“Oh, jeez, I’m sorry.” I try to look away, but it’s like watching a train wreck.
“It’s fine. I’m a mom, remember?” Lex smirks. “I’m gonna go, but I hope he feels better! Let me know if there’s anything I can grab from the store for him.”
“You’re so sweet. He’ll be okay, after he—”
Hork, hork, splat!
I sigh. Moment ruined. At least he got it all out, though. “I’ll call you later?”
Lex nods, then goes in for a hug while I weave for a kiss, and then she changes direction and tries to kiss while I adjust and aim for a hug. We finally meet in the middle with a half-hug cheek-kiss before Lex walks away and climbs into her car. Winston sitsnext to me, happily panting, like he hasn’t just ruined my goodbye with Lex.
“Really, man?” I say as we walk back to the house. “I’ve heard of a cock block, but a pussy block is a whole new thing. I mean, that’s got to be the most gross, awkward goodbye in the history of—” I stop dead in my tracks, Winston lurching on his leash.
No no no no no...
It can’t be. That wasn’t the curse. Was it? It certainly was awkward, but we broke the curse! We told each other we loved one another, and we kissed, and we did ahellof a lot more—love’s true fuck, and all that. Everything was so perfect this morning, not even an ounce of awkwardness. So then, what the hell was that?
Itcan’tbe the curse. I’m done with that nonsense. I get to live my happily ever after now.
Everything is fine. No curse. It’s gone. I’m just being paranoid. Even Lex thinks the curse is broken. She said it herself! If there’s anyone I trust, it’s Lex.
It’s just a weird coincidence.
I try to put our uncomfortable goodbye behind me and move on with my life, tidying the kitchen and starting a load of laundry. When I find my phone, I turn it off silent mode and the thing dings out of control with several unread texts and missed calls, all from Olsen.
Fuck. I still have to deal with him. But... maybe not today. Today is for relishing the afterglow of telling Lex how I really feel, of her reciprocating far more than I ever could have expected, and for soaking up my new un-cursed reality.
Everything else can wait.
“So, this is your office?” Lex asks as she steps inside two days later, whistling low.
Now that the curse is broken and we’re officially beyond friends and into lovers territory, we can’t go more than a few days without seeing each other. FaceTime calls just don’t cut it. I need to hold her, smell her, taste her.
I close the door behind us and lean against it, crossing my arms. “Yep. It’s nothing special, but as far as non-profits go it’s not bad.”
Lex walks slowly to the other end of my small space where my desk is, runs her finger along the top, and turns to face me. “I like you in work mode. Your little pencil skirt, your blouse all tucked in, your hair all wavy. Professional. Sexy. Sort of like one of those TAs in college who takes their role too seriously.”
With a smirk, I toss my hair over my shoulder. “Funny you should say that, because when I saw you at that bar when we met the second time, I thought you looked like one of those cool yet super-strict professors.”
Her eyes rake up my body. “Come sit at your desk and show me how you work.”
I smile mischievously, then do as I’m told, brushing my fingertips along her forearm as I pass. After settling into my chair, I sit up straight, then fit Lex with a pretend perplexed look. “You wanted to speak to me, professor?”
Lex sucks in a breath between her teeth before sitting on the edge of my desk and clasping her hands, looking down at me with heat in her eyes. “I wanted to talk to you about your... performance review.”
I swivel in my chair so she can get a better look at my legs, extra long with the beige heels I wore today. Lifting them one at a time, I place them atop the desk and cross my ankles, watching as her eyes follow my every movement. “What about it, professor?”
Lex’s fingertips trail from my ankle up my calf, to the hem of my skirt, leaving tingles in their wake. “You were a very, very good girl.”
I never thought I had a praise kink, butgoddamn, coming from Lex? Her words send a pool of warmth from the base of my belly down to my centre. “Why don’t you come over here and show me how good of a girl I am?”
Lex glances over her shoulder at my door. “Won’t we get caught?”
I shake my head. “No one ever comes into my office. Not when the door is closed.” That’s one of the things I love about my job; everyone has their tasks and the team operates independently. I only see the others when I want to. And right now? I don’t. Not when Lex is here, her eyes fixed on me like she wants to devour me. Fuck, I hope she does.
Lex comes around the side of my desk, keeping her fingertips on my skin, letting them drift higher and higher until she’s standing right over top of me with one hand on my hip, the other pressed against the arm of my chair, leaning close enough for me to smell the rich honey scent of her skin, feel the warmth of her breath on my neck, sense the electricity thrumming between us.
She leans closer, lips hovering over mine. My body coils, lips parting, throat working, ready for her kiss. Instead, she lowers her mouth to my neck, applying pressure to turn my head away, and gently sucks the skin beneath the lobe of my ear. I gasp at the warm, wet slide of her tongue against my sensitive skin, the flash of heat her touch brings. As she takes her time sucking and licking at my neck her hand finds my thigh, fingertips deftly making their way beneath my tight skirt, roaming higher and higher.
