The Muse (5 page)

“That feels divine.” Erato covered Kate’s hands with her own and leaned back against her chest. The combination of the hot water and the soft, pliant flesh against her own stoked the dwindling flames of Kate’s arousal. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to be inside Erato again. Erato turned within the circle of her arms, an impish expression on her face. “I’ll tell you what, my sweet bard. Dinner will be ready in less than ten minutes, so I’m quite sure we don’t have time for whatever you’re thinking. However, if you tell me the first sexual fantasy that comes to mind—and the sky’s the limit—as soon as I say ‘Go,’ I promise to get you off at least once before we eat. Now go.”

Panicked that she might have to wait for another orgasm until after dinner, Kate blurted out, “How about a threesome?”

Erato beamed at her like she’d just uttered the sweetest words of love she’d ever heard. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Kate opened her mouth to answer, but snapped it shut when Erato sank to her knees. That
had
been easy. She planted her foot on the edge of the shower, assuming that’s what she was supposed to do. A gentle kiss to her inner thigh confirmed it. Kate tangled her fingers in the slick, dark locks of Erato’s hair and pulled her forward so that her mouth pressed wetly against her puffy labia. “Your turn,” Kate said, and closed her eyes when Erato licked her eagerly. “It shouldn’t be too difficult, either.”

She came after seven minutes and ten seconds, right before the oven timer went off.

The problem with a threesome, Kate decided almost two hours later, was that it required a social acuity she simply didn’t possess. Standing with Erato at the crowded bar of an even more crowded club, she questioned why this had to be the first fantasy of hers to spring to mind. She had others that might have been more embarrassing to admit—spanking, role-playing, exhibitionism—but they would have required far less courage to execute. Despite the glass of wine she’d ordered to steady her nerves, her hands were shaking.

Erato slid an arm around Kate’s waist and pulled her close. “Don’t be nervous. Nearly everyone is here looking for the same thing we are. It’s prime time, Saturday night. You look amazing, and I happen to know that you’re an exquisite lover. If you’d like, I can handle popping the question to the lucky lady. All you have to do is stand next to me and be exactly as enticing as you are right now.”

Kate blushed, unable to meet Erato’s gaze. “I’m pretty sure you’ll need to. I can’t imagine asking a stranger home for sex.”

Giggling, Erato said, “Ironic, considering that you just spent an entire afternoon fucking a stranger.”

“You’re not a stranger.” Or at least she hadn’t felt like one for more than a few minutes in the beginning. Kate had to admit, that alone made her extraordinary. “You’re my muse.”

“True enough.” Erato gave her a friendly squeeze. “So…do you see anyone who interests you?”

Kate scanned the crowd of people surrounding them. She discarded the men immediately, not ready to get quite
that
adventurous with their evening. Women of all shapes, sizes, and complexions danced and laughed around them, a veritable buffet of choices. She didn’t doubt that any of them who had any interest in women would want to sleep with Erato, so that wasn’t a concern. However, finding someone who felt right for
her
might prove slightly more difficult. She studied faces and bodies until they started to seem indistinct, no closer to finding someone she wanted Erato to approach. She downed the rest of her glass of wine in two gulps.

“I’m not sure,” she said finally.

“How about her?” Erato gestured at a tall, pale blonde who danced in a small cluster of women on the dance floor. The woman’s toned arms were covered in tattoos, and she wore the easy grin of someone who knew that everyone around her wanted her.

“Eh,” Kate said. Confidence was sexy—cockiness was not. At the very least, it wasn’t a personality trait that put her at ease about making herself vulnerable. “I don’t know.”

“You’re right.” The blonde noticed Erato checking her out just as she turned back to Kate, discarding her as an option. The disappointment that flashed across the woman’s face was so obvious, Kate could see it from across the room. “She’s rather cocksure, isn’t she?”

Once again, Erato’s word choice delighted. Smiling, Kate nodded at the wineglass in Erato’s hand. “Are you going to finish that?”

Erato chuckled. “By all means. I think you need it more than I do.”

“You’ve got that right.” Kate tossed back the entire contents of the glass in four long sips. It was hardly proper wine etiquette, but she didn’t care. This wasn’t a tasting in Napa. It was a meat market, and she had to calm down to participate in it. Unfortunately, her bladder didn’t seem keen to follow her lead. Moments after she started scanning the room for a second time, her drinks hit bottom. “Damn it,” she muttered.

