by Larkin Rose
Jodi jumped from her chair, anxious to end the conversation.
Eve started walking without waiting for the rest of them. “Khandi, round up everyone else who wants to come. Tell them drinks are on me.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Jodi took in a breath of fresh air as they pushed out onto the sidewalk, thankful for the first time that it wasn’t raining as the weatherman had predicted. Her heart was still catapulting.
Amelia fell back and grabbed Jodi’s arm. “What the fuck was that all about?”
Jodi rubbed her chin. “I don’t know, Amelia. I’m so sorry.”
Amelia gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be. It’s really not your fault. Well, not all of it.” She glanced toward Eve. “We had no way of knowing my boss and your client would be one and the same.”
“I know. But that doesn’t make me feel any better right now.” They waited for a car to pass before following Eve across the street. Eve slipped inside the bar with a backward glance.
Amelia jerked Jodi to a stop. “I’m not sure you have a choice. You might have to tell her before that little twat back there spills the beans. It’ll be worse coming from someone else.”
Jodi’s gut churned as her mind filled dangerously fast with the many different scenarios of the outcome. “Which part? That I fuck for a fee, as you put it so succinctly? Or that I make her come a few nights a week through her cell phone?”
Amelia studied her for several seconds. “Shit. Neither. Both. I don’t fucking know. It’s too much drama. I can’t think.” She glanced toward the bar. Her eyes narrowed. “Okay, if the twat hasn’t said anything yet, then she’s hesitating for a reason. Right? All you have to do is keep Eve busy. You can do that. Right?”
Jodi draped her arm around Amelia’s shoulder. “Come on, frazzle brain. Let’s go get you a drink.”
“Yeah, like alcohol will make it all go away.” Amelia stalled outside the bar door. “Whatever happens, just remember I love you. Okay?”
“I love you too. But you’re still going to toss my ass in the river if all hell breaks loose, correct?”
“Correct.”
With a smile, Jodi led her inside.
Chapter Fifteen
The reserved bar was crowded and loud, but relaxed and comfy as everyone laughed, letting the stress of the day dissolve. Eve always enjoyed this particular night—the night before the showdown—when everyone was at their peaked high with anxieties overloaded. Yet mixed in the chaos was tranquility and calmness, like the eye of the hurricane.
The back side of the storm would come bright and early tomorrow, and together, they would all rush like wild tigers for the kill.
Eve sipped her wine and found Jodi sitting with Amelia. They were talking quietly to each other. She was now positive something was amiss between the two of them, though what, she couldn’t put a finger on.
She suddenly thought of Lexi. Twice in the past few days she’d attempted to call her, only to get a recorded message saying she was unavailable right now. That was unlike her. Eve made a mental note to call her later. Before she left this building, or maybe after she fucked Jodi.
Her insides heated with the thought and then an immediate dread washed over her. Tonight, then tomorrow night, and her time with Jodi would come to an end.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. A little sad maybe?
Low murmurs filled the room and Eve turned to find Zara weaving through the crowd, her height making her almost a head taller than most of the gathering. Late, as usual. She’d always needed a grand entrance to boost her ego, as if everyone in the room had been waiting with bated breath for her entrance alone, as if she were one of the models, or even a damn designer. Her following stayed close to her, all with their heads high, knowing they were walking behind royalty. She was, of course, but it irked Eve that everyone treated her as such.
Eve made her way to the bar for a refill, not wanting to appear too eager to greet Zara. She leaned against the counter, ordered a Crown and Coke, then felt body heat close to her. Familiar body heat. With a breath hanging in her throat, she turned to find Jodi standing beside her.
Her libido instantly coiled tight, automatically slicking juices between her thighs.
“How much longer do I have to watch you prance around this room before I can take you home to fuck you?” Jodi whispered.
Eve’s breath fluttered in her throat like a trapped bird. Jesus, what was this woman doing to her? “There’s a bathroom right around the corner.” She took a sip of her drink. “We don’t have to wait at all.”
