by Ariel Ellman
For Sawyer’s room, Sebastian had built a floor to ceiling bookcase wall that divided the space from the rest of the loft, and it looked amazing.
“Um, I’m going to need a door,” Sawyer teased, ducking behind the bookcase to peer into her room.
“All in good time, don’t be greedy,” Sebastian teased back. “What would you rather have done first, a door or your mural?” Sebastian taunted with a raised brow as he walked over to a wall that had a bamboo shade mounted just below the ceiling. “Skin like silk,” Sebastian murmured in Sawyer’s ear before he grabbed the shade’s string and pulled it up to reveal her hidden mural.
“Well, I think we know where the bed is going,” Ani laughed as Sawyer gazed open mouthed at the mural Sebastian had painted for her.
“I am your servant for life,” Sawyer gasped, unable to take her eyes off the seductive-eyed naked Asian girl who stared back at her coyly behind dark lowered lashes. Sebastian had painted Sawyer’s Goddess sprawled out on her side, with her legs opened slightly in suggestion. Her breasts, as promised, were at least a double D, a ridiculous exaggeration on the woman’s slight body, with large, dark nipples. Sawyer was practically panting as she gazed at her mural in wonder, and Ani burst out laughing when Sebastian dropped the shade down and Sawyer swatted his hand to stop him.
“I wasn’t done looking,” she protested with a pout.
“Plenty of time for that later,” Sebastian teased, leading the sisters out of the room. “Do you have Raffi tonight?” Sebastian asked Ani as they joined Remmi back in the open area of the loft.
“Actually she’s sleeping at a friend’s tonight and Jordan asked to take her to his parents’ house on Nantucket for Memorial Day weekend, so I’m all yours for four days,” Ani announced, snuggling up against Sebastian.
“Four days,” Sebastian murmured in wonder, pulling Ani tightly against his chest. “We haven’t even spent two nights in a row together. No chance you’re leaving the apartment all weekend,” he warned, his lips in her hair.
“Sounds nice, but I was hoping you could help us move into the loft this weekend so we’re all moved in when Raffi comes back Tuesday,” Ani murmured regretfully.
“We’ll move you in tomorrow,” Sebastian promised, his lips brushing against Ani’s ear softly. “And then you’re all mine.”
“Deal,” Ani agreed, looking up and losing herself in Sebastian’s hungry gaze.
“Hah hem,” Sawyer interrupted them, clearing her throat purposefully. “Are you going to rip my sister’s clothes off in front of us right now or get back to work?” Sawyer teased Sebastian.
“Hmmmm,” Sebastian replied, contemplating Sawyer’s question as he slipped a finger under the strap of Ani’s sundress.
“Sebastian!” Ani exclaimed with a laugh, pulling away from him. “We’re going back to Sawyer’s to finish packing up and we need to go buy a few things for the place.”
Chapter Seventeen
“So what did you think of Bast’s sketchy moving crew?” Sawyer asked her sister later that weekend with a little laugh. It was Sunday night and Bast had gone out to pick up Thai food for them.
“Definitely all ex-cons,” Ani admitted, shrugging her shoulders and stretching out on the deep blue velvet antique couch she and Sawyer had splurged on.
It’s funny isn’t it?” Sawyer asked, munching on a cracker smeared with brie and apricot chutney.
“What?” Ani replied, reaching for a cracker too.
“This new Sebastian and his whole world,” Sawyer elaborated.
“It is,” Ani agreed thoughtfully. “You were right about what you said in the beginning,” she admitted. “I don’t know Sebastian anymore, but I’m getting to know him, and I love him now more than I even did as a girl. He’s a different person now; he’s a man. He’s a mixture of strength and vulnerability that I find intoxicating.”
Sawyer studied her sister across their mother’s antique trunk that they were using as a coffee table.
“Does he talk about his years inside much?” she asked curiously.
“I have to pull it out of him,” Ani admitted, “but it’s coming slowly. I just learned last night that he earned his BA and two masters degrees while he was in prison,” Ani laughed, shaking her head in amazement.
“Holy shit? Seriously?” Sawyer replied in wonder. “What are the masters degrees in? Art, design?”