Erato kissed her temple and stroked the small of her back, somehow managing to make her feel like the most desirable woman in the club. “Let me guess. You need to visit the ladies’ room?”

Kate blushed at her own predictability. “Yes.”

“Want me to join you?” Erato nipped the side of her neck, drawing out a moan that captured the attention of the woman standing at the bar on Kate’s other side. Kate met the woman’s gaze briefly, then closed her eyes when Erato murmured, “If you’ve ever fantasized about fucking in a bathroom stall, we could start there instead.”

Kate forced her eyes open, then flushed, embarrassed that the woman next to her was still at the bar and still watching her and Erato. Despite her secret exhibitionist tendencies, she didn’t have nearly enough alcohol in her system to slough off her inhibitions and give anyone a show right now. The idea of a third participant was daunting enough, let alone a crowd. Turning so she could see only Erato, she steadied her breathing. “Maybe later. Right now I just really need to pee.”

“Very well.” Kind blue eyes searched her face. “Shall I keep looking?”

Judging by her one suggestion so far, Erato—for all her occasionally supernatural incisiveness—wasn’t wholly in tune with what type of woman Kate would consider inviting home. Still, maybe she’d get lucky. “Sure. But don’t extend any invitations until I get back.”

“Of course.” She lifted Kate’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’ll miss you.”

Kate couldn’t quite bring herself to return the sentiment, so she simply smiled and turned to make her way across the crowded dance floor. As soon as she left Erato’s side, she felt as though she’d stepped out of a dream state and into her own personal hell. She hated clubs. And dancing. And crowds. There was a reason she never came to places like this. A pair of overenthusiastic dancers bumped into her, proving her point. No matter how uncharacteristic her behavior had been since Erato knocked on her door, she was still the same old Kate McMannis—much wilder with her characters than she could ever bring herself to be.

Sighing, Kate approached the restroom carefully, weaving in and out of the throng of bodies surrounding the entrance. She reached for the handle just as the door opened, and an attractive woman wearing black-rimmed eyeglasses spilled out. Literally. Without thinking, Kate held out her arms and caught the woman just before she fell onto the floor at her feet. The unexpected impact knocked her backward a step, and she struggled not to stumble and take both of them down.

“Oh my goodness,” the woman in her arms said breathlessly. She struggled to right herself, stepping out of Kate’s steadying grip to adjust her glasses with a nervous laugh. “I’m not drunk, I promise. Just clumsy, and a little mortified.”

Kate lowered her arms only when she was certain the woman was safely on her feet. “No worries. I appreciate the opportunity to do something so gallant.” She felt exposed on the heels of her attempt at humor, waiting for rejection, but she received an amiable grin instead.

“That
was
rather gallant.” The stranger took a few seconds to look Kate up and down, and Kate mirrored the action. She tried to imagine how she would describe this woman if she were a character in her novel. She radiated intelligence. Her skin was a deep, rich brown, and her short hair framed a genuinely warm and stunningly pretty face. She looked like someone more at home in a bookstore than a nightclub, despite the red dress she rocked fiercely. By the time Kate’s attention drifted back to her face, she was shuffling nervously. “My name is Olive, by the way.”

“I’m Kate.” She held out her hand, feeling a bit silly when Olive took it. She’d just copped a pretty decent feel on their way to the floor, so a handshake was probably a little over-formal. “Sorry.” She shot a self-deprecating nod at their joined hands. “I’m still perfecting my social skills. Places like this make me nervous.”

Olive’s entire body relaxed and she seemed to brighten, if that were possible. “Me, too, obviously.”

The bathroom door opened again and three women poured out, nearly colliding with them. Not ready to leave Olive yet, she gestured that they should get out of the way. They migrated to the wall next to the bathroom in unspoken agreement. “I haven’t been to a bar or club since college. And then I
was
drunk. I had to be.”

“You were adventurous in college. I was way too geeky for places like this. I met girls online instead.”

Kate relaxed a bit, too. Despite Olive’s natural beauty, she was personable and unassuming. The sheer radiance she exuded kept Kate only slightly on edge, afraid to lose Olive’s interest to another woman in the club. That she wasn’t already spoken for hardly seemed possible. “I’ve met women online, too. It’s a lot easier to seem cool that way.”

