A wry smile pulled up one corner of Teddy’s mouth.

  Kit suddenly realized how ridiculous she was being, and she flushed from head to toe. Teddy’s clear lack of guile didn’t help her feel any better. After all, what right did Kit have to be upset? None. But that didn’t stop her from feeling angry.

  Trying to recover, Kit said, “Look, I know we’re not dating, and I know I’ll never see you again when I leave. You’re free to do whatever you want in your own time.”

  Teddy continued to listen, so clearly unperturbed by the whole situation she might have been watching television. Kit sighed, her face hot with embarrassment. She needed to wrap up before she said more stupid things.

  She touched Teddy’s arm. “Anyway, I don’t have to know about the other women. Okay?”

  Teddy snapped off a quick salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Kit’s temper died down a little, but she was still angry, mostly out of mortification now. She didn’t know why, exactly, she’d reacted the way she had. She could give a damn about the other woman, but something about seeing Teddy with her had bothered her. Deciding it was a self-reflective inquiry best left for a time when she was alone, she pushed the question aside for the time being.

  “So what are you going to do about Mary?” Kit asked, trying to keep her voice as casual as possible. She wanted to make it appear as if she didn’t care, even if she wasn’t fooling anyone after her recent outburst.

  “Screw her,” Teddy said, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of the door. “I only went out with her so I could catch up with you later tonight. She insisted on coming here before the club, and I agreed. I never thought we’d run into you.”

  They’d started walking down the street, and Kit stopped completely. “You’re just going to leave her in there? Alone?”

  “She was already talking to one of your friends when I left. The big one,” Teddy explained. “She’ll be fine.”

  “You’re an asshole, you know that?” Kit asked, smiling.

  “Yes, I do.”

  They walked in silence for a while longer, neither one of them needing to ask the other where they were headed. A few minutes later they made it to Kit’s hotel and headed up to her room.

  Chapter Six

  Despite the blasting air conditioner, Kit was soaked with sweat. She lay on her back, breathing heavily and fanning her body with a magazine. Teddy was standing by the window, her naked back to the bed. Her body was also bathed in sweat, and Kit could see rivulets of liquid dripping down her skin and sliding off the cheeks of her muscular ass.

  This was the first time Kit had had a chance to look at the tattoos on her back. An outline of leaves and vines on her right shoulder wrapped onto her right arm and extended up onto her neck. On her left shoulder blade was a large flower, but from her spot on the bed, Kit couldn’t quite make out what kind it was. All of Teddy’s tattoos were black or black outlines, with no coloring other than a lighter gray shading here and there. On her olive skin, they stood out in dark relief, almost appearing to rise off her body. Kit sat up to get a closer look, and her movement made Teddy turn to look at her. Her dark nipples were erect from the cool air coming from the air conditioner, and Kit swallowed hard, her desire rising as she stared at her.

  “See something you like?” Teddy whispered.

  “Everything,” Kit said, looking her up and down. Teddy’s body was tight and strong, and she moved with a lithe grace when she walked. Everything about her suggested a dangerous, predatory animal.

  Teddy beamed as if she could read Kit’s thoughts and walked over to the edge of the bed, grabbing Kit’s hands. “What say we go out and cause some trouble tonight?”

  “Now?” Kit asked, still looking at Teddy’s nipples.

  Teddy used one hand to tilt Kit’s head up, looking into her eyes. “Now. There will be more time for that later.”

  Kit smiled at her, embarrassed to be so obvious. “Okay.”

  Teddy yanked her up off the bed and slapped her ass playfully. “Get some clothes on. What you had on earlier would work—something fun.”

  “Do I have time to take a shower?” She wrinkled her nose. “I stink.”

  Teddy leaned closer and kissed her neck, causing shivers to run up and down Kit’s back. Teddy inhaled strongly, right next to Kit’s ear, and then pulled back, meeting her gaze. “You smell delicious.”

  Kit swallowed again and Teddy laughed. “Anyway—everyone else will stink, too. It’s summer in New Orleans. There’s not a lot anyone can do about it.”

