“You thought I wouldn’t?”
Dez laughed. “Let’s not do this.” She settled her hands on the rocking hips. “I know you didn’t like what you saw at Novlette’s last Sunday. I know you’re angry. There’s no reason for you to be. I never touched her.”
“But did she touch you?”
“Ah . . . you think I’m lying by omission?”
“Isn’t that one way that you ‘tell the truth’?”
“Is that why you sounded so strange when I told you that I didn’t take Matsuko home with me? Well, let me tell it to you like this: I didn’t fuck her, she didn’t fuck me, no one fucked anybody in my presence on Sunday. Is that plain enough for you?”
The music changed, becoming subtly raunchier, charging the air with sex. Even with her anger at Victoria, Dez was attuned to it. She shifted to slide her thigh between her lover’s.
“Is it?” she asked again, flexing her thigh against Victoria.
“Yes. It is,” Victoria murmured, arching her neck. Her hands tightened on Dez’s arms as she pushed herself down on the thick muscle.
As they danced, the ceiling above them opened. They could all hear the click of the doors as the entrances were all sealed. No one would be able to get out until the morning. The moon and stars glittered down on the women, suddenly the only source of light in the room except for the gentle illumination on the floor leading to the bar. The music slowly lowered until it was background noise.
“Good evening, ladies,” a provocative, female voice purred from hidden speakers. A muted hiss rippled through the room as the velvet curtains on the glass wall were pulled closed, effectively shutting out the rest of the island. Low anticipatory laughter and conversation surged through the crowd.
“If anyone has an emergency and wants to leave before morning, please see Diana behind the bar on the first floor. Don’t forget to show your appreciation to the ladies at your service tonight. In the meantime, enjoy.” The heavy, hypnotic stroke of Sade’s “Smooth Operator,” electrified by a drumming house beat, rose as her voice drifted away.
“So what do you have in mind for us tonight, Ms. Jackson?”
Victoria moved her hands up Dez’s back and pressed her face into her throat. “Something fun. Whatever you want.” Then she muttered something Dez could not hear.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” Victoria said. “Just my own stupidity.”
“Well, let’s get that out of mind then. On to something more interesting.”
Dez, deliberately provocative, dropped her jacket from her shoulders and slid it down her arms, baring the white shirt with its closely guarded flesh of firm breasts, firmer nipples, and arms that rippled with muscle and the bas-relief veins of her arousal. “How about this?”
Victoria released her breath in a surprised gasp. But not to be outdone, she ran her hands up Dez’s flat stomach and over the breasts that were obviously begging to be touched. Dez arched into that touch and closed her eyes. Her arms, trapped in her jacket, tensed and rubbed against the silk-lined leather.
Yeah
, she thought lazily,
this broad really has me by the balls
.
“Would you like some help with that?” A woman appeared out of the anonymous crowd, insinuating her ocean-scented body between them. She was dressed, barely, in a wine-colored piece of cloth tied once around her waist. Gold glitter and body paint accentuated everywhere else. The girl was blade thin and gorgeous, casting her rapacious eyes boldly over Victoria.
“
Do
you need help, love?” Dez teased, eyeing the bit of candy with interest. Part of her was curious about just how far Victoria would go to prove her point, whatever it was.
Victoria squeezed her nipple through the shirt then slowly drew her hand away so the other woman could watch and hunger. “Maybe,” she said. “Do you think you can handle the two of us, honey?”
The gold-dipped stranger chuckled. “The question is, can you two handle me?”
This was definitely
not
what she had in mind for the night. Just the thought of sharing her lover in this sort of scenario made Dez sick with jealousy. Victoria threaded her fingers through Dez’s, then tugged the woman along with them. The threesome headed for the stairs, a daisy chain strung on the edges of the spiral staircase allowing other women to pass alongside them. Cool bodies brushed against Dez, hands squeezed her leather-covered ass, others touched the small of her back as she brought up the rear, pulled past half-opened rooms where the sounds of sex poured out like wine. The darkened hallway flickered with bright bodies, some bent over glass tables lined with blow. The music blurred conversations hissing around them, but the hard, intent bodies with hands stroking barely clothed thighs and breasts made every meaning clear. Victoria didn’t belong here.
