Chapter 10 #2
Victoria, however, leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table, her hair falling over her shoulders.
Anna had never seen her with her hair down, the heavy dark-gold waves tumbling down around her face in a beautiful waterfall of sunshine, gleaming in the low light of the restaurant.
It was mesmerizing, and now Anna didn’t want to grab Victoria’s hands, she wanted to twine her fingers into that thick honey spill and use her grip to pull the woman forward for a wild kiss on her perfect rose-pink mouth.
Oh, God.
She must have sat there dumbstruck for a beat or two too long. Victoria cleared her throat. “Anna?”
“Yes! Sorry. Yes?” She tried desperately to turn off the erotic film projector in her mind that was suddenly going hog-wild with possibilities.
To no avail. She’d seen as she walked up that Victoria was wearing a black pencil skirt and sheer black stockings.
Anna wondered if they had seams up the back. If they led to a garter belt. Oh, God!
Victoria tapped a finger gently on the table to get her attention. “Anna. You promised that you’d explain everything. I’ve been beside myself for days now. What the hell is going on?”
That got her mind out of the gutter. “Right. Yes. Okay.” Her martini began to turn to acid in her stomach.
She’d been a bit high-handed with this part of things, not actually discussing any of it with Victoria.
“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I would like to transfer your care to one of my colleagues. ”
In an instant, Victoria was a beautiful marble statue, still and silent. She sat back in her seat, folding her hands into her lap, and sat without moving for much too long a moment. At last, she breathed in deeply through her nose and focused her laser-blue stare on Anna. “Explain… further.”
“It’s the only way to get us even somewhat out of the ethical problem we’re in.
” Anna fought to keep the words from tumbling out in a rush.
“My colleague Cameron O’Shea is happy to take you on, and I actually think you two will work well together.
You’re going to butt heads even harder than you and I did at first, but he’s got some incredible methodologies and approaches that you might appreciate a lot more than my ‘woo’ strategies.
” Anna offered a lopsided little smile. “He’s far less hampered by politeness than I am. ”
Victoria hadn’t moved. “I see.”
A waiter arrived with a bottle of sparkling water and a tulip glass. Deftly, he poured Victoria a glass that fizzed and bubbled, then handed her a small leather portfolio. “The wine list, madame.”
“Thank you.” She unfroze enough to sip at the water and open the wine list, but remained silent.
And remained, and remained, and remained silent, flipping through the pages of the wine list and not looking at Anna at all.
At a loss for what more to do, and not wanting to provoke Victoria into an explosion, Anna reached for the dinner menu and began to look through it.
She barely took in any of the descriptions of the dishes.
Had she made a mistake? Gone too far? But she’d thought Victoria wanted a way out of their ethical quandary.
That she understood it was important to Anna that they do this right.
She’d said herself she wanted this so much, didn’t she understand what would be needed to get it?
It took several excruciatingly long minutes for Victoria to set the wine list aside and fold her hands back into her lap.
Her gaze, when it eventually landed on Anna, was steady.
“I understand why you did it. I do not appreciate being left out of the decision-making process. I would never do that to any of my patients.”
That was fair. Anna looked down at her hands and rubbed a finger over her nails. “You have a point. I’m sorry. I only wanted to surprise you.”
The short, shocked snort of laughter she heard next surprised her, and Anna looked up to see Victoria covering her mouth and actually, truly, for real giggling. “No, you didn’t. Did you?”
“Well, I…” A flustered blush heated Anna’s face. “I mean, yes, I,…”
Victoria reached across the table and grabbed both of Anna’s hands, her smile still lighting up her whole face. “What you did was incredibly inconsiderate, and yet somehow, also, the most adorable thing anyone has ever done for me.”
At the touch of Victoria’s hands on hers, delicious thrills of need shot from Anna’s fingertips all the way down into her panties, and she could only squirm in her seat, thoroughly distracted. “Um… was it?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” Victoria released Anna’s hands to pick up her own menu, and Anna was bereft, her fingers inching across the polished mahogany surface of their table towards Victoria before she realized what was happening and snatched her hands back into her lap.
Victoria didn’t seem to notice. “Do you like goat cheese? Are you allergic to anything?”
“Yes. No.” The touch had ignited the desire Anna usually kept in check, setting it ablaze like a pile of dry tinder.
