Secrets of the Heart Read online

  “Reach up to that cabinet right over my head and get me the cumin, will you?”

  “Sure.”

  To accomplish the task, I had to lean against her and stretch over her shoulder. I had a choice of steadying myself on the burner or her waist, which was bare for a good eight inches between the bottom of her tight cropped black T-shirt and the top of her hip-huggers. I hesitated for a few seconds, figuring the end result would be pretty much the same. Whether I stuck my hand in the fire or rested my palm against her skin, I was going to go up in flames.

  “Something wrong?”

  I swear she did that thing with her hips again, and I had to lock my knees to stay standing. What the hell, if I was going to burn, it might as well be worth it. I curved my hand around her waist and reached up over her head. “Not a thing.”

  I was right. Her skin was hot. Hot and smooth and so fucking soft. The tips of my nipples ached as my chest brushed over her back. My crotch was so tight up against her now that my fly nestled in the little cleft between her cheeks. My clit was so hard it felt like it was going to come bursting right out through the faded denim.

  “Don’t move,” Sheri said in a tight little whisper as she did something in front of her to make the steam disappear. Then she leaned back against me, turned her head, and licked my neck.

  I forgot about the cumin and wrapped both arms around her waist. If I turned my palms up I’d be holding her breasts, and there wouldn’t be any way I could pretend that was an accident. I was shaking all over; I couldn’t move a muscle.

  She pivoted in my arms and slid hers around my neck. Her face was very close, and she had that little smile again, the one that said I was still missing the punch line.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “How long have we been roommates?” She kissed the tip of my chin.

  “Ten months.”

  I edged my hand under the back of her shirt and stroked my fingers up and down her spine. She threaded her fingers into my hair and rubbed against the front of my body like a cat.

  “You haven’t been around much on the weekends the last couple months,” she commented. She kissed the corner of my mouth, then very daintily bit the center of my lower lip.

  I was still reeling from the heat of her mouth when she yanked my T-shirt from my jeans and pushed it out of the way so she could slide her bare belly over mine. She did that a few times while she kissed me for real, her tongue slicking in and out of my mouth like steam running down the windowpane, hot on cold, and wet. My thighs started shaking the way they do when I have to come really bad, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold us both up much longer. I walked her a couple steps to the right until her butt bumped up against the counter. I grabbed on to it, bracing my arms on either side of her hips.

  “What are you doing, Sheri, huh?” I muttered while I grazed my teeth down her neck.

  She arched her back and gave me her throat, and while I sucked, she gasped, “When’s the last time…you saw me go…out on a date?”

  “Don’t know.”

  I bunched her tee in my fist and dragged it up to get at her breasts, licking at her nipples while I shifted just enough to get her thigh between my legs. She grabbed my ass and squeezed while she pushed her breast into my mouth. My teeth were going to leave marks.

  “That’s because…it’s been months, you dummy.”

  She took one hand off my butt and scrabbled around on the kitchen counter while I lost myself in the wild race of her heart and the piercing pleasure of her leg squeezing my clit as I rode her. She pulled my head up with a hand in my hair and waved a little white square in front of my face.

  “Here,” she said breathlessly, her eyes huge, her lips swollen and the color of Valentines. “This is for you.”

  She started opening my fly while I struggled with the little envelope. My hands were shaking so badly it took forever, but I finally fished out the simple red heart with the white letters that said, Be My Valentine. Underneath the words, she’d written, I Love You, Sheri.

  So easy, after all. I said yes, and then I kissed her and kept kissing her while I undressed her. She tried to do the same with me, but I brushed her hands away. I had not yet given her her Valentine. I knelt between her legs and followed with my mouth the secret path I had painted on her body so many times in my mind, tracing my tongue over her softness, her sweetness, her sharp tangy places, until she started making little whimpering noises, and I knew it was time to tell her all the things I’d been wanting to say to her for forever. I pressed my fingers to her thighs, teasing her clitoris with my tongue until she got impossibly hard and her fingers clenched fitfully in my hair.

  “You’re making me come,” she whispered, a note of awe in her voice.

  Be Mine.

  “Oh. You are. You’re making me come right now.”

  I love you.

  “Please, there. I’m coming. There, there, oh there…”

  Forever Yours.

  “There,” she sobbed. “Oh now…now…now…”

  I closed my eyes and sucked her gently until I felt her swell and burst inside my mouth.

