by Alyssa Cole
“Can’t have you falling and ripping that suit, Dandy Queen,” she said.
They clomped their way onto the ice, and Likotsi skated out a bit ahead of Fab. She prepared to push off hard, leaning her weight onto her back leg—and her skate slipped out from under her.
“Ouch!” Her palms stung from catching herself and her knees were cold through the fabric of her pants, but she thought the article of clothing was at least still intact.
She winced and started struggling to stand, only to tumble into an ungainly pile at Fab’s feet, which seemed rather fitting. “Oh dear. I believe that I may have overestimated my skating abilities.”
Fab pushed her way over to the wall surrounding the small rink, holding on to it with one hand and reaching out to Likotsi with the other.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Fab asked, hauling Likotsi to her feet.
Likotsi slipped and slid a bit, but then threw her other arm around Fab’s waist and finally got her footing.
“No. But I’ve found that sometimes bad ideas are a lot more fulfilling.” She looked into Fab’s dark brown eyes, refusing to believe that she couldn’t have this heat and happiness all the time because of something so small as thousands of miles of ocean and various large land masses.
The cold puffs of air they each exhaled intermingled, and Fab sighed. “Hold on to me.”
“You couldn’t pry me off with a crowbar,” Likotsi said, hugging Fab close as they took short, choppy steps forward. “For many reasons, but partly because I don’t think a broken butt fits in with my plans for later.”
Fab laughed and kissed Likotsi on her temple.
Little by little, Likotsi’s balance came to her, and she and Fab began skating more smoothly, and in sync. Heavy snowflakes eventually began to drift down, and the children around them squealed with delight.
“If you want to know how much I care about you, I’m not pushing you onto the ice to tuck my hair into my hat,” Fab said. “I’m risking frizzy acid-snow hair for you.”
“That is, perhaps, the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Likotsi teased.
“I guess we should get going. Your butt isn’t broken—yet. What are these plans you have later that you need a fracture-free booty for?” Fab asked, her gaze on the ice and her arm around Likotsi’s back.
“Making love to you again. If you want.”
Likotsi waited. Steeled herself against rejection, but then Fab squeezed her tight.
Fab looked at her and the right corner of her mouth lifted. “You’re gonna put it on me, aren’t you?”
Heat suffused Likotsi’s body. “That is the plan.”
Fab started skating toward the exit gate that led off of the ice, pulling Likotsi along with her. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Ten
Winter
“You really like your fancy hotels, huh?” Fab asked as Likotsi smoothly swiped her plastic key card into the door of the hotel room they were going into after having an adult beverage, presumably to do adult things.
Fab’s stomach flipped with excitement, anticipation, and fear—fear because she’d said there was today, and tonight, but just like last time, she wanted more.
“I’m on vacation,” Likotsi said crisply as she turned the knob on the door to her room. “Perks, remember?”
The hotel wasn’t far from the skating rink, an old bank that had apparently sat boarded up for years and had been recently renovated. From the luxurious atrium bar, where they’d just had hot toddies to warm themselves up, there was an unobstructed view of nine stories of open air ringed by ornate, antique railings, topped by a pyramid-shaped glass skylight, where planes passed overhead. As they lounged on a couch that would have fit right in in the Jane Austen movies Angie was always making her watch, Fab had thought for the first time in a long time, This place would be great for a photo shoot.
The room was small, unlike The Plaza suite, but the ceiling was high and one wall of the room was 2/3 windows. There was no butler, and the view outside the window was of another hotel, but she liked the intimacy and the fact that she didn’t have to worry about knocking over an expensive vase if she got too freaky.
Fab made a quick visit to the bathroom, giving her teeth a quick brush with the toothbrush Likotsi had asked for at the reception desk and washing her hands thoroughly. Likotsi gave her a sheepish grin as they maneuvered clumsily around one another, Fab stepping into the room and Likotsi taking her place.
Fab strode nervously toward the window, staring out at the office building across the street and the snow blowing through the canyon between them. It was nice to imagine being snowed in at a fancy hotel, but she hoped it all melted before Angie’s return the next morning.
