Chapter 11

Atext on Nadia's phone announced that Eva had gone downstairs to wait for some food with Jane and Rebecca. With everyone else busy or leaving, Nadia saw no alternative except to head out to the living room balcony and take in some more of the balmy night before she inevitably left with Eva or hung out a while longer. The night was young, in some respects, but the party had skewed older than some of the ragers Nadia had been to in her twenties.

Honestly, I don't know what to expect anymore.

In the living room, Belle saw Shelby and Caitlyn off before latching the locks and cleaning up things from the coffee table. Nadia remained out on the balcony, hoping she hadn't been forgotten. Fine thing if I startled her because she thought I left, too. Was this a sign that she should go downstairs and find Eva? The power of cell phones gave her that opportunity.

Yet something kept her glued to that guardrail separating her from the surf below.

"Can't get enough of this view, can you?"

Nadia was the startled one. Her composure was maintained as Belle stepped out onto the balcony, leaving the sliding door open. She hugged her coverup to her body as a strong breeze blew through. Nadia, still in nothing but her bikini and baggy top, clasped her hands on the guardrail and fanned her fingers through her loosening hair.

"It's gorgeous."

Belle was only a few feet away when she leaned her elbows against the guardrail. Her pink hair fluttered in the evening light, the two of them a sight to behold to anyone with good enough vision – or a nightscope. To Nadia, though, this was merely a chance to catch her breath before heading back to the Waikiki condo with her wife, wherever she was.

"I hope the party wasn't too much for you," Belle continued. "Eva told me you're a bit of an introvert."

"It was nothing I couldn't handle," Nadia assured the party hostess.

"Oh, that's good. I know exactly what it's like to be driven insane by inane chatter from people you've recently met and couldn't care less about."

"I don't know if I would explain your party like that. Besides, I knew most of them."

"That's right. You're friends with Rebecca, aren't you?"

"Jane and Caitlyn also rent their offices in my boss's building."

"You work? That's so charming."

Of course it is. Nadia's hands dangled over the railing. Her knee cocked forward, flip-flops pushing into the concrete. "I never quit my job. I like to have my own thing going on."

Belle scooted closer. Or perhaps that was in Nadia's imagination. "You're both exactly the kind of woman I saw her marrying one day and exactly the opposite. You're a fascinating enigma, Nadia."

Something about the way Belle said that sent a chill down Nadia's arm. "Um, thanks?"

"I promise it's a compliment." Belle turned her whole body toward Nadia, who did not shy away. "Eva's an incredible woman. Just because it didn't work out between us, doesn't mean I can't appreciate how much thought she puts into selecting the best woman for the job."

"That almost made sense."

A coquettish smirk graced Belle's round face. "Forgive me. I guess I'm fascinated by you, Nadia. You're unlike anyone I've ever had in my home before. I daresay I've never met a woman like you. In terms of pure physical attraction, I mean."

That finally got Nadia's full attention. "Are you flirting with me, Belle?"

Although Nadia instantly thought It can't be, it's not possible, that was not shock on Belle's pink-framed face. If anything, that was a slight tinge of embarrassment coloring a woman who already courted several hues on the warmer side of the spectrum. "What can I say?" a coy tone said. "Eva has great taste in women. Forgive me for admiring that." She kicked her sandals off her feet and stood barefoot on her balcony. "Why? Don't you think I'm something else? Eva may have dated lots of women in her day, but one thing we can say about her is that she doesn't date boring women. Let alone marry them."

Nadia kept her real thoughts to herself. "I suppose you're right. I admit, when I first saw you, I knew you two must have been an item because your hair gave it away. She loves women who are so confident they'll have pink hair in their thirties."

"Oh, honey, it doesn't take that much confidence." Belle slammed her hand on her hip and laughed. "As someone who has also been married before, I think that gave me more confidence than anything else. I'll be the first to admit that all the adrenaline rushing I used to do in my twenties was a way to make myself feel confident and alive. After marrying Yui, well… with a divorce comes the ability to see things from a new perspective. I don't need to pursue thrills to feel alive, but that also doesn't mean I'm completely boring now."

