Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Frankie
I’d never been so happy to be tired.
I hadn’t even thought it was possible to have so many orgasms in one single night. Finch had treated our latest escapades like her own personal challenge, and I was more than happy to be her guinea pig. Target that competitive nature at my pussy all day long please!
I still couldn’t believe everything we’d done together. Was this real life? It felt like a fever dream. What was more, Finch had seemed to savor every single climax she'd given me, as if each one had gotten her off too. It was truly a mind-blowing experience, spiritual even. My entire perceptions about sex and intimacy had radically shifted in just two nights.
Normally, I had to put every ounce of my effort into orgasming when I was with a partner. If they changed rhythm even slightly, if my mind started to wander, if the anxiety started mounting with every minute I didn’t climax, I knew it was game over. Most of the time, it was easier to just fake it. I didn't want to be a disappointment even to myself, and then it could be done and I’d get to go to bed.
But with Finch . . .
She was truly like a gold medal level lover—not that I had much to compare her with, but I was fairly certain it would be impossible to best her. Better than last night would probably kill me. Finch might actually be magic. No wonder queer women were so into crystals and witchy shit. Two nights with a woman and I was ready to believe in fairies and unicorns if it meant experiencing that again.
Finch loved my body. She loved it. My body was lovable. That was such a radical notion, I hadn't fully comprehended it until now.
Never had someone so deftly touched me, as if she knew my body even better than I knew it myself. Not just pleasure, not just satisfying, it was something so grounding and gratifying. I hadn’t thought sex like that was real. She'd completely revolutionized and reawakened everything I thought I knew in a couple nights.
Of course, I’d said none of this reverie to her, only a simple “That was amazing” because such adulation was so far from “casual” that I didn’t know what to do with it.
We'd barely slept. Never in my life had I wanted to have sex more than sleep, but I was already eager and willing for another sleepless night.
With wobbling legs and a happily sore pussy, I worked with a song on my lips. I marbled the croissants, filled the puff pastries with buttercream, and decorated the quiches in the cabinet with parsley garnishes before prepping the bread and pizza dough that I would bring up to the Peckish Peacock.
Someone let out a wolf whistle, and I looked up to see Hannah.
"I know that look," she sang as she skipped over to me.
"What look?" I asked but was still flashing a megawatt smile.
She grabbed a clean spoon from the drawer and helped herself to a scoop of leftover buttercream. “The ‘just had really great sex’ look.”
"You're not wrong." I couldn't deny it even if I tried, and considering Finch and I were already pretending to have sex anyway, it wasn’t really breaking any codes. My cheeks hurt from smiling like a deranged clown all morning and I didn't care.
"You and Finch are so cute together.” Hannah swooned, fluttering her lashes. "I knew it would take a miracle to make Finch want to settle down, and you, Frankie, are truly miraculous." She went to pat me on the shoulder but missed and swatted a tray of muffins. I managed to catch them before they plummeted to the floor.
Hannah did a 360 spin, taking in all of the baking laid out across the bench tops that I hadn’t put in the cabinet yet.
"I probably shouldn't be in here," she said with a sheepish smile. "The farm animals are the only ones that seem to tolerate my clumsiness. And the penguins," she added, "but that's a story for another time."
"I've got time," I said as I plated up a tray of tiger strip cupcakes. "Maybe we can grab a coffee on my lunch break?"
“Really?” Hannah beamed at me. "I'd really like that!" She was practically shimmering with excitement. "I mean, I love all of the other keepers and Hawk, obviously, but they're all siblings so they have this shorthand with each other, and even though they are super welcoming, I always feel like an outsider kind of, not that they mean that, but—” She sucked in a gulp of air and kept going. "But the only other person dating a Lachlan lives in New Zealand so Logan and I are not very close, and it would just be really cool to have a buddy who was also dating a member of the family, so yes to coffee."
A bemused smile formed on my face. I wondered if Hannah remembered she’d already said all of this to me before, when she came to interrogate me about the yacht party. I wasn’t going to mention it. She was chaotic but also kind to me, and I enjoyed her pandemonious company.
"Sorry, I'm known to ramble," she added with a tight smile.
"You would make an excellent free diver or wind musician with all that breath control.”
She laughed and managed to actually pat me on the shoulder this time. Hannah was like a full-on tornado of energy, but I kind of loved that about her. She was just as warm and welcoming to me as she claimed the other Lachlans were to her. I hadn't had much time to get to know any of them except Dove and Wren, who both were really awesome. But Hawk and the twins always seemed off building something or doing a project. I was grateful for the Sunday dinners, when they all got together to catch up each week.
I realized Hannah had said something to me but I’d been too busy thinking about the Lachlan clan to hear. "Sorry, what?"
