Mel yawned. “I should check my email.”
Vanessa nodded. After Mel’s summer internship at The LSP, she had been hired part-time as a legal secretary. Her superiors had come to rely on her to the point where they would email and call her even on her days off. But Mel didn’t seem to mind. She believed in the work they were doing.
Mel rolled onto her back and scrolled through her phone. After a few seconds, she scrunched up her face, her finger frozen above the screen.
“Is everything all right?” Vanessa asked.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
“Melanie.” It was clear to Vanessa that Mel was not fine. “No lies, remember? No keeping things to ourselves.”
“Sorry.” Mel placed her phone down next to her on the bed. “It’s a hard habit to break.”
“It is for me too. But we can’t be solitary creatures anymore.” Vanessa propped herself up on her arm. “You don’t have to tell me everything. Just know that you can if you want to.”
“I know,” Mel said. “It’s just, I got a message. It’s from Kim. She hasn’t tried to contact me all this time…”
“What does she want?” Vanessa tried very hard to keep her displeasure from showing. She hated Kim because of how Kim had treated Mel. And the last thing the two of them needed was another ex causing trouble. The first thing that Vanessa had done after she and Mel had gotten back together was take out a restraining order on Rose. She was finally out of Vanessa’s life for good.
“I don’t know,” Mel said. “And I don’t want to know. It’s all in the past.” Mel tapped the screen a few times and set down her phone. “There. I deleted it. And blocked her.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Mel smiled and closed her eyes. “I am. Because you’re here.”
“Good. I want you all to myself this weekend.” Vanessa said. “With all the business trips I’ve been going on, and work and law school for you, it seems like we barely get to see each other anymore.”
“I know. It sucks.” Mel yawned and settled in closer to Vanessa. “I don’t want this trip to end.”
Vanessa thought for a moment. “Well, we can’t stay here forever, but I think I have a solution.”
“Hmmm?”
“How would you like to move in together?”
“What? Are you serious?”
Vanessa nodded. She wasn’t the type to make spontaneous decisions, but this felt right. “You could move into my apartment. Or we could get a place of our own if you’d prefer it. Somewhere new…” Vanessa trailed off. She was unable to read the expression on Mel’s face. “What do you think?”
“Yes.” A smile spread across Mel’s face. “Of course. I would love that, Vanessa.”
“That’s settled then.” Vanessa planted a firm kiss on Mel’s lips. Then in one swift motion, she pinned Mel’s shoulders to the bed and straddled her body. “Now I can have you all to myself whenever I want. Do you like the sound of that, my pet?”
Mel was definitely awake now. “Yes, my Queen.”
Heat rose up inside Vanessa’s body. She still wasn’t used to Mel addressing her like that. And it was becoming apparent that Mel knew exactly how much it turned Vanessa on.
Mel squirmed underneath her playfully. Vanessa had been gazing down at her girlfriend like a lovesick teenager for far too long. She was getting soft.
And Mel was getting far too bold.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You’ve been forgetting your place lately.” Vanessa reached over to the nightstand and picked up a pair of handcuffs they had used the night before. She dangled them over Mel’s body. “Now that we’re going to be living together, I’m going to remind you of it. Every. Single. Day.”
Mel stopped moving. Her eyes were fixed on the handcuffs. Not so bold anymore, are you? Vanessa grabbed Mel’s wrists an
d pulled them above her head. She looped the cuffs around a post on the headboard and fastened them around Mel’s wrist.
Vanessa got up from the bed and picked up her phone. “Looks like I missed a few work calls while we slept. I should go deal with them.” She watched the expression on Mel’s face shift from excitement to disbelief. Vanessa only had one call to make. It wouldn’t take her more than two minutes. But she wanted to make Mel squirm.