CHAPTER 17
Arwen
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s good,” Iro said. “I’ve never had vegan Chinese food, and honestly, I haven’t given it much thought in terms of Chinese food being vegan, but it makes sense. There’s a ton of meat alternatives, and they don’t usually use cheese; that kind of thing.”
Iro set her bowl on the coffee table in front of them.
“Finally,” Arwen stated.
“Finally, what?”
“Finally, I can do this,” she replied, moving to straddle Iro’s hips. “You really liked that food, huh? Took you forever to finish eating.”
Iro looked up at her adoringly, and that was how Arwen would describe it. She cupped Iro’s cheek and couldn’t not look at her.
“You’re so beautiful,” she said.
“Arwen, I want to. You have no idea. But I don’t think we should tonight.”
“Oh, you thought I wanted sex,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I just wanted to kiss you, and for a while, really.”
“It’s okay that I want to wait?”
“Of course, it’s okay. It’s only our second date. And my options to make out with you were to try that awkward kind of sideways thing since we’re both on the couch, to lie down, or to sit on your lap. I went with the lap.”
“I’m glad you did. But you are hard to resist. I just want you to know that.” Iro finished talking, and her lips were on Arwen’s in seconds.
They sat like that, with Iro’s hands moving up and down her sides, over her back and her thighs, and over her stomach, but Iro kept everything chaste, including her kisses, until Arwen deepened the kiss with her tongue.
Iro moaned into her mouth, and Arwen wished they weren’t waiting because she wanted to hear that moan when they were both naked in bed.
Iro’s lips moved to her neck, and Arwen looked skyward. It hadn’t ever felt this good before.
Kissing someone, just kissing someone, shouldn’t feel this good, but it did with Iro.
Her mouth seemed to know just where to go, just what to do, and how hard or soft to do it.
One instant, she was sucking on Arwen’s pulse point, making it hurt just a little, and the next, she was licking over it and kissing the flesh to make it feel better.
“God, you’re so good at this,” she admitted as she held Iro’s head to her neck.
“You know I want you, right? It is certainly not a question of want,” Iro said and placed her lips on Arwen’s collarbone.
“I want you, too.”
“I want to wait because I don’t want to rush this,” Iro added and licked across Arwen’s chest. “When we do that for the first time, I want it to be perfect for both of us. I want us to both be ready, and I want us to know that it’s only you and me.”
“Who else would it be?” Arwen asked.
Iro looked up at her and said, “I mean that it’s only you and me, Arwen. Meaning we’re not dating; we’re together.”
“Oh,” Arwen said. “You want to wait that long?”
“That long? How long is that to you?” Iro asked, pulling back to look up at her.
“I just meant that some people don’t say that they’re together for a while because one or both of them want to date around, or at least have the option to.”
“Do you want that?”
“No,” Arwen replied, cupping her cheeks. “I want you. But it’s been two dates, and I have a terrible track record with relationships, Iro. I want to do this right, though, and I don’t want there to be any pressure on either of us, so if you want to… date someone else, I want you to–”
“I don’t,” Iro stated.
“Oh, thank God,” she replied. “I was about to say that I want you to feel like you can, but that would’ve been a lie. I don’t want you to date anyone else. I just don’t know that I’m ready to say that we’re together yet. Is that confusing?”
“No, I understand. You want to make sure we take our time. I want that, too. We’ll get there when we get there.”
“But you don’t want to have sex until we do get there?”
“I want to make love, Arwen,” Iro said and kissed her. “I want to know that you and I are both ready; that we’re not acting only on lust but the fact that we both can’t imagine going another minute without sharing that experience together.”
Arwen leaned down then and kissed her deeply, and they stayed like that for a while before she felt her hips begin to move on their own and decided to get up and off Iro or risk them going too far too fast.
“How about that paper?” she asked.
“I’d love to, but can we do it another night?”
“You are too tired, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I concede: you were right.”
