Page 69 of Better in Black
Anna raised her eyebrows at Ari.
“It’s not Tessa,” Ari said.
“I know,” Anna said. “I just wanted to see your reaction. Er, could it be an evil magic of some kind? Maybe a Greater Demon?”
“A Greater Demon?” Ari said, smiling. “Are you suggesting that in your romantic past there is a Greater Demon? Perhaps more than one?”
“Is this really the time for teasing?”
“Is there a time not for teasing?” returned Ari. “Not in this flat, in my experience.”
“I have never had an assignation,” Anna said, “with a Greater Demon.”
“It doesn’t have to be someone who’s jealous,” Ari said. “It could be someone who’s angry. I agree the likelihood is warlock or faerie magic, whatever the motive. But Emerald remains the first suspect. We should confront her before this escalates any further.”
“And if she isn’t involved?” Anna said.
“Then we must find a second suspect.”
Anna glanced over at the clock on the mantel. “Well, we have no idea where she might be at this time of day. But once the Hell Ruelle is going again in a few hours, she’ll surely turn up. Rumor has it she’s deep in the hole with the house and trying to win back the money for her debts.”
“Where did you pick that up?” Ari said, incredulous. “You’ve barely left the flat for a week.”
Anna shrugged. “You know. Rumor.” She let out a breath—now that their next move was clear, Ari saw her shoulders relax a bit. She sat back against the soft, overstuffed cushions of the sofa and said, in a gentler voice, “It means quite a bit to me, you know.”
“What?”
“That you never doubted me. Never thought that false Anna was me.”
Ari smiled. “As I said, she looked like you, she sounded like you, but she behaved nothing like you.”
Anna opened her eyes and turned to look at Ari, her blue eyes wide and searching. Ari felt the thrum deep in her stomach that almost always accompanied looking directly into Anna’s eyes. “It is no small thing for you to see past the surface of me, Ari,” Anna said. Ari began to speak and Anna put a finger to her lips to forestall her. “So few have ever really seen me. A few of my friends…Christopher…and now you. You more than anyone. You know me in a way nobody else has.”
There was a tinge of melancholy, Ari thought, behind the tender words.
“Your surface is lovely,” Ari said, giving the finger at her lips a small kiss, “but your heart is lovelier. That is the reason for all this fuss, you know. All the nonsense is because you are so easy to love.”
A tiny smile quirked the corner of Anna’s mouth. “Is that why all the fuss? I thought it was because so many women in London had never been pleasured properly before they met me.”
“Oh, it is not just London,” Ari said. “I believe the problem is worldwide.”
Anna’s hand was on Ari’s knee; now it drifted easily upward, under Ari’s skirts, along the outside of her thigh. It came to rest just below where Ari’s bloomers were tied, and as Anna’s fingers lazily played with the ends of the cotton ties, Ari felt a sudden punch of desire rush through her body. She turned her body, gently pressing Anna back into the couch, and knelt over her. Straddling Anna’s hips, she reached down and in a single motion pulled her dress over her head and tossed it aside.
Anna smirked at her. “My goodness,” she said. “Now you are wearing only three layers of clothing. I am undone.”
“It is a process,” Ari said primly, leaning forward to start unbuttoning Anna’s shirt. “It takes several steps. As you know. Savor the process.”
“I always do,” Anna exhaled. Ari leaned down to place a trail of kisses starting at Anna’s jaw and continuing down her neck to her collarbone.
“If you don’t like how dressed I am,” Ari murmured against Anna’s skin, “I invite you to do something about it.”
“In the middle of the afternoon?” Anna said, but her hands were already running through Ari’s hair.
“Haven’t you heard?” Ari said. “We live the bohemian lifestyle.”
—
Eventually the sun was setting, and they began to dress for the Hell Ruelle.
