Someone Like Her (Lesbian Light Reads 9)

By Elizabeth Andre

Can two women be too different to fall in love?
Nera Booker and Squeak McFadden are beautiful African American women in their early thirties, but that’s where the similarities end. Nera, college educated with an upbringing in a comfortable suburb, makes a good living in health care IT systems. Squeak, with several small businesses on the go, grew up in a rough city neighborhood and has hustled for every dime she’s ever made. They’re madly attracted to each other from the start. Nera admires Squeak’s entrepreneurial spirit, although she thinks Squeak could do even better. Squeak envies Nera’s suburban childhood, but wonders if maybe this accomplished woman is out of her reach. Together they learn that it’s not enough to accept differences. They must embrace them if their love is to flourish.

Someone Like Her is the ninth book in the Lesbian Light Reads series, but each book can stand alone. This lesbian contemporary love story includes graphic sex and is intended for adults only.

Excerpt:
“Is your mom a good cook?” I was still hungry, but food could wait a few minutes.
“The best.” She leaned in closer to me. The warm skin of her arm brushed mine as we continued our stroll through masses of shiny happy people. “I’m glad to see you.”
“I’m glad to see you, too. Last time I saw, you were wearing this really pretty knit cap. Today’s a little warm for something like that, though.”
Not the smoothest thing to say, but I couldn’t come up with anything else.
Squeak looked thoughtful for a moment. Winter was, on the one hand, months ago, but it also felt like it was only yesterday that I had bought a cookie from Squeak and saved it for my Monday lunch. Then she smiled. “ That cap. Yeah. My Auntie Darinda made it for me. She’s married to my Uncle Del.”
I filed the information away for whenever there came a time when I might meet this Auntie Darinda.
We talked about this year’s Pride and how it compared to last year. We talked about the lovely summer we had been having and how it was so wonderful to have so many opportunities to be outside. And I asked the burning question to which I needed an answer.
“Ever since we met at the salon I’ve been wondering if Squeak is your real name,” I said.
She walked in silence next to me with an enigmatic smile on her face. The park became more crowded as the parade wound down, and more people made their way here.
“It feels like my real name.”
And then I realized it really didn’t matter if Squeak was the name on her birth certificate or not. It didn’t matter because being around her was effortless. I didn’t feel like I had to say the wittiest thing or make sharp observations. We were just two women strolling, and we were clearly attracted to each other. I had no explanation as to why.
Maybe it was the way her hair cascaded over her forehead, barely brushing her eyebrows. Maybe it was the rich darkness of her skin. Maybe it was because she said yes to me so easily even though I hadn’t asked for anything. She just knew that the right thing at this moment was for us to be walking together.
I felt a level of comfort with her that I had never felt with Zoe or any other woman I’d dated, even though I didn’t really know Squeak. I just knew I wanted to hold her hand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tulabella Ruby Press
• Release date: Apr 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370026982

Elizabeth Andre

Elizabeth Andre is a lesbian in an interracial same-sex marriage. She lives in the Midwest and loves things that go bump in the night.

Book preview

Someone Like Her

Lesbian Light Reads 9

by

Elizabeth Andre

Published by Tulabella Ruby Press

Copyright 2016 Elizabeth Andre/All Rights Reserved

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

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Other titles by Elizabeth Andre:

Tested: Sex, love, and friendship in the shadow of HIV

The Time Slip Girl

Taijiku

Learning to Kiss Girls

Love’s Perfect Vintage

Lesbian With Dog Seeks Same

Bodies in Motion

Right Time For Love

Landing Love

Lesbian Light Reads Volumes 1-6 Boxed Set

The Beauty Queen Called Twice

Skating on Air

Roll With Me

Stop and Go

Nice Jewish Girls

Lesbian Light Reads Volumes 7-12 Boxed Set

Love Most Likely

Joy For Julie

Give Me Thorns: A Lesbian BDSM Romance

Editor: Cassandra Pierce

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

About Elizabeth Andre

Connect with Elizabeth Andre

Other Titles in the Lesbian Light Reads Series

Other Titles by Elizabeth Andre

Someone Like Her

Lesbian Light Reads 9

by

Elizabeth Andre

Chapter One

I meet her at the beauty salon.

