Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
CHRISTIAN
“ W hat’s wrong? What is it this time?” I rear back so fast I nearly forget about the condom. At the last minute, I reach down and grab the bottom, holding it on my cock as I pull out of Starling’s delicious—and very distressed—body.
“Down there! Down! Under the sheet!” She scrambles backward on the bed, pulling her knees to her chest. “Something licked me. I think it’s a rat!”
“A rat?” I lift the cover to reveal none other than Stinkerbelle McGuire, first of her name, grinning up at us. I exhale, not particularly pleased to have an intruder, but grateful it’s an animal that’s had all her shots and means us no harm. “It’s just Bella. We’re okay.”
Starling lets out a breathy laugh and grabs the pillow behind her, bringing it around to hug it to her chest. “Oh my God, she scared the crap out of me. Again. You have to stop doing that, Bella.”
“Sorry,” I say, my own racing heart slowing now that the screaming is over. “She must have gotten out of her crate somehow. But I know I locked it. I checked twice before I left her in the office. I just didn’t feel right leaving her home alone again after I’d been gone all day.”
“She’s an escape artist,” Starling says. I pull back the sheet so Bella can sit up at the end of the bed and move to sit beside Starling by the headboard. “Aren’t you, Bella?” she continues. “Chris is going to have to keep a close eye on you. And invest in some skunk-proof locks.”
“And never take my socks off again,” I say as Bella begins to lick my toes with an intensity that’s a little disturbing. “Thanks, but no thanks, buddy,” I add, tucking one foot beneath me as I bring the other to the floor beside the bed.
Bella chirps in disappointment before shifting her attention to Starling’s foot. She sniffs Starling’s toes but sits back on her haunches without another show of her little pink tongue.
“Well, thanks a lot, missy,” Starling says with a laugh. “Guess my toes aren’t as tasty as yours, Mr. McGuire.”
“Few toes are.” I laugh as Bella waddles closer to my thigh, coming for me again with passionate licks. “Enough, Bella.” I gather her under her front legs and pull her to my chest, where she instantly starts to lick my neck, making Starling laugh harder. “Yuck, Bella. Stop.”
“Can’t stop, won’t stop,” Starling says as Bella continues to lick my neck like it’s a three-course meal and she hasn’t had a bite in weeks. “Same, girl. I also enjoy licking your daddy, though I plan to steer clear of his toes.”
I cut a heated glance her way. “Yeah? What if I have a foot fetish, milady? I thought you wanted to make all my stable boy dreams come true.”
Her cheeks flush pink, but she doesn’t miss a beat before she shoots back, “You were my man servant, not my stable boy, but yes, I do want to make your dreams come true. Even if they’re gross, foot-related dreams. Let’s just work that in after you’ve had a shower to wash off the Ren Faire sweat and skunk spit.”
Bella chirps and turns to look at Starling.
“I think she just asked me what was wrong with skunk spit,” Starling says.
“I think she just said she loves Ren Faire sweat,” I counter, making Starling laugh, a sound I’m growing to love nearly as much as the sounds she makes when she comes.
Nearly…
“How are you feeling?” I ask, arching a brow.
She shifts her gaze from Bella’s face to mine, her smile fading even as her eyes fill with a warm, happy light I’m proud as hell to have put there. “I’m feeling good. Really, really good. It didn’t hurt at all.”
“Were you worried that it would?” I ask. “You should have told me. I would have made sure to take things even slower, check in with you more.”
She shakes her head. “No way. I liked it just the way it was. With you as my awestruck and worshipful serving boy.” She sighs and reaches out to squeeze my thigh. “That was so much fun, Christian. Fun and easy and…perfect. We should do it again really soon.”
“I’m free now,” I say, bending my head closer to hers, but she pulls back with a laugh.
“Nope.” She presses a finger to my lips. “We’re out of character. No kissing out of character, no sex in the house. Those are the rules.” She turns her attention to Bella, adding in a sweeter tone, “And no banging in front of the baby. She might get scared.”
“Or jealous,” I mutter as Bella resumes making sweet tongue love to my neck amidst happy grunting noises and smacks of her lips.
“She really does seem to like the taste of you,” Starling says. “Did she eat today?”
