“You remember my sister, don’t you? I invited her to come with us. I hope you don’t mind. She won’t make trouble like last time.” He glanced at his twin. “Right, Dez?”
“Trouble’s no friend of mine.” She slid her hands in her back pockets and looked back at Victoria. “I’ll be on my absolute best behavior.” Her lover blinked.
Derrick took them to a little restaurant not far from the bookstore, a place she’d been before and came to regularly when she was in the mood for seafood. With the stirrings of irrational jealousy, Dez watched as Derrick held Victoria’s chair for her and sat down at her right side. The brunch crowd was just beginning to taper off and some of the waitstaff looked a little tired from the rush. They weren’t seated at the table long before a waitress, a perky little thing with short, muscular legs and wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, came over to take their order. She flirted shamelessly with the whole table, especially Derrick who tried to look humbled by her attention.
“The seafood here is good,” Victoria said after a long silence, seemingly resigned to being trapped between the Nichols twins.
“But the dessert is even better.” Dez happened to look up past Victoria then and caught their waitress’s eyes on her. She smiled then deliberately turned her gaze away.
“Really? Do you come here a lot?”
“No. Once or twice. Nothing too regular.”
“Do you know our waitress?” Why the hell would Derrick ask her that question now?
She made a vague noise and moved her sweating glass of water two inches to the left.
“What do you mean? You’ve known her once or twice?” Derrick asked. “Nothing too regular.”
She felt her face warm under her brother’s laughing regard.
“If Dez weren’t so finicky about her hygiene and health I’d worry about her and all these women she runs around with.”
She was careful not to look at Victoria. “Let’s not talk about me right now, Derrick. That’s obviously a boring subject.”
“No, no. I’m very interested.” Victoria smiled at her best friend before turning to Dez. “Go on.”
Dez cleared her throat. “There’s nothing to tell. Tales of my sexual appetite have been greatly exaggerated.” Then the waitress came back, liberally sprinkling her sexy bookworm charm over all three occupants of the table. When she leaned over to serve Victoria’s frittata and salad, Victoria put a hand on the girl’s arm. “Tell me,” she said with a warm smile. “Have you slept with Dez?”
The girl looked surprised. “Dez?”
“This one right here.”
“Oh.” Her eyes met Dez’s and her small shrug seemed to apologize beforehand. “Just once. But it was ages ago.” She finished serving their food and sashayed off to another table.
“Well, that answers that question.” Dez cleared her throat again and reached for her water. “Now let’s move on to something else.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush before, Dez.”
“And you won’t live to see it again if you don’t quit busting my balls.” She pointed her knife at Derrick before cutting into the long strands of linguini in cream sauce on her plate.
He let it go, reluctantly. Victoria’s eyes flickered to Dez as she ate, but were unreadable. Was she hurt? Upset? There was no bargain between them, and Dez had made it clear in the beginning that their relationship was about sex and nothing more. Then why did she feel like apologizing? The girl was over a month in the past, a fun quick lay to get through one boring Saturday afternoon. Nothing special. Why had she decided to come here again? Oh yeah, that devil and the urge to meet her brother halfway in this. His friendship bid. What did she think, that Victoria was going to tell all about their arrangement then declare her undying love for Dez so they could go back to her place and fuck? Who the hell knew? Certainly not her.
Dez pried apart her clams, sucked the succulent salty flesh into her mouth while her lover and her brother talked about who knows what nonsense concerning only the two of them.
“I’m thinking about having a birthday party at the beach. Will you come?”
The resulting silence let Dez know that someone was talking to her. “What?”
Her brother repeated the question.
“Sure, I’ll come. After all, it’s my birthday, too. Isn’t it a bit soon to be planning for it?”
Dez poured out the extra cream sauce from her still-steaming plate of fettuccini into a separate bowl, then dissolved a pat of butter into it. She stirred it with a spoon. Derrick shook the pepper shaker over the brew a couple of times.
