9. Chapter 9
“Krystal, seeing you again has really been making me think about my life. I’m not sure what that will mean for my future yet, but I do know I’d really like you in it. I was wondering if—no, dammit! That sucks.”
Ceth clenched her fist in frustration and paused her walk partway down the hall to the room she was sharing with Krystal. Ceth had been practicing what she wanted to say silently and not so silently ever since her talk with Maddox that morning.
She’d tried to find Krystal several times throughout the day, but Krystal had always been sitting with colleagues from her own division during presentations and breakout sessions. Then at lunch, she’d disappeared completely.
A tight knot wrapped itself up in Ceth’s stomach at the thought Krystal might be actively avoiding her. But now that it was evening, Ceth hoped she might be back in their room.
“Krystal…” she began again as she resumed walking, gazing down at her loafers as she rambled, “I know from what you heard last night, it sounds like I’m some kind of player and maybe even a jerk, but that’s not who I am. Or at least, it’s not who I want to be, and—whoa!”
Ceth collided with a tall stack of towels being carried in someone’s arms, making the linens scatter to the floor.
“Shit, I’m so sorry,” Ceth repeated, as she dropped to the ground to pick up the towels.
The staff member, whose nametag read “Bobbette,” was a tall black woman with smiling eyes that Ceth recognized from helping Maddox work the desk the day before.
She chuckled as she bent down too. “Don’t know if you’re a player or not, Ms. O’Malley, but you’re not a jerk.”
Ceth’s face heated. Was I practicing that loud?
She sent Bobbette a sheepish grin. “Just a klutz, then.”
Once they’d gathered up the towels, Bobbette nodded her thanks before turning to leave. Her lips lifted in an amused smile. “Good luck with whatever you’ve got going on there.”
Ceth laughed. “Thanks.”
Feeling lighter after the encounter, Ceth squared her shoulders and walked the last few yards to the room. She tapped on the door briefly and then opened it.
When she stepped inside, her eyes widened.
Krystal was in the middle of the room adjusting a vibrant red dress she’d changed into from her business clothes.
Ceth’s eyes traveled up from the hemline to the slit that was high enough to show a glimpse of Krystal’s thigh, to the corset-style waist that accented her curves, all the way up to the sweetheart neckline that hugged her breasts and showed off more than a hint of cleavage.
The dress was strapless too, so her smooth shoulders were on full display.
Ceth’s entire body buzzed to life, like a fluorescent light being switched on.
“Oh, good. You’re here.” Krystal gave her a smile that was downright saucy. “I was getting desperate for an extra hand.”
Before Ceth could force her suddenly dry throat to swallow or make herself process the practical meaning of Krystal’s words rather than the one her dirty mind had immediately supplied, Krystal turned her back to Ceth and—dear God, she hadn’t zipped up yet!
The creamy white skin of her back was exposed to Ceth’s all-too-eager gaze.
When Ceth remained rooted to the hotel carpet, Krystal glanced over her shoulder and sweetly asked, “Would you? I love this new dress, but strapless outfits can be a challenge to maneuver for those of us with a little extra on top when we don’t want to spill over.”
Ceth coughed on her own saliva, as she valiantly tried not to think how she’d be perfectly fine with Krystal letting anything and everything spill over.
“Yeah, of course,” she finally answered hoarsely.
She shuffled to Krystal and reached for the zipper. The damn thing was halfway down her back. A few inches lower, and it would be at the waistband of the panties Ceth definitely shouldn’t be thinking about.
Gingerly, Ceth tugged the two open sides of the dress together and began to slide the zipper up.
Her fingers brushed against warm skin, and Krystal sucked in a sharp breath at the contact.
Or maybe she was only sucking in so the zipper would go up.
Yeah, that was probably it. Ceth swiftly but carefully pulled the zipper the rest of the way up, past the band of Krystal’s strapless bra until it reached the top.
“Thanks.” Krystal turned around and smiled. “You’re very good at that.”
