Fuck. I needed Vera.
I shook my head and crossed my right leg over my left, feeling anxiety pit against my stomach. I sipped my whiskey to calm my nerves and indulged in the light-bodied flavor coating my mouth. I was on the prowl for my lioness, who promised she’d meet me here at ten-thirty p.m. She was thirty minutes late if she planned to come at all. I started scrolling through my work messages when a cool hand slipped through my unbuttoned shirt and rubbed my chest.
“Did you miss me?” Vera’s luscious voice purred in my ear. The softness of her caramel curls spilled on my shoulder and tickled my cheek. Taller than most women, she was fit as a fiddle with shapely legs which shimmered with a natural tan.
“Mmm, I missed you,” I murmured, feeling the wet stain of her scarlet lipstick on my cheekbone.
“Your breath smells like pussy washed down with whiskey.”
“Oh, fuck…” I started to panic as she sat by my side.
“Don’t worry. I’m not upset you tasted her. I’m disappointed you didn’t share.”
“Share?”
“Mmm,” she murmured, taking my glass and drinking the whiskey. “Delicious and sweet.”
“It’s the finest malt whiskey, sweetheart.”
“I wasn’t talking about the drink. What’s her name?”
“Vanessa,” I admitted, furrowing my eyebrows. “Look, Vera…”
“Alistair, I get it. Don’t worry, love. You’re not the only one who played tonight.” Vera rolled her head back and let out a low laugh.
“Is that why you’re late?” My eyes rounded in surprise.
“Mmm-hmm,” she replied. There it was. Vera’s grin of satisfaction.
Damn it, she was fresh and flushed from a recent orgasm. Her crimson, figure-hugging minidress was slightly damp; it could have been from the rain outside or her hot hookup. Yet, she didn’t carry the scent of another man. She smelled sweet and edible, like flowers in full bloom.
“Who was it?” I ran my fingers along Vera’s smoothly shaven and oiled legs, inching closer to what lay under the hem. I pinched her flesh, claiming her as mine, and she reciprocated by rubbing my inner thigh muscles.
“Her name is Holly, a gorgeous blonde I met at a work-related event recently. I ran into her on the way here and became rather distracted.”
“Well, Artemis, your arrow pierces my heart. It was never Eros who controlled the hearts of men and women, was it?” I rubbed my thumb in circular motions in between her legs, getting closer to her sex.
“Do you think I’m Artemis?” Vera continued massaging my thigh.
“You’re a goddess who likes to hunt. Wasn’t it the Athenians who worshipped her at the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia?” I continued, erotically rubbing her smooth, moist skin.
“No, it was the Spartans who visited the site. The sanctuary was in Sparta,” Vera corrected me, cupping my jawline with her long fingers. “The women who honored the cult were supposedly celibate, but they danced in a sexually tantalizing manner. The young men who praised the Greek goddess were whipped at thetemple’s altar in Sparta,” she continued, licking her red lips. “Sounds kinky, doesn’t it?”
“I’m impressed.” I grinned, then tilted toward her to taste her lips.
“My brother is an archaeology professor at the state university. That’s how I know. I read some of his work,” the goddess said, breaking my kiss.
“Oh? I guess my private school education did not fully equip me with the privilege of that knowledge.” Lowering my eyes, I took in the sweetness of Vera’s soft lips and slid my tongue between them.
“You were one of those private school brats,” Vera teased, drawing back to trace her index finger around my lips.
“So were you,” I murmured.
“I had a scholarship,” she said, unbuttoning my shirt to reveal more chest than I would normally expose.
I squeezed her upper thigh, smiling smugly. “You’re still a naughty private schoolgirl.”
“Touché.” Vera’s lips parted again. I took the hook, exploring eagerly as I drank from her with drought-stricken thirst.
