Nick of Time Page 2

  “Well, there’s the night Lucy Carmichael went down on you in the middle of a pledge party.”

  I heard a gasp, then total silence, and I started to worry.

  “Carly?”

  “How did you know that? I never told anyone.”

  I suddenly realized I’d made a big mistake. As close as we were, there were still secrets between us. And I had just told Carly that something she thought had been a secret, wasn’t. I searched for a plausible story. But this was Carly, and though there might have been things I hadn’t told her, I wouldn’t lie.

  “I watched you.”

  “Where?” she whispered.

  I closed my eyes, picturing the dark room with a bed in the middle piled high with coats. There was just enough moonlight to see my way around the furniture as I crossed toward the bathroom. The party was in full swing downstairs, and when I’d finally gotten fed up with watching Lucy fall all over Carly, I decided to take a break upstairs. Just as I reached a hand inside the bathroom, feeling along the wall for the light switch, the bedroom door behind me banged open and two women stumbled in. Almost by instinct, I ducked into the dark bathroom. And then I recognized Carly’s voice. I peeked around the corner and saw she was with Lucy.

  “Whoa, hey, in a hurry?” Carly laughed as Lucy threw her down on the bed.

  “God, yes,” Lucy gasped, tugging at Carly’s jeans. “I’ve wanted to taste you all night long.”

  Carly twisted her fingers in Lucy’s hair. “Come on up here and taste some of this, first.”

  Lucy climbed up Carly’s body and attacked her mouth. I considered trying to sneak out while they were groping each other, but I was afraid they would see me and I was embarrassed to admit I’d been watching this long. I was even more humiliated that I couldn’t look away. I knew what Lucy was tasting as she plunged her tongue into Carly’s mouth, how good Carly’s body felt moving beneath her. I imagined the heat and the small sounds Carly made in her throat, and I couldn’t stop staring, desperate for some glimpse of her face, terrified I would see her look at Lucy the way she’d looked at me once. With such stark honesty I’d wanted to weep.

  “I can’t wait,” Lucy groaned, pushing away and grabbing Carly’s legs. She twisted them until Carly was lying half on top of the pile of coats with her legs dangling over the side of the bed, and then she knelt, forcing Carly’s legs apart.

  When Lucy buried her face between Carly’s thighs, Carly pushed herself up on her elbows and looked down in the moonlight, watching Lucy make her come. I hid in the shadows and saw Carly shiver with each small movement of Lucy’s head. I clenched my hands, my body rigid, listening to Carly’s sobbing breaths, her broken moans of pleasure, knowing from the sounds that she would come soon. She struggled on the edge for long minutes, her chest heaving, her legs trembling.

  “Oh, I can’t get there,” Carly groaned, “and I need to so bad.”

  I’ll never know why I slid into a sliver of silver light, but she stared across the chasm into my face, her mouth opening wide in a silent scream of pleasure as her back arched and she came instantly. I slipped out of the room, her cries following me into the night. That night and every night thereafter.

  “I was in the bathroom,” I confessed.

  “You were really there?” Carly whispered.

  “Yes.”

  “I always thought I’d imagined it. Seeing you. You never said.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered. “I thought you might be mad.”

  “How could I be mad when you made me come?”

  “I wish,” I whispered.

  “You wish what?” she said, sounding confused.

  There was still time for me to laugh it off. There had always been time enough for that.

  “I wanted to be the one making you come.” I took a deep breath. “In fact, it’s one of my favorite fantasies when I want to get off.”

  “You think about me when you make yourself come?”

  “Sometimes, yeah. A lot of times, actually.”

  Carly laughed, a lazy throaty chuckle. “Wanna tell me what you think about when you’re rubbing your clit? Is that how you do it? You rub it until you get all wet and it gets stiff and you come?”

  “Mostly.” I was already wet and stiff, and hearing her talk about it made it impossible for me to think of anything else. I slid my hand into my sweatpants and touched the top of my clit with one finger. A jolt of pleasure shot down my legs, and I started a little tiny circular motion, just enough to keep the feeling going.

  “I like a vibrator myself,” Carly said. “Do you ever use one?”

  I flashed on an image of her lying on her bed, her legs spread wide, her head tilted back, making herself come on the vibrator. I rubbed my clit a little harder. “Not too often. It makes me come too fast.”

  I heard a thunk. “What was that?”

  “I’m getting out the vibrator I keep in the end table,” Carly said. “Sometimes when I’m reading and I get turned on, I need a quickie.”

  I groaned and switched to squeezing my clit.

  “So tell me what you think about me when you’re coming.”

  “When I first start getting my clit hard,” I said, “I think about you naked and about us kissing. I think about the way your tongue fills my mouth and me sucking on it.” I pushed a finger lower and stroked between my lips and over the underside of my clit. It ached in that need-to-come way. “While we’re kissing, I’m playing with your nipples.”

