Page 48
After they cleared the plates, Erin took Claire’s hand and led her upstairs. Claire had placed the red silk blindfold across the pillow before leaving for the boutique. Its deep wine color was vivid against the white linen. Erin saw it and went still.
Erin lifted the blindfold from the pillow and turned to face her. “Do you trust me?”
Claire sat on the edge of the bed and smiled up at her. “Completely.”
Erin stepped between her knees, gathered Claire’s loose hair to one side, and tied the silk over her eyes.
The silk settled across her eyes, and the room disappeared. Claire felt Erin’s fingers at the back of her head, adjusting the knot until it rested comfortably against her hair. She heard Erin step back from the bed.
“Too tight?”
“No.”
“Can you see anything?”
Claire turned her head left, then right. The fabric blocked everything except a faint light where the bedside lamp was. “Only a faint glow. Nothing else.”
“Good.” Erin’s voice moved to the foot of the bed. “Lift your arms for me.”
Claire raised them as Erin drew the sweater over her head in one smooth motion. Then Erin’s fingers slipped behind Claire and found the clasp of her bra. She unhooked it slowly, slid both straps from Claire’s shoulders, and set the bra aside.
Cool air reached Claire’s bare skin. Erin’s mouth pressed against the hollow of her throat, lingered, then vanished.
Claire waited. The mattress shifted to her left, and she turned toward the movement. Nothing. Erin’s fingertip grazed the inside of her wrist from the other side, drew one line to the crook of her elbow, and lifted away.
“Where are you?”
“Close enough to touch you. Far enough to make you want more.”
Erin moved back in and removed Claire’s boots before opening her jeans. She guided Claire onto her back, and Claire lifted her hips so Erin could draw the jeans down her legs and set them aside. Her burgundy silk panties followed, leaving her bare on the white sheets beneath the blindfold.
Erin’s footsteps moved away from the bed. Claire heard the soft pull of a zipper, then clothing landing on the chair. She waited until the mattress dipped beside her and Erin’s bare skin pressed against her side from shoulder to hip.
Erin shifted lower on the bed and kissed the soft skin beneath Claire’s navel. Her mouth traveled across one hip bone, teeth grazing lightly, and Claire’s stomach contracted.
“How long are you going to tease me?”
“Until your body answers before you do.”
Claire gripped the sheet. Erin’s mouth moved to the inside of her thigh and stayed there, kissing the tender skin in a deliberate path that stopped well short of where Claire wanted her. She switched to the other thigh and followed the same maddeningly patient path.
Claire’s hips shifted. Erin pressed one hand flat against her stomach and held her down.
“Not yet.”
“Erin, please.”
“Tell me what you want.”
Before she met Erin, she would have swallowed the words and reshaped them into a more dignified request that preserved her composure. Now she turned her blindfolded face toward the sound of Erin’s breathing. “I want your mouth on me.”
Erin kissed the crease where her thigh met her hip. “Where?”
“You know exactly where.”
“I do.” Erin’s voice carried the playful amusement that Claire loved, even when it tested the limits of her patience. “I want to hear you say it.”
“My clit. Please.”
