Damn, you are zero fun lately, her vagina replied.
But if she only cared about the knowledge in Ria’s head, then why did Lissa hide most of her glasswork in hopes Ria might want to go back to her place?Why buy eggs to make her famous omelets for breakfast?And why put on clean sheets?Specifically, the black satiny ones that were slippery and completely impractical but definitely set a certain mood.
Lissa could lie to herself, but the truth was her intentions weren’t honorable.She wanted to be with Ria, and she wanted the marketing plan, despite knowing the deception would break Ria’s heart in the end.
Of course, they would never get to that point the way things were currently going.Lissa hazarded another glance over at Ria, who was staring out at the ocean, her face void of any indicators about what might be going on in her head.
Fuck it.
There was only one way to get through the awkwardness—plow straight through.
“Okay, I can’t do this anymore,” Lissa blurted out, drawing up short.
Ria whipped her head around.“I’m sorry?”
“No, I’m sorry,” Lissa said, running her hands through her hair, likely destroying the artfully gelled side swoop.“I’m sorry for whatever I did to make things so awkward between us.I’m sorry I kissed you if you didn’t want to be kissed.I’m sorry you threw up afterwards.I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how little I care about that.I’m just altogether sorry, because I had such an incredible time with you at Pride, and somehow I messed things up.I… I want to know how to fix it.How to get my friend back.”
Ria blinked at her.“We’re friends?”
That’s what she singled out?
“I’d like to be,” Lissa replied, taking a step closer.
Ria smiled.
“I’d like to be more than that,” Lissa added, taking another step closer and brushing her bare foot against the inside of Ria’s calf.
The witch’s smile dropped, and she turned away from Lissa to resume her staring out at the ocean.“I like you, Lissa,” Ria said, her quiet voice almost drowned out by the crashing waves.“But I don’t think we can be any more than friends.”
“Why not?”Lissa demanded, swinging around in front of Ria to force her attention.
“Because you’re my client.”
“Oh, fuck that spell bullshit,” Lissa spat out.“For all you know the spell was supposed to bring me to you.Maybe you’re my destiny or whatever.We had fun together.I know we did.Are you honestly going to say you felt nothing when I kissed you?”
Ria’s gaze dropped to the sand.
“No, don’t do that,” Lissa commanded, capturing Ria’s chin to force her face back up.“Stop hiding.Look me in the eyes and tell me you felt nothing.”
Ria chewed on her lower lip, and it took everything in Lissa not to rescue that poor abused bit of sensitive skin.She could soothe it with her own lips, or preferably her tongue, if only Ria would stop being so damned stubborn.
“I felt something, okay?”Ria whispered, before yanking her face free.She took a few steps back from the surf and collapsed onto the dry sand.
Lissa crouched down in front of Ria, blocking out the distracting ocean so the witch could focus on nothing but her and this thing between them.“So then why pull away?Was it just embarrassment about the puke?Because I really don’t care.”
“It’s not that,” Ria protested.“Okay, I mean it was kind of that at first, but…” She trailed off and her eyes went glassy for a moment, like she was reciting something in her head.
“But what, Ria?”Lissa demanded, cupping Ria’s face to bring her back to reality.“Talk to me.I know we only met a little over a week ago, but you have to admit there’s something here.Something real that has nothing to do with magic.Stop hiding behind the damned spell and talk to me.”
Ria narrowed her gaze on Lissa’s face.Analyzing.Evaluating.Deciding.“Will you do something for me?”she asked after a long moment.
“Anything,” Lissa replied, shifting into a more comfortable position on the beach.
“Take your clothes off.”
Lissa nearly got whiplash from the 180 her brain pulled trying to process the sudden, drastic change in conversation.That was officially the last thing she expected Ria to say.Was she suggesting they…
Lissa glanced up and down the coast.Only a handful of locals knew about the hidden path that led to the chunk of beach near her place, and like most nights, the stretch of sand was deserted.
