Lady in Red

"Morgan has that effect on people, especially the women she sleeps with," Kathy said as she stepped off the curb.

"She's her new girlfriend?" Laura asked.

"Girlfriend is probably too strong a term," Kathy said as they reached the other side of the avenue.

"Then what would you call her?" Laura asked out of curiosity.

"One of many that share her bed," Kathy offered after a bit of reflection. "Morgan has never been big on exclusivity."

"But you said you and she were in a relationship," Laura pointed out.

"Yeah, she did give monogyny a try during that," Kathy explained, "that's what made her so frustrated when I couldn't be with her as much as she wanted. If she had still been bedding anything in a skirt, or slacks for that matter, then we probably would still be together."

Laura was about to ask, wouldn't that have been contradictory with being in a relationship, but then recalled a couple she knew from her married days. They'd been married for nearly forty years and fidelity had never been one of their vows. Different strokes for different folk, she thought, as the old saying went.

"That's why I'm not looking for anyone permanent in my life, at least not until I'm done with school and out there in the world," Kathy added.

"That might be best," Laura agreed, remembering that she didn't even date seriously until Simon, although she sometimes looked back and thought that might've been a mistake.

"How about you?" Kathy asked as they continued their stroll.

"Me?" Laura said. "I guess I'm not looking for permanence in my life either right now. After all, I was already married for five years and that didn't turn out too well."

"No, I meant girls, sex with other women," Kathy clarified, "ever try it?"

"What?" Laura stammered, the surprise of the question causing her to come to a sudden halt half way up the block. "What kind of question is that?"

"One I think I'm entitled to ask," Kathy, who had also stopped, replied. "After all, you did spend a good part of dinner staring at my breasts, or did you think I didn't notice?"

A flash of embarrassment washed across Laura, her face paling for a moment. She found herself looking around them to see if anyone had been close enough to hear what Kathy had said. No one was.

"You're an attractive young woman," Laura finally replied, "Reacting to that doesn't make me gay?"

"I didn't ask if you were gay," Kathy pointed out. "I asked if you'd ever slept with another woman. You don't have to be one to have done the other."

That, Laura knew, was true.

"I might also point out the way you kept staring at my portrait," Kathy added. "You couldn't take your eyes off of it. I'd even say you were mesmerized."

That, Laura had to admit, was also true.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoy the attention," Kathy confessed. "In fact, I intentionally undid that third button in the restaurant just to see if you took notice."

"You wanted me to look at your breasts?" Laura asked.

"I'm a bit of a show-off, as you've probably noticed," Kathy continued, "and I've always had a thing for smart, sexy women..."

"Even if they're older?" Laura interrupted.

"Oh, I wouldn't think of you as old," Kathy replied, then added, "but I'll also say that I think maturity is a turn on."

Laura smiled, thinking that, contradictory as that was, it did make her feel good.

"Of course, I couldn't be totally sure if you might be interested, and I have horrendous Gaydar," Kathy stated. "Still, you did invite me to dinner, and then asked to come with me to the gallery, so there was that."

"I asked you to dinner to discuss Madison, you seemed really interested, and the art exhibit sounded like not a bad way to spend an hour or two," Laura replied, wondering as she did if she really believed that.

Kathy paused for a few very long moments as she considered Laura's explanations, wondering if perhaps she had read the entire evening wrong. It had happened before.

"Maybe I only saw what I was hoping to see, ignoring more realistic possibilities," Kathy speculated out loud. "If so, then I hope you haven't taken offense. I really did appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions about Madison."

"Like I said, I was glad to answer them," Laura repeated, now asking herself if, despite what she'd earlier told herself about being impressed by Kathy's intellect, would she have done so if she was plain with an unflattering body, or a man?"

"Maybe I should just say goodnight before I make myself feel more of an idiot," Kathy finally concluded.

"I would never think you an idiot," Laura asserted.

"The hotel's only another half block," Kathy noted. "I'll head back the other way and catch the bus."

As she started to turn, she was stopped by the touch of Laura's hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't answer the question," Laura said.

"What?" Kathy asked.

