Chapter 9

Louise McKenzie, Antonia's lawyer friend, was black. I don't mean brown; I mean black, with a skin of matt, black velvet that immediately made you want to touch it and stroke it. She was tall and she walked tall, carrying her blackness and her femininity with conscious pride and unconscious grace. Sometimes people remind you of animals; my boss resembled a hedgehog, for example, small and stoop-shoulder with a pointy face and beady brown eyes, his hair combed back straight from his brow and a sort of perpetual cold. And if he was a hedgehog, Louise was a jungle cat; a panther or a leopard or something from a more mythical jungle — Blake's Tiger, for example. There was, however, something unusual about her face and it took me a moment to work out what it was. It was her nose. While you couldn't describe it as patrician, it was definitely long, with a pronounced bridge and distinctly flaring nostrils. It didn't look out of place or detract from her looks. Rather the reverse. It added strength and character to her already striking beauty.

She wore a pale green dress that left one shoulder bare and reached to several inches above her knee with a gold and green chiffon stole around her shoulders. I wouldn't say the dress clung to her figure, that would be insulting. It caressed her body lovingly as if delighted to be associated with her. It looked as if it had been made specifically and only for her. As she was a high-flying lawyer, it probably had been. A week ago I would have cringed in a corner feeling insignificant and hoping she wouldn't notice me but tonight I could feel my cock begin to stir just watching her stride across the floor. I wasn't the only one affected. Conversations stopped and heads turned as she passed. As she approached our table, I stood and held out my hand, a broad smile on my face.

"Louise, thank you for joining us."

She stretched out her hand to shake mine but, instead of shaking it, I bowed low and kissed the back of her hand.

"Yes," cried Charles, triumphantly. "Another one."

"Antonia is really very naughty," I said quietly. "She didn't tell me we were dining with a genuine Nubian Princess. I am deeply honoured that you chose to join us mere mortals."

She laughed, a throaty thing that came from deep within her.

"Tonia, I like this man already," she said in a surprisingly deep, husky voice as the women touched cheeks.

To say the service was good would be like saying the Taj Mahal was pretty. It had been good the last time I had been here with Antonia but tonight it was superb. The presence of two stunningly beautiful women no doubt had much to do with it, I thought wryly. There was nothing obtrusive about it — they were all far too professional to hover — but the fact is we had the best service I have ever had in a restaurant. I have no idea what we ate. Whatever it was it was excellent — no it was superb — but I hardly noticed; I had eyes and ears only for the company.

Antonia called her Lola — Louise was what acquaintances called her — was more properly Louise M'Kendi but she had started calling herself McKenzie at University, believing it would help her career prospects. That she and Antonia were very close friends was obvious. Their conversation was spiked with private references and little digs and barbs that only close friends can get away with. I found out that Lola was a corporate lawyer and did not go to court. Somewhat of a shame, I thought, for I could just picture M'Lud's face when she rose to present the case for the prosecution with that silly white wig perched on top of her head. Like Tonia she was a rising star in a large company. Like Tonia she had a slightly 'off the wall' sense of humour and some unconventional opinions which she was not afraid to voice. I could see why Tonia said they were alike. If it wasn't that they looked so different physically, you could have almost taken them for sisters. Not that they agreed on everything; far from it. They were both intelligent people who thought about things at length and came to their own conclusions. At times the conversation was quite lively. Mostly I remained quiet and let the women talk, as much as anything because I was enjoying simply being in their company and watching them interact.

In the beginning, Lola's attitude to me was a trifle stiff, as if she didn't quite know what to make of me. After all her best friend was acting like a ditzy schoolgirl after only one date. What sort of man could do that? I could just see the thoughts going through her mind as she sized me up. Nothing much to look at, that was for sure. Plenty of money, obviously, but no real class; no real pzazz. Nice enough guy, apparently, but not in the same class as her friend's usual conquest. And why was she, herself, so attracted?

It's a natural male tendency to show off in front of a beautiful woman; to capture her attention and demonstrate that he is the best man for her. It is a temptation I resisted for I knew that, in the competition stakes I was a non-starter and I would only make a fool of myself. These ladies moved in much more rarified and sophisticated circles than I. I didn't play the shrinking violet by any means but I didn't try to hog the conversation, being much more interested, as I said, in watching them.

At one point in the evening Tonia turned to me and said, "What do you think?"

"I think I'm in heaven," I said with a smile and a sigh. "I'm having dinner with the two most beautiful women in the world."

"In other words you were so bored you've been ogling the waitress."

"I have not," I said indignantly. "Anyway, it wasn't the waitress; it was the lady over there in the window."

