Chapter Twenty Four
I t had been the honesty that had changed her mind.
Okay, she shouldn’t have avoided the issue, but she hadn’t wanted to see Alli, hadn’t wanted to be persuaded by lust alone to forgive her. And when Alli had sought her out, she’d been sure that she’d get only the barest of apologies.
Yet Alli had really tried, had searched inside herself for answers. Bea had had a glimpse of who she’d been, who she could be, and that had overridden how disturbed she’d felt at Alli’s anger. There was room for improvement, sure, but Alli had taken a step, she’d seen it.
For a second there, everything had been good, perfect even. Then she realized that Alli was sitting on her bed. That Alli was holding her hand. And her libido had perked up, had started to ask questions, until Bea hadn’t been able to stop herself.
Now Alli was looking at her, her green eyes starting to narrow speculatively.
“Are you saying that I should take advantage of being in your room?” Alli said.
“It’s not taking advantage if I’m offering,” Bea said, hardly believing that she was saying the words. Her mouth was starting to get dry.
“Ah, you’re offering, are you?” Alli said with only the slightest break in her voice.
Bea got up from the bed, her legs wobbly, and went to the door. A little voice in her head was asking her what the hell she thought she was doing. But everything else in her body understood exactly what was happening and thoroughly agreed with it. She put her back against the door so that she was facing Alli, looking her directly in the eye, and then with one hand she flicked the lock closed.
“And now you’re imprisoning me,” Alli said, stretching her long, long legs out. “Bold move.”
“You’re free to leave any time you like,” Bea said, voice husky. She leaned back against the door. “Of course, you might need to get through me first.”
“Would I?” Alli stood now, just a couple of centimeters taller than Bea, took a step until they were face to face. “I think I could get through you.”
“You’d be surprised,” said Bea. “All that yoga…”
Alli’s tongue darted out and wet her lips, her eyes sparkled and Bea’s center melted until the door was holding her upright. “All that yoga,” Alli said. She lifted one eyebrow. “So, are we going to talk about yoga then? That’s why I’m here?”
Bea shook her head.
“Why am I here then?” Alli asked.
It was important, somehow, for them both that Bea made the first move, that Bea had the courage to do it. She lifted one shaking hand, used it to tuck a lock of Alli’s hair behind her ear, and then…
Alli was on her like a flash, their lips meeting, teeth crashing, Alli’s full weight pressing Bea against the door until Bea was moaning in her mouth, until Bea’s pulse was pounding through her veins.
And Alli’s hands were pushing Bea’s shirt up and over her arms, breaking the kiss for a painful second to get it off over her head. Bea returned the favor, pulling Alli’s bra off with her shirt, struggling to get her own sports bra off.
Breast to breast, the soft smoothness of it, the unfamiliar shape of everything. Bea’s wanting grew stronger, harder, she was gasping now as Alli’s breasts rubbed against her own. And Alli was gripping her waist, pulling her closer, inserting a leg between Bea’s thighs and Bea’s hips were thrusting and she was groaning and… Alli pulled away.
“What?” Bea said, opening one eye so breathless that the word barely had a sound.
“This,” Alli said gruffly. She snapped the waistband of Bea’s yoga pants. “Off.” Her fingers fumbled with the button of her own jeans and then she was stripping them off, hopping on one leg as Bea kicked her pants to the other side of the tiny room.
Bea grabbed Alli’s hair, pulling her back up, wanting more of her mouth, wanting to taste her, to devour her. Alli obliged this time their full naked bodies crushing against each other as Bea felt wetness pooling at the top of her thighs. Until Alli pulled away again.
“What now?” groaned Bea.
Alli grinned and hoisted Bea by the hips, turning and depositing her on the bed. Bea gasped, but Alli was already above her, already parting her legs, already smiling like a demon. “Like this,” she said, fingers stroking the skin on the inside of Bea’s thighs.
Bea nodded, swallowing, trying to control her breathing, trying to stop herself inching down to meet Alli’s fingers, trying to be patient.
“Not a clue what I’m doing,” Alli said, eyes heavy-lidded, breath coming faster.
“Wouldn’t have guessed,” panted Bea, eyes closing now as Alli’s fingers reached higher.
There was movement and Alli’s tongue circled Bea’s nipple and Bea cried out just as Alli’s fingers thrust inside her and a thumb pressed against her clit. She lifted her hips and Alli pushed her back down again, fully in control of something that Bea had no hopes of controlling.
Fingers slipped in and out of slickness, a tongue flicked at a sensitive nipple, a thumb circled a swollen center and all Bea could do was try to breathe, try to keep up, try to take in the sensations until she couldn’t anymore. Until her body took over and her mouth cried out and Alli’s fingers were trapped inside her, her thumb pressed against her, the pounding, pulsing rushing through her.