“I’m good at unzipping too, if you need help later.”
Ceth winced at herself. Why the hell had she said that?
A pretty hint of pink dusted Krystal’s cheeks as she took a step back and began slipping into her shoes. “So I’ve heard.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” Ceth began, running a nervous hand through her hair.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you too, actually.”
Since everything about the last five minutes had completely thrown Ceth off track, and she couldn’t remember the words she’d practiced anyway, she said, “You go first.”
Some of that smooth and almost flirty ease Krystal had shown when Ceth had entered the room slipped away. Her fingers tangled in the fabric of her dress, and she looked down. “I…was wondering if you could help me with something.”
“Of course.” Whatever she needed this time was bound to be less distracting and confusing than the zipper request.
“I want you to help me make a conference conquest.”
The joint in Ceth’s jaw seemed to pop loose as her mouth flew open. She hadn’t heard that right, had she? “You want what?”
Krystal stood up taller and met Ceth’s eyes. “I want to make a conference conquest, but I need your help.”
Ceth wouldn’t have been more shocked if Krystal had asked her to help rob the local pet store. In fact, that would have been less surprising because she could see Krystal doing that and freeing all the animals. But this? This was off-the-charts unexpected.
When Ceth didn’t respond right away, Krystal pressed on, starting to ramble.
“I thought you could give me some pointers. It sounds like you have a lot of experience with casual flings that don’t last longer than a day or two and—did that sound rude?
I didn’t mean it rude. Obviously I’m not judging since I want some of that action for myself right now and—”
“Why?” Ceth finally managed to ask. “Why are you wanting a casual fling?”
“Oh.” Krystal bit her lip. “You know how I talked about Miri?”
Ceth nodded.
“Well, I guess you could say that was a very…significant breakup for me, and I really haven’t wanted to date anyone since. So, if I don’t want to date yet and can’t be with…the person I really want, I thought maybe having some short-term fun might help me move on.”
Ceth stared at Krystal. But it was hard to make out exactly what she was thinking from her expression.
In some ways, Krystal was far less of an open book than she used to be.
Even her explanation was a bit odd and roundabout.
The old Krystal would have come right out and said, “I’m still in love with my ex, but I want to get over her. ”
But that’s basically what she was saying, wasn’t it? Krystal still cared deeply for Miri. So much that she was willing to do something new and out of character to move past her feelings.
Ceth’s stomach felt queasy. Krystal hadn’t sounded that hung up on Miri when she was talking about her yesterday, but maybe she had and Ceth hadn’t noticed because she was so overwhelmed by the news that Krystal had been dating a woman in the first place.
One thing that was clear is that Ceth had imagined or completely misread the energy behind the little touches and long looks they had shared yesterday.
Krystal’s mind and heart were far away and tangled up with another woman, and Ceth had been living in a delusional world of her own to think things could ever be different between them.
Taking a deep breath and swallowing in an attempt to steady her stomach, Ceth said, “If that’s what you really want, I can try to help. What did you have in mind?”
Krystal beamed at her. “Well, I got the name of a few bars and clubs in the area from Maddox, one of the managers here. They were a wealth of information and told me about some places that were good to go to meet men or women, either one. And I figured since you like to do this type of thing too, we could sort of be each other’s wing woman! ”
“I g-guess that makes sense,” Ceth answered, unsure if she’d ever felt less sensible in her life.
Wing woman? How had Ceth gone from wanting to explain how serious and invested she felt in starting a new chapter in her life thanks to Krystal and possibly seeing if Krystal would want to spend more time together to agreeing to be her wing woman while she sought out a partner for casual sex?!
Ceth scoffed to herself. Then again, maybe it wasn’t all that surprising. Why would Krystal trust her to be anything more than that?
“Great!” Krystal said with a grin. “I’ll give you a minute to get changed to go out, if you need it, and then we can rock and roll.”
The only thing rolling was Ceth’s stomach, but she started getting ready anyway.