Page 37

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

OLIVIA

Roz didn’t need to ask twice. Blood pulsing through my veins, I grabbed her hand and bounced up the stairs to her bedroom door.

“Just give me a minute.” Roz opened the door just enough so she could slip inside.

I bit my lip. What was she up to?

Roz reappeared, peering through a small crack in the door. “Okay.” She swiped her hand through her hair, her cheeks flushed and then swung the door all the way open.

My jaw dropped as I stepped into the room. Over the head of the bed was a huge arch, covered in gorgeous pink, purple and white dahlias and lush greenery. Two large candles flickered on the side tables at each end of the arch. Her normal gray duvet had been replaced with a purple one that perfectly complemented the flowers.

I pressed a hand over my thudding heart. “Oh my god, Roz. How long did this take you?”

“A while.” She grinned. “Good thing a very talented florist gave me a masterclass on floral arches a few weeks ago.”

I laughed, closing the gap between us and wrapping my arms around her. “It’s incredible. Thank you.”

Gazing up at her blue eyes, I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers.

A smile spread across my face and I gently pulled away. “You know, these candles remind me of a prototype I was working on yesterday.”

“Oh?” She looked down at me, her eyes soft. One of her hands began a gentle, rhythmic stroking over my hair.

I loved that I didn’t feel at all nervous about talking to Roz about sex, about proposing we try something I’d never done before. “Jenny is organizing a few bachelorette parties over the summer and asked if I could create some, um, X-rated candles. I showed her the prototypes I came up with this afternoon at Novel Gossip.”

Roz’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh really?”

My smile widened. “Yep! Lots of penises and vulvas, made out of soy wax. They can be used as candles or… for other erotic purposes. I have a prototype vulva in my bag, if you’re interested.” I raised an eyebrow.

The corner of Roz’s mouth curved. “You want to play with fire?”

I chuckled. “I mean, I think I should test that they work okay in an intimate setting before they’re handed out at bachelorette parties… But I can do it by myself if you’d prefer. I did drip some on my hand yesterday. I quite liked it. A little sting of heat and then a warm sensation. It doesn’t burn your skin because it has such a low melting point.”

“No, no. I’m happy to offer myself up as a human test subject. Or be the tester. Or both.” Roz grinned. “You know what else could be fun… I’ll be back in a second.”

I sat on Roz’s bed, gazing at the arch. She’d done an incredible job, weaving dozens of dahlias and ferns through the wire. This was, by far, the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me.

Roz returned a minute later, slightly out of breath, holding my bag and the ice bucket that had previously been full of dahlias. It was now full of ice, an elegant curved purple glass dildo sitting in the middle of it.

“Fire and ice.” She shot me a wicked grin from the doorway. “What do you think?”

I laughed. “I love it.” It was perfect. We’d played with fire and skated on ice over the past six weeks as Roz’s icy exterior slowly melted away. Now we were bringing some of that energy to the bedroom.

Roz placed the ice bucket on the side table and then sat next to me on the bed, handing me the bag.

I rummaged through it, pulling out the white vulva candle and placing the bag on the ground next to the bed. “Here we go. Let’s try a drop on your hand first, to make sure you’re comfortable with it.”

I reached out, dipping the wick in the flame of the large candle next to the ice bucket until it lit. Roz held out her hand. My eyes lingered on her delicate fingers. A delicious shiver spread over me.

A drop of wax melted near the flame.

“Are you ready?” I murmured.

“Yes.”

I tilted my hand, holding my breath. The bead of wax dripped off the candle and onto the back of Roz’s hand, forming a round opaque dot that quickly set back to white. I blew out the flame. I didn’t want it to melt away before we’d had a chance to properly use it and, unlike the other candles Roz had lit, it wasn’t safely ensconced in glass. The last thing we needed was for the farm to burn down just after it had been saved.

“Was that okay?” I ran my fingers over her skin where the wax had fallen.

Roz nodded. “Yes. You were right—a second of pain that transforms into heat.” She raised her hand to her nose and sniffed. “Mmm. This smells nice.”

