Chapter 11 #3
Nell leaned in, brushing her lips just behind her ear. “You’re breathtaking,” she whispered. “How’s your luck tonight?”
“Still finding it,” Sarah replied, willing her pulse to slow.
Nell stayed close, her fingers trailing casually down Sarah’s back in a way that made it nearly impossible for her to focus on anything else. Nell didn’t seem bothered at all, merely continued as she made charming conversation with the table.
“I trust you aren’t giving Sarah a hard time, Angela.”
“I would never.” Angela scoffed, her hand coming to rest in an imaginary pearl-clutch. “We were simply having some candid career conversations. You know me, always on the lookout to poach top talent when I see it.” Angela winked at her as the dealer called for another round of bets.
“Room for one more?” came a voice at Sarah’s right. She turned and was surprised to find herself face-to-face with Senator Fairchild.
“Yes, of course,” she said quickly, shifting slightly closer to Nell, who welcomed the proximity by leaning around Sarah to make the introduction.
“I don’t think you two have met. Sarah, this is Renee Fairchild, senator from Connecticut. Renee, this is Sarah Gallagher. She’s a partner at Braxton, Pryce, and Gallagher. You probably heard about that big case she recently closed.” Sarah’s stomach lurched at the mention.
“Data privacy, right?” Renee said, as she shook Sarah’s hand.
“Yes. It’s thrilling stuff,” she joked. “All in a day’s work.”
She wanted desperately to steer the conversation away from her work.
Nell must have sensed her discomfort because she took control, redirecting the conversation to Angela and Renee.
Sarah listened as the three women went back and forth, Nell making some offhanded observation about odds and instinct.
Nell leaned toward her, her hot breath against sensitive skin, sending a shiver through Sarah. “I want you to bet with my money,” she murmured, sliding a chip to her. “Five hundred thousand. Place the bet, and don’t disappoint.”
Sarah choked slightly, having taken the most inopportune sip of her drink. “I—Nell, that’s—No. Absolutely not. That’s ridiculous. I can’t—”
“Rule number seven, Sarah,” she said calmly. “Fuck the money.”
Sarah stared at her, trying not to drown in the fire those words lit inside her.
“I want to watch you take a risk,” Nell continued, voice quiet, only for her. “Do something that makes you uncomfortable. Let go. Place a bet because it feels right even if you aren’t sure what the outcome will be. Let me worry about the money.”
Sarah hesitated a second longer before inching the half-million-dollar chip forward.
“Black thirteen,” she said, holding her breath as every pair of eyes at the table landed on her. She glanced at Nell only to find that sly, Cheshire-cat smile firmly in place.
“Good girl,” Nell purred in her ear.
The dealer nodded and spun the wheel. The table went silent and watched as the ball clinked, skipped, and danced its way to its final resting place.
Black thirteen.
Sarah blinked. She had to blink again to believe what she was seeing as she turned to Nell, shocked and breathless.
Nell was glowing like she’d just watched Sarah walk on water.
“I—”
Nell didn’t let her finish. “Again,” she whispered. “Same amount. Your choice. Trust yourself.”
Sarah didn’t even remember what number she called next.
She only remembered the way Nell was watching her—every whisper of encouragement, every hot brush of breath against her ear, every tiny purr of pleasure as the wheel landed in her favor.
By the time the final bet was placed and the wheel stilled for the last time, Sarah felt like she was floating.
The room was loud with celebration, but all she could hear was Nell’s praise.
At the end of the evening, they stepped into the private elevator for the penthouse. The ride was silent for exactly one second before Nell was on her, pushing her back against the mirrored wall, hands finding her waist, her jaw, the soft edge of her exposed collarbone.
“You were exceptional tonight,” Nell breathed, trailing kisses down her neck. “Do you have any idea how hard it was not to drag you away the second you made that first bet?”
Sarah barely managed a breath, her head tipped back, mouth open with something between a moan and a laugh escaping her parted lips.
“And when you won? God, I was so proud of you.”
“It was luck,” she gasped, as Nell’s fingers tangled in her hair, lips brushing below her ear again.
