14. Chapter 14
A licia didn’t return to Earth for a long while. When her vision eventually cleared, she was still on the bed, naked, her tender muscles chastising her.
Danica lay behind her. Awake, but barely. She was also naked, halfway into bed with nothing but a sheet between herself and the heated air. She was so out of it that she barely acknowledged Alicia as she stirred.
“Can I…” She might as well ask, since Danica was not forthcoming with the affection. “Take a shower?”
Danica mutedly gestured to one of the closed doors. “Take your time. I’m sorry. I’m really tired. It’s been a long week.”
Nodding, Alicia got off the bed, legs screaming as they readjusted to being used as nature intended. Instead of, you know, split apart. She walked by Danica, still naked. Danica glanced at her before closing her eyes.
Alicia was too tired to appreciate the master bath on a million-dollar yacht. She did, however, appreciate the double-headed shower that was easy to manipulate thanks to a digital control panel. She wanted it a specific kind of hot? It was not a single degree hotter or colder.
She washed the sweat and traces of Danica from her body.
None of the soap or shampoo smelled like Danica – she must not have bathed here often, and let her assistants stock the supplies.
Alicia settled on lavender soap to wash her skin, but no matter how much she washed away the physical, Alicia could not dispel the emotional.
Did that really happen? Had she really enjoyed it? Even though she had an idea what she was getting into following Danica home – or to her yacht, anyway – Alicia still couldn’t have anticipated how they would have…
Made love? Was that lovemaking? Alicia stood beneath one of the showerheads and closed her eyes, letting the water wash over her skin.
I have no idea. I don’t know what lovemaking is .
Seemed like the kind of thing one would “know.” Lovemaking at least implied a serious affection.
Didn’t have to be full-blown romantic love. Right?
The na?ve side of her wanted to declare it lovemaking of the highest order. Even if it was a little rough, beyond intense, and incorporating elements most women probably didn’t experience until they had a lot more, well, experience beneath their sexual wings.
The more mature side of her, however, said she needed to be careful.
Danica was a woman who took what she wanted.
Or if she didn’t take it, she at least seduced it into her possession.
How long would that thing – or person – stay in her custody?
No telling. Alicia had a feeling it wasn’t long, though.
She could be a liar. A manipulator. A woman who only cared about taking Alicia out for a spin and dropping her back off at the dealership when she was done having fun.
I mean, she wasn’t in a hurry to cuddle me afterward . Probably not a good sign.
Alicia shut off the water and stole a towel from the nearest cupboard.
She didn’t realize, until she was in front of the foggy mirror, that she had never taken her hair down.
For a woman who almost never wore it up to begin with, she wondered if she slipped into some alternate identity.
Maybe bun-head Alicia was a sultry gal who fucked domineering billionaires and went home with sore yet proud thighs.
Not like down-hair Alicia, who worked at places like Blue Bird and filled her virginal nights with vibrators and outrageous fantasies that would never come true.
The hair came down now. There were some disposable combs in another drawer. Not the best for detangling her hair, but they would do. She was going to sleep anyway. What was the point of having perfectly kempt hair?
Alicia grabbed a simple black robe hanging on the back of the door. Probably Danica’s. Who cared? Alicia only intended to…
She stood in the bedroom. Stood above Danica. She was rolled away from Alicia, lightly snoring with her hands splayed against “her” side of the bed. The sheet was tightly wound around her waist. Nevertheless, Alicia had a great view of her torso. A better view than she otherwise had so far, anyway.
Wasn’t it amazing how innocent and peaceful even a woman like Danica could look while asleep?
This was the woman who had done so many indescribable things to Alicia.
Sure, she was hot… but who could guess that when she awoke, she would put on her tailored clothes and go crush some skulls while getting her thighs kissed beneath the corporate conference table? Or whatever she did every day.
“I don’t know what you were doing with my daughter, but I can guess. It will be the last time. In my building, anyway. Now, go.”
Alicia went. She opened the bedroom door and stole down the hallway, hungry to gulp some fresh air.
Nobody else was on deck. As the sting of cold air hit her skin, Alicia went to the starboard side, hugging the robe to her body and looking out over the wide, empty river. City lights twinkled. Planes landed only to take off again. Most of the car lights came from taxis.
“Miss?”
Alicia nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the bodyguard’s deep voice. She grasped the railing and spun around, finding a large man dressed in black. Where had he been a moment before? On break? Oh, God, had he heard them? Nope, nope, nope!
“Sorry,” he said. “No need to be alarmed. Just making my rounds.”
Alicia relaxed, though she wasn’t happy to be caught in nothing but a robe on deck. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine. Came out for some air.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll go in and check on Ms. Moreau.”
“She’s asleep.”
“Even so. It’s my job.”
He thinks I killed her. Alicia didn’t know why she went to such extremes right away. As the bodyguard went into the cabin, she leaned back against the railing, watching moonlit waters lap against the side of the large yacht.
She had brought her satchel out with her.
Now she checked her phone for the first time in hours, meeting a hefty number of texts from Candice .
“So how’s the date?” “Fuck her again yet?” “You’re not answering, huh?
You must be dead or getting laid.” “Damn, girl, that good? Text me when you can!” “Come on, Al, at least let me know you’re okay. ”
Alicia replied in the affirmative.
A few seconds later, Candice wrote her back. “Good! Get some?”
“Yeah.”
“Thatta girl. How was it?”
“Pretty great. Still processing it.”
“Well, why aren’t you canoodling with your woman? Wait, you’re not coming home right now, are you?”
