Chapter One

Amari Foster inhaled deeply as she savored the lingering lassitude of sex. The scent of their early morning tryst rose up from the luxury cotton sheets of the king-size bed in their boutique hotel room. Her bones had melted under the skillful tongue of the woman who lay across from her. Amari rolled to her side and watched her as she slept while sifting through her memory for her name, not that it mattered.

No one used their real names on Hit Me Up. She was Bookish1 and the delightful woman next to her was Pleasedtoeatyou69, and as far as she was concerned that was just fine. The woman had been on her knees waiting for Amari when she opened the door to the hotel room. She had offered Amari a fistful of red silk ties, before she bowed her head and uttered her safe word.

Amari rolled to her back and rested her hand on her stomach. Thalia. That was the woman’s name. Amari stared at the ceiling as she considered phoning her mother to pick up her daughter after school. Her thoughts spun as she fabricated a reason why she needed to stay in Cleveland a bit longer so she could wake Thalia from her nap and continue her fun. A sliver of guilt wormed its way under Amari’s skin.

It would disrupt her mother’s teaching schedule if she asked her to watch her daughter after school. Stifling her sigh, Amari eased off the mattress, moving at a glacial pace so as not to disturb her bed mate. She stood at the bedside, indulging herself in one last look at Thalia as she slept. The silk ties she had presented to Amari for her to bind her with lay rumpled in a crimson pile on the floor next to the bed. The white sheet was draped over her lush curves, highlighting her light-brown skin. Her thick curls spilled over the pillow.

Amari’s fingers twitched as she remembered the feel of them between her fingers. The fine curve of her graceful neck had Amari wanting to kiss and nibble her way to her ear, to whisper all the salacious things she wanted to do as she palmed her heavy breasts. No. Not today. And no repeat. One and done. Even a mind-bending morning was no reason to change her rule.

Satisfied she had not woken Thalia, Amari padded to the bathroom. She reveled in the satisfied ache between her thighs. Thalia had been insatiable. She had delivered on her promise of leaving Amari spent. A wisp of melancholy blew through Amari’s mind as the crisp clean smell of the hotel soap washed away the evidence of their time together.

After washing up, Amari dressed quickly, avoiding her reflection in the mirror. Her phone vibrated on the countertop. She snatched it up and silenced it, hoping her chance for a clean getaway was not blown. The number for her daughter’s school flashed on the screen. Amari chewed her lip as she finished dressing. She tucked her phone into her pants pocket and draped her tie around her neck before she turned the handle of the bathroom door and eased it open.

After shrugging into her suit coat, Amari slipped her feet into her loafers. As Amari scanned the room, she patted her watch pocket. The hard edge of her ring under her fingertips satisfied her she had not forgotten anything.

Amari gifted herself a last vision of Thalia. She gave no evidence she was awake. Amari cursed her lack of time as she scratched a quick note on the hotel notepad. She positioned the room key card next to it. Stepping carefully, she crossed the room and exited. After closing the door gently, she strode down the hall.

★

Amari dug her ring out her pocket and slipped it over her knuckle. A stray plastic bag tumbled over the front of the car, driven by early fall winds off the lake. Amari rested her head on the back of her seat and dialed the school’s number. After ten rings the call went to voicemail. Amari drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she redialed the school. As it rang, she scanned the windows of the hotel, attempting to place the room she had occupied.

“Sikesville Central. May I help you?”

“This is Amari Foster, Brianna’s mother.” Amari turned the key to start the car. The engine caught with a low hum.

“Yes. Hold on, please. I have Mrs. Jackson for you.

Amari leaned her forehead on the steering wheel and willed herself calm as she waited for the principal to answer.

“Ms. Foster? Sorry to bother you again.”

Amari drummed her fingers on her knees. “What is the problem today?”

“Brianna’s had a difficult morning with some of the other students. And now she’s refusing to do her art project. I’m sorry, but we are not sure what we should do.”

“Mrs. Jackson, we have a plan in place for this type of behavior. Is it not working? What is the point of having a plan if no one uses it?”

“I’m sorry. We’re a small school. I’m just not sure we can meet her needs. She’s refusing to do anything. Will you be able to pick her up?”

Amari leaned back in the seat and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yes. I’m not in town. It will be at least an hour before I’m there.”

“She’ll be in the administrative assistant’s office.”

“Fine.” Amari disconnected the call and tossed her phone onto the passenger seat. She leaned back in her seat and stared up at the façade of the hotel and the window of the room she had occupied. Anger and frustration gave way to resignation. Turning her attention to the parking lot, she backed the car out of the parking spot and turned toward home.

