A knock at the door startled Nadirah from her reverie. Who would be knocking on her door, unexpectedly, at just before midnight?
She switched off the TV, grabbed her pistol, then slowly swung the door open.
There stood a visitor whom she least expected.
Joni.
Joni, looking pretty in pink and wearing little more than a satin negligee with lace trim and white high-heeled pumps. She wore white hoop earrings and a touch of makeup. Her thick mane flowed in waves down her backside.
Nadirah couldn’t get her voice to comply with her brain, which demanded to know what in the world she was doing dressed so intimately and knocking on her door so late at night.
“Well, aren’t you going to let me in, hot stuff?” Joni asked. “It is a bit chilly out here, you know.”
The cat dashed outdoors in a hurry, as if not wanting to witness the exchange between his owner and this mysterious stranger.
“W-what the hell is going on?” Nadirah finally managed to ask, stepping back and placing her gun on a nearby table.
Instead of answering, Joni squeezed her way past Nadirah and into the two-room cottage. “Cozy place you got here.” She walked through the combination living room and bedroom, peeked into the kitchen, and then turned to face Nadirah. “Bet it must get lonely out here at times.”
“Uh – well – maybe. But what loneliness I sometimes feel is worth keeping myself safe from certain people like…”
“Like me?” Joni said, walking up to Nadirah, grabbing her shirt collar in her fist and pulling her towards her. “Relax, Officer – Detective – those are appropriate titles for those who work the kind of magic you do, correct? Either way, you couldn’t be any safer with a nut job like me. Trust me.” She kissed the forensics investigator on the cheek.
“Hey, look, I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Nadirah insisted. “You and I have some history together, and as brief as it may be, it ain’t good.”
“Yeah, I know who you are. Do you believe in second chances?”
“What?” Nadirah asked, still dumbfounded and confused by the situation.
“You know, second chances. Think we can get it right the second time around?”
“No, Joni, I don’t. We’re just too different.”
“Opposites attract.”
“Yeah, maybe in the movies.”
Joni slipped her negligee over her head and let the flimsy garment flutter to the blue-gray carpeted floor.
“I hated you and…”
“Well, now you’re going to hate me even more,” said Joni with an impish grin. “You’re going to hate me for making you love me. I have the power, you know.”
“What power? Look, you got me all wrong, Joni,” Nadirah protested.
“Do I?” Joni said, hands teasing her taut nipples.
Against her will, Nadirah’s eyes dropped down to Joni’s full breasts. She was a good size. A thirty-six or perhaps a thirty-eight C. She tore her eyes away from the firm and perky breasts and gazed at Joni’s lovely face.
“This really isn’t very smart,” said Nadirah.
Stepping closer to her, Joni said, “Do most of us really ever do anything smart in life?”
Nadirah didn’t know what to say.
Joni stepped even closer, lips barely an inch from Nadirah’s ear. “Do me.”
Nadirah remained rooted to the floor, not sure what to make of the situation. She knew she should kick Joni out. That was definitely what she should do. But did she want to? Did she really, really want to?
Follow your head, not your heart! Nadirah commanded herself. But she was unable to obey and listen to her own commands.
Before she knew it, Joni’s lips sought hers for a soft, sweet, passionate kiss. Then the girl moved over to the double-size bed and, moving her hair to the side so she wouldn’t sit on it, she sat on the edge of the bed, legs slightly spread in a seductive manner. She kicked off her heels and slipped her thumbs inside the elastic bands of her translucent panties. “Shall I?” she asked. “Or would you like to take the honors yourself?”
As the last of any reasoning she may have had slipped away like grains of sand slipping through her fingers, Nadirah dove at Joni. She pushed her back onto the bed and began frantically kissing her face, her lips, her neck… moving slowly down to those lovely, voluptuous breasts.
Joni moaned in ecstasy as she began to tug at Nadirah’s shirt.
Nadirah stepped back just long enough to strip, her breathing ragged, her heart pounding. Naked, she grabbed the string-like sides of Joni’s skimpy little bikini panties and tore them off in one swift movement.
“Oh, yes!” Joni screamed. “Take me now.”
