The Queen

“Can you be serious for two seconds?”

“I am serious. It wiggled like one of those plastic flower toys that dance when you play music.”

“I haven’t had anyone or anything inside me for a long time. I might be a little...tight.”

“I can handle tight. I buy lube in bulk. Can we fuck now please?”

“Not yet. You aren’t ready.”

Griffin looked down at his crotch.

“He just told me he’s ready,” Griffin said. “Telepathically.”

Elle sighed. Heavily. She did want him, and his cock, but he’d agreed to bottom for her, and she wasn’t about to rush this or waste her chance. But what to do to him...?

“You’re bi—” she said.

“I am? Oh, yeah. I am. Sorry. I’m focused on your pussy right now. Almost forgot.”

“You have a leather chest harness somewhere, don’t you?”

“Maybe...somewhere...” He didn’t sound excited about the prospect of wearing one.

“Will you wear it for me?”

“Must I?” he asked.

“I’ve masturbated to the thought of fucking you while you’re naked but for a chest harness.”

“It’s in the closet, back wall, hanging on a hook next to the spreader bars.”

She retrieved the harness and laid it on the bed next to Griffin.

“What’s with the beard?” she asked as she ran her hand over the soft scruff on his cheeks and chin.

“I was roughing it. Went backpacking to Clingman’s Dome with friends. Got back a couple days ago.”

“How was the Dome?” She tugged his gray T-shirt off and threw it onto the floor.

“I didn’t get to the top. I came home early.”

“Why? Bored?” She slipped the harness on him and buckled it in place.

“I checked my messages. King said you were back.”

Elle was silent a moment. She swallowed before speaking again.

“You came back from your trip early, because you heard I came back?”

“Told you,” he said, shrugging. “I missed you.”

“I didn’t think anyone would miss me. I mean, anyone but him.”

“Søren.”

“Yeah, him.”

“I know this might surprise you, but I’d gotten used to the idea of thinking we were friends. Almost best friends,” he said. “I wanted us to be that and you acted like that’s what you wanted, too. Then you disappeared and you didn’t tell me where you went or why you left. So obviously we weren’t best friends if you couldn’t tell me where you were going, which is fine. That’s cool. But knowing you didn’t feel the same about me didn’t make me feel any differently about you. When King said you were back in the city, I came back the same day. And when he said he wanted me to keep an eye on you since you were, you know, going through a rough adjustment period, I said I would. Because maybe if I keep an eye on you, next time you run off I’ll know where you went.”

Simple words and not very eloquent, yet they somehow slipped through the cracks in the hard shell she’d built around herself since leaving the convent. No, since leaving Søren.

“Do you want to be my best friend?”

“With benefits?” he asked.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

“I’m in,” he said grinning broadly. “Buddy.”

“Good, old pal.” She pushed him onto his back and straddled his hips. He looked utterly delectable in his black jeans, his leather harness. She ran her hands up and down his taut stomach, tracing the edges of the harness, caressing his chest and arms. She kissed his scruffy, handsome face and wondered at the change in him. He’d always been a charmer, a rogue, a wicked playboy trust-fund baby cracking dirty jokes and acting as the life of the party, every party. No one who knew him as Master Griffin would believe he was on his back for her. No one would believe he had this tenderness to him. Where had he been hiding it? Did it show itself with her because they were friends? Or was it something else? Or maybe it wasn’t Griffin who’d changed at all. Maybe it was her. Maybe she’d changed. Maybe it was always there and now she finally noticed it.

Elle lowered her mouth to his ear and whispered, “Pick a number between one and ten.”

“What?”

She pulled back and looked down at him.

“You heard me.”

“What am I picking?”

“I’m not going to tell you until you’ve picked your number,” she said.

“But how do I know what number to pick until I know what I’m picking?”

“Exactly.”

Griffin narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re evil.”

“Still waiting on that number, Griff.”

“Fine. I don’t know. Seven?”

“Seven. Good.”

“What’s good? Why is seven good?” Griffin sounded slightly panicked.

“Because seven is the number of orgasms you’re going to give me today. And when I’ve had seven you can fuck me. And you can’t fuck me until I’ve had seven.”