“Twice, the second time just before we came,” I say, pulling the skunk a few inches from my chest, making her back legs paw at the air. “It’s okay, buddy, I’m going to get you a treat and put you back in your crate.”
Bella emits a soft whine as I swing both legs to the floor.
“Aw, poor baby,” Starling says. “Don’t worry, Daddy will let you lick him later. Once you’re home and all settled in for the night.”
“I will not. Don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep,” I say as I stand and head back toward the office.
“And don’t get in a hurry,” she says in a husky voice.
I glance back to see her gaze fixed on my bare backside and grin. “Are you ogling me?”
“You say ogling, I say appreciating,” she says, still shamelessly sizing up my ass. “It really is a fabulous view, even with all the hair. Have you ever thought about shaving your butt or is that not something men do?”
I scowl. “Why? Do you want me to shave my butt?”
“No, I just didn’t think it would be that hairy.” Her brow furrows slightly, but her gaze remains fixed on my backside. “Do all men have hairy butts? Or are you unique?”
Tension creeps into my hips. “I’m not sure, Starling. I don’t spend a lot of time looking at other men’s bare asses. But I think so. Yes. Probably. I don’t think I’m the unicorn of butt hair.”
“Gotcha,” she says. “I’ll do some googling when I get home. See what I can figure out and circle back with you on Monday. Though that’s definitely a conversation we should have off the clock.”
“Should I feel butt hair shamed right now?”
“No way,” she says, glancing briefly at my face before her gaze returns to my lower half. “Your butt is great, hair and all.”
“I’m not sure I believe you,” I say, sighing as Bella’s whining grows loud enough that I have no choice but to rest her on my chest again, where she immediately resumes her licking.
“You should always believe me,” Starling says. “I’ll never lie to you. Lying to someone who’s been inside me is against my personal code. Lying in general is against my code, but especially to someone who’s been inside me.” She grins, making a dimple pop in her cheek I haven’t seen before as she adds in a softly giddy voice, “You’ve been inside me, Christian. We had sex . Like, for real. Full sex. All the way. For a lot longer than a few minutes.”
I return her smile. “Yeah, we did. It was pretty fucking awesome.”
She giggles as she leans back. “It really was. I’m going to replay every second of it over in my head before I go to sleep so I can burn it into my memory bank.”
“Are you going to touch yourself while you do that?” I ask.
“Oh, for sure,” she says without hesitation. “At least once. Maybe more.”
“I’d like to watch that sometime,” I say, feeling dirty saying that sort of thing while I’m naked and holding Bella, but too invested in scoring an invite to a showing of “Starling Touches Herself” to keep my mouth shut.
“Any interest in playing the Peeping Tom who watches me through my bedroom window?” she asks. “And I’ll be the sexually frustrated woman who’s tired of living alone in the woods and is desperate for a horny mountain man to climb through her window and ravage her in her bed?” She frowns as I bolt for the office. “Wait, where are you going?”
“To put Bella up. If I get a hard-on while I’m holding her, I’ll never forgive myself,” I call as I hurry to slip Bella into her crate along with a dried apple ring snack I brought along just in case.
Starling laughs. “Valid. I would be horrified if Kyle or Keanu caught me being pervy.” She sighs. “Which reminds me, I should head home. I don’t want to stress them out with a super late tuck-in two nights in a row.”
“Wait, no,” I say, stopping in the doorway, frowning as I see she’s already pulled on the slip-type thing she was wearing beneath her dress. “Don’t put on clothes.”
She looks up, laughing as she reaches for the corset on the floor. “You should see your face. You look like someone just kicked your puppy.”
“Clothes are bad,” I say, pouting as she slips the corset over her head and I reach for my boxer briefs, pulling them on before reaching for my jeans.
“Clothes are bad,” she agrees. “Especially this corset, but I can’t get the dress to button without it. Help me squeeze my boobies back into my chin?” She turns to reveal the loosened strings, glancing over her shoulder at me as she adds, “Now, serving boy. I don’t have all night and my lord and master will be quarrelsome if I tarry out of his bed much longer.”
“Next time I could be your lord and master,” I say, the idea making my cock thicken as I cross the room toward her. “I could demand to know where you’ve been, smell another man on you, and punish you for stepping out on me with multiple orgasms.”
Her eyes widen as she bites her lip. “Oh, that’s good. Maybe spanking, too? Just a little? To see if I like it?”