"I should say not, considering you live in a place like this."

"And have colorful hair. Can't forget about that."

Nadia cracked a smile. "Suppose not."

This time when Belle moved, she was only a few inches away from Nadia, who was not inclined to create more space. She's harmless, right? At first, Nadia may have had strange vibes from her wife's ex, but she was also a decent judge of character. If Belle hadn't given Nadia bad vibes after a few hours of getting to know her, she was probably all right. At the very least, she wouldn't lay a trap to insult or otherwise harm Nadia out of jealousy. I hope not, anyway. Yet there was that sliver of her mind that fretted this might all be an elaborate ploy to make the woman who landed Eva Warren feel like absolute shit.

I can't help it… there are crazy people out there.

"Perhaps this is presumptuous of me, Mrs. Warren…" Where had that husky voice come from? From Belle Cherise? The woman small enough that Nadia could have crushed her between two curvy thighs? The one who squeaked half of her responses and pouted when she might not be getting her way? That Belle Cherise? The one who now sounded like Eva when she put her mind to seduction? "Except I'm sure you noticed that I couldn't stop staring at you once you came out of your shell in the hot tub. Such a great ice breaker, you know, and I don't merely say that because the water is hot enough to melt ice in a second."

She is flirting with me… "Not sure how that's presumptuous," Nadia began, her voice miraculously not shaking, "but it's forward."

"Should I apologize? I only will if it makes you uncomfortable. Otherwise, I don't think I have anything to apologize for."

Nadia was almost speechless – except for the one response tickling the tip of her tongue. "Really. You think you've got a shot with me?"

This time it was Belle Cherise who was nearly speechless. She slapped her hand over her mouth and stifled a guffaw that turned her questionable expression upside down. When she allowed herself to speak again, it was with the exclamation that Nadia was exactly the kind of woman she had hoped would stumble onto Oahu one day.

Where the hell are you, Eva? This situation wasn't anything Nadia couldn't handle herself, but she much preferred having her wife there as backup.

"I'm making you uncomfortable, after all." Belle sighed. "Forgive me, Nadia…"

"Prefer you call me that to ‘Mrs. Warren.'"

"What if I told you that's not the sole reason I'm attracted to you? Don't get me wrong…" A shrill snap of Belle's breath was soon between her teeth. "The thought of getting intimate with one of my ex's wives is definitely…" She stopped to consider that thought with a bite of her lip. "Hot."

"Uh-huh." Nadia kept her distance.

"You're definitely someone I'd be into even if we just met at one of my bars on the beach. I hope you appreciate how much your hot body stands out by the pool. I mean, I've never seen you by the pool, but I wish to have the chance before you leave for the mainland again."

"I'm not that hot…"

"Please." Belle's hand gently touched Nadia's forearm. While Nadia should have snatched it away and abandoned the balcony, she was obnoxiously drawn into Belle's ego-soothing flirtations. "You're so unique looking. Redheads come through here all the time. Curvy girls with the confidence to knock out the sun are everywhere. Hell, you're not even the first curvy redhead to grace my apartment. Like I'm not the first woman you've met with pink hair."

The corner of Nadia's mouth struggled to not pop upward. "How many of those curvy redheads are all-natural, though? Lots of bottled hair out there."

"Nothing looks as good as the real thing, though. Women like me who are always dying our hair can tell."

"You're trying to tell me that there are no natural pink-haired women out there?"

"God, I wish. People would stop commenting on mine."

"What's your natural hair color?"

Belle was close enough that Nadia could almost smell her breath. "I'll never tell. You have to get in there and find out for yourself."

Nadia didn't take her up on that offer. She was, however, keenly aware of Belle's soft touch. Not in a way that made Nadia consider straying from her wife, but in that Is this happening? way once again.

When was the last time someone put the moves on Nadia? Whose name wasn't Eva? She honestly couldn't remember.