“It’s already February.”
“Seriously?” She did a quick count of the days. Spring
was
coming soon. And their birthday usually fell around the first day of the season. March twentieth. “I guess it just goes to show how much I’ve been paying attention.”
“You forget your own birthday?” Victoria smiled, watching Derrick, then Dez, dip small ovals of toasted bread into the small bowl of buttery cream sauce.
“Not often.” Dez bit into her bread and chewed slowly, rolling the creamy sauce and doughy honey wheat bread over her tongue. “But don’t worry, there are certain things that I never forget.” She fell naturally into flirt mode, even with her brother sitting there.
“Like . . . ?”
Dez licked her lips and smiled. “Like what a particular woman likes and how she likes it.”
“Leave Tori alone, Dez. She’s not your type.”
Both women looked at him. “What exactly is my type?” Dez asked.
“Easy.”
A burst of startled laughter escaped her. It was true. Usually if a woman wasn’t willing after a certain amount of time, she moved on to one who was. Dez was never one to like a challenge. She left those difficult women to Rémi. “True enough.” Her smile became positively lecherous. “But it doesn’t hurt to look.”
“Look somewhere else. Tori isn’t interested.”
“I like how you’re answering for me like I’m not here, Derrick,” Victoria said.
“What? I’m just stating the obvious. Am I wrong?” He looked from one woman to the other. “Nothing against my sister. She’s a gorgeous woman—good looks run in the family after all—but I can more easily see you with a man than with Dez.”
“Damn, Derrick.” Dez didn’t know whether to be insulted at the disparaging remark against her character or pleased that she’d managed to wear down Victoria’s apparently legendary virtue. Her lover was paying close attention to her meal, delicately picking through her frittata for pieces of spicy chorizo that she slid past her speechless lips. “I’d hate to think of what kind of woman you think deserves my attention.”
“For a long time I thought you and Rémi would end up getting together.”
“What?” Dez chuckled at the thought of her and her best friend in any sort of relationship. They’d probably spend most of their time trying to out-fuck each other. “I’m surprised you get laid as often as you do for someone who knows so little about women.”
Victoria snickered around her fork. “Stop it, you two. Let’s move on to more interesting topics of conversation. Please.”
Dez obliged by smoothly asking about the state’s current policy on gays and adoption, a topic that all three had strong opinions on and took them all the way through the rest of their meal and the car ride back to the bookstore. In the parking lot, Dez left them to enjoy the rest of their day, claiming exhaustion as her excuse.
“I hope to see you again soon,” she said to her lover.
Victoria smiled.
At nine that night, Victoria called. “I’m sorry, Dez. I can’t come over tonight.” Her voice sounded weak.
“You all right?”
“Yeah.” An awkward laugh floated over the phone lines.
“My period started this evening.”
“Cramps?”
“Yeah. A little. Actually a lot. I just took something. Right now I’m waiting for it to kick in.” Sheets rustled in the background.
“Hm.” She glanced at the table set for two with its candles waiting to be lit and the gift-wrapped red leather bustier and matching panties she’d picked up earlier that day. “Listen, I’m coming over. Leave the door unlocked for me. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Between pulling her pants on, putting the food away, and grabbing the necessary supplies from the kitchen and bedroom, it actually took her twenty minutes to get to Victoria’s door.
“I’m here,” she called out before locking the door behind her and heading into her lover’s kitchen.
After putting the kettle on the stove, she went upstairs to find Victoria.
“Hey, there.”
Victoria sat by the window in a white wicker chair with a blanket pulled over her hips. Her multicolored curls floated around her face, framing its vulnerable softness. The book in her lap fluttered closed when she looked up. She didn’t bother to keep her place, just rested a hand lightly on her belly and leaned back in the chair to watch as Dez came closer.
“I can’t believe you’re here. This is not the sexiest way to see me.”
