Chapter Forty Five

Queen Bee glanced around at the luscious leather interior of her new cream-colored Cadillac—a gift from her man. Her man. The two words overwhelmed her. She slid her fingertips along the supple leather of the car’s upholstery, smiling at the simple truth that she could ditch the car tomorrow and not miss it. But Terry Ransom belonged to her and she couldn’t imagine life without him.

He truly was her knight in shining armor. He had swept her off her feet and straight into his arms. Just that morning, he had assured her that although she hadn’t been what he’d expected, one look in her eyes and he’d known that she was everything he’d ever wanted.

In the short time that they had known each other, her life had become a beautiful dream. They were getting married. Terry was insisting on paying for her sex reassignment surgery. She was convinced that anything was possible as long as they were together. It was almost too good to be true.

That’s why she had been concerned when Terry asked her to meet him for coffee. Something in his voice had been unsettling. She glanced in the rearview mirror to change lanes. She didn’t notice the rented blue Nova three cars behind her changing lanes too, and she certainly didn’t notice Brian Reed behind the wheel.

She exited the expressway and pulled up to the little coffee shop, where she parked her car and touched up her lipstick. A girl couldn’t be too careful when it came to looking good for her man.

Several customers in the coffee shop did doubletakes as the tall beautiful woman strolled through the door. She grinned to herself and flipped a long strand of lustrous blonde hair over her shoulder. They had no idea she was transgender. Soon enough her transformation would be complete. She would finally feel whole. And sitting at a corner table was the man who was going to make it all happen.

“Darling.” Terry rose, kissing her on both cheeks before whispering in her ear, “You look ravishing. How did I get so lucky?”

“I’m sorry I’m late, dear,” she said with a playful pout. “Traffic was dreadful.”

“You’re worth the wait. For you…I would wait an eternity. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of ordering for you.”

Simple gestures like that made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world. He treated her exactly like what her name implied: a queen. “Of course I don’t mind. You know I love that sort of thing. It’s sweet. But you sounded troubled on the phone, darling. Is everything okay?”

He reached for her hand and looked into her eyes. “It’s probably just me being a fool, but…”

“But what?”

“I think your friend Goldie is terribly jealous of you.”

Bee chuckled. It was a soft, feminine sound that got his dick hard. She’d already made him the happiest man in the world. Up until now, he had lived a conventional life, moving through his days and, yeah, his nights, seeking out the company of countless women who never made him want more than an hour or two of mindless rutting. Over the years, it had become disheartening to be surrounded by gold digging women who saw him as their ticket to the socially elite.

Then he’d come upon his beautiful damsel in distress that night. Sure, he hadn’t realized she was trans in those first moments when he’d come to her aid against those drunks in the alley. But he found that he was glad things turned out that way. He was able to experience her without any preconceptions. She had just been an incredibly beautiful woman who had been in a bad spot and needed assistance. She had needed protection, and he had been glad he could help.

But he’d figured it out soon enough and, yeah, he’d been surprised—but even more surprised to realize that it didn’t matter. He didn’t give a single fuck. Something about Queen Bee had reached deep inside his soul and claimed him when he’d slipped that shoe onto her lovely foot, and he had easily ventured from his usual path.

This was the first time someone had loved Terry for him. Besides that, Bee needed him. And he needed to be needed…but for the right reasons and not just for his bank account. And then there was the sex. The pleasure he’d found with her was addicting. Hell, his cock was ready to go again just by thinking about all that she had to offer. He wouldn’t embarrass her by touching her the way he wanted to touch her while they were at the coffee shop. But the look in his eyes made it clear what she’d be in for the minute they were alone again.

“Darling,” she purred as she crossed and uncrossed her shapely legs. “You’re insatiable.” She ran a fingernail down his arm and covered his hand with hers. “Mmm… Are you ready for your Queen, man of mine?”

“Fuck, yeah,” he bit out.

She couldn’t resist teasing him just a little. “You sure about that?”

He took a deep breath, letting it out as a low growl before responding. “I could hammer nails, baby.”

The eye contact between them was electric. “You’re so hard,” she whispered.

“So. Hard.”

The server arrived to take their order, effectively breaking the moment as they silently agreed to do their best to behave until they were once again alone.

