Flirting Lessons

Chapter Thirteen

Thirteen

Friday night, Avery had plans with Taylor. A date with Taylor? Yes. Right? What should they do? Where should they go? Taylor had planned all their flirting lessons; it was her turn to plan something, now that they were officially…whatever they were. She wanted to surprise her, do something Taylor wouldn’t expect. But what? She racked her brain for the answer.

When it finally came to her, late on Thursday, she laughed out loud. Then she texted Taylor.

Avery

We still on for tomorrow? what time?

Taylor texted back right away.

Taylor

Yes. 6:30 or 7?

Avery

Great. what’s your address? i’ll pick you up at 7. wear something that makes you feel powerful.

She pressed send before she could chicken out.

Almost immediately, the three little dots popped up to show her Taylor was typing a response.

Taylor

Turning the tables on me, I like it

And that’s a challenge if i’ve ever heard one. I guess we’ll see if i’m up to it

Avery could see the amused, slightly wry look on Taylor’s face as she typed that. She grinned at her phone. She was pretty sure Taylor was up to the challenge.

On the way to Taylor’s place, Avery second-guessed herself. Would Taylor find this idea as fun as she did? What if she thought it was stupid? She wouldn’t say it, but Avery would know. Shit, she should have done something easy like a sports game or something.

Did Taylor even like sports? Not that she knew of, but still.

Well, it was too late now.

Her phone buzzed as she pulled up in front of Taylor’s building.

Taylor

I’m sure you’re going to get here early. i’ll be outside in five minutes, which is ten minutes early for me, and ten minutes late for you

Avery looked at the clock: 6:55 p.m.

Avery

Just got here. no rush!

Taylor walked outside seven minutes later. She had on jeans, a studded belt, combat boots, and a white sleeveless shirt. She saw Avery, smiled wide, and walked over to the car.

“Hi,” she said as she got into the car. She leaned over and kissed Avery on the lips, and Avery kissed her back. They were definitely something now, if Taylor greeted her with a kiss on the lips like it was an everyday kind of thing.

“So, I didn’t say ‘dress like the hottest thing in Napa Valley,’ but I’m going to thank you for doing that nonetheless,” Avery said.

Taylor smirked at her.

“Where do you think I get my power?”

Avery glanced down, and Taylor laughed.

“No, not from my boobs! Okay, not only from my boobs.”

Avery could feel herself blushing.

“That’s not what I was looking at! I was looking at your whole outfit—not just your boobs! Just to see what you meant.”

Taylor’s boobs did look great, though. But then, they always did.

Taylor just laughed and put a hand on Avery’s thigh.

“I can’t wait to find out where we’re going.”

Avery started the car, even though the pressure of Taylor’s hand on her thigh distracted her so much she forgot where they were going for a second.

“Don’t you have any guesses?”

She could feel Taylor smile at her, even as she looked straight ahead.

“What do I get if I figure it out?”

Avery pretended to think about that.

“Hmmm. I think it’s only fair that if you figure it out, I’ll go home with you tonight.”

Taylor’s smile got bigger.

“Okay, then, what happens if I don’t figure it out?”

Avery put her hand on top of Taylor’s.

“Well, that would be very sad for you. I guess, as a consolation, I’ll go home with you tonight.”

Taylor let out a deep sigh.

“Oh wow, so the stakes are high, then. Let’s see…powerful…maybe it’s a rock climbing gym? But you don’t seem like a ‘rock climbing gym date’ kind of person. Do you think I’m a rock climbing gym kind of person?” Taylor paused and looked at her. “No, impossible that you’d think that. Okay, not rock climbing.”

Avery smiled but said nothing.

“You’re not going to tell me? Okay, that’s fair. But I’ve convinced myself that it’s not rock climbing. Maybe a butchering class? I have always wanted to learn how to do that, so good for you if it is.”

Avery tucked butchering class away in her mind for the future.