She tugged the curtains closed, blocking out the outside world.
“I wish I’d asked for a room with a nicer view.” Fab turned and made her way purposefully toward Likotsi, surprised to see worry creasing the corners of Likotsi’s eyes. “I know it’s no Central Park, but—”
She gently gripped the lapels of Likotsi’s coat, respecting the fabric, and pulled until their faces were an inch apart.
“You think I care about anything outside that window, except for voyeurs? The only thing I’m interested in is right here. Me, you, and a bed, remember?”
“Oh. I see.” Likotsi’s dark brown eyes were warm with desire and with love, even if it was an impulsive love.
If they both felt it, if they’d both been stomped by it, how was it different from love that grew slowly and with careful cultivation? Maybe this love was a beanstalk, sprouting up overnight and reaching for the sky.
“You know, neither of us are conventional people,” Fab found herself saying, even though her initial plan had been grab Kotsi, kiss Kotsi, don’t ever stop. “Even if I’m dressed like one right now.”
“I love you, even in jeans, Fabiola C,” Likotsi said with a smile that made Fab’s teeth ache, it was so sweet.
“So why would either of us fall in love conventionally?” Fab was undoing the buttons on Likotsi’s coat now.
“That’s an eminently sensible question,” Likotsi said, allowing Fab to pull the coat down her shoulders. “One might say, there was no other way for us to fall in love but immediately. We know our own tastes. We know what best fits our style.”
“Exactly,” Fab said, dropping a kiss onto Likotsi’s mouth, tasting cinnamon, lemon, and rum. Likotsi kissed her back, unzipping Fab’s coat as she did.
“And since we fell in love unconventionally, maybe it’s okay if the rest of this is unconventional, too.” She tugged off Fab’s hat and threw it across the room with a bit more force than was necessary, making Fab laugh. She could take the jeans, but the hat was a bridge too far. “Perhaps, we won’t always be in the same place. But my boss is somewhat flexible, now, and he loves a happy ending more than most. And you really must come visit Thesolo. People always ask about my ring and Naledi’s necklace.”
“You still wear the ring I gave you?” Fab asked, fingers still fumbling with the buttons of Likotsi’s shirt. “Wait, what is it you do? You never told me.”
“Oh. Yes.” Likotsi’s hands stopped moving and her expression shifted to something similar to the face her mother’s dog made when food was found missing from the counter.
Fab didn’t allow herself to worry—or she didn’t allow her sudden worry to distract her. Likotsi was a good person.
But maybe her boss isn’t.
“I work for a prince.” Likotsi’s voice was too bright, as if she could mask the fact that what she was saying was completely fucking wild. “I’m Advisor Most High to Prince Thabiso Moshoeshoe of Thesolo.”
Fab started to worry, just a bit. This was . . . a little hard to believe. “Advisor. To a prince. How does one get into that?”
“I was recruited.” Likotsi reached into her back pocket and pulled out her wallet, flipping open the brown leather and tugging out a gold card. “Here is my identification.”
Fab stared at the golden
card, tilting it back and forth to reveal a holographic mountain range that she supposed meant it was real. The picture showed a younger Likotsi with a platinum-dyed Gumby cut that should have looked terrible but fit her face perfectly. There was only one problem. “This isn’t in English.”
“Oh.” Likotsi grabbed for her jacket, yanking it from the floor and fishing out her sleek cell phone. “I’ll Google myself. I’d planned to tell you the night of the gala because, well, the prince was the guest of honor but also I didn’t feel I needed to be vague any longer. But given my proximity to him, and how that might be used to compromise his safety, it’s not something I can disclose to just anyone. I have to trust them.”
“You trusted me?” Fab asked.
“Of course. It would be hard not to trust someone you’d fallen in love with.”
Fab took the phone and glanced at it. The screen was populated with images of Likotsi standing next to, well, a dude in a crown. The main search page had a link for an online encyclopedia bio—Fab was dating someone with their own encyclopedia entry. Apparently Likotsi was a world-renowned fashion plate who enjoyed poetry, technology, and weaving on a loom.
