Watching Vee eat dinner was just as sensually tortuous as lunch. Maybe more, with the anxiety eased about his physiology.

Dana just about lost his shit at least three times before dessert.

"You all right, baby?" Vee teased, playfully licking cheesecake off her spoon.

Dana took Vee's hand under the table and pressed it to the iron rod trying to escape his slacks.

"Oh, baby," Vee breathed. "I want that for dessert."

Fuck.

"I can't walk right now," Dana whispered.

Vee frowned and shifted closer, moving her hand so she could cup the pulsing length. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It hurts so good, mooi," Dana assured her. "I'm not complaining."

"Are you...Does this happen to you a lot?"

"Only with you," Dana confessed. "I spend about seventy percent of my time with you hard as fuck."

Vee blushed, her dark skin deepening. She eased her hand away and sipped the last of her margarita.

"You should call Walter."

"Why?" Coherent thought was a task Dana wasn't entirely up to.

"I wanna suck your dick," Vee whispered in his ear.

Fuck.

"Fuck."

While Dana sent a text, Vee caught their server. He quickly packed up their fried spring rolls, dumplings, and Dana's uneaten cheesecake. In moments, Dana had paid, left an insane tip, and managed to walk out with a hand on Vee's lower back without limping too much.

In the car, Vee slipped to her knees on the floor and shouldered Dana's legs apart to make room.

"You don't have to do that now," Dana told her.

Never mind the fact that Dana really wanted her to do that, now. And later.

Rinse and repeat.

"I want to," Vee insisted, plucking the snap open and dragging the zipper down. "You promised."

She was careful, and Dana was grateful.

The penis and zippers did not play well together, even with boxer briefs.

He swallowed when Vee glanced up, her fingers hooked in the top of his briefs. Slowly, she pulled, releasing some of the pressure.

Dana shifted, trying to breathe, and watched Vee ease the fabric down. In the flickering of passing streetlights, her eyes went wide.

"Damn," she whispered, "you're so thick!"

Dana laughed, then groaned when Vee pressed a sweet kiss to the underside of his cock. Her tongue, followed, making Dana jump.

Vee tugged some more until she bared the entire shaft and eased Dana's balls out.

"Mm, slick." She licked the smooth, hairless skin and sucked both globes into her mouth, nearly taking Dana's head off. "Me likey."

"Oh, my god," Dana gasped. "You're fucking killing me."

"Mm." Vee dropped kisses along the shaft, licking along the way up with her tongue until she reached the fat head, seeping precum.

Dana held his breath, watching those plush lips part and close around him. Stunned, he groaned, hips snapping against his will.

Vee's mouth was hot and wet. She swirled her tongue around the head before carefully scraping her teeth along the spongy flesh. While Dana shuddered, Vee eased her way down, working her lips and tongue around the throbbing shaft until she pressed her nose into Dana's trimmed patch of hair.

Then she swallowed.

And Dana lost his shit.

Lightning shot through him and he saw stars while his cock pumped cum into Vee's open and eager mouth.

Shuddering, Dana lay sprawled on the seat, gasping and dazed.

"Fuck," he whispered. "Now I need a cigarette."

Vee, the siren, sat back on her heels, looking like a woman without any doubt of her feminine power.

"Come here," Dana rasped.

Vee crawled up his lap, the fabric of her dress brushing Dana's naked and almost flaccid cock until she lay full-length against him.

Dana flicked his tongue along her lips until they opened, then slipped within to tease and caress.

Vee sighed, arms winding up and around Dana's neck, and artfully engaged in the tongue duel.

Dana broke the kiss with a sigh, stroking his siren's back. "That was amazing."

"I can do better."

"Then I will, eventually die coming, and go with a smile."

Vee laughed, and Dana hissed. His cock was still sensitive.

"Oops, let me get that for ya." Vee slid back down to the floor and carefully tucked Dana's bits away, restoring the briefs and zipping him back up.

"Thank you. My body isn't listening to my brain quite yet."

Vee climbed up again, this time sitting in his lap with her legs folded to one side. "Don't go home tonight," she murmured. "Stay with me."

"What about Sheri?"

"It's not like we share rooms," Vee grinned, "and we ain't nuns."

Dana laughed, his heart soaring. Things were going better than he could ever hope, but he knew he had to take it easy.

If Vivienne would let him.

"I don't have any condoms with me."

He didn't want to be presumptuous. He had planned to ease into his genderqueer status. It was a 50-50 shot that Vee would drop him when she found out he wasn't quite as female or male as she thought he was.

But Vee winked, a serene smile gracing those lips that were so deliciously wicked. "I got you, baby."

Dana didn't want to think about why Vee had condoms. Not that he was dicktimidated. He was a bit over average length, but he was thick. He had more than enough to work with, thank you, mixed-up genes-slash-hormones.

He didn't want to think of his siren with anyone else that would need condoms, though.

So, this was jealousy.

He wasn't a fan.

"I only have them cuz I volunteer at The Rainbow Lighthouse."

Dana's brows went up. "Which chapter?"

"Como of course."

