Veritas (30 page)

“Hear, hear!” Lauren murmured, lifting her glass to lightly tap it to Grey’s. She smiled at her as she took a sip, and sighed softly when she set her glass back onto the table. “Did I ever tell you about the time I made Yorkshire pudding soup?”

“I didn’t realize that was a thing.” Grey’s brow furrowed, and she shook her head. “I’ve heard of Yorkshire Pudding, but…”

“It’s not a thing,” Lauren interjected, shaking her head. “My first week in culinary school, we had to make Yorkshire pudding, which is just a million shades of awesome when done right.” She forked a another small bite of fish into her mouth and, when she had swallowed, continued, “So, Chef gives us the recipe, and sends us off to our stations. I still swear that I did everything right, but when it came out of the oven, even though the outsides were cooked, the middles weren’t. It was disgusting.”

“What happened?” Grey asked.

“To make the dish go wrong?”

“Yeah.”

Lauren shrugged. “Haven’t a clue. Probably pulled them a couple minutes early, but whatever the case, they were still soup. Chef cut into one and it poured onto the plate. I was mortified.”

“And yet you still went on to finish first in your class,” Grey pointed out.

“One mistake doesn’t have to ruin everything,” Lauren said. She sighed and shook her head. “Anyways, this sauce. Tell me how you made it. Since, you know, you banned me from the galley so I didn’t get to watch.”

After Grey explained her technique to Lauren, about which the redhead had a million questions,
half of which Grey did not see the point of even though she answered them as best she could, they moved onto easier topics. First cars. Worst date they had ever been on. Favorite holiday and, because Lauren loved food, favorite holiday dish. For as well as they knew each other physically, and for as comfortable as they were together, they were still learning about each other as people, and the easy back-and-forth helped fill in some of those gaps.

Grey was finishing reliving, in all its gory detail, the train wreck of her first serious relationship as they put the last of the dinner dishes away, and she arched a brow at Lauren as she used her heel to close the dishwasher door. “And she threw my MacBook at me—thank god I caught it—and that was it. So…your turn.”

“I’m still friends with my first serious girlfriend.” Lauren smiled at the look of surprise on Grey’s face and reached for her glass of wine. “We dated for pretty much my entire freshman year. We met at a party at NYU—my roommate at CIA was from New York, and her best friend from high school was at NYU and invited us to a thing her dorm was doing. Rachel was a theatre student there, and we just…hit it off. Things were good. Simple, as they are when you’re nineteen, but good. Even though she was only a freshman as well, Rachel auditioned for and got a lead in a musical on Off-Off. That started taking up all of her time and things with us just…fizzled. No harm, no foul. It just didn’t work.”

“Well, that’s disappointing,” Grey teased. She topped off their glasses and tipped her head at the salon doors. “Go out to the tramps?”

Lauren nodded. “Sure.”

“So…is she still on Broadway?” Grey asked as she stared toward the front of the boat.

“She won a Tony last year,” Lauren said with a smile.

“Damn.”

Lauren chuckled. “Yeah. So...anyways, that’s it. No real drama. Sorry.”

“You can make it up to me,” Grey said, winking at Lauren as she took the glass of wine from her hand and set it down on the side of the boat. “Dance with me.”

“There’s no music,” Lauren pointed out as Grey stepped into her, the brunette’s left hand slipping possessively around her waist.

“Don’t need it,” Grey whispered. She took Lauren’s left hand in her right and
stepped into her, tucking their joined hands between them. Grey shifted her weight to her right foot, then her left, and smiled when Lauren naturally followed. “See?”

“I do.” Lauren pressed in closer, leaning her forehead against Grey’s as they swayed to the music of the breeze tumbling around them. Her heartbeat slowed to match the even cadence of their movement, and she closed her eyes as she soaked it all in. The strength of Grey’s hand wrapped around her own, the firm press of
Grey’s body, the feeling of Grey’s breath landing so lightly upon her lips. They moved in small, uneven circles across the trampoline, and Lauren let out a shuddering sigh when Grey’s lips landed on her own.