A smile flicked across Jodi’s lips. “That’s very tempting. But the way I want to make you scream tonight, I think privacy might be in order.”
Eve looked away, positive she’d moaned out loud. Her pussy was scalding hot, and her insides felt like someone had run her through a meat grinder.
“With promises like that, how could a girl refuse?” Eve pushed away from the counter. “Give me ten minutes and I’m taking you up on that offer.”
Eve made her way quickly to Zara, placing her sweetest smile in place. She kissed her cheek and sat across from her.
Before Eve could make pleasant conversation, Zara leaned across the table. “You must really be doing well for yourself, my dear. She doesn’t come cheap.” Zara looked toward the bar and pursed her lips with vicious amusement.
Eve was terrified to look, but more afraid not to. She slowly turned her attention on Jodi, exactly where Zara was staring. A lump swelled in her throat.
All the little pieces of the puzzle slammed into place, forming a picture-perfect image before her.
The older woman at the restaurant, the billboard clothing, the way she worked those hands like a master, that immaculate condo Eve wasn’t sure even she could afford, and the way she wouldn’t answer Eve’s questions about her day job.
A hooker. She’d been sleeping with a fucking hooker.
Jodi was still perched on a stool, and her brow cocked at Eve’s immobile stare. Then something flickered in her eyes. Regret? Shame? Remorse? Fear?
Eve took in a shallow breath, refusing to turn a startled expression back on Zara, damned if she’d let her see her squirm. Warning bells sounded in her head as she forced a grin in place and turned to face Zara.
Eve put her mouth against her ear and whispered, “Sweetie, you must be getting rusty in your old age. She does me for free.”
Eve begged the heavens above that her words wouldn’t change the outcome of the fashion show, knowing full well it would if she didn’t take recovery action immediately. Zara was an immature brat who wouldn’t hesitate to fuck up Eve’s event by pulling her money out of every sale.
She pushed away from the table with only a quick glance at Zara’s shocked gasp. One foot in front of the other, she strode across the room.
*
Jodi couldn’t move as Eve barreled toward her, hating herself for not taking those quiet two minutes to take Eve aside and tell her the truth. She’d missed her opportunity, and now Zara had definitely busted her. It was all over. Eve’s hard expression spoke volumes.
Goddamn Zara! Now Amelia was doomed, just as predicted. She could feel it in her bones as surely as she could see Eve storming her way.
Jodi came apart on the inside with every step Eve took. Her emotions, her deep connection to Eve, far greater than she could dare admit, were crashing down around her. Every moan of pleasure, every whisper of her name, every detail of personal information they’d shared, had created that connection, long before she laid eyes on Eve. And now her Eve, with her expression void and anger tightening in her jaw, was going to turn her world upside down.
Jodi felt trapped and ashamed.
And now it was too late. It was too late for Eve to hear the truth from Jodi’s mouth, too late for Jodi to explain who and what she was for her own personal reasons.
It was too fucking late.
She braced herself for the catfight, for the sting of that delicate hand
across her face, and thought of Amelia, how Amelia was right, how the only person going to get hurt was Jodi. Jodi was going to fall apart. How she knew that, she didn’t know. The pit of her soul told her so, and then Eve came to a halt in front of her.
“That offer still good?”
Jodi blinked. “Y…yes.”
“Meet me outside in five.” Eve turned and vanished so quickly that Jodi wasn’t sure she’d ever been there.
Jodi turned to Amelia and shrugged. Had she misread Eve’s expression? She begged heaven that she had.
Her heart sank. She had to fix this, had to tell Eve. All of it. That she was a sex operator. Eve’s sex operator. That she fucked for a fee.
*
Eve stomped down the sidewalk toward Jodi’s condo with Jodi racing to keep stride. As much as she wanted to scream out her rage, she had to keep her cool. Nothing would change the fact that she’d been sleeping with a fucking personal escort.