Fab looked up into the eyes of the woman who she’d pushed away, the woman who had forgiven her for it, and tossed the phone onto the couch without reading further. “Seems legit. Now kiss me. Oh, wait! We were talking about unconventional relationships. Can we have one?”
Likotsi stared, her expression somewhere between joy and confusion.
“Look.” Fab paused as she pulled her own sweater over her head. “We’ve got some things stacked against us. But lots of people have things stacked against them. Nothing has changed from last spring, except instead of running away I’m going to ask if, for the time you have left here, you want to try being together. You only got to one thing on that list of yours, you know. And I’m hoping you’ll change the title.”
“Something has changed,” Likotsi said, pulling her locs into a bun atop her head. “I work for a prince—well, now you know that I do. I told you once I have a particular skill set, and included in that skill set is making queries into citizenship and immigration issues. I could do that, for your aunt.”
Fab froze just as she was about to toss her sweater across the hotel room. It didn’t leave her fingertips, and instead swung back to softly smack into the bare skin of her side.
“You can?”
“I’m not sure anything will come of it, but I’ve been at this job for a few years now. I’ve seen people with power use their privilege for ill gain. If I can use it to help someone, it would behoove me to try.” Likotsi reached over and plucked the sweater from Fab’s hand, bunching it and holding it against her own stomach. “This has nothing to do with us. With you and I being together. I will look into this even if after tonight you decide to leave.”
Fab didn’t cry this time, only because her heart was bursting with happiness. Because Likotsi was going to try for her, and for her family, and because her assistance wasn’t contingent on getting anything from Fab.
“In fact, maybe we should wait.” Likotsi held out the sweater. “I don’t want you to think that—”
Fab grabbed the sweater and threw it over her shoulder.
“I’ve been waiting for months,” she said. “And I trust you. That’s kind of what happens when you love someone, I’ve heard.”
Likotsi stared at her, and Fab’s happiness wavered when she saw the fear in Likotsi’s eyes, like the woman was too scared to believe that this was really happening between them.
“I’m the one who broke your trust, even if I had a reason,” Fab said. “I’m gonna make sure you don’t have to doubt that I’ll stay, that you don’t have to plan for helping Lise even if I push you away again. I’m not going anywhere, Likotsi Adelele, Advisor Most High to Prince . . . Tha-someone. I’m right here.”
“Oh.” The word was a soft whisper of relief. “Oh, good. I don’t want to be without you again. I don’t want to even think of it.”
“So we’re doing this?” Fab asked, taking a step closer to Likotsi.
Likotsi looked down at the floor, then back up to Fab’s face. “My shoes are pointed at you.”
Fab tilted her head. “I’m guessing that’s a yes.”
“Yes,” Likotsi said, her voice stronger, her eyes brighter. “Yes. Let’s both of us see where this love leads. And when we are afraid, because we will inevitably be afraid again, let’s run to each other instead of away.”
“I can do that,” Fab said. She didn’t have to run to Likotsi then, because the space between them was only a step and Likotsi was closing it at the same speed she was.
Fab’s hands cupped the back of Likotsi’s neck, her fingers brushing over the close-cropped hair there as their mouths met without the hesitation of doubt. Their kiss was hot and desperate, lips crashing together with a desire that had come from months of longing, months of surety that this good thing between them had been lost.
The fingers of one of Likotsi’s hands tangled in Fab’s bra strap, and the other hand gripped her waist; there was something in the gentle possessiveness of the hold that made tears form in Fab’s eyes.
“I’m yours,” she said against Likotsi’s mouth.
“We’re each other’s,” Likotsi breathed. “We have been since we swiped right. And to think, people say technology is isolating.”
Fab laughed.
They tugged off each other’s clothes, Likotsi showing no care for her own fine suit, until they were both bare and pressed against one another. Likotsi’s skin was soft all over, and both of their bodies were hot to the touch despite a day spent in the cold—Fab imagined they were heated by this love between them to the perfect temperature for bending and reshaping, how she took a simple stick of steel and turned it into wild spirals or finely spun tear drops. She and Likotsi were shaping themselves into the perfect setting for the love they carried in their hearts—a bright, flashy, shining thing that not just anyone could rock.
