Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It had been a long time since Vivian felt free in her own body.
Since she felt like the wielder of her own sexuality rather than a target.
But every moment with Bryn was a revelation.
One that she’d sacrifice all other needs for.
She’d already gone without sleep, and she couldn’t remember the last time they’d consumed anything other than water or coffee.
And yet, she felt more nourished than she had in her entire life. Exhausted and sore and brimming with Bryn. She’d had every intention to grab something at the noodle place Bryn mentioned.
They might have even made it out of the hotel if Bryn hadn’t come with her to shower and change. If she hadn’t brought her things so they could shower together before heading out. In retrospect, having been too weak to endure being apart from Bryn for half an hour set them up for failure.
After room service in Vivian’s suite, they should’ve said goodnight.
But Bryn’s lips were addictive and her body a snare she couldn’t make herself want to escape.
Vivian had lost control of herself. She couldn’t stop pulling Bryn in closer.
Couldn’t stop touching her and kissing her and relishing in the sensation of her body wrapped around hers.
Entwined in Bryn, the world didn’t exist. Or maybe it made sense. There were no intrusive thoughts. No crushing weights. No burdens. Just a kind of euphoria she didn’t know was possible without mind-altering substances.
However, if anyone told her that Bryn descended from some Swedish forest spirit and her mere presence could intoxicate, she’d believe it. Never had Vivian encountered anyone like her.
She was so smart and funny and disarming. Sometimes it was like she had insider knowledge on how Vivian had built her defenses just so she could get under them. Not to harm, but to heal.
Bryn had a ferocious joy that permeated her person.
Joy that shone in her eyes and spread through her grin and left an iridescent shimmer on everything she touched.
On everyone. Even when it was almost too much, when it grabbed Vivian by the throat and held her terrifyingly still, she couldn’t look away.
“I think I lied,” Bryn confessed and rolled onto her back so they were both looking up at the ceiling.
The suite was dark except for the slice of city light spilling through curtains that hadn’t quite met in the middle. Vivian had been hasty when she flung them closed, more concerned with getting Bryn back in her bed than worrying about creeps with telescopes.
“What?” Vivian belatedly registered what she said, hazy brain sputtering back online. “Lied?” Her stomach knotted, chest tight but somehow comforted that Bryn wasn’t a mythical creature. She was a disappointing human, just like everyone else. “About what?”
Bryn turned back to her side, hooking one leg around Vivian. “Well…” She took a big, dramatic breath. “I don’t think I just want to be your friend.”
Despite herself, Vivian chuckled. “No?” She turned to face her. “But you’re so cool and you love lines,” she parroted the words back to her.
“I’ve never lain naked to someone platonically before,” Bryn chuckled, and Vivian’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want to ruin their magic with reality. Not right now. Not when their trip was almost over. “These waters are uncharted—”
“Well… I, for one, have a newfound appreciation for lines,” Vivian said, fingers brushing Bryn’s hair back and away from her face.
“I like the line of your jaw.” She traced it with her fingertips and Bryn’s eyes fluttered closed.
“The line of your clavicle.” She traced the path from Bryn’s throat to her shoulder with her blunt nails and then her lips.
Bryn melted against her touch. “The line of your ribs.” She grazed Bryn’s breast before running her thumb over her side, earning a soft sigh.
Once she’d started, Vivian couldn’t stop. She drank Bryn’s body like she’d never tasted her before. Vivian drowned her fear that she’d never get enough in Bryn’s lips. She kissed her long and deep and completely.
Each swipe of her tongue only made her burn for another. Each tug of Bryn’s bottom lip made her want to bite harder. Every touch, every breath, every moan only made her desperate for the next.
Vivian was parched, and Bryn had the allure of pristine seawater. The more she drank, the thirstier she became. Every drop only made her crave more of the exact thing that would destroy her.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” Bryn’s hands were down her back and her body was so pliant beneath hers. So ready to give and give.
But Vivian didn’t know how to be like Bryn. Didn’t know how to just admit she was nervous over dinner. How to translate all the chaos in her hammering heart.
“What I’m thinking?” Vivian kissed Bryn’s lips, her cheek, her jaw. She muttered against the shell of her ear, “I’m wishing I’d packed a strap.” It was true, she’d thought it when they were in the shower.
“Oh?” Bryn chuckled in open surprise. “Is that so?” Her tone slipped into the Kelly Craves persona, and Vivian stopped holding her breath—lungs mercifully relieved.
“What would you do if you’d brought one?
” She clasped the hand Vivian had left resting on her side.
“Use it on me? Or bend over and take it like a good girl?” Her grin was diabolical and beaming with confidence that she’d set off a seismic rush of desire pounding through Vivian’s body.
“I’ve never been much of a passenger princess,” Vivian joked, unsure of what language to use.
Bryn’s ocean eyes were incandescent, even in the low light. They were brighter than the skyscrapers, than the moon, than the sun that was only hours away from intruding.
Making a sound in her throat that sent goosebumps up Vivian’s back, Bryn looked at her as if she saw right through her.
“No, of course not. You want to be in control.” She clasped her fingers around Vivian’s hand.
“You want to feel the harness tight around your hips.” She adjusted her grip until Vivian was holding out her middle and index fingers, body alive with anticipation.
“You want to feel all that resistance when I squeeze your strap so fucking tight.”
Vivian clenched her jaw. Bryn cursed so rarely, and only in these moments, it always sent a spike of desire to her aching core.