And now she’d pissed off Zara with her little act of bravado. She knew Zara well enough to know she wouldn’t show her face at the final moment just to prove she carried the power to create conflict and cause trouble. To prove to Eve that she needed her as a buyer. As well as the group she brought to every show.
She dug her cell from her purse and dialed Khandi. “I need you to go through the Rolodex and contact every bidder we’ve ever used. The star design is no longer for sale. It’s on the auction block.”
“What? Are you serious? What the hell happened?” Khandi yelled.
“It doesn’t matter. Get Roger to the suite to help. I want every number dialed before the night’s end. I want that dress on every computer screen in every country before it makes it to the runway. Ditch Zara’s.”
“Am I dreaming? We’re really going to be free of the Queen of I Love Myself?”
“Seems that way.”
“God, I love you.”
Eve almost smiled. “Can you handle it?”
“Pfft. I’m already done.”
Eve closed her cell phone and looked straight ahead. She had nothing to say to Jodi as they walked briskly along the sidewalk to her apartment. She should be hurt, but for some reason, she wasn’t. She should be angry and violent, but she wasn’t that either.
It was too late for pity or anger. She’d been sleeping with a hooker for days. But how was that different from the sex operator she allowed to seduce her nightly? The one she paid to help her come? She wanted to laugh. Somehow, she’d woven herself into a different world from the normal people surrounding her, from the people who had lovers and partners waiting at home.
She couldn’t do relationships, nor did she want to, so she’d added a sex operator to speed dial. Now she was sleeping with someone who got paid to fuck.
How ironic was that?
Eve dared a glance at Jodi, who seemed content to allow the quiet walk. What was she thinking? Did she know that Eve knew? What excuses would she have? Or would she have any? In all honestly, she didn’t owe Eve an explanation.
Nor did Eve want one.
Right now, she just wanted Jodi’s hands on her, around her, in her. She wanted penetrating screams ripped from her throat, wanted Jodi’s face between her thighs, wanted her fingers buried deep.
She quickened her steps and Jodi rushed to keep up.
“Is everything okay?”
“It will be as soon as you get me naked.” Eve stopped at the entrance to the building and waited for Jodi to key in the code to unlock the doors.
Jodi cleared her throat nervously and led the way across the lobby and into the elevator. Eve focused on the digital readout above the doors, willing it to speed up. Finally, the elevator came to a halt and Eve followed Jodi to her apartment. Jodi closed the door behind them.
Eve kept walking, shedding clothes as she went. Only when she stood naked beside Jodi’s bed did she turn around. “Take off your clothes, Jodi.”
Hesitantly, Jodi undressed. Eve climbed into the center of the bed, fascinated. Jodi was probably the most gorgeous woman she’d ever encountered. She met and matched all Eve’s fantasies and more. That brick-hard body, those captivating green eyes, and that flyaway hair—Jodi had been ripped right out of her mind, her fantasy fuck, piece by lickable piece. She was by far the best fuck Eve had ever had, and she was a damn hooker. She got paid to make women come. Handsomely, by the looks of this condo.
How could that not be fascinating? The fact that women, obviously many of them, kept coming right back to the woman now standing naked before her, waiting, ready for the next command.
Jodi stood her ground. Any movement might break the spell, might slice the ground from under her feet and dump her in the shit.
“Get your toy.”
Jodi moved robotically to the nightstand and fastened the dildo around her hips while Eve faced the iron bars. She swallowed when Eve grabbed hold of the top rail and looked over her shoulder, expectation strong on her narrow face, that raven hair like a silk cloak against her back and shoulders.
With emotions tangling inside her, Jodi moved across the bed and between Eve’s parted thighs.
“Jodi?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t stop until I beg you to.”
The order threw Jodi off-key, the softly voiced commands confusing her. She desperately wanted Eve to talk to her, to confirm Jodi’s worst suspicion. In the same fleeting thought, she didn’t want to ruin the next few hours. She had Eve tonight. That’s all that mattered.
