Guardian Girl (The Chronicles of Staffordshire) (24 page)

“HAH! I doubt it! I’m not forgetting this, Lenore. Watch your back, sister, because I’m going to get you! I’m going to spank your sweet little Spanish ass someday, you hear me?”

“
Promise
?” begged the super-sexed snuggle bunny.

Lena harrumphed and reached for her bag. “Okay, Miss, ‘I’m a secret speed reader and I lied to my best friend and I deliberately tanked my grades, and I let my best friend beat me at graduation and I’m a conniving, sneaky little bitch.’ I’m going to go to the library and catch up a little, Miss Smarty Pants.”

Lena slammed her bag to the tabletop and shook her fist. “Ooooh! I am SO angry with you, Freaky Baby!”

“Angry enough that you won’t give me a kiss goodbye?” inveigled the GPA-thrower.

“OOOH! You’re INCORRIGIBLE, Lenore!”

Lena bent toward Lenore and kissed her roomie on the cheek, avoiding a public display of their preferred, incendiary, tongue-tangling method of wishing a roommate safe travels.

“Thank you, Lena! I will see you at home. Call me before you leave so I will know when to expect you.”

Lena stuck out her tongue. “I might go stay at Maggie’s tonight just to get even with you! So HAH! Maybe I
won’t
see you tonight, you... you… GPA-thrower!”

“I love you, too, dear. See you later.”

Lena sneered over her shoulder, heading for the door. A sweetly forgiving smile slipped past her irritated façade. She puckered her lips and telegraphed a falsely-irritated air-kiss on the way out.

As Lena disappeared from sight, Lenore smiled and sighed. Lena was
hers
.
Not
Maggie Bannister’s.
Hers
.
All
hers! In spite of Lena’s momentary anger, Lenore reveled in knowing that the Wild Child’s heart belonged solely to the freaky supermodel.

Lenore reached down to the floor and opened her backpack, withdrawing a meticulously crafted, typed checklist. On it, a roster of a dozen items scrolled beneath the title. Several steps already received their strike-through, signifying considerable progress toward the organization-freak’s ultimate goal.

“The End of the Promise.”

1) Purchase three-dozen fresh, red roses.

2) Purchase thirty assorted candles.

3) Purchase “White Linen.”

4) Purchase chiffon robe.

5) Purchase scented bath salts.

6) Purchase satin sheets and bed spread.

7) Place candles.

8) Brush hair.

9) Paint nails.

10) Apply lipstick.

11) Shave.

12) Put on White Linen

13) Spray White Linen at doorway, on furniture, and on bed.

14) Make bed with new satin sheets.

15) Pour Chardonnay

16) Wait…

Lenore kissed the paper, pressing a puckered, red lipstick smudge into the open space beneath the last, unnumbered line on the page…

“GOAL: Seduce Lena.”

“Tonight, my beautiful Wild Child, you are mine.”

Sixteen

Lena inched open the front door to the apartment, prepared for a horrific scene. From the street below, she saw flickering lights against the window shades. She feared for the freaky supermodel’s life.

“Lenore? Lenore? Are you okay in here?”

An all-too-familiar scent floated past Lena’s nostrils as the passing door stirred air at the threshold. Arousal attacked the law student’s sensitive chest and loins.

“Shit! White Linen! No, Lenore! Not Now! Not Tonight!”

“Lenore… Are you in here? Are you okay, baby?”

Silence.

Lena stepped softly into the apartment, placing her book bag gently by the door. Closing the door behind her, Lena unwittingly stirred more White Linen into her nostrils. Her eyes closed and a fantasy scene flashed by. Lena’s breasts tingled, imagining the two roommates pressed together in a naked embrace on a sandy, wave-swept, Caribbean beach.

Damned Kryptonite! Lenore deployed Lena’s secret poison, “White Linen,” to attack and weaken her roomie’s resistance.