Dez smiled as she knelt by Victoria’s chair and took her hands. She placed warm kisses in both her palms. “I’m sure you didn’t know this, but I actually have a bit of a fetish for bleeding women.” Her smile turned positively rakish, and Victoria laughed weakly. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. The pills are doing something, but I still feel like shit. At least I don’t feel like an elephant is trying to pass through my tubes.”
“I have the perfect remedy for you. Get in bed. I’ll be right back.”
Downstairs, she made a pot of raspberry tea sweetened with honey and filled the hot water bottle with water. Her mother did this for her when she was young and it never failed to make her feel better.
“Here, drink this.” She wrapped Victoria’s hands around the warm mug of tea.
Dez sat on the edge of the bed and checked the water bottle to make certain the cap was secure. Victoria sniffed the steaming brew before touching her pursed lips to the rim of the mug. She took two long sips, then a third before sitting back against the plumped pillows.
“This is very good. Thank you.”
“And now for the other,” Dez said. “If you’ll allow me.” Victoria watched her before nodding to give permission. Dez lifted the T-shirt away from her belly, baring it to her gaze. Victoria’s eyes fluttered closed, but she said nothing. When Dez put the bottle across her bare stomach, she jumped.
“Is it too hot?”
“No, it’s . . . it’s just a bit of a surprise.” A smile drifted across her face and she relaxed even more into the sheets. “God! It feels
really
good.”
Dez laughed. “Then my job is done.” She sat back in the chair that Victoria just vacated and put up her feet. “Lay back and drink your tea. I’ll leave after you fall asleep.”
But Victoria did not sleep. She finished her tea and sank deeper and deeper into the pillows. “This was very unexpected, you know.” She smiled. “It’s almost better than what we had planned.”
“A hot toddy and bed rest are better than sex with me?” Dez rolled her head to look at Victoria’s soft form on the bed. “Don’t say that too loud. I have a reputation to maintain.”
“I said ‘almost.’ It’s a very far second.” She put her empty teacup on the bedside table. “But it was exactly what I needed. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The words were a low hush that vibrated deep in her chest. She had been anticipating their lovemaking all night, and her body was primed for sex. Washed. Shaved. Oiled. Ready. And while Victoria’s pain made her go all mushy inside, it made her wet, too. The woman was beautiful, just the scent of her made Dez react. It had never been like this with anyone else. Never. Not even Ruben, who’d made her explore the limits of her sexuality and move beyond them. The unexpected thought of him brought a melancholy droop to her mouth.
“Are you all right?” Victoria stirred in the bed and stretched out her hand toward Dez.
“I’m fine.” She moved from the chair back to the edge of the bed to take Victoria’s hand. “How are your cramps?”
She smiled. “Almost gone, thanks to my miracle worker.”
“Miracle worker. I like that.” Dez touched her face, chasing after its softness with her fingertips and dipping into the deep dimples that briefly appeared out of hiding. Victoria’s mouth was delicate under her thumb. It was the most natural thing in the world to kiss her; separate from her desire for sexual contact was her desire for her. To taste her, to have her close, and closer. The wet cavern of her mouth, her slowly awakening tongue, the scrape of her teeth against Dez’s lips. She pressed her into the pillows and Victoria arched up against her, hands on Dez’s breast and throat. The agitated breath in her chest produced a low, desperate noise. Victoria pulled away, breathing deeply.
“You know we can’t . . . go any further . . . the blood . . .” She wet her lips, knowing that Dez wanted to get inside her and needing it, too.
“It’s okay. I’ll take care of it.” Dez kissed her throat. “I’ll make it good for you. Works better than aspirin for cramps.” She felt incoherent with her need. Her fingers touched her lover through her shirt, stroking the hardening nipples and the full weight of her breasts. She bumped the water bottle out of the way. When she arched against her, kissed her back as deeply as Dez kissed her and tugged at the buttons of her shirt, she pulled away.