They stopped moving altogether as their kisses became slower, deeper. Grey released her hold on Lauren’s hand to reach up and lightly drag the backs of her nails up the curve of the redhead’s jaw before cradling it gently in her hand. She brought her left hand up to mirror her right, her thumbs stroking softly over Lauren’s cheeks as she poured herself into the kiss.

Lauren whimpered when Grey pulled back by a fraction, warm breath cascading in quiet pants against her lips. She lifted her chin and recaptured Grey’s lips, eager to taste them again. She slid her hands over Grey’s back, her right dropping low enough to grab a firm cheek as she pressed her left between winged scapulae and tried to draw her in closer.

Grey used her tender hold on Lauren’s face to keep the raging fire that seemed to perpetually burn between them at bay. It would be so easy to just give in to it, to strip them both bare and fuck until exhaustion made it impossible to move, but she wanted more than that. She teased Lauren’s lower lip with her tongue as she trailed her hands slowly down Lauren’s throat, lingering to feel the heavy beat of Lauren’s pulse against her fingertips. Her fingers bumped over the ridges of Lauren’s collarbones and swept around the swell of her breasts before skating across the expanse of her abdomen to dip beneath the hem of her shirt. “May I?” she asked as she lifted the shirt by a fraction, already certain of the answer, but wanting to hear it just the same.

“Yes.”

Lauren’s voice was soft, breathy, and Grey smiled as she inched the shirt higher, her fingers following their previous path back up Lauren’s body until she was able to push the shirt off over her head. She pulled back to look at Lauren as her arms dropped, the shirt fluttering from her fingertips to land forgotten at their feet. Lauren’s skin
was radiant in the soft light of moon, her naked chest lifting and falling with each breath, her nipples growing hard as the cooler night air swept over them. “You’re perfect.”

“Hardly,” Lauren muttered, shaking her head as she reached for Grey. She removed the brunette’s tee quickly, and sighed when Grey stepped back into her. “Much better.” She ran her hands over Grey’s sides and pulled her in closer.

Their kisses remained deep and unhurried as they undressed each other, each of them taking the time to stroke and caress newly revealed skin before they pushed more clothing off and away. Grey used her body to guide Lauren down onto the mat, their lips never breaking contact as she stretched out on top of her. A shiver rolled down her spine when Lauren’s nails scratched a light line down the length of her back, and she sighed as she dipped her head to kiss her again softly.

The
blatant emotion in Grey’s kiss made Lauren’s head spin, and she drew a ragged breath when Grey’s lips left her own to blaze a languid trail down her throat. She drew random circles on Grey’s back as the brunette moved lower, sure hands cupping her breasts, nimble fingers rolling and tweaking one nipple while Grey tongued and sucked at the other.

After lavishing attention on each breast in turn, Grey moved lower, watching the way goosebumps erupted in the wake of every slow, wet kiss she pressed to Lauren’s skin. She paused only for a moment to flick her tongue in Lauren’s belly button before continuing on, her fingertips sliding slowly down Lauren’s sides
the lower she went. Grey looked up at Lauren’s face as she nuzzled her thigh, and her heart skipped a beat as she leaned in further, letting her breath play over damp, swollen folds as she moved slowly closer to where they both wanted her to be. The gasp that escaped Lauren at the fist light swipe of her tongue made Grey’s stomach clench, and she groaned as she wrapped her hands around Lauren’s legs and pulled herself in closer.

“Oh, yes,” Lauren moaned, her voice low and rumbling with desire as she rolled her hips
up against Grey’s mouth. The feeling of Grey’s fingers digging firmly into her thighs, pulling her open wider, and the soft flick of her tongue was electric, and Lauren’s eyes fluttered closed as she reached down to comb her fingers through Grey’s hair.

Grey worked slowly, methodically, lapping lightly at Lauren’s clit and then sucking it into her mouth before pulling back and running her tongue through the length of her. The soft sighs and whimpers raining down on her from above were like a symphony, and she greedily wished that it would never end as she let her hands wander, stroking every inch of skin within her reach as she guided Lauren closer and closer to the edge.