She glanced over at the rather matronly lady I had indicated. "You pig," she cried in an insulted tone which she then spoiled by laughing.

"Got it in one, dear," I grinned back. "Now what was it you wanted to know?"

"I've forgotten now."

I turned to Lola. "A nice girl but such a short attention span," I said, shaking my head in mock despair.

Almost in spite of herself, Lola laughed.

"I'll get you later for that crack," Tonia hissed.

That bit of by-play seemed to settle something in Lola's mind. She didn't say anything but I was aware that she sort of loosened up a bit towards me after that.

At the end of the meal the ladies went for the inevitable comfort visit. As they walked away from the table, Antonia turned back briefly and winked. While they were away, I settled the bill, leaving a large tip as usual. After all, it was only money.

"Sir," said the maitre'd as we were leaving, "I know I've been finding you tables at short notice but if you continue to bring companions like these, I'll set you one aside permanently."

"They're quite something, aren't they," I agreed as I slipped him another fifty. "And they've got more letters after their names than in them. I have to say that you and your staff excelled themselves tonight. My compliments to them all."

"Thank you, sir. I hope we see you again soon."

"With some more women, no doubt," I grinned.

"That, too." He almost smiled.

Nothing was said but it seemed accepted that we were returning to my flat. I could sense Lola's surprise as the cab drew up outside the block but she was too polite to say anything. The ladies preceded me up the stairs and I was treated to the view of two delectable bottoms. Tonia's svelte one and Lola's high, round one. Her buttocks looked like small footballs as she climbed. I resisted the temptation to cop a good feel.

At the door, Tonia fumbled in her purse for her key. I sensed she wanted to make a point so I let her open the door and search for the light switch. Lola's reaction to the flat was the same as everybody's — one of breathless surprise that such a tatty stair should hide a place like this.

As Tonia went into the living room I caught Lola's hand and raised the hand to my lips and planted a kiss on the palm then looked at her straight in the eye.

"Welcome to my home, sexy Princess," I said softly. "I think I can promise you a night to remember."

"What makes you..." she began. Then Charles's influence did its work. Her pink tongue emerged and slowly ran round her full, dark lips making them glisten moistly. I leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on them. They were soft and pliant but unresponsive. I plied her with little kisses, gently nibbling and teasing her lips. She began to respond. I ran my tongue along her lips and her tongue emerged to meet mine. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her soundly. With the smallest of sighs, she sagged against me and began to kiss me back.

I led her, unprotesting, to the bedroom where I proceeded to undress her. It was her skin I lusted after. I wanted to touch it and stoke it and kiss it and caress it. It wasn't just the colour, which was exotic enough, it was the texture; so smooth and supple that the finest velvet would have felt like sandpaper next to it. I urged her gently onto the bed and knelt up beside her. I stroked her arms, her flanks, her thighs: I nuzzled her neck and kissed her shoulders: I licked the swell of her breasts and the dimple of her navel. She lay with her eyes closed and purred like a cat.

After a while she opened one eye. "Is that all you're going to do?"

I stopped and looked at her. "Aren't you enjoying it?"

"Oh, I am. I am. But I thought you were going to ravish me."

"Oh, no. I'm making gentle love to a beautiful princess."

"Sometimes even princesses want to be ravished," she pouted.

She stretched languorously, arching her back and thrusting out her breasts and tensing her buttocks. It was such an erotic movement that my cock, which I had almost forgotten about, immediately made its presence felt.

"Your wish is my command, O Princess."

"Aren't you a bit overdressed?" She gave a small grin.

"Er, yes, perhaps I am." I'd forgotten I was still dressed. "I'm not doing the seduction bit very well, am I," I said, ruefully, as I scrambled off the bed and began to pull off my clothes.

"Seems fine from my angle," she said. "I don't know when I've ever been so relaxed when being seduced. No, stop," she commanded as I made to climb back on the bed. "My turn to look. Turn round. Not bad. Not bad, at all," she leered. "Now come up here and make serious love to me."

"Hey, who's seducing who?" I said with a laugh. Hark at me; the man who used to quiver if a girl so much as said boo to him, laughing and jesting as he prepares to have sex with another stunningly beautiful woman.

"Whom," she said firmly. "And who cares?"

I climbed on the bed, pulled her into my arms and kissed her soundly. I eased one hand under her neck and let the other one roam freely. One of her arms circled my neck, hold me in the kiss, while her other hand sought my cock. With gentle tugs she urged me on top of her, spreading her thighs welcomingly. She placed me at the entrance to her vagina.

"It's up to you, now," she whispered.

It was such an incongruous statement that I chuckled as I eased myself into her wet tunnel.

"Don't do that," she chided gently.

"What?"

"Laugh."