  Your Forever Love.

  About the Author

  Radclyffe has written over fifty romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters.

  She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance (Distant Shores, Silent Thunder) and erotica (Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA/FF&P Prism Award winner for Secrets in the Stone, an RWA FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW winner for Firestorm, an RWA Bean Pot winner for Crossroads, an RWA Laurel Wreath winner for Blood Hunt, and the 2016 Book Buyers Best award winner for Price of Honor. In 2014 she was awarded the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Award by the Lambda Literary Foundation. She is a featured author in the 2015 documentary film Love Between the Covers, from Blueberry Hill Productions.

  She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.

  Find her at facebook.com/Radclyffe.BSB, follow her on Twitter @RadclyffeBSB, and visit her website at Radfic.com.

  Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

  A Lamentation of Swans by Valerie Bronwen. Ariel Montgomery returns to Sea Oats to try to save her broken marriage but soon finds herself also fighting to save her own life and catch a murderer. (978-1-62639-828-3)

  Freedom to Love by Ronica Black. What happens when the woman who spent her lifetime worrying about caring for her family, finally finds the freedom to love without borders? (978-1-63555-001-6)

  House of Fate by Barbara Ann Wright. Two women must throw off the lives they’ve known as a guardian and an assassin and save two rival houses before their secrets tear the galaxy apart. (978-1-62639-780-4)

  Planning for Love by Erin Dutton. Could true love be the one thing that wedding coordinator Faith McKenna didn’t plan for? (978-1-62639-954-9)

  Sidebar by Carsen Taite. Judge Camille Avery and her clerk, attorney West Fallon, agree on little except their mutual attraction, but can their relationship and their careers survive a headline-grabbing case? (978-1-62639-752-1)

  Sweet Boy and Wild One by T. L. Hayes. When Rachel Cole meets soulful singer Bobby Layton at an open mic, she is immediately in thrall. What she soon discovers will rock her world in ways she never imagined. (978-1-62639-963-1)

  To Be Determined by Mardi Alexander and Laurie Eichler. Charlie Dickerson escapes her life in the US to rescue Australian wildlife with Pip Atkins, but can they save each other? (978-1-62639-946-4)

  True Colors by Yolanda Wallace. Blogger Robby Rawlins plans to use First Daughter Taylor Crenshaw to get ahead, but she never planned on falling in love with her in the process. (978-1-62
639-927-3)

  Unexpected by Jenny Frame. When Dale McGuire falls for Rebecca Harper, the mother of the son she never knew she had, will Rebecca’s troubled past stop them from making the family they both truly crave? (978-1-62639-942-6)

  Canvas for Love by Charlotte Greene. When ghosts from Amelia’s past threaten to undermine their relationship, Chloé must navigate the greatest romance of her life without losing sight of who she is. (978-1-62639-944-0)

  Heart Stop by Radclyffe. Two women, one with a damaged body, the other a damaged spirit, challenge each other to dare to live again. (978-1-62639-899-3)

  Repercussions by Jessica L. Webb. Someone planted information in Edie Black’s brain and now they want it back, but with the protection of shy former soldier Skye Kenny, Edie has a chance at life and love. (978-1-62639-925-9)

  Spark by Catherine Friend. Jamie’s life is turned upside down when her consciousness travels back to 1560 and lands in the body of one of Queen Elizabeth I’s ladies-in-waiting...or has she totally lost her grip on reality? (978-1-62639-930-3)

  Taking Sides by Kathleen Knowles. When passion and politics collide, can love survive? (978-1-62639-876-4)

  Thorns of the Past by Gun Brooke. Former cop Darcy Flynn’s heart broke when her career on the force ended in disgrace, but perhaps saving Sabrina Hawk’s life will mend it in more ways than one. (978-1-62639-857-3)

  You Make Me Tremble by Karis Walsh. Seismologist Casey Radnor comes to the San Juan Islands to study an earthquake but finds her heart shaken by passion when she meets animal rescuer Iris Mallery. (978-1-62639-901-3)

  Complications by MJ Williamz. Two women battle for the heart of one. (978-1-62639-769-9)

  Crossing the Wide Forever by Missouri Vaun. As Cody Walsh and Lillie Ellis face the perils of the untamed West, they discover that love’s uncharted frontier isn’t for the weak in spirit or the faint of heart. (978-1-62639-851-1)

