Rainbow Desire Read online

  Rainbow Desire

  Alice Renaud

  Callie Carmen

  Gibby Campbell

  Patricia Elliott

  Viola Russell

  Annabel Allan

  Estelle Pettersen

  ISBN 978-1-914301-13-1

  Published 2021

  Published by Black Velvet Seductions Publishing at Smashwords

  Rainbow Desire Copyright 2021 Alice Renaud, Callie Carmen, Gibby Campbell, Patricia Elliott, Viola Russell, Annabel Allan, Estelle Pettersen

  Cover design Copyright 2021 Jessica Greeley

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All characters in this book are completely fictional. They exist only in the imagination of the author. Any similarity to any actual person or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Love Comes in Many Shapes by Alice Renaud

  James by Callie Carmen

  Trust in Love by Gibby Campbell

  Her Rogue Identity by Patricia Elliott

  The Holy Trinity by Viola Russell

  Midnight Queen by Annabel Allan

  Flowers for Kate by Estelle Pettersen

  About the authors

  More Black Velvet Seductions titles

  Introduction

  When a group of BVS authors suggested the idea of an LGBTQ+ anthology, I was delighted. BVS has always embraced romance and love in all its myriad shades and hues. When the stories came in, I was delighted to find the breadth of stories submitted. I hope you will agree that this is an eclectic collection of short stories exploring the topic of LGBTQ+ love. The collection is as diverse as the authors writing them. As a reader, I have always enjoyed reading anthologies, it is a great way of being introduced to the work of new writers and from the writer’s point of view it is a great way of experimenting with a new genre.

  The stories within these pages mix soft and tender, often moving and thought provoking, to sexier raunchy pieces. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I have.

  Richard Savage

  CEO, Black Velvet Seductions

  Love Comes in Many Shapes

  Alice Renaud

  The Grand Mar Hotel was already buzzing by the time Bryony stepped through the glass doors into the lobby. The air-conditioned interior was a blessed respite after the oven-dry heat outside.

  “Good crowd tonight!” Macie, the receptionist, said as Bryony tapped her name and time of arrival into the registration screen. “Lots of families.”

  “They’re the best,” Bryony agreed, surveying the tourists who were already streaming through the doors to the main theatre. She loved interacting with the kids. They were always so excited to see a mermaid.

  Maia wasn’t in the lobby, but punctuality wasn’t one of her many strengths. Bryony glanced towards the doors. Perhaps she’d arrive just before the show started.

  Macie seemed to divine what she was thinking. “Aw, don’t worry. Your girl is already here, sitting in the front row with an ice lolly. I saw her just before I started my shift ten minutes ago.”

  A globe of warmth expanded in Bryony’s chest. Every day she wondered if Maia would come, and every day, without fault, Maia turned up. In the six months they’d lived together in Las Vegas, she must have seen the show close to three hundred times, but she never seemed to get bored. “I love to see you swim, in your real shape,” she’d whispered only the night before when they were snuggled up in bed together.

  “I’d better go get changed!” Bryony hurried towards the door that led backstage.

  Unlike the other mermaids, she had her own changing room. She’d insisted on it as part of her contract with the hotel. It was little more than a broom cupboard, but she could close the door, and that was all that mattered. No one could see her change into her aquatic shape. No one could discover that, unlike the girls in swimsuits giggling outside, she was the real deal. A shape-shifting mermaid from the Morvann Islands in Wales.

  She checked the clock on the wall. Twenty-five minutes to go. Damn, she’d cut it a bit fine. She kicked off her sandals and peeled off her shorts and T-shirt. Her skin was darkening, turning a pearly grey, and thickening. She wiggled her fingers and toes as if that would make the webs grow faster. She wished there was a way to accelerate the shifting process. Perhaps she’d ask Maia to do some research. One of the books of spells she’d brought from London might contain the answer.

  A rap on the door. “Ten minutes!” the stage manager called out.

