Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Votra
There was too much going on in Votra’s head, and for a moment, she felt about as drunk as Qaed.
She was frustrated, mostly, that he’d gotten this drunk again and Candy had gotten roped into it. But at the same time, she was happy to see Candy, especially in the dress she was wearing.
She gave her a glass of water, which she drank half of immediately.
“Ugh, thanks. I needed that. I haven’t drank this much in a while and I swear I can already feel the hangover starting.
” She placed the glass on the coffee table, resting her pink head against the cushion behind her. “Is Qaed okay?”
“He is fine. He is probably already asleep.” This dress was really good on her–the hem of the skirt had ridden up her thighs as she sat down, and Votra was torn between tugging it down to preserve her modesty and hiking it up around her hips.
“Are you okay?” Candy poked Votra’s leg with her heeled foot.
Votra exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I am, yes. I just worry about him. I have told him to be careful with how much he drinks, and he just does not listen. He needs to be careful, after what–” She stopped, clearing her throat. “I wish that he would take better care of himself.”
“He’s lucky to have you.” Candy reached for one of Votra’s hands and held it between her two smaller ones. “You’re always looking out for him. That has to be stressful.”
She wasn’t sure if it was the feeling of Candy’s hands enveloping hers or the fact that she was coming down from a rush of adrenaline, but she suddenly felt like crying. “He is my brother. I have to worry about him.”
“I didn’t know you two were related.”
“We are not by blood. But we grew up together. My parents raised him. He took care of me when we were young, and I am trying to return the favor. But he is stubborn and does not like to accept help.” She drew in a deep, shuddering breath, and Candy squeezed her hand.
“I know that he is going through something and he will not open up to me about it. He does not have to speak to me about everything going on in his life, but… I wish that he would talk to me about this, whatever it is.”
Candy drew their joined hands to her mouth and brushed her lips across Votra’s knuckles.
“I get how you feel. Xyxy’s the same way.
She acts like everything is totally fine, but she isn’t really herself.
I guess I just have to trust that she’s going to come to me when she’s ready. Just like Qaed will.”
“I hope that you are right.” Votra let her eyes settle unfocused on their hands. “I did not mean to put all of my problems on you.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad you’re opening up to me.” Candy brushed her thumb across the top of Votra’s hand, and she could feel herself finally relaxing. “I like learning about you. As hot as the whole tall, dark, mysterious thing is… I wanna know who you are.”
Votra’s heart stuttered. Why? Why would someone like Candy be interested in her, of all people?
“I feel the same about you. You are fascinating to me.” She pulled her hand from Candy’s but reclaimed one of them, trailing a large fingertip across the pad of Candy’s hand.
Candy shivered against her touch, but didn’t pull away.
Votra wanted to make her shiver again. She trailed her fingers up the length of Candy’s arm slowly, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
Up until now, Votra’s thoughts were static.
Loud, distracting, thrumming painfully in her ears.
But touching Candy grounded her, and the only thought in her mind now was how badly she wanted to touch her more.
A shy smile tugged at the corners of Candy’s lips, and it only made the urge to kiss her stronger. “We gotta stop getting handsy with each other the second one of us has a bad night,” she said, resting a hand on Votra’s knee.
“That does not have to be a bad thing,” Votra murmured.
She’d been so starved of touch for so long, and Candy was so generous with it that she was growing addicted, fast. Her soft hands were the balm she didn’t know she needed until they were upon her, smoothing away the stress bundling her nerves like she was smoothing the wrinkles out of a blanket.
Candy’s eyes on her grew soft, her thumb brushing across the fabric of her pajama pants. “There has to be a time that’s more right than this.”
Votra would be lying if she said she hadn’t imagined the perfect scenario–coming home from a date, maybe, without her drunk brother passed out in the other bedroom. Without Candy crying over a bad date. Without the pretense that they weren’t supposed to be doing this.
“What if the timing is never right?” Votra asked, her voice strained. “No time in the next two weeks is going to be right. And then what? Then you and I stop working together and we never see each other again?”
Candy froze. They hadn’t talked about what came next. Votra was afraid to. She wouldn’t blame Candy for not wanting to see her afterwards. They’d already spent at least sixty hours a week together for the last two, if not more. Gods only knew Votra wasn’t easy to be around that long.