  Fake It Till You Make It by M. Ullrich. Lies will lead to trouble, but can they lead to love? (978-1-62639-923-5)

  Girls Next Door by Sandy Lowe and Stacia Seaman eds.. Best-selling romance authors tell it from the heart—sexy, romantic stories of falling for the girls next door. (978-1-62639-916-7)

  Pursuit by Jackie D. The pursuit of the most dangerous terrorist in America will crack the lines of friendship and love, and not everyone will make it out under the weight of duty and service. (978-1-62639-903-7)

  Shameless by Brit Ryder. Confident Emery Pearson knows exactly what she's looking for in a no-strings-attached hookup, but can a spontaneous interlude open her heart to more? (978-1-63555-006-1)

  The Practitioner by Ronica Black. Sometimes love comes calling whether you’re ready for it or not. (978-1-62639-948-8)

  Unlikely Match by Fiona Riley. When an ambitious PR exec and her super-rich coding geek-girl client fall in love, they learn that giving something up may be the only way to have everything. (978-1-62639-891-7)

  Where Love Leads by Erin McKenzie. A high school counselor and the mom of her new student bond in support of the troubled girl, never expecting deeper feelings to emerge, testing the boundaries of their relationship. (978-1-62639-991-4)

  Forsaken Trust by Meredith Doench. When four women are murdered, Agent Luce Hansen must regain trust in her most valuable investigative tool—herself—to catch the killer. (978-1-62639-737-8)

  Her Best Friend’s Sister by Meghan O’Brien. For fifteen years, Claire Barker has nursed a massive crush on her best friend’s older sister. What happens when all her wildest fantasies come true? (978-1-62639-861-0)

  Letter of the Law by Carsen Taite. Will federal prosecutor Bianca Cruz take a chance at love with horse breeder Jade Vargas, whose dark family ties threaten everything Bianca has worked to protect—including her child? (978-1-62639-750-7)

  New Life by Jan Gayle. Trigena and Karrie are having a baby, but the stress of becoming a mother and the impact on their relationship might be too much for Trigena. (978-1-62639-878-8)

  Royal Rebel by Jenny Frame. Charity director Lennox King sees through the party girl image Princess Roza has cultivated, but will Lennox’s past indiscretions and Roza’s responsibilities make their love impossible? (978-1-62639-893-1)

  Unbroken by Donna K. Ford. When Kayla and Jackie, two women with every reason to reject Happy Ever After, fall in love, will they have the courage to overcome their pasts and rewrite their stories? (978-1-62639-921-1)

  Where the Light Glows by Dena Blake. Mel Thomas doesn’t realize just how unhappy she is in her marriage until she meets Izzy Calabrese. Will she have the courage to overcome her insecurities and follow her heart? (978-1-62639-958-7)

  Escape in Time by Robyn Nyx. Working in the past is hell on your future. (978-1-62639-855-9)

  Forget-Me-Not by Kris Bryant. Is love worth walking away from the only life you've ever dreamed of? (978-1-62639-865-8)

  Highland Fling by Anna Larner. On vacation in the Scottish Highlands, Eve Eddison falls for the enigmatic forestry officer Moira Burns, despite Eve’s best friend’s campaign to convince her that Moira will break her heart. (978-1-62639-853-5)

  Phoenix Rising by Rebecca Harwell. As Storm’s Quarry faces invasion from a powerful neighbor, a mysterious newcomer with powers equal to Nadya’s challenges everything she believes about herself and her future. (978-1-62639-913-6)

  Soul Survivor by I. Beacham. Sam and Joey have given up on hope, but when fate brings them together it gives them a chance to change each other’s life and make dreams come true. (978-1-62639-882-5)

  Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden. When Margaret Beringer’s first love Courtney Carrington returns to their small town, she must grapple with their troubled past and fight the temptation for a very delicious future. (978-1-62639-867-2)

  The Girl on the Edge of Summer by J.M. Redmann. Micky Knight accepts two cases, but neither is the easy investigation it appears. The past is never past—and young girls lead complicated, even dangerous lives. (978-1-62639-687-6)

  Unknown Horizons by CJ Birch. The moment Lieutenant Alison Ash steps aboard the Persephone, she knows her life will never be the same. (978-1-62639-938-9)