Clichéd Love: A Satirical Romance

by Lynn Galli

  It didn’t surprise me that she could recall the story so easily. Everything else about her fit so well, and she understood so much. That she’d know my favorite kids’ book was on par for everything else that was great about her. “That very one. With the ‘appearances can be deceiving’ moral to the story.”

  “And you’re confusing me with a bull who’d rather smell flowers than fight?”

  “I’m asking if that theme applies to you.” If I could make more sense right now I would, but this realization and being in her presence muddled my mind. “Iris, please.”

  “I’m trying to follow you here, Vega. I really am.” Her hand darted out but dropped back to her side. Yeah, we’d stopped touching each other, even casually.

  “Let me put it this way. Have I had more dates here than you have in the past three months?”

  Her mouth nudged ajar. She looked away and gave a sharp nod.

  “Damn, I have, haven’t I?” My head jolted to the side, trying to toss off my stupidity. “You let everyone believe…”

  “Whatever they want,” she finished for me. “Nothing I say would have changed that.”

  But she could have told me. Then I wouldn’t have assumed. Or I could have just been a better friend. “I made assumptions. I’m an idiot, and I blew it.”

  “What did you blow?” She leaned forward, still not touching.

  “Any chance. I blew it because you’re Ferdinand, and I’m one of the short-sighted men in the funny hats.” I blew out a long breath. “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I was an idiot to assume anything when you were always so…”

  “Different,” she finished. “So were you. It’s why it hurt so much.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know if it would have changed anything, but I am sorry.” I stood and shook out my hands. “I like you so much. You’ve made good on your promise of being a great friend.”

  She stood with me. “So are you.”

  “Tomorrow for tennis? I could use a day to think about how I made stupid assumptions and was a lousy friend. Tomorrow, we can go back to being Iris and Vega, friends extraordinaire.” I headed for the door.

  “Tomorrow?” she questioned, following me out to her porch.

  “Tomorrow,” I confirmed and hurried to my car. If I didn’t, I might be tempted to turn around and beg her to forgive me. To forget everything I said and give us another chance.

  Back at my place, I opened my laptop. Writing another article didn’t hold any appeal. Neither did starting another chapter of the book. I glanced at the coffee that had sparked the epiphany. It remained unconsumed and frigid cold now. Another trip to the coffeehouse might help jumpstart a new mindset. One that could get some work done.

  Walking my circuit, I cleared my head and went to the laptop. I started typing, anything, didn’t matter, knowing it was the best way to get writing when nothing came to me. Four paragraphs later, the words started making sense and even matched the story of the couple I was supposed to be writing about.

  My editor texted some words of encouragement. Totally in character, which meant mostly snarky. Just what I needed to turn all of the words I was typing into something publishable. The life of a writer and her supporting cast.

  The front door buzzed a while later. I jumped at the sound, so engrossed in writing. It was probably that neighbor’s moronic friend who just buzzed everyone’s door until someone let him in. Helen had to play the domineering landlord last week with the tenant, but obviously the friend hadn’t gotten the message yet.

  It buzzed again, and I gave a long sigh. That moron was going to get an earful. I was in the right mood for it. Forget Helen having to play the heavy again. I’d do it for free. I pressed the buzzer, ripped open the door, and marched to the top of the landing. All frustration drained from my body when, instead of the moronic random door buzzer, Iris bounded up the stairs. The same Iris who agreed to start over tomorrow.

  “Hi,” she greeted.

  “It’s not tomorrow.”

  She chuckled. “We really need to work on your greetings.”

  I tipped my head back at the open door and turned to lead her into my apartment. “Did we need more time to go over how I’m a faithless friend before we reset for tomorrow?”

  “Two questions,” she said as she closed the door behind her and faced me. “No, three, possibly, four.”

  I blinked, taking in her statement and a moment to just stare at her. “Okay.”

  “Did someone tell you, or you just assumed?”

  “About sleeping with Kaylee? A few people in the bar said something. I thought you were just getting her into a cab, but when you didn’t come back, I wasn’t sure.”

