Chapter 23

Giselle

Dinner was fantastic. It was the kind of hole-in-the-wall place with faded menus where you knew it would either be fantastic or terrible, and just as I suspected, the host greeted Primrose by name when she came in. The air was rich with the scent of grilled meats and fragrant sauces, and I suddenly felt starved the second we sat down, but mostly all I could focus on was the way Primrose looked at me like I was just the very best thing she’d ever seen.

Maybe it wasn’t too much to want that in a relationship. And maybe I could have that.

I let Primrose do all the ordering, very strong opinions on what was good here, and it paid off—we got half a dozen different things that all had me feeling like I’d just melt through the seat. Primrose gushed about the time the restaurant had hosted a big party for Ethan’s birthday and squeezed in a dozen people, and I was paying attention, but honestly, the biggest thing on my mind was just noticing the way Primrose laughed about things—big and open and unrestrained, belly laughter that made her snort more than once. Something about the way she laughed, and the way she smiled, and the way she rolled her eyes affectionately, felt somehow realer than before.

Maybe I wasn’t the only one who’d made herself smaller for a relationship. Maybe we both deserved something better.

I insisted on them bringing me the check while Primrose insisted on them bringing her the check, and she won with her celebrity privileges at this place, waitress bringing the check to her without even letting me see.

“You paid for me the last time,” I said, as we got out of the restaurant and started back to the car.

“I invited you. It’s the code of conduct.”

“What code of conduct? I didn’t realize we were following a prescribed system.”

“And you drove. Fair’s fair.”

“Unbelievable.” But I got in the car with her, and I started back towards campus as she put her music on, and by now I’d heard enough of them to be able to sing along with her. And as we got back to her complex, I was feeling like I was walking on clouds, but at the same time, like I hadn’t gotten enough of her—like I never could.

I walked her up to the back entrance of the complex, shrouded away under the cover of bushes and trees in the back garden, and the gentle light from the lamp on the side of the building filtering through the leaves danced over Primrose’s face like a kaleidoscope of soft shadows, and I felt my chest pull tighter as she stopped to face me at the doorway.

“Thanks for spending today with me…” She tilted her head down, looking up at me through her lashes. I felt like breathing was getting harder.

“Thanks for letting me. I had a great time today. And… um… I’d like to do this again sometime, if that’s something you’d…”

She smiled wider, crinkling the corners of her eyes. “If it’s something I’d like to spend all night thinking about and being too excited to sleep before I go to do it again? Absolutely.”

I laughed nervously. “I cannot tell you how relieved I am to hear I’m not the only one doing that.”

“Far from it.” She folded her hands at her waist, looking away, bouncing on the balls of her feet, before she spoke in a nervous tremor. “Giselle?”

“Yeah?”

“If you’re going to kiss me, now is the moment.”

Well—what the hell. When she put it like that, now was definitely the moment.

I took a step closer, and I cupped a hand on her jaw, tilting her up to meet me. She fluttered her eyes shut with a soft whimper, arching her back towards me, and I just thought I hope this dream never ends.

I kissed her. It was so gentle, so soft, so… effortless, it felt a little like I’d always been kissing her, like it was always supposed to be this way. We’d already had a sloppy makeout on her living room floor, so maybe in theory this was nothing new, but—the way my heart fluttered so hard I could barely breathe, it was a shimmering little piece of magic caught in this one moment, and I prayed I’d never forget it.

I slipped my hand to the back of her head, letting my other fall to her waist, and she walked her fingers up my back and went up on her tiptoes to meet me, falling into me and the both of us melting into the moment before she pulled away, her eyes warm and dark, half-lidded, looking up at me with the dreamiest smile. I wondered if my heart would beat right out of my chest right now.

“Do you… is that good?” I said, and she bit her lip, smiling.

“I’m still too much a beginner. I need some more practice.”

“You know, you can just kiss me again if you want to.”

She did—went back up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine, holding me tightly against her, and she seemed to be just as short for breath as I was when I pulled away, holding onto me like she might swoon right off her feet if she didn’t.

“I…” she started, flicking her eyes away, cheeks flushed pink. “I’ve never felt like this with a girl before…”

“You like the things you like.”

She bit her lip. “Yeah. And, um… it turns out I like you. Quite a bit.”

I pulled her closer, like any distance between us right now was the worst thing that could happen to a person. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you once since we met, I hope you know.”

“Likewise. I’ve, um… been constantly talking about you to my friends. And writing about you in my journal.” She laughed nervously, resting her forehead on my chest. “If I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure Sooyeon wanted to do truth or dare specifically so she could tell me to kiss you because she knew I…”

“Is this a good time to mention I just about had a heart attack during that?”

