Chapter 24
“Don’t hold back.” Sarah, liberated from every piece of clothing bedecking her torso, landed on Luca’s bed late in the evening. I’m not staying the night at my place. Not with her mother taking over Sarah’s room. “Counting on you, Lu.”
Luca ripped off her bra. “You can always count on me.”
“Prove it.”
She fell on top of Sarah, hands going straight for her wrists, and mouth crashing against hers. Sarah’s legs encircled Luca’s waist and brought her hips closer. “Making me prove myself to you every damn day, I swear…”
I like reassurances, okay? Sarah wanted to know that this woman couldn’t have anyone else but her.
Everything beyond this apartment was a wasteland of busybodies and jealous ex-wives.
If Luca was willing to spend the rest of her life defending Sarah’s honor, so be it, but she was more interested in feeling this love of hers spread through her body.
Even better if Luca fucked her good.
“We’re wrecked,” Luca groaned against Sarah, who reached down and rubbed her girlfriend’s mound through her trousers. “Wrecked every damn day.”
“As long as you’ve got my pussy, it’s worth it, right?”
Luca’s invigorated murmur transformed into approval. “Depends on what I do with it.”
“Fuck it, of course.”
“Fuck it with what? You gotta help me out here, Angel.”
She really did love her dirty talk, didn’t she?
“Just fuck me. Now.”
Good enough for her, apparently. Before Sarah could ask again, Luca smothered her with a kiss and thrust between her legs.
It should’ve been bliss.
It would have been bliss if it weren’t for the ringing doorbell.
“Ignore it.” Sarah grabbed Luca’s shoulders, enticing her to stay between her legs by grinding both thighs against hers. “Anything they want, they can come back for later.”
Didn’t that always work? Luca considered her caller for two seconds before shoving Sarah back down and continuing to make love to her.
Yet the visitor persisted.
“Shit.” Luca sat up with a start, hands going straight to her disheveled pants.
Sighing in defeat, Sarah rolled over and grabbed Luca’s bra.
So much for that. Hopefully, the feeling wouldn’t be dead by the time Luca came back from dealing with a courier or whoever it was. “Sorry. It might be from my lawyer.”
“Can’t she email you? I’m dying.” The day had been stressful enough to make Sarah sleep for another day. “I need you to fuck me. Like… now.”
“Sorry, Angel. Trust me. I want to make your wishes come true.” She finished putting on the bare minimum amount of clothing and went into the other room.
Sarah pushed herself up and grabbed one of Luca’s gently worn T-shirts from the back of a chair.
As soon as it was on – nipples poking through, because she was aroused and why not – she followed Luca to her front door.
Sarah might as well see what this bullshit was about.
She should have stayed locked in her room.
“Oh, good.” Jill pocketed her sunglasses the moment the door opened. “Your slut’s here.”
“Oh, good!” Sarah was already waving Jill off as she walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. “The ex-wife’s here!”
“The hell do you want, Jill?”
“Sorry, am I interrupting? Thought that maybe you’d have other things on your mind, with what’s going on in your life right now.”
“Watching the news, are you?”
She pushed into the spacious rental with nothing but amusement on her face. Her dark and curly hair was pulled back into such a tight bun that it was no wonder she was a cranky bitch. Yet I can totally see Victor in that face. Jill’s cheekbones were identical to her son’s.
“Of course I’m keeping track of you. I have to think about Victor, don’t I?”
“Jill, I don’t believe you’ve formally been introduced to—”
“I know who she is. Our son won’t shut the hell up about her.”
That made Sarah smile in satisfaction. “Can I offer you some tea, Ms. Blackbourne?”
The ex squared her shoulders at being called that, let alone by her former wife’s new girlfriend. “I suppose. Black, please. Bombay breakfast, if you have it.”
“Of course.” Sarah had no idea what kind of tea leaves, if any, Luca stocked. She found a stash of French breakfast, and they would all like it. “My mother always said that black is best, in nearly every situation that calls for it.”
Was that a reference to the Blackbourne name? Perhaps. It was also a reference to Sarah’s black outfits she wore around town. One of those outfits showed up in the leaked photos.
“Anyway,” Jill continued, “we need to talk about Victor.”
Luca crossed her arms. You should look that stern more often, honey.
Sarah loved the way Luca’s arms cut her sleeves whenever she stood as coolly and confidently as that.
Wasn’t it grand having someone as climbable as that around?
Sarah almost wished she weren’t above average height.
Imagine being a petite thing and climbing a body like that?
More fun than the monkey bars on the playground.
Then again, being taller than average meant she could comfortably do all sorts of things with Luca in bed.
We were interrupted during sex, weren’t we?