"Sorry," I said, embedding the final inch inside her.

"What's funny, anyway. That feels nice."

"I don't know." I propped myself up on my hands and looked into her eyes. They were hooded with lust yet there was a twinkle of amusement behind them. "That I'm here with you for the first time and yet I feel incredibly relaxed." I began to move, pulling out and thrusting slowly back with I final jerk to make her realise how deeply I was penetrating her. "Yet, somehow, I know this is going to be mind-blowingly good."

"Cocky bastard, are you?" she said, half in jest, half as a challenge. She gripped my biceps and starting to move beneath me.

"So I've been told," I said, feeling the challenge in her movements and responding.

She began to roll her hips, making her internal muscles grip and release my cock. I suddenly realised she was going to try every trick in the book to make me cum before she did. Our mutual seduction had become, for some reason, a battle for dominance; a contest of will and stamina. I didn't know how serious it was, but it was a battle I wasn't going to lose. I was very glad I had Charles. Without him I didn't stand a chance; with him, she didn't.

Her eyes never left mine. There was a slight smile on her face and I'm sure there was one on mine. She was as confident of her power as I was of mine. Our loins thrust and parried in that age-old duel. In a sudden flash of insight, it occurred to me that the reason she was so confident was that she needed her clitoris stimulated to make her cum. Thrusting straight in and out wouldn't do it and, as I was mounted on top of her, I couldn't use my fingers. I dug my toes into the bed and pushed up, trying to drag my cock across her clit on every thrust. I also gave an extra push and a little wriggle at the bottom in an attempt to stimulate her clit with my pubic bone. It didn't take her long to work out what I was doing. Her eyes narrowed and she began to use her internal muscles to squeeze me rhythmically.

Battle was now truly joined. She began to move faster, planting her feet firmly on the bed and humping herself off the bed. The grip on my biceps was almost painful. I wasn't concerned. As she thrust up, I thrust down, trying to pin her back on the bed. Her eyes were mere slits, her mouth hung open as she drew in air in gasping breaths. We were both covered in a sheen of sweat. On her it looked great. It made her look wild and feral and incredibly sexy. Our motions became faster and faster and more and more frenetic.

Suddenly, she threw her arms around my neck and dragged me down on top of her. Her breathing was harsh in my ear. She wriggled and squirmed frantically and her heels clamped tightly against my thighs. Her vagina clamped down on my cock and she screeched in my ear, almost deafening me. I had won. I had made her cum first. I waited a moment until her muscles started to relax then thrust into her with short, sharp jabs and ordered Charles to let my pent-up orgasm erupt inside her. This set her off again and she wrapped herself around me as if she wanted to absorb me completely.

My cock gave a final farewell twitch and she sagged back, her arms and legs hanging limply. I levered myself onto an elbow and wiped away the sweat that threatened to trickle into her eye.

She looked up and grinned tiredly. "I was right, you are a cocky bastard," she murmured.

"And you are a wild, Amazonian tiger," I replied.

"I'm a well-screwed lawyer."

"The tables are turned, then," I grinned. "Isn't it usually the lawyer that does the screwing?"

She laughed and winced. "You'll need to get off."

I rolled stickily off. She sat up, wincing again.

"I'm going to regret this in the morning. Bathroom?"

"Next door."

She staggered off and I lay back with a contented sigh. I was as stiff and sore as she but, with Charles help, I could correct that instantly. More importantly, I felt smugly euphoric. As with Tonia, and Debbie and Harry come to that, Lola felt right. There was a connection at some almost subconscious level. I wondered if this was a natural attraction or because Charles had engineered it and decided I didn't much care. If sex was always going to be as good as this, he could engineer away to his heart's content.

My musings were interrupted by Lola returning and throwing a warm, damp facecloth and towel at me.

"In case you were too lazy to go to the bathroom," she said with a grin.

"Got it in one," I laughed, mopping myself clean.

She got back into bed and snuggled against me.

"There's something bugging me but I'm too tired to think what it is. Hold me, please." I took her in my arms and she almost purred as she snuggled in and throwing a knee over my leg possessively. "Nice," she murmured then yawned. "Sorry."

"No need. It's a compliment. It shows you feel relaxed."

"I'm certainly that," she murmured. "And much more besides."

She was quiet for a moment and, when I glanced down, she was asleep. I managed to suppress the laugh that rose in my throat. The image of her as a cat seemed to be truer than I had envisaged. She was satisfied and felt safe so, just like a cat, she went to sleep. I suppose I should have felt insulted that, after some torrid sex, my new lover rolls over and falls asleep but I wasn't. I felt flattered that she should trust me enough to do that. It suggested that, subconsciously perhaps, she believed we were in for the long haul and could take our time to explore each other; that we could by-pass the sometimes frantic efforts that new couples often go through trying to determine if their relationship will last or not. With that thought and a smile on my face, I joined my partner in slumber.

