I woke up to birds chirping.
It was early, but I had to pee, so I got up.
A little light was seeping around the curtains, and I wondered what birds were making all that noise.
I peeked outside.
The sky was starting to brighten behind the trees. Not sunrise yet. Just that pale blue-grey before it.
I stood there for a second, then opened the balcony door.
Fuck, it was cold.
I grabbed my robe and slipped on some slippers.
The air had that damp morning smell, and everything was quiet except for the birds. I leaned against the railing and watched the color slowly spread through the sky.
Something big and soft bumped into my back.
Leah.
She had wrapped herself in the blanket from the bed and was pressing against me.
“Why are you outside?”
“Look.”
She rested her chin on my shoulder.
“Mm. Dawn.”
“It’s beautiful.”
Leah was quiet for a moment.
“It is.”
I watched the sky brighten between the trees.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched the sun come up before.”
“Never?”
“I’ve seen morning. Usually while regretting my life choices. That’s different.”
Leah opened the blanket and pulled me inside with her.
She had not bothered putting on any clothes before coming out.
“Can we appreciate nature from behind the balcony window?”
“No.”
“Fine.”
She kissed the side of my neck and wrapped herself around me again.
We stayed like that while the sun came up over the lake.
Once the sun was above the horizon, Leah kissed me, dropped the blanket, and walked back into the room.
“I packed you a yoga outfit. Wear that. After breakfast we have Fusion Yoga.”
I watched my girlfriend stride naked into the bathroom.
“Fused with what?” I called after her.
“Pilates.”
“Is that the one with the little dumplings?”
Leah stopped in the bathroom doorway.
“What?”
I followed her in and grabbed my toothbrush.
“Pilates. Why are we having pasta dumplings with yoga?”
“Are you thinking about pierogi?”
“No, not the Russian dumplings.”
“No, they’re Polish.”
I started brushing my teeth.
“Fine. The Italian ones.”
“Ravioli?”
I pointed my toothbrush at her.
“That’s the one.”
Leah picked up hers.
“Yes, Mia. We’re doing yoga fused with ravioli.”
“See? That sounds much better.”
“You get a little marinara after every pose.”
I stared at her through the mirror.
“I would exercise so much more if you were in charge.”
“Yeah. I should be in charge.”
Leah had bought me a red two-piece yoga outfit. It was decent enough. Showed a bit of cleavage, but nothing I couldn’t pull off.
Leah came out wearing an all-black yoga one-piece that looked like someone had taken a swimsuit and made it aggressively athletic. High neck, sleeveless, tight everywhere, shorts cut high enough on her thighs to make the whole thing feel slightly unfair.
The back was mostly gone. Just straps across her shoulders and a huge open cutout running down almost to the top of her ass, where the fabric gathered into a little V.
“Yoga has gotten sluttier since I last checked.”
“I am perfectly decent, thank you very much.”
She gave me a once-over.
“You do look very good, though. I should bring you to yoga more often.”
“Seven a.m. on a Sunday? Even Christians knew eleven was the right time for church.”
“I could move it around. I have some freed-up crafting time now that we have the new room at home. Would you join if I moved it to two?”
“I think we should go to breakfast. Very hungry over here.”
I pulled on my robe and slippers.
We headed back down to TREE and met the same server as yesterday.
I wondered where the staff lived. We were way out in the forest. Did they commute or live here?
“Table for two?” she said, only waiting for a slight nod from Leah before guiding us to our table.
The breakfast menu was as healthy as the lunch menu. Oats and grains. Fruit and yogurt.
“Oh, French toast. Score!”
Leah gave a small laugh.
“They have pancakes too.”
I drew in a sharp breath. “Choices, choices… We’re having breakfast here tomorrow before we leave?”
“Yeah. The car isn’t picking us up until ten-thirty.”
“Okay, pancakes tomorrow, French toast today.”
“A practical choice.”
The French toast was excellent, and I knew Leah was envious of my choice as she ate her yogurt and oats with blueberries and slices of apple.
She did not look envious.
But I knew, deep in her soul, she wished she too had ordered French toast.
We entered Oak Studio a few minutes before nine and discovered that apparently everyone else had the same idea.