"Anyway…" Although Belle lifted her hand from Nadia's forearm, it soon landed near her elbow, instantly sending her into a small but frenetic tizzy. "Feel free to ignore a lonely divorcee like me, Nadia. I ramble. I flirt. I make a fool of myself. I only hate the thought of letting a snack like you leave my penthouse without knowing how I feel, though."

"You make it sound like you'll be bereft if I don't go to bed with you."

"Perhaps I would be." Belle's fingers fanned across Nadia's shoulder. "It's been a long time since I last knew how good it feels to be with someone new. It's the same for you, isn't it?"

"You presume to know what my marriage is like?"

"Of course not. I simply don't think you have the same tastes as me. Look…" Belle finally backed off, but only a bit. "I'm into that rockin' body of yours and that sassy personality you've let loose a couple of times tonight. Are you into me? Because I'm quite malleable. You wanna be in charge tonight? I won't stop you. I can also give you exactly what you want if you're the pillow princess of these tropical dreams."

I can't believe this is happening. Instead of being offended, though, all Nadia could do was laugh. Except she didn't want to hurt Belle's feelings. Let her down? Sure! Make her feel as self-conscious as Nadia did most days? No. That wasn't her style.

"You're flattering me so much," Nadia said. "Trust me. If I were single, I'd be tempted."

"Really? You mean that?"

"Of course. Believe it or not, Eva's not my original type. I usually preferred women who look more like you and me."

"Feminine, flirty, and fun."

"Trust me. Eva is all of those things in her own way."

"Yes. Speaking of Eva…" A conspiratorial tone was introduced to Belle's voice. "If she's the only thing holding you back, I'm not opposed to inviting her along. Eva loves a good threesome. I'm sure you know it."

"Does she now?"

"Oh? You didn't know?"

I'm sure Eva loves a lot of things we haven't done in our relationship. That didn't mean they were indulging anytime soon. "I'm sure Eva would be into it. She's the much more adventurous one than me."

"I see. So, that's a no, then?"

Someone answered on Nadia's behalf.

"Of course it's a no." Eva stood where the glass sliding door would have been if Belle cared to close it. "Honestly, Belle, I expected better of you. Perhaps I shouldn't have."

Nadia clasped her hand over her chest as if she had been caught locking lips with Eva's ex-girlfriend. Belle, however, was less than impressed that she and Nadia had been interrupted. When I wished that Eva was here, this wasn't what I meant. Nadia didn't want to get Belle in trouble. Hell, she didn't want to be in trouble, either!

"Didn't I say you were invited?" Belle brushed against Eva, who didn't stir from where she leaned. "The three of us could spark up my bedroom, Eva. I mean, it never stopped us before when we were going out." Belle glanced over her shoulder. Nadia did not appreciate that frosty gaze. "Did she tell you that we had two threesomes in a whole month? Woman was insatiable."

"Belle." Eva's gentle chastisement did not warm up Nadia's limbs. "I don't know what your game is, but you're making my wife uncomfortable. If Nadia says no, then it's a no."

Those words fired up Nadia more than Belle's come-ons. "Are you saying that you'd be interested if I said yes?"

Eva shook her head. "I quite detest the idea. It's not a good plan. Not a good night. Sorry, Belle."

"Hmph." Belle opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside her home. "Shows me for ruining the mood of the evening. You two can show yourselves out. Have a good night."

Nadia released her breath of relief. Eva, however, remained in the doorway. Even when Nadia approached, her wife's body did not ease its tension.

"That was weird," Nadia said. "I had no idea she was into me. Guess that explains her always coming back to me in conversation earlier tonight. Honestly, if I knew she felt that way, I would have gone with you. That was awkward."

Eva averted her gaze from where Belle had gone. Her arms lowered from her chest.

"By the way, how did you get back in here? I saw her lock the front door."

"Don't change the subject," Eva growled. "I believe we were discussing what was about to happen between you and my ex-girlfriend."