She pursed her lips through a smile, looking back up at me. “I was pressed pretty close to you. I could tell.”

I looked away, feeling my face burning. “Oh… you know, that makes sense.”

She pinched the front of my sweater between two fingers, tugging me after her as she stepped back towards the door. “You know, um… Ava is out tonight…”

A rush coursed through me, my face getting hot. “Oh… off to go pick a fight with a stranger?”

“Probably. She told me what it was, but I was thinking more about you than what she was saying. Do you, um… want to come in?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to be an imposition,” I teased, just to watch the way she scrunched up her face.

“Ma’am. Please come back to my apartment with me.”

I let her lead me inside, laughing with her over nothing because if I didn’t then my heart would explode instead, and we got up to the top floor where she swiped her keycard and opened the door, tugging me inside and into her so hard I nearly knocked us both over as the door swung shut behind us and our lips crashed together. She gripped the back of my shirt tightly, pressing me closer into her, and I walked her back aiming for the wall but we both stumbled when she hit the couch, and she squealed before she tumbled onto her back, dragging me onto the couch on top of her, pinning her down underneath me.

“Oh—hi,” she said, eyes sparkling.

I thought I’d die seeing her like this, her face this close to mine, hair sprawled out messily around her. “Doing okay?” I laughed, and she grinned.

“Doing fantastic. You, um… you look really good on top of me like this.”

That was a spike of heat through my body. I kept cool, arching my brows. “Is that you telling me you’re a bottom?”

She bit her lip, stifling laughter as best she could, blushing deeper, her freckles coming out more against the warm red color of her blush. “I think I’m more of a switch.”

“Oh—you’ve done your research, then.”

“If by research you mean fanfiction, yes.”

I wanted her so badly it hurt. I found myself moving down and kissing her neck, and she arched her back against me, letting out a noise that I think was louder than she meant to.

“Oh—god, Giselle,” she gasped. “Um…”

“Yes?”

“Do—do you want to make me say it?”

My whole body tingled with desire, but I tried my best to look casual, leaning against the couch back. “Sure. I like hearing what’s on your mind.”

She looked away with a heavy sigh, her blush deepening, before she propped herself up on her elbows to meet my gaze. “Do you want to have dessert?”

I bit my lip, heat prickling through my body. “You know? I’d love to. I skip dessert too often.”

She grinned. “Great. Ice cream?”

“I—didn’t actually think we were talking about food.”

And Primrose was out to murder me, because she made eye contact, smiling wide, and she said, “I didn’t tell you yet how we’d serve the ice cream.”

∞∞∞

Primrose

I was having all kinds of awakenings. I’d always liked sex, but I’d never craved it as deeply as this—never felt like it meant as much as this.

And I guess it brought out new sides of me, too. I’d never been big on food play, but the thought of Giselle licking running ice cream off of me somehow worked, dammit. And the way she watched raptly like nothing in the world could have taken her eyes off me as I stripped out of my jacket and slipped my shirt off after—that was something I could have gotten used to.

I’d hoped tonight might be something—there was a reason I’d told Ava to be somewhere else tonight—and I’d been thinking about it all evening with my pulse feeling like it would burst out of my body, so I’d worn a lacy black bra in the hope Giselle would look at it exactly the way she did—the same bra I’d worn to get a rise out of so many guys I was just using to dispense of once it was their turn to go.

Whole different universe wearing it like this.

“Try some?” I took a spoonful of ice cream from the container, sinking back to sit on the edge of the table, and I held it out for Giselle. She stepped up closer to me, a hand on the table next to my thigh, pinning me up against the table, and she bent down to lick the ice cream off the spoon.

“Raspberry’s my favorite,” she said lightly, licking a spot of it off her lip. I was so damn unprepared for this—for the way it was like electric fire coursing through me seeing her lick her lip, that quick flick of her tongue. The places I wanted that tongue… the way I’d never imagined myself here thinking things like that.

“Looks like we have similar tastes,” I said, taking a spoonful and sucking half of it off the spoon before I pressed the rest of it against her lips again. This time, I left the streak of ice cream on her lip on purpose, and I touched a finger to her lip. “Hold on. You have some here. I’ll take care of it.”

I tugged her down towards me, and it came all too naturally to lick it off of her lip—none of the resigned reluctance like when I had a target in bed. I wanted my mouth on every part of her…

She touched a finger to her lip once I pulled back, smiling. “I suspect you might have gotten it there on purpose.”

