That wasn’t something she’d go handle right this second, though.
Right this second, she had her girl’s hand in hers and was ready to get down to the business of getting busy with her.
It’d been too damn long between them, too, since the last time they’d made love.
Kimbra had never taken their time together for granted before, never knowing for sure if or when Eve might be ready to make this permanent.
Except today it felt sweeter, more real—like Eve was more there.
Like there was a we, an us.
A them.
And if Eve was happy playing the little spoon with her, even better. She was good with that and anything else Eve wanted to do, as long as it involved them being married and together.
Kimbra backed Eve toward the bed even as they helped each other strip along the way. Yeah, Walt had been good in bed when they were together. Unfortunately, their problems were mostly when they were out of bed. She could give her damn self an orgasm with her own two hands or a vibrator.
What she needed was a partner who got her, who understood her drive, her work, and wouldn’t have a problem with that. Eve was just as driven with hers, and the two of them could be perfectly happy sitting in silence in the living room, surrounded by piles of files and paperwork.
They had done just that countless times before.
All Kimbra had needed was Eve to finally be ready to jump so Kimbra could catch her.
She playfully shoved Eve, making her land on her back on the bed. Kimbra climbed up and straddled her. “You still a little hungover, boo?”
“Yeah. Not as bad as when I woke up, though. Still have energy for you.”
Kimbra smiled. “Good. That’s punishment enough, I suppose. I know I felt miserable last Sunday. Thank god Ron drove us home.”
“Can I please ask something?”
“Sure.”
“Can we not talk about that again? For either of us? As in ever? I hit bottom this morning. Seriously.” Tears filled Eve’s eyes. “I thought for sure I’d lost you. I never want to feel like that again. Ever.”
Kimbra leaned in and kissed her, gently, sweetly, taking her time and loving it when Eve responded. “Sure, baby. Done and forgotten. In the past.”
Kimbra kissed her way down Eve’s jaw, to her chin, down her neck and nuzzling her lips in the hollow of her throat. She wanted to take her time today.
She wanted to take forever. Convince Eve that this was the right path for them both, that it was a path worth taking.
That they were worth it.
No rushing today, Kimbra slowly trailed kisses down the valley between Eve’s breasts, cupping them in her hands and brushing the pads of her thumbs over her nipples.
That earned her a sweet, sexy moan. Eve spread her thighs and started grinding against Kimbra’s knee, which was planted between them. Smiling down at Eve, Kimbra shoved her knee up harder, pressing against her pussy to give her better traction.
“I’m not even mean enough to tell you to hold it. Today,” Kimbra added. “Sometimes I’m gonna want to make you beg, though, baby girl.”
Eve gasped. “Yes, Ma’am.”
That needy desperation was more than enough to finish firing up Kimbra’s libido. She pressed Eve’s breasts together, nipping and sucking hard on her right nipple, then her left, back and forth as Eve squirmed beneath her.
Eve still hadn’t managed to grind one out against Kimbra’s leg when Kimbra moved south, biting and sucking and licking a path of marks all the way down, over Eve’s navel, to her pussy.
“On second thought,” Kimbra said, sitting up, “maybe I do want to make you work for this.”
Eve let out a frustrated groan while Kimbra retrieved the toy she wanted from her nightstand. One end of the dildo, a large oblong bulb shape, slid inside Kimbra’s pussy, holding it in place and allowing her to fuck Eve with the business end of it. A strap-on that…wasn’t strapped on. She grabbed Eve’s legs and shoved them up and apart.
“In fact, I think I want to fuck the first one out of you, baby girl. Let’s start this new world order off right.” She slipped two fingers into Eve’s pussy and found her soaking wet, and used her own juices to slick the dildo. “Gonna remind you who you rightfully belong to so you don’t ever doubt it again.”
* * * *
There was nothing on Eve’s mind right now except how good Kimbra’s body felt against hers, and how great everything she was doing to her felt.
Kimbra teased Eve’s clit with her thumb as she slid fingers inside her cunt again, gathering more wetness to coat the dildo. Eve had confessed to her once this was her second favorite toy, next to the Hitachi vibrator.
When Kimbra notched the head of the fake cock against Eve’s pussy, her blue gaze met Eve’s. “No one else. Not as long as we’re together, and I want to spend forever with you.”
Eve nodded. “No one else. Ever.”
She gasped as Kimbra slammed home, her sadistic grin lighting fires deep inside Eve’s body as she held still for a moment. “I always forget how much fun this thing is until I’m fucking you with it, baby.” She ground her hips against Eve, their clits rubbing together before she began her long, slow withdrawal.
Kimbra reached down and cupped Eve’s breasts again, this time pinching and rolling her nipples between her fingers as Eve held on to Kimbra’s hips and tried to urge her into moving faster.
But Kimbra wouldn’t be rushed. She settled into a long, slow, teasing grind, one she knew would frustrate Eve even as it worked her closer to the edge of coming.
Kimbra’s gaze never wavered from Eve’s as she fucked Eve, watching her, gauging how close she was, finally picking up the pace as she sensed Eve getting closer.