  “Where are we going?” Kit asked, picking up the dress she’d been wearing. A couple of buttons had been torn off, and she frowned at them.

  “Dancing,” Teddy said. “I need to blow off some steam before the weekend. Tomorrow’s Friday, and we have solid reservations at the restaurant from lunch tomorrow until dinner Sunday. Tonight is my only night off this week.”

  Kit walked over to her suitcases and opened the one with her casual clothes. “Does that mean I won’t see you this weekend?”

  “I get off at eleven every night. I might be tired after a fourteen-hour shift, but I won’t be dead.”

  Satisfied with the response, Kit tugged out another dress, this one made of a lighter material and more revealing than the one she’d worn earlier. Normally she wouldn’t even think of leaving the house in it. While the dress wasn’t designed for it, she almost considered it lingerie. Slipping it on, she turned her back so Teddy could zip her up. In a moment, Teddy’s warm hands were on her back again, but before she pulled up the zipper, she snaked her hands around Kit’s front and squeezed her breasts once, hard. Kit moaned and then turned around, slowly, pleasurable warmth washing through her when she saw Teddy’s eyes light up with appreciation.

  “You look good enough to eat,” Teddy said, looking down at her exposed legs.

  “Later,” Kit said playfully, echoing Teddy’s own dictum back to her.

  Teddy grinned back before turning around to find her own clothes. They were strewn all over the room, and it took the two of them some time to find all of them. The last sock was hiding on the top of one of the lamps, and her wallet was under the bed.

  “If you want to take my money, next time just ask,” Teddy said as she tucked it in a pocket.

  “Don’t worry—you’re paying for everything tonight. My salary can’t take a night out very often.”

  They gathered their things and left the room, heading for the bank of elevators down the hallway.

  “So the ivory tower isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?” Teddy asked.

  Kit shrugged. “The work is great, but I don’t get paid much. Lots of time off but little money—the usual contradiction.”

  Downstairs now, Teddy grabbed her elbow, leading her out onto the street, the pavement wet from a recent downpour. “I know what you mean,” Teddy said. “I used to work in a kitchen with flexible hours, but I was broke all the time. Now I work nonstop, and I don’t have time to spend the money I make. I haven’t had a vacation since we opened.”

  “When was that?” Kit asked, genuinely interested.

  Teddy looked up and down the street before crossing and leading them to the left.

  “Almost a year now,” Teddy finally answered. “We’re having our anniversary party in a couple of months.” She was silent for a moment and then looked over at Kit, smiling almost shyly. “You should come back to New Orleans for it. Going to be wild.”

  Kit smiled without responding, her heart leaping into her throat. She had, for a moment, almost replied enthusiastically until she remembered the reality of their situation. She was here for a conference and wouldn’t likely return to New Orleans any time soon. The recognition of this fact was, however, not as welcome as it would be usually. Normally she was happy to leave someone behind, even a woman she’d slept with several times. It meant no messiness—no complications. Something was different with Teddy—something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was partly that she was so easy to be around, but, if Kit was honest with herself, she was also simply drawn to her. Her first impulse had been to agree to go to the party because she wanted to come back—not for some party, but so she could see Teddy again. Once more, she decided to put off thinking about it for now and changed the subject.

  “So, are you from here? Is that why you decided to open a restaurant here?”

  “Yes, I am,” Teddy said, looking away quickly. “I lived in New York for a while, but I came back last year to open the restaurant. You know what they say: ‘You can take a girl out of New Orleans—’”

  “‘But you can’t take New Orleans out of a girl,’” Kit said, smiling. “There’s a version of that for a lot of places.”