  “Coming!” At last, Bryony could feel her tail pushing through her buttocks. Her curly brown hair retracted into her skull. Her nose was flattening, leaving only a single nostril that she could close at will.

  Finally, she was ready.

  She opened the door. The other mermaids were already lining up, shuffling forward on their fake fishtails. Bryony padded along the corridor on her webbed feet to join the back of the queue.

  “Off you go, ladies.” The stage manager lifted the black curtain, revealing the ladder that climbed the side of the tank. The lights were dimmed, to hide their entrance. One by one the fake mermaids shimmered up the rungs of metal and dived into the aquarium. Oohs and aahs rose from the invisible audience in the theatre.

  Bryony grabbed the ladder and made her ascent, a lot slower than her colleagues. Webbed hands and feet were not designed for climbing. At last, she made it to the top and plunged headlong into the cool water.

  The lights brightened. A stunned silence greeted her. She was used to it. She didn’t match most people’s idea of a mermaid. She swam to the bottom of the aquarium and pressed her face to the glass.

  The vast room was full of people, lined up on the rows of seats, or around tables in the bar area. And Maia sat in the front row, less than a yard away. A huge smile lit up her lovely face and her blue eyes sparkled. “Now that’s the best mermaid I’ve ever seen!” she said in a loud voice.

  She did this every night. “We French call it la claque, ma cherie,” she’d said. “Friends, posing as theatregoers, who clap and cheer to encourage the rest of the audience.”

  The warm glow in Bryony’s chest spread through her limbs. Maia always had her back. She was lover, best friend, and cheerleader rolled into one. “My girl,” Bryony whistled in the language of the merfolk, and blew her a kiss.

  “The lady’s right,” a little girl piped. “That’s a real mermaid!” And she ran forward to press her face against the glass. Bryony grinned at the child. “La vérité sort de la bouche des enfants,” Maia often said. Truth comes out of children’s mouths.

  Other children were getting up and crowding around the aquarium, pointing and shouting with excitement. For the next fifteen minutes, Bryony and the other mermaids cavorted with the fishes, swimming in and out of the bright corals. Time flew by as in a dream. All too soon, they were swimming back to the ladder. The lights dimmed, and the show was over for another day.

  When Bryony came out of her dressing room, fully human and dressed, Maia was waiting for her. She threw her arms around her and planted a kiss on her mouth. Happiness bubbled in Bryony’s veins like champagne. She loved that Maia was so demonstrative. The public displays of affection hadn’t gone down well in the conservative Morvann Islands, but here in Las Vegas they didn’t have to hide their love.

  Maia snaked an arm around her waist and steered her towards the bar and restaurant area. “Come on. I’m dying for a burger.”

  The restaurant looked full, but the waitress found them a table in the corner. “Two burgers with all the works, a frozen margarita, and a porn star martini,” Maia rattled off.

  “You’re supposed to call them passion fruit martinis these days.” Bryony glanced at the waitress to see if she was offended, but she only laughed. “A lot of folk still call them porn stars. That’s OK. My mum used to be one!”

  Maia and Bryony were still giggling when their food and drinks arrived. “Only in Vegas,” Bryony said.

  “Only in Vegas… though I hear LA is the same,” Maia laughed, and clinked her glass against Bryony’s. “I thought of doing a little flutter on the roulette, but the casino manager looks like he’s going to faint every time he sees me. I’ll spare the poor man the stress tonight.”

  Bryony sipped her cocktail, savouring the fruity taste. “No wonder. Your big win six months ago almost bankrupted them. We were barely off the plane, and suddenly we were rich!”

  She grinned at the memory. After their hurried departure from Britain, the long flight and the jet lag, it felt as though the Goddess and the Lady of the Sea were scooping them up and hugging them like favoured daughters. It was proof that they’d been right to leave their old lives behind. The win had paid for their beautiful house in a safe, pleasant area of Las Vegas, with a huge garden and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. They’d invested the remainder of the money. The revenue from the investments, added to Bryony’s wages and Maia’s earnings as a tarot card reade
r, enabled them to live very comfortably.

