Chapter Sixteen
We had dinner. At a restaurant. I cannot tell you which one or what I ordered or even what we talked about after Remi had given up on her guessing. No nipple or belly-button piercing. No unicorn—that had given me a good laugh—on my ankle or rose on my lower back. Though she admitted defeat and stopped guessing, she didn’t stop picturing me naked, seeking my secrets.
I knew because that was what I was thinking about. We were going to have sex. The gorgeous woman sitting across from me had already agreed that I would be removing just about all her clothes, and I didn’t see us watching a movie or kicking back on the couch with a beer, her naked and me fully clothed, my tattoos and piercing hidden from her. Her slender fingers twisting the stem of her wineglass tightened my nipples. When her lips closed over her fork, my clit pulsed to the beat of my racing heart.
We held hands on the way back to my place. My mind raced. I had engaged in so much mental foreplay that I was ready to rip off Remi’s clothes the second we got in. But this would be our first time. The first time to touch her skin, first time to taste her. What we were about to do was in no way giving in to our impulses. We were starting something. I felt the weight of it.
I slipped out of my jacket and held out my hand for Remi’s. Her eyes never leaving mine, she set her purse on my counter and slowly removed her coat. “One.”
I pointed to her feet.
“Two,” Remi said as she slipped off both shoes and arranged them neatly by my kitchen counter.
“That’s kind of you.”
She tipped her head slightly in acknowledgment of my words and silently stepped closer, our hips almost touching. When she leaned forward, I expected to feel Remi’s lips on mine. Instead, Remi gathered my hair away from my neck and traced my ear with the tip of her tongue before gently biting the lobe.
I shivered and tilted my head to reveal the canvas of my neck.
“Oh,” she said breathily before kissing each of the small stars behind my left ear.
“I’ll give you those since you counted the shoes as one item.”
“Significance?” Remi placed her hands on my hips and continued kissing her way down my neck, across each clavicle and up to the other ear. The feathery touch of her lips and tongue made it almost impossible to speak.
“One for each niece and my nephew.”
“I am fortunate you are such a dedicated auntie.” Her lips finally found mine. Soft, so soft, yet so clearly expressing her appreciation and attraction.
I stepped closer, very aware that without her heels, her hips were now parallel to mine. I kicked off my flats and ran my hands from her hips to her shoulders, pulling her closer. I savored the light brush of her body against mine and shuddered as she ran her hands up my front. Her eyebrows rose in question, and I smiled shyly. She paused below my breasts and traced her fingers across them causing the already peaked nipples to harden underneath the fabric. Remi took each peak between thumb and forefinger. “You said no piercings here.”
The pressure and the huskiness in Remi’s voice made me dizzy with desire.
“Correct,” I whispered.
“I hope you do not mind my double-checking.”
All I could manage was to shake my head. I could not form words when Remi’s hands returned to my waist to explore the smooth expanse of my belly. My heart raced, and I opened my eyes to find Remi studying me. “What?” I asked. Self-conscious heat crept up my neck.
“You said no belly button piercing when I was guessing at the restaurant, yet you did not correct me when I said I was looking for another piercing, not another tattoo.”
“Correct again. The change in environment has improved your game.”
Her eyes still locked on mine, she pulled against my hips, grinding against my center. I had to break away from the kiss when she engaged my piercing. “Getting closer, I see,” Remi said, continuing to grind.
“If we don’t move,” I groaned.
“Yes?”
“I might…” Remi felt so good against me that, again, words abandoned me.
“As good as this feels, I imagine it would feel even better without any clothes,” Remi said, loosening her hold on me.
In total agreement, I led Remi to my bedroom. Walking cleared my head enough to see that Remi had only given me two of my allotted six items of clothing. I kept my eyes locked on hers as I slipped the thin buttons from the delicate fabric of her shirt. “Three,” I said, pushing it from her shoulders to reveal a whole landscape I wanted to explore. I swept my hands over her contours, my hands gathering information that I could only discover through touch. Moving from hips to the small of her back, up to her shoulders… Her bra impeded my progress.
“Four.” She wore a black silky bra fastened in the front. Before I released the clasp between her breasts, I studied her eyes again. I could feel how quickly her breath came and smiled at the hitch when I freed her breasts, but her eyes remained steady on me, fairly melting my insides.
Her eyes closed only when I grazed her nipples with the palms of my hands, giving me permission to explore with my eyes as well as my hands. The contrast between her skin and nipple pinpointed exactly where my mouth belonged. I bent to wet one nipple with the tip of my tongue as I applied more pressure to both breasts with my hands, again trusting the communication between her skin and mine to tell me what she liked best.
I lowered my hands to the waistband of her slacks and whispered, “Five and six separately or together?”
She answered my question by unfastening her pants herself and pushing both items from her hips. She stepped from the puddle of her pants and underwear, unveiling a body more beautiful than any artwork I had ever admired. “You are absolutely gorgeous.”
The way she did not deflect my compliment made her even sexier.
“I need to see you.” She tugged my shirt free from my pants. “I have not found what I am looking for.”
