Knowing Her Read online

  Knowing Her

  Raquel De Leon

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  © 2019 Raquel De Leon. All rights reserved.

  Because the world could use a few more soft, sweet romances starring transgender women.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Teresa sighed as she shut the door to her silver Camry, the veins at her temples throbbing a warning. She briefly closed her eyes to settle herself. Dumb politics were just part of the job sometimes, she knew. No matter where she worked, that truth would never change. She slowly inhaled, then released the breath just as deliberately.

  Some of the tension faded as she opened her eyes, taking in the sturdy bricks of her apartment building. The tan color was burnished with orange and gold in the late evening sun, making it seem even more welcoming. She smiled. The neat trees and shrubbery interspersed along the sidewalk were flush and full of bright green leaves, which would bring welcome shade as summer set in.

  Humming random notes, she adjusted the strap of her bright purple tote and pressed the button on her key fob to lock her Camry’s doors. Though her scrubs were comfortable, she was itching to get out of them. It had been a long day.

  “All they need to do is hire another radiology technologist, but no,” she muttered as she stopped on the sidewalk. With careful glances both ways, she timed her crossing and scurried up the three steps to her building’s entrance. She shouldn’t complain, she surmised as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. The lack of another tech meant a decent amount of overtime. The pay at the clinic was significantly higher than the one she’d been working at back in Providence, especially with the overtime she’d been clocking.

  After a year, she could definitively say it had been worth the minor increase in the cost of living. That didn’t count all the other great things about moving back to the city she’d grown up in. Eventually, she might even come out to the rest of her family. Probably.

  A short elevator ride and a jangle of keys later, she was safely in her apartment. She set her bag down on the couch as she looked around. “Artemis? Where are you, honey?”

  Summoned by Teresa’s voice, Artemis appeared in a fluffy streak of white and grey. Adoring blue eyes beseeched Teresa for affection, and Teresa was happy to oblige.

  Artemis settled into Teresa’s arms with a pleased purr, and Teresa beamed. She scratched Artemis behind the ear as she quietly admitted to herself that Sıdıka had been right. Again. Artemis was at least half Ragdoll.

  “But we don’t need to tell her that, do we, sweetling?” Teresa murmured with a soft kiss to Artemis’s head.

  Content, Artemis only continued to purr.

  Teresa laughed and carried Artemis as she advanced through her apartment, turning a few lights on and heading to her room to find something else to wear. She paused in examining her closet to check her watch. “She should be about done. Maybe we’ll be lucky tonight, hm?”

  Artemis blinked and mewled a soft protest as she was set down on the pastel purple comforter atop Teresa’s bed. Teresa offered a smile of apology before briefly disappearing to retrieve her cell phone.

  She absently undid her bun as she waited for the call to be picked up. To her disappointment, Holly didn’t answer. She blew out a breath and hung up. There was no point in leaving a message. Holly would text her later, regardless.

  “I mean, I’m tired anyway. Reading in bed tonight is probably a better option,” Teresa reasoned with a glance at Artemis. Artemis yawned in apparent agreement.

  Teresa chuckled and lightly combed a hand through her creased curly hair, trying to bring it back to life after it had been constrained all day. She pulled some pajamas from her dresser rather than anything from her closet. Even if Holly couldn’t come over, a hot shower sounded nice. The days had been warming up as summer drew near, but Teresa was hoping the heat wouldn’t get too bad, too soon. She liked being able to enjoy hot showers in the evening. The increased sunshine was still welcome, however.

  Half an hour later, Teresa was applying her post shower lotion when her phone began to ring. She bounced up off her bed, hurriedly wiping her hands over her thighs to remove the last remnants of cream. Her excitement dimmed slightly when she saw Lian’s name on the display. She shook her head and accepted the call.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey.” Lian’s voice was calm and smooth like always. “Is this a good time?”

  Teresa sat back down on her bed, distractedly twisting the ends of her hair around the fingertips of her free hand. “Yeah, of course.”

  There was a beat of silence. “You were waiting for another call, weren’t you?”

  “Waiting? Not exactly. More like,” she paused, “hoping.” Teresa rubbed her warm cheeks. Sometimes she thought Lian was too observant.

  “Holly, then.” Lian’s tone changed slightly when she said Holly’s name. Teresa opted not to comment on the difference. “Well, I’ll try to be quick. I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for lunch tomorrow. Vivian told me she doesn’t think she’ll be able to make it.”

  Teresa warmed for a different reason upon hearing her sister’s name. Even a couple of months later, she was still in awe of the fact that they were speaking again. “Yeah, I know. She texted me earlier.” Teresa smiled and cleared her throat. “But, yes, I’m still coming. I like our talks with Sharon.”