“Oh, I’m taking, alright,” assured Nadirah. “And I ain’t giving back what I take, Joni. Don’t you ever forget that either.”
Joni pulled Nadirah on top of her. They were both desperate with need by now as their fit bodies met. Joni raked Nadirah’s back with her long red nails as Nadirah began to work her tongue in a wild frenzy of motions that were driving Joni crazy. Her tongue roamed below Joni’s breasts and soon found her most sensitive spot.
“Please hurry!” cried a breathless Joni.
“Are you sure?” Nadirah teased with a playful grin.
“I need you now!”
Nadirah giggled, then she quickly worked to put out the fire within Joni.
Their bodies shuddered as their pent-up desires were released, Joni’s fingers running through Nadirah’s hair, Nadirah’s tongue driving in and out of Joni, savoring her sweet juices.
It was actually the sound of her own voice moaning and Booty hissing, unable to comprehend what was going on with his master, that woke Nadirah up.
“Oh! Oh, Booty, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry!”
After a few moments, her breathing returned to normal, and the cat once again curled up at her side and began to purr.
Since when had she started having wet dreams? This wasn’t like her, although she knew she didn’t have to ask where they came from. That much was obvious enough.
“Another thing I can blame on the bitch,” Nadirah said to the cat. “Sure was fun, though.”
Joni had been right. She had missed her after she left the laboratory. The room had taken on a silent, lonely air at that point, and the only good in it was that she could get more work done without Joni’s constant fidgeting. And now she was seriously missing her in Dreamland where things were always safe and she could always wake up in the end, even if they weren’t.
Not long afterward, she fell back asleep after gazing at the empty side of the bed, half-wishing Joni was there to occupy the lonely stretch of space, and hoping for additional dreams of Joni, wet or not.
The morning seemed to drag on forever, and Joni found herself glancing at the clock a little more often than she’d like. She was working on installing some software in an office that wasn’t anywhere near the laboratory, and she didn’t even know if Nadirah would be working there right before lunch, or if she would be out in the field on some grisly scene. All she could do was race over to the lab at lunchtime and hope to catch the fine-looking officer.
When lunchtime finally did roll around, she made a mad dash to the other side of the large building and down to the laboratory. She stopped for a moment just outside the door to catch her breath before she knocked and slowly opened the door.
Nadirah was there.
Alone.
“Yes?” she asked.
“It’s lunchtime.”
“And you think I don’t know that?” She took off her lab coat and draped it over a chair. Then she turned to face her. She wore a violet shirt, gun holstered at her side.
“Oh, I know you know that. But I still don’t know what it is you have against me, and I don’t like to be left wondering for very long,” Joni told her. “You’ll probably never have to see me again after today anyway. They’ve got me working on the west side of the building.”
A wave of pain close to her left ear seized Joni. She winced and placed a hand near her temple.
Nadirah looked at her curiously but didn’t say anything.
When it subsided, Joni said, “And so I was hoping you could take me to that secluded spot you mentioned sometimes having lunch at.”
“Well, it’s not that secluded but come on,” Nadirah said.
Joni followed the forensics investigator who walked so fast she almost had to run to keep up with her. Their first stop was at a deli where Nadirah purchased a ham and cheese sandwich and a drink. “Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked.
“Nah, that’s okay,” said Joni.
“Well, at least get a salad or something.”
“Okay, I’ll have a Cobb salad and some Diet Pepsi.”
The young man behind the counter was quick to gather their selections as they both dug money out of their handbags.
“Do you want me to throw it in altogether, Nadirah?” asked the man.
“Sure, Scottie, and thank you.”
“I’ve got money,” Joni said.
“That’s okay. I’ll take care of it,” Nadirah said.
On the way out with their lunch bags, Joni said, “Thanks for lunch, Officer.”
Nadirah nodded curtly, almost business-like, and led them to a bench in a small courtyard.
Joni took in their surroundings. The maple trees formed a canopy overhead that provided a cool, shady place to sit. There was only one other person in the courtyard, an older gentleman sitting about thirty feet away reading a newspaper.
Nadirah and Joni sat side by side and began to eat.
“So what’s up?” Joni said cautiously a moment or two later.
