September, Awake and Ready!

It's the rainy season. For days at a time, the earth outside my windows gets rejuvenated by torrents of delicious rain. From safe under my roof, the sound is music; a frantic/tranquil chorus that can lull you into a deep sleep or wake you from one. Sounds of a beautiful Summer winding down into Fall.

My summer's end means the coming to a close of one of my current projects--the young adult novel due on the shelves April 30, 2011. Closing that project folder leaves me space to start at least one thing and I'm torn between putting time into the sequel to Every Dark Desire or the more literary novel in progress, Language of the Broken. Choices, choices. Both are a pleasure to dive into so maybe I'll end up working on both simultaneously.

Happy Autumn beginnings to you and everyone you love. Enjoy the thunder and the storms. Stay dry, if you wish. Be saturated, if you desire. Be contented.

**

Coming To Your Town?

The release of the new book is only five (5!) short months away. To gear up for Dangerous Pleasures hitting the shelves, I'm in the process of planning signings and readings around the U.S., Canada, and possible the U.K.

So far, I've signed up to be in Atlanta, GA - Austin, TX - Chicago, IL - Tampa, FL with more cities to be announced.

If you want me to make a stop in your city, drop me an email to let me know and I'll do my best to get there.

**

Upcoming Workshops

Write Your Novel Workshop

If you've always wanted to write that novel or you have one "in progress," this workshop is for you. In this series of writing sessions, we will push forward with our novel writing projects, explore methods to get beyond writers' block, make our stories come alive, and take the book to the next level. 

Location/Date/Time - To be announced. 

To sign up for the workshop taking place in the late fall, or to find out more, contact me at f.zedde@gmail.com.

Publish Your Novel Workshop

You've written that novel, now what? Sign up for this workshop to find out the next steps to take. In these sessions, we'll talk about what publishers are looking for, how to get your book publisher/agent-ready, and how you can make the process work for you. 

Location/Date/Time - To be announced. 

To sign up for the workshop taking place in the winter, or to find out more, contact me at f.zedde@gmail.com.

**

Drawing for a Signed Copy of Dangerous Pleasures

Enter a raffle to win an autographed copy of the latest Fiona Zedde novel, Dangerous Pleasures, shipped directly to your door.

The cost of a raffle ticket is $1. To put your name in the hat, email me at f.zedde@gmail.com. The winner of the raffle gets a bonus prize if they answer the question:

In Hungry For It, what is the perfume that Claudia wears?

Good Luck!

**

Rumi Verse of the Month

I have lived on the lip

of insanity

Wanting to know reasons

Knocking on a door.

It opens

I have been knocking

from the inside.

~ Rumi

**

Hot Shorts

"Study Session" Part IV

Mercedes immediately shrugged out of her shirt, throwing it in the general direction of the door.  Tessa moaned low in her throat.  She knew it.  Mercedes was stacked.

The hours she had spent burning out her imagination time and time again with visions of Mercedes’ breasts, nothing could compare to the reality of wide, strawberry-textured nipples, dark, like the perfectly ripe fruit, bleeding between her teeth. 

“Sit on the bed.”

When the woman did as she was told, Tessa immediately dropped to her knees and took a nipple in her mouth.  She wasn’t gentle.  Tessa pushed her nose into the sweat-scented skin, clawing at Mercedes’ back to get even closer.  She wanted to suffocate in the other woman’s flesh.

Tessa bit, sucked, licked until Mercedes was moaning, rubbing herself against the seam of her jeans, and when that wasn’t enough, she slid the zipper down, finger fucking herself until Tessa pushed her hand away.

“Not with me, you won’t.”

She drew the other woman’s cum-stained fingers into her mouth, licking them one by one.  Mercedes watched her with lazy lidded eyes, her lips parted on a silent moan as she allowed Tessa to push her onto her back.  Then with a sigh, one of regret, Tessa took both of Mercedes’ hands and pushed them to the strawberry nipples.

“Play with these, I’ll be busy for a little while.”

