Jason (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 23)

"It's part of his charm," I said.

"It's more than that; Jean-Claude is all about sex and sensuality, and just like Jason doesn't like men, but would do Jean-Claude, I don't like men much, but yeah, I see the appeal."

"Most people see the appeal of Jean-Claude," I said.

She nodded, and settled more comfortably back against Jason, as if some tension had gone out of her. I wasn't sure why she was relaxing, but we seemed to be winning, so I'd take it.

"Everyone told me that when I found the right person I'd be happy being monogamous, but you're telling me that that didn't work for you guys either."

"Nope," I said.

"No," Nathaniel said.

Jason kissed her cheek. "I've tried just one woman at a time, but it never worked for long."

"I've been with Freda for two years."

"Have you been monogamous?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I never wanted that, and I made it clear that I might never be okay with just one-on-one. I've continued to date, but less and less, because she made it such a pain. It just wasn't worth the jealousy and fights, until I met Jason again." And she turned in his arms so she could look back over her shoulder at him. They shared the kind of smile that Hollywood tells us we all should be looking for, and it made me happy to see it.

"Glad to know I'm worth fighting for," Jason said, and kissed her.

She kissed him back, and then said, "If I'd known about polyamory in high school, we might have kept dating, but everyone tells you to choose."

"You told me you were a lesbian; I respected that, but it meant dating each other was done."

"I thought I had to choose one sex to date, one person to love until death do we part, and it never worked for me."

"Or me," he said.

"I think Freda is monogamous and just pretended not to be until we moved in together."

"Do you still love Freda?" Nathaniel asked.

She didn't answer right away. "I don't know, I thought I did, before she was so ugly about Jason. I mean he's a man, Freda doesn't have the same parts, so I thought she'd be less jealous than she was of other women, but it's worse."

"Was it worse at first, or only after you got serious about Jason?" Nathaniel asked.

She thought about that, and finally said, "Actually, from the beginning, she seemed to feel like I was betraying the lesbian sisterhood. I'd always told her I was bisexual, but I think she thought it was just something you say to be hot, or edgy. I'm not just gay, I'm bi, you know?"

I felt Nathaniel nod at the same time I did. He said, "It's hot for women to be bi, but it's not for men."

I hugged his arms tight against me. "It is incredibly hot when men are bisexual!"

He laughed, hugged me, and snuggled over me until we could kiss. "You think so, but most women are weirded out by it, and gay men think you're just afraid of admitting that you're gay, and straight men think you are gay, and after their virtue."

Jason nodded. "I'm not really bi, at all, but because I'm Jean-Claude's pomme de sang, everyone thinks I am."

"His apple of blood," J.J. said. "You're his main blood donor."

"Actually pomme de sang is more than that, it's almost like a mistress in the old-fashioned sense of keeping them in style," I said.

She nodded, face serious again. "Jean-Claude would need a new pomme de sang if Jason moves to New York."

"I was Anita's pomme de sang once, but when I became her boyfriend she didn't get a new one," Nathaniel said.

"But you're still in her bed so she can feed on you. Jason will be too far away for Jean-Claude to feed on him."

"One problem at a time," Jason said. "First, do you understand what I meant by rough now?"

"Yes," she said, and hugged him around herself. She was back to looking unhappy again.

"And you're okay with me having rough with Anita?"

"Okay, not entirely, but will I make you give her up? No. Honestly, if we all agreed to gentler sex for me, I'd love to have my fantasy come true with Anita and you."

I stiffened a little, and Nathaniel helped me hide my face by bending over me and turning me around so we could have a longer and more passionate kiss. I could taste J.J. on his lips, in his mouth, mingling with the taste of my own body. It made me start to pull away, but it wasn't a bad taste, just . . . I'd never kissed him before when he tasted of another woman. Apparently, my issues with women in certain areas had shown on my face, even before I tasted J.J. I appreciated the help at hiding it, but he gazed down at me as I drew back, a question on his face. J.J. was being a good sport; I needed to be one, too, so I kissed him back deeply, passionately. I worked my issue, instead of letting it spoil things. J.J. was truly being a good sport about being shoved outside her comfort zone. It was just that her sportiness only required her to watch, not participate; my sportiness might be more, um, hands-on, and I was already one woman over my comfort limit, and it wasn't J.J.