The place was packed with very good-looking women. Not an uggo among them.
As I looked around, I realized these people were all trophy wives. It was a Wednesday in October. Only rich, unemployed people would come here at this hour.
Wait a minute.
Was I a trophy wife?
I leaned toward Leah.
“Am I a trophy wife?”
“No. You don’t even go to the gym, and you’re dirt cheap to shop for.”
“I don’t have much flab on me. I look good.”
“Youthful, we call that. You’re a cheap sugar baby at best.”
“You my sugar daddy?”
“Please. Sugar Mama. I am not here for your daddy issues.”
The door closed behind us, pushed shut by a tall, brown-haired man in a very tight bodysuit.
He had a great ass.
And when he turned around, I noticed he had been blessed in other areas too.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said.
Something about the voice caught me. I looked at his face.
Daniel?!
“A man of many talents,” Leah commented behind me.
He moved to the front of the room and started giving instructions on where to stand and how to warm up.
I mostly copied what Leah did.
Daniel moved among his flock, giving pointers as he went.
“Miriam, keep your back aligned.”
“Excellent pose, Leah. You must have done this before.”
Showoff.
The moves slowly escalated in difficulty. I had never thought of myself as fit, exactly, but this really made me wonder how unfit I actually was.
Maybe I should take Leah up on the yoga offer.
Toward the end of the session, the music had become repetitive, I had big sweat marks on my outfit, and I was starting to regret the French toast.
Leah looked completely untouched by today’s activities. Maybe a little more color in her cheeks, but not a bead of sweat, and not a single loose hair from the ponytail she had tied before we started.
I caught myself before declaring her supernatural and reminded myself that she was obsessive and went to seven a.m. yoga classes every week.
She was crazy, not an X-Man.
The session ended, and Leah stretched.
“Okay, I need a shower. That was a decent workout.”
I looked at her.
“What? It was tough.”
“Yeah, you look exhausted.”
She laughed.
“You should shower too. We have a fairly packed schedule, and you don’t want to stay grimy until dinner.”
“Or,” I said, stepping closer, “we could shower together.”
Leah looked at me.
“Mia.”
I put my hands on her hips.
“Efficient.”
“We have twenty minutes.”
“Plenty of time.”
“For you, perhaps.”
I narrowed my eyes.
She smiled and kissed me.
Not a quick one either.
Long enough that I started thinking I had won.
Then she pulled back.
“You need to wash your hair before the blowout at four, and after this we have the facial, lunch, pedicure, manicure, then the salon.”
“That sounds like a future-Mia problem.”
“No. Future-Mia is the one who gets properly fucked after dinner.”
I stared at her.
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
She gave my ass a squeeze and stepped away.
“Shower. Hair too.”
When I was done, I reached for some moisturizer.
“No creams,” Leah called. “We’re getting facials.”
I stuck my head out of the bathroom and raised an eyebrow at her.
“No, not those kinds. Facial massage. Oils and creams.”
I made a disappointed face and disappeared back into the bathroom.
“I’ll text Dan. See if I can arrange your kind for when we get home.”
“You are the best girlfriend ever.”
The facial was actually surprisingly comfortable. I learned a lot about how different creams worked depending on the season, and what parts of my face needed more attention depending on the weather.
I think Leah already knew most of this. She probably changed half this stuff throughout the year without ever thinking to mention it.
I was also told a bunch of stuff about my skin type, what it handled well, and what I needed to pay special attention to. I couldn’t keep all the details straight, but I remembered enough that I knew I could ask Leah later.
When it was done, I felt refreshed and soft.
Leah looked equally soft.
“Let’s do lunch. I have something I want to show you,” Leah said, taking my hand.
We sat down, and I ordered the chicken sandwich again, because why deviate once you’ve found perfection? Leah went for a chicken salad.
“You remember how you once asked where Dan fit into our whole thing?”
“Yeah. You said we’d need a diagram.”
“So, yeah. I kinda made one.”
She showed me a picture on her phone.
It had three circles nested inside each other, each a different color. Green in the center, yellow around that, and red on the outside.
She tapped the screen, and our names appeared in the middle.
“Oh, you made a PowerPoint presentation. Impressive.”
“Hush, you. So, to borrow a term from secret societies, this is the inner circle. It contains you and me.”
