Kendra could almost feel someone’s eyes burning a hole in the back of her head. She didn’t even need to turn around to confirm the feeling, thanks to the mirror over the bar. If it had been any other bar, she would have been more surprised. But Riley’s was a cop bar and it attracted a specific clientele, mostly law enforcement and their families and friends. Plus the occasional groupie.
Whatever this woman was, she wasn’t law enforcement, at least not any kind that Kendra had seen before. Or could imagine. She was beautiful: heart-shaped face, arched thin eyebrows over wide dark eyes, bright-red kissable lips. Her red dress set off her curves, accentuating her small, full breasts and curved hips, even sitting down. And what was she looking at? A big African American butch with dreads, a broken nose and shoulders like a linebacker’s. For a minute, Kendra wished with everything she had that she was cuter, and bit back a sigh.
But that moment passed; she was cute enough to stare at, so that was as cute as she needed to be. At least for now. She could turn her attention to wishing she were less shy around pretty ladies instead. That wish settled down into her crotch with a dull, aching thud of thwarted desire. It had been way too long, and she was uncertain and out of practice.
She was entertaining herself by covertly studying the other woman’s reflection, trying to figure out if she’d run across her before and could use that as a conversation starter, when her partner nudged her. “Got yourself a badge bunny, Ken? Not too shabby.” James grinned as she turned and wrinkled her nose at him. He took a swig of his beer and glanced around the rest of the bar as if her potential romantic drama held no more interest for him.
It probably didn’t. James would finish his beer and head home to his wife and kids, just like he did every Thursday night. In the times between his one weekly night out and his biweekly card games, he mowed his lawn, played with his kids and stayed home as much as he could. And worked with Kendra to solve homicides the rest of the time.
Though, come to think of it, that last part was more than enough drama for Kendra, too. She found her eyes wandering back to the mirror anyway. The woman had disappeared and she stifled another sigh. There had been something intriguing, challenging even, in the other woman’s stare. It had been a while since anyone had challenged Detective Kendra McClain, and she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until now.
Disappointed, she called it a night, said goodbye to James and the others and left the bar. She let her steps take her toward the subway while her mind wandered back to the woman in red. She had a weird sense that she’d seen that same woman, or someone who looked like her, before.
The fact that she couldn’t place her bothered Kendra. It wasn’t like she knew that many beautiful women of Asian descent. She didn’t know very many beautiful women, period. And certainly not any who would stare at her like that.
She imagined the other woman in her bed for a wild moment, tan skin silky under her hands, the woman’s long black hair cascading over both of them like a veil. Her wet, warm flesh parting around Kendra’s hands. The detective bit her lip, her skin on fire, her body one giant, quivering nerve ending that ached with longing.
Clearly, it had been way too long.
Kendra drew a shaky breath and walked down the subway stairs, grateful for the cool night air on her cheeks and the fact that the stairs were deserted at this hour. If she was blushing, at least there’d be no one around to see it. She smiled to herself as she entered the dimly lit corridor that led to the ticket booth.
Then her instincts took over. Something was wrong. She caught a flash of red at the end of the corridor. Someone either turned or ducked back around the corner, like they were hiding from her. Kendra moved her hand closer to the gun in her jacket and kept walking, all senses alert and focused. A quick glance at the booth told her that it was unoccupied, so she’d need her pass to get through the gate to the station platform. And there’d be no one to call for backup if she needed it.
She paused for a moment. Maybe she should backtrack and go to another entrance. More trouble was no way to end an already stressful week. She could always call the Transit Police when she got back up the stairs. That was when another flash of red caught her eye. This time, though, she could see that it looked like a red dress. A familiar red dress.
Kendra frowned; this was one coincidence too many. What if this woman, whoever she was, wasn’t alone? She might be walking into a trap. It might not even be the woman from the bar. But her curiosity, leavened with a bit of residual lust, overrode her common sense. Instead of turning back, she loped forward, dashing around the corner to catch whoever was waiting for her by surprise.
But the station looked empty from where she was standing. She cursed quietly and pulled out her pass. A train rumbled in the distance and for a moment, she wondered if she was letting her imagination run away with her, fantasizing about strange women in her bed and then stalking her for good measure.
She stepped out onto the platform and looked around. The woman from the bar was sitting on a nearby bench, seemingly engrossed in an e-reader. Then she slowly crossed one long, lithe leg over the other, displaying them to full advantage in the latest fashion in stilettos. She shifted on the bench just a hair, giving her back a tiny arch. The movement was clearly an invitation and Kendra went over to sit next to her.
The other woman ignored her, but she twisted one lock of hair around her finger and Kendra could see her white teeth chewing her scarlet lower lip. Something about the way she did it went straight to Kendra’s crotch. If she licked those lips, the detective knew that she was doomed.