“She fell asleep.”
“Typical. Hey, don’t forget what I told you. Get that $$$!”
Alicia put her phone away. Her hand brushed against a piece of paper.
Damnit. It was that stupid list Candice sent her off with.
“Step 1. Make that woman fall in love with you. Step 2. Milk her dry of everything she’s got!!! I’m talking fluids and money, girl!”
Gross.
“If you’re not gonna marry her, at least get your debt paid off. Come on!”
Alicia put that bullshit away. She made sure the robe was tied tightly around her before going back into the cabin. Hanging out in the hallway until the bodyguard returned, nodding to her, seemed the way to go. He yawned on his way out of the cabin.
She found Danica right where she left her. There’s no secret now that we had sex . Her clothes, including underwear, were still pooled on the floor by the bed. Danica’s clothes had been neatly folded on the Victorian loveseat. She hadn’t done that. Must’ve been the bodyguard. Weird .
Alicia pulled the robe off her body. She stood, naked again. Cleaner than the last time she was naked in this room, but naked, nonetheless.
Danica only slightly shifted when Alicia climbed into bed, pulling back the silk sheets.
What should she do? Get in bed? Or was this a woman who was used to having others wake her up with kisses and…
kisses? Would Danica be all over Alicia, kissing a trail down her stomach?
How about on her mound? No. Alicia would pass for now.
Danica would have to be happy – or unhappy – with Alicia snuggling up next to her.
Danica’s eyes snapped open the moment their noses were only inches apart.
“Enjoy your shower?” she asked.
Alicia readjusted the pillow beneath her head. Her arm slipped across her side, hand protectively, possessively resting atop her ass.
“Yeah.”
Danica pushed herself up on her elbow, sleepy eyes languid. “My bodyguard came in here while you were gone. I got excited, thinking it was you.”
“Really?”
“Alicia…” Danica caressed her cheek. The gesture was almost enough to lull her into the falsest sense of security. “I don’t bring women back to my residences unless I want them hanging around. I was starting to miss you.”
“Didn’t think you would mind if I stole away for a while. You were sleeping.”
“The most elusive state.” Fingers lingered on Alicia’s skin. “Now, do me a favor and enjoy it with me.”
Alicia giggled. “That’s the fanciest way a woman has ever asked me to sleep with her.” Well, she didn’t lie.
Danica pulled Alicia against her chest, nose brushing against her shoulder. Nails softly drew up and down Alicia’s curving back. That gave her more shivers than anything else.
Something curdled in her chest. Curdled?
More like exploded. Perhaps whatever it was…
maybe it was Alicia’s gross cynicism she had amassed since becoming a grown woman.
The woman who was bitter about being rejected multiple times by love.
The woman who didn’t believe in love at first sight or in fairy tales coming true.
The woman who heard another pair of friends was getting married and wondered how long until the divorce happened.
All that was left was the young woman who desperately wanted to believe in love. It didn’t matter with whom. The girl next door. A classmate. The cute new waiter where she worked. The queen herself.
Alicia’s body settled nicely into Danica’s sideways embrace, her scent no longer overpowering. If anything, it was the most reassuring thing in the world.
I barely know this woman . She barely knew Alicia, but claimed a surge of signs had appeared, beckoning her more than once.
Danica was a woman who had to follow her gut as well as her head.
If her gut told her that Alicia was “the one” with a single look, then how long was it until her head finally agreed?
Sometimes, it was worth believing in fairy tales. Sometimes, it was worth injecting a hefty dose of realism into them… as long as said realism contributed something of worth.
“Danica,” Alicia began. “I haven’t told you this before, but…” she paused, Danica’s demeanor encouraging her to continue, “I was a virgin when you met me.”
While no shadows overcame her face, her countenance still changed. At first, Danica was pensive, as if what Alicia said took her back to some bygone day. Then she was as neutral as the white sheets beneath them.
“Well, it’s been a while.”
“Since what?” Alicia was comfortable enough in that hold, but it was a precarious comfort. She could say or do anything and completely change the tension between them.
“Since I claimed another woman’s virginity.”
Alicia sank against her pillow, her naked body wrapping tightly around Danica’s.
It wasn’t sexual, but it was primitive. That kind of possessive nature that told a woman she was the only one to touch another.
A woman who beguiled her as much as Alicia did?
The shivers now wracking her body felt like they were from another planet. Or at least another time.
“I never would have guessed, for what it’s worth.”
Wasn’t worth anything. “Thanks, I suppose. That’s not the point, though.” Ha. Yeah, it was. Alicia was so preoccupied with not having Danica treat her differently in bed that such a truth was never allowed. Well, it was out now. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you.”
Danica silenced her with a kiss. “Let no worries into that flirtatious heart of yours, my love.” Her fingertip tucked some of Alicia’s hair behind her ear.
“All you’ve done is tell me that we now share something extra…
fortuitous, shall we say. I also now know that, should we continue down this path, I’ll have to consider your inexperience.
It’s not a bad thing. Perhaps it will mean we will enjoy ourselves even more. ”
Danica kissed her again, pushing Alicia deeper into the bed as her hands explored more of her body.
While they did not make love again that night, Alicia plucked another piece of heart out of her chest and handed it to Danica on a silver platter.
Not that silver platters were a rarity now.
If anything, Danica had her pick of them. What made Alicia’s so special?
The mere fact that it came from her?
How long did it take Alicia to start kissing her back? How long did she wait until folding a leg over hers, enticing Danica to love on her with no walls built between them?
Not very long at all.