  “Well, in my case it was true. I had worked in restaurants here in the city for years, and I was getting tired of the scene. My family and I…Well, anyway—we weren’t talking. Aren’t talking still, really. A friend of mine offered me a spot in a kitchen in New York at a place she was opening. I jumped at the chance. I couldn’t wait to leave.” She smiled. “It wasn’t even a week later when I realized I’d made a mistake, but it took me almost five years to get back here. I knew if I came back, I wanted my own restaurant, so I set out to get a lot of experience in different kinds of kitchens up there and started working on my own things on the side. I auditioned for the Food Network Challenge just to get some money to open a restaurant, but it didn’t work out. So I took some small-business classes and finally had enough money saved and the credentials to get a business loan.” She raised her shoulders. “It’s such a relief to be back here—I can’t even tell you.”

  Almost without realizing she was going to say it, Kit asked, “So you wouldn’t ever want to leave again?”

  Teddy looked at her, quickly, obviously confused, and Kit flushed with heat.

  “No,” Teddy said, shaking her head firmly. “I’m here for good.”

  They walked in silence for a while, neither of them wanting to add to the already palpable awkwardness of their conversation. Kit felt nervous and confused. What on earth was that about? she asked herself. She never talked this way to her lovers. What was the point? It was clear she and Teddy would never see each other again, so why make the time they had uncomfortable? Did she actually think for a moment that Teddy would leave, move to San Francisco? Schooling herself harshly to keep the conversation light for the rest of night, she squeezed the arm linked with hers.

  “So where are we going?”

  “There’s an eighties night at a club I go to nearby,” Teddy said. “We’re almost there.”

  They could hear the music before they arrived and saw a long line wrapping around the block. Teddy led them past the line and directly to the bouncer, who, seeing her, waved them both inside. The room was a large converted theater, with a stage up front with go-go dancers writhing to the beat. One girl and one boy were up there, both young, college-aged kids. Teddy led them to a bar in the center of the room and motioned at a bartender who recognized her and stopped what she was doing to tend to them. The music was loud enough that Kit had to pass her request through Teddy, who leaned far over the bar to tell the bartender what they wanted.

  In another moment, Kit was sipping her cocktail, watching the people on the dance floor. It was an unusual crowd, composed of a broad mix of people. Both younger and older dancers were out there, companionable and dancing, at times, together. The music faded from one eighties hit to the next, several people on the floor cheering as each song started as if they’d been waiting for it all night. Teddy touched her elbow and lifted her chin, indicating an empty table on the side of the room. Fighting the crowd, they made their way over there, sitting down so close to each other that Kit was almost in Teddy’s lap. A small reserved sign sat on the table.

  “I take it you come here often?” Kit asked, almost yelling over the music.

  “Like I said, Thursday is my only night off. And I tip well.”

  “My friend told me there’s a ladies’ night at a gay club tonight, too,” Kit said.

  Teddy laughed. “There is, and good luck to her. Mostly assholes from the suburbs. Those of us that live here call them the Metairie Weekend Warriors—all of them straight every day of the week but Thursday. All of them married, all of them bitches.”

  Kit raised her eyebrows, startled at the language. “You sound pretty bitter about it.”

  “There used to be a great women’s club in the city when I was younger. Had all sorts of people there, great vibe, good music.” She shook her head regretfully. “Closed a while back. The scene hasn’t been the same since.”

  They watched the dancers for a while in silence, sipping their drinks. Kit understood Teddy’s disappointment. While San Francisco was indeed a gay Mecca, it was much easier to meet people if you were a man. Most of the clubs catered to men, with the occasional women’s night thrown in almost out of pity. When a good place for women opened up, it was inevitably closed down, and it always seemed as if all the hot women Kit saw there just disappeared into the ether. A couple of bars and coffee shops were exclusively dedicated to women, but that was about it.

  Drinks finished, Teddy hauled Kit to her feet and over to the dance floor, edging them into the crowd gracefully. She drew Kit toward her, and their hips connected to the slow beat of a Prince ballad. Teddy linked her hands around Kit’s ass and squeezed, making Kit close her eyes with the sudden heat that swept through her. The front of Teddy’s jeans pressed so hard into Kit’s middle, she could feel the buttons on the front rubbing her under her dress. She shifted her hips a little, hoping to ease some of the aching want building between her legs, but Teddy pulled her close again. Kit opened her eyes, looking up slightly into Teddy’s, which were hungry and dark. Kit’s hands were on Teddy’s back, and she dug her fingers into the hard muscles she found there. The two of them paused for a moment to kiss and received a wolf whistle from a nearby group of twenty-somethings. Their lips broke apart at the sound, and they grinned at each other, both amused.