"If I'd ever slept with a woman," Laura recapped, taking a breath before continuing.

She now had Kathy's undivided attention.

"Yes, I have, several in fact, but it was a very long time ago," Laura explained, this time not bothering to see who might be nearby. "Back in college I was one of those 'gay till graduation' girls, the ones who went back to 'driving stick' before the ink on our degrees were even dry."

"And now?" Kathy asked, a slight hopefulness in her voice.

"And now," Laura repeated, taking a breath between words. "Now, I don't know."

"Oh," Kathy sighed, thinking she knew what came next.

"Still, it's now clear that part of me was stimulated by your company, even if the rest was oblivious to the fact," Laura continued, almost sounding as if she was in court, trying to build a case. "So perhaps I should consider the possibility that your assessment of the evening has been more accurate than my own."

"What are you saying?" Kathy asked, not wanting to make another mistake.

"What I'm saying is, what the hell, why not," Laura grinned. "After all, it's just sex."

Three little words that sent a flush of excitement through both women's bodies.

-=-=-=-

As they entered the Royal Centennial together, Laura paused for a second as if expecting all eyes to suddenly turn in her direction, aware of what she and Kathy were heading upstairs to do. Of course, no one gave them any more notice than they would any two attractive women, and they traversed the lobby without incident. It was funny, Laura further thought, that if she had been doing so with James, the image of an older woman and a younger man heading up to her room would've garnered at least a passing interest, but in the case of two women no one ventured more than a glance.

Waiting for the elevator, the boundary she was about to overstep appeared before her. It wasn't being intimate with a woman for the first time in nearly two decades that concerned her, after all, as she'd said, sex was, simply sex. No, it was that, however peripherally, Kathy was part of her professional world rather than her recreational one - a division she had always strived to keep separate.

They stepped into the elevator, moving to the rear of the car as four other guests followed behind them. As they turned to face the front, Kathy noted the concern on Laura's face and inquired about it.

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" she whispered into her ear after moving tight up against her. "Because if you are, we..."

"No, not at all," Laura assured her in the same hushed tone. "I guess I was just thinking that it's been a long time since I ... well, I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"I have just the thing for that," Kathy replied, gliding her hand along Laura's back and down under the hem of her skirt.

Kathy slid the palm of her hand across Laura's ass, down between the cheeks and up between her legs until it laid flat against her cloth covered mound. Her face lit up as she discovered that the material was almost saturated with expectation.

"You're not nervous," she whispered even lower, "you're horny."

It was all Laura could do not to react to either the physical touch or the equally provocative observation. Rather than take the edge off, Kathy's move had had the opposite effect - which, Laura realized, was probably exactly what she'd had in mind in the first place. Thankfully the sound of the bell as the doors opened on the third floor drowned out the sigh that slipped from Laura's lips. Three passengers got out as the remaining guest, a middle-aged man, had hit the button for the top floor. Laura and Kathy, were heading for the floor below that.

Even though Kathy removed her hand from atop Laura's mound after that first, brief contact, she didn't take it out from under her skirt. Instead she left it cupped against one of her ass cheeks, holding it tightly even as they exited the car. The older man couldn't help but see as they passed before him, although any reaction was lost as the doors closed behind them.

"That was wicked," Laura said as Kathy finally removed her hand. "What must that man have thought?"

"I'm betting that he was wishing it was his hand instead of mine," Kathy laughed softly. "You have a fantastic ass."

Laura didn't respond to the compliment, at least not verbally. Her face, however, filled with a smile.

"I'm just down the hall in 5C," she finally said, her heart beating in anticipation as they drew closer to it.

As she opened the door, she allowed Kathy to enter first, then stepped in behind her and turned the lock, taking care to engage the privacy latch as well. She turned around to face her guest, only to unexpectedly find herself pressed back against the door.

Laura wouldn't have thought it possible that Kathy, having the disadvantage in height and weight, could have lifted her off the floor as she did, but she had done it. The press of Kathy's body against hers, especially the fullness of her breasts, sent a surge of excitement racing through her, but that was nothing compared to what followed as the smaller woman pulled down the brunette's head and joined their mouths as one.

