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Because this couldn’t possibly be happening, right?
She asked a couple of questions but was quickly cowed into silence by glowers from Paige’s darkened eyes. She rarely wore her makeup like this. Gone was the natural palette of everyday life or the bright, feminine colors of a night out. Paige was nothing but eyeliner and earth tones, all the way down to her dark brown lips. Even her trench coat was neither green nor black. It was a steely, overcast gray that hugged her body and proclaimed that she was the ruler of this high-end domain.
She was Paige, but she was also the Other. The kind of woman who didn’t merely haunt Rhea’s adolescent fantasies, but proudly pranced from one side of the campus to the other.
The only difference now? Paige Powell was not untouchable. Wasn’t that her arm wrapped around Rhea’s?
“You should probably tell me what’s going on now,” Rhea whispered when they rode up to one of the top floors on the elevator. “I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I’d like to at least know what to expect.” When Paige continued to stare straight ahead, Rhea said, “Is there someone else waiting for us up there?”
That was what finally got her wife’s attention, and it was with a slight raise of her eyebrow that made Paige say, “Not this time.”
Not this time!
The doors opened. Paige led the way, although she and Rhea walked side by side.
They did not detach until they stood before the door to a high-rise suite. Rhea was intrigued, but her nerves won out and kept her from asking therealquestions percolating from her piqued interest.
When they entered the suite, Rhea’s eyes nearly fell out of her head.
How the hell had Paige afforded this place!
The view was damning enough to their bank accounts, let alone the Jacuzzi tub in the corner of the room. Separating the king-sized bed from the tub was a long couch naturally leading guests to a separate sitting area overlooking the breathtaking view of city high-rises and the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance. The lights didn’t have to be flicked on. Why bother, when so much natural light streamed through these floor-to-ceiling windows?
Rhea almost forgot her hands were cuffed behind her back. Not until she tried to shield her eyes from the sun was she reminded that Paige had plottedsomething.
“Over there.” Paige pushed her wife to the couch separating the bed from the Jacuzzi. Rhea fell right in the middle, nearly sitting on her hands as her jacket landed lopsided on her torso. Paige stood before her.
Yes,Rhea thought as her mind forgot everything else going on,this is really hot.
“You and I are going to have a chat about the future of this marriage.” Paige did not apologize for leading Rhea here under false pretenses. Nor did she care to explain the existence of this expensive hotel room boasting one of the greatest views in LA. “We’ve been operating under the wrong idea for years. I must take the blame for it.” She pulled some of her blond hair out of her face. “I let you believe I hadchangedfrom my old ways, and I foolishly let you continue to flourish under the pretext that you exist independently ofmeandmyneeds. No wonder I was so out of it for years. I had suppressed myself to make you happy when I should have been using you to makemehappy.”
Rhea didn’t have a response to that. She was so blindsided by Paige’s sultry tone that she almost didn’t catch the meaning of any of those damning words.
“I’m willing to negotiate, though.” Paige pulled her hands out of her pockets and toyed with the ties holding her jacket closed over her body. “After all, divorces aresomessy.”
She did not drop the D word!
“Ah, look at you.” Paige took one step closer. “Did I make you think you don’t get anything out of our new arrangement?”
Rhea truly didn’t know what to say.
“Look, I’ve let you have your fun for years. This summer? You had too much fun. It made me think about what Ireallywant out of my life. Why, being in charge for one thing…” Paige didn’t come close enough to touch as she rounded the side of the couch and drew her fingers along the back of the red velvet upholstery. “Let’s face it, Rhea. I make a steady income. I won’t bemoan your ability to pound out the novel of the year and get a nice, juicy advance and royalty share. Which is why you will be allowed to continue that going forward. I only want you to remember where our health insurance comes from.” Her fingertips almost touched Rhea’s shoulder. “Me.”
“What…”
Paige interrupted her. “I’ve spent a long time thinking about this. Ever since the Fourth of July, really. Remember? You took me to the lake and had your way with me for the whole weekend.” Paige plopped her forearms down on the back of the couch and lowered her voice as her lips came dangerously close to Rhea’s cheek. “Naughty, naughty. It was like you were trying to put me in my place after all these years. When webothknow why you agreed to go out with me in the first place.”
Rhea steeled herself.
“Because you thought I could make your virginal dreams come true.”
Finally, Rhea was allowed to say something. “I was not a virgin when we first went out.”
“The details you care about.” Paige stood back up. “Don’t matter to me. You know what I mean. Listless. Suppressed. Naïve and foolish. You wanted me to do something about that, but I never did. Not even when we fell in love and got married like two young people are wont to do. Hmph. We’ll be forty, soon enough. I don’t want to hit my fourth decade and not have the power back in rooms like these. Tell me, Rhea.” Paige slapped the spot right next to her wife’s head. “How does that make youfeel?”
“I have no idea.” In truth, Rhea’s whole body was charged with erotic electricity. The depths of the unknown that Paige now offered were almostembarrassing.How could Rhea see this through and keep her wits about her with Paige talking like that?This is all a set-up for sex. Nothing serious.Rhea knew that, but her heart told her to hear her wife outjust in case.Her head? It yelled at her to keep quiet. Keep her mouth shut.
It was her stupid pussy telling her to get excited.