Nadia scoffed. Here Eva went, playing her games. I hope it's a game, anyway. She couldn't seriously believe that her wife would cheat on her, yes? "Nothing was about to happen. You let your imagination go crazy if you want, but…"

Eva stepped out onto the balcony, where the mild breeze rustled her overshirt and brought Nadia's wandering attention to the hint of abs poking through her wife's stomach. Someone's been working out. Eva got the bug during lockdown three years ago. While she didn't hit the gym as often now, it was infuriating how little she had to adjust her diet and workout regimen to get abs. Maybe not a lot of abs, but enough for Nadia to notice. What's that freakin' like, anyway? Nadia had a healthier diet than ever before, and she….

Eva put a hand on her wife's shoulder. It wasn't the tender touch Nadia was acclimated to. "She was flirting with you. I saw the whooole thing."

Nadia shrugged her wife's hand off her. "Just because someone flirts with me doesn't mean anything's happening. You should know."

"What do you mean?"

Eva could speak through her teeth all she wanted, but Nadia wasn't intimidated. Not by the woman who cried at the ending of Titanic and pretended she had no idea who Leo was afterward. "I see you flirting with women all the time." Nadia whipped around, one hand clutching the railing while the other slammed on her hip. "I don't even mind it anymore, because I trust you. Flirting is your second language, right, Eva?"

"Babe…" Eva pushed herself slightly closer. Not close enough to kiss, but close enough to block the breeze from Nadia's slightly sweaty body. "That just means I know what flirting is and isn't. Belle was going to take you to bed if I didn't get back in time. She probably would have loved to get caught fucking you sideways. You know, a big ol' ‘fuck you' to her ex."

"I don't believe you."

"No?" Tension eased from Eva's shoulders. "Why?"

"Because if you thought there was a chance in hell I'd fall for some other woman's charms or be in a position where I didn't think I could say no like that, you wouldn't have brought me here. Let alone left me with her."

A small smile almost appeared on Eva's face. I knew it. Some goddamn game. "Maybe it doesn't matter if you would have done it or not. Maybe all I care about is knowing that some other woman almost put her grubby mitts on you."

"Grubby mitts? Is this film noir Eva I'm talking to?" Nadia helped herself back inside. Now was as good a time as any to leave the dying party. "You're nuts tonight."

Neither of them said goodnight to Belle, who had shut herself in her room. Nadia didn't know how the door would lock, but maybe Belle didn't care – some of these rich women lived in such a perpetually safe world that the thought of not locking their penthouse apartment for two minutes wasn't foreign to them.

It was to Nadia, though. She had to not think about it as she and Eva entered the elevator.

As soon as the doors closed, Eva pushed her wife against the wall.

"Eva!" Nadia braced herself for a body smashing against her own, as if they were in bed, as if this were another night of ridiculous fun. Or at least the kind Eva subscribed to.

Instead, Eva hovered so close that she might have been stalwart enough to never fall to her knees and beg for forgiveness. The way she loomed over Nadia was only matched by the lurching of the elevator and how it pitched her stomach into her chest.

"I think you and I need to talk about what happened tonight." Eva lowered her arms the moment the elevator door opened in the lobby. Already, the concierge had a cab back to Waikiki waiting for them. "You've been a bad girl, Nads."

"What! What are you talking about?" All right. That did it. Nadia marched ahead of her wife, fishing her phone out of her cross-body bag and careful to not lose her flip-flops when hopping into the back of the cab. Eva took her time telling the driver where to go and getting into the backseat. By then, Nadia had already buckled up and texted her wife.

"You know what the kids would say about you right now? You're out of pocket."

Eva grabbed her phone from her shorts when she heard the ding. Without looking at Nadia, she typed something back.

"We can wait until we're back at the condo to discuss this."

"No, we can't!" The cab pulled away from the building. As the light faded into the distance, Nadia huffed. "Why are you acting like this? You know I'd never cheat on you. What would even be the point? You think I'm into someone like BELLE?"

"Are you judging my tastes in exes?"

"What? No! What are you on about?" The faster the cab went down the road, the faster Nadia typed.

