“Am I supposed to feel likethisafterward?”
“Like what?”
“Relaxed, but also desperate for another one?”
Tossing her head back in a laugh, she reached out for my arm to steady herself so she wouldn’t fall off the porch.“Oh my god, you’re adorable.And yes.To both of those things.Orgasms are one of the universe’s very few gifts to humans.Especially women, since ours are stronger and we can have many.Otherwise, chicks get the short straw in life.”
Nibbling on my bottom lip, I hugged my arms around myself as a chilly spring breeze swept across us both, causing goosebumps to race along my skin.“You guys keep talking about vibrators.”
Her grin became sly.“Want me to order you one?”
“Maybe.My, uh … my fingers cramped.”
She was having a hell of a time not smiling like an all-knowing orgasm veteran.“Consider it done.”
“Only one.I don’t need a whole box, or drawer, or whatever.Just … just whatever little bullet thing you think will work.Nothing fancy or with a thousand speeds.I don’t want to cause my clitoris to fall off.”
“They grow back, don’t you know,” she said, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.“We’re like sea stars that way.Or chameleons.Their tails grow back; our clits grow back.But only if they fall off from having too many orgasms.”Her fingers flew across the screen, the light of her phone making her amber eyes glow.“This is very exciting, I must say.And,” she pressed her hand to her chest, “I’m honored, actually, that you came to me.You could have gone to Raina or Naomi, who are far more … vocal about this stuff.But you came to me.Thank you.”
“You were still awake,” I murmured, earning a side-eye from her.
“There.All ordered.It’ll be here in five to seven business days.I even paid for the shipping to be expedited, but living on an island and all that bullshit, it’ll still take five to seven business days.”
“You ordered me something plain, right?Nothing with spikes, whirling bits, or a million speeds?”
Her hand rested on the doorknob, and she shrugged.“You’ll have to wait and see.But in the meantime, you should go have a few more, just to double-check that it wasn’t a fluke and you can, in fact, have more than one in your lifetime.”Then she opened the door.“Happy coming, Danica.”
I sucked in a slow, deep breath.“I love you, but you’re annoying.”
“I love you too, and I didn’t hear that last part.”Then she blew me a kiss and headed inside while I made my way back to my apartment over the garage and did as I was told.The problem was I barely got any freaking sleep.Oh well, that was for Sunday Danica to worry about.Saturday night Danica was in orgasm heaven.Finally.
He picked me up exactly at eleven o’clock, and the kiss hello was far less chaste than yesterday’s kiss hello when he first arrived.And after my night of self-exploration and gratification, one would think I’d be satisfied and not looking at Tom like a glass of expensive Italian wine I wanted to drink until the last drop.I was thirsty, and he was the only person I wanted to satiate me.
“Bella,” he greeted, wrapping an arm around my waist and planting a kiss on my lips.I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressed my body into his, and kissed him back, moaning a little before he pulled away.His head tilted to the side as he stared into my eyes.“You seem … different,bella.Did you sleep well?”
I didn’t sleep much at all.
I nodded.“Yes.I’m great.You?”
“I slept … okay.”He steered us toward his truck, and, like a gentleman who I wanted to ride bareback in a field of wildflowers, he held the door open for me.
I stalked him with my eyes as he made his way around the grill, all purposeful in his stride, his broad shoulders moving with confidence beneath his flannel jacket.I squeezed my thighs together and took a few calming breaths before he opened his door and slid in behind the steering wheel, smiling at me.“You sure you are okay?”
Beaming at him, I nodded.“I’m great.I swear.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but he dropped it and turned on the ignition.“So these Sewing Mamas, how many are there of them?”We turned onto the road from the driveway, with rows of grapes on either side of us.
“Sewing Circle,” I said, grinning over at him.Was he messing up their name on purpose?Something told me he was.“And I think there are eight or nine.Not everyone goes every time.But the core ones are Hattie Granger, Kitty Barrington—she owns the apiary—Jolene Dandy, Keturah Katz, Gertie Redman, and Sunflower Patrick.They’re the founders, and many of them are on the Council.The rest come when they can, I think.Like Sakura Reilly.She’s also the island librarian, so she can’t always come if she has to work.”
He nodded.“And you think they will listen?”
“They’re not monsters.They want what is best for the island.And by the sounds of it, Vincent isnotwhat is best for the island.”
“No.He is not.On that we can agree.”
As we drove down the road, closer to Let it Rise, he kept sliding me sideways glances, then smiling and turning back to the road.By the fifth time, I was grinning like a fool, and my body temperature had increased a few degrees.The way this man could turn me into a hot puddle of goo was alarming.But I didn’t want it to stop.
Let it Rise was a very funky place to stop on the tourist circuit.What had once been a shake-sided one-story house on a big plot of land, was now a bustling bakery situated among over a dozen weeping willows and other leafy trees along a bubbling stream from the island’s only lake.An old, red tractor with rust spots sat outside, perfect for photos, and if that wasn’t your jam, there were always the six or eight cats wandering around and rubbing up against your leg that were more than willing to pose for a picture.