  She gave me a long stare with those beautiful blue eyes. Eyes the color of the blue flower. Her mom’s inspiration for the name. Iris had managed to stop her mom from sharing the name she’d chosen before seeing her newborn’s beautiful iris-colored eyes. I planned to make it my mission on her next visit to find out that name. The way Iris reacted told me she thought it was embarrassing. For now, I was happy to return any stare she graced me with.

  “I don’t think you’re a player, Iris. I never did. I thought you were friendly and gorgeous and sometimes you enjoyed company for the night. That’s all.”

  She assessed me for a moment longer. “When I told you I didn’t have sex with her, did you believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even though some people in the bar said I did?”

  “I believe you. What you tell me, how you are. I trust you and I believe you.”

  Another nod, then a frown creased her brow. “Did you sleep with Cyrah?”

  I flinched and backed up. “No, absolutely not.” Not that Cyrah was repulsive, quite the opposite, in fact. I just couldn’t imagine sleeping with anyone else after being with Iris. Not for a while, yet. But that couldn’t be a random question. “Who’s saying I did?”

  “Some women at the bar are saying you invited her in for ‘coffee’ as they’re calling it. With air quotes and everything.”

  I scoffed and growled, a scrowl. “What the hell is wrong with some of those women? They can’t keep their traps shut.”

  “I know that.” She sighed and looked back at me, tenderness in her gaze. “Looks like we both made some missteps.”

  My heart tripped and started pumping hard. I reached back and stabilized my stance by gripping the desk. “We did.”

  “Last question.” She stepped closer, and my heart kicked into a double-time beat. “Did you believe the rumors that I was with Lane? Taking advantage of her?”

  “God, no. That came up once around me, and I shut it down. Told them off.”

  “Without knowing for sure?” She moved closer still. Her presence felt like a physical touch, one I wanted so much.

  “That first night we met, I thought you might have been together at one point. You have a closeness that some couples don’t ever get to. But I discarded the idea after hanging out with you both. Now that I know more about her, there’s no way you’d cross that line with her.”

  A breath of air puffed from her lips. She took in another deep breath and released it. “Thanks.”

  “You just had to clear that up today?” I felt marginally better than when I’d left her place. It gave me hope that we’d ditch the tentativeness that we’d shown around each other for the past couple of weeks.

  “You know that all-or-nothing thing we both live by?”

  I swallowed hard. “The ‘if we’re done being girlfriends, we’re not going to be friends’ all-or-nothing?”

  “Or the ‘friends or girlfriends, but not both’ all-or-nothing?”

  “I think you said we have that in common.” My voice shook, not sure where this conversation was going. Just very hopeful.

  “Here’s the glitch with people like us.” She reached out and cupped my cheek. My lids fluttered closed. “We’re already great friends, and we practically imploded when we made love. At least I did.”

 
; My eyes struggled to open against the onslaught of emotions her words caused. My heart thrashed against my ribcage. It was getting more difficult to stand without the support of the desk behind me. “Me, too.”

  “We were friends before we made love. After, I still felt like we were friends, but we’d added so much more.” Her fingers played along the nape of my neck, encouraging the twister that kept touching down over and over in my stomach. “We can have both.”

  “Both?” I whispered, hardly adding any volume to the whisper. I might have just mouthed the word.

  “Friendship and a relationship. That’s our all.” She swallowed hard, her eyes studying mine. Red flushed her neck and cheeks. “If that’s something you think we can have.”

  Think? Know. Definitely, know. It wasn’t just my wildly beating heart, my swirling insides, my desperate need to touch her, and my burning ears. I knew we could have both with every thought and wish and feeling I possessed.

  Throat tight, I let my actions speak for me at first. Turning my face, I kissed the palm cupping my jaw. “I want the all in that equation. Definitely, the all.”

  She fell against me in an embrace. I slipped my arms around her and squeezed. “I’m crazy about you, Vega. It tore me up to leave after we’d made love. I’d never let Lane down, but I was tempted that day. It broke me when you said we wouldn’t work together.”