"Not even if I was there with you guys?"

Nadia almost dropped her phone. She should have known.

"YOU WANTED ME TO SAY YES DIDN'T YOU!!!!" She had no qualms about slamming the caps lock on that one. When as flustered as she was now? It was a miracle Nadia didn't scare the cab driver with a scream.

"I never said that."

Nadia slammed her phone into her lap and stared straight ahead for the rest of the ride. Eva continued to type. Every other second, Nadia's phone buzzed in her lap, but she didn't have the stomach to see what Eva had sent her.

Not until the cab pulled up to their condo building.

"You know you belong to me, right?"

That was the gist of what Eva wrote. Nadia was so flummoxed that she went ahead of her wife while she struggled to catch up to the woman marching to the elevator. See if THIS belongs to her! She jammed the elevator button so hard that she reveled in how numb her thumb became.

Luckily for Nadia, someone else was in the elevator until the fourteenth floor. Once they got off, it was only ten more seconds until they were at the penthouse. See if she gets a conversation in during that time! Nadia wouldn't let it happen!

A part of her hoped that Henry and Monica would prevent Eva from making a scene. Yet another part of her desperately wished that they were in bed, including the kid. Because Nadia had a feeling that this wouldn't be left to rest until she and Eva hashed it out in their room.

The living room was dark. Abigail wasn't on the couch, either. A note on the island counter in the kitchen said that Henry, Monica, and Abigail were out catching a fireworks show and would be back by midnight.

Eva wadded up the paper and pitched it into the trashcan. Behind her, Nadia slid open the glass door, desperate for more of that cool breeze. She was about to explode in anger, after all.

"Nadia."

Only the glow of her phone lit up Nadia's body out on the balcony. Eva straddled the opened doorway, her overshirt halfway down her arms and her ludicrously long legs stepping out of her sandals. Nadia didn't stay looking up for long.

"What?"

The languid movements bringing Eva over to her wife were recognizable, yet Nadia pretended that she wasn't enamored with how fluidly Eva moved through the world. Her stupid physique. Her stupid money. Her stupid, stupid privilege. That Nadia took full advantage of, but tonight was not the night to confront that part of her hypocrisy.

Eva grabbed the arms of Nadia's lounge chair. What should have been a sanctuary was now Nadia's prison as she was trapped beneath her wife's darkened gaze.

"What do you want me to say, huh?" Nadia slammed her phone into her lap. "That her flattery and flirtations were nice? That I was totally going to fuck her because she made me feel nice? That I've been saving up my libido for the past few weeks for someone who isn't you?" Her voice dropped into a childish pout. "Aww, would that hurt your feelings, Eva? The thought of me with someone who isn't you?"

Eva didn't bite Nadia's immature bait. "Depends on the situation. I think the thought of you going crazy beneath another woman is one of the hottest things I've ever conceived in my caveman's brain."

Nadia looked away before she was crushed beneath the weight of her wife's gaze. "That's not what happened, now is it? No matter how much you wished that turned into a hot threesome, that's not what happened."

Eva's knee rested between Nadia's legs. "You could have said yes."

"Like you would have gone with it… what was I supposed to say? ‘Oh, thanks for making me feel nice, Belle. Let's get started and Eva can miraculously join in la…' wait." Nadia gasped. "Did you two conspire to make that happen?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

One of Nadia's fingers jammed into Eva's chest. "Stop being cagey with me. What's going on with you, huh? First, you're accusing me of thinking about cheating, now you're talking about threesomes with your ex. Well? Which is it?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything, besides not appreciating how much others want you."

Nadia's mouth dropped.

"You are one of, if not the most infuriatingly hot women on this strip of land right now." Eva lowered her whole body, her knee precariously close to Nadia's thighs while their noses slightly touched. "Say what you want about me, Nads. I might have some looks and the seductive skills to con a woman like you into marrying me, but you've got the kind of body that every queer woman in Hawaii is desperate to touch. How can I get you to appreciate that?" She tugged on a sapphire blue strap tied behind Nadia's neck. "My God, I can barely hold myself back from you right now."