Tessa paused to make sure that her instructions were being followed, but with Mercedes she never had to repeat herself.  She was a very good student.  Tessa watched as Mercedes arched her back, bringing her hands up to cup her heavy breasts and stroke saliva wet nipples.  Tessa’s breath caught.  So fucking beautiful…

The other woman’s impatient moans brought her back to the matter at hand.  She bent her head, licking her way the other woman’s quivering her belly until she came to the barrier of cloth.

“You could take a lesson, you know.”  She murmured as she dragged Mercedes’s sticky-wet panties off along with her jeans.

Mercedes laughed deep in her throat, still squeezing her own nipples, the heavy flesh of her breasts overflowing her hands.

“Why are you always laughing?”

“Because life is beautiful, it makes me happy.”  Mercedes gasped at the first brush of Tessa’s breath on her engorged clit.  “Right now, you make me happy.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” Tessa breathed.  Her nose lingered over the sea-foam scent of her, drinking it in deep, before allowing her mouth to become involved in the feast.  She directed a cool stream of air at Mercedes’ soaked slit, then hot.  The thighs on either side of her head threatened to close.  Mercedes moaned.

“I am so ready for this.”  She whispered before moving her tongue, once across the plump little button. Sweet.  Mercedes tasted so damn sweet.

The hot flesh swam under her tongue, firm and wet like late summer muscadines swollen in the heat of the sun.  Juice dripped down Tessa’s chin a she groaned into the oozing wet pussy.  Mercedes undulated under her, Tessa’s earlier instructions forgotten.

Her fingers were clenched in the sheets as she watched Tessa’s every movement, her lips parted in a breathless O, her lean body striated with muscle and awash in sweat.  This was every one of Tessa’s fantasies come true.

Her senses felt close to overload with the smell, taste, and sound of Mercedes, goddess-created and more responsive than Tessa had even dreamed as she groaned and writhed on the bed.

Tessa’s fingers slipped against the heated and damp skin as she tried to latch onto the wild thing under her.  That was all right.  She had better things to do with her hands anyway.  Tessa slid two fingers inside Mercedes and felt her own pussy clench.  She was so wet, so hot.  She felt so damn good.  Her fingers reached deeper, her tongue worked faster.

“Fuck!” Mercedes’ hips bucked against her mouth and fingers, thrashing fiercely as she came, alternately whispering and screaming Tessa’s name.  Her gasps were loud in the sunlit room.

She slowly caught her breath.

“That was really fun.”  Tessa stood balanced over Mercedes, a grin dancing on her wet mouth.

“No shit?”

The words came out breathless and low.  She reached up to trail long, pussy-slick fingers down Tessa’s cheeks.  She smiled into Tessa’s eyes before kissing her lightly on the mouth, a butterfly touch that sent tiny aftershocks ricocheting through Tessa’s body.

Then Mercedes extended her tongue with its silver adornment and licked at Tessa’s face, lapping her own cunt juice from her lover’s chin, cheeks, and mouth.  She sucked on a full lower lip and took it between her teeth before kissing the corners of Tessa’s mouth, first one then the other.

“Does that mean that this is the end of our session for today?”

Mercedes shook her head and tongued the parted lips above hers.

“Honey, we’re just getting started.”

Tessa shifted above her and pinched Mercedes’ nipple, then stroked it in response to the music of the other woman’s quiet groan.

Desire rolled inside her like a tsunami, flooding her thighs again, making her tongue wet with the urge to taste Mercedes again and again.  She wet her lips.  “Maybe we can get an extension on that presentation?”

Mercedes couldn’t seem to find the words to say no.

