Chapter 4

“Answering that won’t tell you what your boss wears,” I countered.

“Right now, I’m only interested in what’s under your skirt,” Rachel said, which gave me a pleasant jolt. “Take it off.”

“Hey, who’s the boss here?”

“We can argue that, now that we’ve dropped character,” Rachel said, “or you can just do what you know you want to.”

“Damn you, Rachel,” I said, my voice suddenly rasping, as I unclasped my skirt. I tossed it onto the back of the chair that held Rachel’s clothing.

Rachel pushed me against the door, kissing me fiercely, her hands grasping the cups of my bra, kneading firmly. Then she dropped to her knees. “I guessed right,” she said, looking at my own garter belt.

“We were roleplaying,” I said. “Why would I not wear stockings? Daily, like your boss? Probably I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t care,” Rachel said. “I don’t care and I don’t want to talk. I have better things to do with my mouth.”

The comment made me shudder, and sure enough, in a moment, she’d pushed my panties aside and begun to lick my pussy.

“You’re going to do this…” I panted, “with me still in heels, like a porn actress? I’ll lose my balance.”

“You just proved you were an actress,” Rachel said, her words vibrating my clit. “I’ll keep you upright.”

She lifted my left leg from the ground, resting my thigh on her shoulder and holding me in place with hands on both thighs. Then she began to suckle.

I’d focused on Rachel for our scene, but the whole thing had made me totally horny, and it didn’t take her more than a minute or two before I was moaning in need, my fingers wrapped into her silky hair, holding myself in place.

Then my sex pulsed wildly, and though my ankle threatened to spill me, Rachel held me in place as I rode out my orgasm on her lips.

When we were cleaned up, I walked Rachel to the security desk, where she returned her key. I’d fastened my jacket all the way to hide that I wasn’t wearing a shirt, which was now bundled in my computer bag.

“Call me, Ms. Turner,” I said, as she added her leaving time to the security log.

Her eyes found mine and flashed dark for a moment. “Of course, Ms. Perry. I think we’ll find our positions overlapping from time to time.”

Minx. It was hard to keep a straight face as I nodded to the security guard and followed her out of the building.

Mika’s wine selection was better than anything I’d get for myself. I was up for that even though I’d have to face Lauren’s interrogation.

If it was later in the year we’d have wine o’clock in the garden, at the round table. Sometimes Mika would join us, sometimes she’d be indoors listening to music, or even working at her studio. Inspiration didn’t keep office hours. I respected the fact that they didn’t need to be in each other’s presence constantly, and also that Mika trusted me with her fiancée, who was technically my ex.

It was a little too chilly for that in early April, so Lauren had set the chinese food containers on the low table in the relaxing room, along with a bottle of wine in a small ice cooler. Mika and Lauren banned electronics from the room, including my Apple watch, since I could (and did) use it to get notifications and check messages, so I left my phone and watch on the kitchen table.

There were no chairs in the relaxing room, just a low table and a little atmospheric wall art. Lauren was able to adopt her fiancée’s sitting style, with her feet under her butt on a mat, but with me she used one of the cushions, her legs to the side, the same as me. I’d tried butt-on-heels, but I don’t think my body was designed correctly for that. Especially since I’d twisted my ankle in my mid-twenties, and though it had healed completely, stretching my feet behind me returned a little of the pain, which became worse over time.

Lauren poured us wine before we started eating. It was white, dry, and sparkling. “I don’t know if this really goes with the food,” she said, “but I plan to be drinking it long after I toss out the empties.”

“Suits me,” I agreed.

“So, you ditched Rachel again?” she asked, conversationally, right as I was taking a bite of spicy chicken, so I couldn’t answer for a while.

“I didn’t ditch her again,” I objected, when I could. “I didn’t ditch her the first time. I’ve never ditched her, because we were never together.”

“Really?” Lauren asked. “I had the impression the two of you were getting close.”

“So did Rachel, I guess.”

“She didn’t tell me specifics,” Lauren said. “Is that a problem?”

“I don’t date, Laur. You know that.”

“I know, Mandy,” Lauren said. “I just hoped you’d found someone who could have been a first step for you. After Charlotte, I mean. Rachel would never treat you like that.”

“Yeah, I do,” Lauren said. “She’s a good friend at work. She’s not out at work, so she tells me more than she would if others knew.”

“No,” said Lauren. Then she paused before continuing. “You’ll have to ask her, if you want to know why. It’s nothing negative about Rachel and the office. But she tells me about her activities. She never has repeat hookups. Never did, before last fall. She’s changed.”

I grunted. “People don’t change.”

“Someone’s character rarely changes,” Lauren countered. “That’s true enough. But their behavior can. Rachel abandoned her party drug, and she hasn’t mentioned a hookup since late last year.”

“She didn’t mention New Year?”

Lauren frowned in puzzlement briefly, then, to my surprise, her cheeks pinked. “Oh, right,” she said. “That story was so far from the norm I forgot about it. I had a hard time believing it. I wasn’t trying to hide it from you.”