“It wasn’t just luck.” Nell lifted her chin, and Sarah met her kiss with greedy, open-mouthed heat, her arms winding around Nell’s waist, and this time, she noticed, Nell didn’t stop her hands from coming to rest on her hips.
“You did it,” Nell whispered between kisses. “You took the risk.”
“You made me.”
“No.” Nell pulled back enough to look into her eyes. Sarah had never seen her eyes like this: dark steel and blown pupils. “I gave you permission. You made the choice.”
Sarah melted under the weight of that praise. Felt the control she’d held on to for years unraveling slowly, safely, and beautifully.
“Fuck the money, right?” Sarah whispered, dizzy with the feeling.
Nell smiled against her mouth. “Exactly.”
The elevator opened with a pleasing chime, revealing a private foyer bathed in warm light. The city stretched out beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, a horizon of sparkling diamonds spilled across the darkness of the desert.
She followed Nell in silence, their fingers laced together as Nell pulled her across the polished marble floors.
They passed through the living room and into the bedroom. That’s when Sarah saw it. Three items lay purposefully on the bed: a stack of money—$10,000 in clean, unbent bills—a small, compact vibrator, and a strap-on with gleaming silver hardware.
Her breath caught high in her throat as she tried to piece together what Nell had in store for her. An excited thrill shot through her as anticipation built, only causing the heat to spread even more.
Nell stepped behind her, guiding her gently forward until she stood in front of the bed.
“Heels off,” Nell murmured, her voice like smoke curling along the edge of Sarah’s spine. She obliged, sliding her heels off so that, with Nell’s still on, they were at the same height. “I promised you that I would make this trip worth your while. Just like you made it worth mine.”
Sarah didn’t move. She was a live wire, every inch of her alert, waiting, wanting, and wondering what Nell was going to do next.
“You were perfect tonight,” Nell continued, hands finding the zipper of Sarah’s gown.
“I watched you from across the room all evening. Your poise, your confidence, the way you carried yourself . . . you’ve come so far since August. You’re more comfortable being in spaces that challenge you than when we first met. ”
Nell slid the zipper down tantalizingly slow, making her sit in her desire. The cool air of the room kissed her skin as the straps slipped from her shoulders, velvet pooling at her feet as her dress fell to the ground.
Nell stepped back to appreciate the sight of Sarah’s naked body before her, her expression nothing short of adoration. That look surged through Sarah, tightening her shoulders ever so slightly.
“You looked extraordinarily beautiful tonight, and you knew it.”
Sarah turned her head as Nell spoke, following her words as she moved and picked up the stack of money, removing the band that secured the bills.
“It’s been UV sanitized,” Nell said offhandedly. “You didn’t think I’d bring just any stack of cash into our bed, did you?”
That earned her a faint laugh. “I would expect nothing less from you,” Sarah whispered, attention locked on the way Nell fanned the bills out between her fingers like a deck of cards.
“I’ve always been obsessed with money.” Nell’s voice was tender, her eyes fixed on the hundred-dollar notes.
“The smell of it. The weight of it in your hand. Its ability to say things for you, to make people listen before you even speak. Since I was old enough to understand that money runs the world, I wanted as much of it as I could get.”
She stepped close again, and Sarah couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her parted lips as Nell ran a single bill down the curve of her back.
“But recently,” she continued, dragging another bill across Sarah’s hip, then lower, “I’ve been thinking differently.”
Nell leaned in, lips at Sarah’s ear. “Fuck. The. Money.”
A rustle of paper followed as Nell tossed the fistful of bills across the bed, sending them fluttering through the air. One by one, they settled into place.
“Lie down,” Nell instructed.
Sarah obeyed instantly, lying down across the bed, the cool crinkle of paper currency sending her into sensory overdrive.
Nell picked up the vibrator—a sleek, black little thing that hummed quietly in her hand. Sarah couldn’t help the way her eyes widened as Nell traced it down the inside of her thigh and back up in a calculated torture.
Nell knew exactly what she was doing as she pressed it gently against her clit.
“Nell—” Her name came out in an unrecognizable gasp as Sarah reached out to grab a fistful of the bedspread but only found crisp bills.
