Chapter 14 That Hot, Right Honey

14

That Hot, Right Honey

In my bedroom, we undressed each other slowly and deliberately, though the clothes got tossed to the floor in a haphazard fashion that was very unlike Ivy. She'd somehow retained enough presence of mind to cast a one-way sound-dampening glamour on the locked door, so when we sank into my queen bed, the wood-paneled room felt like a forest haven. A private little bower in which we could hear the crashing of the storm against the windows, but no one would hear us. No matter how loud we got.

"Hey," she said, as we lay on our sides facing each other, nose to nose. Her near-black eyes glittered in the gloom, like the light from some far-flung galaxy that had managed to make its way to me against all odds.

"Hey yourself." I leaned forward for a grazing nuzzle, the plush silk of her lips barely brushing against mine. "Fuck, you smell so good."

"So do you," she whispered, running a palm over the back of my head, brushing my hair away to follow the long line of my neck, the curve of my shoulder, my arm where it lay tucked against my side. Everywhere she touched, she laced with a warm, syrupy swirl of Thorn magic. Heat rushed up to meet her touch, as though my blood wanted to surge toward and meld with those little spurts of magic.

"Unfair advantage," I murmured throatily, running my fingers down her throat before I dipped lower to cup the full swell of her breast, roll the soft weight in my hand. "Not like I can reciprocate."

She chuckled against me, leaning in to nip at my lower lip. Under all that sweetness, Ivy could be a ruthless tease, and much more dominant than you'd expect.

"You never used to mind before, Star," she said. "Still a hard no on you returning the favor, though. I don't ever want to know what ectoplasm feels like against skin."

"No problem," I assured her, rolling her nipple between my fingertips until her eyelashes fluttered, a low, breathless moan slipping past her lips. "I have other ways."

With a gentle push, I rolled her onto her back, straddling her hips in one smooth motion. Then I bent to cup her face and kiss her in slow, shallow grazes, my hair sliding down to veil us—until she reached around to give my ass the kind of firm squeeze that meant "stop screwing around."

"So it's like that," I said against her mouth, swallowing a laugh. "Such a rush we're in."

"You know damn well it's like that," she replied, giving me a swift, deliberate smack that stung just enough to make me catch my breath. "So kiss me like you fucking mean it, and finish what we started last night."

I didn't need to be told twice.

We'd kindled this fire the night before, but there had been a desperate edge to it then, Ivy's determination not to let me slip away from her and back to the other side. Now, this, was just her and me. Intent on each other until everything beyond us melted away—as though reality had always been merely an illusion, the two of us nestled at its core like seeds. The only real thing, embedded in the dream that was the world beyond.

I kissed her slow and deep, my thumb against her chin to keep her mouth open wide under mine, sliding my tongue against hers in long, searing sweeps. I could feel her hips writhing beneath me like waves, lifting and lowering me with their force. I ground back against her just as hard, setting a driving rhythm that was still only a promise for what was to come.

Once she was panting against me, sinking her teeth sharp into my lower lip and moaning into my mouth, I slid farther down, licking a long line down the column of her arched throat, nestling my face into the sensitive crook of her neck. I lingered there, sucking and biting at her, her hands buried in my hair.

"Fuck," she exhaled on a shuddering breath. "Fuck, I missed you so much, I missed this so much."

"Me, too, sweetness," I whispered back, my insides quaking with how much I meant it, how terribly I'd longed for exactly this so many nights. "You know how bad I've always wanted you. And I'm so glad you're back."

I flipped my hair over my head and let it trail across her skin, a long, silken caress that followed the line of sucking kisses I pressed into her chest and belly. I might not have had warm magic to send spiraling into her skin, but she'd always loved the caress of my hair spilling all over her. Then I propped myself up on my forearms, pressing her breasts together so I could suck both of her nipples into my mouth at once, drawing them through my teeth. Mother and Crone, Ivy had always had the most unearthly perfect pair of tits. Teardrop shaped and slung low and lush, at least three cup sizes bigger than mine.

She let out a high, helpless yelp, tipping back her head and grinding it against my pillows. "More, more," she hissed through her teeth. "Don't you stop."

Shifting to one side, I slid a palm down the softness of her belly, letting my fingers slip between her legs. She was so wet already, so slick and heated, that the demanding throb between my own thighs tightened into a hollow ache. I parted her with a finger, trailing slow, firm circles around her taut clit, then skimming lightly over it, the way I knew she liked when she was this sensitive. If I kept going, flicking my tongue against her nipples and working at her like this, she'd come for me not once but sometimes two or even three times. Just the thought of it sent a ferocious, pulsing thrum through my middle, a seismic tremor of desire.

" Fuck ," she moaned, flinging up an arm to grab a handful of pillow. "Fuck you're so good at that, I can't…I…"

"Keep going?" I asked her, lifting my head even as my fingers kept up that circling, skimming rhythm. I'd never seen my own face when I was like this, wanting Ivy with every fiber of my being. But she'd once told me I looked like something semi-feral, a wolf or a succubus or whatever other creature might want to eat all of her at once. "I can, if you want. Whatever you want. But if you let me taste you—"

Before I could finish, she slid both hands down to grab me by the waist, gripping me hard enough to make me gasp before flipping us over, landing me effortlessly on my back. We were nearly the same height, but Ivy had always been much stronger, all that hard yoga muscle beneath voluptuous curves and satin skin.

"Oh, I'm definitely gonna let you," she said, her lips curving with wicked promise, that clover-honey voice raw with desire. She traced my profile, running her fingers from my forehead down the curve of my nose and over my lips. Letting them linger until I sucked at her fingertips. "But right now, I want it like this."