“Hmmm,” Taylor went on. “Butchering class is a promising idea, but I don’t know if they even have them this late in the day. I feel like butchers have to get up early, like bakers and farmers, though I have no idea if that’s true. But if I’m right about that, it’s not a butchering class. Maybe, like, woodworking? You need to be powerful to do that…though I feel like you would have given me a different prompt if it was woodworking.”

Avery raised an eyebrow.

“Like what?”

Taylor shook her head.

“I didn’t think you’d say something phallic, please, you would never. Maybe something about almond or olive or walnut or something to make me think you were talking about food.”

Avery thought about that for a second, then nodded.

“That could be the kind of thing that I would do.”

Taylor smiled.

“So, no woodworking, then. I didn’t really think it was that, but it’s good to check something off a list.” She held up a finger. “Ooh, powerful: superheroes are powerful. Is it the new superhero movie? You know I love those things. And it has Anna Gardiner in it, and you know how I feel about her.”

Avery did know. She’d thought of that and then rejected it for being too obvious. Plus, you didn’t really get to talk during a movie, and one thing she liked about going out with Taylor was getting to talk to her all night. But now she regretted her decision; Taylor sounded so excited by the idea of going to see that movie. Maybe she should have gone for the obvious choice.

“Or…” By the time Avery had parked her car, Taylor had come up with three other options, none of which was right. She looked around when Avery turned off the car, and Avery touched her hand.

“The bad news is that you didn’t guess it. But the good news is that means I’m coming home with you tonight.”

Taylor leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.

“You are an excellent consolation prize.” And then she kissed her again. And again.

“Don’t you want to know where we’re going?” Avery asked in her ear.

Taylor brushed her thumb against Avery’s lip.

“Right now? Not particularly.”

After not long enough, Avery made herself pull away.

“Come on,” she said to Taylor. “We don’t want to be late.”

Taylor tucked Avery’s hair back behind her ear and opened her door.

“Fine, but only because you just told me that you’re coming home with me later.”

Avery laughed as she got out of the car.

“I was always coming home with you later.”

Taylor reached for her hand.

“I didn’t want to take that for granted.”

That look on Taylor’s face, that frank, honest tone in her voice, made Avery believe, maybe for the first time, that she and Taylor were really doing this. She’d been a lot more anxious about tonight than she’d recognized: anxious to plan a good night for Taylor, anxious to show that she was good enough and cute enough and cool enough to actually date Taylor and not just be her pathetic bisexual buddy who didn’t know how to flirt with women, anxious that Taylor would realize that she was boring Avery Jensen and wonder what she’d ever seen in her.

But in all of that anxiety, she’d forgotten who Taylor was. Taylor liked her, just for her. Taylor didn’t care if she was cool or not, because Taylor herself was too cool to worry about what other people thought. And Taylor wouldn’t care what she’d planned, she’d have fun no matter what they did.

Avery squeezed Taylor’s hand.

“It’s this way,” she said. “Let’s go.”

They were at the end of the block before Taylor saw the sign. She burst out laughing.

“You didn’t,” Taylor said.

Avery grinned at her. That had been the exact reaction she’d been hoping for.

“I sure did,” she said. She opened the door of Axes R Us, and ushered Taylor inside.

Avery felt very smug as the guy at the front desk checked them in, led them to their lane, and gave them the whole safety rundown.

Finally, he left them alone in their lane with the huge target at one end and two big axes at the other. Taylor looked at her with such warmth in her eyes that Avery felt a fluttering in her chest. Ah, that’s why they called it butterflies.

“I’m going to be laughing about this forever, you know that, right?” Taylor said.

Avery took a step back and picked up an ax.

“I certainly hope so.”

Taylor picked up her own ax and weighed it in her hands.

“This thing is somehow both heavier and bigger than I expected. I don’t know why, I guess anyone would expect an ax to be big and heavy, but the whole ‘throwing’ aspect made me think it wouldn’t be that bad. I guess I’m not a very good lesbian if I didn’t already know that.”

