by Misti Murphy
I slip my hand inside the elastic of her panties. Touch her where she’s soaked, and burrow my finger into her slit.
She moans and her thighs fall apart for me as she tips her pelvis to give me better access to her needy little G-spot. I swear the sound of her vibrates right inside my fucking chest. I’ve never felt a woman’s moan like that, but then she’s different from anyone else. As much as I hate to admit it, she’s something else, and I need to know why. And what that means.
“Are you going to fuck me?” she asks breathlessly as I use my thumb to toy with her clit. Whimpers, like that’s exactly what she needs. A good, hard pounding that will have her screaming my name.
My cock pulses with the need to be buried inside her. It fucking throbs. But then I think about how much I’ve enjoyed her teasing. I still don’t know who she is. She’s a mystery. It’s why I’m so obsessed with her. And I make a decision. “No.”
“What?” She arches under my hand as I add another finger and stroke her more determinedly. I might plan on torturing us both, but I won’t quit mid-fingerbang.
“No, I am not going to fuck you tonight.” I growl into her neck. “So you better grip my cock and use that hand like you mean it.”
Her fingers automatically tighten around my hard, aching dick and lever up and down. “Why? Why won’t you?”
Because I know when I do I’m going to want to do it again and again. And I can’t have her disappearing on me in the middle of what would otherwise likely be a week-long sex-marathon. I stroke her hair with one hand as I bring her to the brink. Her grip on me gets sloppy and tighter. I’m so close. She’s on the edge. “You want it, don’t you? My cock inside you where my fingers are right now? Twisting you all up inside? Making you come?”
“Yes.” She cries out as her body buckles. “So, so much.”
“You want to beg for it, don’t you?” I roll my thumb over her swollen clit while I swallow her sex sounds with my lips.
“Do you need me to? Is that what you want?”
“No.” I smirk at her. What I want is her name. And her phone number. And to know she isn’t going anywhere until I’m done with her. Fuck, I want that. Every time she’s disappeared on me I’ve grown more frayed around the edges. Frustrated.
I push her into an orgasm. Feel her spasm around my fingers while her thighs quake. Watch her eyes roll back in her head. And when her grip tightens almost painfully around my cock, I spill all over her hand.
She pulls her hand free from my jeans and laps the wetness from her fingertips. Screw the refractory period, that’s almost enough to have me instantly hard again. I snap her panties back into place and pat my new favorite hobby through the cotton.
“Oh.” She breathes as she squirms away from my touch, still too sensitive from coming so hard.
I drop down on my side in the grass beside her. Wrap an arm around her and pull her to me. Get drunk on her lips with lingering kisses. “I can’t wait to fuck you.”
“When?” She rubs her thighs together. “Now?”
“No.” I smile into her hair. “When you want it so bad you’ll do just about anything to feel me inside you.” When she finally gives in and tells me who she really is.
“Damn.” She expels the word on a whine.
I wrap a strand of her long white locks around my finger. It’s totally a wig. Just like when her hair was golden that one time and platinum when we first met. It’s probably why she didn’t want me to touch it while she had her lips around my cock. In case I accidentally revealed this small detail about her. I study her face with its heart shape and nose that turns up slightly at the point. Her angular brows that are painted as white as her skin. “You’re such a mystery. I wish I knew more about you.”
“What would you like to know?” Her hand rests on my bicep as I lean over her and steal another kiss.
“Something real. About you. Who you are. What you like. Anything.”
“Oh.” She rolls onto her back and stares up at the sky. Pinches the tips of each finger while her face contorts with thought. She smiles as she lifts her fingers to mark out some stars. “Did you know that the star systems have drag queen names?”
“No, I didn’t. Is that an actual thing?”
“Well.” She closes one eye and points to a set of stars. “According to my dad they do. We call those ones the Huntress. It’s part of how Adira got his name, actually.”
“Fascinating.” I watch her more than I watch the stars as she points out each glittering jewel in the sky above us while we share the second bottle of champagne. She’s different. I feel…different around her. “So how long have you been friends with Adira?”