“Irish language and history, and Irish folklore,” Ani replied softly. “He said the only way for him to survive inside those prison walls was to go home to Ireland in his mind. It’s incredible everything he knows. He could teach an amazing class on Irish mythology,” Ani said, shaking her head.
“Why do you do that A?” Sawyer asked her sister in annoyance.
“What?” Ani asked in confusion.
“Discount what Sebastian does with his life now,” Sawyer replied, shaking her head at her sister. “So he didn’t go to school for art and design. He didn’t become an architect. Who cares? It doesn’t mean he has to be a college professor to have worth,” she argued. “Look at his life, he’s at sea with his father all day, he spends his nights with the woman he loves and he paints and designs in his spare time.”
“Oh Soy, I think his life is amazing,” Ani hastened to agree with her sister. “I think he’s amazing. Who he is today and what he’s lived through is unbelievable to me,” Ani exclaimed. “I don’t want him any different. If I seem sad sometimes when I mention something he could do, it’s only because I mourn his lost opportunities and the years that he had to suffer in prison, not because I devalue what he’s made of his life or who he is today.”
“But do you get that those years in prison have made him who he is now?” Sawyer asked her sister earnestly. “Do you understand that the complicated and intriguing man that you are in love with was shaped by the events of his life?”
“Every day,” Ani whispered in reply. “Every day I stare at the teardrops on his face and the bells on his shoulders and I think about the ways that the last fifteen years have shaped Bast into the man he is today, and I love that man desperately. I love how safe he makes me feel when he puts his hand on my back or slips his arm around me when we walk down the street. I love that even when he’s across the room, I know that if I look up, I’ll find his eyes on me, drinking me in. His art takes my breath away, I can’t get enough of the man he is today.”
“He’s pretty fucking intense,” Sawyer agreed thoughtfully, “and insanely hot.”
“Oh my God,” Ani agreed with a laugh.
“That fucking body!” Sawyer exhaled.
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be a lesbian?” Ani teased her sister.
“I am, but I’d have to be dead not to notice Sebastian,” Sawyer laughed. “Not that Jordan isn’t smoking hot in his Ralph Lauren distinguished doctor way,” Sawyer hurriedly added with a guilty look. “I mean that boy definitely puts in his gym time too!”
“Oh Soy, you are too much!” Ani laughed at her sister. “It’s ok to say that Bast is hot, you’re not betraying Jordan, and Jordan is totally hot too, I was married to him for ten years and I had to deal with women drooling over him all the time.”
“Definitely!” Sawyer agreed vehemently. “But still, a prison body is in its own league.” She grinned.
“Hmmm….” Ani replied dreamily.
“Have you spoken to Jordan at all lately?” Sawyer asked, finally changing the subject from Sebastian’s amazing body.
“Only to coordinate things for Raffi, but I think it’s getting a little easier. When he asked me to stay away a month ago, he said things were too raw and that was a very good way to describe them. Neither of us could spend any time with each other without walking away in tears, and obviously it was much worse for him,” Ani admitted sadly.
“I think he seems a little better too,” Sawyer admitted. “I had lunch with him last week and I think he’s starting to come to terms with it all.”
“Are things okay between you guys?” Ani asked her
sister gently.
“They are,” Sawyer replied. “At first, I was worried that he would want me to stay away too or that it would be awkward and he would ask me about you and Bast, but he doesn’t talk about you at all actually.”
“I think he’s trying really hard to separate himself from me,” Ani murmured sadly.
“He needs to A,” Sawyer replied, “It’s the only way that he can move on and heal.”
“I know,” Ani agreed softly, “but it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel the loss. It doesn’t mean that I don’t wish I could have my cake and eat it too sometimes.”
“Who wants cake?” Sebastian called as he walked into the loft with their Thai food.
“Ani wants to have her cake and eat it too,” Sawyer called out, rising up and taking the bags from Sebastian.
“Hmmm,” Sebastian murmured, studying Ani with an unreadable expression.
“Did you get spring rolls?” Ani asked, joining Sawyer in the kitchen and digging through the bag.