I had only just dropped off when I felt the bed move as Tonia joined us.

"Shift over," she whispered.

I suddenly realised she was talking to me and smiled. The night was going to get even more interesting.

"What are you doing?" Lola said sleepily. "Hey, girl, where's your clothes?"

"Shhh. I've wanted to do this for years. Since that time in school."

She leant over me, her breast pressing against my chest, turned Lola's head towards her and, before the startled woman could react, planted a kiss full on her lips. I could feel the nipples on my chest harden.

"What was that for?" Lola asked, somewhat breathlessly.

Tonia was now regretting her impulsive action. "I don't know. It just seemed the right thing to do."

"That's no answer and you know it," Lola said. "We've known each other too long."

Tonia blushed and then said in a thoughtful tone, "I was sitting next door and I could hear you. I expected to be jealous — after all you were in bed making love to my man — but I realised I wasn't. That surprised me. It forced me to think about what I really did feel. I felt turned on and that led me to realise that I actually was jealous; not because you were here but because I wasn't. I knew you were having a good time and I wanted to be here sharing with you. And that startled me. Normally I'm very possessive." That brought a chuckle from Lola.

"I remembered that time in school. We must have been, what, fourteen or fifteen? It had been raining for ages and we were all confined indoors and we were bored out of our skulls. We were in somebody's room, I can't remember whose — you and me and Tricia and Bernice and Kate — and we were discussing our favourite subject."

"Yeah, sex." Lola said with a low chuckle.

"Right. We'd sort of exhausted the topic of boys and were just sort of making desultory conversation when somebody asked if we'd ever thought of making it with another girl. You remember?"

Lola's eyes were wide. "I do. We all got a bit flustered — it wasn't something you talked about openly."

"No. We used to make a big thing about someone being a 'lezzie'."

"Worst insult we could think of. Yes, I remember that."

"You remember what happened afterwards? That night, in our room?"

I couldn't tell from looking but I knew Lola was blushing.

"But we only did it the once," she protested.

"I know," Tonia said softly. "But I think it was that night that I realised that I loved you. I mean more than just being my best friend. Not that I knew it at the time, but afterwards... Well, I was thinking this and I realised that because I loved you that made it all right — the two of you." She was blushing furiously and hid her face behind a cascade of hair.

"Wow," Lola breathed, her eyes wide. "I didn't realise... I never thought..." She was silent for a moment then she leant over me and her nipples were definitely hard. "Girlfriend," she said softly.

Tonia's head came up. Before she could speak, Lola leant over and kissed her. She let out a muffled squeak before accepting the kiss. It wasn't a little peck as between good friends, nor was it a full-blooded passionate snog, but something in between; a kiss of true love, and it was all the more moving and erotic for that.

They parted and were lost in each other's eyes for a long time as if they were truly seeing each other for the first time. Nice as it was having Lola plastered across my chest, she was no lightweight and I was having difficulty breathing. I shifted to get their attention and, reluctantly, Lola rolled off.

"I think this calls for a celebration," I said getting out of bed. "Don't go away."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Tonia said.

"I couldn't move if I wanted to," Lola said.

I returned with a bottle of champagne and three glasses, courtesy of Charles.

"What are we celebrating?" Tonia asked.

I gave her an old-fashioned look. "There are two beautiful women in my bed who have been the best of friends for years and who, tonight, have finally realised that they love each other, and you ask what we were celebrating?"

She had the grace to look sheepish.

"Hey, girlfriend, no regrets," Lola said hugging Tonia tightly. "Now you've made me think about it I have to confess I love you, too."

Tonia looked at her friend with glistening eyes. "Oh, Lola, even though I knew it I never realised how much."

Their lips met in the tenderest of kisses and I confess my eyes weren't entirely dry either although my cock took a more practical view.

I joined them on the bed and we shared a time of intimacy and champagne. A thought struck me and I smiled.

"What's funny?" Tonia asked.

"Nothing. Just a stray thought."

"Come on, give. Or I'll tickle you. No, I'll leave you for a better lover." She smiled at Lola.

"That was a low blow, woman," I growled in mock pain. "I'll have to consider a suitable revenge. Naked into the street, perhaps. Besides, I don't think you really want to know what I was thinking."

"Oh, yes I do. You've aroused my curiosity now and I won't be satisfied until you confess all."

"Well, if you're quite sure..."

"Give."

"Okay. I was just thinking that this is the third time in a fortnight there's been two women in this bed."