by Belle, Jove
“Is that what this is about? You’re afraid I’ll have you fired?” Kat held up two fingers in the Boy Scout salute. “I promise not to interfere with the trajectory of your employment, here or with any other firm. Who I fuck, or not, does not inform my business decisions, Ms. Phillips.”
“Okay.” June smiled. She had no reason to believe Kat, but the other woman hadn’t lied to her about anything else. She didn’t see why she would now.
“Okay? Does that mean I should move to your lap now?” Kat scooted to the edge of her seat but didn’t stand.
June’s phone rang at that exact moment and she exhaled fully. Facing Kat without Ash beside her was overwhelming. She wanted her to a degree that made it unsafe for them to be alone together. Being with Ash and Kat at the same time would be even more overwhelming, she was certain, but then she wouldn’t have to censor her desire.
She wanted, very much, to tell Kat that, yes, in fact, she did want her to move to her lap. And that she’d prefer for her to remove her clothing first. Instead she held up her hand and said, “Hold that thought.”
And then she answered the phone.
Chapter Six
“Tell me what you’re wearing.” It wasn’t a request. It was a command, given with such casual authority, it took a moment for June to register what Ash said. Then it took another moment for her body to spring into action. She scrambled to grab the receiver, almost disconnecting the call completely as she silently cursed her habitual use of speakerphone while at the office. When she picked it up, the speaker disengaged.
She cradled the phone to her ear and turned slightly toward the window. “Uh, Ash, now is not the best time.” She tried to keep her voice low, but it sort of squeaked its way out. Ash had never made a call like this before, let alone to June while she was at work. It was like she’d been sucked into a surreal vortex with her wife and her would-be lover tormenting her from all sides.
Ash’s voice was melted butter and syrup. “Really? I think it’s the perfect time.” June could hear the challenge in Ash’s tone. It was fair, she supposed, given how many times she’d brought her office into their bedroom recently. Ash was entitled on some level to reverse that.
Kat cleared her throat and June turned in her chair to face the other woman. She raised one eyebrow and almost smirked at June. She’d heard enough to be interested in the outcome of the phone call. Without a word, she rose and crossed to the office door. She twisted the lock, then went back to her seat.
As June watched Kat, her temperature spiked and her heart pounded into her throat. This was her office, and the situation was damn close to being out of control.
“Can I call you back?” June wanted to tell Ash what she was wearing. She pictured Ash sprawled naked over their bed with her phone to her ear, a teasing, seductive smile on her face. Or maybe she was in her workshop, her hand already easing into the gap between her side and her oversized overalls that she wore while working.
“You could,” Ash said, “but I’m unbuttoning the top button now, and I’d hate to finish without you.” She spoke slowly and deliberately, dropping each word with precision into June’s imagination. June let the offer settle and marinate for a moment, then thought of the sizzle yet to come.
She stared at Kat. She’d started to finger the top button of her blouse, synchronous with Ash’s announcement.
“I’m with a client.” That was the understatement of the year. She was with a client who’d repeatedly asserted her attraction to June and her desire to act upon that attraction. A client who had guest-starred in her sex life with Ash several times over the past few weeks. A client who wielded a tremendous amount of power over her future career. They were all balanced together on a dangerous precipice, tipping over the point of no return.
And still, she wanted to tell Ash exactly what she was wearing.
“Who is it?” Ash asked, her interest rich and apparent. “Is it Kat?”
June stared at Kat as she opened the first button on her shirt. She nodded. “Yes.” It sounded much more like a plea than she would have liked.
Kat’s smile was slow and seductive. “I think you should take the call.” She traced the exposed line of her throat with her fingers.
Sweet Jesus! June’s vision swam with the implication.
Ash spoke again, her voice grounding June in the moment. “Tell me what she’s wearing.”
June didn’t think about the consequences before she spoke. “A cream-colored suit with navy flats and a matching bag.”
Kat raised both eyebrows, a first in June’s presence, and her smile grew.