  “I love when you pull on them,” Carly whispered, her words slow and careful, as if she was concentrating very hard.

  “Are you teasing your clit with the vibrator?”

  “Uh-huh. Just for a second…every now and then.”

  I leaned my head back and masturbated my clit faster. The pressure was building in my pelvis, but I was good at holding off. I could push myself to the edge over and over, backing off each time until my whole body twitched and I’d come no matter how hard I tried to stop. “Don’t come until I get to the part where I’m licking you.”

  “I’ll wait,” Carly gasped. “Tell me what you’re doing to me.”

  “I’m playing with your clit until it’s as hard as it can get—”

  “You make me have to come so bad…” she whispered.

  “I pull your legs over the side of the bed and kneel on the floor between them.” I hooked my thumb over the top of my clit and held it with two fingers underneath, starting to jerk it slowly. “And then I swirl the tip of my tongue around the end of your clit.”

  Carly whimpered and I knew she had the vibrator right on her clit.

  “You sit up to watch me make you come, and I push my tongue lower where you’re sweet and hot. I want to stay there, inside you, but you can’t wait.”

  “Oh, soon.”

  “You rub against my face and tell me to lick…” My clit started buzzing and I knew I only had a few more seconds. “I usually come as soon as you tell me to lick…oh, fuck, Carly…I—”

  “Lick me…lick me hard…lick me so I come in your mouth.”

  I held my breath and stopped moving, every fiber focused on Carly. I saw her eyes, wide and stunned with pleasure, felt her body shudder, heard her voice catch on a cry of pleasure, and another, and then another. I forgot to breathe for so long, spots of light danced behind my eyelids, but still I waited. Waited for one more thing.

  Carly laughed. “Oh my God, that was incredible.”

  “Yes,” I whispered, caressing my clit until my hips rose and I flooded my hand with come, “it was.”

  “So,” Carly said teasingly, “was that better than the fantasy?”

  “Oh yeah,” I said, stretching my cramped legs. I toyed with my clit, keeping it hard, and wondered if I could get off again so soon.

  “You’re not the only one who’s had that fantasy, you know.”

  “Really?” I sat up and forgot about wanting to come again. She had that serious note in her voice and I needed to pay attention.

  “Really.
In fact, there’s a whole other part to it we didn’t get to yet. The part about what I do to you.”

  I waited for her to say more, and when she didn’t, I realized it was finally time for me to go first. “Maybe I should come over and you can tell me all about it.”

  “Maybe you should come over and I’ll show you.”

  I grinned. “What about my deadline?”

  “Vanessa will cut you some slack. You can write about all of this first thing in the morning.”

  “Yeah, but it’s supposed to be a fantasy, not real life.”

  “So? Who’s to know?”

  “Carly’s so right,” I thought as I pulled on my jeans. “Who’s to know?”

  About the Author

  Radclyffe has written over fifty romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters.

  She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance (Distant Shores, Silent Thunder) and erotica (Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA / FF&P Prism Award winner for Secrets in the Stone, an RWA FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW winner for Firestorm, an RWA Bean Pot winner for Crossroads, an RWA Laurel Wreath winner for Blood Hunt, and the 2016 Book Buyers Best award winner for Price of Honor. In 2014 she was awarded the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Award by the Lambda Literary Foundation. She is a featured author in the 2015 documentary film Love Between the Covers, from Blueberry Hill Productions.

  She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.

  Find her at facebook.com/Radclyffe.BSB, follow her on Twitter @RadclyffeBSB, and visit her website at Radfic.com.

  Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

  Complications by MJ Williamz. Two women battle for the heart of one. (978-1-62639-769-9)

  Crossing the Wide Forever by Missouri Vaun. As Cody Walsh and Lillie Ellis face the perils of the untamed West, they discover that love’s uncharted frontier isn’t for the weak in spirit or the faint of heart. (978-1-62639-851-1)

  Fake It Till You Make It by M. Ullrich. Lies will lead to trouble, but can they lead to love? (978-1-62639-923-5)

  Girls Next Door by Sandy Lowe and Stacia Seaman eds.. Best-selling romance authors tell it from the heart—sexy, romantic stories of falling for the girls next door. (978-1-62639-916-7)

  Pursuit by Jackie D. The pursuit of the most dangerous terrorist in America will crack the lines of friendship and love, and not everyone will make it out under the weight of duty and service. (978-1-62639-903-7)

  Shameless by Brit Ryder. Confident Emery Pearson knows exactly what she's looking for in a no-strings-attached hookup, but can a spontaneous interlude open her heart to more? (978-1-63555-006-1)

  The Practitioner by Ronica Black. Sometimes love comes calling whether you’re ready for it or not. (978-1-62639-948-8)

  Unlikely Match by Fiona Riley. When an ambitious PR exec and her super-rich coding geek-girl client fall in love, they learn that giving something up may be the only way to have everything. (978-1-62639-891-7)

