Try hard, p.32
Try Hard, page 32
I desperately wanted to know her favourite stroke in swimming—what made her muscles work the way they did? What did she look like gliding through the pool like she was born to be there? I couldn’t wait to get into swimming with her. I knew how, but it wasn’t something I did very frequently. I looked forward to that changing.
She broke the kiss, looking up at me with sultry eyes as her hands found my hips and she walked me back to the chair. I went willingly, barely able to breathe with how much I wanted her.
She straddled one of my thighs this time, lowering herself down in a way that ensured my legs stayed spread. “Am I too heavy like—”
“Nope. Not even a little bit.”
She smiled, adoration sparkling in her eyes as she looked at me. One of her hands trailed up the inside of the thigh she wasn’t straddling, sending the most delicious shudder through my whole body.
“Ophelia,” I gasped, almost whining.
“Archer,” she said, her voice low and teasing, and just about murdering me on the spot. “Hands, please.”
I didn’t even need to think. We’d talked about this. I knew the drill. They shot up over my head, coming together in the spot she was reaching for. She looked absolutely delighted, like she was regaining a power someone had stolen from her long ago.
She leaned in, brushing her nose against mine, and I was painfully aware of the position of her fingers on my thigh, so close to my clit, her lips so close to mine, her hand around my wrists, pinning them to the door behind me, and the heat of her against my other thigh. It was blissful torture.
“I love you,” she said. So clear, so real, so everything I’d ever dreamed of.
“I love you too. My Ophelia.”
I felt, rather than saw, her smile. “Can I touch you?”
“Yes. Absolutely. Yes. Please.”
She let out the smallest of joyous laughs, but she didn’t leave me hanging. Her fingers found my clit shyly but purposely. If I’d had more focus I might have wondered how she’d managed that, but all I could do was moan loudly against her lips and spread my legs wider.
Like she’d been designed for me and me alone, she worked her fingers over me, noting and responding to every single cue my body gave her. I’d thought of her as a book I desperately wanted to read. If a manual on me existed, she must have memorised every single word. I’d never had sex like it. And she hadn’t needed to worry about how long it had been. She knew exactly how to read me.
My entire body bucked and shuddered as I felt the pleasure curling in my stomach, building up to the crashing orgasm I knew was coming and coming fast. I hadn’t lied when I’d told her her mere presence would be enough to get me close. Her fingers on my clit were another level entirely.
There was no chance I was moving my arms from over my head, but the closer I got, the more unruly my movements became, the more they strained against her grasp. I’d never been held in place before. I liked it. A lot.
And, the closer I got, the wetter I could feel Ophelia getting against my thigh, and that was more than hot enough to push me over the edge. When she leaned in to trail kisses along my jaw and began writhing against my thigh, I knew I wasn’t going to last long.
“Ophelia,” I warned, unable to say anything more.
She hummed and nodded, still kissing my jaw. “I want to make you come, Eve.”
“Oh, god,” I barely got out before the places where we were connected became too much. Like spots of glowing light and heat, my brain scrambled to focus on all of them at the same time, on Ophelia herself, so beautiful and perfect and sexy, grinding on my thigh, playing with my clit. And the balls of tension in my stomach and my chest became too much, exploding hypnotically, surging out to every part of me, all of it concentrated on where she was touching me.
My head was spinning, my skin fizzing, my ears buzzing. I’d never come so hard in my life.
I was gasping and blissful, completely spent and satisfied.
Ophelia stopped moving, loosening her grip on my wrists.
My eyes snapped to hers. “Oh, no you don’t.”
She laughed. “What? Eve, you just… Don’t you want a minute?”
“No. Absolutely not.” I chased her lips with my own, revelling in the way her grip tightened again as we kissed. “Come on my thigh, Ophelia. I’m begging you.”
She kissed me again, harder, more desperate and took up her movements again.
My thigh was slick and hot, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
She adjusted herself, reaching up with her other hand, and our fingers intertwined as she chased her own orgasm. She kept me pinned to the wall, but I stroked her flawless skin with my thumbs in time with her movements.
Her gasps became more and more ragged, her movements increasingly desperate and uncoordinated. She leaned her forehead against mine as she rode my thigh, and I kept my eyes glued on her face, watching the flush on her cheeks and across her nose, the way her eyes snapped shut as she got close. She had no idea how beautiful she was, but I did. And I drank in every little bit of her as she shuddered against me, moaning gorgeously as her orgasm pulsed through her body.
Once it was over, she slumped against me, her arms dropping and wrapping around my body, and I followed suit, taking her in a gentle embrace and basking in the glory of loving her.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Fia
In some ways, it had been a weird day. In others, it had been a perfect day. Waking up in Eve’s arms, having breakfast together, watching the world from her incredible balcony… The flip side was what happened when that world intruded into our content little bubble.
She’d posted her statement at nine, right after we’d had breakfast. Andra had approved it with no changes. Rohanna had sent multiple, emphatic messages that were basically her yelling support via text. And then the rest of the world had happened.
I was staying off social media, but it was impossible to be unaware of what was happening when Eve had a whole team monitoring it.