Dangerous Pleasures cover now live on Amazon.com. Yes! - http://amzn.to/ca9xoh

August Pleasures

Author's Note

Summer is flying by and all, too soon, will be past us. Backyard barbecues, sunsets on the beach, and hot afternoons running through sprinklers are moments to be savored and cherished. So far, my short and hot summer has been spent writing the young adult novel, Dreaming in Color, taking pre-orders for the January-bound novel of erotic romance, Dangerous Pleasures, and getting to know my first ever Smart Phone. All while making time for trips to the beach, of course. Once I've finished the novel, I will be hosting a series of how-to workshops on publishing and writing in the Tampa Bay area. Stay tuned. Keep enjoying your summer. Be well.  And, as always, thanks for reading the words I love to write. - Fiona

**

Dangerous Pleasures Pre-Order

It's officially official! According to Amazon UK, Dangerous Pleasures will be available on January 25, 2011. If you want your autographed copy mailed by that date (or before), send me a private email to (f.zedde@gmail.com) and get a jump on everyone else.

**

Upcoming Workshops

Write Your Novel Workshop  

If you've always wanted to write that novel or you have one "in progress," this workshop is for you. In this series of writing sessions, we will push forward with our novel writing projects, explore methods to get beyond writers' block, make our stories come alive, and take the book to the next level. Location/Date/Time - To be announced.To sign up for the workshop taking place in the late fall, or to find out more, contact me at f.zedde@gmail.com.  

Publish Your Novel Workshop  

You've written that novel, now what? Sign up for this workshop to find out the next steps to take. In these sessions, we'll talk about what publishers are looking for, how to get your book publisher/agent-ready, and how you can make the process work for you. Location/Date/Time - To be announced.To sign up for the workshop taking place in the winter, or to find out more, contact me at f.zedde@gmail.com.

**

Rumi Verse of the Month

Come into me 
that way again. 


Like a fresh idea
in an artist's mind.                 
         
                        ~Rumi

**

Hot Shorts

For previous installments of this short story and other stories, see earlier blog posts.

"Study Session" Part III

  
Sunday
           
She lay drowsing under the window with the sun heavy and stinging warm on her belly when Mercedes came by for their study session on Sunday afternoon. She was early.
 
Tessa turned her head at the sound of the knock, but didn’t bother to get up.

“Come on in.”

Mercedes looked around the room, eyes moving briefly over the obvious lack of furniture and the pillows strewn everywhere to the girl lying in the sun, with only a threadbare rug between her back and the hard floor.

“Where’s your roommate.”

“At her boyfriend’s place.”

“Good. Because there’s something we need to get out of the way before we start on our presentation.”

"What?” Tessa sat up.

After last night, she was sure that Mercedes would call to cancel or at least postpone their last session. Mercedes propped her book-bag against the closed door and slid the lock home.

“I know what you want, Tess. And obviously you can’t handle it. So I’m going to let go of all this tension for you… for both of us.”

Tessa stared into the unblinking eyes of the other woman before she stood up and walked past her to get to the bathroom. “Don’t play games with me, Mercedes.”

Her hands were shaking. What was this shit? Here was Mercedes, the woman who slithered through her day and twilight dreams, making it sound like … well like she wanted her. Tessa closed the bathroom door pressed her solitary aching weight against it.

She took a deep breath. Please be gone when I open this door. She picked up a washrag off the metal towel rack and put it under the cold tap.

The low sound of Mercedes calling her name reached Tessa from behind the door. Then the catch released and the door opened. In the mirror, Tessa watched Mercedes come to her.

The first sting of her tongue, an insistent snake at the back of her neck, snapped Tessa’s body to attention. She dropped the wet cloth.   The hands enfolding her breasts from behind had her own fingers curling into the edge of the sink, her breath scraping roughly in an unbearably dry throat. Tessa moaned and arched into those fingers, begging them to touch her nipples, stroke her harder.

“So is this what you want?”

All she could do was groan and push her ass against the zipper of Mercedes’s jeans, trying to prolong the electricity firing in her belly. Teeth opened on her neck and sank into the straining flesh.

“Is this what you think about in class?”   Blunt nails raked the inside of her thigh. “Did you want me to fuck you in the library?”

Mercedes’s hand pushed up the hem of Tessa’s skirt clawing at the hot skin as it raised the cotton higher. Her fingers brushed bare hips. A low growl of appreciation rumbled in her throat.