Esme had been right. It had been a very, very long time for Anna.
The simple envelopment of her hands in Victoria’s had finished the job those incendiary kisses had started only days ago.
Suddenly, she didn’t give a single fuck about dinner, she craved only Victoria’s hands on her, on her own hands, on her thighs, on her breasts.
Thoroughly distracted, she only nodded when Victoria suggested she order for the both of them.
Judging by the reviews, anything they had for dinner would be absolutely divine.
Anna was certain that, for her, it would only taste like school paste, sawdust, and whatever that woodchip stuff was that IKEA furniture was made out of.
With what she considered a Herculean effort, Anna wrenched her attention away from the rising heat between her thighs and focused on Victoria’s face, though trying not to stare directly at the petal-pink pout of her mouth, because that was only going to land her right back in a lust-filled fog, imagining all the ways those full lips and that nimble tongue could take Anna just entirely apart.
Focus, dammit! “I like seeing you with your hair down,” she said, knowing her too-damn-expressive face must look very dopey and her words had been pretty lame. She tried again. “It’s beautiful.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Anna knew she was doing a very, very bad job of behaving normally. “Thank you.” Those blue eyes that never missed a trick roamed over Anna’s face and hair, and the tip of her tongue traced lightly over her upper lip. “You look wonderful this evening yourself.”
“Thank you.” The reply was automatic, and it was a good thing Anna’s manners functioned on autopilot, because with that flickering glimpse of Victoria’s tongue, she was all the way gone again, and if they weren’t in public, she’d have Victoria sprawled out on the table and Anna would be sitting right on that beautiful face.
“Anna.” Victoria’s fingers brushed over the back of Anna’s hand. “Is everything all right?”
Rapid-fire, Anna let her brain sift through dozens of possible responses, discarding them all in favor of a desperately gasped, “No, damn it all, I need you to fuck me.”
Victoria blinked once, twice. Then her hand shot into the air and signaled their waiter. “We’ll need all our food boxed to go, and the check immediately, thank you.”
Victoria’s hand slid up Anna’s inner arm, the touch a streak of fire along the delicate skin. Her strong fingers curled over Anna’s wrists and pressed down, pinning them in place on the pillow. “God,” Anna moaned, arching upward, rolling her eyes to look at Victoria, pleading without words.
Their clothing had come off as they came through the door at Victoria’s condo, Victoria’s cream cashmere sweater mingling with Anna’s favorite green wrap top to form a pathway that led first to the broad white expanse of the sofa.
From there, Victoria’s crisply tailored black trousers and Anna’s floral slip dress were entwined much as the women had been atop the dining room table, where Anna’s bare legs wrapped around Victoria’s hips as Victoria licked and nipped her way along Anna’s throat, Anna’s head thrown back to allow full access.
As Anna had hoped, Victoria had indeed been wearing seamed stockings that were clipped into a black lace garter belt.
Lying in Victoria’s bed now—the pathway there consisting of Anna’s pale pink bra and panty set and Victoria’s own black lace bra—the stockings remained on, and one silk-clad foot traced a lazy trail up and down Anna’s leg that was as torturous as the free hand that was making its slow, featherlike way down Anna’s stomach.
Anna couldn’t help but let out a whimper.
A tiny, satisfied smile curved Victoria’s mouth upwards.
“You’re so impatient.” Her head dipped to take Anna’s nipple into her mouth, and the play of her tongue as she sucked made Anna’s eyes roll back.
When she let go, the slippery wet nipple pouted in the cool air of the bedroom.
Her fingers traced patterns along Anna’s stomach, down her thighs, were anywhere but where Anna wanted them to be, playing with her clit, sinking deep into her pussy.
Victoria’s head dipped again to pay tribute to the other nipple, more slowly, her golden hair tumbling down around her face, her sucking growing more intense, each pulse echoing between Anna’s thighs.
“Your breasts are everything I dreamed of,” came the contented mumble as Victoria pulled back, a slender strand of saliva connecting her mouth to Anna before she wiped it away.
Letting go of Anna’s hands, Victoria lifted herself to straddle Anna’s hips, running her strong, graceful hands up Anna’s ribcage to cup her breasts, to brush her thumbs over the pebbled peaks.
“Beautiful. Perfect. I could just hold them and kiss them all night.”