“Cream?” Ash purred. “What kind of fabric?”
June stumbled. Ash’s job, since their first months of dating, had always been to dress her. She picked out June’s suits, all of her clothes. She paired her outfits before they went out for the night. She said June couldn’t be trusted to pick out her own. According to Ash, she would end up with some horrid off-the-rack number with shoulder pads and a stitched-in belt.
“June, what kind of fabric?” Ash asked a second time.
Ash was pushing her to talk to Kat, to invite her into their game. Her tongue swelled to three times its normal size and her mouth filled with sand. “I don’t know.”
Kat stretched, slow and careful, every movement an orchestrated seduction. It worked. June felt completely, overwhelming, seduced by both women. All she could do is watch as Kat extended her body over the desk and hit the speakerphone button. She took the receiver from June and dropped it back into the cradle.
June forgot how to breathe.
Ash pushed forward, determined to carry this on. “Ask her.”
“Ask me what?” Kat’s voice was lower than it had been a few moments ago, more intimate.
Ash’s breath caught, then she said, “Ask her, June.”
June’s heart pounded against the back of her throat and she swallowed hard. Her eyes were locked on Kat’s. They were smoky brown, the kind that were sexy no matter the situation. In that moment, they were smoldering.
“What kind…” June cleared her throat to rid it of the rough, squeaky edges. “What kind of fabric is it?” And with one little sentence, June felt her career go up in smoke and wasn’t sure she cared.
Kat relaxed back into her chair. Her elbows sat on the armrests, but her hands met in the middle, fingers laced together. She crossed her right leg over her left and openly studied June. For all her active pursuit, Kat paused inexplicably when Ash switched the light to green.
She didn’t think Kat was going to answer and wasn’t sure how far Ash would push it. She dug her fingers into the padded curve of her armrests and waited. The straining whiteness of her knuckles stood out in stark relief against her tanning-bed-cultivated skin.
Ash coughed. Not a real cough, but one of those polite “answer my question” coughs. And it worked.
Kat glanced at the phone, then back to June. She’d heard that the eyes were the window to the soul, but hers appeared to be a window to her clit because Kat’s gaze went straight through her and landed square in the middle of her cunt with a heavy thud.
“Raw silk,” Kat eventually answered, placing a guttural inflection on the word raw, and it tore through June to bounce on her clit a few more times.
Ash’s breath hitched and then started up again, a little faster than before. “Is it soft?” Victory filled her voice. Not only was June on the hook, but Kat nibbled at the bait as well.
It took a minute for Ash’s question to register. June felt like she was in a vacuum where she could hear the words, but they refused to translate into meaning in her head. It reminded her of the one time in college when Ash had convinced her she’d like the feeling of getting stoned. They’d shared a joint, with June taking two or three puffs at the most. She’d lost all track of her limbs, couldn’t follow the conversation around her, yet knew it was all hysterically funny. The next time Ash asked June to join her, June declined. It wasn’t a feeling she particularly enjoyed, yet
in this context the haze was infused with sex, and she couldn’t clear her head long enough to decide if she liked it this way or not.
She heard Ash’s voice, demanding and familiar, but stared at Kat. It was a disconcerting combination.
“June?” Ash sounded impatient. June didn’t blame her. Their respective roles in the scene had been cast, and she was taking far too long to fill hers.
“Hmmm?” She couldn’t focus on Ash’s question long enough to answer it, but it didn’t matter. Ash was a clotheshorse. She knew exactly what the fabric felt like. What she really wanted was for June to touch it and tell her how that felt. And June was going to do it, just as soon as she regained control of her motor functions.
Kat rose from her chair and rounded the desk, her movement fluid and graceful. She spun June’s chair until they were face to face and then placed her hands next to June’s on the armrests. Kat’s lips parted slightly and her tongue slipped out to lick along the edge. The red of her lipstick shone even brighter as she bent her head close to June’s. She pressed her lips to June’s ear and said, “I think she wants you to touch it.” She drew the words out, low and sexy, just loud enough for the speakerphone to pick up the intention in her voice, if not the words themselves.