Hey, princess.

Princess? No one but my grandpa called me princess and got away with it, but the voice was sweet and silky. It was a voice I could enjoy calling me princess.

I looked up from the plate of chicken wings I was balancing on my lap and into the face of a sexy, grinning woman. She was about my age, early 30s, and wore a brown leather bomber jacket that hugged her broad shoulders, jeans that fit well, and brown leather ankle boots with two-inch square heels. Perched incongruously on top of her head was a brightly colored knit cap, which could not contain the locs that spilled out from underneath. As out of place as the cap looked, she rocked it. Before I could respond, she started talking again.

Nah. You’re not a princess. You look like you like being in charge. Princesses don’t get to be in charge. You’re an empress, commander of all you survey. I’m right, aren’t I? She winked at me and raised her eyebrows as if she was flirting. Actually, scratch, if. She was flirting, most definitely.

I smiled a little, even though I was almost irritated a moment ago. In fact, I felt a fluttery feeling in my stomach that traveled downward. The feeling was so strong it startled me. I could feel her eyes appraising me. To judge from the sly smile on her face, she appreciated what she saw.

You’re right, of course. I flashed my most regal smile and flipped my head back a bit. If she was going to flirt, then so was I. And if she thought I was in charge, an empress rather than a princess, I would play the part, but then I faltered. I couldn’t think of a follow-up that wouldn’t sound cheesy or inappropriate for the setting. Cheesy might have been okay if we were in a club or bar, but we were in Glorious Star Hair Studio on a cold Saturday morning with gospel music playing softly in the background. I was open about being a lesbian, but an old school neighborhood salon wasn’t really the best place for two women to be flirting with each other.

I loved coming to the salon because I liked having someone else wash, dry, comb and brush my hair once in a while, and this salon did it well. I liked being pampered, especially when it was crap weather outside, as it was today, a dreary February day. After Yvonne, my hairdresser, washed my hair, she had massaged conditioner through it that needed to sit for a few minutes. She then sat me in a chair against the wall before she began washing another customer’s hair as a favor to another busy hairdresser.

I sat back, enjoying the bustle of the shop. Reena, the salon’s sort of gofer/apprentice, had gone out and brought back food from a nearby chicken and rib joint. I hadn’t been there when she collected money from staff and customers to buy the food, but she generously moved a few wings from her order onto an empty plate and gave them to me.

The salon was being especially good to me today. The spicy sauce coated my fingers, and the chicken was delicious. Yvonne had rubbed her hands in deep circles all over my scalp, neck and shoulders when she massaged the conditioner into my hair. She really loosened some knots and helped me let go of my work week, and now a very attractive woman was standing in front of me flirting.

Don’t mind Squeak, honey, said a woman named Flora sitting under the dryer next to me and waiting for her hair to set. She just wants you to buy her cookies.

Squeak? There are grown women called Squeak? I’m not in the habit of mocking anybody’s name, but Squeak was just a hoot. I stifled a giggle.

Cookies? You’re selling cookies? I said.

Reena chirped. Squeak’s got the best cookies. I like the peanut butter ones the best!

So cookie wasn’t a euphemism, and they weren’t from the Girl Scouts. I watched Squeak place a small cooler on a nearby table after making space for it amid the brushes, jars of pomade, hair clips and curlers. She opened the cooler with a bit of ceremony as if it were a treasure chest and she were about to reveal a pile of gold coins and gem-encrusted jewelry. Instead, she pulled out a handful of cookies, each of them individually wrapped and labeled. They were big. They could easily be shared by two people.

I’ve got chocolate chip, mocha chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter and snickerdoodles. All homemade by my Auntie Grace. What will you have, Empress?

I realized she was talking to me. I’ve always liked snickerdoodles. How much?

Three bucks. She put down the other cookies and held the snickerdoodle out to me.

For one cookie? I felt a persistent tug in my stomach, mostly whenever Squeak smiled at me, which she was doing right now. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt anything like that. The wings had filled me. I didn’t need a cookie, but I wanted Squeak