“I don’t want that to happen,” Candy whispered, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“I don’t know what’s next for us, but… I don’t want this to be it.
” She leaned in, cupping Votra’s jaw in one hand.
“The one thing I know is that I can’t sign another contract with a ‘no fucking’ clause. Not with you.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that it is not a ‘no fucking’ clause?” Votra smiled despite herself, and Candy finally laughed, a sound Votra had been so desperate to hear. “I think I can permit a breach of contract. Or two.”
“How generous of you.” Candy climbed into Votra’s lap, draping her arms around her neck. “Can I kiss you?”
This was it. There was no turning back from this. She was officially opening the door to… whatever this was. This thing that she’d built up so many walls to protect herself from, that she’d taken legal measures to prevent from happening.
And it only took Candy Murdock two weeks to break them down.
“Please,” she whispered, and Candy immediately drew her in for a slow, careful kiss. A kiss like she might break Votra if she kissed her any harder.
But maybe Votra wanted Candy to break her. She was so good at maintaining her put-together facade, at mastering what was expected of her–eye contact, confidence, a careful, measured way of speaking because the tangents she often got off on were unprofessional.
That wasn’t her. That wasn’t who Votra was. And maybe she wanted Candy to see that.
She deepened the kiss, her tongue seeking entrance past Candy’s soft lips. Candy was generous with the sounds she made, a soft whimper ghosting across Votra’s lips.
And that was all it took to completely undo her. “I want you, Candy,” she breathed into Candy’s mouth. She didn’t care how pathetic she sounded. “I have not stopped thinking about you since this morning and I want you so, so badly.”
Candy drew back and Votra immediately missed the feeling of her plush lips against hers. “Really?” Her eyes darkened with something that stirred excitement in the pit of Votra’s stomach. “I guess you better take me back to your room then.”
She didn’t have to tell Votra twice. Votra begrudgingly peeled herself away from Candy and led her to her room.
The second the door closed behind them, Candy was on her again, peppering her with feverish kisses.
“Lay down,” she breathed, pressing her palms flat against Votra’s chest and leading her towards the bed.
Candy crawled across her slowly, torturously, pushing her to lay flat against the bed.
She felt particularly un-sexy in her ratty old t-shirt and baggy pants, but Candy didn’t seem to mind.
Her bare knee brushed against Votra’s clothed member, and she groaned at the minimal contact.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day too,” Candy murmured, skating her hands down the length of Votra’s torso.
“Those texts earlier were such a tease. I had to use my vibrator to get myself off, but I was imagining it was you the entire time.”
Fuck. Votra reached out for Candy and was swiftly stopped as Candy captured her wrists between one hand. She pinned them above Votra’s head. “Ah-ah. Not yet. I wanna tease you like you teased me earlier.”
Rebellion stirred in the pit of Votra’s stomach, if only because she was already so desperate. Her cock came to life behind the thin fabric of her pants. “If I recall correctly, you told me you came so hard it made you dizzy. I would hardly call that a tease.”
“Mouthy girl,” Candy said, grabbing Votra by the jaw with her free hand. “I made myself come so hard it made me dizzy. But it should have been you.”
Gods, it should have been. Candy brushed her thumb across Votra’s lips, and she couldn’t stop herself from darting her tongue out to swirl around the pad of her thumb. Candy inhaled sharply. “Fuck, you look so good. Almost makes me wanna be nice to you.”
Votra didn’t want Candy to be nice to her. She wanted to be used, to be teased, to be brought to the very end of her rope only to be denied. She was almost embarrassed by how badly she wanted it.
“Please,” Votra choked the word out, every nerve in her body alight with need. “Do whatever you want to me. You do not have to be nice.”
Candy’s lips parted with surprise. “Oh, honey, I don’t think you know what you’ve signed yourself up for,” she purred, planting a kiss to the base of Votra’s throat before extricating herself from her. “Take your pants off, pretty girl.”
Votra couldn’t take them off fast enough.
Her cock sprang to attention the second it was free from the confines of her pants, and Candy rewarded her by trailing her hand along the length of it.
Her entire body thrummed with need, and she greedily pushed her hips up against nothing as Candy sat by her side watching her, taking her in.