★

The sway of the bed as Bookish1 left the bed drew Thalia from her post-orgasmic haze. She kept her eyes closed and her back to the woman even as she sensed her presence at the side of the bed. Amari. That was her name. Or was it? Had she given her real name? No matter.

Whoever she was, Thalia wanted her to come back to bed. She wanted her to let Thalia smooth her hands over her firm belly before she indulged herself in the sweetness between her thick, muscular thighs. Amari’s breathing was audible in the quiet of the room.

The hairs on Thalia’s arms lifted. She sensed Amari’s pause by the bed. Thalia remained still, feigning sleep, anticipating Amari’s touch. Under the cotton sheets Thalia’s nipples firmed as desire threaded its way through her body.

She had clicked with Amari, their kinks lining up in a magical way. Amari had been able to fill every one of Thalia’s fantasies of a firm, but caring top, able to respond to Thalia’s pushback instinctively. Amari was a true dominant, comfortable in her role, a natural.

It was always a gamble with Hit Me Up. So many women imagined themselves dominant but were not. Amari’s understated confidence had undone Thalia from the moment she walked through the door of the hotel room and took control of their scene. A sharp wave of want crested as Thalia waited for Amari to wake her. Her fantasies spun out as she imagined Amari kneeling over her, warm thighs on either side of Thalia’s head, pressing herself against Thalia’s lips, taking what she wanted, accepting Thalia’s worshipful attention until she spilled her pleasure into Thalia’s mouth.

A wave of disappointment swept over Thalia as the whisper of Amari’s footsteps on carpet retreated, followed by the click of the bathroom door, echoing in the hotel room. Thalia opened her eyes. Amari’s carefully folded clothes were missing from the chair where Thalia had placed them. Her Louboutin loafers next to the chair were the only evidence of her presence.

Her silent exit into the bathroom with her clothes had answered Thalia’s question about more. Would she even say goodbye? Did Thalia want to have the awkward conversation she knew would ensue? She rolled to her side, closed her eyes, kept her back to the bathroom door.

The snick of the bathroom door opening and the sound of stealthy movements, the scratch of the pen on the hotel paper, followed by the squeak of the door hinges as it opened and closed killed Thalia’s hopes. And as furtively as it had started, the scene ended.

Thalia flipped the covers aside. The slight chill of the room peaked her nipples as she left the bed, the carpet plush beneath her bare feet. The room was hers until tomorrow noon, and she planned on soaking up every luxuriant moment of it.

The faint scent of Amari’s cologne hung in the air even as Thalia washed the scent of her from her hands and her body. She closed her eyes, drew her fingertips over the more tender parts of her body, and sighed with the memory of Amari’s mouth on her nipples. Her broad palm had warmed Thalia’s ass with just the right amount of pain to make Amari’s fingering the most exquisite Thalia had ever experienced. The bath grew tepid, and she left the tub. After winding a bath sheet around her body, she exited the bathroom.

A handwritten note lay on top of the dark walnut wood desk. Amari’s crisp handwriting flowed across the pale-blue hotel stationery. Thalia swept Amari’s note off the smooth wood.

Pleasedtoeatyou69,

Empus rerum imperator. And today time commands me. Forgive me for not saying goodbye. I didn’t want to wake you. Thank you for a lovely time.

Bookish1

Thalia stared at the neat calligraphic script. She carried the note back to the bed and propped it up on the pillow next to her own. She lay on her side, curled up, and hugged her pillow to her chest as she read the note again. Grateful for Sister Pauline’s Latin lessons, Thalia studied the painfully polite note, so at odds with the use of their Hit Me Up handles. Did Amari even remember Thalia’s name?

Laughter and the clump of shoes in the hall outside her door annoyed the hell out of Thalia. She left the bed, crept to the window, and stared out at the trees just starting to change color on Wade Oval. Her nipples pebbled in the chill air of the room. She pulled the complimentary robe from where she had tossed it to the floor and tugged it on.

Friday morning and she had the room until Saturday noon. Maybe she could entice Amari to come back after she took care of whatever business had drawn her from Thalia’s bed? She picked up her phone from the nightstand, thumbed it on, and opened the Hit Me Up app. In the private message function, she typed out a quick note to Amari.

Fuit Voluntas mea. And truly it was a pleasure to meet you. I’ll be here until tomorrow noon. If you’re so inclined, I’d like to continue our scene.

T.

The sun climbed higher in the sky, flooding the room with light. Thalia pulled the robe tighter. Her stomach rumbled, and she opened the folder with the room service selections.