Chapter Twenty-One
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
TONI
“I’d forgotten how insufferable you are when you’re drunk.”
It’s after midnight and Mom and Dad have gone to sleep. The four of us are sitting in front of the fireplace, in various states of sobriety, meaning Audrey and I are sober, and Willa and Greta are drunk.
“I’m not drunk,” Greta says.
“The ice queen has melted,” Willa says before cracking up laughing.
“Maybe a little,” says Greta. She turns my way. “You’ve been telling me to loosen up for years. Here I am, loosened up, all for you, Tiny Dancer.”
“Do not call me that,” I say.
“Oh my God your name does sound like Tiny Dancer,” Audrey says.
“Please don’t encourage them,” I say.
“I love that song.” Willa sighs, before singing at the top of her lungs, and out of tune.
I grimace.
Audrey chuckles. She leans in close. “Yeah, Willa can’t sing sober, either.”
“You’re singing it wrong,” Greta says and, as I knew she would, she breaks into the song I hate more than any other on the planet. Well, her special version of the song. “Hold me closer, Toni Danzig! Count the pimples on your forehead! Belay me down a big old rock face. You had your coming out today!”
“Come on.” I don’t particularly want Audrey to hear about days as a baby gay, which Greta has helpfully chronicled with more and more stanzas of that fucking song over the years.
But Greta keeps going. “Handsome dy-y-ke/riding her bi-i-ke/handing rainbows out for Pride/Baby gay/With big wide eyes/Lost it to a butch named Rae…”
“You’ve got a great voice, Great,” Willa says. “Wait, I mean Greta.”
“No, that’s fine,” Greta says. “I’ll answer to Great.”
Willa stands up. “Well, come on, Great. Show me these stars you were talking about at our place that night. I expect to be wowed.”
Greta stands and she’s surprisingly sure-footed for someone who is supposedly drunk. I wonder if Greta isn’t playing it up so she can have an excuse tomorrow morning for having so much fun tonight.
“Let’s get bundled up,” Greta says.
“Oh, we’ll be fine.”
“No, we won’t.” She steers Willa into the mud room and closes the door behind them. Audrey and I sit in silence and listen to the two of them banter and flirt and gently argue as they get dressed for the weather. We laugh at Willa’s controlled chaos, and at Greta’s somehow enduring patience. Finally, they’re out the door and we are left with only the sound of the fire crackling.
“Are they going to be OK?” Audrey asks.
“Greta’s in charge, so absolutely.”
“I don’t think Willa’s as drunk as she’s putting on.”
“Funny, I thought the same about Greta.”
We give each other knowing looks, then die laughing.
“Tiny Dancer, huh?” Audrey says.
“I really hate that song.”
“It’s not my favorite Elton John song, either.”
We’re sitting on the couch, far enough away to be safe while others were in the room. Now, Audrey moves closer.
“Is there anything I can do to get that scowl off your face?” Her tongue traces her lips and her gaze glides up and down my body.
“I’m not sure. It’s put me in a pretty bad mood.”
“Hmm.” She stands and swings her leg over mine to straddle my lap. My hands automatically go to her hips. “Does this help?”
“A little.” I pull her hips toward me, bring her center flush against me. “Getting better.”
She cups my jaw and pulls me to her. I think she’s going to kiss me, but her lips go to my neck, her breath in my ear. “I promised myself I would be strong and not do this.”
“Why would you do a silly thing like that?” I ask.
“I’m having a very hard time remembering right now. Being around you all day has weakened my resolve.” I push my hips up and into her. Her breath catches and she lets out a small groan. “I love the way you smell.”
There’s my desire, revived with one whisper. “Oh my God,” I whimper.
A month ago, I would have flipped any woman who said that to me onto the couch and fucked them senseless. But this is Audrey.
This is Audrey.
My better angels take over (I didn’t realize I had them, either) and I push her away slightly. “Are you sure about this?”
She sits back onto my thighs. “Toni, we’re having sex, not renting a U-Haul.”
“Right. I know.”
“Are you sure you’re OK with that?”
I sit up straight and slide my hand behind her head, bringing her lips closer to mine, and look into her eyes. “Audrey, I’ve wanted you every second of every day since you walked out the door that night.”
