Chapter Fourteen #2
“Did you buy out the entire convenience store?” Ruby asked, laughing.
“I wasn't sure what you'd want for lunch.” Celeste settled back into the driver's seat, distributing the haul. “So I got options.”
“Options. Right.” Ruby surveyed the spread. “This could feed us for a week.”
“We'll manage.”
They pulled back onto the highway, munching on sandwiches and chips. Ruby turned up the radio, and when a particularly catchy pop song came on, she couldn't resist.
The absolute worse, most off-key version of I’m walking on sunshine soon filled the car, complete with exaggerated hand gestures.
Celeste shook her head, fighting a smile. “You're ridiculous.”
“I'm entertaining. There's a difference.”
“You're tone-deaf.”
“Rude but accurate.” Ruby sang louder, and finally Celeste laughed, the sound ringing pleasantly through the air. “See? You love it.”
“You're going to cause an accident.”
“You're the one driving! I'm just providing entertainment for our journey.”
“You're providing a headache.”
As the sun set, New Orleans appeared on the horizon, first as a glow against the darkening sky, then as distinct lights and shapes. The GPS directed them through increasingly narrow streets until they were in the French Quarter, the architecture transforming into something historic and magical.
“We're here!” Ruby exclaimed. “We actually made it!”
“With only minimal detours.”
“Hey, those detours were character-building.”
“Is that what we're calling them?”
They pulled up to their hotel, a boutique place with wrought-iron balconies and gas lamps flickering in the twilight. Ruby grabbed her bag and they headed inside, giddy with the accomplishment of actually arriving.
The lobby was elegant in that old New Orleans way, with exposed brick, vintage furniture and the scent of magnolia in the air.
At the check-in desk, the clerk smiled warmly. “Welcome! You must be Ms. Russo. Let me pull up your reservation.”
Celeste handed over her ID and credit card. Ruby stood beside her, trying not to think about how natural this felt. How easy it would be to keep doing this: traveling together and sharing rooms.
“Ah, here we are.” The clerk's smile widened. “The honeymoon suite. Congratulations!”
Ruby and Celeste exchanged looks.
“Oh, we're not—” Celeste started.
“It's the only room you had available,” Ruby interrupted smoothly. “And it's perfect. Thank you.”
They took the key and headed upstairs. The suite was absurd. There was an enormous bed with rose petals scattered across it, champagne on ice and candles arranged artfully on every surface. And in the corner, a hot tub big enough for four people.
“This is—” Celeste started, her eyes wide.
“Perfect,” Ruby finished, dropping her bag. “Come on, when's the last time you stayed somewhere this over-the-top?”
“Rarely.”
“Exactly. We're living it up.” She pulled Celeste close, unable to resist anymore. “We made it to New Orleans against all odds and through all my chaos.”
She kissed her then with the intensity of all the passion coiled up within her. Celeste kissed back immediately, her hands coming up to cup Ruby's face, and suddenly they were stumbling toward the bed, their mouths never separating.
They fell onto the mattress in a tangle of limbs, rose petals scattering across the room. They tugged each other’s shirts off hastily, and then they were gloriously skin to skin.
Celeste let out a gasp as Ruby took a nipple in her mouth, her tongue circling before she sucked hard.
“Ruby.” The way she said her name, so full of want, made Ruby's head spin.
She moved to the other breast, lavishing it with the same attention, feeling Celeste's fingers tangle in her hair and tug. The slight pain only heightened Ruby's arousal.
Then Celeste rolled them over with surprising strength, her tongue hot and eager as it descended on Ruby's breast. She alternated between gentle licks and harder suction, and when she grazed her teeth across Ruby's nipple, Ruby cried out.
She kissed and bit her way across Ruby's chest, deliberately marking her. Ruby could feel the sting of each bite, the bruises forming, and she didn't care.
Let the whole world know someone had claimed her like this.
“I want to feel you,” Celeste told her. “All of you. I want us as close as we can possibly be.”
Ruby shifted and pressed her thigh between Celeste’s legs. The contact made Celeste gasp, grinding her hips harder in a bid to seek more pressure.