“All my life,” she says. “He… and my brother used to be close when they were younger. Before Adira owned his lifestyle choices. They parted ways when Liam… Adira… told him that dressing up in drag was part of his identity. My dad was supportive though. He helped Liam get set up when his parents cut him off. He went to all of Adira’s shows. And he’d take me with him. The queens taught me to sew and do my makeup.”
“It sounds like they’re your family.”
She nods. “They really are.”
“And your brother? Is he your only sibling?”
“I hope so.” There’s a bitterness to her voice that hints they don’t get along. “We don’t have a lot to do with each other.” She twists closer to me. “Not like your brothers.”
My relationship with my siblings is pretty special. But it had to be. “We were all each other had growing up. It made us close.”
“I like that,” she murmurs into my chest. “I’m glad you have someone in your corner. You’re not as glib as you like to pretend you are.”
“I…” don’t know how she knows that. Most people see only the incredibly sexy surface. Money. Women. Fast cars. Fame. And a devil may care attitude. Hell, that’s all that I want them to see. It’s all I wish there was. Only with Uma it’s like I don’t have to be on all the time. “That might be true. And now I also have you.”
Her eyelids are heavy. She can barely keep them open. “Until breakfast.”
Oh, it’s going to be much longer than that. “We should go. We can go back to my—”
“Let’s just stay here.” She grips my shirt tight. “For a little while longer. Then we can watch the sun come up over the city.”
I clasp the back of her head and kiss her forehead. “If that’s what you want.”
“Hey. Wake up,” a masculine voice says as someone nudges me with their booted foot. “You can’t sleep here.”
I open my eyes. Blink. The sun blinds me and I slam my lids shut again then put my arm over my face to block out the bright light.
“You can’t sleep here,” the man says again.
“Alright.” I huff out a breath and smack my lips together. My mouth is full of fuzz and tastes like old champagne.
“You have to go,” he insists, using his boot for emphasis again.
“Back the fuck off.” I growl as I sit up and rub a hand over my face. Last night was… incredible. We’d talked for hours. She’d told me more about her dad and pointed out the many star systems named after drag queens. I’d told her a little about my brothers. Apparently it was so good I fell asleep with Uma Cookie tucked into my side.
I glance around. “Did you see a girl?”
“Huh?” The man looks at me like I’m an idiot. A yard away his riding lawn mower sits idling.
“Was there anyone else here with me?” I jump to my feet and pat down my pockets. No phone. I glance around at my feet until I spot my device. “A woman in a red dress. A blue jacket. And white boots.”
“Oh.” He frowns at me. “No. But, do I know you?”
“Me? No.” I back up as I turn on my phone screen to find an open text box to my brother. One I didn’t write last night. That must have been Uma leaving me a note before she once again vanished into thin air.
I’m sorry. I had to go. XX
“Fuck.” I run a hand t
hrough my hair. I’d been hopeful that she wouldn’t take off during the night. I’d thought we’d come to an agreement. Waffles covered in maple syrup and vanilla ice cream. Blueberries. Strawberries. So much good coffee. But apparently I was wrong. “Damn it.”
“I do know you.” The guy takes his hat off and swipes the back of his hand over his already damp forehead. “You’re the guy who took a leak on that other fellow.”
“That was my brother,” I say while I pull up a ride app. “Rebel Maddox. That’s what you get when you threaten to assault a woman.”
“Tell him…” The man grips my shoulder before I can pass him. He has a tattoo of a pinup girl in a glittering red mini dress and pinned curls that makes me think of that evening I sang with Adira. “I applaud him.”
“I will.” I grin as I tap in my ride request. I don’t think Uma meant to open up about how close she is with the drag queen, but she did. And now that I know that I can find her again.
Chapter Twelve
Ivy
I walk into my favorite café on Thursday morning on my way to my statistics lecture with Professor Cox. It’s a bustling hive of activity. Students congregate around tables and form a line that snakes the length of the counter. The aroma of a dozen different pastries in the glass display cases makes my stomach growl.