I sucked in my breath when she unbuttoned my shirt. Warm, sure hands wrapped around my back to liberate my breasts. “You think I’m going to let you take those for free?” I asked. With my body, I guided us to my bed and pulled down the covers, thinking I was in total control. Instead of climbing onto the bed, she remained standing.
“Yes, I do.” Her words surprised me, and I chuckled, but what she said next turned up the burner on my desire yet again. “You sounded like you were going to climax on your feet. I think you want to give these to me. You have wanted me to take them off you since you first saw me at the science fair.”
“Not at the fair! There were children everywhere!”
She eased my shirt from my shoulders and flicked away bra straps to expose my breasts. I shivered underneath her careful study of my body. “You are a puzzle, Karla Hernandez.”
I loved the way she said my name. “Puzzle?” I asked, leaning into her in case she had forgotten that I was still clothed from the waist down.
“I have conducted a thorough search above the waist…” She paused here to kiss my earlobes again, engage my tongue in a passionate dance, brush her lips over each of my nipples and kiss my stomach. Each place she touched made me pulse with desire. “I can think of only one other area suitable for piercing, and I would think that someone brave enough to pierce below the waist would be titillated at the idea of being seduced in a place that risked discovery.”
“Is that something that you’re into?” I asked, feeling uneasy.
“No. This temptation is unique to you. When I saw you at Sloan’s, I suddenly understood how people find themselves making out in bathrooms. Although in a bathroom, one’s access would be limited.” She unbuttoned my pants and hooked her finger at the waist of my underwear, slowly drawing her finger from one hip to the other. “If I had you pressed to a stall door, these would have stayed in my way.”
With my eyes closed, she had me in that stall, the imagined restaurant noise ratcheting up anticipation that was already almost more than I could bear.
“Believe
me, I could make do, but tonight, I must see all of you” She lowered me to my bed and coaxed my slacks and underwear off. I felt faint with want, waiting on my bed completely exposed. “That’s better,” she whispered. “You are a work of art.”
She joined me on the bed, then, placing a knee between my legs and crawling above me, peppering my body with warm kisses. “I plan to appreciate you accordingly, but I cannot do so properly until I confirm whether my guess about your piercing is correct.” Remi traced my naked belly button with her tongue, picking up where she had left off when she began to remove my clothes. She moved lower and ran her hands up my bare legs, her breath warm on my thighs. I gripped the sheets in both hands, panting. Finally, finally Remi wrapped her lips around my piercing. Already on the edge of tipping over, the tiny vibration of Remi’s moan against the ring above my clit was all it took to catapult me into spasms of delight.
Remi stroked my sides as my body rode the waves of pleasure from the pressure of her tongue. When I finally lay quietly, Remi rose to mirror my body. “I’m sorry. I did not realize you were so close.”
“I told you I was close in the hallway,” I reminded her.
“That was too fast,” she said, her smoldering eyes on mine. She watched me as she traced sensual circles around but not on my piercing. My insides began to gather again.
“Not yet.” I pulled Remi to me, our legs scissored so our centers met. “I have to feel you.”
Remi gasped against my neck. “Oh! That. Feels. So. Amazing.”
I held her hips as she rocked against me. Her eyes closed, her lips parted and she began to grind with more purpose. She was going to finish before I could even begin my exploration. I exploited her distraction, scooting to my side in order to reverse our positions.
“You said I came too fast.” I hovered above her and kissed her deeply.
She pulled at my hips.
“What about slow?”
“Next time. I am too close. I want you on me.”
How could I refuse? “Here?” I asked, slowly lowering myself until I felt the pressure of my piercing against her. My whole attention was captured by Remi’s body and the way we fit. I thought exclusively about how to coax the same rapture from Remi’s body as she had from mine.
Remi tightened her hold, pulling me closer. Her breath quickened. “There. Yes. Don’t move. Please.”
It was the please that did me in. I wrapped my arms around Remi, wove my hands through her hair and thrust until I felt Remi quake underneath me. The groan that accompanied Remi’s climax lit another explosion inside me, and we cried out together as a second climax ripped through me. I continued rocking gently until Remi’s hold on my ass relaxed enough that I could move next to her.
“That thing,” she panted. “Is so hot. You are so hot.”
“No, that’s you,” I argued.
“Are you always that sensitive? Is that why you got pierced?”
“Yes to the sensitive, but it’s a lucky byproduct, not why I got pierced.”
Remi propped herself up on her elbow, stroking my belly and hips. “And that was because?”
“My twenty-first birthday, my sister felt sorry for me because I didn’t have any friends or plans. She drove me over to Vegas to party. We had drinks, and she got to teasing me for saying I was done in after two. She said I needed to loosen up and confessed that she was going to get her hood pierced. I was like, fine, do what you want to do. I went with her to the shop and waited as she made sure it was all legit. And waited for her to work up the nerve. And waited. Finally, I said that she was making it worse by not just doing it. She dared me to go first, so I did.”
“And your sister?”
“Chickened out.”
Remi gasped. “Did she feel so bad?”
“No. She told me I could take it out, but it made me feel invincible.”
“Do you do everything your siblings dare you to do?”