  “Great.” Lian’s voice softened almost imperceptibly. “Sharon’s excited it’s almost June. It’ll be her first official month of Pride out of the closet.”

  Nostalgia left Teresa silent as she recalled what her own first Pride had felt like. It had been terrifying and wonderful. It had been… everything. “I can imagine. I’m kind of excited, too. I’ve been to lots of Pride events before, but this will be my first one here.”

  “I think you’ll love it.” Lian sounded like she was smiling. “We can chat more tomorrow. I don’t want to hold you up all night.”

  Still silently hoping Holly would call, Teresa nodded to herself. “Alright. Talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Bye,” Lian murmured just before the call ended.

  Teresa stared at her phone for a minute, trying to will Holly’s call into being. When that didn’t work, she leaned over to pet Artemis. “I guess I don’t have superpowers.” Her stomach rumbled a soft reminder, and so she stood up. A cool draft from the AC made her shiver. She decided getting dressed would be prudent before she made herself something to eat.

  Sometime later as she turned off the TV and ambled toward bed, her phone finally rang.

  “What are you wearing?” Holly asked without preamble, making Teresa laugh.

  “Baggy pajama bottoms and a tank top,” Teresa replied dutifully.

  “Hot,” Holly responded playfully. “But it’d be even hotter if you took those off.”

  Teresa bit her lip and deposited Artemis to the raised cat bed near her dresser. She knew Artemis would be too lazy to move for a while. “Is that so?”

  “Mhmm.”

  Holly’s voice had lowered, the rich tones prompting tingle
s of excitement to ripple through Teresa. She distractedly tugged the covers of her bed loose and licked her lips. “Well, if you want me to get undressed, you’ll have to work for it.”

  “I like a challenge.” Holly paused. “I’m on my way up, by the way.”

  A jolt of arousal hit Teresa hard. She’d assumed it would be one of the nights Holly would be too tired to make the cross-city trip. “I lied. I won’t be much of a challenge at all,” Teresa admitted without shame. “I’ve missed you.”

  “Me too. Unlock the door for me?”

  Her excitement rising, Teresa rushed to do as requested.

  ***

  Lian tugged her headset off, needing a break after a steady hour and a half of gaming. She pursed her lips, recalling when she’d been a teenager and had been able to go long hours without needing to move around. The change was one of the few indicators she was getting older, she acknowledged as she stretched her arms and then rose from her chair.

  The urgency of her full bladder mandated her first stop be the restroom. After finding relief, she took her time washing her hands. Her pale skin had darkened a couple of shades with the increased sunlight of late spring. She gave herself a slight smile. A quick few pats with a towel later, she wandered out in the direction of the kitchen. She could hear her sister before she reached the living room, the steady cadence of Caroline’s strong voice easily carrying down the hallway.

  Colton turned to give Lian a smile as she reached the couch, his dark head angling toward Caroline cuddled into the L-corner of it. ‘It’s your Mom,’ he mouthed so as not to disturb Caroline’s conversation.

  Lian glanced away from her brother-in-law, confirming the phone pressed up against her sister’s face. Caroline was speaking Mandarin, so it was a short list of who could have been on the other end. Still, Lian would rather not be pressured into speaking to their mom, so she gave Colton a grateful smile and scurried off to the kitchen.

  She loved her parents, but lately conversations with them had been more like interrogations about her love life and when she might settle down. She was as settled as she wanted to be, something both of her parents seemed incapable of understanding.

  “Good call,” Colton said a moment later as he joined her. “They’ve been talking for half an hour. Your name is bound to come up any time now.”

  Lian huffed out a breath. “How do they always find so much to talk about?”

  Colton grinned. “It’s a gift, I guess.”

  Another one I didn’t get, Lian thought without venom. She eyed Colton, noting his brown skin had also darkened a little. His had been on purpose, rather than a side effect of his work. “You’re a better person than me.”

  “Of course,” he said with a shake of his head that directly contradicted his words.

  Lian snorted. Colton was a good balance of confident and humble, something that made living with him easy. “Was there any dinner left?”

  “Sure,” Colton responded as he moved to the fridge. “I made extra, as usual.”

  Perking up, Lian moved to collect a plate and some utensils. “I’m so glad you married Caroline.”

  “What a coincidence, so am I.” Colton’s movements were efficient yet relaxed, a natural grace he maintained with steady trips to the gym.