“Didn’t I see you at Riley’s Pub tonight?” Kendra tried to make her tone sound innocent, like every inch of her body wasn’t stirring to a slow, fierce arousal.
The other woman tilted her face up to look at Kendra and the detective had the nervous urge to straighten her dreads and check her teeth for scraps of food. She was every bit as beautiful as her reflection in the bar mirror: dark eyes above high cheekbones, kissable full lips, low-cut dress showing more than a hint of cleavage.
Her expression was anything but welcoming, though, and that detached, even icy look triggered a memory in the back of Kendra’s mind. She knew where she’d seen that face before, knew that it was something to do with another department’s case. But which one? Not a homicide. That much, at least, she was sure of. Hopefully.
“Yes, detective. You did see me at Riley’s.” The woman’s voice was a purr, stroking its way up Kendra’s thighs. “I’m glad that you found me so…memorable.” Her lips curled in a smile that didn’t make it up to her eyes.
Kendra’s brain murmured words like “drama” and “trouble” and “potential criminal” while her pussy sang a different song entirely. “You certainly seemed to want me to notice you. What’s your name?”
The smile widened, brilliant lipstick parting over bright white teeth. “You can call me Scarlet, Miss Scarlet, if we’re going to be formal.” She tucked the e-reader away in a small black bag that matched her heels, but she didn’t take her gaze away from Kendra’s face.
“Are we playing Clue? I’m not sure I want to be Colonel Mustard in the library, with or without a candlestick.” Kendra grimaced. She glanced down, this time looking beyond Scarlet’s body to her accessories. James always said that you could read a lot about a woman by what kind of jewelry she wore and how she put together her outfits. Kendra usually blew that off as his one concession to metrosexuality, but she was willing to make an exception tonight.
Everything matched, not a hair out of place, not a chipped nail or a makeup smudge. Everything this woman wore was assembled with such care and thoroughness that she might have been playing a part onstage. With one exception: one of her rings was a giant, gaudy bit of bling that didn’t match her industrial-style silver earrings, necklace and watch. The ring was a mass of ornate curlicues around a faceted glass stone that was far too large and shiny to be a real diamond.
“Nice ring,” Kendra drawled as the station signal beeped to let them know that their train was coming in.
“Like it?” Scarlet smiled at her upraised hand. “I—” The noise of the onrushing train cut her off. But for one crazy moment, Kendra could have sworn that she said, “I stole two others nearly the same size in Monte Carlo last year.”
“What?” Kendra looked at Scarlet as closely as she could as she trailed the other woman onto the train. She reached for her phone, wondering if she could do a quick search on jewel thefts in Monte Carlo without arousing too much suspicion. But they were alone in the train car and headed into a tunnel, so there would be no signal even if she tried to manage a text message.
They were sitting down and Scarlet was resting her hand on Kendra’s arm, caressing it, stroking it until Kendra, watching it, thought she might go up in flames. “You’re so very strong, detective. I do like a nice strong girl.” Scarlet looked up at her through thick black lashes, her gaze an invitation.
A tiny bit of Kendra’s remaining common sense prompted her to ask, “How did you know that I’m a detective? Maybe I’m just out of uniform.” Scarlet’s hand was on her thigh now, and common sense was becoming very hard to come by. Self-control was going to be next. Kendra hoped that she wasn’t actually panting.
Scarlet smiled at her. “I saw you on TV when the mayor commended you and your partner. I pay a lot of attention to the police force. You could say that they’re terribly important to me. And you were such a stud up there on the podium that I couldn’t resist tracking you down. Do I scare you, detective? I wouldn’t want you to have to use those cuffs on me.” She watched Kendra through lowered eyelashes, her expression schoolgirl demure and about as real.
It was an invitation that Kendra couldn’t ignore. She reached over, tilted the other woman’s chin up and kissed her. Then Scarlet’s hand was wrapped around her neck and buried in her hair and Scarlet’s tongue was in her mouth. She tasted like piña coladas, expensive lipstick and lust and Kendra responded to all three, picking her up and swinging her onto her lap so that the other woman knelt on the seat with her thighs on either side of the detective’s. Scarlet wriggled up close to Kendra, pressing her lithe body against the detective’s and shoving one of Kendra’s hands up under her skirt.
Kendra held back a moan and a moment of panic. Transit police or more passengers could enter the car at any moment. This was nuts. She didn’t know this woman, and even suspected her of being a criminal. This had to stop…but her hand had developed a will of its own and was stroking Scarlet’s thigh. Her smooth, silky thigh above her lacy garter belt. Kendra deliberately stopped her hand just shy of Scarlet’s panties, ignoring the other woman’s efforts to pull her hand farther up.