“Oh, you’ll like it, lady wife,” I say, tugging the first row of strings tight with a sharp jerk of my hands that summons a turned-on sound from Starling’s lips. “I’ll make sure of that.”
“Yes, that sounds good. Very good,” she says, her voice breathy. “Should we do that before or after the Peeping Tom thing?”
“Well, we’ll have to rent a house for a Peeping Tom scenario, or we’ll be in violation of Rule Number One.” I continue to tighten her strings, mesmerized by the way her waist narrows beneath my hands. “We won’t have time to get out of town for a few weeks since Barrett and Wren’s reception is next weekend, and I’m going to need to fuck you way before then.”
“Good point,” she says. “Angry cuckhold husband and frisky wife who needs to be taught a lesson it is, then. I’ll find a place for us to meet up tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow?” I tease as I tie the strings into a bow at the base of her spine and pat her ass. “All done.”
She turns to face me, uncertainty in her eyes. “Is that too soon? If you were a real guy, should I play it cool? Wait a few days before meeting up again?”
“I am, to my knowledge, real,” I say dryly.
“You know what I mean,” she says. “Am I being too thirsty for cock?”
“There’s no such thing,” I say, gathering her into my arms. “At least not in my book. The thirstier you are for my cock, the better.” I bend down, brushing my lips gently up her neck. “In fact, if there were no rules, I’d be inside you right now.”
She shivers and presses closer, tilting her head back to grant me easier access to her throat. “But rules are good, right? They’ll keep us from getting…confused.”
Confused…
I’m already confused and addicted to how good she feels pressed up against me, but I know better than to tell her that.
I don’t want to lie to her, either, but I also don’t intend on telling the whole truth. Telling the truth will only make it harder to say goodbye in a month—and potentially lead to Starling calling off our arrangement before we get to live out more of our role-playing fantasies. She said she wanted something casual, after all, and learning the guy she thought she could count on to keep things chill is catching feels is a good way to send her running for the hills.
But I can tell her, “You’re incredible, by the way. Don’t ever doubt it. Tyson clearly had his head so far up his ass he couldn’t see the sex goddess he was lucky enough to have in his bedroom.”
Starling pulls back, a vulnerable note in her voice as she asks, “Yeah? For real? You’re not just saying that to give me confidence for next time?”
I shake my head. “Not even a little bit. You rocked my world, princess.”
She grins. “Ditto. See you tomorrow night? I’ll text you when I find a spot?”
“Sounds good. Or we could always meet up here again. The shop isn’t open again until Monday.”
Starling glances around the breakroom with pursed lips before she nods. “I can work with this. But you’ll have to let me in and then scram for a little while. I’ll need at least thirty minutes alone to prepare. I want to create a mood.”
“How about I just give you the extra key and you tell me when you want me to show up?” I say, already reaching for my back pocket.
“Really? You trust me with the keys to your business?”
If things were different—if she weren’t my sister-in-law and I wasn’t leaving town—I’d trust her with a lot more than that, but I don’t say that. I say, “Of course. You’re ninety percent goody-two-shoes, only ten percent chaos.”
She grins. “But that ten percent really is a pain in the ass, isn’t it? Are you still glad you took Bella? She clearly adores you, but things could get tricky for you if she really is some kind of magical creature who can walk through bars at will.”
“She can’t walk through bars at will. I probably just didn’t latch the crate right the first time.”
“But you latched it this time, right?” Starling asks. “When you put her back inside?”
“I did,” I assure her.
“She’s standing in the doorway behind you.”
I turn with a curse, making her laugh.
“Maybe the carrier is defective,” she says. “I’ll bring over Keanu’s old one when we meet up tomorrow. He rides in his basket in the car now, so he never uses it. Hopefully, that will solve the problem.” She steps into her slippers, grinning at me as she grabs her keys from the coffee table. “I had a great time. Thanks for the memory, sweet serving boy.”
“My pleasure, princess,” I murmur, lifting a hand as she waves and moves toward the front door, a big smile on her face.
And that’s what I’ll focus on for the next few weeks—keeping that smile on her face and enjoying every stolen moment together. I’ll worry about how much it’s going to hurt to say goodbye later, when Bella and I are far away in Minneapolis, and no one can see me moping over the one who got away.