I broke from the kiss, and was able to say with a normal voice, "I'm flattered."

"But part of why I'm here is that you already have a female lover and you're not very happy about it," J.J. said.

I turned enough in Nathaniel's arms to look at her. "Yeah."

"I've met Jade, she's beautiful."

"I've never argued that," I said.

"Besides you sharing memories of sex with women from the men in your life, which I admit is weird since you don't have those parts, what else bothers you about Jade?"

"I'd never thought of women as potential lovers before and suddenly I'm supposed to be the main lover of one; wouldn't that weird anyone out?"

J.J. nodded. "I'll give you that, but I can't help you with that. Is there anything specific that you're puzzled by? Anything about sex with another woman that you want to know from someone who's dated a lot of women?"

"A lot, huh?" Jason said.

She turned and gave him a big, mischievous smile. "You and I have exchanged our numbers; you know exactly how many women."

He laughed. "I knew we had a chance when your number was bigger than mine."

Knowing something about Jason's number of lovers, I was impressed, and a little . . . well, it's not everyone who hits triple digits for lovers. Once I would have been judgmental; now I was puzzled. Even with everyone I'd had in my life I was still under thirty lovers. I just couldn't imagine liking that many people that much.

Nathaniel held me close and whispered, "What do you want to know, Anita?"

I turned enough to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"What puzzles you the most about sex with another girl?"

I thought about it; hell, I'd been thinking about it. "One, the oral sex, it's so different in some ways, and Jade's still working through her issues with men so she won't let anyone but me and Domino go down on her, and I know I'm not doing it as well as I could, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"Does she orgasm?" J.J. asked.

I fought free of a moment of embarrassment. "Eventually."

Nathaniel said, "Luckily Jade is fast clitorally."

"Jade let you watch?"

"Anita asked for some help with the oral, and hoped that I could gi

ve pointers through watching, and Jade agreed to it."

"And what did you learn?" J.J. asked.

"That Jade is one of those women who won't give feedback. I told Anita to ask, does this feel good, does that, but Jade won't give directions."

"Oh, God, I hate women like that," J.J. said.

"It's because her ex-master took all directions as criticism of his performance, and punished her for it," I said.

J.J.'s eyes went wide. "Well, that would teach anyone to keep their opinion to themselves."

"I understand where it comes from, why she doesn't help me, but it's like flying blind. I thought having the same parts would help, and it does a little. I can hear her breathing change, watch the little involuntary body movements, but I still think that if I could see someone else do it, and ask questions, maybe even trade off during so I could see actual demonstration, it would work much better."

"You are going at this in a very practical manner, Anita. I think I'm impressed, except are you treating it as a chore, not a pleasure?"

I fought not to squirm. "I go down on her because I know how much I love it, and she just started letting Domino try oral on her. She hasn't talked about it yet, but I suspect her old master didn't enjoy giving oral sex, so he made it unpleasant for her, like he made a lot of things unpleasant for her."

"Do you enjoy doing it?"

I sighed. "Not really; I don't get the high off it that I get from going down on men. Hell, I can orgasm sometimes from giving oral sex."

J.J. gave me wide eyes again. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really."

"Well, damn, I've heard that's possible, but I've never met anyone who could do it."

I fought not to be embarrassed again.

"Don't be embarrassed, Anita; it's great, amazing, no wonder you enjoy it so much."

"I enjoyed it before I started orgasming from it," I said, as if I wanted it clear it wasn't just about me having a happy. I don't know why, but somehow I felt defensive.

J.J. smiled as if she realized I was being defensive. "I feel the same way about going down on women, except I don't have an orgasm from it; be awesome if I did."

Jason laughed. "You'd never do anything else if you orgasmed from it."