“Lenore… I’m… I’m not ready for this.
Please
Lenore. Don’t do this.
”

Silence.

As Lena’s eyes adjusted to the dim candlelight, she took in the scope of the temptress’s trap. Candles of all shapes and sizes adorned every free space in the apartment. Tall candles in stands, short candles on plates, candles in hurricane lamps, tea candles floating in oil, seductive, flickering bait filling all corners of their nest.

Lena loved candles. She collected candles from all corners of the world. She loved their scent, their romantic power. She lost herself shopping at candle boutiques, always on the hunt for the
perfect
candle.

Lena sucked on her lower lip.

Hundreds of red rose petals lined the path from the apartment entrance into every room; rose petals to the couch, rose petals to the bedroom, rose petals to the kitchen, bathroom, and dining room, rose petals on the bookcase and furniture.

Lena loved roses. She often spread fresh rose petals on warm tub water to scent the room before a bath. Lena unconsciously ran her tongue across her upper lip.

“Lenore…
Please
Lenore…
Talk to me
. I’m really not ready for this, freaky. I’m… I’m still upset with you for the whole GPA thing.”

A voice floated above the rose petals and candlelight. A whisper. The voice of seduction. The voice of a willful woman ensnaring her lover’s longing heart. “Lena… My beautiful Wild Child…
Come to me.
”

Lena trembled, her hands shaking at her sides. “Lenore… I can’t see you. Where are you?”

The voice assaulted Lena’s ears with enticing yearning. “Lena…
Please... I need you… Please come to me
.”

The roommate stepped forward, haltingly, moving just a few feet deeper into the Spanish Widow’s sticky web, just far enough to become frightened. Lena froze. Tears formed in the prey’s eyes. Four years of obedient friendship held Lenore’s thirst for intimate oneness at bay.

No more. The timer on Lenore’s “Paulson Promise” expired.

“Lenore… Please don’t do this,” Lena cried. “Please don’t, Lenore. I’m not ready… I can’t do this…”

A whisper lured Lena further into the trap. “Lena Sardi… I am yours
forever
. You are mine
forever
.
Come to me, my beautiful Wild Child.”

Lena moved against her will, her love drawing her deeper into Lenore’s lair. She stopped. She trembled. She cried. Lena pulled her arms tightly across her chest.

“Please, Lenore… I can’t do this! I… I don’t want to. I just want us to be the way we’ve always been. I just want us to… to make out… to just be...
us.
Please,
Lenore…”

Lenore peeked above the back of the couch, her hair shimmering in the dancing light, her eyes reflecting flames. “Lena…
I need you
. I am yours forever. You are mine forever.
Come to me. Be with me.
”

Lena stared into Lenore’s eyes, fighting back fear, fighting back longing for the woman who obediently restrained her “freaky supermodel seduction” through four, long, excruciatingly celibate years.

Lenore lifted her face above the edge of the couch, fresh lipstick glistening, inviting Lena’s kiss. She bathed in Lena’s beauty, lusting after Lena’s full, sensuous breasts, Lena’s firm, denim-cupped bottom, Lena’s long, strong, tournament-ready legs. Lenore extended her arms over the edge of the couch and pled with her roommate, begging Lena to submit to her truest desires.

“Lena… I love you! I need you!
I can’t live without you!
Please
come to me!
Please
let me hold you!”

The captive roommate stood frozen, unable to step forward, unable to escape, imprisoned by equal parts desire and fear. She glanced around the room, intoxicated and overwhelmed by the love nest Lenore had created in the moments before Lena’s arrival. Rose petals and the scent of White Linen adorned every surface. Candle wax dripped over the edge of wood furniture, creating a sexy, gothic atmosphere.