Instead, she broke off their kiss, running her tongue down Scarlet’s neck and gently nipping her shoulder. Part of her brain noted that they were pulling into a station, and she adjusted them a little bit so that what they had been on the brink of doing was slightly less obvious. Scarlet’s mouth was at her ear, her teeth nibbling her earlobe. Her voice in Kendra’s ear whispered urgently, “Oh c’mon, detective! If someone gets on, let’s give them a show. I like an audience for my performances. Don’t you?”
She shifted her body on top of Kendra’s and ground her hips against the detective’s. The wave of pure desire that swept over Kendra just then made it hard to talk, to tell this woman that, no, she never made love with an audience. And the thought of doing it was revolting and gross. And unbelievably hot.
Then Scarlet’s hand was under her jacket, kneading her breast and tugging her nipple into an excruciating point and who needed to think right now?
With a growl, she buried her face in Scarlet’s cleavage, biting and licking every bit of bare skin she could reach from that angle. Scarlet yanked one of her small breasts free of her bra’s lacy cups, holding it up with her fingertips so that Kendra could engulf it with her mouth, sucking and nibbling until she could feel the other woman’s groan start at her toes and work its way up.
She gave up her struggle to hold her hand still, instead letting it slide up Scarlet’s thigh to her soaking wet panties. She ran her fingers over them, gratified at the abrupt tilt of the other woman’s hips that followed her movements. “Inside me, detective. C’mon, baby. You going to make me beg?” Scarlet murmured the words in her ear, her voice caressing enough to call up a full body shiver.
It would be tempting to see what this woman could do if she was really begging for it. Kendra grinned into the sharp point of the nipple that she held clenched lightly between her front teeth. But then, turnabout might be fair play. Kendra twitched a little at the thought of what she’d be willing to do to get this woman to say yes to her. And act on it.
She sent her fingers up and around Scarlet’s panties, until she could bury them into the wet welcome that awaited her on the other side of the satin barrier. Scarlet moaned and humped her hand, rocking forward to take in as much of Kendra’s hand as she could. It was so sweet, this beautiful woman’s desire, so novel and lovely, that it was almost enough to shut off the detective part of Kendra’s brain.
But not quite. On autopilot, her brain ran through everything she’d done and seen at the station recently, cataloging and searching her memories as she was trained to do, looking for the one that would tell her why Scarlet looked familiar.
What came back was a photo on a case file that she’d seen some colleagues passing around at a meeting. “Interpol says she’s one of the best they’ve ever seen. And my buddy says she’s hotter than hell, even better than her picture. The cops in Macao and Monte Carlo and everywhere else on the effin’ planet are looking for her. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll come here next.” The conversation had trailed off into chest-thumping commentary about what they’d like to do with a gorgeous female jewel thief and Kendra had tuned them out. It wouldn’t be her case unless the woman killed someone, so what did she care?
The tensing of Scarlet’s thighs overrode her thoughts as she brought the other woman to orgasm right there on the train, just as it entered a new station. Head tilted back, red lips parted in a series of moans and cries, Scarlet had given herself up to the moment, and Kendra wanted that moment to last. Maybe she was wrong about who this woman was. Why would a world-class jewel thief go slumming at Riley’s to pick up a detective, after all?
Then Scarlet’s lips fastened on hers, her tongue so urgent that wrestling with it, added to the press of Scarlet’s body on hers, was enough to drive any other thoughts from her head. She barely noticed that they weren’t alone in the car anymore. She did finally open one eyelid, just a slit, and verified that the couple who’d gotten on were sitting far enough away not to pose an immediate threat. Kendra was willing to take that for now.
Or at least she was until Scarlet began wedging her hand down her pants. “We’ve got an audience,” she growled, breaking off the kiss and moving to intercept those enticingly long fingers, now suddenly ringless. Where did it go? It might be evidence.
“Let them watch. We’ll show them how it’s done,” Scarlet whispered and ran her tongue down Kendra’s neck. “You’ve got a gun to hold them off if they want to participate. I don’t like sharing.” Scarlet gave her a satiated half smile, like a happy cat’s, and tweaked her nipple, pulling a suffocated moan from Kendra’s closed lips. “I’ll keep an eye on them. Let me finish what we started, detective. Trust me.”
Kendra’s instincts all woke up. Could she really trust this woman? How far? At least the train tunnels would block enough Wi-Fi signals that they probably wouldn’t end up on YouTube if the car’s other occupants had cell phones. Probably.
Scarlet took advantage of the lapse in Kendra’s attention to shove her hand down her pants and Kendra felt her hips rock forward to make more room for her, her body responding as if it belonged to someone else. Scarlet, perhaps. Not that she’d be able to relax enough to come, not here and now. She was certain of that much.
But Scarlet’s fingers said something entirely different as they slid into her and one finger found her clit. Kendra jumped a little at the shock of the sudden, longed-for contact and Scarlet leaned down to kiss her again, her exposed breast rubbing against Kendra’s until the detective wondered if she could slip her T-shirt off under her jacket. She wanted to be naked with this woman so badly, she wasn’t sure that the location mattered anymore.
