13. Cricket

Soft.

Everything about Avery was soft, and Cricket didn’t know what to do with her hands. Didn’t really know what was happening other than Avery was soft, her lips were warm, and she was in Cricket’s arms, kissing her.

Kissing her.

Oak and ivy.

She spread her fingers wide, working them into Avery’s hair, and she sighed against her mouth, lips parting. Cricket took it for the invitation she thought it might be.

The girl had kissed her, after all. How else was she supposed to translate this?

She flicked her tongue against Avery’s lips, relishing her tiny gasp before slipping in and fighting against a groan. The salt from her dinner, the subtle strawberry sweetness of her lip balm. Gods, it was too much.

She didn’t think; she didn’t want to because if she thought for even a second, she knew the only coherent takeaway would be how badly she wanted this.

She cupped Avery’s cheek instead, marveling at the heat beneath her palm as she slid her other hand up and under her shirt. A low groan rumbled in her throat at the soft, plush feel of Avery’s body. Her waist was warm, her back heated, her mouth a blaze as if the human’s entire body had flushed as bright as her hair. And her tongue, Gods, her tongue. Slick and strong, narrow and slippery, unlike any of the faun Cricket had tasted before.

Sweet and salt, the feel of Avery’s tongue against hers, the tiny whimper that escaped as Cricket’s fingers brushed up the smooth skin on her waist and ribs. It was addictive, and she knew with a taste that she would never get enough.

A soft touch on her waist had muscles dancing in Cricket’s torso. It was testing, almost wondering, and Cricket leaned into Avery’s hand, pressing their hips harder together in a silent plea. Touch me, feel more, pull me to you. Let me know you want this as badly as I do.

She dragged fingers down Avery’s throat and danced them along the neckline of her shirt. The human arched into that touch, the swell of her breast meeting Cricket’s fingers and she pulled away, panting and half mad.

“Avery—”

“Don’t read too much into this,” she murmured. Her hands slid into Cricket’s muscle tank, fingers pressing into the soft down at her waist. Avery licked her lips, eyes darting over Cricket’s face, down to her throat, and she fought the urge to cover her pulse. “Thank you”—that pale gaze returned to her face, searching Cricket, but all she saw were Avery’s kiss-swollen lips—“for waiting and helping me. And for this, I guess.”

“You guess?”

Her eyes dropped to Cricket’s mouth, a subtle sadness creeping in. “I wanted to know what it was like.”

Cricket tensed, her arousal dwindling from blazing to tepid. “Kissing a girl or kissing a faun?”

A loaded silence followed as Avery dragged her gaze up her face. The grip she held at her waist loosened, Avery’s hips pulled away, and she whispered, “Kissing you.”

“Oak and ivy,” Cricket cursed and swept in. Whatever restraint she’d held before was long gone. A distant mirage, a waft of smoke, a faint memory. She pressed Avery against the wall, sinking into her curves and sweeping into her mouth without hesitation. Her hands had a mind of their own, flying up to Avery’s cheeks, curving around her waist, gripping her hips. They were everywhere at once and never where she wanted them to be. There was too much cotton between them; she wanted to feel all of that softness pressed against her every sharp angle. Wanted Avery’s hair undone and tumbling down her shoulders, and Avery—oh, Gods—it seemed like Avery wanted the same.

She hooked a leg around Cricket’s calf. Cricket’s hand came down on her hip. She drove her fingers into Cricket’s hair. Cricket left a trail of kisses on her jaw and nibbled her ear, adjusting their stance to work a leg between Avery’s. A delightful gasp left her as Avery’s fingers knotted in her hair, and the flash of pain brought an awareness of their panting breaths and the heady scent of arousal building in the humid air.

She slid her hand down Avery’s plush hip, squeezing before trailing fingers along her thick thigh. A quick glance down had Cricket smiling before she kissed her again. The creature had indeed ruined Avery’s skirt, ripping a long tear in the denim. She hoisted her leg higher, slipping a hand underneath the fabric to knead Avery’s thigh while rocking into her, eyes drifting closed at the ensuing groan.

“Cricket—”

“Avery.” She caught her lobe in her teeth, tugging as she applied pressure with her leg. Avery’s hips twitched, seeking more friction, more pressure, and she bit off a moan. Her hands danced down Cricket’s back to her rear, stopping just shy of groping her outright.

“I don’t know what to do.” Her admission was breathless, her body begging for more even while she held Cricket at bay with those words.

“You’ve never done this before?”