“What do you take me for?” I laughed, high on this feeling, taking another spoonful and tasting it, letting a streak of it run down my lip. Giselle didn’t miss a beat—she tipped me up by the chin and dragged her tongue up just below my lip, the silky-soft texture of her tongue sending electricity through me.

“You’re a bit clumsy with this stuff,” she said, licking her lips.

“Must just be a little distracted…” I took another spoonful, and with a heady feeling building through my body, I held long, pointed eye contact with her while I held the spoon between us, and slowly tipped it, dropping the scoop onto my breasts. Giselle bit her lip, eyes following it, and I twitched at the sudden cold on my skin. “Oh… whoopsie,” I hummed. “That’s such a mess.”

She took the spoon from my hands, setting it down, and she tilted my chin up to meet her gaze. That dark-eyed hunger there in her expression—I felt like I would fall apart just from the way she looked at me.

“Look at you,” she said, her voice low and husky. “So dirty.”

I bit my lip. “Are you going to help clean me up, or what?”

“Mm. You could at least say please.” She ran two fingers through the melting ice cream on my collar before she slipped them into her mouth, sucking the ice cream off them while she held my gaze. I swallowed, heat burning through my face as a shy, nervous sensation bubbled in my chest. I ducked my head.

“Um… could you clean me up, please?”

“That’s a good girl.” She bent down and dragged her tongue up along my collar, the heat of her tongue where the cold ice cream had just been leaving a tingling, fiery sensation. She slipped her hands down my sides and hooked her thumbs through the loops of my jeans, holding me in place as she licked up another long streak of melted ice cream, deeper now into the dip of my bra, and I arched my back into the electric sensation, barely hearing her as she spoke against my skin. “So much of it all over you… don’t think we can get it all with this in the way.”

“Mm…” I rolled my head, just letting her do what she wanted as she slipped her hands up my back and unclasped my bra, taking it off me and throwing it over the back of the chair. The air felt cool against my exposed nipples, and I was aching for Giselle to take them, touch them, anything, but she took her time—licked slowly up along the running drops of ice cream, around the sides of my breasts, and down to lick the errant streaks on my waist. Her tongue on every part of me was so fucking good, I just wanted more…

“Much better,” she said, coming back up to my level, licking her lips slowly. Those lips and tongue that had just been working over my whole body… I bucked my hips without meaning to, grinding against Giselle’s, and she met me, thrusting her hips once and pressing me harder against the table, and I let out a cry, rolling my head back.

“Giselle…”

“Yes, Primrose? Something else still you need?”

“I… don’t know if you got it all…”

She pulled back, looking me over again before giving me a sweet, innocent smile. “No, it looks like I did.”

“Um…”

But she took the ice cream spoon again, and she scraped a tiny scoop of it up off the top before, holding eye contact with me, she dropped it over my breast, landing right above my nipple and running immediately down it. The cold sensation on my sensitive nipples almost made me scream, arousal shooting through me, even before she scraped up a second scoop and did the same on my other breast before setting the spoon down.

“Is that what you wanted?” she said, her voice low, husky, and I whimpered, avoiding her gaze. She took me by the chin and turned me back to face her. “Oh, look at you. So shy now. Need me to clean you up again now?”

“P-please, Giselle.”

“And what will you give me to say thank you if I do?”

“Anything.” My voice spoke for me. I wasn’t really in control of myself anymore.

“Good girl.” She bent down and ran her tongue slowly up my nipple, and I gasped, arching my back into her. The way she looked up at me with half-lidded eyes as she teased her tongue, flicking lightly, over my firm, pink nipple, I was so… god, it jolted straight to my core, a burning sensation between my legs that made me want to scream. Made me want to do anything if it would make her take me, use me… finish me.

She kissed over to my other breast, and she sucked it off this time, taking my nipple in her mouth and sucking lightly, and I collapsed back onto my elbows, bent over the table. Giselle followed me down, though, gripping me by the back and pressing me into her mouth, sucking on me, and I lost myself into the mind-numbing pleasure of it.

“Primrose,” she said, her voice teasing, playful. It took effort to rouse coherent words.

“Um… yes?”

“You said anything, didn’t you?”

I bit my lip hard, nodding. “Anything…”

She popped the button on my jeans. “Your body,” she said, taking my zipper and working it down slowly. “For me to do everything I want with.”

“Mm…” I watched with shaky breath as she dragged my pants down, slowly, clearly loving every inch of the process. “What—what is it you want to do?”

She paused, looking back up to meet my gaze. “You want to hear me say it? Is that what it is?”

“U-um…”

“You want me to tell you exactly what I want to do to your body.”

My thighs were tingling like electricity. I nodded, and she bent down and kissed my waist.