“Just me. Just my hand and your pussy. That’s all that matters. Give me what you want to give so badly,” Scarlet crooned as she covered her face with little kisses. “I can feel how much you want to come for me, baby. Let me get you there.” The pressure of her fingers increased, sending a spark of pure fire through Kendra, circling and pushing in just the right amount.
Kendra’s brain disintegrated into a jumbled mass of fantasies, all of them about this gorgeous woman and all the things she wanted to do with her. But the weight of hungry eyes was making her anxious. Well, that and the possibility that Interpol was looking for her companion. What was a good detective to do?
She risked a quick glance down the car. The straight couple was watching them, but their hands were so busy that they’d have other things to occupy them soon. Part of her cringed at providing a free show for them. “Just us, baby. They’re only trying to have as much fun as we are. Show them how it’s done.” Scarlet’s voice cut across her thoughts and fears as she kissed her eyelids closed, shutting out their watchers.
She could feel Scarlet’s hips thrust against hers, feel the urgency in her breathing and the rapid pounding of her heart. She let it carry her away, shutting away everything except this woman and her maddening, exciting touch. Her thighs locked instinctively and tightened until all of her being centered on that single point of fire being coaxed into unbearable sensitivity. A moment, a breath, and someone was shouting, the sound muted by the train screeching around a corner.
When Kendra came back to earth, Scarlet was grinning at her and licking her fingers, a sight that sent a stab of soft fire through the detective. “My, my. I knew you’d be hot, baby.” Scarlet leaned over and kissed her hard as she tucked herself back into her bra and pulled her dress closed.
“Come home with me,” Kendra murmured as Scarlet tucked her shirt back in. “I’m even more fun horizontal. Or vertical, if you prefer.”
Scarlet swung off her as the guy from the other end of the car approached. “We were wondering if…you two were, um, bi-curious?” He stopped a few feet away, like he expected to get punched if he got too close. It was a good idea on his part; Kendra was considering the option, hard.
Scarlet gave him a twisted grin. “Not tonight. Or probably any night thereafter. I think your lady’s got enough to fuel her imagination for quite a while to come as it is.” She waved him off and he turned and went back to his date, keeping any growling he wanted to do about his dismissal to himself.
“That happen every time you have sex on trains?” Kendra glanced sidelong at Scarlet, her mood turning dark as her brain warred with her body. At the very least, she needed a closer look at the ring. A memory of a certain sparkle crossed her mind, and she couldn’t shed the suspicion that she’d heard Scarlet correctly back at the station.
“Haven’t done this before. Not in this city at least. But I always like to try something new in a new town. Souvenirs are some of the best parts of any trip, aren’t they, detective?” Scarlet’s smile had turned wistful.
Then she gave Kendra a speculative look, and rose slowly, tugging at her dress to straighten it out. She glanced up as if to see what station they were pulling into and Kendra glanced over her own shoulder. Only two more stops to her apartment. She wondered what, if anything, she could say to get Scarlet back there. Though maybe exposing a suspected thief to her meager possessions wasn’t the best idea.
But she couldn’t let her get away, no matter what. She gathered herself to reach for Scarlet as the doors opened.
There was a familiar flash of red on the platform and Kendra realized her pants weren’t fastened any more. She grabbed them with a curse as the doors closed. Scarlet stood on the platform and blew her a kiss. She tapped her shoulder as the train pulled out of the station and after a moment, Kendra realized that she was supposed to check her jacket pocket. There was something hard in it, something that hadn’t been there at the beginning of this crazy night.
The ring was heavy and solid in her hand, the stone sparkling in a way that confirmed her suspicions. She gingerly placed it on the subway window glass and used it to make a tiny scratch. Shit. Was it a memento? Or was the other woman trying to frame her? But that didn’t make sense. All she had to do was to turn it in and say she’d found it on the subway and wondered if there was a report out on it.
She pocketed the ring and contemplated taking a cab back to the previous stop. But Scarlet would be long gone by then. She knew that in her gut. Her aching, empty gut. Kendra rested her head against the cold glass and watched the dark walls of the tunnel blur by until the train pulled into her stop.
It was only when she was trudging up the stairs that she realized Scarlet had been telling her that she’d be sticking around for a little while. Maybe the ring was a goodwill gesture as well as a souvenir. Maybe Scarlet would come looking for her again.
Or maybe she needed to concentrate on being a cop and take a closer look at the other woman’s file to see what she could find out. One way or another, she hadn’t seen the last of Miss Scarlet.
She held her fingers up to her nose and inhaled the other woman’s scent, grinning despite herself. Detective Kendra McClain liked a challenge and it looked like she was in luck. Kendra whistled as she headed home, checking for a flash of red dress around every corner.