Nadia was still speechless, if only because her brain suffered from such whiplash. She's angry at me. Then she wants to seduce me. What's going on? This night had been too much for one woman who was used to quiet evenings at home.

"I'll do whatever it takes to make you understand how desirable you are." Eva said that directly into Nadia's ear, eliciting a sharp breath that shook Nadia to her extremities. Only on this warm tropical night could she freeze from one string of words. While sweating half to death… Only Eva had that effect on her. "She didn't try to get you in her bed because she wanted to get back at me for something we've both moved on from, babe." Eva's bangs draped across Nadia's shoulder before that head raised, an audible groan shared between them – and Nadia had no idea who made that sound. My God. It was me, wasn't it? She was afraid of that truth. It meant she wanted more of Eva's bullshit games. "She wanted to put her hands all over your exquisite body. She wanted to be me, not get back at me. Don't you get it, Nads?" Two tender knuckles tapped the bottom of Nadia's chin, forcing her head back and exposing her throat. "You have the abilities of a powerful succubus. Except you make women come to you. Hmph." Those knuckles disappeared. All that remained was a pair of lips lightly touching the white of Nadia's trembling throat. "Guess that makes you a siren, my dear."

Nadia's heart rattled in her chest, as if she were a spirit attempting her last few breaths of life. Maybe I'm a siren after all… Nadia didn't know what kind of song she sang. All she knew was that it had worked on women like Eva and Belle, two intense women who knew what they wanted – and they had wanted her.

Maybe I should have taken Belle up on her offer, after all.

Yet that would mean forgoing this moment right here. Eva's mouth slowly moved across Nadia's, sending a shock of pleasure straight to her thighs. The same place where Eva's knee still happened to be.

"I wasn't lying, though." Any warmth between them was shattered when Eva pulled Nadia's hair just hard enough to keep that soft throat exposed. Nadia's fingers curled against the arms of her lounge chair. Her knees snapped up to attention, one flipflop unceremoniously dropping from her foot as her toes fanned out in anticipation. "Other women aren't appreciating that you belong to me. If they want a piece of this, they have to come through me first." Although Eva eased her grip on her wife's hair, Nadia didn't move. She didn't know what else Eva was capable of. Or how quickly I'll fall for it right now.

Especially when Eva said what Nadia already knew was coming.

"Maybe I need to put my mark all over you. It's been a while since I made it clear to this body of yours that it's all mine."

Nadia rescued her lips from the bruising they were about to receive. Yet as her head turned away and Eva's mouth landed in a mess of hair, Nadia wasn't saying no. If anything, she needed a moment to get in the last word. Whatever the word would be.

"Maybe you do," she said. "That way I'm not put in those awkward situations."

If Eva chuckled in self-satisfaction, Nadia didn't hear it. Nor did she feel that knee coming straight for her bikini bottoms. Not even when she arched her back and opened her legs to accept the erotic touch softening any of Eva's verbal blows.

I could probably get into this kind of kink… Nadia's eyes closed, and her limbs softened around her body now completely smothering her on the lounge chair. As it creaked beneath their collective weight, Nadia reveled in the fact that this was her ridiculous life. I have an incredible wife who thinks I'm hot. We get to play these games and make love on a balcony overlooking Waikiki… There was a time when Nadia's primary concern was someone seeing them. It had happened before when they were dating. Hong Kong. A powerful camera. My O-face all over the tabloids. Now? They were married. They were older. Both had been caught up in so many strange scandals that most people didn't care anymore. If anything, a camera attached to a drone might work in their favor, because it showed the world that they still had "it" for each other.

Nadia really did love "it" when her brain and body were aligned like the stars in the sky.