“I got chicken curry,” Sebastian replied with a devilish grin as he came up behind Ani and slipped his arms around her waist. “I know how much you love the taste of curry in your mouth,” he whispered, trailing his lips down her neck.
“Hmmm, maybe we should eat in my room,” Ani laughed, turning around in Sebastian’s arms and brushing her lips teasingly against his.
“Well if you two are going to start eating food off of each other, I’m going to go stare at my Asian pin-up girl while I eat my Pad Thai,” Sawyer announced, grabbing her food and walking to her room.
“What happened to the real thing, that tasty Japanese girl you were messing around with?” Sebastian called after Sawyer’s retreating back.
“Too much drama,” Sawyer replied. “The feisty ones are always too much to handle in the long haul.”
“We need to find you a nice Irish Catholic girl,” Ani laughed.
“Hmmm,” Sawyer replied with a sigh, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “I’m just not that into white girls. Although that blond soccer player was hot,” she conceded with a laugh before closing the door to her room.
“Sawyer can keep her exotic girls. I like my women blond and Irish,” Sebastian whispered, slipping his hands under Ani’s tank top and backing her against the counter.
“Your women?” Ani replied, raising her eyebrow at Sebastian as he lifted her up and sat her on the kitchen counter.
“Only you,” Sebastian murmured huskily, trailing a path of kisses down Ani’s neck and to her breasts. “Always you, a rún mo chroí.”
“Bast,” Ani moaned as Sebastian pulled her tank top over her head and unclipped her bra. “We can’t do this here,” she protested as Sebastian took her taut nipple in his mouth.
“Wrap your legs around me,” Sebastian instructed hoarsely, lifting Ani up off of the counter.
“What about the food?” Ani complained against Sebastian’s neck as he carried her out of the kitchen. “You’re always trying to starve me.”
“Oh I’ll feed you,” Sebastian replied huskily with a promising glint in his eye as he kicked the door to Ani’s bedroom closed behind them.
“You’re hungry?” he asked, dropping Ani down onto the mattress she’d just bought and peeling off her jeans.
“I’m hungry for Thai food,” Ani teased, sucking her breath in with a gasp when Sebastian took her nipple between his teeth and bit down gently.
“Oh yeah?” Sebastian murmured, licking his finger and sliding it inside Ani. “Just for Thai food?” he whispered against her ear.
“Hmmm,” Ani murmured noncommittally as she sighed and closed her eyes, giving into the sensation of Sebastian’s lips on her body and his finger sliding in and out of her.
“Uh uh uh, “ Sebastian chided, brushing his lips over Ani’s eyes. “You said you were hungry,” he whispered huskily, pulling Ani up and flipping her over so she was sitting astride him.
“Do you taste like chicken curry?” Ani teased, slipping her hands under Sebastian’s t-shirt and pulling it over his head. “Hmmm…..” she murmured as she trailed her lips down his hard chest. “What do you have for me?” she asked huskily, unbuttoning his jeans and reaching in to take him out. He was hard and swollen in her hand and he moaned as she leaned down and took him in her mouth.
“God Ani,” he hissed, closing his eyes with a sigh and entwining his fingers in Ani’s silky hair.
“Still hungry,” Ani whispered running her tongue up and down Sebastian and taking him deep in her throat. He groaned and gasped in response as she held her breath and sucked him all the way down until she couldn’t take it anymore and finally came up for air.
“Jesus Christ,” Sebastian sighed as Ani took him back in her mouth after she caught her breath and didn’t stop sucking until he came in a thick, hot shuddering burst. “I can’t move,” Sebastian admitted, cracking open an eye at Ani ruefully.
“You men are so funny,” Ani laughed, stretching out on Sebastian’s chest and running her fingers over the art that covered it.
“We’re a simple breed,” Sebastian murmured, drifting off to sleep.
Ani shook her head at Sebastian in amusement and padded out of her room to get some dinner.
“Nice,” Sawyer commented as Ani walked into the kitchen in nothing but her thong. “Looking for these?” Sawyer asked her sister, picking Ani’s discarded bra and tank top off of the floor and dangling them out to her.
“It’s not like you don’t have a set,” Ani laughed saucily, wiggling her breasts at her sister as she took her bra and tank top from her and put them back on.
