2
“Sorry about your shirt,” Nora mutters shakily, running her fingers through the hair near the base of Dani’s neck.
Dani lifts herself slightly, peering between their bodies to look at the wet spot Nora can now see taking up most of Dani’s lower abdomen. Nora has soaked through both the cotton shirt and the tank top beneath, a visible manifestation of her desperation.
Nora is hyperaware of the slick strings of arousal that still connect the shirt to her, and it makes her feel as warm and sticky as melted chocolate.
Dani makes a noise somewhere between a moan and a growl. She lunges down to sweep Nora into a fierce, heavy kiss, passionate and all-encompassing. If Nora’s legs could spread any wider than they already are, she’d be following that instinct just to give Dani more access.
When Dani pulls away, Nora whimpers in disapproval, but since it’s to strip off her shirt and bra, exceptions can be made.
When they’re finally pressed together completely, chest to naked chest, it feels even better than Nora could have imagined. Dani is a woman possessed, pulling Nora to her by the waist, the hip, and, finally, by grabbing handfuls of her ass, grinding into her with intent. If Nora thought that her own desire was spilling out like a broken dam, Dani’s seems to match now. The realization is electrifying.
“You’re so gorgeous,” Dani murmurs, seeming unaware that Nora is struggling to breathe like a normal human being as Dani’s mouth moves from her lips to her throat, down her chest, and finally to her breasts. “I’ve thought about this since the day we met. Touching you like this. Making you come.”
“ Fuck ” is Nora’s eloquent reply.
She’s not sure how she can be expected to form words when every ounce of her perception has narrowed to the sensations Dani is evoking with her focused hands. She ends up gasping for air as Dani applies a warm mouth to her nipple, swirling and sucking desperately and then switching sides like it’s something she’s been fixated on for as long as Nora has.
The last thing Nora needs is more foreplay. Her body wants to shoot off again at the slightest provocation. But Dani’s mouth feels too good. Every brush of her tongue sends a bolt of lightning straight downward, and she’s just about reached the end of her sanity when Dani’s hand finally traces almost hesitantly through the slickness between Nora’s thighs.
“Is this okay?” Dani murmurs, looking up at Nora from the valley between her breasts. Her mouth is red and swollen from their kisses, and shiny from the attention she’s been giving Nora’s chest. Her eyes are so dark that the clear-blue irises Nora likes so much are almost eclipsed by pupil.
Nora knows that if she were to express any hesitation, Dani would stop in a second. She absolutely cannot let that happen.
Grabbing Dani’s hand and folding down her pinkie, Nora slips three long fingers inside herself until Dani’s knuckles stop their progress.
They both go still. Nora makes a strangled noise, and Dani murmurs another expletive against her chest—those three motionless fingers are the culmination of two months of fantasizing, and it’s better than she could have dreamed. Dani’s hands are bigger than her own, and her fingers take up more space than Nora expected as they stretch her open. The fullness is exquisite .
Dani’s mouth still hovers over Nora’s breasts, which are so sensitive that even her warm breath is making Nora shiver. She waits for Nora’s green light before she moves her hand. When Nora finally nods, shifting her hips up, Dani makes short work of completely overshadowing the previous orgasm.
As soon as Dani notices that Nora is moving her hips more vigorously than she’s thrusting, she seems to grasp exactly what Nora needs. She works her way up to fucking Nora deliciously fast, bracing herself against the cushions for optimal leverage while her tongue works around Nora’s breast. And when Dani curls her fingers and scrapes her teeth at the same time, Nora breaks, coming so hard that for a few seconds, she loses her grasp on time.
Everything from their first kiss until this moment has been so fast that Nora has hardly had a moment to let the reality sink in. She’s been fantasizing about this for almost as long as she’s known Dani, and now here she is, sweaty and eager, with three fingers buried deep as Nora experiences the full breadth of human pleasure. It’s actually happened. The line has been crossed, and Nora can’t find it in herself right now to regret it.
With a soft noise, Nora pulls Dani in for a proper kiss. It’s deep and slow, perfect for Nora’s blissed-out state. When she moves her leg slightly it brushes against wet boxer briefs, and Dani’s hips jump almost violently.
Dani is clearly needy. Sensitive. All sense of calm is washed away by Nora’s untempered desire to reciprocate.
