Not even my husband knew; there was no need. I'd given him all he'd asked from me: children, a ni...

Not even my husband knew; there was no need. I'd given him all he'd asked from me: children, a nice home and the freedom to bang any woman who crossed his path. I only asked for discretion and a roof over my head. My children wanted for nothing except two parents who respected one another.

But I had her, and even now, almost two decades later, our desire for one another never lessened. She can make me wet with a flick of her tongue on her lips, her eyes hooded and smoky gray. I know what she's thinking, and it's the same thing I think about when I rub myself in the shower: our first time together. It was the day she seduced me and introduced a beautiful world into mine: the delicious, secret world of another woman's body.

We were merely neighbors at first. Waves over the fence, a "Hi" when we passed in the market, a smile when we saw each other at parties. That changed the day of the blizzard.

My children were at their grandparents for the weekend. My husband was supposedly at his office, but I knew better. I was sure he was ramming some pretty, young thing in a motel somewhere. The snow had started falling. Four to six inches, the weatherman said. Within a few hours of the start, I knew it was going to be much, much more. I could barely see my car, and the pine trees in front of the house were now pure white sentinels. I took inventory of food in the house and realized I was all set. The phone rang. It was my husband saying he'd tried to make it home, but he was stuck in the office parking lot and would spend the night at the hotel down the street. I smirked, but he never heard it. All he heard was the understanding in my voice.

Right after I replaced the phone, there was a knock on the front door. I looked outside and saw Kendra, my neighbor, standing on the doorstep. She was wrapped head to toe in a man's coat. I ran and opened the door to let her in.

"Lisa," she breathed in frosty puffs. "I hate to bother you, but our furnace - well, something's wrong with it. The heat won't work, and I've tried everything. The repairman refuses to come out in the storm, and I'm so cold. I know this is an imposition, but do you think you could let me stay here just until I can figure out what to do? Len's in New York for the week at a convention, and Marissa's at a sleepover."

I pulled Kendra into the house and brushed snow from her shoulders. "You can stay here as long as you wish," I told her. Her relief was enormous. "You're doing me a favor. Brad's stuck at his office until he can get his car out, which won't be until tomorrow at the earliest. I was getting a little nervous with all the snow, so really, you're more than welcome."

An hour later, Kendra was finally cozy. I'd lit a fire and gave her some peach brandy to help speed the warming. And I took a little myself. Alcohol on an empty stomach wasn't a good idea, but it made her feel more comfortable seeing me sip some brandy of my own.

"I never drink during the day," she said, "but I would have done anything to get warm." She took another sip, laughed and her breath floated over to me in a wave of peaches.

"If you need to take a shower..." I offered, but she shook her head.

"Not right now. Maybe later. I just want to sit here, talk and get to know you. We've lived next to each other for two years now, and we've never even been in each other's house." She took another sip, and I noticed her cheeks were flushed.

Good, I thought. At least she's not cold anymore.
I don't know how long we sat there and talked, told each other about our lives, sipped the brandy slowly, but I do know it had slowly grown dark. I got up to turn on a few lights, but she asked me leave most of them off. "It's so pretty here with just the fire."

The alcohol was starting to make me a little fuzzy. I went in the kitchen and returned with a bag of potato chips and some onion dip. Kendra smiled. "Ooo, I love onion dip!"

She reached over after I set everything down on the table in front of us and, to my surprise, drew a finger through the dip. I watched as she slowly lapped at it. Something inside me twinged, and I shifted my position on the couch a little.

She motioned back to the dip with her now-wet finger. "Do you mind? I'm not crazy about potato chips."

I shook my head and smiled, but I didn't trust myself to speak. Something inside me said if I did, my voice would emerge from my lips husky and shaky.

Kendra dipped her finger in again, removed it and brought it up to her mouth. I watched her pink tongue point and then lick languidly at the dip, and again, the twinge in my groin and I had to shift my position once more. It was the brandy, I told myself.

Her finger was even wetter now, and she moved it through the dip. "You should try it."

I leaned forward to imitate her, but she reached over and softly placed her finger on my lips. "No, I meant suck if off mine."

I laughed and blushed, wondering if she was making fun of me, but her eyes met mine, and for the first time, I noticed they'd gone from blue to smoky gray. I poked my tongue out and with hesitation, licked a tiny bit of dip from her finger.

"You missed some."
I tried to find a way to get my tongue around her finger, but she placed the whole thing in my mouth. "Suck it, Lisa."

And I sucked. I licked her knuckle, her nail, ran my tongue over the skin of her finger, and then sucked harder. She sighed and removed her finger from my desperate mouth only to replace it with her own.

I'd never kissed another woman before, and I was shocked at how right it felt. Her lips were soft and yielding, not demanding like the men I'd kissed. There was no rough beard or overbearing tongue. Instead, hers was gently exploring and flicking in and out of my mouth. When I felt her hand on my breast, that felt right, too.

I stopped to look into her smoky eyes again. "I've never done this before. I don't know what I'm supposed -"

"Let me handle it, Lisa. Trust me. I won't do anything you won't enjoy, I promise. Just let me do what I know you'll like."

I was relieved. Kendra closed my eyes with her thumbs and pushed me gently back on the couch. "Keep your eyes closed. Do you want me to tell you what I'm going to do before I do it?"

I nodded my head, relaxing even more.
"I'm going to unbutton your shirt first." I could feel her fingers move down my chest. My breasts finally felt a little freer, but not enough. My bra was in the way, and I wanted it off, but then her head.