I laughed. “I’m sure you weren’t.” I started stacking the empty food boxes. “You know, they propositioned both of us at the wedding. Rachel turned them down on my behalf, but then encouraged me to take them up on Rose’s offer.”

“A true friend,” Lauren said, then raised her glass. “To true friends.”

I joined the salute, emptied my glass, then added, “Even if they fuck up your chances of a threesome with a hot rock star and her hot wife. On their wedding night.”

Lauren refilled our glasses, then collected the plates. “If memory serves, the evening wasn’t a bust for you.”

With a grin, I said, “Not a bust. Rachel and I got reacquainted. Very reacquainted. I mean, she owed me, didn’t she?”

My friend smiled, then took the plates and food containers to the kitchen, declining help. She took longer than I expected, and I was about to go through to ask again if she could use some help, when she returned with two plates.

“Oh my God, you picked up tiramisu for us? My waistline already hates you.”

“DoorDash,” she said. “The time I save getting food delivered can go to exercise to counter the calories.”

I grinned and ate a forkful of creamy, chocolatey, coffee cake. After that, we cleaned up the relaxing room one more time, then moved to the living room, where Lauren rented a movie.

We finished the first bottle and moved onto the second. We were well into the giggly stage of the evening when Mika returned. She complained about not having time to catch up with us, but helped herself to wine and watched the rest of the movie with us.

As always, Mika watched me stumble home. I turned to wave goodbye, then headed into my cottage and collapsed onto the bed.

I was a fucking idiot.

Even that first time, when she was high on molly, we’d bantered. Yes, it was her amazing body, along with her energy, that had attracted me, but I had liked being with her that night. I had liked her.

Maybe that was part of the reason I’d avoided her so studiously after our one (and, I then thought, only) night together. Maybe it wasn’t just the guilt. And, maybe, if I hadn’t liked her, maybe I wouldn’t have felt guilty about using her.

Later, I’d poured my heart out to her, as if I trusted her. I had trusted her.

And then like a coward I’d run from Rachel to another one-night stand.

God almighty, I wanted her back. I wanted her in my bed. I wanted her in my life.

For fuck’s sake, she’d offered me the most non-threatening path possible to make that happen, and like an idiot, I’d run. Again. She’d never given me any reason to believe she’d be like Charlotte, but I’d assumed that anyone who would want to be with me would eventually want to hurt me. So I’d sprinted away from the woman I was possibly starting to care for.

Slowly, I approached her clit with the vibe. She began to writhe on the bed, but I turned the vibe off before she could come. She made a frustrated sound, then panted softly.

Licking my finger, I lightly caressed her clit, but again, stopped before she was too close to the point of no return, though I risked pushing her very close to that place.

After the next round with the vibrator, I pushed a finger into her, curling it and twisting my hand to run it against her inner wall.

“Mandy, why are you evil?” Rachel whined.

“You bring out the devil in me, honey,” I said, and returned to vibing her thighs.

I still didn’t let her come. Instead, I located my harness, buckling it on after taking off my panties. Then I held two silicone dildos for her choice. “Are you okay with this?” I asked.

“God, yes,” she groaned, then nodded at the wider one, with heavy ridging. I fastened it in place, then played with the vibe until she was moaning, almost sobbing with need.

Unclipping the straps around her thighs, I freed her ankles, then, sitting, pulled them around my waist. I had to lift her and turn her in my lap, until she was in an upright position, since she couldn’t use her hands.

The most awkward part was impaling her on the dildo, since I needed both hands to lift her, but when she was close to position, I wrapped my left arm around her, pinning her against my chest, while I used my right to guide the toy into her. She cursed a few times, but each time she shook her head when I looked at her, until she had entirely engulfed the toy.

“Is this okay?” I asked.

“Fuck, Mandy,” she said. A moment later, she added, “Please take off your bra.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said. “I should have started with that.”

It was a little awkward to unfasten my bra, since I didn’t want her falling backward off my lap, but she leaned against my shoulder while I unsnapped it and drew it off. Then, holding her against me, I started to roll my hips.

She began to moan almost immediately, but it was a full five minutes before she gasped rapidly and loudly. She cried out as she came. I didn’t stop moving. Instead, I kissed her breasts, hard, and her extreme arousal pushed her into a series of orgasms, her body stiffening against me each time.

Finally, she whispered, “Please, babe… that’s all.”

It was easier for me to detach her from me than it had been to move her in place, and soon she was lying on her back in the center of the bed as her breathing slowed.

I unclamped the dildo and removed the harness. Then I clambered onto the bed and straddled her chest, backing up until my sex was over her face.

“Fuck, yeah, babe,” Rachel whispered. “Come closer.”

When I leaned forward, my hands on either side of her chest, Rachel began to lick me with enthusiasm. It didn’t take long until the orgasm fairy appeared to grant my wish.