Now, we were sitting on a video call with Andra and Rohanna, back in Eve’s office, and the only messages I’d replied to so far were those from my parents and Sophie.
“Much as we expected,” Andra said, her tone serious in a way that implied she didn’t come in another tone, “it’s igniting quite the dialogue online. Two sides taking shape very naturally—those who think famous people deserve privacy, and those who think that, by being in the public eye, you sacrifice any right to basic respect and dignity. Thankfully, the supportive side is currently winning out.”
“Too right it is,” Rohanna shot, in between bites of a fruit salad she was eating.
Andra continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted, even though Eve grinned. “And, of course, the fact that Ophelia isn’t in the public eye is adding credence to that right to privacy, particularly given how brutal some of the commentary has been. So, all that is to say, there are currently far more voices shouting down the loud, intrusive commenters, and a larger debate is being started again.”
Eve caught the way I tilted my head, wondering at that phrasing. She stroked gently over my thigh, where her hand had been resting the entire call. “These discussions come up routinely. Just the cycles of online discourse. Whether or not this treatment of celebrities and their partners is acceptable isn’t the only one that does the rounds, but it isn’t a new thing. They’ll talk about it now, but then it’ll fade away, and, when someone else’s partner gets discovered or people are thirsting after someone new, they’ll forget this ever happened and boundaries will be crossed again.”
“Parasocial relationships are a weird trip,” I said quietly.
“You’re telling me.”
“We’ve received word that it’s being picked up by a few news outlets and will be discussed by some of the late night shows, but I think you’ll be most interested to know that Taylor Freely has reached out to ask if you’d like to do her podcast again, specifically to talk about this. Though, of course, there will be the opportunity to plug your latest business venture.”
“Yeah, get us that free marketing,” Rohanna quipped.
I could see why she and Eve were such good friends, and, despite the fact that we were not particularly similar personalities, I was looking forward to getting to know her a little more.
“Interesting,” Eve agreed, considering for a moment.
Taylor’s podcast was one Eve had done a few times over the years. They had a good rapport and she wasn’t the type of interviewer who seemed to trick her guests. However, she was also the host of the very same podcast that had started the whole ‘Daddy Eve’ thing. It wasn’t Taylor’s fault, but it was the epicentre of that whole experience.
“Yeah,” Eve said eventually. “Have her send the details over. We can talk about the whole daddy thing too. Might as well finally discuss that in more detail now I’m not worried it’ll ruin my career.”
“Are you going to tell them to stop calling you that?” Rohanna asked, eyebrows raised.
Eve shrugged as she shook her head. “Probably not entirely. Like, most of the time, it’s whatever, but I would like to talk about how sexual people get with it, and how they think that makes other sexual comments or requests acceptable. You know, just the whole conversation about how being in the public eye does not make personal boundaries non-existent.”
Rohanna nodded, a small, impressed smile appearing on her face. She got it. Eve had been dealing with this stuff for a long time. It was amazing that she was finally able to talk about it and address the parts that made her uncomfortable.
I stroked the back of Eve’s hand, every bit as impressed with her as Rohanna was—as I’d always been.
“Great,” Andra said, making notes. “I’m sure she’ll want to move quickly on this, so I imagine I’ll have details for you by the end of the day.”
“Sounds good.” Eve looked at me as she answered. She was tired of this meeting, of the business of having to navigate the press and her boundaries again.
It was entirely understandable. Sure, she’d played sports professionally and she’d taken off in the media—especially social media—in a perfect cocktail of timing and events, but, at the end of the day, she was just a woman trying to live her life. She was a human who was impressive and magnetic, friendly and talented, and beautiful. It wasn’t hard to see why the fans had wanted more of her, and why the media had followed, but I wasn’t enjoying this glimpse into the dark side of that attention. And, of course, it was the small fraction of people who didn’t understand privacy or boundaries that were the loudest and required such a coordinated approach to deal with.
I didn’t envy Andra’s job.
“I’ll leave you to it for now then,” Andra said, looking up at the screen again. “Ophelia, it was nice to meet you. I look forward to doing so again under more pleasant circumstances, but don’t worry, we’ll get this thing taken care of and the attention will go away.”
I nodded once. “Understood. Thank you. Let me know if there’s anything else you need from me.”
“Don’t worry, she totally will,” Eve said, nudging me gently.
They exchanged a few more pleasantries and Andra left the call. Once she was gone, Rohanna’s smile shifted and became more amused.
Eve relaxed back in her seat, moving her arm to wrap around me and pull me closer into her side. “Don’t start now,” she warned with a laugh.
Rohanna let out a startled sound. “I didn’t say a thing!”
“You were about to.”
“Hey, you finally get the love of your life and I get introduced to her in a crisis meeting. The least you can do is let me be a good friend and admire how happy you are.”
“We’ll be happier when this whole thing is over.”
“Oh, sure. But it really says something that, even in the middle of all this, you’re so happy.”
I looked at Eve. She did seem blissful. Annoyed by the nonsense, but that was all external. Internally, she seemed content in a way I’d never seen her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was the exact same way I felt. And for the exact same reasons. Twenty years was a long time to wait for someone.
