Author's Note: Thank you very much for all the reviews and messages!

Chapter Eleven

All Jane could see through her mask was an immensity of red velvet and, here and there, a ballet of intertwined bodies. It was exactly how Maura had described it: a refine, elegant orgy. People were kissing and making love everywhere but the roughness Jane had feared wasn't there. An odd sensuality rose from the different rooms instead. It was strange.

Strange and fascinating.

Korsak and Frost had got the list of the guests. They had asked a few questions to the hosts earlier in the afternoon but none of them had really been able to talk about the victim of the Marguerite Duras case. As much as she often attended their private parties, she had always remained discreet.

Like most of the guests, actually.

It was a swinger party for the upper class of Boston. The fees one had to pay were high and many important people attended the evening. It was even one of the reasons why they all wore a mask. Some guests were too famous to be seen and recognized.

If Jane was happy to be wearing a suit, her feet nonetheless hurt in her Italian stilettos. Maura had insisted on this point. Gender bender was supposed to be a mix of masculinity and femininity. Jane had accepted rather easily. Her curiosity was piqued anyway. She wanted to see the kind of parties Maura had once attended.

They had nobody to stalk, nobody to talk to. Their only mission this evening was to wander through the victim's world and perhaps, with a little bit of luck, come across someone who may catch their attention.

The marble floor of the immense lobby had impressed Jane. They were in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Boston. The house almost looked like a palace to her. It smelled of money and old families, of secrets and long history. It was so far from Jane's world that she had suddenly become very timid. She didn't belong to such social sphere.

Most of her questions had been answered within the first minutes of her presence in the house. Now the only thing Jane wondered was if Maura had liked it, and with how many people she had done it. It wasn't arousing at all. As a matter of fact, Jane even felt jealous. She didn't want to see Maura in someone else's arms. She wanted Maura to be hers and nobody else's.

Couches. Beds. Endless rows of heavy velvet curtains. Waiters kept on coming and going, offering Champagne to the guests who weren't busy kissing or making love to someone else. The atmosphere was strange, and surprising.

The gender bender theme had been respected. Most of women wore elegant black suits. With her very own one, Jane fit in. As a matter of fact, she looked like any of these guests who were lying on sofas. She had done her hair, and had tied it up in a high bun. The hairdo and her mask highlighted her cheekbones with a grace that had taken her aback when she had observed her reflection in a mirror. It suited her, though not as much as Maura.

Maura's curves offered a sensual contrast with the Italian suit she was wearing. Jane was hypnotized by her friend's tie, the way Maura wore it half-loose. Her hair matched Jane's but the red lipstick on her lips contrasted with Jane's lack of makeup. Jane loved it.

After a slow tour of the house, they sat down on an ocean of cushions and began to sip on their Champagne. Neither of them had talked since they had entered the house. Jane had lost herself to wonders and to the observation of something that she had never seen before.

She didn't understand why she wasn't shocked. It wasn't just about swinger couples. People kissed the person on their right before focusing on the one who happened to be on their left while three pairs of hands caressed their body. It was an orgy, a real one. Yet an impressive respect seemed to reign over the kingdom of sighs Jane had entered and it was oddly reassuring.

"Are you alright?"

Maura's hot breath brushed her ear but the only thing Jane felt turned out to be her friend's hand on her inner thigh. Maura had leaned over to whisper her question into Jane's ear in order to make sure that Jane would overhear her in spite of the electro music that was playing. Unable to talk, Jane simply nodded. She was mesmerized, and felt numbed as if she had had too many drinks.

Nobody looked suspicious in spite of the masks the guests were wearing. Everybody minded their own business. The situation was harmless. Sadly Jane had immediately understood that the only lead she had had just been reduced to pieces because she would never be able to talk to anyone about the victim. It didn't make sense, not here.

Yet she didn't want to leave.

Lost among intertwined bodies, Jane thought about Mateo. About Finn. She didn't know what Maura's date looked like but she nonetheless thought about him. She focused on her emotions and on every single thing that had happened to her since she had begun to work on the Marguerite Duras case. She thought about Maura, about the odd direction their friendship had taken.