“Not with a … um …” Avery ducked her head, but her blush of embarrassment blazed against Cricket’s hands. She bit her lower lip to keep from grinning outright, rocking into Avery until the hands at her rear gripped tight, keeping Cricket’s leg right where it was.

She skated her palm up Avery’s side, fingertips skimming the underswell of her breast. Again, Avery arched into her touch, eyes drifting closed as her head dropped back against the wall.

“How do I … ?” she panted.

“Ears.”

Avery hummed, a satisfied, proud sound, like Cricket had just confirmed a suspicion. And then her eyes flew wide. “Oh my gosh, I touched your ears.”

“You didn’t know.”

“But still.”

“It’s fine,” Cricket chuckled. Gods, this human was adorable.

“It’s not fine, I touched your ears, and they’re … they’re …”

“Erogenous?” Cricket pulled her head back, wishing there was more light so she could watch the lovely crawl of a blush over Avery’s cheeks. Instead, she cupped her cheek, grinning at the rising warmth. “When you touch my ears like you did the other night …” She trailed the tips of her fingers along Avery’s cheek and her jaw, drawing a feather-light line down her throat. Her chest rose and fell at the touch, her breasts too tempting to ignore. She swept a line across the top of her bra, eyes flicking up to find Avery’s stare intent on her. Watching Cricket as she teased and provoked. At the slightest, almost imperceptible nod, Cricket cupped her breast, thumb poised. “... it feels like this.”

She brushed her thumb across Avery’s nipple, and the girl nearly flew from the wall, pressing into Cricket’s hand. Her lips parted on a tiny little whimper, and Cricket drank up the response, leaning in to taste the next sound that escaped. And the next. Avery opened for her, greedily kissing Cricket as her hips rocked against her leg, encouraging the faun to do more.

She dropped her hand away, murmuring, “Don’t worry,” against Avery’s mouth before slipping both under her shirt, cupping her breasts, and groaning at the soft heft. She marveled at how they filled her palm, supple flesh spilling from her over-long fingers. Rolling the bud of each nipple between her thumbs and forefingers, Cricket whispered, “Is this alright?”

“Yes, oh … oh my, yes,” Avery gasped. Her voice dropped in tone, an unfamiliar husk entering the words that spurned Cricket on. She ducked her head, taking a nipple—cotton shirt, bra, and all—into her mouth and sucking. Avery cried out, a hand flying to the back of Cricket’s head. Fingers tugged at her curls, nails scaled her scalp, and then, finally, she found her ears. “Like that, Cricket, oh my …”

Her knuckles ran the length of Cricket’s ear, ruffling the down in the opposite direction and sending a warble of heat straight down Cricket’s spine. She moaned, plunging her tongue into Avery’s mouth. Rolling a nipple between her fingers, she relished the soft skin under her palm, traveling her hand lower. She cupped Avery’s buttock, gripped her thigh, and teased the expanse of skin revealed by the tear in her skirt.

“And this?” She asked, fingers slipping under her leg.

“Yes.” Avery’s grip tightened. She raised herself, allowing just enough room between Cricket’s thigh and her center. Gods, the initiative on this human.

Cricket bit back a smile, nuzzling into Avery’s neck as she teased the seam of her underwear. “And … this?”

“I thought of you.” Her words were breathless, her hands steady as she stroked both ears, sending molten heat into Cricket’s loins. “The last time I touched myself.”

“Oak and ivy.” She licked a bold line up Avery’s throat. Gods, she needed more, needed nails scraping the soft down, needed Avery to massage the tips and stroke. Needed her out of the odd skirts and baggy shirts. Needed to see this soft, luscious body laid out in the grass to be explored.

“Fuck it.” Cricket wrenched Avery’s shirt up and away, still teasing her through her panties. She buried her face in the soft mounds of her breasts and inhaled the scent of her—sweat and salt, floral soap and tropical-sweet sunscreen, and good Gods it was maddening. She tugged the cup of her bra away, flicking her tongue over a rock-hard nipple. Avery writhed, panting and whimpering, her hips rocking with voracious need.

“Please,” she begged. “Cricket, please.”

She switched to the other breast, the human now bared to the moonlight, her skin painted a lovely blue, nipples hard and tempting. “Gods, look at you.”

“Cricket.” Nails scoured the length of her ears, and she whimpered a bleat, pure desire pooling in her hips. But Avery wasn’t done—she kneaded the tips like a Gods-damned pro, sending ripple after ripple of pleasure coursing through Cricket’s body. Her good leg began to tremble, the throbbing at her center becoming unbearable. She worked her fingers beneath Avery’s panties, eyes rolling back at the heat and the wetness of arousal that met her touch. She parted damp flesh, wetting her finger before circling her clit.