I laughed, my face warm. “It’s eau de Roz.”

Roz blinked. “What?”

I shifted on the bed. “I may have also spent yesterday trying to recreate your scent because I missed you so much. Cedar and sandalwood, with some earthy notes.” For the bachelorette parties I’d make them rose-scented or something a bit more traditional—not everyone might be into cedar-scented vulvas as much as I was.

Roz’s eyes twinkled. “Eau de Roz. I love it.” She peeled off the dot of wax on her hand and put it on the table.

“The wax might be more intense on more sensitive parts of your body. If it’s too much, we should have a safe word.” I pressed my lips together for a moment, then the perfect safe word hit me. “I know, how about moo ”?

Roz’s eyebrows shot up. “Moo?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a word that would come up by accident. If you don’t like it, we could use quark instead, but moo is easier to say.”

“Okay, fine. Let’s stick with moo.” Roz shook her head, chuckling. “Now, where were we?” Her voice dropped low. Roz scooted closer to me, cupping my jaw in her hand and running her thumb across my lips. My stomach fluttered.

Roz dropped her gaze to the top of my dress and began to slowly undo the buttons.

She bit her lip, her blond hair flopping over her forehead as she stared at my chest with intense concentration. “Goddamn buttons. I want to rip this damn thing off you, but I also don’t want to ruin it. You look gorgeous in it.”

I smiled. “I can just pull it over my head if you want. That might be easier—unless you really want to work for it.”

Roz chuckled. “Please, go ahead. At the rate I’m going, all the ice will have melted by the time it’s off.”

I tugged the dress up and over my head, Roz pulling off her pants at the same time and then peeling off her black t-shirt.

“Much better,” Roz murmured as she reached around and unclipped my bra. She then pulled her own over her head. “Since I made the arch for you, I think it’s only fair you get to enjoy it first.”

She gently pushed me down onto the soft bed and then clambered on top of me, straddling my hips and leaning down.

My breath caught as I drank in the vision above me. It was too much. Roz, eyes smoldering, dahlias and ferns providing a stunning backdrop, her small breasts tantalizingly close to me. I licked my lower lip and reached out a hand to cup her breast.

“Now, do you want fire, ice—with or without the toy—or just me?” she murmured, her breath soft against my face.

I bit my lip. “Ice and the toy, I think—and you, of course.”

Roz leaned to the side, plucked an ice cube from the bucket, and slowly licked it while holding my gaze. A thrill shot to my core, sending it throbbing with desire.

She lowered her mouth to my breast, teasing my nipple with her cool tongue. My core clenched, my nipple hardening. “Mmm. That feels good.”

Roz raised her head, picked up the ice cube and circled it around my nipples and then both of my breasts, leaving a trail of cool water and goosebumps in its wake. A delicious shiver spread over my chest, my breasts tightening. She looked at me, her gaze heavy. “Is this too much?”

“No. I like it.”

“Excellent.” She lowered herself down so she was inches from me, her hair flopping on my forehead. “Now, close your eyes.” Her voice was commanding.

“But I want to see you!” I protested.

“I know. But there will be plenty of time for that later.”

I let my eyelids fall. Roz and the flowers disappeared, replaced with darkness. Her body shifted against mine.What was she up to?I waited, anticipation building.

An ice-cold sensation hit my neck, slowly gliding down my collar bone and over my breasts. Soft warmth followed, trailing behind the ice. Her mouth, lapping up the cool water left by the ice. The contrast between cold and warm sent my nerve endings tingling. Roz continued, ice followed by the heat of her mouth slowly making its way down my body to the sensitive skin of my stomach. Desire pulsed through me, getting stronger with every stroke of the ice cube and caress of Roz’s mouth.

“That feels amazing,” I murmured, reaching out a hand until it came in contact with Roz’s hair. I gripped it tight.

Roz groaned into my body, her mouth gently vibrating on my stomach.

The ice skimmed lower, tracing around my hip bone and down my inner thigh. My body buzzed, the throbbing in my clit almost unbearable. I eased my legs wider as the cold and warm sensations swirled around my inner thigh and pubic bone, through my curls, dipping close to my outer lips and then away again.