Olive put her hand on Kate’s wrist, the touch as startling as it was thrilling. “Come on, now. You seem pretty damn cool to me.”

It took Kate a breath too long to respond. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around the fact that a perfectly gorgeous woman seemed to be flirting with her for the second time that day. This one even seemed sane. Olive started to pull away, a new air of awkwardness between them, when Kate finally kicked her brain back into gear. “You only say that because I didn’t let you hit the floor.”

“Give me a little credit.” Olive paused with her hand inches from Kate’s wrist, then lowered it back to her side. “Not letting me hit the floor means you’ve got good reflexes, strength, and balance. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cool.”

“So you’re making that determination based on some other factor?”

Olive graced her with another sunny grin. “Yeah, the fact that you dislike this place as much as I do.”

Kate laughed. Her bladder forgotten for the time being, she leaned against the wall and folded her arms over her chest. “So why are you here tonight, if you hate it so much?” She could see Olive’s internal debate about whether to tell her. That alone piqued her interest. “It can’t be crazier than the reason I’m here.”

A perfectly manicured eyebrow popped. “Color me intrigued.”

“Yeah, well…” Perhaps too late, she tried to decide what to say. How would she explain Erato? And was she actually prepared to divulge their mission to a woman who might very well be scandalized by the thought of anything other than missionary-style sex? Trying to play it cool, Kate said, “Maybe you should be.”

Olive hesitated, then smiled shyly. “So…if I tell you my reason, will you tell me yours?”

It was an offer she couldn’t refuse. “Deal.”

Exhaling nervously, Olive mirrored her pose, arms folded over her beautiful breasts. “I’m trying to check an item off my sexual bucket list.”

Now Kate was intrigued. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah.” Even in the low light of the club, Kate could see that Olive was second-guessing her decision to be honest. She searched Kate’s eyes, biting her bottom lip. “I hope that’s not TMI.”

“On the contrary,” Kate said. “You can’t stop there. Which item?”

Olive managed to look downright bashful. “A one-night stand.”

“Oh.” Kate wished she had a drink in her hand. Taking a sip would buy her precious seconds to come up with something smooth to say. Unfortunately, she said, “Well. Good for you.”

“We’ll see, I guess.”

She fumbled for a clever comeback, but her brain refused to offer any more attempts at charm. All she could manage was a self-conscious nod. “I wish you luck.” Cringing at the thought that Olive might actually think she
wanted
her to go off and find a playmate because she wasn’t interested, she said, “Not that you’ll need it, looking like you do.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment.”

Olive’s obvious delight made her stomach flutter. “You were meant to.”

“Now what’s so crazy about the reason
you’re
here tonight?”

She’d forgotten she’d said that. Even though she definitely wanted to take Olive home for her threesome fantasy, she didn’t feel comfortable revealing her intentions. But hopefully, given Olive’s interest in women and sexual bucket lists— “Maybe it’s not as crazy as I thought. It seems we’re both here tonight to fulfill a fantasy.”

“Oh, really?” Arching an eyebrow, Olive opened her mouth to speak before quieting abruptly, eyes gone wide. She stiffened, clearly no longer at ease. Before Kate could ask what was wrong, a familiar voice arose from behind her.

“There you are!”

Kate turned, surprised by the sight of Erato holding the hand of an undeniably sexy butch dressed in a tight black T-shirt that accentuated her toned upper body. “Erato, hi. I’m sorry, was I gone long?”

“No, not at all.” Erato leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, eyeing Olive the whole time. Lips next to Kate’s ear, she murmured, “I was eager to make introductions but didn’t realize you’d met someone. Shall I say good-bye to mine?”

She had only an instant to answer before Erato pulled away. “Yes.”

Giving Olive a warm smile, Erato said, “I’ll be back.” She walked toward the bar with the clearly enchanted butch in tow.

“Okay,” Kate called after her. She almost felt bad about the brush-off Erato’s admittedly delicious pick was about to receive, but not so bad that she wouldn’t somehow muster the courage to invite Olive home with them. Even if this was only a one-night stand, it had been a long time since she’d met someone she clicked with so easily. Turning back to Olive, she said, “Sorry about that.”