“Wait,” Ruby said, her hand stilling Celeste’s movements. “I've been thinking about something.”
“What?”
Celeste's voice was breathless and desperate.
“I want to know what it feels like when we move together.”
“Show me how.”
Ruby guided Celeste to lie on her side, then positioned herself to mirror her. Their legs became intertwined, Ruby's thigh over Celeste's hip and Celeste's leg hooked over Ruby's.
“Like this,” she said, adjusting the angle until their centers were aligned. “Now move closer.”
Celeste shifted forward, and when their bodies made contact—slick heat against slick heat, nothing between them—they both gasped.
“Oh God,” Celeste said. She closed her eyes, but Ruby’s voice immediately commanded her otherwise.
“Look at me.”
Celeste's eyes opened and Ruby held her gaze as she started to move. Just a small roll of her hips at first, testing. The friction was immediate and intense, eliciting a loud moan from Celeste.
“You like that?”
“Yes, I do.” Celeste responded. “Please never stop.”
Ruby moved again and Celeste matched her rhythm, their hips rolling together as they discovered more angles that made them both gasp.
“You feel incredible,” Celeste gasped, her movements becoming more fluid. “I can, oh, I can feel everything.”
Ruby's hand gripped Celeste's hip, pulling her closer and encouraging deeper contact. Sparks of pleasure flew through her body, building slowly but intensely.
She could feel Celeste's wetness coating her and feel how turned on they both were.
She increased the pace, grinding against Celeste with growing intensity. Their eyes stayed locked, watching each other's faces as the pleasure built. Ruby could see when something felt particularly good for Celeste, the way her pupils dilated and her lips parted in a silent gasp.
The angle shifted slightly, and suddenly the friction was hitting exactly the right spot for both of them.
“Oh fuck,” Celeste managed to say. “Stay right there.”
Ruby could feel her own climax building, and from the way Celeste was breathing—short, sharp noises that were almost sobs—she was close too.
The room was filled with the sounds of their breathing, their moans and the slick sounds of their bodies moving together.
“Ruby, I'm going to—”
“Come with me,” Ruby urged. “Together. I want to feel you come with me.”
The orgasm hit them simultaneously, both crying out as pleasure crashed through them. Ruby felt Celeste shudder against her, felt the rhythmic pulse of her climax, and it triggered her own release so mighty she saw stars.
They lay tangled together, hearts gradually slowing, breathing evening out. Ruby could feel the hickeys blooming on her skin and the pleasant soreness between her legs.
“I've never felt anything like that,” Celeste declared. “Never knew two people could be that connected.”
“Neither did I,” Ruby admitted. Because it was true—she'd done this before, but never with someone who mattered this much.
Celeste leaned across to brush Ruby's sweat-dampened hair back from her face.
“I have something to tell you,” Ruby said into the darkness, her heart hammering.
“Okay.”
“I always liked you, you know. In high school. I had the biggest crush on you.”
Celeste shifted to look at her, propping herself up on one elbow. “What?”
“That's why I stole your prom dates. Not because I liked Gerald or anyone else. I only wanted your attention. And the smugness, that was just flirting. Really terrible, immature flirting. I was seventeen and didn't know how else to get you to notice me.”
“You stole my prom dates to get my attention?”
“Stupid, I know.” Ruby traced patterns on Celeste's shoulder, needing something to do with her hands. “And I remembered your lunch order from Lapierre's because I had paid attention to you whenever you visited.”
Celeste was quiet for a long moment. Then she drew even closer to Ruby, until there was barely any space between them. “I noticed you too. I told myself it was rivalry. But looking back—” She paused.
“Maybe it was something else.”
They lay there in the darkness, hearts beating in sync.
“Ruby?”
“Yeah?”
“I'm glad Braden arranged this trip.”
“Me too.”
Ruby wondered if she should say more and acknowledge the growing weight of what was happening between them. Or figure out how to protect her heart before it was too late.
But Celeste was already falling asleep and Ruby couldn't bring herself to disturb the peace.