I moaned, fisting Roz’s hair tighter, my hips squirming. Roz kept going, teasing me, and then the ice vanished. I stopped breathing. What’s next?

A cool, wet sensation pressed against my entrance, sending another ripple of desire through me and I exhaled. It slowly moved up to my clit, swirling around, and then back again. Roz’s tongue. She must have ice in her mouth. She continued to work up and down, every so often opening her mouth so that a swipe of ice grazed my skin.

I began to writhe under her, the pressure building in my core. She stopped again, her body pressing against my thigh for a moment. And then her tongue, cooler than ever, circled my clit and a hard, icy object pressed against my entrance.

I bit my lip. The glass toy.

“Is that okay?” Roz murmured, her voice slightly muffled.

I groaned. “God, yes.”

Roz turned her attention back to my clit, swirling her cool tongue against it. When I thought I couldn’t take it anymore she slid the toy slowly in. I moaned again. This is incredible. The ice-cold toy glided in and out, in time with the slow, sensual twirls of her tongue. She gradually picked up the pace, angling the toy so it hit my G-spot with each thrust, sending a bolt of pleasure through me. Her tongue and the glass warmed with the friction against my body. I was so close. And then the orgasm slammed into me, my hips arching as I rode the waves of ecstasy that flooded my body. I gasped. Oh. My. God. The waves kept coming, intense pleasure overwhelming my system, sending my legs trembling and my breathing labored. Despite all the ice, my body was on fire, in the best possible way.

The orgasm gradually subsided, leaving my body feeling like jelly. My eyes fluttered open.

Roz grinned from between my legs, her hair tousled. “You liked it?”

“Amazing,” I said, still catching my breath.

Roz pulled herself up and lay down next to me.

I gazed into her eyes. “Is your mouth okay? It doesn’t have frostbite or anything? It would be a travesty if anything happened to that tongue of yours.”

Roz chuckled. “My mouth and tongue are in excellent condition, but thank you for your concern.”

I smiled. “The concern wasn’t completely selfless. But let me just confirm for myself that everything is in good working order.” I leaned in, giving her a long, lingering kiss and then pulled back, running my hand through Roz’s silky hair. “What do you feel like? Heat, ice or normal Olivia temperature?”

Roz grinned. “Let’s heat things up a bit.”

My chest buzzed with nervous energy. While I’d done a lot of research into wax play as part of creating the candles, I’d never done anything like this before. We have a safe word. Roz will tell me if she doesn’t like it.

I took a deep breath, trying to channel confidence. “Roll over.”

Roz raised her eyebrows, but rolled onto her stomach without protest. My eyes lingered on her slim muscular back as I straddled her waist. I ran my hands over her shoulder blades and the evenly spaced bumps of her rib cage, down to where her waist tapered in and back again, applying a firm pressure.

“That feels nice,” Roz mumbled through the pillow.

I kept going, massaging her smooth back with my hands, until I felt her relax fully into the bed. I leaned down to her cheek. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

I rolled off the bed, picked up the vulva candle and lit it again, before clambering back onto Roz. The flame flickered, the wax around the wick slowly beginning to melt. The scent of cedar and sandalwood filled the air. I ran my free hand over Roz’s back again. Biting my lip, I tipped the vulva to one side, positioning it over one of Roz’s shoulder blades. Three drips fell, hitting Roz’s skin and slowly transforming from hazy clear to white dots.

Roz gave a sharp intake of breath, hands gripping the side of the pillow.

“Was that okay?” I murmured.

“Yes,” Roz said. “Intense, but good.”

More melted wax was collecting in the candle, so I carefully angled it again, letting it drip onto Roz’s upper back and down the curve of her spine. A trail of white raised bumps appeared on her skin as the wax set. My free hand traced over them. Okay, this was hot—in all senses of the word. The fact that Roz was willing to put her trust in me, let me literally play with fire over her naked body, warmed me to my core.