“Oh I have a set, and mine are twice your size and better looking,” Sawyer tossed back, pressing the button on the cappuccino machine that Bobby, their new landlord, had given them as a housewarming gift.
“You wish,” Ani replied, sticking her tongue out at her sister as she dug a spring roll out of the takeout bag. “You know that’s a thousand dollar machine right?” she asked Sawyer. “I bought the same one for Jordan to keep in his office for his birthday last year.
“Tastes yummy,” Sawyer replied with a shrug, raising her cup of foamy milk and espresso to her mouth as she walked over to the couch.
“Soy, I can’t believe you encourage Bobby” Ani sighed in exasperation, carrying her food over to the coffee table to join her sister.
“We should probably get a kitchen table,” Sawyer observed, ignoring her sister’s comment as she propped her feet up on their mother’s trunk and took a contented sip of her drink.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have junked yours,” Ani said regretfully, gazing at the open space in their kitchen.
“Please, that thing was barely standing,” Sawyer laughed. “I stole it from the common room in my old dorm six years ago. And someone pulled it out of a dumpster and lugged it in there a decade before that.”
“Well, I have to figure out the whole money thing before I buy anymore furniture,” Ani declared, popping a piece of chicken in her mouth.
“Have you and Jordan talked about it?” Sawyer asked her sister gently.
“Not yet, but he asked me to meet him for dinner when he gets back with Raffi from Nantucket,” Ani murmured.
“Where are you meeting? Who’s watching Raffi? You can leave her with me,” Sawyer offered.
“We decided to meet at the brownstone because it would be more private than a restaurant. Jordan said he’d pick some dinner up,” Ani replied.
“And Raffi? Are you going to talk about this stuff with her in the house?” Sawyer asked her sister in concern.
“No, of course not,” Ani shook her head in denial. “She asked if she could sleep over Erin’s and go straight to school with her in the morning because they have a big project that they’re working on.”
“Are you going to talk about divorce?” Sawyer whispered, looking stricken.
“I don’t know,” Ani replied, returning her sister’s gaze sadly. “I can’t have my cake and eat it too Soy.”
“Bu
t are you one hundred percent sure about Bast?” Sawyer pressed.
“I am. I think a piece of me will probably always love Jordan,” Ani admitted to her sister. “He’s been my husband for almost ten years and he’s the father of my daughter, but I feel like half of my soul is missing without Bast, and I don’t want to live without it any longer.”
“Save any chicken curry for me?” Sebastian asked softly from behind them. Ani and Sawyer looked over at him in surprise.
“I didn’t hear you come out,” Ani murmured, searching Sebastian’s face for a clue if he’d heard them.
“All those years in prison, I’m as silent as a cat,” Sebastian replied with an unreadable expression.
Ani held a piece of chicken out to Sebastian with her chopsticks and he leaned down and opened his mouth, holding her gaze as he slipped it through his teeth.
“God what is it with you two and food?” Sawyer exclaimed in exasperation as she watched Ani and Sebastian gaze at each other hungrily over Ani’s outstretched chopsticks. “You can’t even eat a piece of chicken without turning it into a sexual act,” she complained.
“You’re just jealous because you’re not getting any action right now,” Ani replied, sticking her tongue out at her sister.
“So true,” Sawyer moaned unhappily. “I bet one of the Hectors has at least one hot tortilladora in the family you could set me up me with,” she said coaxingly to Sebastian.
“What the hell is a tortilladora?” Ani asked, passing her container of food over to Sebastian when he sank down on the couch beside her.
“A tortilla maker,” Sebastian said with a grin as he fed Ani a piece of chicken.
“You want a hot tortilla maker?” Ani asked her sister in confusion.
“Sometimes you’re such an idiot A,” Sawyer replied in exasperation, rolling her eyes.
“It’s Mexicali slang for lesbian baby,” Sebastian explained, brushing his lips across Ani’s tenderly.
“Oh, since when are you such an expert on Mexicali slang anyway?”Ani asked her sister in annoyance.
“Remmi’s been filling me in these last few moving days,” Sawyer admitted with a grin.
