All She Wants

by Larkin Rose

  How did Marci know that she would love this place? That she would be in awe of such a hidden, natural made treasure? And why was the thoughtfulness reaching down deep inside her? Why was it making her feel like the treasure?

  No one had ever been this thoughtful. Not a single lover, beneficial friend, or even those rare ones she’d actually called a significant other. No one.

  And the warmth spreading over her right now with Marci watching her, made her want to fly into her arms, hug her, and thank her for such a priceless gift.

  She stared around her in complete shock. The walls of the cave sparkled like diamonds, probably fool’s gold, but their beauty held no candle to anything Tessa had ever seen before. Everything around her was absolutely breathtaking. Especially Marci.

  “It’s amazing.” Tessa finally found a word that compared to what she felt. She was suddenly jealous of Marci and her ability to explore this entire region. With a few more weeks of hard work, she hoped to do the very same thing. Explore. To thank the creator for such magical wonders. “How did you find this place?”

  “Too much time on my hands?”

  Tessa dared a glance in her direction. She heard loneliness etched behind her words. What had her ex done to her? Whatever it was, Marci wasn’t over it. But this was a damn good way to help forget whatever horrible thing she’d experienced at the hands of her ex.

  Tessa smoothed her hand along the wall. “It’s truly incredible.”

  Marci walked up behind her. Slow and deliberate.

  Tessa stiffened. Marci’s aroma surrounded her and she had to close her eyes against the fire whipping along her limbs. Her body hummed with life as Marci’s breath feathered against her neck.

  “Look,” Marci whispered.

  Tessa’s insides clamped with the sound of that whisper. How did Marci have the power to do that? To weaken her knees with barely a sound?

  Sudden brightness in front of her made Tessa open her eyes. She found Marci’s phone flashlight highlighting the wall, displaying etches in the rock. Native American markings, or something very similar. Aged but visible.

  Overcome with heartfelt emotion, Tessa reached out to trace the carvings with her fingertip.

  Hundreds, thousands of years ago, someone had stood in this exact spot and painted a picture with possibly nothing more than a rock, for Tessa to witness one day.

  And what exactly was the message they wanted to give?

  Marci kissed Tessa’s neck. “You like them?”

  Tessa angled her head, welcoming the hot suction. She didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to make Marci work for another apology. All she wanted now was Marci’s naked flesh against her own.

  She turned in Marci’s arms. Instantly, she was shoved against the rock wall. Marci’s mouth clamped down around her own. She groaned and ground her hips into Marci, almost desperate for contact.

  True, she shouldn’t be here. True, she should be back at the cabin getting to know her next clients. True, she should be getting her ducks in a row for the next kill.

  Also true, she didn’t give a shit about any of the above right now.

  The only thing she needed at this exact moment in time was Marci to jerk her pants down to her ankles and then drive inside her. Tongue, fingers, body, she didn’t care.

  She needed Marci controlling her every breath. Every gasp and pant of pleasure. She needed that so bad it made her soul quiver.

  As if she’d read Tessa’s mind, Marci ripped at the zipper of her coat and tossed it to the side.

  Together, they tugged and pulled, mouths locked, tongues tasting, and fingers exploring, until Marci finally lowered Tessa to the heap of clothes now mounded on the rock floor.

  She hovered above Tessa, watching her, almost memorizing her, while she gently pushed her legs apart and teased her opening.

  Tessa arched and splayed her fingers around the back of Marci’s neck, pulling her lower. “Do it. Please.”

  With a moan, Marci pushed inside her.

  Tessa whimpered and the sound encouraged Marci to go faster. She bucked into her, driving her fingers deeper with every stroke. Her body arched with every hitch of her hips, her mouth latched onto Tessa’s lips, until they both came to the sound of their own erotic releases.

  Marci rolled onto her side next to Tessa, gathering her breath, and stared at the ceiling of the cave. She thought of something her grandmother used to say.

  Everything happens for a reason.