  A moment later the beat picked up with a pop song, and the spell was momentarily broken. Teddy released her strong grip, and the two of them started dancing, separate but next to each other. Kit let herself get lost in the song, enjoying the euphoria of dancing. She’d always loved to dance and had gone to clubs like this for most of her youth, but it had been a long time since she’d gone dancing just to dance. In the last decade she had rarely gone to clubs, but when she did, she was there to find someone for the night. She usually danced one or two songs, if that, before leaving with her next conquest.

  Tonight, however, was different. She was already here with someone, which meant that she could enjoy the music and the movement for as long as they stayed. Unsurprisingly, Teddy danced with the same grace with which she moved normally—a supple series of undulations, her muscles flexed and flashing. In her tight jeans and T-shirt, she was a gorgeous combination of strength and grace—a combination Kit could never resist. Like Kit, she was covered in a thin sheen of perspiration, and Kit fought a wild yearning to grab her and lick the sweat off her neck. She continued to watch, Teddy seemingly oblivious to her gaze. Others around them, men and women, were watching her, clearly interested. Kit suddenly felt a kind of fierce pride that Teddy was hers, at least for the night. The more she watched Teddy dance, however, the more that pride seemed to turn into something melancholy—almost like longing. She would leave for home and never see this woman again.

  She forced her eyes away and watched the dancers on the stage for a moment. Both of them were thin nearly to the point of emaciation, and both possessed the same kind of androgynous beauty. The girl and the boy were heavily made up, the only sex differentiation between them the slight bumps under the girl’s shirt and her longer hair. Many of the people in the crowd seemed to be mimicking the dancers’ clothes and style, and she also saw, to her pleasure, that the crowd in general was mixed as far as their sexual tastes. Here and there a man and woman danced together, crushed up next to each other. Over there, boy and boy and girl and girl bumped hips or caressed. In some places, small groups writhed against each other, their clear attraction suggesting group sex to follow. Unlike most of the gay clubs she’d been going to almost all her life, this club and its patrons seemed to be open to whatever came their way. With some of the best pop music ever made, the crowd was also one of the best she’d ever been in. She understood now why Teddy came here every week. She would, too, if she lived here.

  She turned to see Teddy watching her with glittering, dangerous yearning in her eyes. Her body had slowed slightly, and she held out a hand, beckoning to her. Kit immediately responded, letting Teddy draw her into her body again and feeling the sticky heat of their sweaty bodies meet as they drew close.

  Teddy leaned close to her ear and, whisper-shouting, asked, “Who were you looking at?”

  Kit recognized that she was pretending to be jealous and played along. “That hot little number on stage.” She pointed at the go-go dancer.

  Teddy looked up and frowned with mock anger. “Isn’t she a little young for you?”

  Kit laughed and punched her arm, playfully. “Hey! Fuck you. I could take her home if I wanted to.”

  “Do you want to?” Teddy asked, her voice suddenly serious.

  Kit shook her head.

  Teddy stepped even closer, meeting her eyes. “Who do you want to go home with?”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  Teddy’s smile stretched from ear to ear, and she whirled Kit into a spin before bringing her close again, grinding their hips together. Kit gasped at the rush of heat that coursed through her body and felt momentarily giddy with need. As they danced, she clutched Teddy, curling her fingers into the other woman’s strong back. The buttons of Teddy’s pants were rubbing her in a delicious spot again, but the sensation was beginning to become overwhelming, almost painful in its intensity.

  As if sensing her growing desperation, Teddy suddenly pulled back a little, looking into her eyes. “I need to get out of here,” she said, her voice rough and choked.