“No panties, Tessa? You were expecting me to come.”
Tessa groaned at the first teasing brush of fingers at the top of her thighs.

“Open your legs for me, baby.”

She helplessly obeyed, gasping when Mercedes’s thumb stroked her clit.

“Do you want this?”

“Yes. Please.”

The mirror teased her with its image of them, Mercedes’s tongue a tease at her earlobe, her hand stroking Tessa’s breast and nipple. But it was what she couldn’t see that pulled the breath from her lungs: Mercedes’s fingers sliding around her wetness, flicking against her clit, making her hips jerk against her hand.

An electric current jolted between her nipples and her cunt as pin-wheeled behind her closed eyelids. Her belly tightened and she fell apart with Mercedes’s teeth at her neck, her thumb hard against her clit. Her breathing was ragged, loud in the little bathroom, as she came as quietly as she could.

Through the wall she could hear her neighbor’s stereo, the sound of laughing boys. Tessa closed her eyes to the girl in the mirror, to her sweat-drenched skin and swollen lips.

“None of that, mouse,” Mercedes said with a soft laugh. We’re not done yet.”

Damn right.

Tessa was in a daze, but if this was all she was going to get of her Mercedes fantasy, then she was going to make the most of it. She turned around in Mercedes’s arms and kissed her.

A shifting push/pull of wet flesh, full lips and a pierced tongue that set her clit to jumping again. She slid her hands up under Mercedes’s shirt, palms flat against her belly and pushed her out the bathroom.

“True,” she said, her eyes drowsy but intent.

“Now the mouse wakes up. I think I’m going to like this.”

“You talk a lotta shit, you know that?” Tessa didn’t wait for an answer.

She pushed until the backs of Mercedes’s knees touched the bed, still engaging her tongue in that clit firing dance.

“I want to see your tits.”

(to be continued)

Sweet July

It's been a brisk and hectic summer already with plenty already done but lots more to get through. Ever since I got back from Nicaragua I've been promising myself a day at the beach here in Florida but between Hurricane Alex, work to be done, preparing to move, and other things, I have yet to make it. Soon, though.

Fourth of July/Black Pride celebrations in Tampa were fantastic. Fireworks, family, parties, readings, meeting new people, trying to stay dry during the frequent downpours. A great Florida beginning!

I hope your summer has been stellar so far.

Dangerous Pleasures Pre-order

It's officially official! According to Amazon.com UK, Dangerous Pleasures will be available on January 25, 2011.
If you want your autographed copy mailed by that date (or before), send me a private email (f.zedde@gmail.com) and get a jump on everyone else.


Tampa Black Gay Pride 2010


July started off with a beautiful gathering of folks in Tampa, Florida for Tampa Black Pride. Most of the events took place at the Comfort Inn Conference Center and ranged from literary titillation to shake your booty all night and get your drink on fabulousness. 

At Valentine's on Friday night for the Grown Gurls party.

Nora and some of her Grown Gurls at the Meow Myxxer on Friday afternoon

Sorors of Omicron Epsilon Pi

Hot transmen at the Meow Myxxer.

Rapper/Singer Shunda K and her lady.

Sheree L. Greer, writer and host of Oral Fixation, a night of poetry, stories, and more.

Kisses after Midnight now available to everyone. Everywhere.

The artist with a secret passion. An assassin on the hunt. A Jamaican exiled in snow. These are just a few of the women who come to life in this seductive collection of thirteen stories by novelist, Fiona Zedde.

Exploring themes of love, desire, liberation, and loss, these stories take the reader on a journey into the hearts and minds of unforgettable characters who linger long after the last page has turned.

If you read and enjoyed any of Fiona's previous novels - Bliss, Taste of Sin, Every Dark Desire, or Hungry for It - this is an anthology not to be missed.