  It had always seemed like such a clichéd thing to say. Everyone used that exact phrase. But for some reason, she now wondered if it was true. Did everything happen for a reason? Like a trail of bad luck all leading to something great? Whatever could have been the reason for the hell she’d been put through the last year? Whatever reason could there be to have the floor of her world jerked out from under her?

  For this? For this time with Tessa? A woman who seemed to see this magnificent world almost exactly how Marci saw it? Beautiful and amazing and worth exploring?

  Would Tessa laugh if she knew this was the only place where she truly felt more herself anymore? When her feet were on earth. When she was exploring.

  The exact way she had found this waterfall and the space behind it. Exploring. Licking her wounds in private after coming back to this beautiful mountain with her tail between her legs. When she’d been at her lowest.

  When she’d truly felt like she would never be okay again, these woods made her feel like it was okay to not be okay. Not even her own mother could say the right things to make her feel better. She only wanted the best for her. She wanted Marci to stop hurting but wound up smothering Marci instead. The same as Wendy had done. As much as she wanted them to stop, to just shut up, to just let her figure it out, she sure loved them for the attempt.

  But if everything happened for a reason, was this that reason?

  For this minute in time? For these unforgettable moments with Tessa? A woman who had successfully, for the second week, taken away all thoughts of Ashley?

  Even if she didn’t know she’d had the power to do so.

  Marci should tell her. She should thank her for helping make her day okay. For making it simply okay. For allowing her the opportunity to hear the sound of Tessa’s shocked release of breath as she took in her surroundings. That sound. Of adoration for something created out of nothing more than stone and dirt. That sound had made her heart sputter.

  She was suddenly thrilled that Ashley had never given her the chance to help her discover a love for the great outdoors. It couldn’t have sounded or felt nearly as enticing as it had coming out of Tessa’s mouth.

  “If you’re going to let her in here with us, you at least have to share her with me,” Tessa whispered.

  Marci turned to look at her. Tessa was so beautiful with her hair tousled, lips plump, eyes sparkling against the light filtering through the waterfall. Did she know? Did she know that she was stunning? That her love for nature only enhanced that beauty?

  Ashley was the last person Marci wanted to talk to Tessa about. The last person she wanted inside this space with them. Anyone else. But not Ashley.

  “She’s gone.”

  “Good.” Tessa rolled over and straddled her hips and once again, they rode the climatic waves of pleasure.

  Chapter Eight

  “So?” Wendy popped a French fry in her mouth and eyed Marci. “How did the team leaders manage to stay alive after three weeks of having to report to you? You haven’t called me once to tell me that my days were numbered. Kind of scares me how quiet you’ve been.”

  “You’re now complaining because I haven’t complained? That’s a new one.” Marci wiped her mouth, tossed the napkin beside her plate, and took a sip of Coke.

  “Yeah. Weird, right?”

  Marci shrugged. She couldn’t tell Wendy that she’d take every contestant on every team bitching in her office if it meant she got to conclude the day with Tessa tucked beneath her.

  She couldn’t stop her mind from dri
ving straight to Tessa. Every day. Every night. Every waking moment. It was disturbing and completely against her new way of life. To never think about another woman again.

  “Besides Donna having a meltdown in my office during week one, they’ve all pretty much left me alone except to bring me their itineraries. And other than having to contact them with a few scheduling conflicts all has been quiet.”

  Wendy dipped another fry in ketchup. “Has it now?”

  “Why exactly would I lie about your misfits bothering me?”

  “Has one misfit bothered you? One in particular? Has she bothered you?” She gave a quick eyebrow wiggle.

  Marci reached out and yanked the red-tipped fry from her grasp and popped it in her own mouth. “You are very nosy.”

  “And you didn’t answer the question.” Wendy reached for a new fry.

  “I shouldn’t have to answer nosy, non business related questions.”