She parted Eve’s slit with the tip of her finger, slicking through her creaminess, and inhaled her potent arousal. Then she pushed inside her.
Eve whimpered.
Jodi lay over her, pumping deep and slow. She kissed the dragon, trailing a wet path down Eve’s spine, across her shoulders, into the crook of her neck. Eve arched, driving herself back, her knuckles white with her death grip on the bars.
“Harder, Jodi.”
Jodi leaned back on her knees, wishing she knew what Eve wanted from her, what she expected, what would make her never forget.
Tonight could be her last night before New York called her home.
Was Eve going to let Jodi fuck her and then leave? Was she ever going to talk to Jodi, tell her what was wrong, scream, yell, rant, or rave?
Jodi pulled free of her, grabbed Eve’s legs, and jerked her knees out from under her. When Eve turned a startled look on her, Jodi rolled her onto her back and eased between her legs.
Eve opened her mouth to protest, but Jodi halted her with a finger against those lips. “Shh. I haven’t let you down yet, have I?”
Eve shook her head.
Jodi eased deeper between Eve’s thighs and drew a leg up and over her shoulder.
With a single drive, she entered her.
Eve dug her head into the pillow and clutched at Jodi. Her other foot arched against Jodi’s ribs, sliding down to her hip with every upward thrust.
Jodi loved how Eve’s lips pursed when she drilled deep, how they parted when she withdrew. She was breathtaking—beautiful and stunning. She was angelic and a lioness all wrapped into one petite little frame.
She pumped faster, stronger, arching deep inside her, then eased down over her.
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and chewed, sucking the tip of her tongue while Eve moaned, her breathing ragged.
Jodi caressed her rib cage, farther down, over the cheek of her ass, then up the leg draped over her shoulder. She stopped when she reached her ankle and reversed the path. When she reached that firm cheek again, she kept going down, deeper, until she encountered her puckered entrance.
Eve clutched tighter and Jodi pressed her finger against the resisting ring, already slick, ready.
“Please, Jodi.”
Jodi flicked her tongue across Eve’s top lip. “I like it when you beg, Eve.” She drove against her and then pressed her finger harder, lighter, then harder again, pushing in light pulses against her opening.
“God, do it. Jodi, do it.”
/> Jodi slicked her tongue into Eve’s mouth at the same time she pressed her finger inside. She swallowed Eve’s moan and pumped deep, driving both dildo and finger in the same thrust. In, out, hard, soft, fast, slow, she fucked Eve.
Her whole body quivered against Jodi and then she froze, back arched, head thrown back, and lips parted. “Oh, shit! I’m c-coming!”
Eve thrashed and clutched, one leg clamping around Jodi’s and her hips thrusting forward over the dildo.
Jodi never lost stride, riding the wave with her, tortured, as always, by those cries. She closed her eyes.
This would be the last time she ever felt the true impact of that sound.
Chapter Sixteen
Jodi awoke, instantly aware that the warm body she’d spooned all night was missing. She sat up with a start, staring at the hallway light creeping across her bedroom floor. The digital clock on the wall above her closet read 4:03 a.m. The river lights filtered through the open curtains while she gave a heavy sigh. She’d looked forward to waking with Eve in her arms, making love to her one more time, being with Eve as her final day began. Would she be frantic? Rushed? Grouchy and mean? Now she’d never know.
She sighed. Obviously, Eve had alternate thoughts about waking up with Jodi snuggled around her.
She scanned the lighted area of the floor for Eve’s clothes, then remembered she’d shed most of them outside the bedroom, starting by the front door.
Had Eve left in the middle of the night? Recently? She felt the empty space beside her. Still warm. She saw the vague outline of something on the pillow and flipped on the bedside lamp. Praying it was a note from Eve, she snatched it up.
Her breath caught and hung in her throat when her fingers closed around a crisp one hundred dollar bill. With shaky hands, she turned it over in her hand.
Keep the change. Bold words scribbled in red lipstick.
Jodi stifled a gasp as the sucker punch ripped through her heart.