“I bet you would feel so good inside of me,” Bryn said dreamily. “The amazing thing about sex is that it’s almost entirely mental.” She pressed Vivian’s fingertips to her lips.
Transfixed, Vivian gawked more than she watched as Bryn slowly kissed her way down her two fingers. Bryn looked at her with half-lidded eyes, making sure she had every shred of her attention. “Do you want to fuck me?”
The question was so profane, so unexpectedly dirty, Vivian almost denied it. Almost lied.
“Yes,” Vivian breathed, body already trembling.
Bryn closed her eyes before running her tongue up the base of Vivian’s fingers in a way that sent another shockwave of need through Vivian’s greedy body. And then Bryn took Vivian’s fingers into her mouth, wrapping her lips around them and sucking them in with destabilizing confidence.
Barely able to process the overwhelmingly sexy sight, Vivian moaned. Moaned when her fingers hit the back of Bryn’s throat and she swirled her tongue around them.
She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Every time they had sex, Bryn made her feel like an absolute novice. Like all of the partners she’d had before never existed. It was disorienting and liberating and absolutely terrifying.
Bryn pulled Vivian’s soaked fingers out of her mouth. She owned all of her attention when she rasped, “Then fuck me.”
Holding her by the wrist, Bryn brought Vivian to her entrance, teasing herself with Vivian’s fingers.
“Do you see what you do to me?” Bryn coated Vivian’s fingers with her arousal. “See how wet you make me?”
She held Vivian’s wrist so tightly and it was all Vivian could do not to plunge inside of her. Vivian had been inside her countless times in two days, but this felt so different. This time she felt every touch in her aching clit.
“I love when you tease me with the tip of your strap like that,” Bryn said, back arching off the bed. “I love when you make me beg for it.”
“Yeah?” Vivian muttered against Bryn’s parted lips. “Then make me believe it.”
Eyebrows knitted together, Bryn pushed Vivian inside. She gasped as if Vivian had filled her with something much bigger than two fingers. Any lingering doubts vanished in an instant. Bryn was an incredible actress. Much better than Vivian had ever been.
As soon as Bryn let go of her wrist, Vivian drew herself up to her knees. Arm wrapped around Bryn’s waist, she lifted her back off the bed. Understanding what Vivian wanted, Bryn leaned her weight back on her hands splayed behind her. Rocking her hips, she met every thrust of Vivian’s fingers.
Immediately falling into a rhythm, Bryn tossed her head back. Long line of her neck exposed, Vivian couldn’t resist leaning forward to taste the salt of her skin. To kiss her throat without giving in to the unbearable urge to mark her.
She pulled back when the animalistic desire to bite nearly escaped her. When she did, she didn’t expect to find Bryn looking at her. No, gazing. Gazing with unguarded eyes like there were so many things she wasn’t saying. Things Vivian couldn’t let her say.
“You’re incredible,” Bryn breathed, the words barely audible but deafening. The tenderness in her voice hit Vivian like a jab straight to her tired heart.
She cupped Vivian’s face and brought her close until their foreheads were touching and it was all Vivian could do to keep her fingers moving. All she could do not to cry. Vivian kissed her again. Kissed her hard. As hard as she needed to silence the useless yearning in her idiotic heart.
Bryn matched her energy, shifting from tender to feral in a ragged breath.
“Turn around,” Vivian demanded. “Face the mirror.”
Bryn obeyed faster than Vivian expected. She’d barely pulled out and Bryn was already on her hands and knees facing the foot of the bed.
“Grab a pillow,” Vivian rasped, still recovering from Bryn’s unexpected warmth and desperate to return to the heat that was much more manageable.
In the massive mirror’s reflection, Bryn’s expression asked, for what. Vivian didn’t answer, but it only took Bryn a second to reach for a pillow.
“Straddle it,” Vivian said.
Bryn smirked and did what she was told. Somehow it felt like she was in control even though it was Vivian giving the commands. No matter how they were positioned, Bryn unraveled her, thread by thread. Held her fucking heart in her palm, no matter what she did.
Desperate to regain her footing while she was floating in midair, Vivian plunged into Bryn again. Hard and slow, she curled her fingers against her g-spot.
Grinding into the pillow, Bryn almost immediately clenched around Vivian’s fingers. She rocked back faster, giving Vivian everything she asked for, but everything was not enough.
With her free hand, Vivian made a fist in Bryn’s hair. Bryn cursed, dropping her lower body to the mattress. She watched as Bryn surrendered. Her smooth back glistening with sweat while Vivian held a fistful of damp hair was hypnotizing.
Vivian didn’t slow her excruciating pace. Thrusting into Bryn over and over, she held her right at the edge until neither of them could stand another moment of delay.
“Watch me while I fuck you,” Vivian panted, chest burning and body on fire. She pulled Bryn’s hair, snapping her head back and catching her ruined expression in the mirror.
“Fuck, Vivian,” Bryn cried, thighs trembling like they might not hold her up.
The mistake was apparent the moment they made eye contact in the mirror. The second Vivian saw the absolute trust reflected back at her. Bryn’s unveiled trust. Her own.
“When I let you come,” Vivian’s voice quivered more than she’d like, “say thank you.”
Bryn stopped throwing her weight back into Vivian. She shifted, grinding hard into the pillow and making Vivian lose her spot. It didn’t matter. In seconds, Bryn was clenching around her and it was all Vivian could do to stay inside her and keep her grip on her hair.
She felt the flood of arousal a moment before Bryn managed a nearly soundless, “Thank you,” before collapsing.
Vivian dropped next to her in an out-of-body daze.