I nodded. “Okay, and Dan is in the next one?”
“Correct.”
She tapped the screen again, and Dan’s name faded in.
“Transitions. You really spent time on this.”
“You are making me regret this.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll stop. You made a really good presentation.”
“Anyway. Yes, Dan is in the secondary circle.”
She tapped again, and Rina’s name appeared in the outer circle.
“We don’t have anything going on with Rina,” I said.
“No, but Dan did. That makes her a useful example.”
I looked at the image. It looked a little like one of those models of an atom, with Leah and me as the core and Dan and Rina floating around as electrons.
“So, what does that mean?”
“Yeah, so I have some proposed rules. Something to give this a little stability.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Okay…”
“Sex between anyone in the green or yellow circles is allowed. Nobody needs permission. We can discuss it, obviously, but it isn’t required.”
I nodded. That seemed fair, and mostly how things already worked.
“If someone in yellow wants to sleep with someone in red, at least one person in green needs to know beforehand.”
“Know. Not approve?”
“Correct. Dan doesn’t need our permission to fuck someone.”
She tapped the green circle.
“But if you or I want someone from red, the other person in green needs to know before anything happens.”
“Still not permission?”
Leah paused.
“Not exactly. But if you tell me you’re about to fuck someone and I have a serious problem with it, I would hope you’d care.”
“That seems reasonable.”
“And that leads to my next rule. I want us to establish a safeword.”
“Like for sex?”
“No. For choices.”
I gave her a long look.
“And we can both use it?”
“Of course. If either of us says it, whatever we were planning stops. We leave together, and we talk about it somewhere private.”
“Party, date, whatever?”
“Anything. A party. A social situation. Something like Marcus.”
She paused.
“I would have used it then. And I would have expected you to trust me enough to step away with me first and argue about it later.”
I gave a slow nod.
“Yeah. This might actually be something we need.”
“I’m glad you think so. I’ve thought about it a lot since then.”
She looked at me.
“I want us to be open to things. But I also want a way to stop you if I genuinely think you’re about to hurt yourself, or us.”
“Yeah.”
I nodded harder.
“You’re right. That’s a good idea.”
“Okay. Last rule.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“This is a lot of rules.”
“Last one. Promise.”
“Fine.”
“Barriers with anyone who doesn’t have a current clean test. No exceptions.”
I nodded.
“And no fluid exchange?”
“Correct. No kissing, no unprotected sex. If someone in yellow breaks that rule, they’re out until they have a new test.”
“Quarantined.”
“If you insist on calling it that.”
“I do.”
Leah smiled.
“If someone in green breaks it…”
She looked at me.
“The other person in green gets to be very, very angry.”
I smiled at her.
“I get it. We’re in this together. I’d feel fucking awful if I gave you an STD. Making it a rule makes sense.”
Leah smiled and sat back in her chair.
“That went smoother than I expected.”
“They’re sensible rules, Leah. You’re good at making rules that make things work.”
I shrugged.
“Better than me, at least.”
She put her hand over mine and gave it a squeeze as our food arrived.
After lunch, we had a free hour, and Leah suggested we go down to the lake.
We sat in some chairs looking out over the water.
“We should get rings,” I said.
“Why is that?” Leah replied, eyes closed, enjoying the sun.
“Promise rings. We’re entering a pact, and rings are good for that stuff.”
“I really don’t like jewelry. Also, we are not getting engaged. If you want that, I’d want to meet your family first, and you should probably meet all of mine.”
“Okay, something else then. Bands? Like friendship bands?”
“Sexual agreement bands?”
“Yeah!”
“No. I am not wearing sexual agreement bands.”
I was quiet for a while.
“Tattoo?”
Leah opened one eye.
“Go on.”
“Like a tiny one. Somewhere hidden. Just for us to see.”
Leah was quiet.
“A symbol or something. Something that means us.”
Leah nodded.
“Let me work on some designs. I’m intrigued by the idea.”
We were quiet for another few minutes.
“Why do you like rules so much, Leah?”
I saw a smile creep across her face.
“You know when you’re driving in really heavy rain?”
“Not personally. I barely drive.”
Leah ignored me.