The gentle affection in every electric swipe of Grey’s tongue or fingertips made Lauren’s head spin, a fog of feelings and sensation swirling inside her mind that made cogent thought all but impossible. All she could focus on was Grey’s touch. The warm, firm press of her tongue, the slightly calloused hands wrapped lightly around her hips, holding her gently in place as release swept through her in surprisingly gentle waves.

A quiet moan tumbled from Grey’s lips at the feeling of Lauren coming against her tongue, and she eased her middle finger inside her, moving in long, slow strokes as Lauren trembled with her release. When the final spasm eased, Grey looked up in
to Lauren’s eyes that burned bright in the moonlight, and smiled as she added a second finger to her thrusts. “Good?”

“So good,” Lauren purred, her hips lifting to meet each slow, deep thrust of Grey’s fingers.

“Good,” Grey whispered as she curled her fingers and dragged them heavily over hidden ridges, making Lauren gasp and twitch. She smirked as she dipped her chin and sucked Lauren’s swollen clit between her lips, teasing the bud with the tip of her tongue as she held Lauren’s hips down with her free hand.

Even though her body was still pulsing with the aftereffects of her first orgasm,
the heavenly combination of Grey’s mouth and fingers soon had Lauren rushing headlong into a second. Her hips rocked wildly against Grey’s mouth as she sought that perfect rhythm that would send her flying, and she was only vaguely aware of the desperate words falling from her lips as her body strained to reach that euphoric edge. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream as she curled in on herself, her body wrapping around Grey as it exploded in pleasure, and she could hear nothing but the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears as the first violent spasm eased and she sank limply back onto the mat.

Grey looked up at the feeling of Lauren’s hand tugging at her hair, and she obediently moved higher, dragging her lips and chin over the plane of Lauren’s stomach, leaving a trail of sticky wetness in her wake. She smiled as she hovered above Lauren, and sighed as she dipped down to claim her lips in a deep, lingering kiss.

The feeling of Lauren sucking on her tongue made Grey’s nipples tighten and her clit jump, and she groaned as her body remembered that it had not yet found its peak. Unable to ignore the throbbing between her legs any longer, Grey shifted above Lauren, using her right knee to push the redhead’s left leg out wider as she lifted her hips higher and then canted them down into Lauren.

“Oh god, again?” Lauren whimpered, even as she curled her hips to meet Grey’s. Slick warmth covered her, and she bit her lip
as Grey ground down into her.

Grey rolled her hips slowly, her desire spiking at the feeling of Lauren’s arousal mixing with her own, and
she let out a sharp gasp when she finally found her mark. Her back bowed as she dropped her head, and she smiled at Lauren as she began rolling her hips against her in a hard, steady rhythm. “Okay?”

Lauren nodded. “Yes.” She reached up and wrapped her right hand around the back of
Grey’s neck. “You feel so good.”

“Lauren,” Grey moaned, her eyes fluttering shut. A part of her wanted to draw things out like she had for Lauren, but her body, already well past the limits of restraint, had other ideas.

“I know,” Lauren murmured. Though it was too dark for her to see the flash of ecstasy that she knew would flare in Grey’s eyes when the brunette came, Lauren still gave the back of her neck a squeeze and whispered, “Look at me, Grey.”

Grey forced her eyes open and her breath caught in her throat when her gaze locked onto Lauren’s. Already so perilously close to release, the visual connection seemed to tug at her very
soul, anchoring her in that moment to the woman spread beneath her. Her hips continued to rock without any conscious effort as she stared into Lauren’s eyes that reflected the moon and the stars back up at her. “Lauren,” Grey breathed, the name falling from her lips like a prayer as she raced toward her climax. “Oh, Lauren.”

The emotion in Grey’s voice made Lauren clench, and she whimpered as her left hand shot out to latch onto
Grey’s hip. The promise of a third orgasm thrummed in her veins, just waiting to explode, and she moaned as Grey’s breath fell in hot, ragged pants against her lips. “Please don’t stop. God, Grey, please don’t stop.”

Grey chuckled and nodded. “I won’t,” she promised, rolling her hips down harder for emphasis. Tension coiled low in her hips, threatening to snap, and she licked her lips as she stared down at Lauren. “Are you close?”