  “Oh my God! You had sex with her again, didn’t you?” Wendy’s voice seemed to bounce around the room, and Marci gave an apologetic nod to the nearest couple, who gave her an uneasy smile in return.

  “Do you have to include everyone else in my private life?” Marci took another sip of Coke. “My private life, let me repeat.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. But you did, right?” Wendy scooted up to the table, completely dismissing an entire burger she was famished for only minutes ago. “This is awesome. Like, amazingly awesome. This is…this is epic!”

  “How is that epic, nimrod?” Marci lowered her voice. “It’s just sex. Simple sex.”

  “No, ma’am. You’re so, so wrong. On every level of the sexual world, it’s not simple.”

  “Okay. I don’t know what you spiked that Coke with, but you’re losing your mind over this sex thing.”

  “Don’t you get it? It’s not simple. And it’s not just sex, either. It’s repeats.” Wendy tapped her finger on the table as if that would drive her point home. “You never go back for repeats. Not since that witch rode off on her broomstick with your heart spitting out trails of blood like tattered ribbons.”

  Marci exaggerated a sigh. “Lord, here we go again.”

  “I’m being serious, Marci.”

  “Don’t start, Wendy. I mean it. Don’t start.”

  She was so sick of Wendy’s wishful thinking that she was going to miraculously find someone to live happily ever after with.

  There was no fucking happy ever after for her. That dream had been burned. Literally. She’d even tossed in the bedsheets that Ashley and her twat had fucked on. Burned. In a blazing glory in her firepit, in her backyard, at her own house, that soon would be gone, just like her future.

  That dream had gone up in the same smoke created from burning their wedding pictures. Whatever clothes Ashley hadn’t taken. Everything, right down to the trinkets they’d gotten on a road trip that had taken Marci three months to talk her into. The vacation she’d had to bribe her into, actually. One of those little road trips had cost her a brand new dining room set.

  All of it. Gone. It was gone and she had no desire to revisit that kind of pain ever again. Why couldn’t Wendy understand that? What did Marci have to do to make her see that she didn’t and wouldn’t have that kind of love in her life again? Ever.

  “No, you stop!” Wendy’s harsh voice pulled Marci’s gaze up to meet hers. “That bitch did not break you. Do you understand me? She did not break you, and you need to stop acting like she got the last laugh.”

  The quiver in Wendy’s voice made Marci reach for her. “Wendy.”

  Wendy snapped her hand back. “Don’t Wendy me. I’m serious. I miss my best friend, dammit! The full of life, spontaneous, lover of this world, best friend. And if I have to verbally abuse you every day, I won’t stop fighting until I peel back every single layer that loser burned on her way out the door, to find the real you. The old Marci. My Marci.” She dramatically balled up her napkin and threw it at Marci, her bottom lip poked out, then she reached over, plucked Marci’s napkin off the table, and threw that one at her, too.

  Marci couldn’t help it. She laughed. The sound started as a snicker and soon turned into both of them howling until Wendy snorted like a pig, a sound she only made when her whole body was invested in the laughter, and then they started laughing all over again.

  It felt good to laugh. It felt even better to mean it.

  She loved Wendy. Truly loved her. She was there when everyone else wasn’t. She was Marci’s shoulder when she had no one else to turn to. She was her sounding board when Marci felt like she was at the end of her rope.

  But through it all, Wendy had still held strong to her hatred for Ashley. No matter how much she loved Marci, she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, accept the love of Marci’s life. Yes, the very one who tilted her world off its axis, exactly as Wendy had predicted. She’d torn Marci’s heart in half, exactly as Wendy said she would.

  That might have been one of the hardest things she had to face. Wendy. She’d ignored all of those warnings. When Wendy wanted nothing but the best for her, she’d pushed her away. For Ashley. And not once since Marci had returned had she uttered those words: I told you so.

  Eventually, she would. Marci knew her best friend better than that. Those words were coming.

  “Feel better?” Marci dropped the napkins in the middle of the table.