“Everything is loud. The wipers are doing their best, but they’re not really helping. The rain is hitting the roof, the tyres are slipping, the road is black and slick.”
“Sounds bad.”
“Then you go under a bridge and stop.”
She paused.
“You get out. The ground is dry. The sound isn’t around you anymore. It’s out there. You can still smell the rain, but you’re not wet. You can hear it, but it’s not deafening.”
She looked out over the lake.
“Everything is still there. It just isn’t hitting you anymore.”
I looked at her.
She took my hand.
“You’re my bridge.”
She squeezed my fingers.
“And I don’t want to lose that.”
We stayed by the lake for a while after that.
Neither of us said much. We did not really need to.
Eventually Leah checked the time and sighed.
“We should go. Pedicure.”
“Romance is dead.”
“We get to sit next to each other for the pedicure.”
“Romance is alive!”
The seasonal pedicure involved cranberry, orange, hot towels, and considerably more attention to my feet than I had ever thought necessary. Leah seemed completely at home with the whole process, while I spent most of it trying not to laugh whenever they worked between my toes.
The manicure was easier. Same seasonal smell, less risk of me kicking someone in the face.
By the time they were done, my hands and feet looked suspiciously well-maintained.
“I’m becoming high maintenance,” I said, looking at my hands.
“I think I spend more on soap than I spend maintaining you.”
“You buy very expensive soap.”
The last stop was the salon.
I had washed my hair earlier, so the blowout was mostly a woman with a collection of brushes and a hair dryer convincing my hair to behave better than I ever could.
Leah sat nearby while she waited for me, looking far too pleased with the result.
When it was done, I ran my fingers carefully through the ends.
“I should do this more often.”
“You can, you know.”
“Don’t want to eat up your soap budget.”
By the time we headed back upstairs, I felt polished in a way I was still not entirely used to. Not dressed up exactly. Just… put together.
When we got back to the room, Leah asked if I minded if she checked some emails. She had been very good about avoiding work for both days, but I could tell she was getting itchy, so I told her it was fine.
I decided I should get dressed for dinner. Tonight was some sort of communal dining thing, where they put everyone together at one long table with the other guests.
Leah had packed me a dark green dress that was apparently casual, despite looking significantly nicer than anything I had owned before meeting her. It was soft, hugged the parts I actually liked, and stopped halfway down my calves.
It went over my head, so I put it on before doing a quick makeup pass. Nothing serious. Casual dinner, apparently.
I came out and saw Leah writing at a furious speed on her laptop.
“What happened?”
“The Halloween gig got upgraded. I’m sending Rina instructions.”
I nodded and grabbed my phone.
Me:
Hey, Leah is about to send you something. I need you to tell her you got it, not to worry, and that whatever she needs will be ready tomorrow when we get back.
Rina:
What’s up? Something happened?
Me:
“The Halloween gig got upgraded”? Not sure what that means, but unless you tell her everything is fine, she’s gonna want to come home tonight and work on it. Tell her you’re on top of it and she has nothing to worry about.
Rina:
Got it. I’ll handle her.
I looked over at Leah. She had closed her laptop and was picking up her phone.
Me:
I think she is calling you
Leah walked out to the balcony to talk to Rina. She was out there for a few minutes.
She had been really worked up when she went outside, but came back a bit deflated.
“Rina says she has it handled.”
“Sounds good.”
Leah looked at me.
I looked innocent.
“What?”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Nothing.”
“Good.”
She finally noticed I had gotten dressed.
She gave me a once-over.
“You look good.”
I smiled and did a little twirl.
“I clean up okay.”
“Oh, right. I forgot. I got something for you.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I got it as a… what do you call it? An agreement gift? I’d been planning it for a while. Comic-Con pushed things forward, I suppose, but I already had the gift, so I brought it in case you agreed.”
She handed me a wooden case.
“What’s this?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“It’s custom.”
I opened the case.
There was a plug inside.
Black silicone, slightly bigger than the one I kept stealing from Leah, with a curved little tentacle forming the base.
I looked at her.
“Oh my God.”
Leah smiled.
“I thought you might appreciate the theme.”
“You bought me an alien butt plug.”
“Tentacle.”
I smiled at her.
