Chapter 23
The private rooms of the Lotus matched the high-end, luxurious air of the space below. There were plenty of them, too, of various sizes and with different décor. Since Lotus-eaters had varied tastes, this place would cater to as many of them as possible.
It would even be coed once it opened. Something Harper had been skeptical about at first, but since most of the employees here had an otherworldly edge on the customers, it might have more success than she expected.
But visually, she had no notes. The place looked marvelous, only, Patricia wouldn’t accept just marvelous. She had spent the whole day going from room to room, leaving lists for herself about all the additions needed to make the private rooms go from good to splendid.
The room Harper had dragged Maya into resembled an expensive lounge, complete with dark walls, a stocked corner bar, and furniture made of warm wood and soft velvet.
It already looked perfect, but that might just be because the list Harper was folding and unfolding was old, and Patricia had already made her finishing touches.
“So you’re leaving,” Harper said.
Maya grimaced. But didn’t answer. Which made Harper want to tear at the paper rather than just fidget with it.
After they’d sat down on one of the room’s center couches, Maya had run through everything the Chains Regents had said, minimal as that was. The growth of Kieran’s following, the threat they posed, the benefit of Maya and her fearsome reputation being near them.
But Harper had focused on all the information between the lines. That Maya would be gone. Would go back to a city they had barely escaped. To posture against a man who’d given her scars the last time they fought.
“You’re quiet,” Maya said.
“I’m thinking.” Harper looked down at the floor. “I mean, I get it. Why they want you to come. This is important, and you could help with everything, so… it’s a no-brainer that they’d ask you to go.”
“I’m still surprised by that,” Maya said. “That they asked, I mean.”
Her eyes drifted, focusing on something beyond the room. Perhaps a memory of some kind.
She turned to Harper. “I need to know if you’re okay with it.”
Harper frowned. “You care about what I think?”
“Right now, it’s the only thing I care about.
It makes sense for me to go. That I should learn, but…
I don’t know if I want to. I know what vampires are like, and I don’t want anything to do with it.
It makes me sick just to think about.” Maya’s eyes lowered from Harper’s.
Paused. Then flicked up again. “This isn’t an easy decision.
If you don’t want me to go, it will be.”
“Oh, come on,” Harper said, chuckling. “It isn’t that simple. I’m just one person. Being around me isn’t as important as the safety of the whole Court.”
Maya stayed silent. For long enough that Harper’s disarming smile dropped.
It wasn’t that she didn’t get it. She obviously wanted Maya to stay. Wanted her to be as far away from danger as possible.
But she shouldn’t voice that desire. Harper knew how aggressive Kieran could be. How dangerous. Maya could keep people safe from him, just with her presence.
That was the logical reason. But Harper also knew what happened when a relationship went beyond what it could handle. Pointed comments and bitterness followed, born from the fact that the thought of lost opportunities could easily whittle affection into resentment.
If Maya didn’t go, it would catapult them into something actually serious, which would reveal how little Harper brought to the table. That, other than being a good time, she didn’t have anything to offer.
If Harper was honest and asked her to stay, Maya would end up hating her for it.
“What is that?”
“Huh?” Harper had drifted so far into speculation she’d almost forgotten she wasn’t alone.
Maya pointed at the crumbled piece of paper. “That. You’ve been smothering it since we sat down.”
Harper unfolded it, trying to decipher the scribbles. Patricia’s handwriting was in beautiful cursive, meaning the contents might as well be hieroglyphs.
She shrugged. “It’s nothing. Just one of Trish’s lists. She’s making sure the rooms are stocked, and she has a habit of leaving notes everywhere.”
Maya took the paper out of her hand and turned it over. Apparently, Harper had been holding it upside down.
“Scarves and lollipops?” Maya said. “Do I want to know?”
Harper smiled at her. She couldn’t help it. “They’re industry secrets. I’m not tattling.”
Maya returned the smile, and a sharp ache tightened around Harper’s heart.
No one knew how long Maya would be gone. How many days, or weeks, this would take.
How the hell was Harper supposed to stay sane without seeing that smile?
“When do you have to decide?” Harper asked.
The joy withered from Maya’s expression. She dropped the piece of paper on the coffee table.
“Aleksander leaves at midnight. He needs an answer by then.” She let out a sigh. “I’m being serious. I don’t have to leave. If you say the word, I will stay.”