Two scoots forward brought her just above my face, soft thighs pressing tight against my cheeks. The sudden scent of her was overwhelming, perfumed skin mingling with the salty musk of her desire, so enticingly close to my mouth I could barely stand it. I slid one arm under and around her thigh, pinning her in place for when she inevitably started squirming. My other hand, I let wander down my stomach to the cleft between my own legs, fingers skimming over my own heat.

Arching my neck, I started lapping at her the way she'd always liked to start, in slow, tantalizing ice-cream licks. She tasted just like I remembered, sweetness and salt tinged with the faintest hint of bitter, like salted caramel and aniseed. Complex as wine, so intoxicating I could feel myself go dizzy at both the taste and the sound of her full-throated groans.

She bore down on me, head thrown back in abandon, grinding against my open mouth. I moved into deliberate, swirling figure eights, tracing the silken contours of her, feeling that wet heat slickening my cheeks. I moved my other hand in a slower rhythm, much slower than the frantic beating of my heart against my ribs. But I could still feel the relentless pressure building inside me, like water surging against an increasingly porous dam, trickles of pleasure already seeping in.

"Ah, damn," Ivy was moaning, rocking back and forth, clinging to my headboard with both hands. "I'm so close…"

I took that as my cue to latch on hard, sucking the hard nub of her into my mouth, my own fingers dipping in and out of me, speeding up to match her pace. Then I unwound my other arm from around her thigh, gently sliding a curved finger inside her, the searing heat of her clamping down around me like a fist. Ivy could be sensitive to too much penetration too soon, but when she was this close, already hovering on the precipice, sometimes that careful pressure was enough to tip her right over the edge.

"Oh, god," she groaned above me, ratcheting up into little half shrieks. "Fuck, Star, fuck, I'm going to come…"

I could feel the clench of those powerful muscles around my finger even as her legs trembled with the force of her climax, and I instantly couldn't rein myself in a second longer. I kept licking and stroking against the rising tide of my own pleasure, until that sweet explosion rocked me like a tiny supernova, a flush of heat surging up my belly and down my own shaking legs.

"Again," Ivy demanded breathlessly before I'd even spiraled all the way back down, hips still bucking. "Please, again ."

With a little growl, I powered through that liquid spill of pleasure and kept at it; the same insistent sucking and pressure, fierce enough to make my jaw ache, my wrist burn. But it was worth it to feel Ivy unravel above me again and again, dragging me along with her each time. Across peaks and valleys like some ecstatic mountain range we'd never finish summitting together.

I didn't stop until Ivy pitched forward against the headboard, her entire body quivering.

"Okay," she whispered, through a low, semi-astonished chuckle I could feel vibrate against my face. "Oooh, damn, alright. I think maybe that was enough. For now."

"What do you think it is about storms," Ivy asked, "that always makes you so horny?" I lay flopped on my stomach with an arm flung over her, while she'd curled up on her side with her knees tucked up against me.

"Um," I said, voice muffled by the pillow. "I believe it was you who instigated."

"I was just catching your vibe." She trailed a warm fingertip down my spine until I arched into her touch like a cat, mock purring until she giggled. "You were wanting to jump me before we even went out on that porch, don't even lie."

"True. And I'm not sure about why storms," I said, turning my head to face her. "Maybe because they're so dramatic. Turbulent, decadent. Kind of like the way I feel on the other side, but good. Normal. Right."

"Yeah, I'll buy that," she said, nodding slowly, that limpid gaze shifting between my eyes. "You were pretty phenomenal, you know that? Blew my mind very thoroughly."

"What can I say? Maybe I learned it from The Brash and Brazen Wanton's Guide . Or maybe I'm in my hedonistic mind-blow era." I leaned in for a kiss, both of us heedless of the fact that I was still sticky with her, having given my face only a cursory swipe with the sheets before we both collapsed. "Which, now that I think about it, is maybe the only era I've ever been in. And likewise, damn. A bitch can ride ."

"Come on, now. Saying it like you didn't already know what's up." A corner of her mouth quirked in that cocky grin I'd always loved so much. Ivy was normally so mellow, so dedicated to catering to other people and putting herself second, that it felt like the most delicious kind of secret to see this other side of her. "But yeah, you certainly haven't lost your touch. Or that very talented tongue."

"Keep talking like that, and we're going to have to find out if another round might actually kill us," I threatened, stroking the curve of her ass before giving it a grab-and-jiggle to make her laugh. "And my guest might start to wonder where we are. I don't know about you, but I'm going to need a very hot and soapy shower before we venture back out into the world to go oversee our respective spectacles."

"I bet she's still asleep. Something as heavy-duty as that spellwork in her mind would hit anyone like a ton of bricks. But, you're right." She sat up, began winding sheets around her. "We should probably get our shit together."

"Ivy…" I reached for her and gently drew her back down, trepidation scorching up my throat, burning away the playfulness. "Today. Us. What does this mean? You don't have to answer right now, if you don't want to. I just…I'd like to have an idea? So I know what I'm allowed to feel."

Her face softened, warming with empathy at whatever she felt emanating from me. Thorns weren't quite was attuned to others as they were to each other, but their psychic antennae were certainly sensitive enough to pick up on partners' and lovers' emotions.

If that was what we were, again.

"I'm not really sure yet, Dash," she said softly, stroking her knuckles over my cheek. "And you know what, that's okay. But for starters, I'm really glad it happened. Not just the sex, but everything else—everything you told me. And I do think it could mean something good. For both of us."