“Goddess, I’ve missed the taste of you,” Likotsi whispered into Fab’s mouth. Her hands slid over Fab’s breasts, palms grazing the stiff brown peaks of her nipples, then down over Fab’s stomach, and gripping the flare of her wide hips. “And the feel of you and the shape of you.”
Likotsi kissed with her eyes open, and with her lips trembling as she fought the smile that pulled her lips back from Fab’s.
“I’m scared to blink,” she said. “I’m scared I’ll wake up from some wonderful dream.”
Fab licked into Likotsi’s mouth hard, then pressed a kiss on Likotsi’s chin, then delivered a gentle, pinching bite to Likotsi’s earlobe.
“This is real,” she whispered. Likotsi shivered, and Fab couldn’t tell if it was from her breath against Likotsi’s ear or her thumbs brushing over Likotsi’s nipples. “I mean, it better be real or I’m gonna be pissed when I wake up.”
They both laughed then, and maneuvered themselves over to the giant king-sized bed that dominated the hotel room. Likotsi tried to push Fab onto her back, but Fab had more leverage and made sure to come out on top.
“I lead, remember?” She ran her hands down Likotsi’s body, one cupping a breast, the other continuing downward, palm sliding over smooth skin and wiry hair until her middle and index finger notched over Likotsi’s clit.
Fab pressed with those two fingers, circling wide and shallow over the slick nub, watching as Likotsi’s eyes squeezed shut and her head pressed back into the pillow. Fab leaned forward to lick at that exposed stretch of neck, to pepper Likotsi’s collarbone with kisses, to run her teeth over that décolletage that had teased her from beneath an unbuttoned starched shirt on their first date.
Likotsi moaned, an undignified sound that was so different from her otherwise calm and collected manner. Fab smiled as she licked down the valley between Likotsi’s breasts, turning her head to draw one nipple into her mouth while her fingers pinched and teased the other.
She smiled because she’d discovered something
that first night together—seeing Likotsi climax with abandon, without the strictures of her tailored suits and ties and waistcoats, was really fucking hot.
She deepened the pressure of her fingers between Likotsi’s legs, pressing harder and rubbing just slightly faster. She wanted to give Likotsi pleasure, but when Likotsi’s hips bucked, when her hands gripped helplessly at Fab’s shoulders, Fab’s own core tightened with pleasure, and her own desire spiraled up to her head, making her feel dizzy.
“Yes. More, Fab.” Her hands gave just the slightest directional push at Fab’s shoulders—downward. Likotsi had said that she led from behind, and she did this in all aspects of life.
Fab took her orders, licking down Likotsi’s stomach. She repositioned herself on the bed, shuffling over the smooth duvet so that her fingers still massaged Likotsi’s clit as her mouth drew closer.
She licked over her own fingers, the tip of her tongue delving between her knuckles to trace along the ridge of Likotsi’s nub. She glanced up at Likotsi, who gazed down at her with passion and adoration, her lips pressed together hard. The muscles of Likotsi’s abdomen jerked, and Fab flattened her palm over it as she teased the thin strip of dark, exposed flesh poking up from between her index and middle fingers.
Likotsi’s fingers dug into the thick duvet, and her hips thrust up insistently—another order that Fab was happy to oblige.
She moved her fingers away, and this time when the flat of her tongue lapped over Likotsi, it firmly covered Likotsi’s clit. She settled firmly between Likotsi’s thighs now, her greedy mouth licking and sucking.
“Goddess,” Likotsi moaned, writhing on the bed, and even though Fab knew she wasn’t talking to her, she took it as encouragement. She whirled her tongue hard, then following with soft, gentle laps that she knew left Likotsi eager for more.
She stiffened her fingers, still moist from Likotsi’s pleasure and her own tongue, and slicked them into Likotsi’s channel, turning her wrist as she thrust in and out, feeling Likotsi’s inner muscles clamp around her fingers as they swirled.