I swung my right leg off Roz, so I was kneeling next to her on the bed. I dripped the hot wax lower on her back, down to her gorgeous round butt. I let a single drop fall on her ass, testing her reaction. Roz turned her head to the side, so I could see her face, one cheek pressed against the pillow. She was biting her lip, but there was no sign of any distress.

I skimmed my free hand over her perfect butt and down across her inner thighs as I slowly let tiny beads of wax drip on to the skin of her lower back and butt.

Roz moaned as my fingers skated up her inner thighs, closer and closer to her entrance. She shifted her body, opening her legs slightly.

I let her wait another minute, continuing to twirl my fingers around her inner thighs and drip the wax on her skin, and then I slid my fingers across her opening. I breathed in sharply as my fingers were covered in her slick. Damn, this was hot.

“You’re so wet,” I murmured. I moved my hand higher, my fingers gliding up to her clit and circling it.

Roz shuddered. “That feels incredible.”

I kept my hand there, two fingers attending to her clit while I pressed my thumb to her entrance. With my other hand, I slowly let the wax continue dripping onto Roz’s back. Thank god I’d had two weeks of practice sleeping with Roz before I tried this, because it was taking all of my focus to stay in tune with Roz’s body, keeping my left hand steady to ensure the wax didn’t fall too fast and making sure the pressure and rhythm of my right hand was giving her what she needed. I kept going, slowly increasing the speed and pressure of my fingers as her clit hardened.

“Fuck!” she breathed, her hands gripping the pillow, knuckles white. She gazed over her shoulder at me, her cheeks flushed and her pupils dilated.

“Faster,” she gasped. “And more wax.”

I obeyed, tilting the candle to let a steady drip of wax trail over her ass, while my fingers worked harder and faster. I pushed my thumb deeper inside her.

Roz groaned, writhing under me, and a rush of exhilaration washed over me. What a high. Her walls clenched around my thumb and then spasmed. It took all my concentration to keep my fingers moving and the candle still.

“That’s enough! Moo!” She laughed, twisting her hips to extricate them from my hand.

I pulled my hand away, blowing out the candle and placing it on the side table. Then I knelt beside her, running my hand over her back, which was now covered in white bumps. Her cheeks were pink, her breathing heavy.

Roz smiled up at me. “That was amazing, Liv.”

I grinned, lowering my head to kiss her on the back of her neck. “It’s not over yet. Now I get to peel it all off,” I murmured in her ear.

I kissed her neck again, and then slowly worked my way down her back, carefully peeling off the white wax and placing it in a small pile. It was surprisingly satisfying, and gave me yet another excuse to drink in Roz’s body.

Once it was all gone, I rubbed my hands up and down her back a few more times, then lowered myself next to her, looking forward to snuggling into her warm body.

Cold wet sheets met my skin. I bolted upright. “Shit! Your bed is soaked.”

Roz pushed her body up and stared at the large wet patch on the sheet next to her. She laughed. “Whoops. I really should have put a towel down. Things I didn’t think of.” She shuffled over to the other side of the bed and patted the sheet where she’d been lying. “Just come over here for now. I’ve got a mattress protector on so at least it’s not soaking into the mattress. We can change the sheets later.”

I complied, lying down in the spot that had been pre-warmed by Roz’s body, pulling over the duvet and wrapping my arm around Roz’s waist. I gazed into her eyes and smiled. “Well, that was fun.”

“It was more than fun.” Roz ran her fingers through my hair.

We lay there for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth of each other’s bodies.

“Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, why were you so reluctant to ask your parents for the loan?” I asked softly, trailing my fingers over Roz’s smooth stomach. “I get that it’s not always a great idea to do business with family. Is that what was going on, or was it something else?”

Roz sighed, staring up at the flowers arching above us. “There’s a bit of history there. Do you remember the college admissions scandal?” She rolled on her side so that she faced me.

My eyes widened. “Um yes, but no offense, wasn’t that quite a bit after your time at college?”

Roz let out a small puff of air. “The one that got discovered was. My parents tried to do something similar for me and Matt, but they didn’t get caught—at least, not by the authorities. Just by me.”

