Page 44 of The Other Side of Paradise (Story of Paradise #2)

Allison

I woke up next to Stella Valerie Bell. And this time, I think I knew what was going on. I mean, I had no idea why or how it was going on, but yesterday morning had made it pretty clear.

So did yesterday afternoon. And yesterday evening. She… she had more sex drive than I did. I wasn’t mad about that. She was worth trying to keep up with.

She was also leaving tomorrow. And I had work today, and I’d never so badly wanted to call off from a shift before.

Thank god it was only a half shift, but a five-minute shift would have been too long, if it took me away from seeing Stella in a sheer camisole, lying in my bed, her brow a little bit scrunched in that way she did when she was sleeping.

I wanted to know every detail of Stella—the way she moved while she was sleeping, what kinds of things she had random niche knowledge about, what kinds of in-jokes she shared with what kinds of people, what she’d been like in school as a kid, what she was like in classes now.

Wanted to be able to write an encyclopedia on Stella Valerie Bell.

And all I had was just a bit over twenty-four hours. And I wouldn’t even be around her for all of them. When I’d only just gotten her… it felt too good to be true, and I guess it was too good to be true.

I had a thing for girls that were too good to be true, I guess.

I didn’t know what it was that compelled me to roll over in bed and pick up my phone from the nightstand, and I rubbed my bleary eyes and swiped it open.

A message from Brooklyn from last night, sharing a silly anecdote of her and Ryan’s day yesterday.

A couple of updates from social media. I ignored it all to go to the place that had been haunting me for months now: Instagram.

And not just in the way that the app full of pretty people posting pictures of their perfect lives was designed to haunt any human being with a pulse, but rather, I went straight through to Isabel’s page.

Ellie’s girlfriend, who had just posted a picture last night—Ellie and Isabel together in a nightclub, smushing their cheeks together and holding their drinks up to the camera. night out with this hot babe.

That hot babe who grunted weirdly when she was about to come. She didn’t look that special. Neither did Isabel. They were both fine, I guess. Compared to Stella, I wouldn’t have noticed them in a crowd if they were waving light-up signs with my name on them.

I hit the button to send a message request, just like I had a million times since March, and I steeled myself, starting to type a response, before I faltered, only making it as far as Hello .

I wavered on it, thinking it was too formal, like I was writing a complaint to the electric company, and I deleted it and went with Hey, which was too cheerful, so I deleted it and went with Hi, which was too casual, and I jolted when I felt an arm wrap around my waist. Stella pressed up against me from behind, speaking sleepily.

“It’s six in the morning and you’re texting other girls…”

“Ha, ha—it’s not like that.”

She kissed my shoulder. Small miracle I didn’t scream. “Oh, so that’s a man you’re agonizing over how to text? How deeply unexpected for you.”

Stella was getting possessive. Over me. Holy shit, this was the best day of my life. I laughed, snuggling back against her, and I hit the back arrow, canceling out of the message to show her the picture of the two of them. “What do you think?” I said, showing her the picture, and she squinted.

“I mean, bold choice to show me the girl you’re texting while half-naked in bed with me, but I kinda respect the guts.

I don’t think either one is my type. The blonde looks annoying and uppity, and the brunette looks like she’s never taken responsibility for anything in her life and thinks she’ll never have to. ”

“Damn, double bullseye.” I pointed to the brunette. “That’d be the girl who cheated with me.”

“Oh, Ellie?” That finally woke her up, sitting up taller and rubbing her eyes, before she reached past me and picked up her glasses off the nightstand, putting them on and looking again.

She took my phone. I didn’t mind. “ This hot babe, ” she snorted.

“You weren’t kidding about them making it all about ooh, look how good my relationship is. ” She was scrolling the page now.

“That’s Isabel’s page—the girlfriend. I was, uh… trying to see if I could work up the guts to say something. It’s something I do a lot—try to work up the guts. I haven’t made it yet.”

“Can’t believe you were going to settle for this girl,” she said, putting the phone down and beaming at me, where she was propped up on top of me.

Lit softly in the low glow of the morning sun, under the delicate draperies on the bed, wearing that romantic little ruffled camisole—that I could see her nipples through—I thought this was the best thing anybody had ever seen, and honestly, if I died right now, I didn’t think I’d be mad.

“I was just thinking she actually doesn’t look that special now,” I laughed, putting my hand on her side. “She was terrible in bed.”