“I want to lick your pussy until you come.”

I gasped, half a strangled sound that died in my throat, as I bucked my hips against her. “God—yes. Please. Anything at all. As much as you want.”

“Good girl.” She pulled my pants and my underwear down together, slipping them down and dropping them on the floor, and I squirmed with awareness as the cold air hit the wetness between my legs—completely exposed. To Giselle. And the hungry look in her eyes as she took me in—there was nothing in the world I would have said no to right now. I would get on my knees for her right now if she asked. Would sell my soul for her.

She licked her lips, slowly. I bucked my hips up, already feeling like it was her tongue on me…

“You’re so gorgeous,” she breathed, bending down and kissing just above my navel. I struggled up against the table for support, my legs already shaking, watching with my pulse spiking higher as she kissed lower, just past my navel, and then lower, and then just above where I was burning for her.

She looked up at me, her face inches away from my slit, kneeling between my legs, and I thought I might have come just from seeing her like that—feeling her warm breath on my center, and slowly, still holding eye contact with me, she dragged her tongue up my folds, and I felt my hips move without me—jerked up against her, my arms shaky below me where they were holding me up, as pleasure poured through me. She paused before she did it again, licking more quickly this time, before she teased the tip of her tongue over my clit, moving quickly, and I felt my body moving with her, losing all control. She slipped her hands around to my back and gripped me tightly before she buried her face against me, taking my clit in her mouth and sucking, and it was—I felt like my whole body was being deconstructed. Her fucking tongue on my clit, sucking, teasing over it—she was so fucking good at it, it was like she had my whole body controlled by a string, and I was helpless to do anything but surrender to the feeling.

I had no idea it could even feel like this—this total, all-consuming pleasure that throbbed through every part of me, the obscene noises her mouth made against me joining with the heat and the desperate moans I made, and I collapsed onto my back on the table, hooking one leg around her and pulling her tighter into me, needing her—needing more of that fucking tongue and the way she just melted me, my whole body…

I’d never come so quickly before—she was relentless against me, driving me higher without pause as my whole body shut down for anything other than giving her what she wanted, and I couldn’t even form a single coherent word to tell her how I was going to come on her face—I exploded over the edge, pleasure flooding through every inch of me, as I cried out her name, trying to muffle it but I couldn’t move my hands away from where I’d grabbed her by the back of the head and ground her against my pussy, coming so hard it felt like I’d never move my body again, and—and I—Jesus, I’d never come so long before, either, her tongue still working, on and on, and it felt like hours I crested at the swell of it, and when finally, I started to get some of my senses back, coming back from the most incredible high of my life, I felt like I’d had the life force sucked out of every inch of my body. I didn’t think I’d be able to move again for hours.

Giselle came up off of me, bending over me on the table and kissing me softly—a swift peck on the lips. I think she wasn’t sure I wanted to kiss her after she’d just been… I didn’t know how to put words together, so I just grabbed her and pulled her back into me, meeting her in a deep, hot open-mouth kiss, and I just tried not to think about where that taste came from.

I tried to put together some words once she pulled back, hovering with that blissful smile just over my face, but all I managed was a hazy, “Wow.”

She wiped her lips. I really was, uh… all over her face… “Was that good?”

I wasn’t quite sure how to say it. Obviously it felt so good it just about melted me on the table, but there was something more still about how we were doing this. I was so used to following a script—get the other person off and then get myself off too if they didn’t just want to end it immediately after they were done—and I’d kind of forgotten the possibility of just doing what felt right with someone I liked…

“You’re so beautiful,” I finally managed, and she softened her smile, stroking my hair back away from my face.

“You too, Primrose.”

“I really do like you…”

“Likewise.” She kissed my collar, and it took everything I had not to well up thinking how nice it might be to just keep doing this forever.

I wasn’t dwelling on it. We were here now. I wasn’t one to get caught up in emotional things.

I pushed myself shakily back up to standing, leaning against the table, and I tugged at her shirt. “Hey… I want to—you know.”

She paused, eyes widened by just a fraction. “You—are you sure?”

I scowled. “Don’t tell me you’re too shy about this part.”

“Ah, well…” She looked away. “It’s not like I’m not insecure about my body, but it’s more that I’m checking you want to. You don’t have to if you don’t—”

“I want you naked. In my bed. Please. And thank you.”

She laughed nervously. “I mean, when you ask so nicely…”

She stripped her shirt up over her head, and—the long, toned musculature of her torso, her slim and firm arms, and her perfect, smooth skin—

I was in deep. But I didn’t give a damn. I wanted her.