Chapter 7
RIA
Joy makes Ria’s heart beat like a drum as they hurry towards the fire.
The queue of people waiting to jump the eventide flames together is trailing down to the last couple.
The clustered clan around the rough hearth are swaying and singing, a drum still pounding into the darkness. She refuses to think beyond tonight.
Tomorrow is tomorrow, and her task tonight is to make Nissa understand what a year spent with her would give her. Not to worry about whether she’ll let duty shape her future.
Nissa glances around, almost furtive, then grabs Ria’s hand, and together they dash out of the shadow of the trees.
She hurries them towards the flames, almost as if she fears someone might try to stop them—who would dare?
!—and Ria skips a step to catch her up so that they leap together over the flames licking upwards.
They land on the far side of the fire, Nissa’s expression incandescent, and Ria barely feels the stab of pain in her hip where the puncture wound strains against its stitches.
Between the two, Ria doesn’t even notice the rush of whispers that flashes around the clustered clan.
“Where to now?” Nissa turns to her, eyes wide, suddenly shy, and Ria grins.
“I want to watch you fall apart under the stars, love,” Ria says quietly, unable to believe she can say the words and have them be about to be true.
If Nissa’s reaction is any measure, she’s similarly disbelieving. Her mouth falls open, the pupils in her eyes blowing wide in the shifting lights of the fire. “I… alright.”
Nissa swallows visibly, and Ria cups her head in a gentle hand and presses her mouth chastely against Nissa’s, aiming for comfort. “But we need blankets.”
Ria gives a brief, delighted laugh and follows as Nissa leads her through the encampment. It’s only minutes later and they skip away from the tents and buildings, the low sparkle of Nissa’s lantern the only light.
Ria leads Nissa unerringly towards the grasslands.
She knows a place where a thick grevillea protects the earth beneath from damp, and it’s on the very edge of the grasslands, so the vegetation doesn’t block the view of the stars.
It’s been hard keeping this place secret from Nissa, but when she spreads a blanket against the soft dry earth and turns to find Nissa’s face upturned to the stars in the chilly air, it feels right.
The lantern flickers where Nissa has stuck it back into the earth.
“Are you cold?” Ria asks in a low voice against Nissa’s ear, sliding her arms around the woman from behind. The luscious curve of Nissa’s hip against her forearms makes her inhale slowly, leashing the rising tide of desire.
Nissa shivers, but she turns in Ria’s arms and shakes her head.
“Not in the least,” she says, and her voice is just as low as Ria’s, just as resonant with promise, and the sound of it sends longing spearing through Ria’s gut.
Nissa smiles, just a little, at whatever she sees on Ria’s face, and then she wraps her long fingers into Ria’s hair and draws her down to kiss her thoroughly.
Not having to pull away, to pull back, to leash desire, to stop and make space…
it’s like a luxury Ria doesn’t know how to hold.
All of their time dancing around the fire, the gentle touches that have been all they have allowed themselves so far, and this kiss now feels like a feast after famine.
She drives Nissa down against the blanket, gently settling her head back, kissing down the satiny length of Nissa’s neck.
Nissa gasps, her hand tightening against the back of Ria’s head and the pulse of desire at Ria’s core kicks into something she can’t ignore anymore.
She’d thought only of the noises that Nissa might make, the sight of her coming undone under Ria’s hands and mouth…
she’d never felt desire like this, not in all the other encounters she’s ever had with other women.
Nissa’s eyes are wide, her pupils caverns in her shining gaze, but there’s no hesitation in her expression as Ria grips the first tie on her shirt and looks at her questioningly.
Nissa smiles and gives a small nod.
Ria unlaces it slowly, then turns to the next one, sending Nissa another questioning look. Nissa gives a low chuckle and grasps a row of ties, tugging them all loose at once and then pushing herself upward just enough to pull her shirt away from her skin.
Ria’s mouth falls open, wonder suffusing her at the sight of the curve of Nissa’s dark breasts in the glimmer of the lantern light. Nissa shivers in the chill air, just a little, and Ria licks along her collarbone, pushing her back against the blanket.