“When you thought of me,” she whispered, her voice raspier and lower than she’d ever heard it, “was I doing this?”

“Yes,” Avery panted. Another sweep, another circle.

“And what else?”

“I can’t—” Her head thudded against the side of the building. “It’s not—”

“What else was I doing, Avery.” She drew a lazy circle around her clit, and again, just off center. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want …”

“Mmhmm.” Cricket hummed into her breastbone, cradling her pussy, the palm of her hand applying gentle pressure. “What do you want?”

“Your fingers,” she rushed out, eyes clenched tight.

“Doing what?” She snagged a nipple between her teeth, pinching lightly and flicking the tip with her tongue. “I’ll do whatever you want, Avery, whatever you need, but you have to tell me what you—”

“Inside me.” Those strong fingers worked Cricket’s ears the way they danced over the keyboard, playing a tune that had the faun wound tighter than a guitar string. Her control slipped, and she cursed, burying her face in breasts and her finger in Avery.

Slick heat met her touch. Heat and tight, smooth walls. She was struck momentarily dumb at how similar this all was. For all her bravado, Cricket had never been with a human girl, but Gods, it was all the same: silken heat, smooth walls, and soft, fleshy bits begging to be touched and licked.

One of Avery’s hands dropped away from her ears, gripping her shoulder, her arm. She rocked into her hold, whimpers becoming higher and tighter as Cricket crooked her finger, scoring against a place within the human that her tensing and shivering at once. The grip on her arm released, light touches fluttered along Cricket’s side, and then Avery cupped her breast, thumb working the nipple through the paper-thin fabric of her bandeau.

A zing of pleasure tingled through Cricket, and the heat in her belly boiled over. She popped off of Avery’s breast to catch her breath, and the human surprised her again—catching her mouth in a frantic, hungry kiss. She swept her tongue deep, groaning into Cricket’s mouth before snagging her lower lip and tugging.

The throbbing in her pussy bordered on painful. She could barely keep focused, could barely remember to keep working her fingers as Avery rode her hand, body twitching and tightening beneath her. She was close; she had to be close because Cricket was about to combust. She’d be useless to do anything but sleep once she tipped over, Gods, from her ears and a breast alone.

“More,” Avery groaned, rolling her hips in a circular motion. “I need more of you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She added a second finger, slowing her movements to let Avery adjust to the feel. She exhaled, eyes finally meeting Cricket’s, and nodded. At the first crook, Avery sighed, her walls clenching around Cricket’s fingers. “Gods, you feel incredible.”

“So do you,” she murmured. Her hand trailed down Cricket’s front, and she caught a devious flash in her expression before Avery splayed her fingers, catching each of Cricket’s nipples on the way down. Her pussy clenched, that quick, teasing touch shooting Cricket straight to the edge.

“Avery!”

“You like that?” One hand on her ear, the other plucking, and pinching, rolling nubs between her fingers as she rocked on Cricket’s hand.

“Oak and ivy, you’re—this is—” She could hardly get the words out, much less form a coherent thought. Her belly flipped, core tightening as her body was played by a fucking master. When had the tables turned? Where had this girl, this human learned how to do this?

Cricket dropped her head, no longer able to focus on anything but the sensation riddling her body. Through some miracle, she managed to keep working Avery, her fingers following each twitch and roll of her hips. She was reduced to a pet, following Avery’s lead and needing only to bring her pleasure.

That thought, the awareness it brought, had Cricket pressing her palm harder against her clit, scissoring her fingers until those walls clenched tighter and tighter. Until Avery’s body tensed, her hands faltering in their movements.

“Let go, sweet girl,” Cricket damn near begged, hitching her arm and beckoning with both fingers against that sweet, decadent spot she’d found.

Avery hollered, her body went rigid, and a gush of wetness filled Cricket’s palm as she exhaled. She stroked her through her orgasm, reveling in every quake and tremble. Frantic kisses were laid on her throat and shoulders, and two shaking hands grasped her ears, milking the tips until Cricket could no longer hold back the tide.

Stars burst in her eyes, and she slammed a hand against the wall to keep from collapsing on Avery, bleating her pleasure as wave after wave coursed from her ears and her nipples down into her throbbing pussy.

It wasn’t enough, Gods, oak, and ivy; it wasn’t anywhere near enough. Her strength gave away, and she melted against Avery, pressing her into the wall. She clung to Cricket in turn, panting and gasping until her breathing steadied. She kissed Cricket’s cheek, brushed curls away from her ear, and whispered, “That was better than I imagined.”