Queen of Hearts

by A. C. Grey

“Sure thing,” Angie agreed.

  “Thanks, Angie. Oh . . . and bring donuts.”

  Angie chuckled and hung up.

  Half an hour later, she was at Tess’s door, donuts in hand.

  Tess smiled weakly and took the proffered donuts, stepping aside to let Angie in. “Thanks for coming by.”

  “Hey, what are friends for? If you need donuts, I know it’s serious.” Angie smiled and headed to the living room, Tess following behind her. After they’d taken a seat, Angie grabbed a donut and leaned back into her chair. “So what’s up? Why the emergency donut request?”

  “Zoey and I had a fight.”

  Angie nodded. “And?”

  Tess let out an exasperated sigh. “Her father cut her off without a penny because she chose to stay here and play poker and because she chose to date a woman.”

  “Sounds like a jerk.”

  “I’m sure he’s just in shock. It’s a lot to take in. Maybe he’ll come around. But yeah, not exactly the most supportive thing to do.”

  “So where does this fight come in?”

  “Well, Zoey needed money, so she entered that freeze out tournament at Caesar’s with the last of her cash. She wouldn’t let me help her, said she needed to do this on her own. So, somehow, it ends up with the two of us, heads up. And I may have sort of let her win . . . you know, so she’d have the money to keep her poker career going.”

  “Tess . . . “ Angie chastised her.

  “I know, I know. Not exactly the best idea, since she’s got this thing about making it on her own. And I could have been better about hiding what I was doing. But I didn’t really have time to think it through, I just kind of went with my gut. But she still totally overreacted.”

  “I don’t know, I can see where she’s coming from Tess. It probably really hurt her that you didn’t have faith in her to win it fair and square.”

  “I know, and I was on my way to apologize, but . . .” she paused as she relived the image of Zoey in Max’s arms. It made her want to throw up.

  “But what?”

  “When I finally found her, she was practically throwing herself at Max Grayson. Then he put his arm around her and they left.” She shook her head. A single tear rolled down her face. “Just when I think I might have found the one, it’s Claire all over again.”

  Angie got up and sat next to Tess on the couch, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Hey. You don’t know that for sure. Just because Claire decided that her relationship with you, with a woman, was just an experiment, doesn’t mean that Zoey’s doing the same thing. Did you actually see her kiss him or anything?”

  Tess shook her head, wiping her face. “No.”

  “I don’t know Zoey that well yet, but she’s seems pretty into you. I wouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. I never got the impression that she and Max were anything more than friends. And trust me, if Max thought that there were any chance with her, he’d have made it known already.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” Tess whispered, not wanting to believe that Zoey was capable of turning off her feelings that quickly.

  “I think you two should be talking about these things together. You know, your whole insecurity about her heterosexual past. Her daddy issues. You need to really communicate and not just jump to conclusions. Both of you. But then again, what do I know? My love life is a disaster.”

  Tess chuckled lightly, feeling a bit better about the whole situation. “Thanks, Angie. I can always count on you to be the rational one when I go all crazy.”

  “So are you going to talk to her?”

  “Yeah, but not tonight. It’s late. I look like a disaster. I’m going to give her a few more hours to cool down. I’ll talk to her in the morning. Any interest in a chick flick and some more of these donuts?”

  “Always,” Angie replied.

  * * * * *

  The next morning, Tess headed over to Max’s place, figuring that if Zoey hadn’t ended up back at her place, his house was the next logical location. She knocked on the door several times, waiting, hoping for an answer. Finally, after she had knocked a second time, Max answered, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers.

  “Red,” he said, a surprised look on his face. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “Yeah, Max. Is Zoey . . .” Tess’s question was cut off by Zoey, who walked out, wearing nothing but a sheet.

  “Max, do you have some . . . “ Zoey stopped mid-sentence as she saw Tess standing in the doorway with a look of heartbreak and shock on her face.

  “I’m sorry. I have to go,” Tess whispered before turning on her heel and practically running to the car. Tears spilled down her cheeks without abandon. She shook her head as she struggled to find her keys in her purse. Why could she never find the damn things when she needed them? Boy, could she pick them. She’d only really truly fallen for two women in her life and both of them had gone back to men. She should just give love up and enter a convent or something. And Angie thought her love life was a disaster.

  Zoey’s heart sank as she realized what the current situation must have looked like to Tess. She looked up at Max with pleading eyes. “Max, what do I do? I can’t lose her.”

  “Then you’d better run and catch her before she goes. Red’s last serious girl, Claire, left her for a man. So this right here . . .” He signaled between them, indicating their state of undress. “It’s gonna push all the right buttons with her. So run. Don’t let her get away.”

  Just as Tess located her keys, she felt a hand on her arm. Looking up, she saw her almost naked girlfriend standing before her in that damned sheet. Zoey looked at her with pleading eyes. “Tess. Don’t.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Tess. Don’t . . .” Zoey sighed deeply before continuing. “Please don’t run away. This isn’t what it looks like.” She struggled to focus, a pounding headache fogging her brain. Clearly she and tequila weren’t on quite as friendly terms as she’d thought.