“Bedroom?” Nora murmurs against Dani’s lips. The reply is some of the most enthusiastic nodding she’s ever seen. Dani practically drags Nora there, but she seems confused when Nora is the one to push her down onto the mattress, climbing over Dani with intent.
Dani makes a curious noise. “Don’t worry about me. I just want to make you feel good.”
The growing wet patch on Dani’s briefs tells a different story. Nora pulls back slightly, frowning.
“I want to touch you, Dani. If you really don’t want me to, that’s okay. But this doesn’t need to be all about me.”
Dani seems to deliberate a moment. She looks almost confused, as if this is something she’s never heard before, and Nora briefly wonders exactly what kind of people Dani has dated in the past; but her face finally breaks into a smile. She nods, relaxing onto the pillows. “Okay.”
“An enthusiastic okay?” Nora asks, laying a kiss just over where her hand rests on Dani’s sternum.
Dani nods again, much more excitedly this time. “Yeah. Very.”
With Dani now eagerly awaiting to be touched, Nora abandons rational thought for action.
The action, of course, is kissing her way down Dani’s body, pulling off the boxers, and putting her mouth to work. But not too quickly. She wants to savour this. She wants to settle in, spread Dani out, and explore.
So Nora does just that—she eases Dani’s legs apart and slips into the space.
Nora starts, rather selfishly, with Dani’s nipples. They’re pink and puffy, smaller and differently shaped than Nora’s are, and she pulls them into her mouth eagerly as Dani’s breath hitches. But Dani clearly is not as sensitive there as Nora is—she’s enjoying herself, but it’s not driving her wild.
Eleanor moves on, nipping her way down the trembling plane of Dani’s stomach and nosing her way through the soft line of Dani’s treasure trail all the way down to her pelvis. Nora enjoys it just as much as Dani seems to.
When Nora moves lower, Dani’s hand slides over her shoulder to grip tightly. Not a warning, but more of a grounding hold—like Dani is afraid that if she doesn’t hold on, she might float away.
Dani’s inner thighs are as downy as her belly; clearly, Dani doesn’t shave, and Nora revels in how the soft hair feels against her lips. She drags them over uneven skin and faint stretch marks up to the apex of Dani’s thighs—spread open, glistening, surrounded by denser hair in a darker blonde.
Nora leans in and noses through it happily. She can feel Dani’s tense muscles relax a little. And then, finally, Nora applies her tongue.
Oral is historically one of Nora’s favourite things in the world to do. She doesn’t get to indulge in it as often as she’d like, but she loves how women taste. How they feel under her tongue. The way they arch and whine when they come in her mouth. And of all the women she’s done this for, Dani is by far the best.
She tastes incredible, deep and addictive in a way that has Nora’s face a mess in seconds. And, above all, she’s responsive. Her hips twitch and jerk with every swipe of Nora’s tongue, and her fists are clenched hard as if she’s trying to control herself. But she also seems to be holding herself back. Each twitch is suppressed, her face screwing up in concentration rather than being in the moment.
Nora wants Dani to let go, to experience everything Nora can offer. She wants Dani to release that tightly held restraint and chase what feels good.
“What do you need from me?” Nora murmurs, kissing a wide circle around Dani’s swollen clit and revelling in the way Dani’s hips move to follow her mouth. Dani herself is wordless, her hands clenching and releasing again, but Nora can see in her eyes a kind of desperation. Like she’s trying to communicate telepathically, maybe unused to voicing her desires.
“Whatever it is, Dani, I promise you I will be into it,” Nora assures her, dragging short nails over Dani’s outer thighs as Dani spreads her legs wider. “You just need to tell me.”
Dani swallows, biting her lip. “I need,” she starts, but her voice cracks and falls silent again. Instead she eases her hand into Nora’s hair and tugs experimentally, her hips shifting upward toward Nora’s mouth.
It’s not the vocal instruction Nora was hoping for, but she can guess at Dani’s intentions. And it makes her entire lower body feel like it’s melting into a puddle somewhere on the mattress.
“You need it rougher?” Nora asks quietly.
Dani nods frantically, her teeth sunk deep into her lower lip.
“Do you want to grind on my tongue?” Nora asks, pitching her voice low and smoky. She licks a slow line up, punctuating it with a kiss to Dani’s clit. “Pull my hair?”
Dani whimpers. There’s an insistent voice coming from between Nora’s legs which is very much in favour of this development, and Nora lets it do the talking.
“Go ahead. I like that.”