“I didn’t go bungee jumping with my brother.”
“Limits are good. But I will say that I’m glad you took this risk.” The playfulness in her eyes and the tilt of her smile made me think she was thinking about public places and the risk of getting caught again.
“I have a feeling you are going to push for more risks,” I said, searching her eyes for her own limits. I thrilled inwardly at the discoveries in our future. We were going to have a lot of fun.
“Absolutely, I will.” Her hand glided down to my piercing. “But not tonight. Tonight it is enough to appreciate the lucky byproduct of your previous risk-taking.”
“So glad you approve,” I said, surrendering, once again, to Remi’s touch.
Chapter Seventeen
Music drifted into my dreams, dreams I had not even had to work for. Dreams that had come to me after Remi and I dropped into exhausted sleep sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Remi. I opened my eyes and found my beautiful, sleep-rumpled lover staring back at me.
“Are you going to answer that?” she whispered.
I grimaced. “It’s my mother. Oh, shit! It’s Sunday, and it’s my mother. I have to answer.” I mouthed sorry as I swiped the screen. Remi waved off the apology and tipped her head toward the bathroom before scooting out of bed.
“Hi Ma.” I shut my eyes to keep myself focused on my mother instead of the tempting view of Remi’s naked body.
“What’s wrong?”
I tried to clear the sleep from my voice. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“It sounds like I woke you! You never sleep this late. You’ll be late for mass!”
“Mass?” I smacked my palm against my forehead.
“You’re still in bed, aren’t you? Are you sick?”
“I’m not sick. I promise.”
“Is it about the woman Rosa saw at your house?”
“Ma!”
“So you are missing mass for a woman. Are you going to miss dinner as well?”
“I don’t know, Ma. I’ll call you later.”
“Karla…”
“Go! Mass is going to start! I’ll talk to you later,” I promised before discarding my phone on the bedside table.
Remi eased back into the room. She bent to retrieve her clothes, and I reached over to pull her back to bed.
“I am not sure if I should get back in bed with you. It sounds like you are in trouble.”
“I don’t want to talk about my mom,” I said, resting my hands on Remi’s hips. “Now that I’ve seen you like this, I don’t think I can ever let you put clothes on again.”
“That’s going to make my errands difficult.”
“You’d pick errands over being naked in bed?”
“You can’t spend the whole day in bed. What about food?”
“At least let me say good morning.” I walked my fingers up Remi’s sides until I reached her shoulders and gently pulled her close enough to kiss. I ran my hands all over Remi’s beautiful skin. Touching her made my entire body sing. Everything else in my life dropped away.
“It is a lovely morning.” Remi combed my dark hair back from my face with her fingers. “I enjoyed myself last night. I enjoyed you.”
“Me too.” I leaned in to kiss her, but she dodged me.
“But you made me very, very hungry.”
“Food it is,” I growled, swinging my legs off the bed. I grabbed a pair of sweats and a T-shirt on the way to the bathroom and came out ready to cook breakfast. Remi had dressed as well and was commiserating with Petri about the lack of good service.
“Waffles or pancakes?” I asked, collecting my hair in a tie.
“Waffles with a side of why you’re in trouble for skipping mass. Do you go every week?”
I gathered the ingredients. “Usually. If I’m not going, I tell my mom. That’s why she called.”
“How much trouble are you in?”
“I’ll fix it tonight, but right now, I’ve promised someone breakfast. Coffee or tea?”
“Coffee. Point out where you keep everything, and I’ll make it.”
We worked in silence while I thought of what to say about my mother’s call. Steam from the waffle iron and coffeemaker filled the kitchen making my stomach rumble. I pulled out some butter and maple as well as strawberry syrup. Remi squinted at the bottle of red liquid. “Rosa loves strawberry.”
“She stays with you often?”
The waffle iron beeped, and I pulled out the golden waffle and handed it on a plate to Remi. “Sometimes her house is full of crazy, so she stays here. And sometimes she comes to help her tìa get a night of good sleep.”
“How did you sleep last night?” Remi slipped her arm around my middle.
“I slept so well. All two hours you let me.”
Remi beamed at me. “Are you saying I didn’t cure your insomnia?”
“In my scientific opinion, one night of a few hours’ worth of sleep is inconclusive evidence.”
The waffle iron beeped again, and I grabbed a plate for myself.
“Then I will have to stay again.”
“Can you stay and keep your hands to yourself?” I asked.
She feigned a pout. “Probably not.”
We fixed our waffles and sat next to each other on barstools on the living room side of my counter, quiet while we ate. She interrupted the silence to say, “You can’t tell your mother I’m why you missed mass. I don’t want to be seen as a bad influence.”
I tried to hide how the phrase “bad influence” hit me but wasn’t successful.
Remi reached across the bar to take my hand. “Have I already caused some question about influence?”
“No, not you. Not you at all. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. All the wind went out of your sails when I said that. Who has accused you of being a bad influence?”
“Maricela’s mother cornered me at work the other day.”
“Who?”
“The college student I’ve been helping with her biology class. Her mother has a problem with my being gay and being around her daughter.”
Cure for Insomnia Page 14
