“Don’t discredit yourself, Bel. I didn’t do anything.” Vesper smiled sweetly. “That was all you.”
Bellamy ground her teeth. She looked like she might keep arguing, but Vesper saw her deflate, saw the defeat in her eyes. Then, a little spark reignited. She slowly got to her knees and shuffled over to Vesper. Vesper held her breath while Bellamy propped herself up with one elbow on Vesper’s thigh.
She stuck out her fingers that were still coated from her excitement. “Open up, Ves. Don’t you think you deserve a treat too?”
Vesper huffed a laugh. “Don’t play games you can’t win.” She looked Bellamy up and down slowly, admiring the view one last time before she whispered, “Go clean yourself up.”
For a second, Bellamy didn’t move. Then, while maintaining eye contact, Bellamy stuck her fingers into her mouth and pulled them out with a pop. She made a show of licking them clean. It took every ounce of Vesper’s self control not to squirm, to stay entirely still while she watched.
When Bellamy finished, she surged upward, grippingVesper’s jaw as tightly as she could with spit coated fingers, her other hand tangled in Vesper’s hair, yanking until Vesper gasped. As soon as Vesper’s mouth had opened, Bellamy’s tongue was invading it. Coated in the taste of her own come.
Vesper’s hands flew to her hips on instinct, and she dug her fingers in, torn between shoving Bellamy off and giving in to let this happen like she so badly wanted.
She hated how fucking good Bellamy tasted right now. It had been so long since she’d tasted her. So long since she’d allowed her mouth anywhere near Bellamy aside from biting her. She hated how tempted she was to give in, how smooth Bellamy’s bare skin was under her grip.
Most of all, Vesper hated how strongly her body reacted to this, how easily Bellamy could crash through her defenses.
A low, involuntary whine ripped itself from her throat and Bellamy smiled against her mouth. The hand on her jaw trailed down the side of body and clutched her wrist. When Bellamy started moving Vesper’s hand toward her center, she finally summoned the strength to force herself away.
She turned her head, panting, and tried to ignore the sting from Bellamy’s death grip in her hair. Vesper yanked her hand out of Bellamy’s grasp and pushed them up until she was standing. Bellamy immediately wrapped her legs around Vesper’s waist and released her hair, clinging to her neck instead. Vesper turned, throwing Bellamy onto the tiny bed behind them. Bellamy spread her legs, willing Vesper to fuck her.
“Go clean up, Bellamy,” Vesper snapped, panting.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Vesper
Bellamy was in a foul mood for the rest of the day. She spent the whole time ignoring Vesper—didn’t talk or make another play at seducing her. Vesper, on the other hand, was trying to enjoy her win. She should be fucking giddy.
Usually, she would be. She loved beating Bellamy at her own game. It was just the tiniest amount of payback she could get. But now, with Bellamy’s taste still on her tongue, the ghost of her firm touch on her jaw, the scent of her swirling in the stifling trolley air, Vesper wasn’t able to gloat. She couldn’t enjoy the victory when Bellamy’s touch was all she could fucking think about.
It had been years—years—since Bellamy had touched her like that. She’d never allowed it—not that she’d allowed it this time—but before, Bellamy hadn’t been bold enough to take it. Not until they were trapped together in a trolley that was getting smaller by the second. Vesper wondered what had changed. What had made Bel act like that? Vesper hadn’t done anything differently, had she?
Hours had passed since that kiss, that touch, and she still couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even the light shuffling of cards that Bellamy had been idly playing with for half the day didn’t affect her.
Bellamy had successfully broken Vesper’s brain.
It was that fucking kiss. There was a reason Vesper hadn’t allowed them to kiss like that before. They didn’t kiss. They fucked. Hate-fueled fucking was all they did now. Never whatever the fuck that was. Vesper could count on one hand how many kisses they’d shared over the years.
And they were never like that. Never twice in one day.
When night started to fall around them, they were forced to face the inevitable: the bed in their trolley was laughably small. They could share it—in theory there was enough room for two people—but another thing Vesper wouldn’t allow again was cuddling.
They’d already done more than she’d wanted. Touched in more intimate ways than they ever should have.Fucking Bellamy.She really did have to ruin everything.
Bellamy started the argument over their sleeping situation. Of course. Because she hadn’t been affected like Vesper had, since she was clearly only doing this to be a bitch and to fuck with Vesper’s head. And, of course, for the damn bonus.
Bellamy claimed that she should get the bed since Vesper had been “such an asshole” earlier. That, at least, pulled a wry laugh from Vesper. Of course Bellamy would make it her fault. As if Bellamy wasn’t the one who’d spent half the day trying to fuck her to win a bet.
Vesper argued that since it was Bellamy who started it, then really, Vesper should be rewarded for her efforts not to give in. But her heart hadn’t been in the argument. She was still too distracted, her head still reeling. Vesper knew, by the way, that she was taking advantage, that Bellamy could see it too.
Vesper had been successfully ignoring Bellamy up until that argument, and even during it, she couldn’t look at Bellamy. She kept her eyes trained on her book instead. That pissed Bellamy off more, which Vesper decided was a win, since she ultimately lost the bed.
When the cabin started to dim, Vesper prepared for sleep. Despite their employers springing for an overnight trolley with abed, apparently one with any fucking lights was too expensive for them. That left the two of them with little choice other than suffering and trying to sleep much too early.
Unless Vesper decided she was bored enough to lose their bet. Which she was definitely not. Even though it was all she could fucking think about. Vesper was determined to avoid touching Bellamy for as long as she could. With any luck, it would be long enough to forget the feel of Bel’s hands in her hair.
Eventually, she drifted off to the soft lull of the wheels humming along the track. The vibrations of the trolley had grown comforting throughout the day, and she relaxed into sleep on her little bench.