For a copy of the new ebook in Kindle form, log onto Amazon.com. For a copy of Kisses as a downloadable PDF directly from me and at a reduced price, send an email request to f.zedde@gmail.com.

Rumi Verse of the Month

You are quaffing drink

from a hundred fountains:

whenever any of these hundred yields less,

your pleasure is diminished.

  

But when the sublime fountain

gushes from within you,

no longer need you steal

from the other fountains.

                         ~Rumi

Reviews, Reviews!

If you've already read Kisses after Midnight and would like to share your opinion of the eBook, please log onto Amazon.com and do a short review and star rating. Let me and the world know what you think.

Hot Shorts

"Study Session" Part II

Saturday
The cloud of exhaust and dust left by the city bus slowly cleared around Tessa.  Sighing, she blinked the dust from her eyes and began the brief walk to Mercedes’s house. 

Already she could see the brick lined walkway and the empty porch swing swaying in the breeze.  She walked the block and a half with feet that longed to turn back and run in the opposite direction. 

At the door, she hitched her bookbag on her shoulder and sighed again, before rapping quickly on the dark wood.  A jet-skinned amazon answered almost immediately. 

“Hey, Stacy.”  Tessa greeted her Mercedes’s lover with a spasm that she hoped passed for a smile.
“Mercedes is in the sunroom.”  Stacy gestured down the hall.  “She was about to call and make sure you were coming over.”

I almost didn’t.  “My bus was running late.  You know weekend traffic.”

Tessa suddenly got the impression that Stacy was checking her out—tits, ass, and last of all her face—as if seeing her for the first time.   But that was probably wishful thinking on her part.  If she couldn’t have Mercedes, why shouldn’t her girlfriend at least show some interest?
“Come on in.” 
Tessa walked reluctantly into the cozy little house and followed Stacy down the hall.
  
Mercedes was sitting on the floor with her books spread around her, already scribbling in the thick literature notebook.  Today her hair was pulled back from her face with a deep red ribbon.


“Honey, I’ll see you later.”  Stacy bent her face to Mercedes’s.  Tessa looked away as their lips met and rummaged pointlessly through her own books.


“Bye, Tessa.” 
“Bye.”


She only looked up after Stacy had disappeared and the sound of her footsteps was already fading down the walk.
“Sorry about yesterday.”  Tessa dropped her books on the floor and sat down.


Mercedes met her eyes.  “So what’s really going on with you, Tessa? We can’t do this with you acting like a lunatic.  This is our final project, and I didn’t invest all this time and money just to fail because we couldn’t get along.  So tell me what’s up.”  Mercedes tilted her head to one side and waited.


Tessa opened her notebook to an empty page.  “Nothing that I haven’t taken care of already.” Her corners of her mouth tucked up.  “Thanks for your patience.”


So Mercedes had to drop it. 
“Alright that’s the last section.  Let’s finish up tomorrow.”  Mercedes closed her laptop.  “Stace will be back in a few and I promised her I’d be done by the time she got back.”


“She has big plans for you huh?”  The unbidden image of a naked Mercedes, back muscles tense and straining above Stacy made Tessa’s cheeks burn.  She started shoving books into her backpack.  Why did their sessions all end like this?


“More interesting than what you have to offer, at least.”
Tessa’s head snapped up.  Mercedes raised an eyebrow at her study partner’s expression.  “You know. . . studying. Our Lit-Crit presentation.”   She smiled.


Tessa shot to her feet.  “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”  She was gone before Mercedes could react.
Real smooth, Tessa.  Real smooth.


(to be continued)

Tampa Black Pride Events

Tampa Black Pride jumps off Thursday, July 1 and continues through until Sunday July 4th. I'll be bouncing around town enjoying all the festivities but I'll also be working. Stop by and say "hello."

THURSDAY

ORAL FIXATION - AN INTERACTIVE NIGHT OF POEMS, SHORT STORIES, AND MORE

Thursday, July 1, 2010 - 6 PM to 10 PM                      

Tampa Black Pride Host Hotel Comfort Inn Conference Center

820 East Busch Boulevard Tampa, FL 33612

HOSTED BY SHEREE L. GREER AND SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMANCE BY SHUNDA K OF YO! MAJESTY

Artists will be on-site after the performance to sell their books, CDs, and other merchandise. 