The bedroom she took them to was large and well stocked, with an assortment of whips and restraints on the walls and a mirrored ceiling.
The gold woman squealed with delight. “Oh, goody! This is one of my favorite rooms.”
Dez shrugged out of her jacket then arched an eyebrow at Victoria. She was, after all, running the show.
“Do you like her, Dez?”
She shrugged. “She’s all right. Nice mouth. Gorgeous tits.” Dez coolly assessed their new playmate, mentally apologizing for putting her through what should have been a confrontation between Victoria and her.
Victoria turned to the girl. “Go down on her. You’ll like it. Her pussy is sweet.”
When the woman moved to touch Dez, the tall woman shook her head and gestured toward her lover. “She’s the one who you like. Take her. Unbutton her leather and fuck her.” Her head tilted as she glanced at Victoria. “That’s what you want, right? A little variety?”
The gold woman sank to her knees and started undoing Victoria’s pants. Her fingers were sure and practiced. They freed the soft skin from its leather prison within moments. She kissed Victoria’s belly, her hip bone, and the curling sprigs of hair that crowned her pussy. Victoria stared at Dez as the stranger pulled her pants to her knees and slid her thighs apart, burrowing between her legs for wet treasure. A muscle in Dez’s jaw jumped, but she didn’t say anything. Instead she sat down on the bed and took it all in.
“You’re not very wet, baby,” the woman said. “Let me get you some lube.”
“She doesn’t like lube,” Dez murmured, keeping her eyes on Victoria’s face. “Get her wet with your mouth. Yeah, just like that.”
Victoria flinched as the woman continued to paw her, lapping between her legs to generate a wetness that wouldn’t come.
“Lay on the bed, baby. Your girlfriend can see you much better if you’re nice and spread out.”
“I’m not her girlfriend,” Dez said.
With a low cry Victoria pulled herself away from the stranger. “I’m sorry.” She backed away from her would-be lover, her face twisted with pain. “We shouldn’t do this. I’m not ready.”
The woman stood up and wiped her mouth. “No problem, baby. The night’s young and there’s plenty of pussy around.” She gave Dez’s body a quick once-over and licked her lips. “If you change your mind, come by and see me next month.” The door closed behind her with a soft click.
“I don’t know why I’m trying to be like you,” Victoria said. She zipped up her pants and smoothed her hands over her hips. “Obviously it’s not working.”
“Is that what you’re doing?” Anger burned under her skin, heating her face and hands, but Dez forced her voice to stay even. “I would have never taken you to a place like this without permission. Never.” She lay back against the pillows and crossed her booted ankles. “If you’re angry at me about Sunday, say so. Don’t fucking play games.”
“I’m not playing games with you. Shit!” Victoria winced and plucked at the skin between her eyes. “I thought that things were going so well with us and that after a while that we could . . .” She cursed again. “I don’t know why I expected someone who’s never had to work a day in her life for anything to want to work at a relationship.”
“That’s a goddamn low blow. If you don’t want me as I am, then say so; don’t bring up inconsequential shit.”
“Shit, shit, shit! I’m sorry. Let me start again.” She sighed and stared hard at Dez. “I’ve come to care for you. A lot. But I know that doesn’t change the arrangement that we have.” Victoria blinked then looked away. “It didn’t hit me until I saw you with that girl what this bargain really means. I don’t want to . . . fuck anyone else. All I want is you and since that’s obviously not possible, I’m trying to wean myself off you in the best way that I know how.”