That seems to give Dani the permission she needs. As soon as Nora’s tongue is in position again, Dani is pulling at her head, using her grip on Nora’s hair to grind her hips hard into Nora’s face, and it’s every bit as gratifying as Nora thought it would be. Nora doesn’t break eye contact, happily letting Dani ride her mouth.
When she flattens and stiffens her tongue to give Dani a better surface to grind on, Dani’s composure finally breaks.
“Fuck,” Dani chokes out, her head falling back as her hips move faster. Her other hand joins the first, gripping Nora’s hair just hard enough to make her moan. “Oh , fuck , Nora—”
Nora tightens her jaw and holds on for the ride. When Dani finally seems to realize how much Nora is enjoying herself, it takes less than a minute of focused grinding before she’s coming, her whole body snapping up like a tightened rubber band.
The surprised noise Dani makes is music to Nora’s ears. She logs it away in her mental bank for vigorous use in the future, taking Dani’s recovery time as a chance to savour the taste of her.
“Wow,” Dani pants while Nora traces the sensitive edges of her clit with her tongue. Dani’s thighs are quivering on either side of Nora’s face. She releases Nora’s hair, her arms falling limp against the duvet. “You’re fucking amazing . Holy crap.”
Nora hardly did any work—Dani did most of it herself and managed to almost take Nora with her in the mind-melting hotness of the process, but Nora still soaks the praise up.
She hardly gives Dani a moment to recuperate before she’s climbing up her body for a messy kiss, her face still slick as she straddles Dani’s lap and presses down into her.
“Eager, eh?” Dani grins as she sits up to meet her, her hands already gripping soft handfuls of Nora’s hips.
“Oh, shut up,” Nora retorts breathlessly, pulling Dani’s hand to where it’s needed.
The talking is minimal after that.
* * *
From the moment she wakes up, Nora notices the differences to her usual morning routine.
The curtains that she usually draws before bed have been left open, and the morning sunlight is streaming in, lighting up the yellow walls and warming Nora’s face. She can already smell coffee drifting up from the kitchen, and there’s a soft noise coming from the same direction—singing, maybe. Quiet and soothing. Nora’s mouth tastes like she forgot to brush her teeth last night, and there’s a distinct soreness in almost every part of her body.
And, most noticeably, she is very naked.
When she stretches out over the soft sheets, shaking the last of the sleep from her limbs, Nora is made very aware of the remnant slipperiness between her legs. It’s a pleasant reminder of the night’s events which flicker through her mind like a slide show, and rather than being worried about what happens next, Nora just lets the warmth diffuse to her whole body.
She slips downstairs to a beautiful sight.
Dani is in Nora’s kitchen in her boxers and bra, her hair full and loose and sleep-messy as she flips what looks like an omelette in a frying pan and turns off the burner. She reaches over for one of Nora’s mugs, taking a sip of coffee, and continues humming a song Nora doesn’t recognize.
Behind Dani—and crystal clear through the floor-to-ceiling windows—the sun shines off the water and filters through the leaves, making the morning light dance across Dani’s skin. There’s a full French press on the counter and a second mug waiting, a cutting board full of chopped vegetables on the kitchen island, and a sizable hickey on Dani’s neck.
Nora feels like an interloper in the scene, catching a glimpse of a Dani she’s never seen before. One that’s not often shown to the world. Everything seems irrevocably changed now, their relationship made infinitely more complicated, and soon enough Dani turns around to grab a pinch of Parmesan cheese and sees Nora in the doorway.
“Good morning!” Dani says, her grin wide and genuine. She sprinkles the Parmesan and some chives on top of an omelette before handing it over. “I had to guess what you’d like. You like mushrooms, right?”
Nora nods mutely, taking the warm plate Dani hands her. Nora isn’t sure whether to eat or just stare at Dani, now busying herself with the second frying pan. Dani plates her own omelette just a moment later, this one with green peppers and tomatoes, and promptly upends a bottle of ketchup on top of it.
Nora finally breaks out of her trance, shaking her head with a chuckle.
Dani is still Dani.
“That’s disgusting,” Nora remarks, finally bringing her own first delicious bite of egg, mushroom, and spinach up to her mouth.
Dani laughs, digging her fork into the ketchupy monstrosity. “Ketchup and eggs belong together.”
“Ketchup belongs on hamburgers and fries. Nothing else .”