*FREE HIV/AIDS TESTING

FRIDAY

MEOW MYXXER VENDOR EXHIBITION 2010

Friday, July 2, 2010 - 1 PM to 5 PM

Tampa Black Pride Host Hotel Comfort Inn Conference Center

820 East Busch Boulevard Tampa, FL 33612

Summer Dreams - July Newsletter

Two hectic months have gone by too quickly: A move from Atlanta. New Orleans for a bit for the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. A two week trip to Nicaragua. And now, jumping headfirst into a new project - a young adult novel called "Dreaming in Color." It's wonderful to be so busy in these heated days of summer.

Cool breezes and summer splendor to you.

Upcoming Events

Tampa Black Pride Presents:

ORAL FIXATION - AN INTERACTIVE NIGHT OF POEMS, SHORT STORIES, AND MORE

Thursday, July 1, 2010

6 PM - 10 PM                      

Tampa Black Pride Host Hotel Comfort Inn Conference Center

820 East Busch Boulevard Tampa, FL 33612

HOSTED BY SHEREE L. GREER AND SPECIAL GUEST PERFORMANCE BY SHUNDA K OF YO! MAJESTY

Artists will be on-site after the performance to sell their books, CDs, and other merchandise. 

*FREE HIV/AIDS TESTING*

For more information, check out the Tampa Black Pride website:http://www.tampablackpride.com/

Kisses after Midnight

The artist with a secret passion. An assassin on the hunt. A Jamaican exiled in snow. These are just a few of the women who come to life in this seductive collection of thirteen stories by novelist, Fiona Zedde.

Exploring themes of love, desire, liberation, and loss, these stories take the reader on a journey into the hearts and minds of unforgettable characters who linger long after the last page has turned.

If you read and enjoyed any of Fiona's previous novels - Bliss,  Taste of Sin,Every Dark Desire, or Hungry for It - this is an anthology not to be missed.

For a copy of the new ebook in Kindle form, log onto Amazon.com. For a copy of Kisses as a downloadable PDF directly from me, send an email request to f.zedde@gmail.com.

Hot Shorts

"Study Session"

Friday

“I suppose that’s a valid interpretation of that piece, but I disagree.” Mercedes Leroux spread her fingers across the pages of the thick text book and adjusted her body in the uncomfortably hard library chair.

Tessa, her study partner nodded from across the table. “OK, Mercedes. So we agree to disagree.” Tessa crossed her legs under the thin blue skirt and looked away from the flash of silver in Mercedes’s tongue. “We don’t have to discuss that segment in our presentation.”

“Or we can present both perspectives and give them a chance to make up their own minds,” Mercedes said in the tone of one who knew that she was right, all other opinions be damned. She leaned over to type on her laptop, stroking the smooth, dark keys with her nimble fingers. Her tongue snaked out to touch her upper lip.

“True, but we don’t want to make it seem like we couldn’t reach a conclusion on our own.”

“That’s hardly the case, we just can’t come to an agreement—”

“And that’s worse.” Tessa took off her glasses and carefully put them on the table.

Mercedes tapped her short stub of a pencil against her lower lip and watched Tessa through narrowed eyes. The wild coils of Africa-hair framing her face made her look angelic even as her tongue made another appearance to tease the rubber tip of the clit-sized pencil. It was getting the best, and probably only, blowjob of its short life.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Mercedes muttered. “Let’s just call it a night and start fresh tomorrow.”

It wasn’t a suggestion. That much was obvious when Mercedes closed the machine down.

“Alright.” Tessa quickly conceded the point and moved to gather her books, taking care to not brush against Mercedes. This project would actually be going much better if Tessa didn’t find herself well and truly in lust with her study partner. Everything about the other girl distracted Tessa, made her want to be naked and sweaty under Mercedes’s skin that was more milk than chocolate, made her ache for those vermilion lips to slide over her clit.