And she was, too. Eve played dirty and reached between them, finding Kimbra’s clit and rubbing it, making her cry out as she came. Kimbra’s fingers dug into Eve’s breasts and that was the last little jolt she needed to fall over the edge, too.
Sweet, desperate pleasure exploded from her clit, sweeping through her body as her pussy clamped down on the toy. Kimbra fell still, the dildo still buried deep inside Eve. When the evil, sexy grin curled Kimbra’s lips, Eve knew she was in trouble.
“That’s a start, baby.” She leaned in and kissed Eve, slanting her lips over Eve’s in a crushing kiss as her hips started rocking again. Now sensitive, it wouldn’t take either of them very long to get over a second time.
And knowing Kimbra’s evil streak, Eve had a feeling she’d be begging her to stop at some point.
Until then…she’d gladly take every second of it, relishing it.
Loving it and loving Kimbra.
It was nearly an hour later before they both collapsed, sated, Eve aching in all the good ways and curled in Kimbra’s arms. The dildo had been discarded to the side a little while earlier, and they’d finished with Eve on top of Kimbra in a sixty-nine.
Sweet, languid calm filled Eve.
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Kimbra chuckled. “Thank you, baby girl.”
Eve pressed her face against Kimbra’s breast, sucking, leaving yet another mark. “Sorry I was so stupid and waited so long.”
“Nah, don’t think like that.” Kimbra’s fingers lightly raked through Eve’s hair, against her scalp. “This was what we both needed, getting our heads on straight. It happened, we’re here, and that’s all that matters in the end.”
Eve snuggled in and closed her eyes. “Can we take a nap before we run our errands?”
“You read my mind, honey.”
* * * *
If it wasn’t for the fact that Kimbra needed to go out and get a spare key made, she wouldn’t want to leave the house at all.
The key, and they needed to go get Eve’s clothes and stuff for her for tomorrow.
Eve would be sleeping in her bed tonight. No more late-night good-byes and even longer hours alone.
Not anymore.
Worth it.
She felt the difference
in Eve today. Sure, desperation had played a role.
Kimbra didn’t even care.
How they reached this point was completely irrelevant.
All that mattered was they were here now, they were on the same page, and by the end of the week, they’d be married.
It sure as fuck beat the alternative.
Kimbra had been ready to say good-bye to Eve. Not an ultimatum, but a melancholy farewell with the sincere hope that they could remain friends even after.
Following last weekend, her heart had felt…scorched.
Even the few drunken hours she’d spent with Ivan had helped sate something within her that had felt lonely and unfulfilled.
She’d felt needed.
Wanted.
Not sexually, but as a person.
That was what had been missing for far too long with Eve.
Except now…
She felt it, and more.
Kimbra didn’t need a wedding “ceremony.” All she needed was her woman to finally say I do and mean it. She’d had a “wedding” before and it hadn’t lasted. Eve shied away from public displays like that, anyway. It wasn’t her thing, even when it was for celebrating other people.
I hope Ron will warm up to her.
Ron was a very protective man when it came to those he considered “his.” Be it family or friends—or friends he considered family. Considering how shitty his parents had treated him—and Meri when she’d taken his side and stood up for him against them—friends were his family.
While she hadn’t talked to him this weekend because of his Viking thing, she knew he would need Eve to prove to him she wasn’t going to break Kimbra’s heart before he really “accepted” her.
Which was fine. He was Kimbra’s reality check, just like she was his.
I need to call him.
Because, actually, if there was someone she wanted there celebrating with them, it’d be him. Because he understood and had put up with more than his fair share of listening to her whine about what was or wasn’t going on with Eve over the past couple of years.
But she didn’t need to call him right this second. All she wanted to do was bask in this moment, Eve securely snuggled in her arms and for once the world feeling like it’d righted on its axis for her.
Chapter Ten
Ron stared at his phone Monday morning, the text he’d received from Kimbra.
Call me when you have a sec, boo. I’ll be back in the office by 11. :)
Well, she didn’t sound mad.
He hoped.
Besides, Kimbra was the kind of person who, if you’d pissed her off—say, for example, taking her parking space, cutting in front of her in line at the grocery store, or fucking her girlfriend—she’d tell you to your face.
Will do.
He slipped his phone back into his pocket and focused on the job at hand, replacing a broken wall light switch, and installing a new ceiling fan fixture for the customer.
He’d spent most of yesterday and last night trying to recover his mead-missing memories and just…couldn’t.
What few hazy, strange things he could recall made him feel pretty damned shitty, if they were even accurate.
He didn’t want to believe he’d slept with Eve. He hoped if that was what really had happened that she would have said something.
Note to self, get new round of testing.
Just in case.
Although he hoped she didn’t have anything. If she did, he knew there would have to be some difficult conversations with her, and with Kimbra. If he did pick up anything, since theoretically Eve was the only one he’d perhaps slept with in months, it would have come from her.
Except…they didn’t sleep together.
Right?
Right.
Once he’d finished that job and was back in his work van, he headed toward his second job of the day. On the way there, he stopped to grab lunch and parked in the fast-food restaurant’s lot to call Kimbra.