“How terribly uncreative of you,” Dani says, her fork pointed in Nora’s direction, and Nora relaxes into her chair. It’s just a regular meal with Dani. Nothing has changed besides the fact that Dani is in her underwear and that Nora is naked under her robe.
And maybe that everything Nora has been strategically not saying about her life and her purpose here is a more pressing issue than before.
If there were ever a time to reveal the truth, it’s probably now. It actually would have been much better to do it before she lost control of the situation and slept with Dani, but Nora can’t turn back time.
When they finish the food, Nora gathers the dishes and organizes them in the dishwasher, all the time trying to formulate the right words. The right way to say , let’s slow down for a second. Or, even worse , I really like you, but…
“Nora? You okay?”
Dani’s voice startles Nora out of her thoughts. She realizes that she’s been staring into the dishwasher for at least thirty seconds and Dani is looking at her with concern.
With a deep breath, Nora dives in headfirst. “Okay. So last night was great. Really great. It was kind of staggeringly great, actually, but I think there’s something we should talk about before things go any further.”
Something flickers across Dani’s face. It’s barely noticeable, but it strikes Nora as very similar to what she’s feeling right now.
“I know you can’t do anything serious,” Dani says quickly.
Nora pauses. Her half-formed speech and apology evaporates. “You do?”
Dani nods, leaning forwards onto the island on her forearms. Whatever Nora had seen on her face is gone, now—her usual easy smile is back. “You’re leaving at the end of the summer, Nora. You should know that I’m not expecting anything serious from you. Nothing needs to change.”
Nothing needs to change . Even though this is what Nora should want—a reset, a chance to roll back what was probably a mistake and salvage their budding friendship before she goes back to the city—the reality of it sucks the air out of the room.
“Oh. Right,” Nora says tightly. “Good. Friends, then. That makes sense.”
“I mean. Maybe not just friends,” Dani says, drumming out a little beat with her fingers on the countertop. “I agree that last night was kind of fucking awesome. I’d hate for it to be a one-time thing.”
Nora’s mood, which had been succumbing slowly to a dark cloud, clears up like magic.
It seems too good to be true, really. Dani is absurdly attractive, gave Nora frankly incredible sex last night, and doesn’t want anything else to change. It’s like someone wrapped her up with a little bow and left her on the doorstep for a perfect vacation.
Maybe Nora doesn’t need to reveal everything. Maybe she can just have this, if it’s what Dani wants, too. Maybe she can be a little bit selfish.
“You genuinely just want something casual?” Nora ventures, skeptical that her luck could possibly be this good.
“Relationships are complicated,” Dani says vaguely. “Honestly, it’s better for both of us this way.”
Nora raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”
“Not an interesting one.” Dani rubs her hands together in a fidget that Nora has come to recognize. It only makes Nora more curious. Dani seems so idealistic, so perfectly the type to be open to love, and the idea of her shying away from romance seems out of character. Nora needs to understand.
“Come on, Dani,” Nora says encouragingly, moving to the stool next to Dani and scooting closer. “ That dog won’t hunt ; isn’t that what you say around here?”
“No, it definitely isn’t.” Dani chuckles, covering her face while Nora pokes at her shoulder. “It’s not very exciting. I’ve just gotten my heart broken a couple of times. Broken a couple of hearts, too. It’s easier if nobody gets too invested.”
“A couple of times?” Nora says. Dani’s life before they met, what made her the woman she is today, is genuinely intriguing.
“You know about my ex from high school. That hit me hard,” Dani says, uncovering her face. “Then I took a year off before I went to university, and Jen and I were sort of…together. Vaguely.”
“Jen?” Nora says, conjuring up the only person she knows with that name in town. “You don’t mean Jenny , do you?”
The surly bartender at the River Run is about the most unlikely person on the planet Nora would pair with Dani, but Dani nods. In Nora’s experience, Jenny’s abrasive personality borders on rude, and she can’t imagine how sweet, funny Dani might have ended up with her.
“She doesn’t seem your type,” Nora says.
Dani shrugs. “It’s a small town. Being gay limits the dating pool.”
Nora snorts, but she concedes the point. Riverwalk seems to have a large queer population by percentage, but, even so, it’s extremely limited.
“The breakup was bad,” Dani continues, swirling her coffee in the mug. “Turns out we had different expectations. She wanted me to come with her when she went to college. Make a go of it. But I didn’t feel the same way.”
