I shook my head. “I’m here with my friend Lil.”
She looked disappointed and, for a minute, I was, too. I wondered if she was remembering the night we spent in her posh Manhattan apartment. I’d been pretty drunk-Lil’s Alec had bought drinks for us all night long in hopes that she would go home with him and I had taken full advantage of his generosity. He’d taken advantage of Lil later, she said, so I guess it was a win-win for everyone that night. I couldn’t help remembering what it felt like to kiss Catherine, how full and sweet her lips were, and thinking about kissing her reminded me of the taste of her pussy, completely shaved below with a fine landing strip of red hair at the top to prove, she said, that she was a real redhead.
“Listen, I have to pee.” I smiled apologetically, remembering Lil waiting for me at the bar.
“I’ll go with you.”
And that’s how we ended up downstairs in the bathroom, which looked like the Starship Enterprise and made me feel like I was peeing in outer space. It was crowded, as usual, as we pushed our way to the sinks to wash our hands. Catherine touched up her make-up, blinking fast to dry her mascara. Her eyes were big and blue, gorgeous, probably contacts-they were too bright not to be. But she was stunning.
“If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to be forced to take you home with me again.” She didn’t look away from the mirror as she said the words, but her smile was slow and mischievous.
“Don’t throw me in the briar patch,” I quipped, adjusting the top of my dress-it really was too low-cut for someone with my cup size. I felt like I was falling out of it constantly, but at least it had gotten us through the door.
“Don’t tempt me.” She did look at me then, her eyes darkening, her smile fading, and I gasped when she grabbed my shoulders, pressing me against the bathroom wall between two hand-dryers and kissing me. She tasted like sweet alcohol and cherries and I didn’t even care that women were moving around us to dry their hands, probably watching Catherine’s long, silky tanned thigh sliding between mine, her hand reaching under the front of my dress to caress the bare flesh of my breast and thumb my nipple.
“Cat,” I gasped when we parted, my thighs squeezing hers. I couldn’t help myself. My pussy was pounding, sodden. “What are you doing?”
“Tempting myself.” She stepped back, letting me go. I caught the eye of the woman next to me at the hand dryer. She was watching us, expressionless. Things like this happened in the 1 Oak bathroom a lot, though. I’d heard couples fucking in the stalls before, while a line of women waited to go.
“Let’s dance.” Catherine grabbed my hand, pulling me along. Saying ‘no’ to her was next to impossible.
I didn’t even think of Lil until we got back upstairs and I looked for her at the bar.
She’d promised to wait, but she wasn’t there.
“Come on!” Catherine led me and I followed, letting her rub up against me as we danced. She turned me around, pulling my behind into the saddle of her hips as if she were a guy getting ready to fuck me. I felt the press of her breasts against my bare back, the silky material of her dress brushing against me.
“I love your tattoo.” Her thumbs were there, at the small of my back. “I forgot how sexy it was.”
When her fingers began tracing the Celtic design, I shivered, telling myself I had to find Lil, that I wasn’t, under any circumstances, going to give in and go home with Catherine tonight. Both TJ and Ronnie had admonished me not to be too late, and I knew, just from the way they’d said it, they both wanted me in their bed. After Ronnie’s morning confession, the mood between them had gone from tense to loving as the day wore on, and by the time I was getting ready to go out, they were lazing together on the sofa, watching The Marriage Ref and laughing.
“I have to find my friend.” I said the words into Catherine’s ear as she turned me around. The music was like an aphrodisiac. My body moved all on its own, creating delicious friction between us.
“You’ll never find her in this crowd.” Catherine shook her head. “Text her!”
Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that? Probably because Catherine’s hands were petting my behind.
I unzipped my purse and found my phone, quickly typing in a text message to Lil.
WHERE R U?
Catherine didn’t let me alone, her long limbs twining with mine, moving me to the music. God, she was something else, so hungry. It was very hard to refuse her, which was probably why I never had. The other times I’d seen her here, I’d avoided her for just this reason. I admit, I felt guilty going home with her, knowing Ronnie and TJ were waiting for me. It didn’t make any sense, I knew. Technically, I was a single girl, and they were fine with me dating, encouraged me, in fact-but something in me still felt as if it were a betrayal. I didn’t understand it.
DOWNSTAIRS. WITH ALEK.
Well. I knew what that meant. I texted her back.
RU GOING HOME W HIM?
I gasped when Catherine began kissing the back of my neck, my bare shoulder, instantly hardening my nipples. I glanced around. Most people weren’t paying any attention to us, but a few were watching. It was quite a display of dirty dancing, the tall redhead and the little blond making out on the dance floor. And I couldn’t pretend we weren’t making out as she turned me around and kissed me fully on the mouth, her tongue softly touching mine, exploring. I moaned when she slipped a hand down to fondle my ass and clasp me tightly against her.
My phone, still in one of the hands wrapped around Cat’s neck, vibrated, and I broke the kiss, checking the text message over her shoulder.
IWANT2
“I want you.” Catherine’s didn’t have to say it. I knew-everyone on the dance floor knew. But she extended the invitation anyway. “Come home with me.”
Lil was going home with Alek. Ronnie and TJ were home and had each other. As much as I liked to think of myself as part of them, as part of the family, they were really a separate unit, a family of their own-and a growing one. Who did I have, really?
“Do you have a car?” Last time, we’d gone to her place in a limo, a luxury that both shocked and thrilled me.
Her smile widened. “Driver’s waiting outside.”
Over her shoulder, I saw Jim Carrey, still standing at the railing talking to his agent, but I could swear he was looking at us. Then, when he turned to look fully at me, his eyes met mine and I knew he’d been watching. He grinned, winked and gave me a thumbs up. I almost laughed out loud.
“Okay.” I acquiesced, and her eyes brightened as she took my hand, leading me through the throng of people.
I took the time to text Lil one-handed.
GO4IT!
And I told myself, as I swept through the club on Catherine’s arm, that I was just taking my own advice.
We stopped for a courage-drink at the bar before we left-two shots of tequila each. The bar in the limo was stocked, too, and she kept pouring, champagne this time, petting me the whole way. But I was nowhere near as drunk as I’d been the last time we showed up at her penthouse apartment, and I’d forgotten how intimidating her wealth was. I hadn’t even seen the view from her balcony before.
That night, we’d made it first to the immaculate white leather sofa, and then to her four-poster bed, where I’d woken up early and tried to sneak out. When she woke, looking as hung over as I felt but still gorgeous, her hair hanging in red waves over the side of the bed, asking where I was going, I told her, “I’ll take the subway home,” and took off.
“This place is… breathtaking.” I looked out across the terrace to the lights of the city, flickering like fireflies in the night. The whole place was alive and moving below us.