  Tess looked up at Zoey with sadness and defeat etched across her face. “I think it’s exactly what it looks like. Today – you, naked in Max’s house. Last night – you, throwing yourself at him. What else am I supposed to believe?”

  Zoey wracked her brain, trying to figure out exactly what Tess meant about the night before. Unfortunately, a decent portion of the evening was a blur. She remembered her talk with Max. And then lots of tequila.

  “Please, Tess. Just come inside. I’m standing out here, practically naked, begging you to listen. Please just hear me out?”

  “Well, you wouldn’t be out here, practically naked, as you put it, if you and Max . . .”

  “Tess!” Zoey reached out to grab her girlfriend by both shoulders, only to quickly realize that nothing else was holding her sheet up. Catching it just before it fell, giving the entire block a show, she continued. “Just come inside.”

  Tess sighed in resignation. Even though she was devastated, angry and hurt beyond belief, she was incapable of saying no to this woman. “Fine.” She followed Zoey inside Max’s house.

  Max had thrown on some clothes. “Ladies, I’m going to head out, give you two some privacy.” He then turned and looked Tess directly in the eye, a serious and sincere look on his face. “And Tess. Please trust me. More importantly, trust Zoey. Nothing happened between us. All she talks about is you. It’s rather sickening. Even if I wanted to go there, I wouldn’t stand a chance. No one did from the moment she met you. So let her talk.” With that, he headed out the door.

  Zoey motioned for Tess to have a seat. “Please. Don’t run away. I’ll be right back.”

  Tess nodded and let out a weary sigh as Zoey headed back into Max’s bedroom. Maybe she’d called it wrong. Max had looked sincere and Zoey seemed broken up over her reaction. And despite all his womanizing tendencies, she’d never known Max to lie about his escapades.

  Zoey returned, wearing what looked like one of Max’s t-shirts and a pair of boxers. In her hand, she held some clothing. “Look at this.”
She held up what looked like her outfit from the day before, which was clearly stained with something.

  Tess gave her a look of confusion.

  A sheepish half-smile crept across Zoey’s face. “Last night may not have been a night that I’m proud of, but I didn’t do anything inappropriate with Max. I was upset. So I drank. A lot. Max stayed with me and made sure I didn’t get into trouble. Like a friend should.” Zoey emphasized the word friend, hoping Tess would understand. “He brought me back here and he slept on the couch. I woke up this morning and let’s just say I obviously didn’t make it to the bathroom last night. I got sick all over my clothes and then apparently slept in them. I’m a hot mess. So don’t worry, after last night, Max is never going to let me in his bed again, in any way, shape or form. When you got here this morning, I was coming out to ask him for some clean clothes to borrow. That’s it. Please believe me.”

  Tess looked up into Zoey’s deep brown eyes and saw the raw emotion, the desperate need, the insecurity. In that moment, she knew that she’d been an idiot.

  “I believe you,” Tess whispered, looking down at her hands. “This is hard for me. Angie tells me that I need to open up, to talk to you about the things that bother me, that make me insecure instead of jumping to conclusions. It’s just not something I’m used to doing. I’ve always tried to suppress my emotions. Being emotional always seemed weak to me. But sometimes, I’m finding, that bottling it all up comes around to bite me in the ass.” She looked up, unshed tears glazing her eyes.

  Zoey walked over and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. “I know it’s hard. It’s hard for me too. I think we just need to realize that as scary as this whole communication thing is, it would be scarier, at least for me, to lose you for good. I know I’m cautious. The times I’ve opened myself up to people, left myself bare and vulnerable, I’ve gotten hurt. And it sounds like you have too.”

  Tess nodded. “Claire.” She didn’t say anything else for a while and Zoey just held her in silence, allowing her time to process her thoughts. Finally, snuggling her chin closer into the crook of Zoey’s strong shoulder, she continued. “I thought I might have loved her. Things were going really well. We had a lot in common, she made me laugh, but like you, she was new to the whole dating women thing. We’d been together a few months when she started acting weird. I shrugged it off. Like I’ve just proven to you, talking about feelings isn’t exactly my strong suit. So I avoided it. Was happy living in willful ignorance. I also thought it was just a phase and that whatever was bothering her would go away. Instead, apparently dating me was the only thing that was a phase for her. I walked in and found her in bed with her ex-boyfriend. She apologized and said that she and I had been a mistake. She ended it and left me for him. It took me a long time to get over that betrayal. I guess maybe it’s made me a little oversensitive and that’s probably why I overreacted the way I did.” She pulled away slightly and smiled weakly at Zoey. “I’m sorry that I didn’t trust you. It wasn’t fair to you to project my own insecurities onto you.”

  Zoey leaned in and placed a quick, gentle kiss on Tess’s lips. “It’s okay. I think we’ve both got some apologizing to do. I just want to let you know that I’m in this with my whole heart, Tess. If I’d been looking for an easy out, my father offered me a perfect one the other day. It would have been very simple to just leave and go back to New York if I were having second thoughts. Instead, there’s only one constant thought that runs through my head. You want to know what that is?” Tess nodded. Zoey smiled and continued. “How happy I am to have found you.”