Kat wore a tailored cotton button-down. Only it wasn’t the traditional style where the buttons go all the way to the top. Rather, they stopped three-quarters of the way and gave June a great view of her cleavage. The top button was open, revealing even more. It had an oversized collar and French cuffs with actual studs through the buttonholes. And all June could think about was how much better it would look off than on.
The front fell open as Kat leaned down, giving her a perfect view of the tops of her breasts. She couldn’t move. All she could do was stare down Kat’s shirt at the black-lace bra. And the expanse of exposed flesh. She wanted to trace the line where skin transitioned to lace.
Her hands almost touched Kat’s, with just the slightest space between them on the armrest. She slid them carefully away, knowing that if their skin touched, she’d never stop. For now, she needed to let Ash dictate the pace of her actions.
She lifted her hands and curled them around the edges of Kat’s jacket lapel. It wasn’t soft, but it wasn’t rough either.
Kat pulled back after a moment and looked into June’s eyes. “Well?”
In order for Ash to know what was happening, June needed to speak. She swallowed, just to make sure her throat would respond to a basic command. “Not really.”
Ash’s voice rushed out of the phone. “Where are you touching her?” This wasn’t a question June ever expected to hear Ash ask, but could tell she was excited to ask it.
She slid her hands up to Kat’s shoulders, then down her arms. “Her jacket…the lapels.”
Kat lifted her hands off the chair but remained bent close to June. She took June’s hands in hers and asked, “Do you want to know what my shirt feels like?”
Kat stared into June’s eyes as she said the words, but she had no doubt the question was intended for Ash. She was desperate to touch the shirt, and the flesh beneath, but she waited for Ash to respond. Her fingers twitched with anticipation and she hoped the answer would be yes.
She didn’t hesitate. “Definitely. And June…” Ash paused and her voice dropped to that intimate level she used whenever they were all alone and the lights were off. For June the sound was as tactile as the caress that came in the moment between Ash saying “You’re beautiful” and the next when she pressed her tongue to June’s clit. “Describe it for me.”
Reality swirled and dipped, then slammed into clear focus when Kat placed June’s hands flat against her abdomen. June spread her fingers and curled them around the curve of Kat’s waist. In contrast to the fabric of her jacket, the cotton of her shirt was soft beneath June’s touch. The muscles underneath weren’t.
“Ashlyn?” June’s voice wasn’t as strong as normal. She was on serious sensory overload and was amazed to find that it worked at all. “It’s white, with tiny pearl buttons down the front. The one at the top is already open.” She tried to think of everything Ash might want to know about it. “And it’s soft.”
She traced a winding pattern with her thumbs and Kat caught her breath hard and straightened. She looked down at June with hazy, lust-filled eyes, and June wanted to go a lot faster than Ash dictated.
“Where are your hands now?”
Before she could answer, Kat stepped in. “They’re on my waist, just above the swell of my hips—” Her breath caught as June squeezed gently, asserting her position. Then Kat continued. “I want her to touch me…my skin.” She hesitated slightly. “Is that okay?” The question had a waver at the end, caught between a whisper and a whimper.
June knew Kat was unaccustomed to asking. She was the kind of woman who simply reached out and took. They stared at each other, scarcely breathing, as they waited for Ash’s answer.
“Yes.”
One word and June received a key she’d been silently pleading for. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her breathing. It was erratic and her head swam. She watched silently as Kat opened the buttons on her shirt. She wanted to help, but Ash hadn’t said she could do that, so she licked her lips and stared fixatedly until finally, it hung open.
“June, what are you doing?”
June shifted her gaze to the phone and spotted her cell lying next to it on the desk. She picked it up and activated an iChat session with Ash. When her wife’s picture filled the screen, she pushed the disconnect button on her office phone.
“Hi.” June smiled, small and secret. She forgot all about Kat, who was well on her way to naked, when she saw her wife.