Could Jill leave already?
“What about him?” Luca said. She spared Sarah one look before turning her attention back to her ex-wife. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Had to send him out of town to avoid the media vultures circling the neighborhood, but…”
“What? You sent him… where?”
“Relax, Lu. My parents took him to their beachfront cottage. But that means he won’t be able to make your visits this week, unless you go to Delaware to see him.”
“Delaware… Jesus, Jill, were you only going to now tell me that my son was hours away? The whole reason I moved here was to be closer to him!”
“Yes, and now you’ve got someone else to take up your time. Isn’t that lovely?”
“Sarah,” Luca snapped. Sarah gave her a defiant look when she turned around. Warning #1, ma’am. Don’t take that tone with me if you don’t mean to use it on me. “Could you give us a few minutes, please?”
She reminded Luca that the kettle was still on before shutting herself up in her bedroom.
The covers remained tousled from when they were in the midst of making love.
We should be having orgasms right now. Instead, Sarah pressed her ear to the door, determined to hear the verbal altercation between former wives.
“You’re the one who leaked the video, aren’t you?”
Damn, she went right for it…
“What are you talking about? I hardly know how to procure such… entertainment.”
“You know how to hire the right person to do it for you, though. Sarah told me you accidentally bumped into each other on Friday afternoon.”
“Did she?” What a cruel chuckle. Sarah was willing to give Jill the benefit of the doubt, but there was no denying the intentions in a voice like that.
“Yes, I saw her. Victor was so excited about it. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that was your new sweet honey, Luca.
She’s so… bland. Well, now I know why you fancy her.
You always did like your sex on the nastier side. ”
“For fuck’s sake, Jill.”
Was she still laughing? Good God. “Anyway, I knew you were going to take your sweet time introducing me to her, and I wouldn’t get anywhere asking you directly.
So, yes, I hired someone. I wanted an unbiased opinion of Ms. Clayborn.
I wanted to know what kind of woman you were dating and bringing into our child’s life.
I had to say, I wasn’t expecting that tape. ”
“Jill, I…”
She cut her off again. “Did I tell him to leak it? Absolutely not. You think I want that shit associated with you and my family? Please! I’m sure the person saw an ample opportunity to make some cash off it once it was on their hard drive, though. Wonder how much money they got for its leak?”
Luca remained silent, yet Sarah could feel her girlfriend’s ire oozing through the door.
“He took the pictures. Don’t know how they got online.”
“So, ultimately, we have you to thank.”
“Me? Come on, Lu! You’re the one dating a—”
“Call her something I don’t like, and you’ll regret it, Jill.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, but it should be.”
Something snapped open. “I don’t have to stand here and take it. The fact of the matter is, Victor isn’t going to be anywhere near this mess. That’s it. Do whatever you like with your new woman. Cast her in more porn if that strikes your fancy, but Victor will not be near it.”
“Are you saying I have to choose between my girlfriend and my son?”
“If you’re half the decent woman I’ve always assumed you to be, it shouldn’t be a difficult decision to make.”
“That’s absurd. Sarah is my girlfriend. She and Victor get along more than fine. Don’t get jealous, Jill. She’s not going to threaten your relationship with our son.”
“Threaten me? Jealous? What the hell are you talking about? I don’t want anything to do with her! Don’t you get it, Luca? You bring in an influence like that, and there are consequences! Sometimes, those consequences include shit you don’t like. Grow the fuck up. I had to.”
Is she comparing Luca’s choice of a girlfriend to her alcoholism? Sarah pushed away from the door around the time Jill finally called her a whore. Sarah had heard enough.
Luca raised her voice more than once while Sarah sat by the bedroom window and stared at the orange clouds moving across the evening sky. When Jill finally left, and Luca entered the bedroom, it was hardly with a desire to return to their previous, interrupted frivolity.
“Isn’t the sky lovely this time of year?”
Luca closed her mouth before she had the chance to complain about what had happened between her and the ex-wife. “What?”
“The sky.” Sarah pushed her finger against the glass, leaving behind a smudgy print. “I love the color orange. It’s so underused, yet it appears all the time in nature. You ever see orange daisies? My mother has a daisy garden back home. The orange ones have always been my favorite.”
“Sarah…”
Whatever happened to Angel? Sarah folded her arms against the windowsill and rested her head atop them. “We should go to the botanical gardens outside of town sometime soon. I wonder if they have orange daisies.”
Luca squeezed her shoulder, thumb brushing against a pressure point on the back of her neck. “The tea’s ready, by the way. Let’s not let it go to waste.”
Even so, they stayed by the window for another minute, Sarah committing the sensations welling up within her to memory.