It made her feel bitter.

The evening would be inconclusive. She knew that she wouldn't meet anyone related to the victim. Perhaps the murderer was in the house but Jane lacked hints. The case was going nowhere. She was failing.

She didn't feel the hand going up her thigh until the fingers almost reached her waist. She looked down at her lap, surprised. The woman on her left had decided that Jane wasn't a statue and that she had to take part in the sensual activities of the night.

Jane swallowed hard and freeze. It hadn't crossed her mind that someone would tried to have sex with her. It made sense since it was the only purpose of the party but she had been too focused on the case and on her personal issues to even imagine that such scenario may happen.

The hand brushed her lower stomach.

She should have said something. She should have reacted. She didn't want any of this. Being in the room where an orgy was occurring was one thing. Taking part in it was another one.

Everything happened very quickly. Before she had a chance to realize what was going on, Jane found herself at the mercy of Maura's lips on hers. Her friend had cupped her face before capturing her mouth in a long and deep kiss. Jane assumed that it was the only subterfuge Maura had found to make sure that the other woman would stop caressing Jane.

It had worked.

Jane abandoned herself to the kiss, to the teasing ballet of Maura's tongue around hers and to the sensations that the bold move had stirred up.

They broke apart, breathless, and looked into each other's eyes. The masks covered the top half of their faces and the only thing they could see was the dark pupils of their eyes. Jane swallowed hard and let the weight of defeat embrace her heart with a bittersweet glory.

She had fought but had just lost the battle. She knew it.

Her lips brushed Maura's anew with a brief timidity before the frustration of the past week melted into an eagerness that neither of them managed to resist. It wasn't just a kiss. Their clothes burned their skin as their hearts pounded louder and louder in their chests.

Jane lay down. She barely held back a sigh of relief as Maura molded her body against hers and she passed a leg between hers. There were people around them but Jane couldn't care less. She glanced at a couple on the cushions next to her. Lost in their sighs and caresses, they were unaware of her presence in the room. She closed her eyes and succumbed to the invisible lines that Maura's tongue traced down her jaw.

The possibility that they could have sex in the middle of a hundred strangers was oddly arousing. Jane wasn't afraid nor shy. The odd, respectful atmosphere of the place brought her the confidence that she needed to let it go and enjoy the way Maura's fingers massaged her through the thin fabric of her suit.

The last ounce of Jane's modesty vanished the moment she grabbed Maura's hand to rest it on top of her breasts, under her white shirt. She had missed the touch so much that she needed it now. In the middle of an anonymous crowd. Maura was kissing her anew, with a surge of boldness and self-confidence that drove Jane on the edge. She hadn't undressed. Maura had simply unzipped her pants to pass a hand under the boxers she wore while her other hand was now massaging Jane's nipples through the lace of her bra.

It wasn't supposed to happen. Not now. There was Mateo, and then Finn. There was this untold decision that she and Maura had taken regarding their friendship with benefits.

Everything had collapsed within a kiss.

A stifled moan died in Jane's throat as she felt Maura slide two fingers inside of her. The gesture had surprised her but it was exactly what Jane needed. She was ready for it. Her arousal was such that the mere touch may have turned out to be enough to make her reach a powerful orgasm.

The hem of her mask stuck to her face like a second skin. She was hot, at the mercy of Maura's kisses and of the coming and going of her fingers against her core.

The movements of Maura's tongue around Jane's matched the pace of her fingers in a tantalizing way. Breathless and on the verge of hitting her climax, Jane sunk a hand into Maura's hair. The roughness of the gesture released a few rebel curls of blond hair that fell in a cascade around Maura's neck.

"You're mine..."

Maura's murmur against Jane's lips caused Jane to smile. She looked for her friend's eyes through her mask, for these hazel eyes that she could have spotted in the dark.

Maura sped up the pace and pressed more tightly against Jane's bone to make her reach her orgasm. Jane didn't fight against it. She accepted her fate with the sweetest melancholy ever. Of course, she was Maura's. Of course, she was.