In a mood like this, Victoria hardly felt the pain in her knee. Sometimes a good burst of adrenaline was as effective as any dose of low-grade opiates or a steroid injection. Unfortunately, as with those, she would pay for her hubris when the thrill wore off.
They darted across her hotel lobby like uninvited guests trying to sneak past the watchful concierge, even though Victoria had the keycard to her suite pressed into her palm. Another expanse of white marble, much like the opera house they’d just fled from. Getting the elevator to themselves was too much temptation to ignore, and by the time the doors pinged open on the top floor, Victoria’s jacket was bunched up in Anna’s hand, the other having already found its way beneath the hem of her dress.
“Do try not to get us arrested,” Victoria warned, letting Anna practically carry her along the corridor with just a nod in the right direction. Only at the suite door did Anna relent with her open-mouthed kisses down the column of Victoria’s neck, hands retreating just long enough to set Victoria fully on the ground. Her turn to actually open the door was far from a pirouette, but much to her mortification, Victoria found her hands trembling as she aimed the plastic card at the waiting slot.
Anna wrapped her arms around Victoria, grounding her with a simple embrace. “Take your time,” Anna said, her voice a murmur disappearing against Victoria’s collarbone. “Or don’t,” she amended as Victoria unlocked the door and kicked it open with her stronger leg, dragging Anna into the suite along with her.
They didn’t pause to take in the decor, not the spiral staircase in one corner leading to the second bedroom, nor the artwork above the bed that mimicked the heavy red curtains of a theater. This private space was no stage, and Victoria had spent far too much of the day in a state of anticipation. It was officially time to enjoy having Anna in her arms without interruptions or obligations elsewhere.
Anna knew that Victoria probably had an elaborate plan for their night together because that bossy, brilliant brain of hers rarely took so much as an hour off. But Anna had been alone in New York for months, a relentless slideshow of fantasies parading through her head whenever she hadn’t been too exhausted to daydream.
Besides, what kind of prima couldn’t take charge of the scene on command? Their clothes were long gone, and Anna had Victoria just where she wanted her: flat on her back, soft curls streaming across the crisp white sheets. Her hair had gotten longer, and there was a tiny hint of silver at her temples, blending in with the blonde.
“You really are a work of art,” Anna said, her voice too quiet for the huge room at first. “Do you know how often I’ve pictured being with you, just like this?”
“How often?” Victoria asked. “Can’t possibly have been as often as I caught myself thinking about having you back in my studio every day, watching you bend and flex for me.”
Anna closed her eyes for a moment, picturing exactly that. The frisson of excitement had been missing from every rehearsal and costume fitting without Victoria there to invade Anna’s personal space, to touch in ways just short of inappropriate as long as they had an audience. “I’ve kept up the work on my lifting, just in case,” Anna wasn’t sure where the bragging was coming from, but it felt important to tell Victoria that much. “And you know what it’s like after a night like tonight, an audience like that. I’ve got a lot to burn off right here.”
She flexed her arms as she leaned down to claim another kiss, letting her lips wander down to graze each of Victoria’s hardened nipples in turn. Anna’s reward was a throaty moan that seemed to ripple right through them both, a first warning not to tease for too long.
“You want more,” Anna said, trailing the fingers of her dominant left hand down over Victoria’s flat stomach, her blunt nails making the skin pale in three faint stripes. There was no question in the way Victoria’s hips tilted up to meet her touch. “You want me inside you, don’t you?”
Anna didn’t wait for the obvious response, just followed the arch of Victoria’s body and let her fingertips slide through the slick heat between Victoria’s legs. Teasing her clit with just a glancing touch,