"May I?" Ansel said, reaching for the zipper of my dress. "I'll hand-wash it for you. Seems like pretty thin cotton so I think yours will be dry by morning too."
"Yes," I said, swallowing. My mouth felt dry. He pulled down the zipper and slid the thin dress, a fluttery little mint green summer frock, down my body. My shoes stepped out of it and now I stood in a bra and panties and sandals with low heels. He scrubbed my dress too.
"You're good at taking care of people," I noted.
"Well...I feel a little useless when I don't have someone to take care of," he said, passing the dress into the rinse water. "First Flor, then Waylon... I don't think either of them need me as much now. When I think of taking care of you for the rest of my life, well, you are definitely easier on the eyes.” I got the feeling that he would never have that same obsession with me that Alistair did, but when Ansel made a promise, he kept it.
"Alistair will be so angry if I have sex with you first," I said, sitting on the bed, freaking out at the idea of telling Alistair what happened.
"Oh, will he now?" Ansel said. "And how will you feel if you save yourself for him? Glad? Excited? Trembling with anticipation?"
"No. I'll feel..." I hesitated. "It's not easy to explain. I am attracted to Alistair, but I also thought he was human and he didn't understand me. I thought I was just his pet. So that made me feel so angry at him. I haven't sorted it out yet."
"He really took to his role, though, didn't he?" Ansel said.
"Yes, he did! I wanted to teach him a lesson. Honestly, I'm just tired of being pushed around. If I was a pet and he was human, it couldn't be helped, but if he knew all along that I was the fucking White Queen!?" I stood up again and fluffed my hair back. "I think, just because I'm a little bird, they've decided they're in charge. Alistair and Viktor. That they can just drag me around the world, tell me what to do and what my destiny is. Meanwhile, the Red Queen showed up, ran off with a mummy and gave everyone the finger."
"So maybe we birds need to stick together," Ansel said. "And put the bigger guys in their place? I like where this is going, chickadee. Your powers are worthy of respect, and if you demand it, I'll back you up every step of the way."
"I wouldn't call them...'bigger' guys," I murmured, admiring Ansel even more freely now that I'd made my decision. “Do you have any protection?”
He flicked a condom out of his pocket.
“Your preparedness is a little alarming,” I said, but I was mostly teasing; honestly, I thought a guy carrying a condom around all the time was sexy—assuming the rest of him was sexy up until that moment.
I approached him slowly, and when I was close enough to touch him, I went for it, tracing a finger down his abs. "Yummy," I said.
Ansel grinned. "You don't hold back your opinions, do you? I bet you're going to take to positions of power like a magpie to a shiny object."
"Oh, I've held back a lot of opinions over the years," I said.
"But not anymore." Ansel took my hand and kissed my palm, gently at first, and then he ran the very tip of his tongue across my palm, briefly. His lovely golden eyes seized mine, blatantly flirtatious.
Suddenly, I knew two things. I did love Alistair, for all his flawed intensity. And I would enjoy sharing that love with him much more someday if I had taken back a little piece of my own first.
"So what else can that tongue of yours do?" I asked Ansel.
"I can show you, darling." He hooked a finger in the waistband of my underwear and then gave me a nudge with his hips.
I fell back onto the covers and he poured himself over me, braced with one arm, while I slid eager hands down his hard, lean muscle. His skin was hot, his breath already full of anticipation, as he brought his mouth to mine.
I had never kissed like this, and I let him show me the way, his tongue caressing mine, his skin against mine, chest to chest, hip to hip, his long pant legs rubbing my naked thighs. he was very sexy, in a sensuous, liquid, slightly androgynous way, like the first "real man" crush a girl might have, when you're ready to move on from a teen idol, but not entirely.
"You are so pretty," I gasped, when the kiss paused. He looked even better with the confident flush of lovemaking on his skin.
"Why, thank you. You're quite gorgeous yourself. We'll make a good celebrity couple someday."
"A celebrity couple!? I guess the queens would be celebrities."
"I think you're born to it," he said. "Also, can I just say, you are toned."
"Ballet."
"Ballet...," he murmured approvingly.
"I love it, although Alistair won't let me move to en pointe."
"The more I hear about Alistair I think I might have to punch him in the face," Ansel grumbled.
"It is really bad for feet."
"Artists make sacrifices." He tugged my underwear down. "How's this? I'll put my tongue places that will teach you how to levitate and then you can dance anywhere." His hands rested on my legs and slid down, and his tongue dipped down between my folds.
He was right. A cloud picked me up and carried me into a magical land where unicorns shoot rainbows and chocolate flows from fountains. I was not in a dank mummy's tomb where I had to pee in a chamber pot. I was in heaven.
Ansel's tongue was the most torturous heaven, fast and then slow, exploring every fold languidly before coming back to focus on the spot that made me scream, and then slipping inside me, circling, stirring me to my core until all I knew was him, and all I wanted was him.
Depending on what I was doing, I either flexed toward him, stiffening, or I bucked and jerked back, overwhelmed by the sensation. He would grip me, steady me, carrying me through it so I rode it and found a deeper wave of pleasure, deeper, deeper...
"Oh, fuck yes," I cried. "Fuck yes, you beautiful boy, I want you." Even as I was exploding inside, I just wanted more of him.
He shifted back up, face to face, and reached down to tug his pants down enough to free his cock and nudge the head against my entrance. He was careful, but not too slow, pushing through my tight, slick passage. I was breathing hard, my lips parted.
This is finally happening. Like, it’s just…happening. I would never have dreamed, a few months ago, that the first man I ever felt inside me was not Alistair, but a fellow bird, and that despite some nerves over how Alistair would react, I felt powerful, and I trusted Ansel to protect me.
"It feels so good inside you," Ansel said. "You feel good too, don't you?" I could tell he meant it sincerely. He wanted it to be good for me.
"Yesss," I said, cringing a little at the end of the word nonetheless as he was still pushing deeper. He felt huge inside me. "Ow."
"Sorry. I'm pretty long...everywhere. It's great for different positions, though."
"Oh, I believe you." I smiled in a half-drunk, lusty way as my body seemed to settle into it a little more. "I expect you're going to be a lot of fun and...I'm going to want more of you."
"I'm sure that's true, and good thing, because it sounds like we're stuck here. But...I can think of far worse people to be stuck with, Mina, pretty ballerina..." He reached for my dancer's legs and took advantage of my flexibility to split my thighs wide and take me deeper still, and the casual domination of the gesture made me shiver head to toe with desire.