  Lian had considered joining a gym. After four years of Colton’s cooking, a little pudge had developed around her waist. The problem with gyms were all the people that attended them, so her lone concession had been a stationary bike they kept in the garage. The pudge hadn’t shrunk all that much, but at least Lian felt a little healthier.

  Colton sat at the table while she served herself. She eschewed the microwave after putting the last of the leftovers away. They shared idle chatter while she ate, both trying to remember whose turn it was to go to the grocery store.

  “It’s my turn, actually,” Caroline declared as she entered the room and dropped her phone onto the kitchen island.

  Lian and Colton shared a look. “That’s okay.” Lian straightened her spine and kept her attention on her food. “I’m only on a research case for some company so my hours are pretty flexible. I’ll go.”

  The kitchen was silent. Lian registered motion in her periphery; Caroline had settled her hands on her hips.

  “I am perfectly capable of going to the store.”

  Colton shifted in his seat. “We know that, babe. It just makes sense for Lian to go.”

  Caroline took the seat next to Colton, eyeing both him and Lian with suspicion. “I technically got all the right things last time.”

  Lian shoved the last bite of chicken into her mouth so she wouldn’t have to speak. As a lawyer, Caroline lived for technicalities. At least, that’s how it seemed when she was using them to win arguments at home.

  Despite also being a lawyer (or perhaps because of it), Colton had the good sense not to argue with her often. “I just want you home sooner. Sue me.”

  Caroline opened her mouth, then thought better of her response. “Don’t tempt me,” she muttered as she gave him a soft kiss.

  “And on that note, I’m going back to my room,” Lian remarked as she moved to rinse her plate and cutlery.

  Ignoring the comment, Caroline leaned her head against Colton’s shoulder and watched Lian. “Did you leave yourself enough for lunch tomorrow?”

  Lian added her dishes to the dishwasher, which was nearly full and almost ready to be turned on. “Nah, but I’m going out for lunch tomorrow.”

  “Date?” Caroline asked hopefully.

  Reaching for the hand towel hanging on the oven door, Lian tried not to roll her eyes. “No. Tell Mom to stop being so nosy.”

  “Ha,” Caroline scoffed. “You could tell her yourself if you called her more often. You’d be doing me a favor, too, because then maybe she’d stop nagging me to nag you about dating.”

  Lian leaned against the counter and crossed her arms, as if seriously considering the suggestion. She straightened and shook her head. “Nah, you’re way easier to deal with than Mom.”

  Caroline stuck her tongue out. Lian returned the favor.

  Colton laughed and shook his head. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re both in your thirties.” He kept laughing as he fought off Caroline’s weak attempts to pinch his side.

  Biting back a smile and knowing there was a good chance their play fighting would lead to kisses, Lian slipped from the room while they were both distracted. They didn’t have dinner together every night, but Lian liked when their schedules allowed for it. Though she’d initially moved in as a favor, she’d grown to love the living arrangement.

  As she made it back to her room and tugged her headset back on, she was pleased to note the voice chat server had become lively in her absence. Work had been full of odd hours recently, and she’d missed hanging out with a few of her long-standing gaming buddies. “Hey guys,” she greeted once she had settled back down in her chair.

  Several voices responded jovially, and Lian grinned as her friends began debating what game to play. Not caring what they settled on, she let her mind wander. Her family might be interested in seeing her romantically paired off, but it seemed unimportant to her. Getting to see Sharon and Teresa the following day was far more appealing than any potential date she could dream up.

  Well, she paused and admired her collectibles of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa as Aquaman. Almost.

  ***

  “Fuck,” Teresa hissed as she felt the tension in her abdomen begin to rise.

  Above her, she could feel Holly smile against the skin of her shoulder—even as Holly’s hips maintained their slow, deliberate thrusts.

  Wanting to see her face, Teresa forced herself to look up. She hadn’t thought beyond the mundane convenience of the mirror on the back of her closet when she’d been picking the apartment out, but that changed once she and Holly had started seeing one another.

  Holly bit softly at Teresa’s shoulder blade, then raised her own head. Her short auburn hair was mussed
, but Teresa didn’t dwell on that long. Holly’s green eyes were hot and heavy-lidded as she met Teresa’s gaze in the mirror.

  “I love the way you look right before you come,” Holly admitted breathlessly.

  Teresa squeezed her eyes shut as the words, both the sound and feel of them tickling against her skin, sent her over the edge.

  Holly said something unintelligible as her hips jerked in response, and Teresa was vaguely (pleasantly) aware that she wasn’t the only one that had orgasmed. As they stopped moving and tried to regain their senses, Teresa hummed her approval.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” she said as her breathing finally steadied, “I love talking to you on the phone, but I’m so glad you could come over tonight.”