Kelly checked the dressing one more time, and stepped back. “There,” she said. “All finished. Professional conduct no longer applies.”

Amber stared at her.

Kelly moved in slowly. Her lips, when they brushed Amber’s, were soft.

Amber kissed her back.

Kelly moved closer, pressing her body against Amber’s. Amber didn’t know what to do with her hands so she kept them by her sides. Kelly seemed to be okay with that. When the kiss broke off, Kelly was smiling.

“Hey, beautiful,” she whispered, and they kissed again.

But of course Amber wasn’t beautiful. They both knew it. Kelly was this gorgeous, tattooed redhead and Amber was a lump beside her. Amber visualised them, saw in her head how their kiss would look to someone watching. She didn’t like that image. It threatened to dampen the fire she was feeling inside her. Amber didn’t want that fire to go out. She liked it. She needed it.

So she used it. The fire flared and she shifted, and she pulled Kelly closer to her, kissed her harder, and she imagined how it’d look now and she liked what she saw. Two beautiful women, one tattooed and red-haired and the other horned and red-skinned, wrapped around each other, stumbling against the bed. Suddenly Amber wanted to see all of Kelly, wanted to kiss every last part of her, and her hands went to Kelly’s pants, started dragging them down, and then she felt a hand on her chest and she realised Kelly was pushing her away.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kelly cried, backing off and wiping her mouth. “What the hell?”

“What?” said Amber. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Look at yourself, for Christ’s sake! You turned! You turned halfway through the goddamn kiss! What the hell’s wrong with you?”

Embarrassment or shame or humiliation or something awful, something nasty, curled up from Amber’s throat and filled her cheeks and burned her eyes and turned to anger, turned to snarling and sneering. “You’re the one who kissed me.”

“I kissed you without all this,” said Kelly, motioning to the horns.

Amber barked out a laugh. “You can’t handle me, that’s your problem.”

“What, did you think I’d like it?”

Amber grabbed her clothes and pulled them on. “I couldn’t give a shit what you like or don’t like.”

Kelly shook her head. “Oh, come on, don’t be like this.”

“I’m not like anything. Obviously, I’m just not your type.”

“It isn’t that, Amber. Come on, I was taken by surprise, that’s all. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Amber laughed again. “You think you’ve hurt my feelings? My parents are trying to eat me, Kelly. You’re just going to have to get in line.”

She walked out, and Austin saw her and screamed. She ignored him.

Chapter 35