Times Like These

by Ana McKenzie

  There was no helping the smile. ‘True,’ Bianca said. ‘Maybe not a silver lining, but perhaps a silver thread?’

  ‘Bah. A gold thread, I think.’

  Now she laughed. ‘You’ve a good opinion of yourself, Merren.’

  ‘Whatever makes you laugh, my darling.’

  Bianca fell silent, the unexpected endearment making her flush with warmth. Her steps slowed.

  ‘What is it?’ Merren asked.

  But she shook her head. ‘Nothing,’ she said. Except it was something. Darling. The word seeped down inside her and spread out tendrils of happiness.

  She hugged herself tighter to Merren and paid no attention to where they walked, drifting along in a buoyant haze. It would be okay to just enjoy the sensation for a while. It didn’t have to go anywhere serious.

  ‘I’m starving,’ Merren said as they stepped outside the hospital and Merren threaded them down the footpath to the car. ‘It’s dinner time. What do you want to eat?’

  Bianca shook her head. ‘I don’t want to go out to eat anywhere.’ The car door opened, and she slid into the passenger’s seat, waited for Merren to walk around the car and climb in beside her.

  ‘That’s not a problem,’ Merren said. ‘Buckle up and tell me what you feel like eating. And if you’d like to have your dinner with me.’

  Bianca reached automatically for the seatbelt. ‘That would be nice,’ she said. ‘But I don’t know what we should have, why?’

  ‘Because I have to know what we want to order it.’ Merren’s head was bent over something.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Pulling up a delivery app.’

  ‘A what?’

  ‘There’s a delivery app now, for food. Plug in your order – whatever you want from a series of restaurants right here in town, and your meal will be delivered to your front door.’

  ‘Really?’ Bianca was incredulous. ‘People can do that?’

  ‘Uh huh. People sure can.’ Merren touched her hand to Bianca’s leg. ‘What would you like?’

  ‘I have no idea. You choose?’

  ‘Sure. And this reminds me, I need to stop in home for a few minutes, will that be all right?’

  ‘The Burrow?’ Bianca asked, a smile curling her lips.

  ‘The Burrow, indeed. I need to grab something.’

  Bianca licked her lips, took a deep breath, threw out every sensible word of caution her brain had been coming up with. Just a night, she told herself. What harm could that possibly do? It wasn’t like Merren was a teenager, after all. She was twenty-four. Old enough to decide things for herself.

  She let the breath out. ‘Will you stay the night with me?’ she asked. She had Merren’s hand caught in hers and tightened her grip on it. ‘I want you to.’ Yes. She needed this, to be held, touched, and there was no doubt that she found Merren attractive.

  There was a pause. ‘Then I will also pick up some clean clothes and my toothbrush,’ Merren said, and her voice was soft, a delicious, purring rumble.

  Bianca reached out and tugged Merren closer. Found her lips and kissed them.

  And didn’t care about anything else but the taste of them for a whole, very long moment.

  Chapter Twenty

  Merren’s hands shook. She forced herself to undo the buttons on Bianca’s shirt one by careful one. Bianca’s breath was warm in her ear and her breasts rose and fell.

  For a moment, Merren heard her grandmother’s voice in her head.

  Glory, it said. The great, messy, vulnerable experience of passionate love.

  Merren smiled to herself. Her grandmother was an incurable romantic. Her heart thumped in her chest. Maybe they had that in common. Bianca was whispering in her ear now, little encouraging words, and her hands snuck up under Merren’s shirt, making her gasp at the touch of them on her hot skin. They ranged up and over her belly, sought out her breasts, paused there for a long, fabulous moment, then dropped down to tug at the button on her pants.

  ‘You’re taking too long,’ Bianca breathed, and Merren shivered.

  ‘You’re being impatient,’ she answered, but her voice was hoarse, and she closed her mouth against further words. She’d been to bed with others before, but there was something about this time, about Bianca, that made her thin-skinned and suddenly needy.

  Bianca made a throaty little noise that almost made Merren forget the pincer-like delicacy she was trying to employ with the tiny fabric-wrapped buttons and just tug at them until the threads holding them on snapped and they all went flying over the room.

