Chapter 55: Dawn Devotion
The first thing Stephanie felt was the warmth of the sun through the floor-to-ceiling windows, painting gold stripes across the velvet duvet. The second was the heat of Veronica’s mouth closing around her nipple. A soft, sucking pressure that made her arch off the mattress before she was fully awake.
“Bonjour,” Stephanie murmured, her voice thick with sleep, her fingers instinctively threading into the dense curls of Veronica’s afro.
Veronica didn’t answer with words. Her tongue lashed the hardened peak, then traced a slow, wet circle around the areola before moving to its twin, giving it the same relentless attention. Her hands were already on Stephanie’s hips, holding her in place, a firm and familiar anchor.
“Morning sickness starts soon,” Veronica whispered, her breath hot against Stephanie’s sternum as she began to move down her body. “Let me worship this body while I still can.”
Her words were a low rumble, a promise and a threat all at once. She kissed a trail down Stephanie’s belly, her tongue dipping into her navel, making Stephanie gasp and squirm. Then she was there, spreading Stephanie’s thighs with an effortless push of her shoulders.
The first touch of her tongue to Stephanie’s clit was a bolt of pure lightning. Stephanie cried out, her back bowing off the bed. Veronica didn’t start slow. She feasted, her tongue flat and broad, licking through her folds with a greedy, wet noise before zeroing in on that hypersensitive nub.
“Oh, mon Dieu… Veronica…” Stephanie’s hands fisted in the sheets, her hips lifting off the mattress, seeking more pressure, more friction.
Veronica gave it to her. She sucked the clit into her mouth, applying a steady, rhythmic pressure that had Stephanie seeing stars. One of her hands slid down, two fingers sliding easily into Stephanie’s soaked entrance, pumping in and out with a slow, deep cadence that matched the work of her tongue.
“Come for me,” Veronica growled against her, the vibration setting every nerve ending on fire.
It was too much, too good. The orgasm ripped through Stephanie without warning, a raw, screaming release that left her trembling and boneless. But Veronica didn’t stop. Her fingers kept moving, her tongue didn’t cease its clever, torturous flicking.
“No… no more, I can’t…” Stephanie begged, her body oversensitive, every touch a fresh shock.
“You can,” Veronica insisted, her voice dark with desire. “And you will.” She curled her fingers inside her, pressing against that spongy spot deep within, and Stephanie came again, a shorter, sharper climax that wrenched a broken sob from her throat.
Veronica withdrew her fingers, bringing them to her own mouth to taste them, her green eyes locked on Stephanie’s wrecked expression. Then she lowered her head again, her tongue lapping at Stephanie’s throbbing, overstimulated clit until a third, weaker orgasm shuddered through her, leaving her a gasping, weeping mess on the rumpled sheets.
Only then did Veronica rise, her lips glistening, a look of savage satisfaction on her face. She kissed Stephanie’s forehead, her touch suddenly tender. “Breakfast,” she said, her voice back to its usual, composed depth. “You need to eat.”
Stephanie lay there for a long moment, catching her breath, the aftershocks still tingling through her limbs. She watched Veronica pull on a silk robe and pad out towards the kitchen, the scent of coffee soon mingling with the jasmine in the air.
This was it. The two weeks were up.
With shaky legs, Stephanie went into the massive marble bathroom. She pulled the small box from the drawer, her hands trembling. She peed on the stick, her heart hammering against her ribs. She set the timer on her phone, but she already knew. She had known for days. The fatigue, the tender breasts, the strange metallic taste in her mouth.
A mischievous, nervous idea sparked. She rummaged in her purse, pulling out the negative test she’d bought yesterday, just in case. Just for a moment of levity. She placed it on the counter and hid the real one in her palm.
Walking into the kitchen, she found Veronica at the stove, scrambling eggs with a focused intensity. The city sprawled behind her, a testament to her domain. Stephanie held out the negative test.
Veronica’s eyes flicked from the eggs to the plastic stick. Her whole body went still. The spatula clattered against the pan. She took the test, her long fingers turning it over, her face a carefully neutral mask, but Stephanie saw the light in her green eyes snuff out, replaced by a hollow, wounded shock.
“Oh,” Veronica said, her voice dangerously quiet. She placed the test on the counter as if it were contaminated. She turned back to the eggs, but her movements were stiff, robotic. The easy intimacy of minutes before had vanished, replaced by a chasm of silence.
“Veronica?” Stephanie said softly, her prank suddenly feeling cruel.
“It’s fine,” Veronica clipped out, not looking at her. “These things happen. We’ll… we can try again.” But her shoulders were rigid with a disappointment so profound it seemed to suck the air from the room.
Stephanie’s heart clenched. She stepped closer, sliding her arms around Veronica’s waist from behind, pressing her cheek against the silk of her robe. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It was a stupid joke.”
She opened her palm, revealing the second test, the one with two bold, pink lines.
Veronica froze. She turned slowly, her eyes dropping to Stephanie’s hand. The silence stretched, thick and heavy. Then, a tremor ran through her. She took the real test, her grip firm, her knuckles white.
She looked from the test to Stephanie’s face, her expression shifting from shock to a raw, blazing emotion that stole Stephanie’s breath.
“You little shit,” Veronica breathed, but there was no anger, only a dizzying, overwhelming relief. She grabbed Stephanie’s face, her thumbs stroking her cheeks, her green eyes glassy. “Don’t you ever fucking scare me like that again.”
Then she was kissing her, a deep, possessive, grateful kiss that tasted of salt and promise. When she pulled away, she rested her forehead against Stephanie’s, her voice a ragged whisper.
“Mine.”