Beside it was a thin black collar with the same curling symbol at the front.
I picked it up.
“You themed it.”
“I had time. And Brian was happy to help.”
“The blacksmith made all this?”
“No. I bought the pieces. Brian made the hardware and helped me modify them.”
I held them both in my hands.
“I’m wearing the choker now. I don’t want to be edging over dinner.”
Leah nodded.
“Wise choice.”
She helped me fasten it, and it fit snugly. Not tight. Just enough that I could feel it there.
“That is a very close fit. Did you measure my neck?”
“Purely accidental, I’m sure. Let me get dressed and we can head to dinner.”
I picked up my phone and saw Rina had sent me a message.
Rina:
You were right to warn me. The Halloween gig suddenly got big. I am now looking for two seamstresses, a crafting specialist, commercial 3D printer options, and putting together a shortlist of New York cosplayers to contact. Apparently I’m management now.
Me:
What happened?
Rina:
The team had trouble getting enough actors for Halloween. They asked Leah if she could provide six additional people with costumes. They offered twice the normal rate because of the time constraints. Leah accepted before checking whether she could actually do it.
Suddenly a lot more work.
Me:
So can you do it? Is it too big?
Rina:
I think so. It’s going to be a busy two weeks, though.
But I already built your PC, so no worries there.
Me:
Oh? Is it cool?
Rina:
Video goes up tomorrow. Let’s see what the internet thinks. 🙂
Leah came back out of the bathroom wearing a black version of my dress with a slightly deeper neckline.
I gave her a lustful growl before we headed to dinner.
TREE had reorganized the tables into a huge horseshoe. We were placed near one end, between two people.
On my side was a woman in her fifties wearing a dark burgundy dress and some jewelry I suspected was worth more than my total net worth.
On Leah’s side was a man maybe ten years younger, wearing a charcoal jacket over an open white shirt and the sort of watch there might only be a handful of in existence.
A staff member showed up shortly after we were seated and took our order. I got the steak with the red wine pairing.
The woman on my left introduced herself as Catherine after the waiter left.
“Miriam,” I said. “But everyone calls me Mia.”
“Well, Mia, nice to meet you. First time at the Lodge?”
“Yeah. My partner decided we needed to decompress a bit before she starts her new job.”
“Oh? What does she do?”
“Event management.”
“That can mean almost anything.”
“Mostly big events. Corporate stuff. Private parties. Conventions sometimes.”
“Busy time of year for that.”
“Apparently. She’s got Halloween coming up almost immediately, then something around Thanksgiving.”
Catherine nodded.
“And you?”
“I’m between jobs at the moment.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“That’s what I keep telling myself.”
“How long have you two been together?”
“Not very long, actually. A few months.”
“And already taking spa trips together?”
“Well, our new place is getting refurbished, and her new job is still a week or so away. So we took the opportunity when it presented itself.”
“It sounds like you’re pretty settled. Not just dating, then?”
“No, we are definitely a couple.”
“That’s nice. Do you go to many of her events?”
“Sometimes. It wasn’t her event, but I went to the Calder Fall Benefit with her a couple of months ago.”
Catherine looked at me.
“The Calder?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not exactly an easy invitation.”
“She brought me.”
“If it’s not too rude, what’s your partner’s name?”
I pointed my thumb toward Leah.
“Leah Takahashi.”
Catherine went still for a moment.
“Is that Keiko’s oldest?”
Crap.
Had I said something I should not have?
“Oh, you know Keiko?”
Nice save, Mia.
“Oh yes, Keiko is quite well known on the circuit. She’s my go-to if we need anything done in the UK, and we used her company to host the Whitmore Winter event a few years back. Very professional woman.”
She looked at Leah again.
“I knew she had two girls, the younger one is still in school, isn’t she?”
“Aiko? Yes, she is in Year 11 from what I am told.”
“So that must be Leah. I thought she was still at university.”
“Finished her master’s before summer. Moved to New York after.”
She gave a small nod, like she was updating her files.
“I heard Keiko was in New York recently?”
“Oh yes, we went out for dinner a couple of weeks back. Lovely woman.”
“I heard rumors she might be moving over.”
“I don’t think so. Moving Aiko at this point in her schooling would be really difficult. And losing her friends at that age, not great either.”
