Page 46 of Witch Upon a Star
And true to the theme of today, my panties became very, very wet. My nipples turned into deadly spikes in my bra and my knees turned to mush. I had to grip the countertop to hold myself upright.
The camera shifted up until his face came into view. The camera held his gaze as if he was staring down into my soul. Then his eyes seemed to roll back into his head as his lipsmoved, and I blinked. He hadn’t mouthed anything along the lines of the music he’d chosen.
I had no idea if I could rewind a video so I had to sacrifice my precious time to rewatch it. Eh, who was I kidding? I would be rewatching it about twenty times before the end of the day anyway. Becausedamn.
Then again, why rewatch it when I could reenactit? Huh. Food for thought.
Picking up my phone, I watched the video again. I triedreallyhard not to get distracted, but ended up having to rewatch it. On the third try, I kept my eyes closed until right up to when I thought his mouth would move, but ended up missing it, so I had to watch it a fourth time.
It was on the fifth try that I was able to verify that he wasn’t mouthing along to the music and on the sixth try that I figured out what the word was that he’d mouthed.
“Winnie…”
Oh fuck! I nearly dropped my phone. He’d saidmy nicknameon one of his videos! A very, very suggestive video. Gods! Well, he hadn’t actuallysaidit, just mouthed it. But still, the intent was clear. He’d made a video as if he’d been fuckingme!
Movement out of the corner of my eye startled me, and I froze. I’d been concentrating so hard on the video on my phone that I hadn’t been paying attention to much else. I made a slow pan towards the open door of my bathroom to see Starbucks standing there. He was casually leaning against the frame, sipping a cup of coffee.
“Naughty, naughty,” he mused into his cup. His voice echoed slightly off of the ceramic. “And whatcould you be watching this early in the morning that has you so hot and bothered?”
I nearly threw my phone at him.
My entire morning was shot.Between my failed attempt at meditating that turned into the amazing success of losing my virginity, I wasverybehind schedule. My parents, bless their hearts, had smartly stayed in their bedroom this morning, giving Starbucks and me the illusion that we had the house to ourselves. They also kept Oolong and Joe company, or maybe it was the other way around. Before Starbucks and I could leave for the store, I had to check on my bees. Especially with winter coming, and the temperatures dropping lower and lower each night, I needed to keep an eye on them. I hadn’t lost a hive yet to the cold, and I wasn’t about to start now.
Bundled up in my jacket, I led Starbucks out into my apiary.
“How many bees do you have?” he asked, zipping up his own jacket. The frost was mostly gone now, but there was still a good mountain breeze today. I smelled snow in the air, too. It wasn’t coming now, but it would soon.
“There’s no way to answer that with an exact number, especially now with the winter coming. Each colony can have anywhere between twenty to fifty thousand bees.”
His jaw popped open. “Seriously? Are you sure we don’t need protection?”
I laughed. “I have a hood if you want it, but you won’t need it.”
“Do you know that for certain or are you just saying that because you think all bees are friendly?”
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “I’m a professional beekeeper, Starbucks. Of course, I don’t thinkallbees are friendly. I know how to interact with them, and I know the moods of my hives. But it would be arrogant of me to not have protection with me, too. I have a hood and a full suit just like any responsible beekeeper would. Now, if you want one, I’ll grab one for you. But I promise you, you won’t need it. The bees won’t venture out too much in this weather.”
Though his steps never faltered, I could feel his nervousness. “No, it’s fine. Just don’t tell the guys I almost wimped out.”
I tried not to laugh. I really did. To soften my reaction, I took his hand. “You said you aren’t allergic, so even on the off chance that you are stung, it’s not so bad.”
“You really suck at pep-talks. You know that, right?”
I laughed again. “Seriously, you’ll be fine. Bees are less aggressive during the winter because it takes up too much heat and energy. Now, if you took a baseball bat to their hives, it would be a completely different story.”
“Leave baseball bat at home, check.” He squeezed my hand. “Do bees hibernate?”
“No,” I answered as we approached the first frame. “They create clusters within the hive to keep themselves warm. Bees have the incredible ability to create winter bees, which are bigger and have a longer lifespan. They also kickthe drones out during the winter to ensure there’s enough food for the colony to survive.”
“What’s a drone?”
I opened up the observation window on the hive so he could see inside. There wasn’t much activity, not like there would be during the summer, but he still got to see some movement.
“Drones are the male bees. They don’t have stingers, and their sole purpose in life is to mate with the queen. When winter comes, they get kicked out of the colony, and generally die from starvation or the cold.”
Starbucks leaned over to get a better look. “What is with you and your obsession with animals that kill all the males? I feel like my dick should be walking on eggshells around you.”
I laughed. “Just doing research for when you piss me off.”