She laughed, eyes sparkling. “You’re just obligated to say that, but I’m glad you did.”

“Nah, I mean it. She was clearly intent that she knew better than me how I wanted to have sex and communicated nothing.”

She bit her lip, smiling wider. “Well, we can’t have that. Not when you love having someone tell you exactly what to do.”

“I mean. Yeah.”

“You look so pretty in the mornings.” She kissed me. I think I actually died, it was just that then I somehow accidentally wound up in heaven, and heaven was the same exact thing. “Good morning,” she said.

“Best morning of my life.”

“And I haven’t even put on a strap-on yet.”

“You haven’t even put on—” I moved my mouth without words, eyes wide. “You haven’t what now?”

She kissed me again. “I want to fuck you missionary-style while we kiss. And make eye contact.”

“Oh… yeah. Huh. You know, I think, uh, I think I could go for that too.”

“Girl, I know. You already told me.” She grinned. “I don’t have one handy, though. So that’s a later thing. For now, tribbing?”

“Wow. Horny in the mornings, huh?”

She tugged my shirt up and moved down to press a kiss against my stomach, and I jolted up against her. “I’m horny right now, and that’s what counts. Unless you don’t want it?”

“I-I do. Trust me that I do. Can we have breakfast first? I’ve never, um… worked out… this much before. Let’s call it that.”

She laughed, sitting up to straddle me. That was tied for also being the best thing I’d seen in my life.

“Yeah, sounds good. I’m famished too. I’m just so horny I was pretty sure I’d be able to come in, like, two minutes, but I’ll just dirty-talk you while we have breakfast and then we’ll see if I still want to do tribbing or if I want you to eat me out again. What do you have for breakfast?”

“B-bagels?”

“You do love bagels.” She kissed me again before she rolled off of me, slipping her hand down to my thigh and squeezing. “All right, move your cute little ass so we can get to the good part.”

Ah, forget Isabel and Ellie. I was going to be irresponsible for a while first. Together with the hottest woman in the world who loved telling me what to do while I licked her pussy.

∞∞∞

Gavin gave me a sardonic smile once I’d finished with a particularly difficult group, sidling up to the edge of the desk and setting down his phone.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so resent being at work.”

I pursed my lips, looking away across the lobby. Suddenly I wished there were more guests being difficult. “I mean, this isn’t exactly dream job material. You’ve got a lot of staff jumping up and down for joy clocking in for a shift?”

He smiled. “So, it’s going well with Ms. Bell.”

I shrugged, not looking at him. “Fine. Why?”

“Can’t be fine. I assume it’s either going terrible or fantastic.”

“Uh… how come?”

“Well, the lovely young lady who walked you in had some questions for the front desk while you were in the back clocking in. Specifically about the area.”

“Oh. Why’d she ask you?” I shook my head. “What was she asking for?”

He smiled. “Recommendations for sex shops.”

Ah. I pursed my lips, looking off to the middle distance. I was not getting aroused on my shift. “She’s… not subtle, huh.”

“I told her about the one down the corner from the barber. You don’t have any holdups about their stuff, do you?”

I sighed, folding my hands politely on the desk, giving him my customer service smile. “Based on what we’ve done so far, Stella could do literally anything to me and I would have no complaints.”

He laughed. “Congrats.”

“I’m going to fucking die. I can’t believe she’s leaving tomorrow.”

He shrugged. “Ask her for long-distance.”

“I’m not—we’ve known each other for less than a week. We’ve been… doing whatever we’re doing for one day. I mean, a little longer depending on how you count, um… forget that.”

“Depending on how you count what?”

“Do you want me to answer that?”

He put his hands up. “I’ve said worse while drunk. Laura has said worse while sober. You’re best friends with BB. I doubt you can manage anything particularly egregious.”

“Okay, you know, fine. Depending on how you count mutual masturbation.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And you still doubted where you stood after that?”

I bristled. “It’s mixed signals when a girl does all that with you and is like yeah I’m super straight. ”

He grinned. “Typically when you get a straight person to experiment , they’re not the ones topping you. I think you’ve reached new levels of bottoming.”

“Sh-shush. The point is that we haven’t been whatever we are for nearly long enough that I could… you know. Ask for that,” I mumbled, looking down.

“Or what, you explode?”

“Probably not.” I sighed. “Just that she’d laugh. And I’d rather explode. Everything about this is perfect… and I’d rather crystallize this memory as something beautiful and perfect than ruin it while trying to make it more than it is.”