  A knot rose in my throat. “I’m sorry. I thought I knew what you wanted.” My lips kissed the side of her head and onto her cheek. Anything they could touch. “I won’t make any more assumptions like that.”

  “I won’t either. Just tell me you’re in this with me.”

  “I am, Iris. You’re so special to me.” I cradled her head and shifted it back to look at her. “Very special.”

  Then my lips were on hers in a scorching kiss, picking up where we left off last time. Absolutely nothing bad in our technique today.

  44 |

  “God, Vega,” she moaned into my mouth, her hands already pulling at my shirt, desperate to get to the flesh underneath.

  I surged into the kiss, soaking up every sensation her lips sparked inside me. “Iris,” I murmured, jerking against her body when her fingers finally dug through to my abdomen. “Iris,” I repeated and pulled back. Her eyes, wild with desire, gazed at me in pleading. “Upstairs. Flat surface, remember?”

  A smile replaced the pleading look. Her hand grabbed mine, and we yanked each other up the stairs, pausing every other step to kiss, until we basically kiss-walked the rest of the way to my bedroom.

  Fingers flexed, twisted, and plucked to get clothes out of the way. Usually I liked undressing women, but I was fine with the shared attempt at undressing each other and ourselves, anything to get naked with her as quickly as possible. My heart squeezed at the sight of her finally bared before me. I’d barely glimpsed her breasts the last time and never got to see all of her. Here she stood, splendidly naked, those feminine muscles shaping her form, small breasts with hard rosy nipples, hip bones looking like lethal weapons and leading my eyes to the trimmed bristles of the tapered triangle covering her sex. She was perfection, utter perfection.

  “Vega,” she whispered, her eyes busy running over my body. I’d felt self-conscious the first time. My breasts were a size larger, and over the past year, I noticed that gravity was starting to play a small part in their shape. Still high enough, but aging would factor in more over the next few years. Her small mounds probably wouldn’t ever be affected by age. “You’re so gorgeous.”

  And that wiped away all self-consciousness. She was beyond gorgeous, and I would have told her if she didn’t smash up against me in another passionate kiss. My lips and hands could tell her how gorgeous I thought she was.

  She pushed and I pulled and we ended up on the bed, our mouths trying to stay attached. Our hands skimmed over any available surface. She pushed against me as I pushed against her. It should have been awkward trying to get her under me when she was trying to get me under her, but it wasn’t. I loved it. Every second.

  “Vega.” Her voice was strained.

  “Iris.” Mine mimicked the tone.

  Her hands slid up from my waist to grasp my breasts, making me moan. “I don’t care who is where. I just need to feel you against me, on me, under me, whatever.”

  I laughed, relief and happiness glowing from the sound. She wouldn’t insist on being the top or any of the other juvenile assertions I’d dealt with in that brief relationship with another non-femme. “You’re amazing. I don’t care either, as long we’re in this together.”

  “We are.” Her smile gripped my heart. Then her fingers tweaked my nipples, and I forgot all about the rising emotions that were already far deeper than I’d ever felt with anyone else. Those talented fingers could make me forget anything.

  I rolled on top of her, groaning at the feel of her warm flesh and muscle tone beneath me. Her fingers were still doing their little twisty torture routine, but they froze when my thigh slipped between hers.

  “Ah,” she exhaled softly. Her eyes closed as I nudged against her wet center.

  My elbow dug into the mattress on her right side to give my other hand the freedom to roam. I kissed her chin and slid down along her neck. My hand landed on her breast, which spurred hers back into action. Breath surged into my lungs at the motions of her fingers. I could lie here and enjoy this for hours, battling the urgency to touch her. Usually the urgency drove my actions, but with Iris, I could learn to enjoy the give and take.

  I continued on my journey down her chest until my mouth nudged against her rigid nipple. She released one of my breasts to grip my head, making another sound. Or it might have been me making the sound. I was too far gone to notice. My mouth closed over the nipple, licking a semi-circle on the underside before sucking it into my mouth. Her body surged upward, trying to get more of herself inside. Her wetness painted a trail on my resting thigh, and my hips bucked in response.