“By pushing new pussy in my face and hoping that I’ll reach out and take it in front of you?” Dez snorted. “That, if you’d forgive me for saying so, is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.” She stood up and walked to the thickly curtained window. Beyond the gnarled woods behind the hotel, the Caribbean Sea shimmered coolly under the moon. It was a beautiful night. “If you want, we can talk about it. We can agree to see each other exclusively. There’s been no one else for a long time, anyway. You can even tell Derrick about us and get the awful secret out in the open.”
Victoria looked like Dez just suggested that she wipe her face in shit. “Yeah, we do need to talk about this.”
Ah, so I’m your dirty little secret, then
. She pursed her lips. “After all the months of being together, all the things we’ve done together, do you still think that there isn’t a future for us?” She recalled their conversation on the drive from Sarasota all those months ago. “Do I fit you? Do we fit together?”
“I don’t know.”
Well, I did ask for honesty.
Dez slowly nodded.
The sound of boot heels on the floor punctuated Victoria’s agitated pacing across the room. She flashed Dez a quick look. “You make me nervous. But you make me feel good, too. Most of my friends don’t like you, but my mothers do. When we’re in bed together everything is perfect. But I would be a fool to trust that.” She stopped at the foot of the bed and looked full at Dez. “I don’t want to be hasty with you. You warned me how it would be in the beginning, you told me what you could offer and although I knew you were telling me the truth, I ignored most of that. I wanted you, so I said yes. But I don’t want to be your next heartbreak.”
“What if I was ready to commit?” Dez folded her arms across her chest. “Would you become less uncertain?”
Breath hitched loudly in Victoria’s throat. “Don’t—don’t tease me. I couldn’t take it if you were joking.”
“You really do take me for a lying asshole, don’t you?” Dez shook her head. “I’m going to go and find someone who doesn’t doubt every fucking thing that I say.”
“Wait. I’m sorry.” The press of Victoria’s hand on her belly intercepted Dez’s flight from the room. “I’m sorry. Sit. Please.”
“No.” That touch released the fear she’d had of declaring herself. “All night you’ve been saying that you’re sorry. Stop being sorry and take some responsibility here. I want you. I’ve wanted you for damn near four months now and I don’t think it’s going away. I want us to be together, for real, in front of Derrick and everybody. If you don’t want to do it just say so. Don’t use excuses, don’t talk about uncertainty. Your friends aren’t here. Neither are your parents. You and I are here now. Make a decision.”
“You
want
me?” Victoria sat down on the bed. “Is that what you said to Ruben when you realized that you loved him?”
Dez squirmed. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do.” She lifted a hand and reached out to Dez. She came and sat down. “That was very well put.” A smile teased the corner of her mouth. “I love you, too, Desiree Nichols, although you’ve made it very hard.”
The trembling started deep inside, vibrating low in a place she never had a reason to access before. Not even with Ruben. By the time it reached her hands, Dez had pushed Victoria into the starched sheets and buried her face in the sweet smelling throat. She nipped at the soft flesh but couldn’t speak. That could wait until the morning.
Chapter 31
“A
re you sure that you want to do this?” A“Are
you
sure that you want to do this?”
“Stop fucking with me.” Dez squeezed Victoria’s thigh under the table and tried not to look nervous. It didn’t work.
Victoria giggled and leaned in close, teasing Dez with her soft scent. “I’m just making sure. It’s not every day that a hot woman propositions
and
proposes to me.”
“I hope not. Nobody gets to chat up that gorgeous pussy of yours but me.”
Victoria giggled again. “Shhh.”
But nobody was paying any attention to the two women. Chaos reigned happily on Dez’s patio. The once spare, but well-landscaped space had been transformed into a lush eat-and-playground with a long, picnic-style table and matching benches set on top of a pretty stone-paved surface. A trellis veined with scented purple flowers and their vines separated the hot tub and pool from the dining area at one end and the double doors leading to the house at the other. A pair of leaf-shaped fans spun lazily overhead, adding just the right amount of tropical decadence to the newly designed back-yard.