Lena closed her eyes and prayed.
“Dear God… Please let me go. Please don’t let me fall to Lenore. I love her so much but… Please… God… Please… I want a man, God. I want to be in love with a man…”

As Lena prayed, Lenore plotted. Lenore stood from her crouched position behind the couch and stepped forward, slowly, seductively, her lean, erotic legs flexing with each step. Lena opened her eyes to witness the image of her naked girlfriend wearing a long, black, open-front, chiffon robe. Lenore emerged from behind the couch, the garment trailing behind. Lena fell into a trance, unconsciously licking and pursing her lips, longing to suck on Lenore’s breasts and press their pussies together.

Lenore stopped her approach, leaving several feet between the women. Her outstretched arms called to her conflicted girlfriend. “Lena.
I love you!
I want to be with you forever.
Please
come to me!
Please
let me make love to you!”

Intimately attuned to Lena’s weaknesses, Lenore placed her hand behind her head and drew it forward, floating her long, luxurious hair over her shoulders and down across her breasts. Her dark, aroused nipples poked through shiny strands of hair, a portrait of smoldering sexuality.

One salvo remained. One carefully-timed, sadistically calculated assault on Lena’s self-conscious propriety and quest for purity. Lenore shrugged back her shoulders and dropped her robe to the floor. Rose petals fluttered away as the robe floated downward.

Lena shook, a shiver running throughout her body, from her neck to her toes. Her mouth dried. Her pussy dampened. Lena’s fingers urged her arms to lift, to respond to the roommate’s outstretched hands. She stopped, gasping and crying. In the half-light of the room, Lenore saw a glint of candlelight reflect off a teardrop on Lena’s cheek.

Lenore’s chest tightened, awakening to the pain she caused her beautiful Wild Child, to the confusion racing through Lena’s mind as her body fell under Lenore’s possession. Lena’s mind fought unsuccessfully to defend against the seductress’s wiles.

Neither woman could break their gaze. Lenore’s plot ran too perfect a course, leaving Lena’s troubled heart longing for Lenore’s touch but with her mind fighting back base urges. Though assured of certain victory, Lenore’s heart resisted wounding her would-be lover.

Lenore dropped her arms, lowering her gaze to stare at the floor. “Lena… This is… This was wrong. You must not come near me.”

“But Lenore…”

“No, Lena. This was a horrible mistake. I cannot be trusted. I am evil. I lied to you for four years and then I lied to you again when you caught me in my lie tonight. Now I have created this trap just for you. I did this to make you forget about wanting a man and make you want only me. I knew I could seduce you, Lena. I knew I could steal your heart by seducing you and I did the one thing you begged me never to do.

“Lena… I just want you to know… I love you and only you. I want you to love me and only me. I want you to feel my touch and I want to feel yours. I want to feel you inside me and I never want you to leave me.”

Lenore paused and pressed her palms to her eyes in a futile attempt to derail her heinous plot. Perhaps… If she could just shield Lena from looking into her eyes… “But… You must not trust me, Lena. You must not look at me. You must stay away from me!”

“But Lenore… My God… I love you, too. I want you just as much as you want me. I want to be with you. I’m just so afraid!
I’m afraid, Lenore!
I don’t know what to do!”

“Don’t come near me, Lena! If you come to me, I will trap you and then you will never be able to leave me.”

Lenore turned her face from Lena and pointed to the bedroom. “I drew you a bath. A warm, relaxing bath is waiting for you in the next room. Please go and enjoy your bath without me. Please, Lena.”

Lenore stifled tears and averted her eyes, begging for Lena’s forgiveness. She covered her face with her hands. “Please, Lena… OH GOD! Please forgive me! I did not mean to hurt you! I never wanted to hurt you! I love you so much, Lena! I can’t live without you!”

In her moment of confession Lenore nurtured Lena’s willing heart. Lena wiped away her tears and extended her hand.

“Come with me, Freaky. Take my hand.”

Lenore wept. “I can’t! I
want
to touch you, Lena. I
want
to hold you. I
want
to make love to you. But if I come with you… I can’t do this to you!”

“Just come with me, Lenore. Just hold my hand. Don’t do anything but hold my hand.”