She whispers, “You are so very beautiful, Nissa,” and then dips lower, her mouth closing around one pebbled nipple.
Nissa gasps and moans, arching her back to drive her breasts towards Ria’s mouth, and Ria suckles harder, then nips gently. She slides hands down to Ria’s skirt and draws it up as she kisses Nissa again.
She wants to move slowly, but it’s hard to resist. More than anything, she wants to know what Nissa’s slick folds feel like, and as much as she wants to tease and play, her own desire is stronger.
She slides her hand down to cup Nissa’s sex, and the woman moans low in her throat, grinding herself against Ria’s hand. She’s soaked, and Ria gives a low, answering groan as she draws her fingers up between Nissa’s lips.
Nissa jerks with a low cry as Ria’s touch gently circles her clit, not yet touching it.
“Fuck, Ria,” Nissa’s words are low and desperate. Ria doesn’t know if she’s ever heard her swear before. “Now, please. I want… please.”
The pleading makes Ria conscious of her own desire, but she chuckles. “Now? But love, I’ve only just started.”
Nissa hauls herself upright, and her long fingers close around the back of Ria’s head, her darkling gaze pure want as they lock eyes. “Ria. We have all night. Make me come. Please. Fuck me.”
Ria loses her breath like she’s been gut-punched. She’s never heard Nissa sound so certain. Can she carry that certainty through into the dawn? She shoves the thought away.
Focus. Nissa. Pleasure. Watching her fall apart under these stars.
She kisses Nissa briskly, then as the woman settles back against the blanket, trails a long line of open-mouthed nips and licks down the length of Nissa’s torso. Nissa twitches, arching her back and moaning encouragement.
Ria considers removing the skirt, then shoves it upward. As the scent of Nissa surrounds her, she draws a deep, steadying breath. Desire is everything, and part of her wants to press her mouth immediately to that hot, sweet wetness.
But playing with her own desire is playing with Nissa’s, and anticipation will only make the fulfilment sweeter, she knows.
If this is, as she suspects, the first time that Nissa has released her desire with another person, moving slowly will slowly shred any uncertainties she might have.
And Ria wants to see Nissa stripped of fear, given over to pleasure.
So, she kisses the soft warmth of her hips, grazing teeth over the bones surfacing in the round curve. Nissa moans again, pressing towards her, and Ria kisses down her thighs, appreciating the twitch of muscles grown tense with desire beneath her lips.
She kisses soft against the curls gone damp with desire, and then hovers, her breath cascading against the slick hot center between Nissa’s legs.
Nissa’s breath is coming in short gasps, and Ria can’t help but grin in delight.
She pauses just a little longer, feeling the rhythm of Nissa’s breathing, of the waves of desire, and then presses a hard, open-mouthed kiss to Nissa’s clit.
Nissa’s body bows, her cry a sweet jag into the darkness.
Ria moves her tongue gently against her.
As much as Ria wants to slide her fingers deep into the warmth between Nissa’s legs, she knows that the next climax will be even more intense if she holds that back now.
She fixes her mouth against Nissa’s clit and works it, slowly speeding up, attentive to every tiny message the woman’s body sends.
Every breath, every twitch, every movement, every moan and cry. Every delightful, building promise.
Nissa’s hands close against her hair, fisting amongst the loose strands, and Ria thinks she might come just from this touch as Nissa’s breathy cries begin to escalate.
Nissa’s thighs shake, and Ria drives her tongue against the slick warmth of her clit, tilting her head so her chin presses against her entrance.
And Nissa explodes against her.
The cry into the night is ecstasy writ in starlight.
Ria keeps her tongue moving slowly against Nissa as the woman’s body shifts into the languid fluidity of the aftermath.
She pauses a moment, knowing she wants to catch the flow and take it into a second moment of undoing.
But she glances up and can’t resist crawling up Nissa’s body to kiss her mouth.
“You taste like…” Nissa’s gaze is soft, unfocussed.
“Like you, love. Like heaven itself,” Ria whispers. “Are you ready?”
“Ready?” Nissa blinks at her, and Ria slides back down her body, readying for a second round. “Oh. Oh! Yes.”
And the certainty in her voice makes Ria smile.