  “Thank you,” Tess whispered before they crashed their lips together once more, both silently rejoicing at their reunion.

  “Thank you for what?” Zoey asked as they pulled apart.

  “For taking a chance on me. For dealing with my neuroses. I know I’m crazy . . .”

  Zoey shook her head. “You’re not crazy. At least no more than anyone else. You’ve just got baggage. History. As do I. And to be fair, yesterday I was the crazy one. So I should apologize for how I reacted after the tournament.”

  Tess shook her head. “No, wait Zoey. I’m sorry for doing what I did. I did it with the best intentions, but I understand how it must have made you feel. Please believe me when I say that I have the utmost faith in you and your abilities. I was just worried that with the turn of one bad card, you’d be broke and I’d have been the one to do it to you.”

  Zoey squeezed Tess’s arm reassuringly. “It’s okay, really. Max kindly pointed out to me how stubborn I was being, how it’s okay to lean on people once in a while. I overreacted. I think my dad’s phone call just set me off. It hurts to know that he has so little faith in me.”

  Tess reached up and caressed Zoey’s cheek, her blue eyes piercing Zoey’s. “You are an amazing, competent, strong woman, Zoey Cameron. And he’s blind if he doesn’t see that.”

  Zoey pulled Tess in for a deep, long, emotional hug. “Thank you,” she whispered into her girlfriend’s hair. “I promise to talk to you more, to try and freak out less.”

  Tess pulled back so she could meet Zoey’s gaze. “I promise the same thing, because Zoey, as crazy as I am, as crazy as you are, there’s one thing I know. I’m crazy about you. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Zoey smiled, relieved that they’d cleared the air.

  “I promise you one other thing, Zoey,” Tess began, a smirk playing across her face.

  “What’s that?”

  “If I ever find myself head’s up against you again. I promise to kick your ass.”

  Zoey chuckled. “Oh really? I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see, Ms. Overconfidence.” She was so, so relieved that they’d worked things out. Zoey pulled Tess in for another hug, savoring her unique citrusy smell. “I love the way you smell. Like oranges . . . but hotter.”

  Tess laughed and pulled away. “I love the way you smell too, Zoey . . . usually. But right now, you kinda smell like what I imagine it would smell like if tequila and vomit had a baby. Let’s get you into the shower and cleaned up.”

  “Hey! That’s not nice, babe!” Zoey protested, a smile spreading across her face.

  “Oh, I guess you’ll just have to deal with it, Zoey. You know, this whole being open and honest with each other thing. Besides, I thought you might need some help making sure you’re nice and clean . . .” Tess’s words trailed off as she made her intentions crystal clear.

  Zoey’s mouth ran dry, any sign of her hangover suddenly gone. “You wouldn’t. Defile Max’s shower?”

  Tess laughed again and dragged her from the room. “I’m sure Max’s defiled plenty of worse places than that. Besides, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

  Zoey grinned. “Somehow, I think if Max ever figures out that girl-on-girl action had taken place in his very own bathroom and that he hadn’t been there to witness it, it might kill him. So probably best not to tell him.”

  Zoey let Tess lead her to the bathroom, their clothes flying every which way in the process. After turning on the shower, Zoey entered and immediately groaned at the pleasurable experience of the warm, soothing water and Tess’s body pressed up against her own. Tess began trailing wet, gentle kisses along her back, her taut nipples grazing against her back and teasing Zoey’s skin. Unable to contain herself any longer, Zoey spun Tess in her arms, pressing her up against the shower wall, while she blazed a trail of hot kisses along her collarbone and neck.

  She bent lower, capturing Tess’s nipple in her mouth, suckling it gently. Tess gasped in pleasure, closing her eyes and arching her back to grant Zoey as much access as possible. Zoey gently massaged her with her tongue, sending sparks directly down to Tess’s already fiery loins. Tess tangled her hands through Zoey’s wet locks and let out a low moan, the sensations overwhelming her. Zoey stood back up and attacked Tess’s mouth, her tongue penetrating Tess’s lips, swirling, fighting for control. In the same instant, Zoey’s hand snaked between her girlfriend’s thighs, quickly parting her
slickened folds and entering her.

  “Oh, God, Zoey . . .” Tess rasped as Zoey began to build a rhythm. Tess could barely contain herself as she immediately felt the beginnings of her orgasm begin to grow. There was something about Zoey that had her constantly on edge, ready to come at a moment’s notice. Zoey was like walking foreplay.

  Zoey watched her girlfriend intently as she continued to ease in and out of her. Tess bit down on her lip as she attempted to stifle the latest in a stream of incredibly sexy moans. Zoey loved watching Tess writhe in passion. She was beautiful all the time, but she was absolutely breathtaking when she let herself go, when she let herself succumb to the raw passion of their lovemaking.

  Tess’s hips began to buck wildly as she rode Zoey’s hand to her inevitable conclusion. Zoey reached down and wrapped one of Tess’s legs around her waist, driving her fingers even deeper into her girlfriend as her climax drew near. At the same time, Zoey began to grind her center against Tess’s thigh, desperately needing some friction to bring her own relief.