In only a few heartbeats, two decades faded away as Laura found herself lost in the sweetness of a woman's lips. Oh, there had been other kisses over the years, born out of close friendships, but none carried the fire of what she felt now. A wet softness caressed the reaches of her mouth as Kathy probed forward with her tongue, sliding the tip of it along Laura's own as well as the walls of her mouth. She could also feel the press of Kathy's hands, one encompassing her right breast and the other between her legs.

"That ... that was a kiss," Laura panted, trying to regain her breath as Kathy pulled back.

"It should've been," Kathy smiled, "I've been thinking about it almost all night. I hope you enjoyed it."

"Enjoy is such an inadequate word to describe how good that made me feel," Laura said, her full voice now back. "Do it again!"

And Kathy did, this time taking twice as long.

"Keep that up and we're not going to make it to the bedroom," Laura quipped once they again disengaged.

"Well, I could go down on you right here," Kathy laughed, "it wouldn't be the first time I'd done it like that."

Laura laughed as well, but not for the same reason. If things had gone differently tonight, she might very well have been the one on her knees in this very spot, sucking off James. She'd found it to be a great icebreaker in such situations, as well as a good way to make sure a man didn't climax too quickly later. But James would've been sent home hours ago, no doubt exhausted. Kathy, on the other hand, appeared quite inexhaustible. Laura looked forward to testing that impression.

"You know, I've often wondered about that," Kathy said. "If I'm down on my knees and you're standing over me, shouldn't it be called going up on you? I never could figure that out."

"What?" Laura asked, her mind abruptly dismissing any further thought of James - or any man.

"Never mind, just a silly thought," Kathy chuckled, "not important. But what is important is, where's the bedroom?"

"It's just off to the right," Laura replied automatically.

"Great, just give me five minutes and then come it," Kathy said, dashing off across the sitting room to disappear into the bedroom.

'What was she planning?' Laura asked herself as she glanced down at her watch and took note of the time.

-=-=-=-

Making herself more comfortable while she waited, Laura took off her jacket and then her shoes and stockings, leaving just the sleeveless blouse and her skirt. She considered taking off the rest but decided to wait until she saw what Kathy had in mind.

The second hand on her watch had only passed the four-minute mark when Kathy called out from the bedroom that it was okay for Laura to follow. Filled with curiosity, she headed for the still open door, pausing at the entrance for a breath before stepping inside.

"Oh, my God!" Laura exclaimed as she stood a few feet in front of the bed.

There, stretched out across the mattress, Kathy had created a live rendering of Morgan's portrait of her. It couldn't be called "Lady in Red" since that color sheet hadn't been available, but it was exact in every other detail.

Laura's eyes carefully took in the lines of the younger woman's body, the curves of her breasts, the soft pinkness of her nipples and the near perfect symmetry of the mounds around them. She'd slept with a number of women in college, but none could compare with the sight before her.

"You didn't have any red sheets," Kathy said in reference to the green cloth wrapped beneath her, the casualness of her comment bringing Laura back to reality.

"That's okay," Laura said, moving to the edge of the bed, "green happens to be my favorite color."

With that, their lips again met and this time, Laura took the initiative, probing Kathy's mouth with her tongue as she pressed her body forward. There was an urgency in her, a need to satisfy a hunger she hadn't even realized she had. The press of Kathy's lips against her own was intoxicating, driving her to want more.

A desire Kathy shared as she grabbed the bottom of Laura's blouse and pulled it up and over her head. Her skirt quickly followed, and then her panties and bra. Finally, the two of them laid side by side across the bed, comparing the contrasts between their now naked forms.

Laura was almost a head taller than Kathy, and at least fifteen pounds heavier, with breasts half the size of the younger blondes. She had very dark nipples that stood out a quarter inch in length and were as thick as those on a baby bottle. The hair that covered her pubic mound was as dark as that on the rest of her body, as well as thick and expansive.

Kathy, on the other hand, had very little hair on hers and what there was of it had been trimmed down to be almost just a layer of fuzz. The rest of her body, with the exception of her breasts, was tight and compact, with little to no fat in evidence. Laura would learn later that Kathy exercised every morning and the result of that dedication clearly showed.