Audrey inhales softly, and her eyes darken. “So have I.”
“I’ll take you however I can get you.”
I stand up, keeping Audrey in my arms. She wraps her legs around my waist and grins. I walk toward the stairs.
“Putting those forearms to good use finally,” she teases.
“I’m thankful for every arm day I’ve had at the gym.”
I stop at the foot of the stairs and kiss her, long and hard. Audrey groans deep within her throat. I pull my lips away from hers.
“But I think carrying you up the stairs and kissing you while I do it is beyond even my skills.” I drop Audrey onto the floor, grab her hand, and pull her up the stairs to my room.
The door is barely closed and locked behind us before I’m on her, cupping her face. There is no way in hell I’m going to let the moment I’ve been waiting for for weeks slip out of my grasp by overthinking things.
“Your lips are just as perfect as I remember.” I pour all the emotions I can’t say—I shouldn’t say—into our kiss. It’s gentle and slow, and we immediately start shedding our clothes, our lips parting only to toss them aside. Then we are on the bed and Audrey is beneath me and I settle down on top of her. My body sings at the feel of her soft curves and her satiny skin. She slides her hands down my side and to my ass. She purrs.
“I have wanted to get my hands on your ass for weeks. Could you tell?”
“I had a pretty good idea. I’ve caught you staring a few times.”
“I know. But you keep wearing the gray pants.”
“Gee, I wonder why.”
“It’s a real mystery,” Audrey replies.
We’re both grinning.
“Tell me what you want,” I say.
“I want your mouth on me.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
“This may take a while,” I say.
“The longer the better.”
“Challenge accepted.”
I place the first kiss on her forehead and trace her face with my lips. Then I trace her jaw with my tongue on my way to kissing and nibbling her long neck. Audrey’s hands are in my hair, and she cranes her neck to give me all the access I need to kiss every inch. I feel a moan vibrate in her throat, her pulse beat quickly in the soft hollow below her ear. I inhale deeply, the scent that has been tantalizing me at the most inopportune times: standing next to Audrey in the break room, sitting in her desk chair to leave a note and smelling her perfume that lingers on her vest she has draped over the chair back.
“Hmm, your mouth feels wonderful,” she purrs. “Bite my collarbone. Gently.”
I obey. She flinches slightly and her moan sends a surge of desire through me. It is such a turn-on to make love to a woman who knows what she wants and is confident enough to ask for it. I lift my head and our gazes meet. Her fingers are entangled in my hair and she’s massaging my head softly. “Tell me more,” I say.
“I want to see your dark hair fanned out across my pale skin while your tongue and mouth destroy me.” She quirks an eyebrow. “Over and over.”
“Fuck me, you are so sexy.”
She arranges my hair across her chest while I kiss my way down her stomach to settle between her legs. She moans and lifts her hips in encouragement. I kiss both inner thighs and pause, before touching the tip of my tongue to Audrey’s clit and pulling back. She makes a little noise, and I do it again, a little more contact, for a split second longer. I continue to tease her with touches and small, almost imperceptible licks on only her clit. Her frustration finally gets the best of her and she groans loudly.
“Tease,” she says. “Don’t stop.”
“Never,” I say.
Our gazes meet and her mouth turns up into the sexiest grin I’ve ever seen. “Promises, promises,” she says.
For the next hour, I tease her with my mouth, tongue, fingers, and a small bullet vibe I tossed in my duffle with hope in my heart.
I take her to the edge four times, and bring her down, until she is whimpering my name and begging me to destroy her. I am on the edge myself, desperate for my own release.
I flip on my back and pull her on top of me. She straddles me, and the sight of her, flushed with desire, her nipples hard, is the most gorgeous goddamn sight I’ve ever seen.
I slide three fingers inside her and am going to press the vibe against her when she stops me.
“Come with me,” she says, her voice ragged and hoarse. She presses my hand, and the vibe, against my swollen clit.
I buck against her, my orgasm coursing through my veins like a tidal wave. Audrey clamps a hand over her mouth, but can’t restrain a long, low whine as she clenches around my fingers and drenches the palm of my hand, and shudders her release.