And there was her obsession with Mercedes’s breasts. She had only been rewarded with the most teasing of glimpses of that glorious part of her anatomy even in the swollen abundance of the Florida heat. Tank tops were always shielded by an armload of books or, in the cold classroom, an inconvenient sweater. Her tongue curled into itself at the thought of those breasts, of licking them, of sucking the nipples until they were hard and wet.

“That’s my notebook you’re shoving in your bag.”

Tessa fought the sudden heat that rose in her face. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, just hand it over.” A smile transformed the words into a gentle tease. Tessa’s own mouth twitched in automatic response as she jerked the three-ring binder out of her backpack and slid it across the table. All without looking up.           

“Thanks.” The word rolled sweet and sensuous from the other woman’s mouth—a mouth, Tessa had long ago decided, that was made for eating pussy.

"I’ll walk you to your dorm.”

Mercedes had her computer packed up and ready to go. She adjusted the carrying case over her shoulder and started to follow Tessa out of the small study area.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need a senior escort.” She only needed one thing right now, and a sexless walk to her empty dorm room wasn’t it.

Mercedes’s smile made another appearance. “Don’t be so butch.” Tessa finally looked at her. Of course, Mercedes knew she was into girls. “This may be a small town, but there are still nut balls out there. Besides I’d feel guilty letting you walk over to the other side of campus by yourself.”

Tessa nodded. “Alright then.”

They stepped into the steamy Florida spring night and drew in a lungful of honeysuckle and orange blossom scented air. This was definitely worse than the library. Tessa longed for the formality of the air-conditioned building, heavy with the scent of books and old money. Out here the very breeze whispered of sex, nearly begging her to dwell on the high curve of Mercedes’s ass, its deliciously rhythmic one-two sway under the loose denim jeans.

I want to fuck you. The thought passed with surprising ease through her mind.

It was nearly one o’ clock in the morning. The library courtyard was empty, quiet except for Mercedes and Tessa’s footsteps. They crossed the overpass in this silence, the occasional whine of a passing car its only interruption. Tessa was pitifully close to the breaking point, her body ached for the twin pressure of the cement wall at her back and Mercedes’s naked skin against her breasts and between her thighs.

Mercedes cleared her throat. “So are you doing alright, Tessa?”

She jerked her head in a simulation of a nod. “Never better.”

"Then am I wrong in thinking that there’s something bothering you lately?”

Lately? You bother me all the time. This is nothing new. “What makes you think that there’s something wrong?” Tessa threw her a quick glance from the corner of her eyes. “Is the pace of the work not enough for you? What is it?”

“OK, let me ask this another way. What’s up with this Miss Bitch attitude? Not getting off enough lately?”

“Fuck you.” Her tone was fierce, almost desperate.

“Wait a second.” She put out her hand, the long fingers spread wide.

Tessa stopped. Please touch me. She moved back, first one step then two.

“What the fuck? I’m not going to—” Mercedes looked at Tessa’s face, at her glazed eyes and stiff shoulders. “Alright. Screw it. Walk your own damn self home.”

Tessa watched her turn around and disappear down the incline into the library parking lot. Seconds later, she heard a car engine then saw the flare of headlights.

Tessa was paralyzed by this want, paralyzed and stupid. She slumped against the cement wall and released a tense breath.

That didn’t just happen. I did not make myself look like a complete asshole. She groaned and put her hand to her side where Mercedes almost touched her.

Rumi of the Month

"You try to be faithful

And sometimes you're cruel.

You are mine. Then, you leave.

Without you, I can't cope.

And when you take the lead,

I become your footstep.

Your absence leaves a void.

Without you, I can't cope.

You have disturbed my sleep,

You have wrecked my image.

You have set me apart.

Without you, I can't cope."

— Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi (Love: The Joy That Wounds: The Love Poems of Rumi)