Avery put her ax down and swung her arm around to loosen it up. She had a feeling Taylor would be good at this; she didn’t want to embarrass herself.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

Taylor held up a hand.

“Wait. We need some stakes. What does the winner get?”

Avery had an idea about that. But before she could say anything, Taylor laughed.

“Not that, you dirty girl. I saw that look on your face. That’s a given.”

Avery blushed, then she thought for a second.

“I know. Loser has to get up tomorrow and go get the winner the breakfast of her choice.”

Taylor held out a hand.

“Done. Perfect. You’re very good at this.”

Avery tried not to show how flattered she was by that, and then realized how silly it was that her first instinct was to not let Taylor know she was pleased by a compliment. Right, she was doing that thing again, where she hid her feelings. Maybe she could try to practice being more open about them with Taylor, since everything with Taylor was just practice anyway. It was practice dating, not serious dating. Could she practice this, too?

She smiled at Taylor after probably too long a pause.

“Thank you. I like it when you tell me I’m good at things.” Wow, that sounded awkward. She’d ignore that for now. “No more delay tactics. Let’s do this.”

As it turned out, they were both terrible at throwing axes. Avery’s first throw made it only halfway to the target, which made Taylor laugh out loud—something that would have infuriated her from Derek, but with Taylor, she just laughed, too. Taylor’s first throw was better, but it still came nowhere near hitting anything.

Avery picked up the ax for the second time.

“I think I need to do more of a windup.” She swung the ax around a few times, but right when she was about to release it, she was startled by a grunt from the lane next to theirs.

“What—” She looked over and saw two very burly men in that lane. Taylor turned to her, eyes full of laughter.

“I think we’ve got some actual wannabe lumberjacks over there.”

“UUUUUUHHHHHH.” One of them released his ax, and it flew across the room straight into the target. Avery pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t burst out laughing as she watched him walk to the target and pull out his ax.

“You’re staring,” Taylor said. “Stop looking at them.”

Avery turned back to Taylor, who was giggling so hard Avery thought she was about to fall over.

“I was trying to learn some techniques,” Avery said. “They can hit the target, at least.”

Taylor walked over to Avery and put her mouth close to her ear.

“Learn all the techniques you want, just save the noises for later.”

The low, throaty sound of her voice was so fucking sexy that Avery wanted to throw the stupid ax down immediately and drag Taylor back home.

She put her hand on Taylor’s waist and smiled at her.

“I look forward to that, and to learning other kinds of techniques.”

Taylor looked at her with such heat in her eyes that if she said the word, Avery actually would drop her ax and drag her home immediately.

“I’m counting on it,” Taylor said. “Now.” She gestured at the ax in Avery’s hand. “Show me what you’ve got.”

She took a step back, and Avery went through her ridiculous windup routine again. But since she’d seen the grunter do it, she felt more justified. When she released her ax this time, it flew toward the target.

“Ah!” she yelled as her ax hit the very edge of the target.

“UUUUGGGGGGGGH,” the second burly man grunted as he threw his ax.

That time, Avery and Taylor both dissolved into uproarious, almost silent, laughter.

The four of them—Avery, Taylor, and their two grunting buddies—kept throwing axes for about an hour. Surprising herself, and, she was pretty sure, Taylor, Avery handily won their bet, though Taylor did at least hit the target twice.

“Was it as good as you wanted it to be?” Avery asked as they walked to the car.

Taylor grinned at her and put her arm around Avery’s waist.

“Better. The grunting really took it over the top. Now I understand why people like it. It’s weirdly fun to throw axes around. I don’t need to do it again—my ego isn’t up to that—but I get it.” She looked sideways at Avery. “We are getting something to eat now, right? After all that exercise, I’m starving.”

Avery shook her head slowly and took a step back.

“I’m honestly insulted that you thought you had to even ask that question.”

