Novel Experience (Sara Miles) by Dacia Quinn Read Free Book Online

I don’t care. My body seems to flash into a thousand pinpricks of fire, with every movement pouring more and more heat into me until every nerve screams.
    And suddenly we’re done. Theresa collapses on top of me, hot and limp and breathing in gasps and torrents, still shuddering from the cataclysm we shared. She seems smaller, even, than before, as though I’ve somehow used up a part of her. She catches her breath a moment, looks up and me and together we laugh the laugh of the satisfied.
    * * *
    AN HOUR LATER, THERESA IS getting dressed beside the couch. It’s well after midnight, on a Wednesday. Although I guess it’s officially Thursday now. I recognize—a bit belatedly—that she’s probably got work in the morning.
    “I’m sorry to keep you here so late,” I say. Then I smile. “Not too sorry, but you know what I mean.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” she says, buttoning her blouse. “I’ll call out sick, maybe. I never do that. They can’t complain.”
    “I didn’t intend this, you know,” I say. Why am I feeling apologetic? I can’t help it. “I had no idea you were ...”
    “Into women?”
    “It’s not the sort of thing you just go up to someone and say. And, to be honest, when I came into the office the other week, I couldn’t remember your name.”
    The look on her face tells me she’s not surprised.
    “You had that deer-in-the-headlights looks that people get when they should know you but don’t remember. I get that a lot.”
    “Can I ask you a question?” I ask, on impulse. I’m curious. She works at a publisher. She must read lots of books. “Why did the Clara Barton books appeal to you?”
    “Oh, those? I don’t know. I liked to think that I was better than those women. They were so lost. They needed someone to put them right. I liked your book better.”
    Of course she’d say that. She’s in my bedroom. And still half-naked. My stomach clenches slightly. “What do you think of the men in my book?”
    Now it’s her turn for the deer-in-the-headlights look.
    “Don’t worry,” I add quickly. “I can take criticism.” I think.
    “They’re ... a little pathetic. I mean, I understand why someone like Nara would end up with Peter. But I liked her more than him. She was so overpowering, and he just didn’t stand a chance. When I read the book, I kept picturing you. I know Nara is supposed to look different—blonde and tall and imperious. But I kept seeing you instead. Oh, now I’ve offended you.”
    “No, no,” I say, but I’m lying. “That’s ... helpful.”
    Dammit, it’s not helpful. I wanted her to say something that I could bring back to Thane that I could use as a blunt object of ridicule. Instead she’s given me a wet herring of self-bludgeoning.
    “So, when you were reading that scene ,” I ask, turning a bit red. “You were imagining me with the strap-on?”
    “Mmm hmm,” she says, with a mischievous smile.
    “And...”
    “You weren’t giving it to Peter, let me tell you.”
    “You are a dirty girl!”
    “Hey! You wrote that chapter, not me.”
    “You’re calling in tomorrow, right?” I give her a playful slap on the butt.
    “I just got dressed!”
    “I think I can fix that.”

[FOUR] Crowds
    I"M NOT A FAN OF barbecues, but with spring in full swing and the warm weather kicking in, Gail and Danny have decided it’s time to open their pool and invite neighbors over. They extend the invite to me as well, despite my edgy reputation, and even go so far as to suggest I bring a plus-one. Theresa agrees to come with me.
    “We’re not dating,” I tell Gail the first moment we’re alone. “So don’t go there.”
    “She’s gorgeous,” Gail says, and for a moment I wonder if her opinion of women has changed a bit in the intervening months since our last naked encounter. “She’s got to be ten years younger than us.”
    “Jeeze, Gail, we’re not that old. She’s maybe five or six years younger,” I say. “And we’re not dating. We’re