“So what’s up?” he nervously asked when she answered.
“What are you doin’ Thursday afternoon?”
“Um, working, I guess? Why?”
“I need you to carve a little time out of your schedule, if you can. Maybe two to four?”
He nervously swallowed. “Why? What’s going on?”
He could hear her smile. “Don’t you dare tell Papi, but Eve and I are gettin’ married, and I want you there.”
Ron knew he couldn’t have heard her correctly. “Uh, what?”
“Married! She showed up on my doorstep yesterday nearly out of her mind worried that I was gonna break up with her. We talked things through, and we agreed we want to be married.”
“Um, congratulations. That’s…great.”
“You don’t sound happy.”
“No, I am. It’s just I thought, you know, after last weekend—weekend before last, I mean—that you were…done.”
“I pretty much had resigned myself, yeah. Between you and me, I guess she had her own run-in Saturday with someone and it made her realize she wanted us.”
His blood ran cold. “Run-in? What kind of run-in?”
“We’re not discussing details. I mean, me and her didn’t.” She sighed. “Just like I didn’t give her the details of last weekend. Don’t ask, don’t tell. We had an arrangement, and that’s all in the past now. It shook her, and mine shook me, and it shook us in the right direction. That’s all that matters now.”
Hell, he didn’t even know Kimbra’s details of last weekend. Maybe something had happened with her. “Are you all right?”
“I’m better than all right, honey. I’m great! We’re not telling any of our family yet, though. We need to sort out living arrangements and everything. So keep this on the down-low for now. Okay? It’ll take us a couple of weeks.”
“Sure. Sure thing. Yeah.”
“But you’re my best friend. Neither of us want a ‘wedding,’ but I want you to be there. Please?”
“Of course I will. Anything, honey.”
She gave him the exact details of where and when to meet them at the county courthouse before she had to go because of an incoming call.
Ron sat there, staring at his phone.
Well, shit.
So the good news was that Kimbra and Eve would finally be happy together, long-term.
The bad news was that he’d most likely fucked his best-friend’s girlfriend—who was also the little sister of another good friend of his—and there was no way in hell him admitting it to anyone would ever end in anything good.
Do I play this cool, then? Pretend nothing happened when I’m around Eve?
As far as he was concerned, discretion wasn’t just the better part of valor.
In this case, it was the better part of friendship.
* * * *
Thursday afternoon, Eve tried to suppress her nerves as she rode with Kimbra to the courthouse. She knew Kimbra had invited Ron to be there with them.
Kimbra wasn’t the kind of person to play cruel mind games, either. She wouldn’t get them there, together, and then spring some sort of “ah-ha!” trap on the two of them.
She would have reamed them both out if she really knew what happened.
Maybe Ron doesn’t even remember.
As far as she was concerned, that night could die a quick and painless death in her memory. She was going to take the chicken’s way out and pretend it never happened.
At least, not with him.
There would never be a reason for them to discuss it, anyway. Her period had started Monday morning, not as heavy as it frequently was, but then again, her periods had always been irregular, so that wasn’t concerning.
What was important was it had ridden into her uterus and she’d never in her life been so glad to see it arrive. To the point she had to bite back the whoop that had wanted to escape her when she saw it.
They’d already drawn up their prenup and signed it, handing copies over to Ed, who was going to be their personal attorne
y and the only one other than Ron who’d know about their wedding, for now.
She wanted them to get their living arrangements handled first. Maybe her family would be disappointed in her that she didn’t confide in them about all of this sooner, but Eve knew she needed to handle her life for her, not them.
Thank god Kimbra understood her.
Thank god she hadn’t fucked up her chances to spend the rest of her life with Kimbra.
And thank god she hadn’t made a life-altering mistake she couldn’t take back.
Never going to drink that much again.
Evvveeerrrr.
They had just parked in the county garage when they spotted Ron pulling in. Kimbra grabbed Eve’s hand and together they walked over to greet him.
Kimbra hugged him as soon as he stepped out of his van. “Thank you for being here today.”
“Wouldn’t miss it. You know that.”
Eve nervously avoided eye contact with him when she hugged him. “Thanks for coming.” She kept it quick and fought the urge not to shove away from him when she stepped back.
“Of course. Thanks for having me. As a witness.” His quick addition told her more than she wanted to know.
Like he felt as uncomfortable as she did.
Fuck.
She’d held on to some wild thread of hope that maybe she’d been wrong, maybe she’d imagined it.
Maybe he’d have no memories of what happened.
No way in hell did she want to have any kind of conversation with him about it, either.
When they reached the building, Kimbra needed to duck into the bathroom, and that’s when Eve took her chance.
She sucked in a deep breath. “About last Saturday night—”
“Never happened,” he quietly said, finally meeting her gaze for a brief moment before looking away. “So there’s nothing to talk about. Deal?”
She nodded, shaky with relief. “Deal. Thanks.”
He nodded, but started scrolling through his phone, effectively ending the conversation.
Not that she was unhappy about that.
* * * *
The last thing Ron wanted to do was discuss this. At least he’d correctly guessed Eve didn’t want to discuss it, either.