Taylor laughed and put her arm around her again, and Avery grinned. It was so refreshing to be with someone with whom she could joke around like this. She was now realizing that she’d dated far too many people who she’d never truly relaxed with enough for that. Either for her to make fun of them, or for them to make fun of her.

“You’re so right, I’m sorry, that’s on me,” Taylor said. “The question I should have asked was whether you had any plans for where we’re getting food, or if that was a game-time decision.”

Avery unlocked the car doors and they both got in.

“Well, I didn’t want to be dictatorial on the matter, but I was thinking burgers?”

Taylor let out a deep sigh.

“Thank God. Please take me to the burgers immediately.”

After burgers and fries and milkshakes, they drove back to Taylor’s place. Taylor was a little uncertain about what hyper-organized Avery would say about her apartment.

“I’ve never seen your place before,” Avery said. “Are you hiding something in there?”

Taylor nodded as she unlocked the door.

“So many things, you have no idea. Mostly that I’m a total slob, don’t tell anyone.” She pushed open the door. As Avery looked around, Taylor winced as she saw her place through Avery’s eyes. She’d cleaned up—some—but her place was still pretty messy. Like, that pile of shoes in a jumble by the door—Avery would have had them neatly lined up or even on little shelves. She definitely would have organized those stacks of books, and would never have half-opened mail strewn around. And she absolutely would have remembered to water her plants in the past week.

“I wouldn’t call you a slob,” Avery said. “It’s not that bad. It’s not even bad at all, it’s nice. And I love all of your plants.”

Taylor laughed as she pulled off her boots.

“I love my plants, too, though I’m a terrible plant owner, I always forget to water them. But I haven’t killed one yet, so I keep buying more. Callie always gives me a discount, I can’t help it.” She took her wallet out of her pocket and tossed it on the mail-covered table. “Want something to drink?” She didn’t wait for an answer and walked back to the kitchen. Avery took off her sandals and followed her.

“Let’s see, I have wine, obviously, rosé and white; beer, which I’ve never seen you drink, but you could surprise me; sparkling water in lime, watermelon, and no flavor; ginger beer; and then I have stuff to make, like, a gin and tonic or vodka tonic or whatever, if you want that; or just ice water. Or…” She trailed off as she looked at Avery. She was staring hard at a spot on the floor, with an odd expression on her face. She clearly hadn’t paid any attention to what Taylor had been saying.

“Hey,” Taylor said.

Avery looked up. “Oh. Um, I’ll have sparkling water. Lime, please.”

Taylor took a can out of the fridge and handed it to her.

“Everything okay?”

Avery nodded, then shrugged. “Yeah, of course.”

Taylor’s face must have shown that she didn’t believe that.

“Okay, everything’s mostly okay,” Avery said. “But, um. I’m just feeling a little anxious about tonight. This is all so new. For me, I mean. So, I guess I’m kind of jittery. It’s no big deal.”

Taylor took her hand, led her to the couch, and pulled Avery down next to her.

“I’m glad you told me, instead of being anxious and pretending everything was fine,” Taylor said. She couldn’t even count the number of times someone she’d been dating had done that, and every time she knew there was something wrong. But it wasn’t just other people; she’d done that, too, when she knew saying what she really felt would hurt someone’s feelings, or start a fight, when all she wanted was to have sex and go to sleep. She was glad that, at least so far, she and Avery weren’t doing that with each other.

“I, um, I’m trying to be better about stuff like that,” Avery said. “With you, I mean, but also in general. I have a habit of blowing off my own emotions, and that’s not good for me. I know this is…we’re just casual, it’s not like I think…but I want to practice saying how I feel. But it’s, um, hard to change bad habits.”

Taylor put her arm around Avery.

“Tell me about it,” she said. “My bad habits are probably far worse than yours, and yes, it’s been very hard to change them.”

Avery turned to face her.

“You have bad habits?”