  My mouth kissed its way over to her other breast, pausing on occasion to gasp at what her hand was doing to mine. This nipple was just as stiff and sensitive, surprisingly so, if her body’s reaction to my ministrations said anything. I kissed a path down her stomach, licking the ridges of her muscles. My tongue dipped into her belly button, chin nudging downward. I paused, looking up at her. Waiting for her to meet my eyes and give me the okay. She wasn’t like other women, so I had to make sure she would be okay with what I wanted.

  Her eyes met mine, and she guessed what I was asking. “Yes, Vega, anything. I need that with you.”

  I pressed a kiss to the barely-there bristles. “You have it.”

  My thumbs parted her plump, dusky lips. I gazed at her, reveling in this moment. Her muscles strained under my arms as she waited. My tongue reached to touch her, and she jerked her hips. I added force to my arms to keep her thighs in place as my mouth went back, tongue extended to lick the whole of her.

  “Ah, damn,” she panted.

  My lips surrounded her swollen clit, tongue lapping lightly at first, adding more and more pressure. Her hands clung to my shoulder blades, thighs straining to rock against my mouth. Her taste burst into my senses, marking out a space in my mind and heart as hers alone. I wanted to luxuriate here for days, but I needed more. My fingers probed, sluicing through her folds. Her hips pulled up, hands dragged on my shoulders. My mouth came off her, searching for her eyes.

  “Up here,” she groaned. “I want you up here with me when we do this.”

  I swallowed at the emotions clouding her voice. This was affecting her as much as it was me. Slowly, I dropped kisses on her torso as I rose to meet her. Her mouth covered mine as soon as it was within reach. We both moaned as we shared her taste.

  Her shoulders twisted, and I found myself looking up at her. That smile scattered my thoughts of having her under me when I took her. This was perfectly fine. Taking her like this would be just as good.

  She settled on my hip, our thighs intertwined. Those gorgeous eyes pouring into m
ine how much we both needed this. She kissed me again, her hand skating over my breast and along my sides then onto my stomach and down. Her fingers played in the trimmed strip of hair, teasing, mischief dancing in her eyes.

  “Iris,” I whimpered, not able to handle any more teasing.

  “Yes?” Now her tone was teasing.

  “Damn you,” I growled.

  She laughed and said, “Same to you.”

  I did the only thing I could think of to get her to stop screwing around. I reached down, passing everything fun and distracting and gorgeous and perfect, and went right for the good stuff. She grunted audibly when my hand cupped her.

  I fought the desire to spread my legs more, but gave up to the losing battle. Seemed I’d be wanton with her. Never before, but with Iris, I could be anything. The only thing saving me from a full blush was the shift of her legs, succumbing to her own needs, spreading to let me do what I wanted.

  Her fingers finally drifted over the crest of my mound and dove down. God, her hand. Felt so good the last time, felt erratic and explosive and buoyant this time. Mine tried to match her movements, not wanting to rush her, but needing so much. More than I’ve ever needed when I was with someone.

  “Are you okay with…?”

  My head was nodding at the unfinished question as I was asking the same, “Are you?”

  “With you? Yes. Anything.” Her words came out in a rush, matching the breathlessness I felt at being finally free with someone. Letting her have what she wanted, trusting that was okay.

  “Anything with you,” I repeated so she knew that I felt the same, every little feeling, the same.

  My middle finger circled her clit, drawing more wetness and moans from her. She rubbed two fingers over mine, my hips rocking with each swipe. I’d never needed anything more. My lips pressed against the base of her throat and onto her cheek as she looked down to watch our joining.

  She probed, nudged, prodded before slowly pushing inside. I sucked in a gasp, having forgotten this feeling, not allowing it for years. I never needed penetration to climax, but she filled me, enhancing every sensation. “You feel so good,” she whispered and kissed my chest.