Caffeine is the order of the day, and by the looks of it I am not the only one in need of the extra energy it’ll provide. Some of the other students look like they started their weekend early with a big night last night. Whereas I’m still finding glitter in my hair from my maxed-out weekend. If I never drink champagne again…
My mind skips back to my night with Rogue. We’d talked for hours. About everything. And anything. Touched in ways I didn’t know could feel so good. And he’d made me promise to stay for breakfast.
I wish I had. I wanted to. I still feel guilty when I think about him waking up to find me gone, but he couldn’t possibly believe that I was really going to stick around. I was dressed as a bunny, for heaven’s sake. I refused to tell him my name.
Still, I almost allowed myself to sink into the fantasy. Let myself imagine what it would be like to be with him in the light of day. Without my makeup or any sort of costume as a buffer.
And then my mother had summoned me and it didn’t matter what I wanted anymore.
A little piece of me lingers with him. As it has since the first time I saw him. If things were different—
A message pings my phone and I swipe the screen to read it.
Adira: Omg. I can’t believe you lied to me, you little liar. How’s your ass? Is it burning because your pants are on fire? Never mind. Forget that. You and Rogue Maddox? Again? How was it?
I haven’t seen Adira since before I ran into Rogue at the bar. He spent the rest of the weekend getting under someone in Santa Monica before he flew to New York to meet with an agoraphobic billionaire client on Monday morning.
He decided to stay on the east coast and catch up with some friends while he sourced this particular item. He gets home on the red-eye tonight, but I felt terrible about lying to him about who I was with on Saturday night. The guilt had me overwatering his calla lilies. Oops.
Okay, initially I wasn’t ready to share the details of the utterly perfect evening Rogue and I shared, but as the week progressed it became harder and harder to keep it to myself. I finally burst like a bubble last night.
I text him back straight away.
Me: Best night of my life.
Adira: Really? Tell me more.
Me: Getting java. I’ll call you on my way to class.
“Hey, Ivy.”
I glance up from my phone screen to find one of the guys from my statistics class staring at me. Ben Duffy. He’s tall and skinny with dirty blonde hair and bright green eyes. I sometimes watch him in class—he sits two rows in front of me—and imagine what he would look like in drag. I’ve sketched out a couple of outfits that I think would look killer on him, but I’ve never spoken to him so I don’t even know how he’d react to that knowledge.
“Hey,” he says again, adding a smile as his gaze dips over my appearance.
I blink at him. I’m pretty sure I look like a sleepy owl in soft, navy blue jeans, an oversized corduroy T-shirt, and my messy side buns. “H-hi.”
“You don’t talk much,” he observes.
I shake my head. I’ve always been shy, and sometimes it makes me feel completely ridiculous. How can I be an adult and barely able to string two words together without my war paint in place?
“It’s okay. My sister is shy too,” he says. “She doesn’t communicate very well with people she isn’t close to. She’s ten, but I suspect age doesn’t matter.”
My therapist wants me to practice talking to people more. I told her about a certain sexy celebrity and White Rabbit. I didn’t tell her that it was Rogue Maddox though, because it felt wrong to name him. And I kept the naughty bits to myself because I didn’t think that was any of her business, but the fact that I can have normal conversations with him while I’m in costume felt like a breakthrough that I should share. She suggested visualizing that I’m in costume even when I’m not to see if that helps me improve even more.
“Anyway.” He lifts and drops his shoulders. “I thought we could sit together in class. Become friends. That way you’ll be able to talk to me, right?”
I finger the leather chokers at my neck and nod. I’d like that.
“Okay.” He grins. “Do you want to walk over together or…”
I lift my phone up for him to see. “I-I have to—”
“You need to make a call?”
I sigh. Nod. It shouldn’t be this hard. I’m trying. I truly am. But it’s hard to be Ivy. Scared and unconfident. It’s so much easier to be Uma Cookie.