“Stay?” Arwen requested softly. “Don’t go home. Just stay. I have clothes you can sleep in. We can hold each other all night, and you can wake up here with me. Say yes, Iro. I want you to stay.”
“Okay. Yes,” Iro replied. “But I could use a shower.”
“No problem. I’ve got the bucket and the pitcher all ready.”
“Sorry?”
“The bucket. I collect rainwater, boil it, and use that to shower.”
Iro’s face showed shock, and Arwen laughed wildly.
“I’m joking,” she revealed. “I just take fast showers. I wanted to see your face, though.”
“Oh, I see how it is,” Iro replied, stood, and rushed toward her as Arwen ran into her bedroom.
“No!” she yelled as she laughed, and before she knew it, she was on the bed, with Iro on top of her.
She pushed at Iro’s suit jacket, unsure of why she even still had it on. Iro removed it and let it fall beside her on the bed. Arwen ran her hands over Iro’s chest, not worrying about touching breasts she shouldn’t be, and she was surprised to feel hard nipples through the shirt.
“You’re not wearing a bra,” she noted.
“I usually don’t,” Iro said. “They’re rather small, so I don’t need anything to hold them up.”
“Well, now I don’t want to stop touching them.”
“They’re very sensitive, so if you don’t, we’ll end up in trouble.”
“Really?” she asked, hopeful.
But Iro slipped out of her grasp and stood in front of her. Arwen leaned up on her elbows and watched in awe as Iro began unbuttoning her shirt.
“I’m going to take a shower anyway, right?”
“Right,” Arwen whispered, watching her undo the top button.
The second one came next, and soon, Arwen saw that shirt parted and removed, and Iro stood there in a pair of her black suit pants and nothing else.
“My God… You’re perfect,” she said softly.
Then, Iro undid the button and zipper of her pants and let them fall to the floor.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
Iro smiled and stood there in boxer briefs that looked as if they’d been tailored for her, and maybe they had.
Arwen wanted to move to the end of the bed to touch her, to bring Iro closer and kiss her skin all night, but she resisted.
Instead, she pointed to the bathroom because she had no words.
She watched again as Iro smiled at her, walked in that direction, and started the shower.
“Towels are in the closet. Use whatever you need!” she yelled.
“I’ll be quick to save water!” Iro yelled back.
Arwen smiled to herself, stood up, stretched, and blew air out through her nose, trying to get herself together.
Then, she found clothes to change into, dressed, placed clothes for Iro on the sink in the bathroom without peeking at all, something she was incredibly proud of herself for not doing, and lay down on the bed over the comforter to wait for Iro.
◆◆◆
When Arwen woke up, she felt a solid body behind her, wrapping her up and making her feel wanted and safe, and she knew Iro was already awake.
“How long?” she asked.
“How long what?” Iro asked back, kissing the back of her neck.
“How long have you been up?”
“Oh. Maybe twenty minutes. I normally don’t sleep in this late. I guess I really was exhausted.”
Arwen checked the clock on her table and said, “It’s six-thirty. You normally don’t sleep in this late?”
“I tend to be up before the sun most days. It depends on what I need to do. If I want to work out and get into the office on time, I need to be up early.”
Iro kissed the back of her neck again.
“You’re not working out this morning?”
“No. I’m still somewhat tired. I just couldn’t get back to sleep with you lying there next to me, looking so lonely and in need of my arms.”
“I was definitely in need of your arms.” She smiled and placed her own arm over Iro’s, around her middle. “And I really like waking up next to you. Your voice sounds a little sleepy, but still you. It’s adorable. I want to hear more of it.”
“Done,” Iro replied.
“Just done, huh?” Arwen asked and rolled over to face her. “Hey, you don’t look so good, babe.”
She cupped Iro’s cheek.
“I feel run down. I think I’ve been working too hard.”
“And dating me?”