“Jesus Christ,” Alli said.
Bea opened her eyes. “Not bad for a first attempt.”
“Cheeky now, are you?” asked Alli, slowly starting to slide her fingers out of Bea.
Bea growled at her, stomach still twirling with need, with want. She put her hands on Alli’s waist, saw the look on Alli’s face change, saw her eyes darken, her lips part, and knew that if the world was ending right now, she simply wouldn’t care.
“Up,” she ordered as she slid down the bed, pulling Alli up the bed at the same time.
Until Alli’s hands were grasping the bedhead and her thighs were parted over Bea’s face and she could smell her, the rich, earthy scent of her, could see glittering, gleaming wetness.
She pulled Alli down, forcing her tongue upward, and began to lick as Alli rode her, pressing down harder and harder until Bea couldn’t breathe.
But it didn’t matter.
Not in the slightest.
She tasted every millimeter of her, felt every pulsing contraction, could barely hear as Alli moaned out her name. And none of it mattered. The only thing that was important was this, this action, this climbing, building need, this complete immersion in something so unfamiliar and yet familiar.
She scrambled an arm up between their bodies, slid her fingers into Alli, pushed her tongue up and over the smooth bump above her, and then held on as Alli bucked and trembled and shook like an earthquake was overtaking her.
And when she collapsed, Bea slowly slid out from under her.
“You’ve done this before,” Alli accused, breath still panting, only one eye open, staring suspiciously.
“No,” Bea said. “But I’d do it again. ”
“I might die if you do it again right now,” Alli groaned.
“I wasn’t offering to skip my turn,” said Bea, rolling over, so that they were face to face.
Alli said nothing as she slid her hand between them, as she contorted herself so that she could touch Bea in the way she needed. She said nothing as she touched, corrected herself, then touched again. Nothing as Bea’s breath caught in her throat. Nothing as the soft movements between them started to rock the little bed.
And nothing as Bea gasped, climax taking her by surprise it was so fast, eyes looking straight into Alli’s, disappearing into the greenness just as every nerve in her body contracted and then expanded and exploded.
“My second attempt seems to be just as successful as my first,” Alli drawled finally.
Bea let herself smile. “Just think how much you’ll improve with practice,” she said without thinking.
She saw the fleeting look that passed over Alli’s face and understood immediately that she’d made an assumption.
“Sorry, sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have…”
But now Alli was starting to smile, starting to push her body closer. “No,” she whispered. “No, it’s fine. I—” She swallowed. “I’m not averse to… to practicing.”
WHITE MOONLIGHT SPARKLED through the window and Bea stroked Alli’s hair. They were crammed together into the tiny bed, their limbs entangled, and Bea didn’t think she’d ever felt so relaxed. So… at peace.
“If the rest of them could see us now…” Alli said lazily.
Bea laughed. “I’m glad they can’t. I’d prefer not to get fired just at the moment.”
“Need the job, do you?”
Bea sighed. “Yes.”
“Why?”
And Bea told her. The whole story. From meeting Robbie all the way down to him moving his girlfriend in and by the end, Alli was sitting up, shaking her head. “Jesus, Bea. Why are you such a walkover?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t like confrontation. I like doing the right thing. I just… It’s complicated.”
“So he gets to live in a nice flat with a new woman and you get to work some crappy job in a horrible old haunted shit-hole?” Alli said, getting warmer with anger. “I hope you’re getting paid well at least.”
“Not exactly,” Bea said.
“Explain yourself,” Alli said, eyes glittering in the moonlight.
So Bea did. Not only did she tell Alli about how pathetic her paycheck was once Luke had made his thousand deductions, but she told her about the figures she’d seen on Luke’s desk, about the strange feeling she had when other participants spoke in group therapy.
“I don’t know,” she said at the end. “It all feels just a little bit off, you know what I mean?”
“Mmm,” Alli said thoughtfully.
Bea, who hadn’t realized how heavily all this was weighing on her until now, stroked Alli’s arm. “Not that you need to defend my honor or anything.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Alli said.
“You wouldn’t?” Bea felt oddly hurt at this.
“Nope, your honor is yours to defend, just like mine is mine,” Alli said. “If you want to get paid more then you can stand up for yourself, it’s not my job to do that for you.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Bea pulled her back down.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t look into the other stuff, though,” Alli said.
“Hmm. That might mean sticking around,” said Bea, her voice muffled by Alli’s hair. “And if we don’t get some sleep we’ll collapse tomorrow.”
Alli slid her hand comfortingly between Bea’s legs. “How about we let tomorrow be tomorrow,” she said.