“I’ll see you in class,” he says, like he isn’t bothered by the weird girl at all.
I step into line as he walks away, open my purse in search of money and my stamp card. I’m almost due another loyalty freebie.
“He’s cute.” The girl in front of me smiles as she watches him over my shoulder. She’s in my class too. We’ve had back and forths like this a couple times since she plunked herself down next to me and asked to borrow a pen. She’s another who doesn’t seem to care that I barely answer.
I glance after Ben in time to see him exit the coffee shop. She’s right, he is cute. I’d noticed that the first time he’d dropped his bag by his seat and smiled at me as he sat down. He has killer dimples and the way his hair falls shaggily across his face is adorable. Plus, those lashes. With a couple coats of high-definition mascara those babies would put Adira’s fakes to shame.
But he’s not Rogue Maddox. “I suppose.”
“You suppose?” She rolls her gaze at me and turns her attention back to the front as the line moves forward.
My cheeks flush and I snap my mouth shut awkwardly. Ben is the kind of guy I should be interested in. Sweet. Kind. And in my league. Real. The sort of guy one finds her feet with.
Rogue is real too. But what we have isn’t. We had one amazing night together. That’s all. We didn’t even have sex. He doesn’t even know who I am.
I shuffle forward as the next person steps up to place their order. It takes a good five minutes to purchase and pay for my coffee. And another five until that piping hot caramel macchiato perfection in a paper cup is placed in front of me.
Picking up my drink, I turn to leave—I still need to call Adira and if I don’t hurry I’ll be late to class—and run into a hard wall of somebody’s chest. Must be one of the football guys because the torso in my face is a mountain of strength and power.
“Ouch.” The hot liquid seeping through my shirt and onto my skin is scalding. “Uh.” I back up and rip at the collar of my top to pull the soaked material away from my skin in the hopes it will cool the area quicker.
“So sorry. Are you okay?”
I freeze to the spot. I know that voice. My gaze narrows on the expanse of hard pectorals a
nd wide shoulders. I know that chest. I lift my gaze without moving my head. Up, up to find Rogue freaking Maddox’s diamond blue gaze locked on mine. He’s wearing a baseball cap low over his brow. Surely he doesn’t think that makes him unrecognizable? That’s like suggesting I’d be someone else entirely if I just took off my glasses. And yes, I know that’s ridiculously pot and kettle considering my advanced diploma in dressing up.
I swallow hard. More coffee spills on my fingers because my hand is trembling. My mouth won’t work.
“Are you okay?” he asks again.
“I-I…” I take a deep breath. So big it makes me dizzy. Visualize myself in white makeup with a couple of ears sticking out the top of my head. I’m a bunny. Be a bunny. Be a freaking bunny. “I’m fine.”
He steps back.
My eyes widen at my outburst. I, Ivy Love, actually spoke to him. Not Uma. Me. Ivy. Holy shit.
“Good.” His brow deepens into furrows. Lines crinkle the corner of his eyes and the bridge of his nose. “Let me buy you a new coffee?”
Rogue Maddox wants to buy me a cup of coffee? Me? “That’s not—"
“It’s the least I can do,” he says, pointing to the cup in my hand. “After I ruined that one.”
“Uh. Sure.” I frown. He doesn’t recognize me at all. Not from our night together. Not from Adira’s shop. Not from any of the times we passed each other by. Not from my voice. I always notice him though. Always.
At least now the line is gone. Most everyone has headed off to classes. He steps up to talk to the barista. “I need a couple cups of coffee. Double espresso for me. And what did you want?”
“I know your order.” The kid behind the counter winks at me. He’s used to my less than competent conversation skills.
Rogue frowns as he glances between us while he fishes out his wallet to pay.
We wait side by side while our coffee is prepared. My fingers itch to touch him. I can’t stop sneaking peeks. He’s so gorgeous and sexy. It doesn’t help that I know exactly what he’s capable of. My body remembers every detail of what happened between us on Saturday night. Before I fled while he was still sleeping.