  “Fortune smiled on us, for sure.” Maia licked the rim of sugar on her glass. The sight of her pink tongue sent a sudden arrow of desire into Bryony’s belly.

  Maia winked at her as if she divined what she was thinking. “Eat up now, your dinner will get cold. Then we can go back home and have some fun!”

  By the time they walked out of the hotel into the sparkly Las Vegas night, Bryony was abuzz with anticipation. She stood on the edge of the sidewalk and hailed a taxi. Their house was only twenty minutes away on foot, but that was twenty minutes too much.

  A man bumped into her. “Sorry, ma’am.” He had an English accent, which made Bryony look at him. The man smiled, revealing perfect white teeth in a bronzed, aristocratic face. He was so handsome that Bryony froze on the spot and gaped at him. He had to be a movie star. The man nodded at her and moved on.

  A taxi screeched to a halt. Maia ran up to her. “Hey, who was that? He had his back to me and I didn’t see his face. You look stunned!”

  Bryony opened the door for her and followed her into the taxi. “I don’t know who he was, but he was drop-dead gorgeous. Maybe he’s one of these up-and-coming Asian actors from Britain.”

  “Ooh, I hope so.” Maia winked at her. “A gorgeous British man would be just the ticket.”

  A tendril of disquiet snaked through Bryony’s mind. Maia had never expressed an interest in men in front of her, but she knew that she’d had male lovers back in Britain, including the warlock who had taught her magic.

  “Do you ever miss men?” She kept her tone casual, but worry extended its tentacles into her throat.

  Maia shook her head. “No. But…” her lips curled in a suggestive smile. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like, with a man?”

  Worry dissolved into sensual heat. Was Maia really suggesting what Bryony thought she was suggesting?

  “Sometimes,” Bryony whispered. Maia was her first and only lover. But she’d seen mermen chase their mates across the kelp forest, their members erect and proud… and she’d seen the mermaids giggle, breathless, and pull their mermen by the hand, eager for what they could give them. Sometimes, Bryony did wonder…

  Maia winked. “One night, we could pick a man together,” she murmured. “One we both like. And bring him back home.”

  Her words sent a rush of blood to Bryony’s loins. “You dirty girl.”

  Maia poked her tongue at her. “You love it.”

  The taxi stopped. Bryony paid him and took Maia by the hand. They ran across the manicured lawn, past the swimming pool, and into their house. Bryony flicked the light switch. She wanted to see Maia tonight. All of Maia.

  Her girlfriend walked to the dining area and perched on the edge of a chair by the breakfast counter. Her short black skirt rode up her creamy thighs. A tingle started at the base of Bryony’s spine. Maia’s red lips parted in a sultry smile. “Baby… you look lovely tonight.”

  A happy flame leaped in Bryony’s heart. After six months of living together, Maia’s compliments still felt like a miracle. That a woman like Maia, so beautiful, so clever, so talented, should want her and choose to be with her… only her. Bryony still found it hard to believe at times.

  “You too,” Bryony whispered. She wanted to say more. She wanted to tell Maia how gorgeous she was… a goddess come to earth. She wanted to tell her how much she meant to her. But the words expired on her lips and her throat went dry, because Maia was unbuttoning her blouse.

  Bryony’s gaze glued itself to the triangle of tanned skin at the base of Maia’s throat, a triangle that soon grew longer, and deeper, revealing a pretty green bra that Bryony hadn’t seen before. Maia had bought new underwear! The tingle between her legs grew into an itch, and her blood rushed to her head, making her dizzy. All her senses stretched towards Maia… the swell of her breasts above the green lace… her long, shapely legs… the pink tongue that peeped at the corner of her mouth, a sure sign that she was excited. But Bryony held herself in check, resisting the urge to pounce on her girlfriend and ravish her there and then. The delicious anticipation was part of the game, a game she’d never tire of playing.