Reaching outward, Laura ran her hand across the softness of Kathy's breasts, something she was now willing to admit she had been wondering about at dinner. The warmth of her flesh was electrifying, sending a tingle along the length of her arm. There was no doubt that they were real, although she would have only been slightly disappointed if they had proved otherwise.

"Why don't you lay down and let me take care of you first," Kathy suggested, once she had given Laura a bit more time to explore her body. "There'll be plenty of time for you to do the same for me afterwards."

-=-=-=-

Kathy laid Laura along the length of the bed, gently stroking her hair as she made her comfortable. They shared a few more kisses, each more intimate than the last, and then Kathy glided her hand down the small valley between Laura's breasts, running the tips of her fingers in small rings that grew until they reached her nipples. There they contracted until the radius of her strokes was confined to the small dark circles.

"Hmmm," Laura softly moaned, impressed how such a little thing could feel so enjoyable.

Moving her hand from Laura's left breast to her right, Kathy repeated the action, even as she brought her mouth to encompass the tip she had just abandoned. Her tongue gracefully caressed Laura's nipple, bringing it to a sensitive hardness. It rolled back and forth across her areola, each new passage bringing an increasingly pleasing warmth.

Then, just as slowly, the hand that had been stroking the other breast began to work its way across Laura's stomach, down to between her legs. There it repeated its gentle caress, this time against the dark mound of hair. Laura's reaction was immediate and emotional, the sound of her appreciation filling the air.

But it was only a touch, a taste of what was to come. Kathy played with Laura's pussy for a minute or so, then turned her attention back to her breasts. Laura felt only slightly disappointed; she knew there would be more later.

Kathy cupped the underside of both of Laura's breasts, bringing them to her mouth as she alternated between them. She began to move faster, squeezing them harder as she pulled the tips of each further into her mouth. There was a loving enthusiasm in her actions that Laura had never felt in men, not even her husband in the good years. To them, most foreplay had simply been something to get through on the way to something better.

Kathy's hand again moved to between Laura's legs, and this time, the rest of her body followed. She used both hands to spread Laura's legs wide, then climbed into the space between them. Starting at the edge of Laura's left thigh, Kathy left a trail of kisses that extended to the furthest reaches of its counterpart, then back again until they stopped in the center where true riches awaited.

Starting at the base of Laura's slit, Kathy ran her thumb up along the length of her pussy, applying just enough pressure to part the folds and send a pleasing wave rippling through the brunette's body.

"Ooooo, yessss," Laura moaned softly as the smaller woman moved her hand up and down a few more times.

She then placed a hand on each side of Laura's sex, exposing the bright flower within. The pinkness within was a bright contrast to the dark hair that surrounded it, giving Kathy a clear target for her attentions. A target she barely needed, as she knew she could have found her prize in even the most penetrating darkness.

With the thumb of one hand at the apex of Laura's clit, Kathy brought the index finger of the other to the center, rubbing it softly. In response, Laura's moans grew in frequency and volume.

"You keep that up and I'm going to start thinking that you like this," Kathy quipped as she leaned inward and replaced her fingers with the softness of her lips.

"Oh God!" Laura gasped, reaching upward to grab the pillow behind her with both hands.

Softly, Kathy ran her tongue, first across Laura's clit, and then up and down the length of her pussy. As she did so, she pressed the tip inside, caressing the sensitive walls within.

Laura again moaned loudly, her hands sliding down across her chest as she cupped her breasts, her thumbs pressing against her extended nipples while the rest of her hands squeezed the flesh around them.

Kathy quickly fell into a well-practiced rhythm, one that caused the larger woman to shiver with delight. It had been a long time since she'd been pleased in this manner, and of those who had done so, none had the skill Kathy now demonstrated. No part of Laura's body was untouched by the intense surges of gratification that roared across it, waves that slowly built to a crescendo.

Laura's body rocked as those ripples of passion continued to grow. Kathy responded by increasing her efforts, producing an even greater surge within the larger woman. Laura knew her body well enough to know she was close to orgasm, one that she also knew was going to be explosive.