“Yikes,” Nora says with a wince. Dani gives a self-deprecating smile.
“Yeah. And then when I came back here, it turns out she dropped out and took over the bar.” Dani stares into her mug. “The whole thing totally wrecked our friendship.”
Nora nods. She’s been there, that horrible grey space when every face-to-face meeting reminds you of the best and worst times. Nora is typically the less interested party, too, and it can definitely make for awkwardness.
“I don’t ever want to be that person again, on either side of it. It’s easier to be clear from the start and not get in too deep,” Dani says. “That’s worked a lot better for me since.”
“That makes sense.” Nora leans forward on the counter, bending so that she’s in Dani’s eyeline. “How’s this sound—I promise I won’t beg you to come with me when I leave.”
Finally, Dani’s melancholy breaks. The sparkle returns to her eyes, and she leans forward, too, meeting Nora with a firm, decisive kiss. “Good. I feel like a summer fling will do you good, and I’m happy to serve.”
The unintentional use of Kayla’s summer fling wording should make Nora roll her eyes, but she’s distracted by one kiss turning into several. Dani slides off her chair to slot between Nora’s open legs and pin her to the island, and although Nora is still deliciously sore, her body reacts despite it all. She fires up like a kiln.
Dani seems just as ready, her hands sliding down to cup Nora’s thighs and her teeth sinking into Nora’s lower lip, until Nora accidentally puts her elbow into the pile of grated Parmesan on the cutting board.
“Maybe we should move to the couch?” Dani suggests.
Nora is still nodding when Dani picks her up again and carries her to the living room. She puts a movie on, but they’re barely past the opening credits before their lips are glued together.
Dani kisses in a way that makes the world disappear. Everything narrows to lips and tongue and hands, subtle grinding and hot breath on her skin, and soon the sated soreness of the night is forgotten. Nora’s body is limber and aching again, even with some silly animated film playing in the background.
“So, what about your dating history?” Dani asks a half hour later, pulling away apropos of nothing. A jaunty musical number is blaring from the television, and Nora’s body is screaming for Dani’s hands to be in and on her again. “It’s only fair.”
Nora blinks. The whiplash of going from heavy petting to talking about the past again is making her a little dizzy.
“What?” Nora says.
Dani looks down at her with an expectant expression. “I told you mine. I realize I never asked, so I’d love to hear, if you’re comfortable sharing.”
Nora makes a noise of discontent, shifting under Dani and noting that the pressure she’s putting on Nora’s hips hasn’t let up. She just seems to be hitting pause for some reason. If it means more kissing afterwards, Nora can do what she asks.
“What dating history? I have situationships,” Nora says a bit dazedly, ignoring Dani’s frown. “I fell in love once. It ended catastrophically.”
Nora says it matter-of-factly, trying to get it over with so she can get back to the good part, but Dani engages. “Only once?”
“University roommate,” Nora says quickly. “We got caught. I told her it was a mistake. She transferred dorms, and I never saw her again.”
It’s a terse summary of the events that led to Nora almost getting disowned and subsequently using Ash as a beard for five years, but she isn’t sure she has the strength to go into any more detail.
“Who were you hiding it from?”
“Everyone,” Nora says, smiling a little at Dani’s empathetic frown. “But mostly my father. I didn’t start dating women openly until a few years ago, when he stopped having so much influence on my life.”
“Your father sounds like a dick,” Dani says, and Nora manages a laugh. She can still see her father’s stone-cold expression, staring at her over his wide mahogany desk while his fourth wife relayed what she’d seen Nora doing and who she’d seen her doing it with. She should have known not to be so affectionate in public, but Nora had been young at the time. Idealistic.
Her father’s approval had always been difficult to gain, no matter how hard she worked, but his disapproval was so easy. None of her achievements were enough. The only time he’d ever seemed truly pleased with her was when she’d introduced Ash as her fake boyfriend a few months later.
“Correct,” Nora says shortly. “I’d rather not talk about it right now, if that’s okay.”
Dani, thank God, seems to take that for what it is. She nods, dips back down—Nora hadn’t really noticed that Dani has essentially been planking for the whole discussion, with an incredibly stirring ease—and finally kisses Nora again. Nora’s father and both of their rocky romantic pasts fade away, and, for a while, Nora goes with the flow.
The flow ends up leading to Nora’s bed again. In the end, Nora decides, the talk was worth it.