Her already wide smile broadened even further, making her smile lines deepen. "I said, could I grab two blueberry muffins? Evelyn and I have an accreditation meeting and I want to bring something."
"Oh yeah, sure," I said, bagging up two muffins for her. "Enjoy."
"Coffee at 11?"
"Sounds good," I replied, waving to her.
She wandered off through to the gift shop to go chat with the gift shop manager. I heard a clang of a baking tray falling from the kitchen and I turned to hustle from the counter to behind the scenes.
"Alex, is that you?” I called out to the day’s rostered barista. “I’ve got the cupcakes ready for the cabinet. Do you know where that giraffe-print cloche is?” When I looked up, I didn't see anyone. "What the . . ."
I spotted the fallen tray and kept walking around the kitchen island, only to come face-to-face with a flamingo. My eyes fell to the freshly bandaged foot.
"Ron," I snapped. "What the hell are you doing here? You seriously are the most meddlesome, feathered, little bitch that has ever existed! How did you get from the aviaries to my kitchen?”
It was only then I realized I was scolding a lanky pink bird and decided I'd better radio for help. I turned back to the counter and realized I hadn't picked up my radio from the docking bay in the gift shop yet.
"Shit," I cursed as Ron tried to hobble to the front. "No. No. No." I ushered him to the back door, but I didn't want to shoo him outside either. What if he ran off and fell into the lion enclosure and got eaten? I’d never forgive myself. I grabbed my phone and dialed the first person I could think of.
"Hey, Goldilocks, miss me already?"
"Ron," I said, the word frantically sputtering out of my mouth.
“Strange pet name, but I’ll take it.”
“No, like, Ronald, Ron.”
"What?"
"There is a flamingo in the café kitchen. Help! Please!”
"I'm on my way," Finch said, and I heard her radio clip and the door open over the phone. "Sit tight."
"Thank you."
"And don't let him get away."
She hung up before I could reply. Ron started limping to the back door again.
"Don't move," I commanded, but the stubborn bird wouldn't listen.
This was probably violating a million health and safety codes. No one could see a fucking exotic bird in my kitchen.
“Okay. It’s okay.” I blew out a slow breath as I stretched my arms out wide and cornered Ron against the cabinets. I'd held him before when Finch was bandaging his foot. I'd just do that again. It would be fine.
I bent over and gently held his oval body. He started clicking his beak up and down my legs like he was grooming me.
"I'm not trying to hit on you," I muttered to the horny bird. "I just need you to not run off anywhere."
Ron took that opportunity to stick his head up the wide leg of my high-waisted chino shorts.
"Oh my god," I hissed. "Ronald! Get your fucking beak out of my shorts right fucking now."
Finch chose that moment to burst in the back door. "Whoa!” she jeered. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Help me!" I demanded.
She doubled over laughing at the sight of the disappearing flamingo head, whose beak now made it look like I was packing a hard-on. She whipped out her phone, but I shot her an “I will murder you” look and she put it back down.
Crouching, she grabbed Ron's neck. She slid her hand up my shorts as she went, and I cleared my throat as her hand grazed over my panties. She ferreted around before finally finding Ron's beak and gently extracting him.
"Thank you," I said, fanning myself with a dish towel as she pulled the gangly bird into her and tucked him under her arm.
Before she stood, she leaned in and kissed the inside of my knee. "You are most welcome."
I shuddered at that kiss, remembering all the ways she’d touched me the night before.
"I'm thinking all the same things, Goldilocks," she said with a chuckle. "Believe me."
I cringed. "Was it really so obvious what I was thinking about?"
“Well, you weren’t thinking about the flamingo.” She shrugged as Ron kicked his legs like an obstinate toddler. “Or at least, I hope not."
“I wasn’t thinking about the flamingo,” I said, feeling like a giddy schoolgirl twirling my hair.
"Last night was amazing.” Finch smiled, ignoring her flailing captive. "We should probably take a break tonight though, hey? Get some sleep?"
“Oh. Yeah, probably," I said with a nod.
Her smile widened. "But for some reason, I have a feeling class will be in session again tonight.”
I bit my bottom lip. “I concur with that assessment.”
"I think we're going to have fun with this new arrangement."
"Uh-huh," I said. "Same." I could barely get any words out.
Ron let out an indignant honk and Finch rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright, come on, you miscreant. I was going to catch you to take this bandage off anyway, so might as well seize this opportunity."
"I'd offer to help you,” I called, “but you might want to ask someone wearing full-length pants."
“But I have so much fun rescuing you, Goldilocks." She winked at me and wandered off, leaving me hot and flushed. If I was frazzled by her before, it was nothing compared to now that I knew what she could do in bed.
I felt the butterflies swarming in my stomach and I clenched my jaw, trying to push them away. We agreed on no feelings. And I definitely, definitely wasn't going to break that promise.
Definitely not.