She buried her face into my chest for a few moments. “It’s all right,” she said, looking up at me with clouded eyes. “I just wish I could see them more.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Only you can decide what the solution is there, but in the meantime, the only tearsIwant to be responsible for are the ones running down your cheeks as I fuck your face.”
She shoved me away with a push to my chest. “You’re an ingrate.” She laughed. “You don’t think about anything else, do you?”
“Not since I heard your voice, no.” I smirked. “You’re not the only one with a voice kink.”
She stilled, letting my words sink in. Her eyes gleamed, and it struck me that Raven might not have many things that were just for her. Maybe I could be just for her.
“Who said I have a voice kink?’ she asked, sitting back down on the wooden chair, crossing her legs like the empress she was.
I leaned against the table, crossing my arms over my chest. “I did, ‘Finigirl’. Oh, and you also agreed last night.”
Raven’s jaw slackened, before her lips formed a hard line as she tried to suppress a laugh. “You know what, shut up.” Her face turned curious. “Actually, you never told me how you figured it out. That I’m Finigirl.”
“I might not be a professional stalker like the men in thebooks I narrate, but I’m not too bad at figuring things out.” I braced my arms on the side of her chair and leaned down until my face hovered over hers. “No one else has your emerald eyes. They were the first thing I noticed in your business photo, and when I saw your social media after you followed me, I would have known that shade of green anywhere.”
She drew her bottom lip into her mouth, and the simple movement made me wild. She cocked her head. “Do you do this with all your followers and fans then? Do you stalk them and break into their homes, too?”
I could tell there was some sincerity to her question, so I reached my hand up to grip her throat. “Only if they’re you,” I rumbled as I dipped my head to capture that perfect lip she loved to bite.
She sighed into my mouth, subsiding her worries to me. When I broke the kiss she whimpered, and fuck me, if it was the last sound I heard before I died, I would die happy. I sat back down and turned my tone serious to quell her concerns.
“I don’t talk to people personally unless it's regarding a job, and even then, it’s all usually handled by my agent. In the beginning, I did everything myself, but now I don’t have to. So I don’t.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “So why do you do it, then?” she asked. “Why do you do the paid stuff and social media posts, aside from the audiobooks?”
I sighed. I guessed we were going all the way there. My gut told me that it wouldn’t make her run, but it was still early on. I knew Raven was understanding and open-minded, but I still had a nagging worry about being vulnerable.
Taking a deep breath, I launched into the story. “That’s how it all started for me. Social media. Back in college, I dicked around with my friends, streaming ourselves playing videogames online. People kept telling me that my voice was soothing, and then women started messaging me.”
Raven’s lips parted slightly, and the trepidation in my gut intensified, but I kept going. “I’m sure you can imagine the things they were saying. That my voice was attractive and such. One of them mentioned she would love to hear me say some lascivious things like her favorite book characters. I was single at the time with no desire for a serious relationship, so I came up with my pseudonym and made profiles on social media. The paid content came after I had a decent following. I learned I could make money off my voice, so why not? I didn’t have much, so it made sense.”
“Wait. I thought you said your parents were wealthy?” she asked.
I couldn’t look her in the face while I told her, but it was a better alternative to what I thought I was going to have to tell her. Picking up the dishes, I walked back to the kitchen to clean up. Just as I thought she would be, Raven was close on my heels.
“I struggled with drinking and got kicked out of the Ivy League school my parents paid for because I never went to class. I moved back home, and they paid for a therapist to get me through that.”
The cold water from the sink was grounding as I turned it on to rinse the dishes. When I opened the dishwasher, Raven came up beside me and took the plate from my hands, depositing it in the rack.
“So that’s why you ordered water at the restaurant.” She gave me a reassuring smile, and we set a routine of me rinsing and her placing it in the organizing rack.
“Like I said last night, my parents always wanted me to be their poster boy. Their only kid had to be one they couldparade around in front of their friends and eventually take over Dad’s Fortune 500 consulting company. Much to their dismay, I wasn’t that kid.”
She gave me a sideways glance and kept transferring the dishes I handed her. “Once I got sober, I told them I wasn’t going to be that. I remember the night I broke.” My gaze drifted, unseeing the gray backsplash as I was transported back in time. “Dad had been pushing me all week to talk about the company. That night at dinner, being his usual asshole self, he berated me for taking so long to overcome my addiction. The look on Mom’s face when I yelled back at him is still clear as if it were yesterday. I hadn’t ever raised my voice to either of them. When they talked at me, I just ignored them and went to my room. But this time, I couldn’t hold back anymore.”
Coming back to reality, I dried my hands on a dishtowel, watching the movement with intensity so I could avoid her eyes. “I packed my shit and left everything. I only had enough to get on a plane to a random city and get an apartment. So, I ended up here.”
We stood like that for a moment, me at the sink and Raven leaning against the dishwasher. She probably thought I was a fucking idiot for leaving so much money behind when she couldn’t even buy a damn book when she was a kid. She moved in my periphery and placed her hand on my arm. When I turned to her, there was nothing but compassion and understanding in her eyes.
When she took me into her arms, I breathed a sigh that felt like a release of all the emotions I still held on to about my so-called family.
The next thing she said surprised me since the conversation had completely gone down a different path. “So you did the voice acting just for money?”
My stomach dropped. I thought I’d gotten out of telling her by focusing on my parents.
“No, I didn’t just do it for the money.” I turned away, walking to the end of the island, running my hands through my hair before lacing my fingers together around the back of my neck. “I did it for the pleasure of it all, too,” I murmured into the silence, my pounding heart the only sound in my ears.