  But Maia had other ideas tonight. Her fingers flew over the remaining buttons of her blouse, and she yanked it off her shoulders, throwing it carelessly on the floor. Her skirt went the same way, and now she sat there in only her lacy green bra and adorable matching panties. The itch between Bryony’s thighs flared into an ache. Her whole body yearned for Maia. She couldn’t wait any longer. She closed the distance between them and cupped her shoulders. “You drive me wild, woman.”

  Maia tilted her head, offering her luscious mouth. “You love it. You—”

  Bryony’s lips captured hers, silencing her. Maia tasted of lemons and frozen margaritas, the very essence of pleasure. Bryony drank deep, pushing her tongue into her lover’s mouth. Her hands glided down to seize Maia’s breasts. She massaged them, brushing her thumbs against the hard nipples that poked through the lace. Maia made a little mewing sound in her throat and parted her legs. The scent of her arousal hit Bryony’s nostrils, sending her libido into overdrive. Tonight there would be no tender, feathery kisses, no gentle petting. Tonight was a night for mating.

  She slid her hand down, under the waistband of Maia’s panties. She was wet for her, so wet. The pressure in Bryony’s belly increased until she almost moaned aloud. She had to taste her… eat her… devour her. She dropped to her knees and yanked the sodden panties down. Maia arched her back, offering her pussy to Bryony’s mouth. “Oh please, baby… Yes, please…”

  Bryony pressed her lips to Maia’s mound, gratified to feel the deep shudder that ran through her lover. She’d never tire of pleasuring her. She licked the swollen clit, up and down, and round and round. Maia whimpered and dug her fingers in Bryony’s hair. A stream of words issued from her mouth, in a language Bryony didn’t understand.

  But she knew what they meant. Anticipation tightened in her belly. Maia in turn was giving her a gift. The gift of magic. She plunged her tongue into Maia’s opening, revelling in the sweet-and-salty taste of her. Maia’s incantation rose, high and urgent. Her hands traced a pattern on Bryony’s hair.

  An unseen force slid between Bryony’s thighs from behind, parting them with a speed and strength that made her gasp. She pressed her mouth harder against Maia’s pussy and gripped the edges of the chair, trembling with excitement. Maia had divined that she too wanted it rough and fast tonight. And she was giving it to her.

  Something invisible, long and hard pushed aside Bryony’s panties, and a round head teased her opening. Hot cream spilled to welcome the sweet invasion. It entered her, filling her up, pressing against her cervix, until Bryony felt that she would burst. It was so hard, so good… and now it was moving inside her, slowly at first, then faster. The delicious friction pushed her closer and closer to ecstasy. Maia’s juices filled her mouth and her cries filled her ears. “Yes, Bryony, baby, yes, I want us to come together, don’t stop, please, don’t stop…”

  Bryony groaned as the invisible rod inside her pumped harder. Her walls rippled around it, and waves of pleasure drenched her. She tongued Maia and sucked her clit, rasping her teeth against the throbbing flesh. Maia yelped like a vixen and pulled at Bryony’s hair. “Baby, yes, yes, yes!”

  And she came, convulsing against Bryony’s mouth, her release gushing out of her in a sweet stream of liquid. Maia’s ecstasy added fuel to the furnace burning in Bryony’s loins. Maia’s magic pulsed in her veins, filling her with liquid fire. She was melting… burning… she couldn’t take any more… She threw her head back and howled as the wild orgasm ripped through her, tearing her to shreds and scattering her across the stars.

  When she came to her senses, the invisible force had left her. But the magic was still there. Because Maia was holding her, kissing her hair, murmuring in her ear. “Baby, you make me feel so good.”

  Bryony struggled to her feet, her legs wobbly with pleasure, and helped Maia up. “Let’s go take a shower.”