“You know,” she said as she redirected the conversation back to their previous topic, “I would be more concerned if Goldie wasn’t jealous.”

“What do you mean?”

“All T-girls are envious of each other. Just consider it part of the culture, dear. It’s no different than women being jealous of each other. My God, we all know how vicious they can be.” Bee shuddered to emphasize her point. “Why in the world would we be any different? We’re women too, after all. All too often, bitchy and catty go with the territory, darling, on both ends of the spectrum.”

“Well…I guess I never thought about it like that. I guess it’s harmless enough since you two are friends. But you don’t think she’d do anything to try and hurt you, do you?”

Bee leaned in and winked, her whisper wafting against his skin like a soft touch. “Not if the bitch wants to live.”

He laughed out loud, drawing envious looks from several nearby customers. He loved her sense of humor. The banter that went back and forth between the drag queens at Shady Ladies was nothing short of hilarious, and Bee could banter with the best of them. It was no different than the cutthroat business he was in. Bee was real, not like the sycophants he’d been subjected to all of his life. He wondered sometimes if having old money meant being born with a silver spoon up your ass rather than in your mouth. Fuck all of them and what they thought about him marrying Bee.

He wasn’t naïve. He knew there would be bigots who would probably stop doing business with him. He was a shrewd businessman and he had big plans that would ensure he and his soon-to-be wife would never suffer financially because of the intolerance of others. Terry didn’t get where he was in this life by being a nice guy.

“I love your sense of humor, darling. You bring me so much joy.” He couldn’t help the smile that lit his face when he saw for himself the pleasure she took from his words.

“Well, you know me, darling. What you see is what you get.”

His face grew solemn as he tightened his grip on her hand. “That’s the reason I love you. Well, one reason out of about a million.” He felt a stillness overtake him; the calm before the storm, perhaps. Yes…Terry Ransom hadn’t gotten where he had in life by being a nice guy, and he wasn’t about to start now. If anyone messed with his woman, he’d fuck them up. “Perhaps there’s a dark side to me you aren’t aware of.” He held her gaze as she studied him. “How would you feel about that?”

Bee straightened in her seat and met him head on. “Let’s get one thing straight. You may have college degrees in Business, but the streets have a curriculum all their own. Now, granted, darling, the people you work with are no less vicious, but I know who my enemies are. My people take pride in not being fake. I’m well aware that there’s more than one facet of your personality. You’re a man of many layers and I look forward to discovering each and every one of them. You know how much I respect you; how much I adore you.” Bee arched a brow and pursed her lips. “I’m also aware that your lawyers will be demanding I sign a prenup.”

“My lawyers do what I tell them to do, and I have no interest in making you sign a prenup.”

“Actually, I want to. I want you to know beyond a doubt that all I want is you. I’m in it for love. Yes, there are things I want like any other woman; a sex change first and foremost, but I wouldn’t marry a man to get it. I’m an independent woman and I was taking care of myself long before you came along.” She held his gaze like the queen she was and was shocked when she saw the corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiled.

“You expected me to be angry when you said that, didn’t you?” he said softly as he reached out to cradle her jaw. “How could I ever be mad at the only person in this world who has ever been real with me? We can talk about those details later if you insist, but you’ll get no pressure from me about such things. I love you, Bee.”

“And, I love you, darling.”

“One more question,” he said as he dropped his hand and leaned back in his seat to simply enjoy the beautiful view.

“Right,” she laughed. “You’re always full of questions about the lifestyle.”

“Well, I don’t understand something. Shouldn’t the community be standing together rather than giving way to unnecessary cat fights?”

He looked so sincere and she couldn’t help but love him for it. She smiled indulgently at him as she chose her words. “Oh, I suppose in a perfect world, yes, we should all have slumber parties and braid each other’s hair. But it’s not always that way. But regardless of our personal dynamics and drama, we have a tight bond. We’ve got each other’s backs in spite of the pettiness.”

“Well, okay, then. At least you have that, because in my world the bonds are stocks and bonds. The moment you believe you’ve bonded with a colleague is the moment you feel the proverbial knife in your back.”

“That’s so sad,” she murmured as she stroked a fingertip along his chiseled jawline and stroked a long, glistening fingernail over his bottom lip. “That isn’t really true for you anymore, though, is it? Because you’ve got me now.”