"This bikini drives me fucking insane." With both strings in her fist, Eva pulled Nadia forward. The force of the movement knocked whatever air had returned to Nadia's lungs. Her legs were completely limp around Eva's. The knee nailed to her mound and the hard, straight back of the lounge chair reminded her that she was her wife's prisoner. No matter what I do or say, I might be trapped here. Best to forget any fantasy of escape. She was Eva's, and if she wanted to leave her mark on her wife right here on this balcony overlooking the ocean, well, that was her right, wasn't it? I can't believe I'm thinking like this… These were the kind of thoughts Nadia's friends shared with her when they were two drinks in at the club and the kinky confessions came out. Nadia usually received words and shared little of her own. She wasn't "kinky." She didn't care much for BDSM when it came to her personal sex life with Eva, although she always felt guilty about that. After all, that had been Eva's life before she fell in love with the Queen of Vanilla.

Yet Eva had always declared that Nadia wasn't as vanilla as she thought. "You've got lots of sweet, dark chocolate in you," she was fond of saying. Nadia merely appreciated her wife foregoing the obvious strawberry joke.

Except here they were. If Eva wanted to leave a hickey on Nadia's skin and untie the back of her bikini, that was her prerogative. Nadia trusted her to assess the risks of being caught. Like she must have risked catching Nadia and Belle together, had they been left "alone" for more than a few minutes.

Nadia almost had a powerful thought about that. Too bad it was knocked out of her when Eva's knee moved.

"Ah!" A hand clasped over Nadia's mouth as Eva's knee went for it. Between the warm air on her breasts and the knee rubbing against her pussy, Nadia was a goner – and that only became more true the more she indulged in the domestic fantasy plaguing her imagination.

She wanted Eva to silence her. She yearned to be put in her place by a woman who couldn't hold herself back from this type of ludicrous lovemaking.

"Be careful that the whole beach doesn't hear you down there," Eva gently chided as her hand remained wrapped around Nadia's lips. There was barely enough room for Nadia to breathe her arousal in and out of her nostrils. "This is a family-friendly place. The adults can't know when I'm making you mine. They're only allowed to know that you are mine."

Even if Nadia were to open her eyes and drink in the night, Eva's head was now so close that such visions were moot. I smell her perfume. I taste her skin. I feel her all over me. That was all that mattered.

"If I move my hand, will you be quiet?"

Nadia shook her head.

"That's what I thought. Guess I have to do all the work, huh?"

If there was one thing Nadia never minded in her marital love life, it was Eva doing all of the work. Not that Nadia was a self-proclaimed pillow princess. Quite the contrary, she was always willing to give back to her partner – she simply couldn't help it if making herself at home beneath her wife was where she was her most euphoric.

Because she did like the feeling of being possessed by this woman. Eva was someone who could have anyone she wanted. When Nadia was the most trapped in her thoughts, she struggled to understand how a woman like Eva had chosen her over every other willing person in the world. She could have anyone. That thought often ran through Nadia's mind, even when her wife nibbled her nipples and teased the depths of Nadia's belly button. The lower she traveled, the more exposed Nadia felt. Except they weren't in the confines of a private cabana. They were on a balcony overlooking the gentle ocean.

She could have anyone…

Yet it was Nadia on this lounge chair, on this penthouse balcony, in this multimillion-dollar condo on the shores of Waikiki Beach. It was Nadia who had flown First Class because the family's private plane was used for more difficult trips these days. It was Nadia who called a whole wing of Warren Manor her home. And it was Nadia who married this one-of-a-kind woman only three years ago.

It's my damn pussy she's gunning for right now.

From the first time they made love, Eva had easily made herself at home between Nadia's legs. Back then, Nadia had assumed it was simply Eva's style: she was confident, skilled, and experienced in a woman's pleasure. Yet as the years went by, Nadia wondered if this kind of attention was reserved for her. Had anyone else ever felt Eva's nose navigate hair like that? Ever sighed to experience her tongue teasing a slit like that? Or ever almost cried out because of the way Eva muttered her declarations of love and lust like that?

Right on my clit…

Eva was tall, but not enough to keep one hand on Nadia's mouth while kissing her down below. As her fingers fell away to allow her face to go deeper between Nadia's legs, the fresh air kissed Nadia's lips and threatened to carry away her next groan of pleasure.