  ‘Anticipation is part of the pleasure,’ she said, risking her voice and trying to be cool, calm, confident.

  A dusky little laugh and Bianca pressed herself against Merren, trapping her hands between them. ‘I’ve been anticipating all evening. What I need is gratification.’

  Merren’s heart skipped a beat. The evening had been a long, thorough, and slow dance of seduction.

  Watching Bianca eat Indian food with her fingers was almost the most erotic thing Merren thought she’d ever seen.

  Almost, because this was quite clearly the winner right here – Bianca stretching up, hands in the air, back arched, lips parted, eyes half open. Merren’s mouth was dry, and aroused beyond reason, she licked her lips. This woman was bewitching.

  She wanted Bianca’s clothes off, strewn over the bedroom floor. She wanted her own clothes off, both of them nude, beside each other, under, over, entwined together. She wanted to feel Bianca’s bare skin under her hands, to trace the contours of Bianca’s body like she was drawing a map of it, and she wanted to look at her, to see her stretched out on the bed, the whole topography of her dips and hollows in the smooth light of the bedside lamp. She wanted all the things she’d ever wanted, and more.

  She’d asked if Bianca needed the main light on, with its strong, bright bulb, knowing it would help Bianca to see, but the corkscrew curls had shaken in the negative, and Merren had been led to the edge of the bed, standing there while Bianca sat down and tugged her to stand between her legs.

  Merren smiled and sank down to the floor, kneeling in front of Bianca, and got the last of the buttons undone, Bianca’s lips looking for hers, finding them, kissing her until everything inside Merren had turned to warm treacle.

  ‘Now I know why lovers in books swoon,’ she said, hearing her voice all husky with wanting, feeling her body heavy with desire, like a ripe piece of fruit ready to fall.

  Bianca laughed, letting her shirt slip from her shoulders, her skin gleaming in the dim light of the bedside lamp. Merren leant forward and kissed the vulnerable knobs of her shoulders. Pressed her lips to the delicate, leaping pulse in Bianca’s neck.

  And then Bianca took charge, threading her hands behind her back and unhooking her bra, letting it fall, only to search for Merren’s hands, find them, and press them to the soft fullness of her breasts.

  ‘Take your clothes off,’ Bianca whispered. ‘I want to feel you here beside me, the whole length of you.’

  That was more invitation than Merren needed, and as Bianca scooted back onto the bed, stretching out in one long, sinuous curve, Merren stepped out of her own clothes, never taking her eyes from Bianca, who lay back dreamily.

  ‘I can see the colours again,’ she said, but her voice was soft. ‘Lots of blue. Blue for Merren.’

  ‘Blue for me?’ Merren asked, lying down beside Bianca and running a hand over her silken skin, sending ripples of delight through her own body. ‘You are so lovely. All cream and brown.’ She pressed fingertips to the freckles dotting Bianca’s body, connecting them together into marvellous constellations. Bianca was a star map, she decided. One great map of the heavens.

  ‘Your hand feels so good,’ Bianca said, shifting closer and capturing it in hers, only to smooth it over her own skin, up over the ladder of ribs to her breast, pressing Merren’s hand around to cup it and sighing, mewing when Merren lowered her head and captured the dark nipple in her mouth, sucking it in and flicking her to
ngue over it, feeling it harden between her lips. Bianca moved, dug her fingers into Merren’s hair and moaned.

  The small, feral sound made Merren’s head spin, and she let go of the nipple to track her lips over the rest of Bianca’s satin skin. She’d showered before they came to bed, and the smell and taste of her filled Merren’s head with almost intoxicated pleasure.

  Bianca shifted suddenly and wound herself around Merren, arms around neck, legs hooking one on either side of her thighs, pushing Merren over until she lay on her back with Bianca pressed against her, touching kisses to her neck, her curls brushing across Merren’s face, and then sitting up, dragging Merren’s hands with her, clamping them onto her hips as she spread her legs wider and pressed herself against Merren, damp and glorious.

