Guardian Girl (The Chronicles of Staffordshire) Read online

  Fuming, Lena shook her head and glared at the freaky supermodel. “Ooooh! Lenore… I’m going to… Ooooh! I’m going to…”

  “Hit me with your racket?” Lenore quipped hopefully.

  “NOT FUNNY, Freaky! You’re not getting out of this… You can’t joke your way out of this you… You… GPA-thrower!”

  The supermodel put on sad, amber-brown puppy dog eyes, sniffing away a hint of a tear, quietly imploring forgiveness from the Wild Child. Lena’s contempt cracked.

  “Don’t you do that, Lenore! You’re in BIG trouble with me, Freaky!”

  Tilting her head down, Lenore looked upward with her eyes toward her softening sweetie. In her lap, Lenore wrung her hands in shame, adding a darling little hint of humility to her quest for Lena’s forgiveness.

  “Ooooh… Don’t you do that, Lenore! Ooooh. I am NOT happy with you, Freaky! C’mon, Lenore… You can’t sweetie-pie your way out of this! Just stop it, you GPA-thrower! Stop it!”

  “Pleeeeze, Lena? Pleeeeze forgive me? Please?”

  “Ooooh! Lenore De La Fuente…! You are such a… Such a…”

  A light reflected off Lenore’s eyes and she turned on the charm. She urged Lena forward with a call of her index finger, speaking in a whisper as Lena came closer. “I am such a girl who is so completely in love with you that I wanted to give my beautiful Wild Child a gift nobody else ever could? Is that what you are trying to say?”

  “NO! I was going to say you are such a royal pain in my ass!”

  With their faces only inches apart, the freaky supermodel loosed her magical powers of breathy seduction on the Wild Child. “Are you sure you weren’t going to say that you forgive me and that you understand how I can be so madly in love with you that I would under-perform by two, measly, little points on a silly, little, insignificant paper just to see that beautiful, excited smile on your face at graduation?”

  Lena growled and flicked her hand like a jungle cat presenting its claws. She pressed her index finger to the tip of Lenore’s nose. “Listen here, miss freaky pants… If you ever do that again I’m going to take you over my knee and spank you, do you hear me? When I win, I want to win fair and square, do you hear me? Fair and square, Lenore! No pity points!”

  “But… Do you still love me, Lena? Do you forgive me? Please…?”

  The hard-as-nails court cat crumbled. “Yes… Damn you.”

  “YES? Do you forgive me? Really?”

  Lena grumbled. “Yes, Lenore. Damn you. I forgive you. Idiot.” Lena thrust her index finger a second time into Lenore’s face. “But you are STILL in big trouble, Lenore. Someday I’m going to get you for this and I’m going to get you good!”

  Lenore kissed Lena’s index finger and gently sucked on the tip of the digit, sending a shiver down Lena’s spine. Lena sat spellbound, her mouth hanging open and tongue pressed against her upper teeth as Lenore worked her seductive magic. Abruptly remembering their public location, Lena glanced around to see a fuzzy-bearded, professorial-looking individual in a tweed jacket staring at Lenore’s erotically charged connection with Lena’s appendage. Lena yanked her finger free.

  “Stop it, Lenore! We’re in public! Don’t come after me now, you super-hussy!”

  Lenore kissed Lena with her eyes, her adoring smile turning the tennis pro’s artificially hardened heart to Jello. “Oh… I will come after you sometime, my love. Do not worry. And when I do I will be certain you will forget ALL about my little indiscretion.”

  “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. Sh
e 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.”

  Lena stepped closer to Lenore, trembling, fearing the certain outcome of their shared journey. Lenore stepped forward and touched Lena’s fingertips. She looked into Lena’s
eyes, accepting Lena’s unspoken forgiveness, delicately weaving their fingers together. Lenore hesitated, waiting for one final confirmation before springing her trap. Lena nodded and offered a wavering smile.

  Through the bedroom they walked, past the satin-sheeted bed, past the rose petal-covered comforter, and into the bathroom. Each romantic touch stirred Lena’s longing and crushed her resistance. The women stopped at the antique, free-standing tub, Lena standing motionless, staring trance-like at the water. Candlelight danced in the rippling, reflective surface. The fragrance of scented salts floated upward, filling her nostrils. Lena closed her eyes and imagined life the way it used to be, the girls cuddling at bedtime - only cuddling - embracing one another as girlfriends, not lovers.

  Lena whispered her permission. “Prepare me, Lenore.”

  “Lena! I… I cannot! I must not do this to you! I have done too much already! You must stop me! I cannot stop myself! Lena, I cannot stop myself from seducing people. Please stop me!”

  The tables turned. Lenore trembled, fighting her urge to attack Lena and strip away her clothing. Lena felt Lenore’s fear in her quivering palm.

  With her eyes closed, Lena lifted their clasped hands and placed Lenore’s hand high on her shoulder. On practiced impulse, Lenore slipped her fingers upward and back, spreading them across the nape of Lena’s neck. Electrified passion charged through Lena’s skin as Lenore’s fingertips brushed through sensitive hairs.

  “Please, Lenore. Prepare me for my bath. I’m ready. I won’t be ready for long. I might chicken out if you don’t do this right now.”

  “But Lena… My God… Are you certain?”

  “No! I’m not certain! I’m scared!” Lena sniffled. “I’m just certain about one thing, Lenore. I am absolutely certain that I love you and I want to be with you forever. Now… Take off my goddamned clothes before I totally lose my nerve!”

  Lenore stepped behind the Wild Child and slipped her hands around to Lena’s stomach. Grasping the T-shirt by the edge, Lenore pulled it up and over Lena’s head.

  Lena’s naked back fascinated Lenore. The buxom roommate’s curvaceous breasts hung wide on her trim torso. It would only take a second for Lenore to reach around and grope Lena’s tits.