“Mm. I suppose that makes sense.”
She took a sip of wine, and I did the same.
“Still, doing a Thanksgiving gala herself seems unusual.”
“We’ve seen her a few times while she’s been here. Maybe she took the job as an excuse to spend some time with Leah?”
Catherine laughed at that.
“Could be, could be.”
I decided to steer away from Leah and Keiko.
“So, what about you? You have kids?”
From that point on, I tried to keep her talking about herself instead of Leah, and I mostly succeeded.
I learned she had two daughters, both at university now. Her husband came from old money and had apparently made a lot more through private investments. Catherine had spent most of her married life doing charity work and sitting on boards for organizations whose main purpose was giving money away.
Toward the end of dinner, while we were having dessert, Leah finally leaned across me and introduced herself to Catherine.
“Leah Takahashi.”
Catherine smiled.
“I had gathered.”
“I overheard you tell Mia your daughters are both at university now. How are Eleanor and Charlotte getting on?”
Catherine looked pleasantly surprised.
“Very well, actually. Charlotte is loving Boston. Eleanor is still complaining about the food.”
“Then some things never change.”
Catherine laughed.
“Your mother always remembered names too.”
Leah smiled.
“I learned from the best.”
Catherine glanced at me.
“I was telling Mia she seems to have done rather well for herself.”
Leah looked at me.
“I’m the lucky one. I’m not sure I would have survived New York without her.”
I tried not to look too pleased with myself.
Leah reached into her bag and slid a card across the table.
“If you ever need anything on this side of the Atlantic, don’t hesitate to contact me.”
Catherine picked it up and looked at the card.
“So the rumors were true.”
Leah gave her a small smile.
“Mother set a very high standard. I’m hoping I can meet it.”
Catherine nodded slowly, like the last piece had just clicked into place.
“I expect we’ll be seeing more of each other, then.”
“I hope so.”
I felt Leah touch my shoulder.
“Now you must excuse us. We’re leaving early tomorrow, and we have important things to do before that. It was a pleasure to meet you, Catherine.”
She gave us both a nod, and we headed back toward our room.
“I thought the car arrived at ten-thirty?”
“Yeah. I rescheduled it to eight.”
“I thought you said Rina had it handled?”
“She does. But there’s a lot of work, and I should really be there.”
She looked down at the floor.
I suspected she was wondering if she had overstepped, or if I was annoyed about losing the extra sleep.
I took her hand and squeezed it.
“It’s fine. I know this is important. I’ll do my best to support you and not get in the way.”
She looked at me and smiled.
“You did very well with Catherine.”
I stopped.
“You heard that?”
“Most of it.”
“And you just left me there?”
“You were doing fine.”
“I was fucking panicking.”
Leah smiled.
“I saw you tense up for a second when my mother’s name came up.”
“You could have helped.”
“I was ready to. But you recovered.”
“I felt like I really needed help.”
“No, you didn’t. You kept your composure.”
I stared at her.
“You learn faster when I don’t rescue you from things you can already manage.”
“You could have warned me before we sat down, at least. I almost blurted out everything about your business.”
“And yet you didn’t. Even when she started digging, you gave her nothing she could actually use.”
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
“Fine.”
I knew I should be mad, but I had done well. Leah really hadn’t needed to rescue me. And even if I had let something slip, she gave Catherine the card afterwards anyway. It was fine.
Fuck.
She was right.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped. But please, some warning next time.”
“I’ll do better. Just know that I trust your judgment. You don’t need to treat everything about me like it’s classified.”
Once we were back in our room, I closed the door and leaned against it.
Leah was already kicking her shoes off.
“Car at eight,” she said. “We should sleep at some point.”
I touched the collar.
“You promised.”
She looked at me. That slow once-over she gave me when the decision was already made.
“I did, didn’t I?”
She walked to the nightstand, opened the wooden case, and lifted the tray. Lube sat underneath like it had been waiting.
“Undress. Keep the collar.”
I stripped. She watched the whole time, still in the black dress, like she had all night and none of the urgency I was carrying.
When I was naked she pointed at the bed.
“Hands and knees.”
I got into position. She climbed up behind me, slicked the tentacle plug, and pressed the tip against me.