Keeping her eyes focused on a small flock of pigeons in front of them, Nadirah chewed her food thoughtfully. Just when Joni thought she wasn’t going to say anything, she said, “North Star.”
“What?”
“North Star, June of 1989.”
Now she turned to face Joni, eyeing her squarely in the eyes. Her look was cold and serious and Joni still couldn’t figure out what it was about the woman that turned her on.
“You really don’t recognize me, do you?”
Joni shook her head. “Should I?”
Nadirah looked back at the pigeons and said, “Probably not. You only saw me for barely an hour. Maybe two at the most. And it was just over nineteen years ago. You also only knew me by the nickname of Freckles.”
Joni continued gazing at Nadirah’s profile, her mind drawing a blank. Then it hit her like a punch in the face.
Oh, my God! Freckles!
Nadirah turned to face Joni again and in her mind’s eye, Joni superimposed the face of Nadirah from nineteen years ago over the face of the present-day Nadirah.
It fit.
“Remember now?” Nadirah said, flashing a sarcastic smile.
Joni went slack-jawed. Holy shit. Just holy shit.
Freckles.
Freckles, moving about in the dim interior of the club. Freckles, beautiful white smile glowing against her tanned skin. Freckles, long straight brown hair to the middle of her back. Freckles, out on the dance floor with her. Freckles, kissing her on the cheek. Freckles, exchanging phone numbers with her. Freckles, suggesting that particular Wednesday night – gay night – that they maybe get together Tuesday night since Monday she would be busy. Freckles, speaking with her on the phone. Freckles, screaming at her on the phone.
Freckles, sitting just inches away from her, armed with a gun.
Maybe women and guns didn’t turn her on so much after all.
Joni wasn’t sure whether she should run, laugh, or what. “I’m sorry,” was all she could mutter.
Nadirah snorted. “You’re sorry, huh?”
Joni nodded and said, “What happened to all the freckles?”
Nadirah shrugged. “They faded with age.”
“Well, you’ve aged beautifully for whatever it’s worth.”
Another snort from Nadirah and then they spent the next few minutes eating in silence with Joni barely tasting her food.
“You better be nice to me, bitch.”
“Huh?” Joni glanced at Nadirah, who now had a hint of a smile on her face.
“That was what you wrote in Portuguese yesterday. I looked it up.”
Joni laughed nervously, then fell silent again. A moment later, she said, “Man, life really is full of unexpected surprises, isn’t it?”
Nadirah didn’t answer.
“It definitely isn’t what we plan it to be for the most part.”
“Well, I didn’t plan on you,” said Nadirah.
“But here we are, connected again nearly two decades later. They say there’s a reason for everything.”
Nadirah rolled her eyes, finished her sandwich, and washed it down with her drink.
“Again, I’m sorry. I really am,” Joni said.
“Oh, don’t try to tell me you’re sorry, Joni,” Nadirah said, fixing her dark eyes upon Joni’s emerald ones. “Like I’m really going to believe you’re suddenly sorry for the dozens of prank calls you made to me after nearly twenty years?”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Joni said with a small laugh. “Harassing you was actually kind of fun.”
Nadirah glanced sharply at Joni. Was this lunatic serious?
“It’s my mouth I ended up sorry for.”
The sound of rapid footsteps pounding on the nearby sidewalk caused them to glance to their side.
Gifford came running up to them. Leaning over, hands on his thighs, he struggled to catch his breath.
“What’s up, Giffy?” asked Nadirah.
“Sorry to interrupt you ladies and cut your lunch short,” he said between gulps of air as Nadirah quickly began to gather up her empty bag.
“I’ll take care of the trash for you,” Joni offered.
“But you’re needed at an apartment building on Russell Street,” he finished saying.
“Oh, okay,” Nadirah said, getting up quickly from the bench as Joni began to gather the trash.
“Thanks for the grand revelation,” Joni said. “I’d like to discuss it further sometime.”
“Well, I wouldn’t,” said Nadirah as a confused Gifford glanced back and forth between the two women.
“That’s okay. You can just listen then,” said Joni.
Nadirah and Gifford headed off, jogging back to the building.
“Damn whatever happened on Russell Street for happening now of all times,” Joni muttered under her breath.
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