  Back arched, Bianca had her eyes closed, rocking back and forth against Merren, and Merren watched her, watched her face suffuse with pleasure, lips glistening in the low light, lashes fluttering, casting shadows on pink and flushed cheeks. She held Bianca’s hips and moved with her, finding Bianca’s rhythm and sliding in to match it effortlessly, her own breath coming quicker, still watching Bianca, watching her face tilt towards the ceiling, her arms bent, hands catching at her own hair, unself-conscious, caught in the sensations of her own desire, a smile blooming across her lovely face.

  Merren closed her eyes for a moment, the pleasure building inside her, every inch of her skin alive with feeling. She felt Bianca’s wetness where she rubbed herself against her, she felt the electric tension of Bianca’s body, the movements quickening as Bianca moved in long urgent strokes against her.

  Bianca groaned and Merren opened her eyes again, watching Bianca drop towards her, hands landing on either side of the pillow where Merren’s head lay. They moved together, Merren keeping her hands firm on Bianca’s hips, lifting her knees, tilting her hips towards Bianca, enjoying feeling her pleasure, enjoying it as much as her own. Bianca moaned with every breath, eyes tightly closed, and Merren felt her own desire rise and swell, and she curled forward to catch a nipple in her mouth, sucking on it, groaning deep in her throat with pleasure.

  Bianca stopped moving suddenly, lifting herself off Merren and holding herself still. Merren let her breast fall from her mouth and smoothed her hands up and along the length and curve of Bianca’s waist. Bianca was quivering. They both were.

  ‘Are you all right?’ she asked, swallowing.

  ‘Oh yes,’ Bianca replied. ‘I just didn’t want to come yet, and I was so close.’ She bent down and kissed Merren then, her lips full and breath hot. Merren shivered in delight.

  ‘I want you to taste me,’ Bianca said, voice low and husky. ‘I want your mouth on me, would that be all right?’

  There was no answer but the affirmative and Merren nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes please.’ A voice inside her head rejoiced.

  An impish smile curved Bianca’s lips. ‘I promise I’ll give as good as I get, but right now, I need this.’ Her eyes opened, and they were dark and clear in the dim light. ‘I need you, your mouth on me. Please.’

  ‘Oh god, yes,’ Merren said, and she thought she might not have ever been as sincere about anything as she felt right then. Always had she wanted someone at such ease with themselves; someone who welcomed her touch, wanted it, needed it. She swallowed, and then Bianca was sitting up again, shuffling forward, sighing, until Merren could reach up with a flick of the tongue and lap at the wetness she found deep in the folds between Bianca’s thighs. She slid her hands up Bianca’s hips and sighed deeply, hungrily.

  Bianca’s hands slapped against the wall, and Merren smiled, licking at the hot, swollen clitoris above her, digging her fingers into Bianca’s round buttocks, feasting on her like she was a sweet, creamy desert and Merren a starving woman.

  ‘That’s so good,’ Bianca moaned. ‘That is so, so good.’

  It was. Merren had never tasted a woman sweeter. She lapped at her like she was nectar, and Bianca was wet, her juices smearing over Merren’s face. It was wonderful, beautiful, and Merren’s whole body ached with the delight of it, her own sex throbbing, her nipples painfully, deliciously tight.

  Bianca was panting again, making little sounds, moving with Merren’s tongue, groaning when Merren quit the gentle little licks and took her into her mouth, sucking on her, grazing teeth against her. Bianca’s cries grew louder.

  Bringing one of her hands down, Merren stroked with tongue and fingers and then pushed first one finger, then two, deep inside Bianca, feeling her muscles tighten and relax around her, tighten and relax. Bianca moved faster against her and Merren flattened her tongue, stroked, licked until Bianca screamed out, her climax flaring through her, and Merren slowed her movements, took her in her mouth and waited, held her until the muscles loosened and Bianca slithered down the wall and off her, stretching out on top of her for a moment, her body limp.

  Until she was moving again, sliding down the bed, wriggling in between Merren’s legs, pushing them gently apart. She bent her face to Merren’s breast, took a rosy nipple in her mouth and sucked on it.

  The pleasure was exquisite and Merren closed her eyes and drank it in, wallowed in it, feeling it in every part of her body. A hand touched her between the legs, and she jolted like she’d been shocked, then strained for more.