“Oh shit!” I stared at Roz. “So did they bribe someone or have someone take your tests or something?”

“Bribe,” Roz said, her voice flat. “I used to meet Mom at her office after school sometimes. One day, I arrived early and overheard Mom on the phone saying she’d donate a whole lot of money to a very prestigious college in return for me getting a place there. It was to a college she really wanted me to get into—not my first choice, mind you. And the stupid thing was that I was just fine on my own—I ended up getting offers from a couple of Ivy League colleges on my own merit. But Mom had been worried that I might not get in, so she did what she always did—tried to pull strings.”

I grimaced. “What did you do?”

Roz frowned. “We had a massive falling out. I was furious. It was the final straw in a long history of them trying to use their money and influence to get me and Matt ahead. They’d been doing it on a smaller scale my entire life—expensive presents to my teachers, a sizable donation to build a new library at my high school. I didn’t catch on initially, but some kids at my school did. They used to tease me that my straight As might have more to do with my parents’ money than my academic abilities. I brushed it off as my parents just being generous… until I overheard that call. It made me question whether anything I’d achieved was legitimate, or if it was all just an outcome of my parents’ money. A whole lot of my identity was tied up in my academic success, and it felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me.”

I wrapped my arm around Roz’s waist and gave her a squeeze. “I’m sorry. That must have been really tough.” It explained a lot. With Roz’s parents bribing people behind her back and Sadie love-bombing her, it wasn’t surprising she’d put up walls to protect herself from further hurt.

“Yeah.” Roz let out a breath. “Needless to say, I turned down the place I’d been offered at the college Mom bribed and went to another college that I’d been accepted at without their assistance. I refused to accept any more of my parents’ money. I wasn’t eligible for scholarships because of their wealth, so I took out loans and I got a job to pay my living expenses. While I’d considered becoming a lawyer, I decided to go into management consulting instead to make sure my parents’ names wouldn’t help me get ahead. One of the reasons I was so driven in my job was to prove I could do it without them, as well as make sure I’d never need their help.”

I rubbed her back. “You definitely proved that. Putting yourself through college, working your way up the corporate ladder, being in a position where you could quit and buy a farm...”

Roz gave me a small smile. “Thanks. But I’ll never be able to escape that a lot of my success is still attributable to them, no matter how hard I work. They sent me to the best schools, got me the best tutors when I was struggling, and funded all those extracurricular activities that looked so good on my college applications.”

“It’s good you can acknowledge that, but that’s not your fault. You can’t help what family you’re born into.”

“I know.” Roz brushed my hair from my cheek. “I didn’t speak to my parents for a couple of years, but we eventually reconnected. I know deep down that they were motivated by wanting to do what was best for me, but they just went about it in the completely wrong way. But accepting any form of help from them is still very hard for me.”

“Well, thank you for asking them then.” Given what I’d just heard, it must have taken a lot for Roz to reach out to her parents for the loan.

“I heard what you said. If it had just been my livelihood and money on the line I wouldn’t have done it, but in the end I realized I was putting my pride before you, Dana, Ronnie, and all my other employees, not to mention Lottie and all those other kids and their families who love the farm, and you are all way more important.”

I smiled. “Thank god Fred pulled through.”

“All thanks to you,” Roz murmured, gazing into my eyes. “How are you feeling about telling everyone about us—assuming you want to? It’s okay if you want to keep things quiet for a while.”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I already told everyone that I was into you—well, not my parents yet, but Blake, Jenny, George and Hannah.” I grinned.

Roz’s eyes widened. “You did?”

“Yes, I told them on Sunday, when I was moping about you.”

“What did they say?” Roz ran her hand down my upper arm and then let it fall to my waist.

“They were a little surprised, but all supportive, just as I knew they would be. I told them I’m still figuring out my label.” I gently squeezed Roz’s hand. “But there’s one thing I know for sure.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I find you incredibly sexy.” I leaned forward and kissed Roz, reveling in the faintly sweet scent of the dahlias above us mixed with her cedar undertones.

The first chance I got, I’d be deleting that dating app. I wasn’t going to need to complete the dating profile after all.