“You’re not the man I had to have the longest, most frustrating dinner and drinks with the other night just to finally lock in a deal.
Then, I had a whole event at work yesterday where I had to socialize, and I’m not a big socializer at work.
It just took a lot out of me, but I’ll be fine. I should be going, though.”
“What? No, it’s still early. You’re not working out. Let me make you coffee. Or, should it be tea if you’re not feeling well? I don’t usually drink it, but I think I have it somewhere. Want to take another shower while I make it for you? It will help you wake up a bit.”
“No, I’m okay. I’ll get through the day and take it easy tonight.”
“So, I won’t get to see you tonight, then?”
“You can if you want to stop by my place,” Iro replied. “I’m thinking I can cook for you, and we can have a quiet night in.”
Arwen thought about how perfect that sounded, and she had to sigh.
“I’ll have to get back to you. I want to see if Zara needs some friend time.
I think she’s felt a little left out since you and I met.
She hasn’t had the best luck in relationships, either, and honestly, hasn’t been on a date in the longest time, so it might be hard for her to see you and me together, or for me to not have as much time for her as I used to. ”
“No problem,” Iro replied and kissed her on the forehead. “Just let me know. If there’s anything I can do to help, tell me. I’ll be happy for the three of us to spend some time together whenever you’d like.”
“I don’t think Zara has ever been on a helicopter tour of the city,” Arwen teased.
“No?”
Iro smiled and rubbed Arwen’s back.
“No. She didn’t have the best upbringing. It’s a longer story, but she doesn’t really have anyone else, so I think it’s extra hard whenever I’m dating someone.”
“Why doesn’t she have anyone?” Iro asked.
“Because her mom wasn’t very nice to her growing up, and then she left. Zara’s dad was never in the picture. She has other family, technically, but most of them don’t talk to each other or her. She’s been on her own for most of her life.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Iro said before she leaned in. “Will you tell me more another time? I really do have to run.”
“Yeah. But what about your tea? Shower?”
“I wish I could, but I think I should get moving so I can go home. I have no clothes here, and I can’t exactly wear the suit two days in a row without people assuming they understand what I got up to last night.”
“How wrong they would be, unfortunately,” she joked and rolled onto her back as Iro climbed out of bed.
Iro didn’t laugh, though. She looked as if she were in pain, and Arwen watched her pick up her clothes from the chair she’d hung them over and slip into them.
She got a nice view of Iro’s small, firm breasts again and knew she would need to take care of something before she went to work herself.
Iro had gotten her turned on last night, but she’d always been more in the mood in the mornings, and she could feel that she’d soaked her panties and maybe even a little of the shorts she’d slept in.
When Iro finished dressing, she looked at her, but her usual adoring gaze wasn’t there.
Arwen supposed she should get used to that.
It was likely that if they ended up together, Iro wouldn’t always look at her that way.
At some point, they would be in their seventies or something, and Iro wouldn’t keep looking at her with awe in her expression as if boring Arwen had somehow hung the moon.
It did feel a little too soon for that look to be gone now, though, especially when they’d only just woken up together for the first time.
“I should go,” Iro said, repeating that for at least the third time.
“Okay. Um… Iro?”
‘Yeah?”
“You haven’t kissed me good morning yet, unless the forehead counts as a good morning kiss,” she noted.
“It doesn’t,” Iro said with a concerning fake smile before she walked back over to the bed, leaned down, and gave her a quick, almost dismissive kiss.
Arwen had both her arms lifted, expecting to wrap them around Iro’s neck and keep her in place for a longer kiss, but Iro stood up again before she could.
“Text me and let me know about tonight?”
Arwen nodded and watched as Iro turned on her heels almost robotically, which wasn’t like her at all. Then, she left the bedroom, and seconds later, Arwen heard the front door open and close. Her phone buzzed on the table right after, so she picked it up and read the message on her screen.
Iro Black: Lock up after me, please.