Page 21 of Dusk & Desire

I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my grin. I have almost three years’ worth of fantasies to make a reality and I’m not wasting any opportunities.

Chapter 12

Linda

Noa managed to convince Axel to let us stay in separate – but adjoining – apartments. When she justified it by saying he won’t want to hear the sounds we’ll be making, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. Harriet and Jack both looked flabbergasted! The world is ending, yet I don’t think I’m ever going to recover from an elderly couple knowing the two girls they just met planned on having sex a few doors down.

“Did you have to say it in front of them?” I ask for the tenth time, wringing my hands out.

Noa snoops around the apartment the couple let us into, smirking at me. “You need to relax. You’re going to give yourself premature gray hair.” She stops and gives me a calculating look. “You know what you need? A nice soak in a bath.”

As her words penetrate, I stop walking in circles to blink at her in confusion. “A bath?”

She hums and opens the bathroom door, then indicates the tub like a showroom hostess. “Ta-da.”

I pad closer like the porcelain is a mirage. “I can’t believe this place has a bathtub. Is the water hot?”

Noa turns the taps and runs her hand under the stream. She cringes. “Lukewarm at best. But you get ready, I’m going to use the stove to boil some water in the kitchen.” With that, she leaves me alone in the bathroom.

First, I clean the bathtub with the cleaning supplies I find under the sink. I don’t care if it’s the end of the world, as long as there’s Clorox, I’m gonna use it. I plug the tub and open the taps again.

Then, I awkwardly undress. I look at myself in the mirror, thedimples in my thighs accentuated by the harsh artificial lighting, the stretch marks on my stomach standing out as well. I definitely lost some weight this last week, but I’m never going to have Noa’s supermodel physique, even if I walk hours every day and eat sparingly.

“Why are you crying?” I jump at Noa’s harsh tone, turning my back on the mirror to face her. She’s wearing a frown that spells out doom for whoever or whatever hurt me.

“I’m just…” I sigh. “The mirror. I see I lost weight, but I don’t look better. I look tired and unhealthy.” I hang my head because I can’t hold her direct gaze anymore. I see her feet as she approaches me, then feel her hands on my face, gently lifting it up again.

“Linda. You were perfect before and you’re perfect now. Trust me, I don’t see what you see in that mirror.” She swipes the pad of her thumb over my lower lip. “I see your gorgeous face, with these beautiful eyes and lips, and your amazing hair.” She caresses my unbound hair and her voice turns huskier. “These curves that have made me live in a constant state of horniness since I first laid eyes on them,” she practically growls, looking down at my breasts and hips. My face heats up at the praise I’m not used to receiving.

There’s an open wound inside me that I’ve carried for as long as I can remember. It makes itself known now, pulsing, tingling, possibly healing just a little bit as Noa’s hand sweeps down my side and settles on my hips.

“Get in the tub, baby,” she whispers, then turns to grab the water she boiled. When she pours it into the lukewarm water already in the bathtub, steam rises, filling the bathroom.

Gingerly, I step into the warm bath, my feet instantly relaxing. I moan at the sensation and Noa snorts. She helps me lower myself down, then sits on the floor next to the tub.

“You don’t want a bath?” I ask shyly, stretching as much as I can and wiggling to get comfortable.

Noa gives me a signature smirk before grabbing a fresh packet of soap. “Maybe later,” she says, lathering up some bubbles. She starts cleaning my neck and shoulders, lingering over my breasts and swiping her thumb over my nipples so many times I all butcross my legs. Then her hand moves over my belly and sides, skipping over my pussy to clean my legs instead. Her eyes catch mine when she lathers up more suds and I know what’s coming. I welcome it because having her reverent touch on my skin makes me forget about everything but the need to come.

Noa’s soapy hand washes between my legs, thoroughly cleaning every crevice, her finger pressing against my back hole as well. My breathing picks up speed with every pass of her slickened fingers against sensitive nerves. When the tip of her finger breaches the tight ring of my ass, I jump, splashing water over her.

“Oh!” I exclaim in surprise.

Noa blinks water off her eyelashes, but she doesn’t get mad that I got her wet. Instead, she looks at me like I’m a precious thing. “We’ll revisit this later,” she says, wiggling her fingertip inside me a bit before removing it.

I’m still blinking at her when she brings an object out, waving it in front of my face. It’s the purple rose toy. My mouth falls open.

“It’s waterproof,” she whispers with a conspiratorial wink.

At a loss for words, I watch her as she turns on the sex toy. The humming sound seems so loud, bouncing off the tiles and water, and I can feel the tips of my ears ignite. When it hits the water, sputtering joins the buzzing.

“Spread your legs, pretty girl.”

She must have my thighs charmed like snakes with a flute because they spread at her command without my brain giving any input. I watch in a daze as she positions the toy over my clit, swollen and peeking out from between my nether lips.

“Ah, oh my God,” I squeal as it makes contact, my head hitting the edge of the tub. I don’t even care that it smarts.

“Shh,” Noa soothes, her other hand pressing on my stomach. “Let me take care of you, baby.”

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