  And more she got, Bianca’s long, artist’s fingers touching her, stroking her, rousing her to the edge of climax, then retreating, only to do it over, and finally, when she almost couldn’t stand it anymore, when she was going to come no matter what, when it was only one last tumbling shiver away, Bianca’s fingers slid deep inside her and thrust, once, twice, and then Merren was coming, head back, body arched then curling forward, capturing Bianca between her legs and groping to hold her as the climax swept through her, rolling her all the way to heaven and back.

  When she surfaced, her body shivering from the orgasm, her face was buried in Bianca’s hair, and she was surprised to find she was still breathing. She let go a shuddering sigh.

  ‘Good?’ asked Bianca. Then answered her own question. ‘That was good.’

  Merren nodded. That was all she could manage.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Merren gazed down at the woman tucked into her side, eyes closed, one hand folded under her chin, fast asleep, and smiled at the sight. Bianca had curled herself there after they’d had sex, already drowsy, the day catching up with her – or maybe just wonderfully relaxed from their strenuous bit of exercise.

  Merren placed her hand under her left breast, feeling the steady thump of her heart and taking a deep, contented breath. But she wasn’t the slightest bit sleepy. A little dazed, a little delirious – okay, a lot delirious with lingering pleasure, which threatened to not only swamp her body, but her mind. She felt her steady heartbeat and marvelled over it – that it should be so calm, so regular, when the rest of her, when her mind was suddenly in such a tumult.

  With a smile she knew would look completely smitten and goofy, she dropped her hand from her own heart, and ran her fingers through her hair instead, making an effort to compose herself.

  She was wide awake.

  Her watch was on the nightstand and she peered over at it, wondering what the time was. Still early, she guessed – at least for her.

  Her body hummed with leftover pleasure. A low, diffuse hum and zip of happy nerve-endings. Shifting against the pillow, she leant over Bianca and pressed a kiss to the pale temple, smoothing a dark curl away while her heart tried to do a little back flip inside her chest. Asleep, Bianca’s face was relaxed, the tight lines around her eyes smoothed out, the permanent frown between her brows just the faintest groove. Merren kissed her again and edged her arm out from under Bianca, moving slowly, determined not to wake her.

  Merren slid out from between the sheets and levered herself carefully off the bed, not sure how deep a sleeper Bianca was. But Bianca didn’t move, except to sigh softly and Merren smiled, stretched and shuffled about to look for her clothes. Her foot touched something col
d, half-hidden under the bed and she bent down to see what it was.

  Bianca’s phone. Oh, that was excellent. That was just what they needed. Merren grinned and carried it over to the dressing table, propping it up against the mirror.

  Her clothes were strewn everywhere, and she stood there looking at them, bemused, then decided borrowing Bianca’s robe from the hook on the door was a much easier prospect. It was some slinky, silky material and she shivered against it, feeling luxurious, sexy, and ever so well satisfied.

  For a moment she considered slipping back into the bed and gathering Bianca close against her, just to feel the warm pleasure of her skin. With a sigh though, she padded off to visit the bathroom, and then to get her laptop and bag.

  The house was shadowy and unfamiliar and Merren flicked the light switches on as she went, leaving them like that in case Bianca woke up. Her bag was in the kitchen where she’d left it, and for a moment she considered taking it back up to the bedroom, making herself comfy in the armchair there so that if Bianca did wake up, she wouldn’t discover her gone.

  But she flicked the jug on to make coffee instead. What she wanted to do would make some noise, and better not to wake Bianca because of it. The lovely woman needed her sleep.

  Merren hummed as she fussed around with the coffee grounds and plunger. The Rolling Stones played in her head again, and there was a smile on her face as she sang softly along with the memory in her head of Bianca singing in the car.

  Coffee brewing, she turned around and set up her computer on the table, turning it on, then pressing the heel of her hand to her head in frustration. How could she have forgotten? Shaking her head, she shut the laptop down before even logging in. Without Bianca’s broadband password, she couldn’t do anything. Damn. She hadn’t even thought to ask for it at any point during the evening.

  She’d been just a little distracted. Sitting down, Merren frowned. Well, she was paying for that now, unfortunately. Her gaze went to the kitchen door and the dim hallway beyond it and she chewed on her lip for a minute, wondering if she should pack up her things and go home.