  Where Love Leads by Erin McKenzie. A high school counselor and the mom of her new student bond in support of the troubled girl, never expecting deeper feelings to emerge, testing the boundaries of their relationship. (978-1-62639-991-4)

  Forsaken Trust by Meredith Doench. When four women are murdered, Agent Luce Hansen must regain trust in her most valuable investigative tool—herself—to catch the killer. (978-1-62639-737-8)

  Her Best Friend’s Sister by Meghan O’Brien. For fifteen years, Claire Barker has nursed a massive crush on her best friend’s older sister. What happens when all her wildest fantasies come true? (978-1-62639-861-0)

  Letter of the Law by Carsen Taite. Will federal prosecutor Bianca Cruz take a chance at love with horse breeder Jade Vargas, whose dark family ties threaten everything Bianca has worked to protect—including her child? (978-1-62639-750-7)

  New Life by Jan Gayle. Trigena and Karrie are having a baby, but the stress of becoming a mother and the impact on their relationship might be too much for Trigena. (978-1-62639-878-8)

  Royal Rebel by Jenny Frame. Charity director Lennox King sees through the party girl image Princess Roza has cultivated, but will Lennox’s past indiscretions and Roza’s responsibilities make their love impossible? (978-1-62639-893-1)

  Unbroken by Donna K. Ford. When Kayla and Jackie, two women with every reason to reject Happy Ever After, fall in love, will they have the courage to overcome their pasts and rewrite their stories? (978-1-62639-921-1)

  Where the Light Glows by Dena Blake. Mel Thomas doesn’t realize just how unhappy she is in her marriage until she meets Izzy Calabrese. Will she have the courage to overcome her insecurities and follow her heart? (978-1-62639-958-7)

  Escape in Time by Robyn Nyx. Working in the past is hell on your future. (978-1-62639-855-9)

  Forget-Me-Not by Kris Bryant. Is love worth walking away from the only life you've ever dreamed of? (978-1-62639-865-8)

  Highland Fling by Anna Larner. On vacation in the Scottish Highlands, Eve Eddison falls for the enigmatic forestry officer Moira Burns, despite Eve’s best friend’s campaign to convince her that Moira will break her heart. (978-1-62639-853-5)

  Phoenix Rising by Rebecca Harwell. As Storm’s Quarry faces invasion from a powerful neighbor, a mysterious newcomer with powers equal to Nadya’s challenges everything she believes about herself and her future. (978-1-62639-913-6)

  Soul Survivor by I. Beacham. Sam and Joey have given up on hope, but when fate brings them together it gives them a chance to change each other’s life and make dreams come true. (978-1-62639-882-5)

  Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden. When Margaret Beringer’s first love Courtney Carrington returns to their small town, she must grapple with their troubled past and fight the temptation for a very delicious future. (978-1-62639-867-2)

  The Girl on the Edge of Summer by J.M. Redmann. Micky Knight accepts two cases, but neither is the easy investigation it appears. The past is never past—and young girls lead complicated, even dangerous lives. (978-1-62639-687-6)

  Unknown Horizons by CJ Birch. The moment Lieutenant Alison Ash steps aboard the Persephone, she knows her life will never be the same. (978-1-62639-938-9)

  Divided Nation, United Hearts by Yolanda Wallace. In a nation torn in two by a most uncivil war, can love conquer the divide? (978-1-62639-847-4)

  Fury’s Bridge by Brey Willows. What if your life depended on someone who didn’t believe in your existence? (978-1-62639-841-2)

  Lightning Strikes by Cass Sellars. When Parker Duncan and Sydney Hyatt’s one-night stand turns to more, both women must fight demons past and present to cling to the relationship neither of them thought she wanted. (978-1-62639-956-3)

  Love in Disaster by Charlotte Greene. A professor and a celebrity chef are drawn together by chance, but can their attraction survive a natural disaster? (978-1-62639-885-6)

  Secret Hearts by Radclyffe. Can two women from different worlds find common ground while fighting their secret desires? (978-1-62639-932-7)

  Sins of Our Fathers by A. Rose Mathieu. Solving gruesome murder cases is only one of Elizabeth Campbell’s challenges; another is her growing attraction to the female detective who is hell-bent on keeping her client in prison. (978-1-62639-873-3)

  The Sniper’s Kiss by Justine Saracen. The power of a kiss: it can swell your heart with splendor, declare abject submission, and sometimes blow your brains out. (978-1-62639-839-9)

  Troop 18 by Jessica L. Webb. Charged with uncovering the destructive secret that a troop of RCMP cadets has been hiding, Andy must put aside her worries about Kate and uncover the conspiracy before it’s too late. (978-1-62639-934-1)

  Worthy
of Trust and Confidence by Kara A. McLeod. Agent Ryan O’Connor is about to discover the hard way that when you can only handle one type of answer to a question, it really is better not to ask. (978-1-62639-889-4)