Without even thinking about it—as natural as breathing—I leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Eve’s lips. I’d never really engaged in PDA before her, but touching her, kissing her, loving her just came naturally, and I didn’t want Eve’s best friend to be another person we had to hide ourselves around.
“Oh, my god,” Rohanna squealed as Eve and I pulled apart. “I’m going to die at how cute you two are together.”
“Please don’t,” I said, not looking away from Eve. “We don’t have the bandwidth for more mess right now.”
They both laughed, and it was nice feeling like I belonged with Eve’s friends. Just like with her family, I was now slotting into life with her friends. Maybe it hadn’t been so wild to imagine all the ways we’d make it work back when I was still wishing I got to be the one loving her. There we were, making it happen.
“So,” Rohanna said, focusing on me, “how’s it been on your end? Eve said something about your bosses wanting to… cash in on your newly famous status.”
I scrunched my face up in a grimace. “Indeed. I’m quitting though. Already started working on my resignation letter. I have no interest in working for a company that sees me only as Eve Archer’s girlfriend they can exploit.”
“What are you going to do instead?”
I tried not to show how much my stomach clenched at that question. Ordinarily, I wasn’t the kind of person to jump ship without having something solid lined up to land on. This time, I had no fucking clue. But I’d figure it out.
I let out a steady breath as Eve kissed my shoulder reassuringly. “I don’t know yet. But, I have a strong CV and a decent number of industry contacts, so I’ll figure something out.”
Rohanna lit up as she bit her lip, eyes bouncing from me to Eve and back again. “Okay. So. I might… have a lead.”
“What?” Eve asked as I simply stared.
She wiggled her eyebrows, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. “The person I’ve been… seeing is pretty high up over at Intentional Traveller—I don’t know how well you know it?”
“Really well,” I said slowly. It was actually my favourite travel magazine to read in recent years.
“Great! Well, yeah, she’s… kind of a massive fan of your work and has secretly been hoping she’d get to meet you since she found out you and Eve are dating—”
“So glad she knows so much about us when you won’t even tell me her name,” Eve said, laughing and relaxed.
Rohanna shot her a look before continuing. “So, if you wanted an introduction, I’m sure she’d be desperate to hire you. Honestly, I think she’s been trying to figure out how to headhunt you for years…”
I hadn’t been looking for Eve to have a contact that picked my professional life back up for me. I’d honestly have rather done it alone, just so she knew I wasn’t using her. But this simply seemed to be the stars aligning in a weirdly coincidental but wonderful way. So, I nodded. “Yeah. Not for a few days, but, once this whole thing settles, I’d actually love to meet her and see if it would be a good fit.”
Deep down, I already suspected it would be. Intentional Traveller was just that—intentional. It aligned with so many things that I already worked into my writing. They’d probably be a great place to land.
Rohanna clapped her hands together. “Amazing! She’s going to be delighted.”
Eve was beaming at me but she paused to look at her best friend. “I thought you said she was a vendor you met through work.”
“Oh. Right.” For the first time, Rohanna seemed embarrassed. “I think I said through some business, right?”
“Unless you were buying us a business article in a travel magazine, I’m failing to see how that’s relevant.”
“Ugh. Fine. I met her at a mixer, but it was one I’d been invited to through a work contact. I just… didn’t want to get too much into it, have you figure out who she was, and ruin everything.”
Eve pulled me closer. “Okay, yeah. I can see your point. But I’m going to be just as annoying over you two as you are about me and Ophelia.” She paused and looked at me. “Are you going to have the mystery woman call you Fia?”
I breathed a laugh. “Yes.”
“Okay, great. I love Andra, but I was ready to fight her for the rights to your name.”
“You don’t have to worry,” I said, kissing her cheek.
“God, you’re so sickening. I love it,” Rohanna laughed.
“Whatever you say now, I’ll be saying back to you soon enough.”
“Technically, I’d need to pine over her for twenty-odd years to reach the levels of ridiculousness you two did.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep talking. Just make sure your mystery girlfriend gets my girlfriend’s name right.”
My stomach swooped. How long was it going to take for me to get used to her calling me that? Especially to other people? Those two decades really did make this whole thing something else…
Rohanna laughed. “Will do. Don’t want you murdering her now that I’ve finally found someone I like.”
Eve laughed. “So long as she’s not hurting Ophelia, she won’t be at the top of my murder list.”
“There’s something deeply unsettling about someone so friendly having a murder list.”
“Gotta keep you on your toes.”
“Right…” She shook her head. “Well. On that note, I’m going to go, and let you head to your match. Hopefully you’ll get that anger out on the pitch and I won’t have to worry about a far more serious crisis call tomorrow.”
I shot Rohanna a look. “I’ll keep her on the straight and narrow.”
“I’ve never been close to straight where you’re concerned,” Eve whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
We didn’t have time for sex before the match, but I felt like maybe we’d need to come back here afterwards. We’d been planning to go back to Eddlesworth, but… maybe we’d get to come here and celebrate…