Her hips rolled up to catch Nell’s movements, but she was always just behind. Every pass of the vibrator against her made a fire shoot straight to her center.
“You feel this?” Nell asked, kissing below her ribs. “This is how good girls get rewarded.”
She arched, legs tightening, but when she was right at the edge, right there—
Nell stopped.
“What—no,” Sarah whimpered, eyes wide, looking to Nell for an explanation as to why the hell she had just stopped when she was so close. She was met with that signature smirk.
“Not yet.”
Nell’s words were like silk on her ears, but there was something different. The air in the room had shifted. Nell’s gaze was glued to her, darker now, hungrier than she’d ever seen before as her eyes swept unabashedly over her.
No one had ever looked at her like that in her entire forty-five years on this planet—like she was something valuable.
“Put the harness on, now,” Nell said, tossing the vibrator aside and tugging at the black ties of the pussy bow still secured around her collar.
Fuck.
Holy fuck.
Sarah sat up, legs shaking, reaching for the strap-on. This was happening; it was really happening. She fastened the straps around her hips with trembling fingers that she tried to hide. Be cool, she told herself. She was going to fuck Nell.
The sudden shift of power was dizzying, and she fumbled with the last snap, securing the sheath of the dildo in place. When she looked up, her mouth fell open. Nell was naked, and the sight nearly ended her.
It wasn’t the shock of nudity. Nell was hot. She didn’t need to see her naked to know that. No, it was the reveal of a body Sarah had worshipped for so many weeks in theory but had never seen in full.
Her eyes feasted on lines of muscle, supple curves, and skin that glowed. The same woman who had bent the world to her will hours ago now stepped closer, completely bared.
Sarah spotted thin scrawling ink across Nell’s rib just under her right breast, her fingers rising involuntarily to trace the line of text: res severa verum gaudium.
“Nice tattoo—” Nell’s fingers wrapped around her wrist, gently pulling her hand away from her torso.
“Did I tell you to touch me?” Her words were low and sultry, instantly making Sarah feel the overwhelming need to press her thighs together to quell her growing excitement.
“No. You didn’t.”
“Lie back,” Nell murmured, pushing gently at Sarah’s shoulders, crawling up her body as, once again, her back was pressed up against the bills surrounding them.
Each kiss Nell left along her felt like a signature—a mark of Sarah’s worth—and when Nell straddled Sarah’s thigh, rocking against her ever so slightly, Sarah could feel how much she approved.
Nell’s slick, warm want coated her thigh as she ground lightly against her, teasing her.
Sarah’s hands fisted in the sheets. She didn’t dare move.
When Nell finally lowered herself onto the strap, Sarah gasped, utterly undone by the sound Nell made as she filled her. A long, low moan, sacred and rare, just like Nell.
Then she began to move.
The rhythm started slowly, purposefully, as Nell rolled her hips in a way that caused the right amount of friction of the harness against Sarah’s clit, sending pleasure through her entire body, clouding her thoughts.
“You feel so good,” Nell purred, riding her in deep, rolling waves. “Look at you. Just look at you fucking me.”
She wanted so badly to touch Nell, to reach up and cup her perfect breasts, take a nipple into her mouth and—
“Touch me,” Nell whispered.
Permission. That was all she needed. Her hands flew to Nell’s waist, then her back, her ribs, her breasts—anywhere she could reach.
She needed to know what Nell felt like, needed to memorize every inch while she had the chance, consuming as much of her as humanly possible before the chance was gone.
An animalistic growl came from the back of her throat as her hands gripped Nell’s hips. She was trying to hold on to reality but quickly losing the fight. With every twist of Nell’s hips, every gasp, every Yes, more, right there that left her lips, Sarah was coming undone.
“Make me come,” Nell commanded, in that low and electric tone that drove her absolutely wild.
Sarah surged up into her, desperate to give Nell everything she wanted, everything she deserved, and, God, she was going to come, too.
She felt Nell’s thighs tremble as her hips jerked, and they came together, Nell with a cry that etched itself onto Sarah’s skin, branding her with the sound of Nell’s pleasure.