Don't. Make. A sound.

That was the challenge Nadia embraced as Eva's hand rested upon her wife's chest. If Nadia could stay quiet, as Eva had bid, then this moment was hers. All they needed were more trivial seconds to waste. More squeezes of the thighs and the slightest of arches of their backs. Because Eva was not immune. When Nadia braved opening her eyes and beholding the erotic sight before her, it was to witness the undulations of Eva's spine and neck, both moving splendidly beneath the overcast moonlight.

Nadia almost didn't feel her wife's tongue at first. She was too drawn in by the effort Eva exhibited.

Then she felt it. How could she miss it after so much effort?

There wasn't a deity in the history of man who wasn't summoned to Nadia's mind. Each name flashed on her eyelids as she slapped her hand over her mouth and grabbed Eva by the scalp. Where her knees went? Sometimes she forgot how flexible she was. When Nadia put her mind to it, the years of "beginner's" yoga paid off. Because her knees were eerily close to her ears, the lounge chair creaking with every slight thrust of Eva's tongue.

Hot damn that tongue…!

If the stars were the lights of the earth and the sea was the lifeblood nurturing all that grew from the soil, then the clouds covering the sky were the veil that shielded this sinful act from the same gods haunting Nadia's subconscious. She didn't question how a loving act between two married people could be sinful, but she also didn't care. Because she loved the idea of sinning it up with Eva Warren, a woman who knew a thing or two about getting kicked out of paradise.

She wanted to get kicked out with Nadia. How could the missus say no?

The only thing Nadia truly wondered was how Eva could stand to kneel on the concrete like that. I'll have to make it up to her. I'll have to give her anything she asks… The sheer horror!

Perhaps Eva would have made that joke, but not Nadia. Because when she was in the mood to go for it, she never held back. She was as willing of a participant in the machinations of Earth's cycles as the rain that fell to the ocean and returned to the atmosphere the next sunny day.

Her body seized up in unexpected delight. That was the power of Eva's tongue as it performed its wicked deed in the dead of night.

"Fuck…" That was the only word to croak from Nadia's throat as she braced herself for orgasm. Eva must not have heard her. This was the woman who would chide her wife for speaking when told to not make a sound. Yet Nadia knew. She knew she had disobeyed orders and would have to make up for it, too.

She withstood the sensations blooming from her abdomen and making themselves at home in her limbs and extremities. Even her scalp welcomed the tingling, the warmth, and the electricity shocking her nervous system.

Eva did not relent merely because her wife climaxed in the lounge chair. Her tongue slowed its methodical circles and her lips curled back into a cheeky grin against Nadia's mound, but that didn't mean the energy shifted, or her grip on Nadia's chest relented. For Eva Warren, bringing her wife to orgasm was only the beginning. It was the warmup. The appetizer.

She never entertained a conventional main course.

Why do you think I've got to space you out, huh? Nadia's legs remained open as Eva came up to kiss her, that relentless knee back where it belonged. This time, with Nadia's bikini bottoms out of the way, it was easier to taunt her sensitive skin and make her shake in bliss.

"Can you taste yourself on my lips?" Eva whispered into her wife's mouth. "That's how they know you're mine."

Nadia indulged in as many kisses as she could fit into one breath. No, she didn't detect anything different. No, she didn't care. What she wanted and what Eva offered weren't always congruent, but they were often offered on the same platter.

"I thought they knew I was yours because of how I walk," Nadia jested when she took her next breath. Her hand remained locked around the back of Eva's neck, keeping her close enough to kiss again.

Eva, however, kept her kisses behind her teeth. "You walk like a goddess that owns the whole place. That's how everyone knows you're mine. It's my mark." The faintest touch painted emotional gold against Nadia's cheek. "Let me tell you how proud I am to leave it on you."

Nadia wanted one last kiss. They were about to go inside, but she wouldn't let one of the sweetest things her wife ever said be swept away on the sea breeze.