Page 51 of Push & Pull
Chapter 18
WasPetrasupposedtoknow what to do with a paranoid heiress who saw subversive shadows in every corner of the room? Or was she expected to dump Simone on the street with nothing but her luggage and prepaid cell phone?
Why would I abandon someone as cute as her?Simone had the occasional stick stuck up her ass, but Petra was adept at removing them. Starting in the elevator, where her answer to settling Simone’s nerves was to press her against the wall and offer a kiss. Yet Simone had to come get it – even if it meant bending down her head so their lips more equably met.
“You stay in this place often, don’t you?” Petra kept one eye on the changing numbers in the elevator control panel while she lazily undid Simone’s belt.Rather sad she changed into casual clothes before we left earlier.Simone in that pantsuit was a sight to behold, all the way down to the loose-fitting camisole that advertised everything Petra had submerged her face in the past two nights. “How often do you bring a girl up to your room? Be honest with me.”
“Wouldn’t the better question be how often Istaywith someone here? I’m usually alone. You’re the special one right now.”
Petra wouldn’t allow that to go to her head. Besides, their floor was about to arrive. Best to get her hands out of Simone’s pants before someone caught them getting naughty in the elevator. “You didn’t answer the question.”
The doors dinged open. Petra was the first to step out, with Simone lagging behind her.
“You expect me to know?”
Petra had the key to their suite out before they arrived at their door. For a sharp, staggering moment, she remembered Simone’s tale of someone trying to break into their room the night before. The police and manager had been involved, so it clearly happened. Yet what about in the bathroom? Was that real, or had Simone conjured it in her paranoid mind?
To be on the safe side, Petra tapped her key against the door and stepped back when it opened. There was no one inside.
“I expect you to have a good idea.” Petra offered her a wan smile as she donned the mantle of a woman who made others feel safe and wanted. Because that was what Simone needed right now – someone who wouldn’t leave her side for the rest of the night.How quickly things form between two people.Three nights ago, Petra would have never guessed she would become this lady’s keeper, never mind a constant companion in her beds up the Eastern Seaboard. “After all, you’re the type to keep score.”
“No, I’m not.” Simone took off her sweater and hung it up in the front closet. Petra wandered into the sitting area and helped herself to one end of the couch.Where I would be sleeping if we finally figured out we don’t go together.For now, though, Petra was in Simone’s good graces. To the point she already knew her better than any of her Zeta Nu sisters, whoever they were. “I’m the kind to live in a hazy fog of one forgettable woman after another.”
Simone joined Petra on the couch, where they remained on opposite ends. Petra had yet to take off her jacket. Something about it protected her from how much her skin ached to touch Simone’s.
“Could be hot, you know.” Petra propped her arm against the back of the couch, feet pulling out of her shoes as her ankles met Simone’s one-quarter of the way down the couch. “Sounds like the kind of fantasy to come true in one of those clubs.”
Simone sighed. “I’m a member of that kind of club in New York City. Believe it or not, it was my father’s membership before he passed away. The club passed it on to me since he had paid for three years.”
“You’re… kidding.” Petra almost hooted her words. “Yourfather?”
“Yes. I think that’s where he met my stepmother. She used to work the club looking for men to be her sugar daddy.”
Petra shook her head. “And she landed your dad.”
“It’s not a bad club. Been there more than once looking for meaning in my life.”
“I highly doubt I have been there. You’ll have to take me when we get there tomorrow.”
“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll have all of tomorrow evening off.” Petra sat up on her knees, taking whatever height she could get over Simone.She likes to feel small, doesn’t she?Something Simone Evans probably didn’t get to indulge in that often.You look at her and assume she’s a top. Or so vanilla that you’re constantly rolling around in bed pretending you’re going to get on top of her for a second and that’s it.Perhaps Petra had gleaned more than most people did, and that was only in three days of knowing Simone.Daria Marseille. You have to be kidding me.Daria would never give Simone what she wanted.
Petra, on the other hand…
…She was having a good bit of fun that week, wasn’t she?
“We can do whateveryouwant tomorrow night.” Petra loomed over Simone, who immediately melted into her end of the couch. As she pushed herself prostrate against leather cushions, Petra finally shirked the jacket from her torso and tossed it onto the empty coffee table only a few feet away. Her hands soon landed on the arm of the couch propping up Simone’s head. “I’ve got work the day after that, but…” No, she didn’t want to think about that. This whole week had been her trying to forget what she did when her uncle needed money from men who owed it to him. “After that? I don’t pretend to know what’s going to happen with you.”
Simone traced the neckline of Petra’s red tank top. “I thought you were taking me home.”
“Yes. I’ll take you home. Then take you in your own bed.”
Long lashes fluttered shut as Simone’s finger hooked against cotton. “It’s been a damn long time since someone gave it to me the way I like inmy ownbed.”
I bet it’s been a long time since you felt lots of things, princess.“I can go where I want, for the most part.” Petra took that hand burrowing its way into her shirt and pinned it above Simone’s head. “Work takes me on the road a lot, but I like having a home base to come back to. Right now, that’s near Chicago, but only because that’s where I grew up. I’m not, like, beholden to it or anything.” What was she doing? Implying that she might move out east to be close to Simone? An heiress – with issues, no less – who could have any half-decent woman she wanted? A woman Petra had known for two whole days?I mean, she’s friends with Hailey…So far, Petra had no complaints about what she shared with the woman who kept to herself in the passenger seat of a modern Volvo. “Maybe it’s time for a change of scenery. Ooh, I’ll tell my uncle to piss off and get a job thatdoesn’tdrag me on the road.” Or endanger her ability to stay out of jail. “I hear most of retail and food service is hiring.”
That had been a joke, but Simone wasn’t laughing. “You barely know me,” she said.