Ash’s hair was down and mussed, the telltale swipe of paint covered her cheek, and June could see the studio in the background. She’d been working when she stopped to call. Her eyes were dark and hooded.
“Hey.” Ash returned her smile, the one that said it would be the two of them forever. Seeing it, seeing Ash, made June feel so much better about what they were doing. It would all be okay if she could just look at her wife for a moment. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Oh.” June turned the screen until it focused on Kat’s bared front, the black lace of her bra, the generous swell of her breasts, down to the hard lines of her abdomen. “She unbuttoned her shirt.”
“Have you touched her?” The image on the phone only showed Ash’s face. June closed her eyes and imagined the rest, Ash with her own shirt open, no bra, her fingers squeezing first one nipple, then the other. June wanted to hear that little gasp Ash gave every time she would suck one between her teeth.
“No, not yet.”
“Do it.”
She opened her eyes and looked up at Kat, who toyed with her belt, a sexy, inviting smile on her face. When June didn’t move, Kat released her belt and took June’s phone and rested it on the desk where Ash could still see, then took June’s hands in her own. Once again, she placed them on her waist, this time against bare skin rather than with the barrier of thin fabric between them. Her body tensed beneath June’s hands, the muscles twitching and flexing. She was soft and smooth and perfect.
June pushed her chair back and stood. Her hands gravitated lower until they rested on Kat’s hips. They were the same height, Kat and June, and June’s new position brought her kissing close to Kat. It wasn’t a new situation for them. Kat had crowded in close to her more than once, but for the first time, June wasn’t fighting the urge.
Kat’s hands trembled between us as she returned to her belt, too uncertain to free the buckle. June moved her hands up to cover Kat’s. She held them there for a moment, stilling Kat and giving herself a chance to breathe. Everything was happening too fast and yet far too slow. Kat, as far as she was concerned, still wore far too many clothes.
June shifted her grip and worked the buckle loose, then popped the button on Kat’s pants. Then she pulled back slightly and let herself look at Kat. She pushed the shirt open fa
rther and it slid, along with the jacket, off her shoulders and caught at the bend of her elbows. Kat’s skin was golden and perfect, except it was natural, as opposed to the tan June worked hard to maintain. A shiver ran across her abdomen and June traced it with her index finger. Then she laid her palm flat against Kat’s stomach as if to stop it from happening again.
Kat and Ash both moaned at the simple contact, and June smiled. Kat sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and held it there.
“Can you see, Ash? I’m touching her stomach. Her skin is soft, but the muscles are hard…tense.”
Ash groaned and said, “God, yes, I see. Jesus.”
June knew then that this technology-assisted threesome wasn’t going to be enough. Kat in front of her and Ash on the phone. She wanted to end the call and take Kat home with her. She wanted Ash on her back with her legs looped over her shoulders. She wanted Ash. Kat was a nice distraction, but she would never be a suitable replacement.
But Ash wasn’t there. Kat was, and she was trembling beneath June’s touch.
“What do you want me to do now?” When she asked the question, June looked away from Kat, away from the heat in her gaze and the quivering want shimmering on her skin. She turned her focus to Ash—devastating, beautiful Ash. She wanted to beg Ash, she wanted to push Kat down on the desk and feel her from the inside. As much as she wanted Ash, the need to take Kat burned in her chest, tingled in her fingers. She didn’t beg. She simply stared into Ash’s eyes and hoped that was enough, that her wife would see how badly she needed her in that moment.
And she did. “Pretend she’s me.”
Chapter Seven
“Oh, God.” Kat found her voice, but it was rough and uncertain. She sucked in a ragged breath.
That’s what June wanted, permission to dictate the pace rather than waiting carefully for permission. “Yes.”
June pushed the shirt and jacket to the floor. Kat looked fleetingly like she was thinking of catching it before it hit the ground, but June pushed her bra up and sucked one nipple between her lips—hard. The blazer and shirt rippled to the ground, and Kat gasped. She wound her fingers into June’s hair and pulled her closer.