Page 8 of Wicked Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #2)

Grace

D ancing with Nicole had been confusing. It felt completely natural to have her in my arms and yet… She was my business partner, at least temporarily. She was annoying and stubborn and so damned beautiful in the moonlight that I couldn’t help but answer the question in her eyes.

I swung her back against the wall, my lips covering hers in a rough kiss.

It had been too long since I’d kissed her.

Too many weeks seeing her on Zoom or being across the table from her in meetings, remembering how soft her lips were, dying to kiss her and unable to do a damned thing about it.

Even when she was arguing with me, something she did a lot, there was still something about her that made me want to take put my arm around her, take her home with me, and keep her forever.

Let’s just say that was not normal for me.

I’d always been a casual hook-up kind of woman. With working the equivalent of two full-time jobs, I didn’t have time for romance or daydreaming. I worked harder and longer than anyone I knew. And my space was sacred. I never brought anyone home with me. Other than Mr. Mittens of course.

My therapist would say that I kept myself overly busy to avoid feeling my feelings. That I kept most people at a distance to keep myself from making new connections. To avoid relationships other than the ones I’d had since grade school.

Maybe she was right. After all, I paid her a fair amount of money to tell me what was wrong with me.

Why I always felt this sense of otherness.

Separateness. Inadequacy. Why I continued to look for ways to make money like I was one paycheck away from living in a cardboard box under the train tracks.

Why I kept striving to prove myself over and over again – to my parents, to my business partners, to the men in this field who thought women didn’t belong.

At some point along the way I’d decided that I wasn’t quite enough. That no one would want me only for me. That was the deep dark secret my therapist had rooted out on my second visit. We’d been talking about it ever since.

But with Nicole I was dreaming of long vacations on the beach, strolling through farmer’s markets, driving through the country looking at the fall leaves. Things that I’d never done in my life.

She’d recoiled when I suggested that we fuck each other out of our systems, but she wasn’t recoiling now. Her arms came around my waist, hands cupping my ass and pulling me closer while I kissed her like I couldn’t get enough of her. And I couldn’t.

I pressed my body against her softer curves, my tongue dueling with hers as I explored her mouth. Her fingers dug into my flesh, and I moaned as I deepened the kiss even more.

Raucous laughter broke the silence as a group of people left the building, and I jumped away from Nicole as if she’d turned electric.

We were under a streetlight so I could see her clearly.

Her pupils were wide, her expression dazed, her nipples pebbled and pressing through the thin fabric of her dress like tiny little headlights despite the oppressive heat out here.

I could tell that Nicole was as affected as I was by the kiss.

But did she want more? Did I?

“I, uh, I guess I should go,” Nicole stuttered.

She waved at a cab that turned up the street, and he slowed down for her. Nicole hurried forward, opening the back door before turning back to me.

“Thanks for a great night, Grace. I had a lot of fun. See you Monday.”

And then she was gone.

As soon as I got up to my condo I texted Maeve and Ariel that I needed to talk. To their credit, despite the late hour they both came right down. That’s the kind of friendship we had.

“Is this about Nicole?” Maeve asked as soon as she let herself in.

We all had keycodes to each other’s places.

“Of course we are,” Ariel said, her tone implying that Maeve was an idiot. “They were super cozy at dinner, then after we all left they were slow dancing and making sexy eyes at each other but now our little Grace is here all alone.”

“Fucking Theo,” I mumbled. “Was he texting you a play by play?”

That man was the biggest gossip in Chicago. I was surprised he didn’t follow me outside to livestream the kiss.

“What happened?” Maeve asked.

“We kissed,” I confessed.

“Again?”

I shot Maeve an impatient look.

“It’s only the second time,” I reminded her. “It’s been three weeks since anything happened.”

“Other than the eye fucking in meetings,” Ariel corrected.

I rolled my eyes. “If you two are done giving me shit, I could use some advice.”

“Ask her out,” Ariel said.

“I tried that a few weeks ago, and she turned me down flat.”

“What did you say exactly?” Maeve asked suspiciously.

“I told her we should fuck once to work through the sexual tension, like resetting a computer.”

Both of my friends sighed deeply.

“That’s incredibly romantic,” Maeve said dryly.

“What was I supposed to do? Ask her to marry me?” I demanded. “I just need to do something to make these feelings go away.”

My friends exchanged a look.

“Could it be that you’re finally falling in love for the first time in your life?” Ariel asked.

“I was in love before,” I said defensively.

“When?” Ariel asked.

“With whom?” Maeve asked at the same time.

“I realized recently that I was in love with Nicole. Back in school.”

Maeve waved her hand dismissively. “School girl crushes don’t count. The point is, you’ve always kept things casual. You never want to let anyone get too close.”

“You guys are too close,” I replied, using her phrasing.

“Yeah but we snuck in back when your defenses were easier to breach,” Maeve said. “You’d never be friends with us now.”

“Sure I would.”

“Name one friend you’ve made since you graduated college,” Maeve challenged. “And not Theo, we all adopted him after Ariel did.”

I paused, searching through my memory banks. “Um…”

“Exactly. Maybe it’s time for you to put yourself out there, socially and romantically. And ‘how about we fuck’ is not putting yourself out there romantically,” Maeve said sternly.

I looked over at Ariel, who was nodding her head vigorously.

“So what exactly do you think I should do?” I asked.

“Talk to Nicole,” Ariel said. “Ask her on a real date. Do date stuff like going to the movies or a music festival. Figure out what’s going on between you.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t work out like we planned. Sunday night Nicole sent me a text, suggesting that we get together at the same coffee shop where we’d met a few weeks ago.

I passed the same homeless man as I saw last time.

“Hey pretty lady,” he greeted me. “I got a new hat.”

He pointed at the knock-off Cubs hat askew on his head. I handed him two twenties.

“In case you need something else.”

I could hear my mother’s voice in my head chastising me as his eyes widened in surprise.

“Those people will use your money to buy drugs,” she always said. “They need a hand up, not a handout.”

Mom was judgmental that way. One thing that we’d learned from Ariel’s girlfriend Sadie was that people often became homeless through no fault of their own, and once they got into that situation, it was hard to get out.

I handed the man another twenty, waving off his profuse thanks.

Nicole was already sitting in the coffee shop when I arrived, so I headed to the counter to order a coffee, then joined her at the table. She was dressed in her typical uniform of a pencil skirt and a blouse, this one sleeveless in a nod to the still sweltering temperatures.

“Good morning,” I said, striving to be cheerful. “How was your day yesterday?”

Nicole looked at me suspiciously. “Why are you being so perky this morning?”

“Aren’t I always perky?” I asked mildly, taking a swallow of my coffee.

“Not before you’ve had copious amounts of coffee,” she said.

Her tone was snippy, telling me that she was spoiling for a fight. I wondered if it was because she was pissed that I’d kissed her, or if something else was going on. I studied her carefully, trying to assess what was going on.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No,” she said, her tone clearly saying the opposite.

I hated playing the ‘guess what’s wrong’ game but I went for it anyway.

“Are you upset because I kissed you?” I asked.

“No. Yes.”

She sighed and I resisted the urge to laugh.

“Well that’s super helpful.”

Nicole glared at me, and I felt that little twinge in my core that I got every time she gave me that look. She was magnificent angry, not that I would ever risk my life by telling her that.

“I’m not mad that you kissed me,” she said finally. “I’m mad that you made me want to kiss you again.”

And just like that, everything inside me relaxed.