“Breathe.”
I did.
She pushed. Slow. Steady. Until the curved base settled flush.
“There,” she said. “Now you’re ready.”
She got down from the bed, unzipped her dress and let it drop. Leah apparently hadn’t bothered with underwear tonight. I wondered how much she had thought about this.
She pointed to the floor.
“Kneel.”
I got off the bed and knelt in front of Leah. She lifted one leg onto my shoulder and grabbed the tentacle symbol on my collar.
“Open.”
I did.
She pulled my face in and pushed against my mouth like I was just a convenient surface. No polite rhythm. Just her hips rolling, using my tongue, my lips, the bridge of my nose, whatever she wanted.
My hand found the silver teardrop already seated between her cheeks. I gripped the base and moved it along with her rhythm.
“That’s it,” she murmured. “Good girl.”
I tried to answer. She tightened her grip on the collar and kept moving.
“I never thought anyone like you could exist, and now you are all mine.”
I nodded against her.
“Words.”
“Yours.”
“Good.”
She kept grinding, slow and filthy, praising me between breaths. I kept one hand on the plug, easing it out a little before letting it slip back in.
How pretty I looked on my knees. How much she loved having me there. How fucking glad she was that she’d found me.
I could feel that she was close. One hand tightened on my collar, the other grabbed my hair.
When she came, she came hard. Her thigh locked against my head, one hand fisted in my collar, the other in my hair, her whole body shaking against my face.
Then I felt her squirt.
The plug could do that to her sometimes.
Good.
I hadn’t disappointed her.
I didn’t pull away. I stayed right there and took it.
She stayed there for a few seconds, breathing. Then she eased her leg off my shoulder and tipped my chin up.
“Back on the bed, on your back.”
I scrambled. The plug shifted inside me with every movement.
She grabbed the lube again, coated her hand generously, and settled between my legs.
Two fingers first.
“Look at me.”
I did.
“I promised you a good fuck.”
She pushed in another finger. It was really tight with the plug.
“And I know you like being filled up.”
More fingers followed slowly, folding together as she worked me open.
I let out a deep groan and let my head fall back.
“Look at me.”
My head came back up, and my eyes focused.
“I want to be there. When anyone else fucks you.”
I nodded and groaned.
“I want to taste you after someone else fucks you.”
She pushed a little deeper, and I felt the pressure of her knuckles.
“Just like I will make you taste me, if anyone fucks me.”
I moaned, not just from her hand inside me, but from the thought of serving Leah after someone else fucked her.
“Still good?”
I nodded.
“Tell me if that changes.”
She worked her hand deeper.
“That’s it. You’re doing so fucking well.”
I was shaking. She kept talking.
“Look at you. My little tentacle slut, taking all of this for me.”
I gasped and clenched.
“I… love your gift… Leah, you… fuck, you feel amazing.”
I barely managed to get it out.
Her eyes darkened. She pushed the rest of the way in until her fist was seated and I was full in a way that made my vision go a little white at the edges.
“There,” she said, soft and vicious at the same time. “My perfect little tentacle slut. Look at you taking my whole hand.”
She smiled.
“God, I fucking love you.”
She started moving. Small, deliberate rolls of her wrist that shifted the pressure of the plug against her hand. Every time I gasped she praised me for it. Every time I tried to close my eyes she told me to keep them open.
“That’s it. Stay with me.”
She lowered her head and closed her mouth around my clit, still rolling her wrist inside me.
That did it.
I came hard, messy, noisy, clenching around her fist and the plug until it almost hurt. She kept licking and twisting all the way through.
When I finally stopped shaking, she eased her hand out carefully, then the plug. I hissed. She kissed the inside of my thigh like an apology, then wiped both of us down with the towel she’d already put on the nightstand.
Collar still on.
She pulled the covers up, tugged me against her side, and rested her hand flat on my stomach.
“Anything hurt?”
“No.”
“Sore?”
“A little.”
“Worth it?”
“Yes.”
“Eight a.m.,” she murmured into my hair.
“I know.”
“You did so well tonight.”
I didn’t answer.
I just pressed my face into her neck, felt the collar against my skin, and waited for my legs to stop shaking.