“Ah, how exciting! And you, Sasha, dear? If you aren’t comfortable with it, I completely understand. Being on stage at Rendezvous and on film are certainly different beasts, and I can try to find someone in the industry to step in…”
“No!” The volume of my outburst surprises us all, and I clear my throat before continuing more quietly. “No, that’s not necessary. I don’t have any objection to continuing.”
Blanche claps her hands in delight.
“Excellent. Now then, just a couple of housekeeping items while I have you both here. Lucy, darling, are you on birth control? If not, we need to have a very different conversation.”
My heart sinks into my stomach, and I feel sick.Jesus Christ, I fucked her raw. I’ve never in my life fucked a woman, or man, without a condom, but I didn’t even hesitate today. I can’t imagine having anything between us, but I have no idea if she’s on birth control or not.
“I have the implant in my arm. And I’m clean, for the record, in case anyone was curious,” she mumbles, draining the last bit of her hot chocolate.
“Well, that I knew, dear. It was a part of your background check and the bloodwork you submitted before you moved in!” Blanche waves her hand like it should be obvious that she’d thought to have us tested for everything under the sun beforeallowing us on her property. “Sasha is, of course, squeaky clean as well.”
At this, I have to turn to Lucy.
“Ineverwould have put you at risk if I hadn’t known I was clean.Never,”I say, hoping she sees the sincerity in my eyes.
I’m relieved when she reaches over to pat my knee and winks at me. “I know, Sasha.”
I capture her hand with mine and lace our fingers together, moving them to her thigh so that I’m the one stretching uncomfortably to bridge the gap between us instead of her. I’m thankful she’s on birth control, but there’s also a deep feeling that I can’t shake off or define. It feels like the hot flash of anger, but that can’t be it. Beingangrythat she’s on birth control, that my seed within her has no chance of impregnating her, would be psychotic.Must be something else.
Blanche delicately coughs before moving on to her next checklist item.
“Perfect. Next on my list is exclusivity. I would like to propose absolute exclusivity within the confines of the film until filming is complete. It would be tedious for me to have to worry about re-testing if either of you were to go out and about, as they say. Now—” she continues, but Lucy interrupts her.
“Do you mean exclusivity between Sasha and me?” she asks, and given Blanche’s vague language, I agree we need to clarify.
“Well, yes and no. Outside of filming, it would make things much easier if you kept things exclusive. But…Henry and I were rather adventurous in our younger years. Would the two of you be open to group scenes?”
“No,” I say emphatically. I’m surprised again at the answer from the woman beside me.
“Yes.”
I stare at Lucy as she shrugs. “What? We should at least read the scripts. It could be fun.”
Blanche raises an eyebrow at me.
“We can discuss it and get back to you,” I say, squeezing Lucy’s hand that I’m still holding. “But if we’re going to do this, I think we need more advance notice and earlier script delivery for anything explicit. We need to ensure we have time to discuss everything beforehand and request any changes we think are needed.”
“A reasonable request. I’ll deliver your spicier scripts sooner, absolutely. We’ll still film our usual scenes, and I’ll have the lighting and camera crews set everything up during our simulated activities. Then we can clear the set. I doubt we need anyone but myself and one camera person, but we can see how it goes. I’ll need to rewrite some things for the next scene regardless, so it’ll be a few days before I can get anything to you. The two of you have opened possibilities I never dared to dream of. I’m just so excited! Any more questions for me?”
Lucy and I look at each other and shake our heads, and I notice how tired her eyes look.
“If we think of any, we’ll let you know,” I say, standing and pulling Lucy to her feet. We’re on our way out when Blanche calls out from her desk.
“One last thing, dears! Please confirm your safe word and text it to me! I know today it was red, which is fine, but just make sure it’s unique enough to work for you. Our family safe word is ‘crimson,’ if you need inspiration!”
We make our way into the cottage the same way we have for the past several nights, hand in hand. But this time, I don’t let her shower alone. Without saying a word, I gently lift her bridal style and walk her into the bathroom.
Setting her down on the counter, I start the water for a bath. I wait until the temperature is right, then turn back to her. “Hey, Sunshine, talk to me…How are you feeling?”
“Honestly? I don’t know…” she says, staring off to the side of my head.
I take her face in my hands and pull her attention to me. “Look at me, Lucy. Are you okay?”
She smiles softly, and I can see the vulnerability in her eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
I place a chaste kiss on her soft lips, then slowly unfasten her robe, freezing when she starts shaking. “Shhh, I’m not going to do anything,” I say, holding her still until her breathing regulates. “That’s it. Breathe for me, baby, just like that. Good girl.”