The Rainbow Lighthouse was founded by Kai Fitzgerald's mother Rosalyn, or Mama Roz, as she was lovingly called. She started it when Fitz came out to her to help underserved LGBTQ+ youth. When Mama Roz shared the idea with her son and his closest friends, they all signed on.

"You keep surprising me."

"In a good way?"

"Very good."

Vee smiled. "Do you volunteer, too?"

"Ah," Dana smiled sheepishly. "We're Inaugural Members."

She frowned. "You know Mama Roz?"

Dana nodded. "We're very good friends with her son."

"Wow," Vee whispered. "You keep surprising me," she grinned. "Did you know him when he was with Carlisle?"

"Um, yeah. We're the UnDeauxTrois Triplets."

"What!"

Dana winced when Vee shrieked.

"Oh, my God! You know Hunter and Hannah Carlisle, too?"

"Yes. We're still friends. We were just at the Carlisle Ranch for their brother's birthday a few weeks ago."

"What the fuck are you doing with me?"

Dana blinked. "What?"

"You know some of the hottest, richest people in the state of Texas," Vee pointed out. "Like, know, like hang out and shit. How do I compete with that?"

Dana caught her hands and held onto them. "You don't," he said forcefully. "They're just people, like you, and me."

"They are famous. And talented. And rich."

"They are more than the sum of their parts," Dana said quietly, "and so are you. How many languages do you speak?"

"Seven, fluently," Vee answered, frowning. "Why?"

"Darling, most people barely speak one language, and you speak seven, well enough to be paid as a translator. You have an incredible ear for accents, and you're a hell of a pool player. You're a fucking goddess, all these curves, those lips, that hair, and your eyes. God, I could spend the rest of my life trying to capture that glow and fail.

"What the fuck are you doing with me? I'm an intersex jewelry maker who shares a house with my siblings because the idea of living alone terrifies me. And you? You're doing it on your own, with your cousin and your wits.

"You are tough, fearless, sweet, and probably smarter than me. How can I not want to be with you?"

Vee was silent, and Dana waited.

"That's...that's how you see me?"

"Yes," Dana held his breath.

It would be a miserable end to their night if Vee's insecurity got in the way.

"Thank you."

The quiet words made Dana's heart start beating again.

Dana swallowed, nodding, and dropped a kiss on Vee's knuckles. "You're welcome."

The car rolled to a stop, and they heard Walter get out.

"So," Dana stroked Vee's knuckles with his thumb. "As much as I'd love to, I'm not going to stay tonight."

In answer, Vee licked Dana from his chin all the way up to the tip of his nose. Dana sat in lust-fogged stillness until Walter cleared his throat.

"I...I just need to walk Miss Vee to her door, Walter," Dana said, his voice rough and strained.

"Very good, Boss."

Dana hissed when Vee swooped in to bite his bottom lip. He was panting when Vee finally released him. He swallowed hard and dragged himself out of the car. He offered a hand to the smugly smiling siren and breathed deep when she accepted and let him help her out onto the sidewalk.

***

Vee wasn't in the mood to let Dana leave her at the door, but he was determined to be a gentleman.

What the fuck, man.

He stood back almost on the edge of the porch while she unlocked the front door. She turned back to him and he stepped close. She sighed when his lips brushed across her forehead and down her cheek.

"I really want you to stay," she whispered, breathing in his clean citrusy scent.

"I really want to," he whispered back. "But I'm not in this for the quick fix, darling." He tipped her head up using a finger under her chin. "The long game, remember?"

She swallowed. "I get that. I just don't think staying with me tonight will hurt."

"Maybe," Dana sighed, brushing his nose alongside hers. "Maybe not. Indulge me, mooi. We are more than worth the wait."

"You said I could do whatever I wanted with you," she reminded him.

"And I mean that, but the time has to be right, Vivienne, for both of us. If you think about it with the big head, you'll agree. We have a lot to learn about each other."

She frowned at him when he laughed quietly.

"Damn, you're beautiful," he sighed, longing in his voice and she noticed his hands shook when he shoved them into his pockets. "I'll text you when I get home, darling. Go on in, so I know you're safe."

Thwarted and grudgingly impressed, Vee pushed her door open and stepped inside. She caught Sheri hovering in the hallway and waved at her before she turned back to Dana on the porch.

"When will I see you again?" she asked.

He leaned on the door jamb. "I have to go out of town soon for work. I will try to see you before I leave, but if not, it will be about a week."

A week? What the hell?

"Okay," she heaved a sigh. "Are you gonna kiss me good night?"

He smiled, then stood up straight to lean forward. She met him at the threshold and growled when he barely dusted her lips with his. No tongue action whatsoever.

"What the fuck, man?"

Dana grinned. "Darling, any more than that, and I'll lose my mind and throw you on the floor in front of God and everybody," he warned her huskily. "Good night, Vivienne."

She swallowed when Dana stepped back and kept going until he was on the sidewalk. He watched her until she swung the door shut.

"Damn, yo," Sheri muttered from behind her scaring the shit out of her.

She forgot her cousin was there.

"Bitch!" she hissed.