  “No!” Wendy shrugged and her expression softened. “Maybe.”

  “You know I’ll be okay, don’t you?” Marci leaned over and forced Wendy to look at her. “I’ll be okay. I promise. It’s just taking me a minute to breathe, that’s all.”

  Wendy cocked her head and looked away. “Well, I wish you’d hurry. I’ve been working hard to help you get yourself back, to help you find yourself again, but you haven’t even noticed.”

  “What do you mean I haven’t noticed?”

  “Trust me, you haven’t noticed a single thing going on around you.”

  “I do notice, Wendy. And you know I love you, but you don’t get to decide when I have to be okay. Let me do things my way. I’ll find my way back, I promise.”

  Wendy watched her for several moments. Something in her eyes told Marci that she had indeed missed something. That there was something more than these heart-to-hearts over Ashley. What that was, she wouldn’t drag out of Wendy unless she was good and ready to reveal that information.

  “I’m holding you to that promise.” Wendy leaned in. “That cooty licker shouldn’t get the pleasure of thinking she broke you.”

  Marci snickered. “You’re a cooty licker, too, ya know?”

  “She doesn’t get to win, Marci. Not with you.” Wendy shook her head and leaned back heavily in her chair. “Not with you.”

  Marci wished Wendy could just leave well enough alone, but the fact was, Wendy didn’t know the meaning of letting bygones be bygones. This wasn’t her fight. Wasn’t her life. Wasn’t her broken heart. Yet Wendy loved her enough to think they were.

  Truth be told, there was nothing wrong with the way Marci was handling her separation.

  Fucking and walking away. What was so horrible about that? Okay, so she was fucking and not walking away from Tessa, but that was only because she was easy access for the time being. And what was wrong with a little easy fun? They both knew when this game was over, win or lose, so was their time together.

  “So, on a lighter note. Tessa’s clients invited us to a party slash bonfire tonight. Did you get my email?” Marci hoped to change the subject once and for all.

  “Yes. But do you think it’s a wise choice for the boss to party with a crew? Would that show partiality to one team? One team in particular.”

  Marci shrugged. “I don’t think it’s wise to turn down a client invitation at all. You started this thing to draw business your way, right? To staff the additional resort once construction is complete. No better way to make a lasting impression than to show up for them.”

  “You started this, not me.”

  “Me? For sure you add
ed too much spike to your Coke. You know I don’t even like people, so there’s no way in hell I would tell you that this contest was a good idea. Quite the opposite, actually.”

  Wendy dipped another fry and once again, Marci had a feeling she was missing an important piece of a puzzle. A puzzle she didn’t even know she was working.

  “I’m actually heading there when I finish this burger. Just come with me.”

  “If I’m going, I should probably show up without you considering the sideshow you have going on.” Wendy winked.

  “Then show up late, leave early. That should be good enough. Besides, you know you don’t want to miss an all-lesbian party. It’s not in your mental control to skip out.”

  Wendy seemed to mull over the idea even though a smirk lingered on her lips. “I guess you’re right. If it was one of the other crews inviting me, I’d feel obligated to attend. So yeah. I’ll be there. For just a little while.”

  “I bet you will.” Marci winked as Wendy picked her burger up and bit off a huge chunk.

  * * *

  Tessa checked the contents of the liquor cabinet one last time before she moved back into the throng of the party. At the rate these women were going, they would run out of booze long before they passed out.

  She’d never seen anyone besides Monty who could actually drink like a fish and still walk a steady line. Her sister proudly took that ability to epic proportions.

  She scanned the room and found Marci locked in a conversation with the bartender, hopefully to instruct the woman to start spiking the liquor with water. The poor woman had been pouring drinks all night. Had begun her night with colorful mixed drinks and was now flat-out pouring shots, regardless of what the women ordered. It appeared they could no longer tell the difference between a shot glass or a champagne flute.

  When were these women going to start dropping out of the drinking race? How much longer could they hold out like this?