It was so tempting. Especially because midnight was only a few hours away, and that was no time at all.
That morning, it felt like weeks would pass before any decisions of this caliber needed to be made. Now, it was only seconds. And though Harper’s heart wanted to leap, her mind hooked it in place before it could throw itself into uncharted waters.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Harper whispered. “This is important. It would be wrong to keep you away from it.”
The look in Maya’s eyes was hard to decipher. Too many emotions flashed through it. Disappointment. Nervousness. Fear.
Harper took her hand, squeezing it. “But… can you stay with me until you leave?”
Maya relaxed. “Until the last minute.”
She cupped Harper’s face, caressing her cheek. Then she leaned in and kissed her. A careful, slow kiss, as though she was committing the feel of Harper’s lips to memory.
That thought immediately transformed into an idea. Before Maya could deepen the kiss, Harper leaned back and placed a finger on her mouth.
“Then, I want to use that time wisely. Such as by showing you some industry secrets.”
Harper knew exactly what people found appealing about her. The tenderness Maya was so good at wasn’t part of Harper’s arsenal.
But other things were. Especially in this room. If she wanted whatever they had to survive the test of long distance, she needed Maya to remember her when she left, and tactile memories stuck longer.
Harper really wanted her to remember.
“It’s your own fault,” Harper said, voice low. She ran a finger along Maya’s t-shirt collar. “You posed a challenge earlier today. I’m just rising to it.”
“Is that a good idea?” Maya’s voice turned strained as Harper ran her hands over her shoulders, pushing under her leather jacket. “Somehow, I doubt Trish will appreciate this.”
Harper looked at her with hooded eyes, moving her body closer as she took the leather jacket off.
“Who says she needs to find out?”
She put her hand on Maya’s chest and pushed her backwards. Whether it was due to willingness or surprise, she let it happen, sitting back on the couch.
“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
Harper stood, walking to the bar in the corner. Patricia’s lists partly came from experience, partly by request. Harper didn’t really need props to spellbind her customers, but this wasn’t a regular shift.
Besides, variety was the spice of life. The Lotus thought as much, and a quick inspection showed that it had already been stocked accordingly.
Harper pulled off her jeans and picked her tools of choice—or, Maya’s choice, technically—and walked back to the couch. Maya took her in, golden-black eyes starting at Harper’s face, but then slipping down over her t-shirt and the black boxers she was wearing.
On paper, it wasn’t the sexiest of outfits. But the way Maya stared at her, she might as well have been wearing her most expensive set of lingerie.
“The rules are very simple.” Harper straddled Maya’s lap, running a black silk scarf between her fingers. “I dance. And you don’t touch.”
“I thought you didn’t like rules.”
“But you do. You don’t want to break them, do you?” Harper made her voice innocently girlish. A sharp contrast to how she smirked as she pulled the borrowed t-shirt over her head, leaving her in just her bra. “Let me know if it gets too much. I can always dial it down.”
Maya’s gaze fell to Harper’s chest. Her mouth opened, tongue darting out to wet her lips.
It wasn’t as though she hadn’t seen the view before. But she hadn’t experienced it in this context. When she was told that she couldn’t touch.
Harper was actually moving a lot quicker than she would under normal circumstances. The act of taking off your clothes was usually a drawn-out affair, and it could take just as long before there was any kind of bodily contact—if it even happened at all.
This wasn’t a regular dance, though. The goal wasn’t to squeeze a random guy out of his hard-earned cash.
No, the goal was to tease this woman to the brink of madness, making her lose control and fuck Harper on the couch so hard that Maya would remember it for weeks. Or for however long she would be gone.
But to get there, she needed to simmer a while longer.
“Remember the rule.” Harper hooked the scarf behind Maya’s neck and, holding onto both ends, pulled herself close. “No touching. Or there’ll be consequences.”
Maya’s hands had drifted to her thighs. Without her meaning to, by how quickly she lowered them.
“Maybe I want the consequences,” Maya said. Harper batted her eyes. And rolled her hips.
“Really? What does that feel like?”
She pulled at the ends of the scarf. It drew Maya’s head forward and put her face only a few inches from Harper’s chest.
She stiffened. Swallowed. But kept her hands in place.
Harper bit her lip with a grin. “Impressive. You really do like rules.”
Maya’s gaze found hers, and the want in them was so pure that Harper’s persona almost dropped.