Taylor laughed at the shocked tone of her voice.

“You’re kidding me, right? You can even ask that question, while you sit here in my messy apartment? I have a million bad habits. I’m disorganized, I’m bad with money, I’m terrible at commitment, I haven’t had a relationship longer than a few months in years, I’m barely a functioning adult. Meanwhile, look at you, queen of the spreadsheets, in an apartment you only moved into a few months ago that looks like it should be in a magazine, an upstanding member of society and everything. It’s kind of ridiculous that you’re spending so much time with someone like me, honestly.” Wow, she hadn’t quite meant to say all of that.

Avery rolled her eyes.

“Now it’s my turn to say, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’ Other than spreadsheets, which is not a thing that really matters, tell me one thing that I can do better than you.”

Taylor dropped her arm and turned to face her.

“I can list so many things, but how about we start with this one: You have your own business! And you’re not even thirty! Years younger than me! Only a few, but still. Then there’s me over here, who has had a dream of starting a business for years, but that’s all it is, a dream.”

Avery widened her eyes.

“You’ve had a dream of starting a business for years? Doing what?”

Damn. She really hadn’t meant to say all of that. She’d just been blabbering away in an attempt to soothe Avery’s anxiety, and she’d accidentally confessed this big secret.

She must have shown that in her face, because Avery quickly held up a hand.

“If you don’t want to talk about this with me, I get it. That’s okay, my feelings won’t be hurt.”

“No, it’s not that.” Taylor sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it with you. I just haven’t really talked to anyone other than Erica about this, and I’m kind of tender about it, I guess.” It felt scary to talk about this, though she didn’t want to say that to Avery. “My sort of grand, someday ambition is to open a little wine bar up here. One that focuses on local wines, obviously, where people can taste a few side by side without having to drive around to different wineries or buy a huge meal, a place people can drop in and have a glass or two and eat some snacks. I feel like the valley needs a place like that, something unpretentious, all about wine, but not in a snooty way, approachable for both locals and tourists.”

She could feel herself getting more excited as she talked about it and had to bring herself back to earth. She knew that practical, organized Avery would if she didn’t. Avery would probably point out all the problems with her plan, and how Taylor didn’t have the experience or expertise for this, and how much it would all cost, and how impossible it was. She knew that already; she didn’t need Avery to tell her.

“But don’t worry, I know that that’s something that goes right into the ‘dreams that won’t come true’ category,” she said. Hopefully that would be enough to forestall Avery from what Taylor knew she was going to say.

“But why?” Avery asked. “I love this idea! You’d be so great at that!”

Taylor turned to look at Avery. Her eyes were wide and excited.

“Just listening to you talk about it makes me want to go to your wine bar right away,” Avery said. “You’re so great at the customer service stuff, and you’re right, we do need a place like that. I can’t wait for this to happen.”

She hadn’t expected her to say that. She hadn’t expected Avery to be supportive of this idea that she’d had for a long time but thought of as impractical, unrealistic. She hadn’t expected Avery to believe in her this much.

“You’re not just saying that?” she asked.

Avery shook her head. She wasn’t smiling anymore; her expression was completely serious.

“Of course not. I wouldn’t do that to you. I think it’s a great idea, and I think you can do it. It’ll be a lot of hard work, and it’ll probably be really scary, and you’ll have to learn a lot of new things, but you’re not afraid of hard work. You can do all of that.”

Avery was right about how hard it would be. Was she right that Taylor could do it?

“Back to the thing about bad habits, I’ve been trying to get better at money stuff, to understand it a little more, so I’m not just nodding and smiling along when people talk about taxes and stocks like they’re speaking Latin. But wow, is it hard for me.” She didn’t look at Avery when she said that; she didn’t want to see the pity on her face.

“You know, there are good classes you can take,” Avery said. “About that kind of stuff, but also other things about how to run a business. That’s what I did.”

Taylor sat up straight and looked at her.

