Chapter 12 #2
I could feel my face growing red and puffy. My brow wrinkled as I frowned harder. I’m sure I looked like the perfect picture of a temper tantrum. But my leg kicked out, and he lifted one eyebrow.
“You want me to help you?” He chuckled at whatever he saw on my face. And then I felt his breath on my inner thighs. “Isn’t it nice, fairy, when you just voice what you want? When you actually ask for it?”
He sounded like every rich person I’d ever known. But I couldn’t say that. I gasped instead when his tongue firmly licked me.
His hands held me in place, and he tsked under his breath.
“That’s a good girl, fairy,” he said, biting back a laugh when my hips tried to buck again.
My eyes began to water. “You call her love.”
He licked and sucked, and I thought he hadn’t heard me. Or maybe he just didn’t care. But he lifted his head, pausing his ministrations.
“Gretel needs to be reminded.”
I lifted my head. “That you love her?”
There’s no denying how sharp my voice was. How brittle it was.
He cocked his head to the side again. His eyes softened. “I could.”
And then he attacked my pussy again.
My heart hammered for different reasons. Because of his assault and because of his confession.
“Do you know what brought us together?” Baz asked, his tongue tracing my folds. “The first thing I noticed about her was how she looked at you.”
I tried to sit up again, but he pressed my waist down and sucked my clit. The sensation built only for him to back off again.
“I see how you look at her too,” he told me softly.
“Stop it,” I demanded, my muscles quivering.
“It’s okay,” he whispered.
It didn’t feel okay. It felt too big. Too different. Too scary.
And yet I knew nothing would change me. Forever would I look at Gretel. Would I admire her. Want her.
At first, I thought I was an anomaly. Someone who admired both men and women.
Baz’s appearance in my life gave me something I’d always craved. He was hopeful and silly yet direct in what he wanted. I admired him and found myself inspired.
My back arched as his tongue thrust inside my pussy. I’d never felt this sensation before. It built with the thoughts sweeping over me.
Baz made me feel so good. And I’d seen him do it with Gretel.
It was jealousy I felt last night, but not because of betrayal.
I’d wanted to be like Baz in that moment. To demand Gretel get on her knees. And I’d wanted to impress Baz the other day when he asked me to let Gretel clean me off.
I was so scared. Too scared.
Tears flowed down my face, my body clenching as Baz sucked my clit.
He lapped the arousal from my thighs, his lips skimmed over my stomach, and I breathed hard when he left teasing kisses on my sensitive nipples.
He kissed me, allowing me to taste myself on him. And then he wiped my tears away.
“No one here is judging you,” he murmured.
But I shook my head.
“Tangwystle.” He looked almost pained.
“It’s okay,” I told him, but couldn’t look at him as I pushed myself up. “I know you want her and it’s okay. . .”
I’d make myself sick thinking about the two of them. Wanting the two of them. But I wasn’t ready to approach that yet, so I did what I thought was the next best thing.
I couldn’t be mad at Baz for loving Gretel. Not when I did the same.
“She wants you to join us,” he said softly.
My fingers reached out only to hover.
“You can touch me,” he said, and I fell forward, wrapping my arms around him.
This is what we did. Always leaning into one another.
He ran his hand down my hair, keeping me close.
His lips pressed to the top of my head when a knock came from the front door. It echoed through the grand Manor, and my heart squeezed. It’s like for a moment, I felt the air in the room stifle. The Manor groaned, and I gazed up at Baz in concern.
He squeezed my arms before letting go and striding to the window.
“It’s Clinemell.”
I scrambled up from the desk.
Gretel knew to keep out of sight when visitors came. But Rufus rarely deigned to visit Blackwell Manor, and it brought a stark reminder of the stakes.
I swiped at my face, but Baz shook his head. “I’ll go let him in.”
My face scrunched. “You can’t let him in.”
Despite his tense shoulders, a smirk teased his lips.
“It’s my Manor,” he reminded. A light in the corner flickered, and his shoulders loosened just a tad.
“My apologies to the Manor. Will it be all right if I go downstairs and open the front door?” he asked, his chin tilting up to the ceiling as he spoke.
“But you shouldn’t. Men of your standing never—”
“Fairy,” he said lightly, but his dark eyes swept over me. “You’re not opening the door.”
I stopped scrubbing at my tear-stained face. My cheeks were the least of my worries. I was soaked in sweat and my dress rumpled.
He kissed my forehead, grabbing the decanter of amber liquor as he passed. “Go find, pet. Keep her safe.”
I wiped hair out of my face, watching him walk away as my mind whirled.
Pet.
Already, he had changed Gretel’s name because it had hurt my feelings.
I hurried down the servants’ stairs into the kitchen.
Gretel crept out of the shadows, her eyes wide as she raked her gaze over me. “You’ve been with Baz.”
I flung myself down the rest of the stairs, the wood creaking. “What are you talking about?” I acted like it was perfectly normal for my cheeks to be so red and my dress wrinkled. I’d rushed out of Baz’s study so quickly I hadn’t even put my shoes on.
Her voice grew clearer. “I know you have.”
And that’s when I noticed how red her cheeks were.
“Were you?” I couldn’t even finish the thought. Especially because as soon as I thought about the idea of Gretel pressing her ear to Baz’s study door, I thought of myself watching them in the garden.
“He talked to you,” she began to stammer.
I grabbed her hand. There was no time for this. “Rufus Clinemell is here.”
I threw her into the pantry, meaning to close the door.
“W-wait,” she cried.
I didn’t expect Rufus to come down to the kitchen. No gentleman except Baz ever did. And Gretel normally kept quiet when visitors came, no one the wiser that an extra servant lingered in the kitchen.
But I would take no chances when it came to Rufus.
“Don’t make any trouble,” I ordered, locking her in.