Hazel’s responding smile was smug. “Good.” She dipped her head to Clem’s collarbone. “I’ll be gentle,” she whispered. “Maybe.”
Gentle hands pushed Clem’s shoulders down onto the bed. Her long hair brushed over Clem’s chest, sweeping exquisite torture over her sensitive skin. She dropped feathery kisses along Clem’s shoulders and down her chest. The kisses stopped just above her breasts, and Hazel paused, breathing shaky breath across Clem’s nipples. Then, before Clem’s brain could catch up to her body, Hazel lowered her head and closed her mouth around a nipple. A ragged moan tore from Clem, who grasped the bedsheets, desperate for something to hold on to. Hazel sucked and flicked her tongue back and forth, each sweep setting off fireworks in Clem’s brain.
Clem arched, pushing the tight bud deeper into Hazels’ mouth. Hazel caught it lightly in her teeth and flicked the tip of her tongue around the pleading bead. Her other hand swept across Clem’s thigh, leaving sparks of electricity in its wake. On a gasp, Clem threaded her hands in Hazel’s hair and pulled her tighter.
Hazel chuckled. The pad of her thumb brushed Clem’s swollen clit, making her gasp, deepening the arch of her back. “Do you like that?” Hazel asked against her breast.
Clem could not formulate a response.
Hazel thumbed her clit again, then slipped a finger inside her slit. Clem groaned and pumped her hips.
“I guess you do.” Hazel lifted her head and Clem pouted. “Don’t you worry, Clementine. I’m not through with you yet.” She shifted to the other nipple, sucking and nibbling. Her hair brushed against the other, and Clem wondered if it wasintentional. Then Hazel slipped a second finger inside her and Clem lost the ability to think at all. She bucked against Hazel’s hand, crying out when Hazel slipped a third finger inside her. She was stretched, and pleasure shot in heavy jolts from her clit each time Hazel’s thumb crossed it. Clem tightened her hands in Hazel’s hair, pulling hard enough to elicit a groan from the other woman.
“I’m going to —” she gasped. It was too much. Sensation in her breasts, her clit, her pussy. Layer upon layer it built. “I — oh, god.”
“Come for me, Clementine.”
She did not need to be told twice. Clem came with a ferocity that shocked her. Her back arched off the bed, her head thrown back. There was no consideration about how loud her cries were. Hazel wrung every last ounce of pleasure from her, and when Clem thought there was nothing left to give, somehow Hazel was able to glean more.
She was left a panting, sweaty wreck on the bed. Her chest heaved as she gasped, trying to slow her pounding heart. Hazel rose above her. Clem opened one eye and squinted up. “Don’t think your smugness is lost on me,” she mumbled.
Hazel laughed. “You are so much fun,” she squeaked. “It makes me want to keep going.”
“I don’t have anything more to give.”
“You want to bet?”
The look on her face almost made Clem want to give it a try. But she had no energy left. She closed her eyes, basking in the haze that had settled in. “Don’t think I won’t call your bluff,” she sighed. Sleep was closing in, and she was relaxed and ready for it.
Hazel chuckled and settled in beside her. “Don’t sleep too deeply,” she murmured. “We don’t want to miss out on all of our time.”
“Definitely not.” Clem’s words were slow and sleepy. “Need more time. I want …” she sighed and the room was quiet for a moment. Then she roused enough to finish her thought. “Fuck you so hard.”
Clem dropped off to sleep with a smile on her face and Hazel’s laughter in her ears.
Six
Clem could not saywhat time it was. To be honest, she didn’t want to know, nor did she care. This moment, in this liminal time between night and day, her legs intertwined with Hazel’s, was the most relaxed she had been in ages.
But there was something that nagged at the back of her mind. She lay on her bed, feeling golden and drifting until she could not ignore it any longer.
“What did you mean when you said you would be gone by sunrise?” Her voice held a casualness to it that she did not quite feel, and she took a moment to feel grateful for that. Beside her, Hazel took a deep breath. When she spoke, her voice was as casual as Clem’s had been.
“It’s all part of the magic.”
“Right. The magic.”
Hazel chuckled. “Come on, now. You can’t not believe in the magic after all of that.”
Clem ran a hand up Hazel’s thigh and over her hip. She relished the smooth skin that seemed to shimmer, even now in the low light. “I believe in this magic. It’s the sparkles andbringing a cookie to lifemagic that I’m struggling with. But I can get behind it. To a point.”
“Well, I supposeto a pointis better thannot at all.” Hazel’s voice was warm and she shifted so she was closer to Clem, who wrapped an arm around her waist and snuggled in. Hazel smelled of orange and cardamom with a hint of vanilla, which somehow gave credence to her words. Clem squeezed Hazel, then stilled. Hazel returned the squeeze to her arm before continuing. “The magic only lasts until sunrise — in the timezone the sugar is used, of course. Otherwise it would be far too confusing.” She giggled. “I suppose you could say we’re here for a good time and not a long time. Once the sun hits the horizon, that’s it. We are spirited back to the North Pole, where we live out our lives until the next time someone uses the Secret Ingredient.”
“Huh.” Clem turned this over in her mind. “Here I always thought the secret ingredient was love, when it’s been lust the whole time.”
The laugh that bubbled out of Hazel danced around Clem. It filled her mind with possibilities, and a little voice whispered to her that she wanted more time with Hazel. She ignored the voice, and focused on what Hazel was saying.
“Don’t discount lust,” Hazel laughed.