“You did?”

Avery nodded.

“Yeah, I had no idea how to do any of this stuff, either. Sure, I have an orderly brain, but it’s not like my parents knew any of that, neither of them owned a business. I still feel like I barely know what I’m doing.”

Incredible that someone like Avery could think that.

“I’ve thought about taking classes, just about how to run a business, or a bar,” Taylor said. “So many bars and restaurants close within the first year, it’s such a risky thing to try to do; I would want to know what I was getting myself into. But I don’t even know where to start.”

“But you have lots of friends in that business who you could ask, don’t you?” Avery asked.

That had occurred to her, of course it had. But…

“But if you asked them, you’d have to tell them that you’re thinking about doing this,” Avery said.

Avery knew her better than she thought. Taylor nodded.

“I get that,” Avery said. “I’d worry about that, too. Well, I can share the research that I did, this was a few years ago, but it should still help. Oh!” She put her hand on Taylor’s. “You know who the perfect person to talk to about this is? Margot! She’ll know exactly what you should do, she knows everybody. And she’ll totally be in your corner.”

Margot. Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

“She’s the perfect person, you’re right,” she said. “If I work up the nerve, she’s definitely the first person I’ll talk to.”

Avery slid her fingers through Taylor’s and squeezed tight.

“You should,” she said. “And thank you for telling me about this. I’m glad you felt like you could talk to me about something so important to you.” She smiled at Taylor. “See, there’s both of us working on our bad habits.”

Taylor kissed her on the cheek.

“I’m proud of us,” she said.

“Me, too,” Avery said.

Taylor cupped Avery’s cheek, and then kissed her lips.

“Do you know what it’s time for?” She let her hand move slowly down Avery’s body. Avery’s eyes fluttered shut.

“What?” she asked.

“It’s time for me to take these clothes off you.”

Taylor started slowly, leisurely. The other times they’d had sex, she’d felt almost frantic about it, like she’d better do it fast before one of them came to their senses. But tonight, she knew this wasn’t their last time, so it felt like she could take a deep breath and enjoy all of this. After Avery had planned a hilarious night of ax throwing, the least she could do was to make sure she had a fantastic time here, too.

She reached for Avery’s delightfully apropos plaid shirt, and slid first one button undone, then another. She was surprised that Avery even had a plaid shirt, but maybe she kept it around when she had to play dress-up, just like Taylor had a ladylike cardigan somewhere in her dresser. Avery had tucked the front of her shirt into her jeans, because of course she had. Taylor grinned as she unbuttoned Avery’s shirt to reveal a hot pink bra.

“God, I love how you always have the best surprise for me under there,” Taylor said as she traced the lace of the bra with her fingertip.

Avery watched the movement of her finger with a smile on her face.

“I wasn’t sure if you cared about lingerie. It’s good to know that you do.”

Taylor sat back so she could savor Avery in that bra.

“Why, because mine is always so boring? I don’t care about it on myself, but I love it on you.”

She moved her fingers up and over and all around Avery’s breasts in that bra, tracing the lace and making circles around her nipples until Avery shivered.

“Oh, do you want me to take this off of you?” she asked innocently.

Avery glared at her.

“You said you were going to take it off of me five minutes ago!”

Taylor reached around her to unhook it.

“Mmm, does that mean you didn’t enjoy the last five minutes?”

Avery reached out and pinched her nipple softly, and Taylor felt a jolt of pleasure.

“What do you think?”

Taylor’s eyebrows went up.

“I think you liked that a lot. Let’s see what else you like.” She took both of Avery’s nipples between her fingers as Avery watched her. Avery’s eyes were wide, her lips were pink, her mouth was slightly open. Taylor pinched them, one after the other, like Avery had done to her…well, maybe just a little harder, but not too hard. Avery gasped, then giggled, then closed her eyes in pleasure.

