest as she picked up the telephone and hurriedly punched a
number. “Tina? It’s Alice. We have a serious emergency here. Can you
meet me at The Planet in an hour? I’m gonna get Shane–if Bette will
come, bring her too. No, don’t call Dana. I’ll explain when I get
there. Thanks. I’ll see you soon.”
Collecting the 8×10 glossy photographs, Alice replaced them in the
envelope. Her stomach was in knots as she stormed out of the office.
Chapter FourMarina knew by their expressions
that something serious was up with the girls as they trooped one by one
into The Planet. She gave hasty instructions to Emilio, knowing what
each woman was likely to want under the circumstances–triple shot for
Shane, triple latte for Alice, decaf for Tina.
Bette clocked in behind the others in two minutes, swearing loudly
about the lack of enough parking space. Water for me, she tossed
Marina a wave without looking her in the eye, and made her way to the
table where the others huddled, heads close together, whispering.
Now! She dropped her keys on the table. Please dont tell me this is
another Dana crisis!
A look passed from Tina to Alice to Shane, who pursed her lips and
slumped in her seat, drumming her fingers on the table with
considerable violence.
Oh, God! No! Tina, what were you thinking? Im trying to hang that
show tonight!
Alice tossed the photos onto the table and gave Bette a cold glare.
Sometimes that ***** really frosted her. I think this might be just a
little more important, Bette.
Bette spun the photos around and dealt them in front of her. For this?
One of you tailed Dana and Lara to snap some photos and you drag me
away from work to look at them? She gave an annoyed sigh, scooped up
her keys and started to stand up.
Alice snatched the photos back. Nobody here took them. Her dark eyes
held Bettes which remained blank for a few seconds until it began to
dawn on her what she was looking at.
Where did you get these? From my editor. He dumped them on my desk
an hour ago. And you can just bet were not the only magazine that got
a set.
Howd they arrive? Shanes jaw clenched so tight her head shook.
Courier service. Fed Ex, I think.
You have the delivery slip?
Yeah, I think so.
Shanes hand shot out. Give it to me. Alice pulled it out of her
purse, and Shane snatched it from her hand. She glared at it,
commanding it to tell her who sent it and why. Then she thumbed a
number on her cell. Dorian? Shannon here. I need to ID somebody who
sent something today. She listened for a second before interrupting,
Cut the *****, Dor! This ***** is messin with one of mine! I
want his *****! Yesterday. A name, a drop box, credit card number, video
capture, whatever you got, I want it. Okay, call me back. She snapped
the phone closed.
The other women had gone wide-eyed and almost chalky. None of them had
seen Shane anything but laid back, even when she was ragging them about
something. The look on her face tonight was almost murderous. What?
Uh, Shane, I dont think thats legal. Bette started to speculate.
***** legal! You think this is legal? Whoever took these is out to
cause Dana a lot of grief, break her career maybe. Now, who knew where
they were going tonight?
Three heads shook in unison.
Well somebody did!
Maybe they tailed them, from Danas, Tina suggested.
Shane nodded. Maybe. Her voice cold enough to give everyone chills.
Her cell rang. She thumbed on the connection. Dor! Whatcha got? Mmmmm.
Um-hmmmmm. *****! Thats not much. Was this the only delivery he shipped
or were there others? Ummmm. How many? Where to? OK, get back to me.
And Dorian, did he ship them from the same drop? Good, thats
something. Do they have a videocam in that store? Dont start that *****
with me, Dor. You owe me. Ive never called it in, but I need it now.
Fine! Then well be done. Swear! Shane stood up, slapped her thigh.
“Im goin for another? Anybody else want somethin?
Wait! Tina stopped her. What did your friend say?
The guy paid cash. Gave the same PO box as his return address for all
six deliveries.
SIX! Alices eyes rounded. *****!
Yeah! Well know pretty soon where they went.
And then? Bette arched a brow.
Shane stood hands on hips, legs spread, jaw set. Then well take the
***** down. She spun on her heel and swaggered over to the counter.
Whoa, Alice whispered.
OK, motive? Whats the motivation here? Bette asked?
Not blackmail, Alice speculated, otherwise theyd have gone to
Dana.
How do we know they didnt? Tina mused.
We would have gotten an incoherent phone call from Dana by now, thats
how.
OK, not blackmail. Alice had her pen and notebook out and was
beginning to make a list, with checkmarks, stars, and a line through
blackmail.
We have to tell Dana, the sooner the better, Bette said with her
typical air of certainty.
Not tonight, we dont, Shane said to her back. Shes with Lara and
were gonna let her have this time to be happy before we tell her she
may be totally fucked!
Shanes cell buzzed again. She flipped it open, looked at the caller ID
and rolled her eyes. She slipped into her laid back persona, Dana!
Hows it goin girl? Dana? Dana? Dane! Slow down. Now what.? Shane
walked away from the table.
Anxiety percolated in the air.
-x-
Dana paced back and forth on her porch, gulping air, blinking away
tears. *****. Oh *****! Oh *****!
She didnt know what to do. Which wasnt a new experience for her. But
something was different. She didnt understand her own reaction. One date! Thats all it was! One! Its not like we were