“Mmm, you like that, too, don’t you? I thought that you would. I like it, too. It’s fun to pinch, just a little, to bite, just a bit.” She demonstrated as she talked. “What do you think?”

Avery’s cheeks were pink, and she didn’t quite make eye contact with Taylor.

“I, um, think—”

Taylor stopped. Waited. She didn’t want to rush Avery, either way.

Finally, she looked at Taylor.

“I, um, I do like it.”

Oh. Avery wasn’t scared to tell her she didn’t like it. She was embarrassed to tell her that she did.

Taylor moved her hand to Avery’s cheek.

“If you don’t want to talk about this—to talk like this—we don’t have to. You don’t have to like it, just because I do.”

Avery kept her eyes on Taylor’s.

“I do, too. I’m just…nervous about it. That I’ll sound stupid, or something. But I don’t want to not do it because of that.”

Taylor felt a wave of affection for her. For how scared and confident and shy and sweet and assertive she was. She kissed Avery softly on the lips.

“My God, you’re so sexy. I can’t get over it.”

Avery kissed her back.

“You told me that at our first flirting lesson. And I didn’t believe you then, I thought you were just saying it, trying to raise my confidence a little.”

“And now?” Taylor asked, reaching for Avery’s huge, silly, fantastic belt buckle.

“And now I believe you mean it,” Avery said. “I feel so sexy when I’m with you. I’ve never felt like this with anyone before. I’ve felt pretty or whatever, but not sexy.” She reached for Taylor’s belt, too. “It feels amazing.”

Taylor loved not only that she’d done that for Avery, but also that Avery had told her about it. It felt like such a gift, for Avery to share that with her. She wanted to say that to Avery, but she didn’t know how. Instead, she unbuttoned Avery’s jeans.

“That’s always the goal. For you—for both of us—to have fun.” Taylor grabbed Avery’s hand and pulled her up from the couch and toward the bedroom. Avery kicked her jeans off on the way there and giggled. When they got into the bedroom, Taylor pulled open the bottom drawer of her nightstand.

“I was wondering—no pressure—if you thought playing around with one of these might be fun?” Taylor asked her.

Avery looked at the assortment of toys in the drawer. Taylor was prepared for any reaction: shock, embarrassment, refusal, tentative agreement. But Avery surprised her yet again. She stared down at the toys for a while, and then looked at Taylor with dancing eyes.

“Only one way to find out,” she said. She reached in and grabbed one. “How about this one?”

The sight of Avery, clad only in a pair of hot pink bikini underwear, fondling a very large vibrator was one of the hottest things Taylor had ever seen. She took her own pants off immediately.

“Um, yes, that one is great,” she said. She pushed Avery down onto the bed, and Avery fell backward, still with that laughter in her eyes. Taylor pulled off her shirt and grabbed the vibrator from her, right before she knelt on the bed next to Avery.

“Hey, no fair, I wanted to play with that,” Avery said.

Taylor hooked her fingers around the waistband of Avery’s underwear and pulled them off.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get to play with this, all right,” she said. She turned it on, first to low power, then stronger, and Avery giggled.

“I’ve only ever heard that noise when I’ve been alone in my bedroom,” she said.

Taylor pushed at her knees, and Avery opened her legs wide.

“How do you like hearing it when you’re here in my bedroom?” Taylor asked. She slid the toy slowly in and out of Avery. She could see Avery’s face so well from this vantage point.

“I like hearing it,” Avery said. “But I like feeling it even better. And I really like watching you do that.”

Taylor smiled as she moved the toy faster, harder.

“That’s good,” she said. “Because I really like watching you do this.”

Avery opened her legs wider, and Taylor came in closer. She kept it up with the toy as she bent down to suck on Avery’s nipples, first one, then the other. Avery let out a soft moan.

“You…have to promise me something,” Avery said.

“What?” Taylor asked.

“That I’ll get to do this to you next.”

Taylor grinned as she pinched one of Avery’s nipples.

“I promise.”