Chapter 4
We entered the lobby, the cool rush of air conditioning hitting my skin and calming me down a little more.
This was the first time we had been here since Kim had finalized everything, had all the interior designers and IT firms in to turn a former insurance company office into a bastion of female sexual empowerment and liberation…
maybe that was a little dramatic, but, not really.
The interior was modern but comfortable, with sleek curves and feminine softness…
a lot like the women I spent my time around, now that I thought about it.
Twenty foot high windows were counterbalanced by furniture and fixtures in mauve and dark green, with varying textures on the chairs and couches, something I’d asked for and Kim was happy to comply, mainly because I was in a way her boss.
I’d put a lot of my own resources into Pallas, probably because I believed in it so much.
Years of touring around startups with their boom-bust cycles and my keen eye to notice patterns and know when to get the fuck out had left me riding high on stock dividends and with more money than I’d probably ever need.
For a while, it was really fun to look at my bank accounts and just see the number increasing.
But, it did feel a little hollow, and it did feel like I was taking more than my fair share.
After AthenaTech was gutted and Kim got kicked to the curb and me not far behind, I saw my opportunity to make things right in a way and reset the scales.
I gave Kim about half of what I had to start a new company around the sex toys and wellness devices that I’d developed while tinkering with things in my workshop, and that’s how Pallas was born.
Named for the woman the goddess Athena tragically killed in combat and later took on her name as a tribute.
OK, it was dramatic and over the top but Kim did let me pick it and she couldn’t really say no.
A good chunk of the rest of what I had was dispersed as a few hundred anonymous donations that I’m sure made the directors of those trans and marginalized gender-focused charities cry happy tears, I hoped.
And, I mean, of course I left a good bit for myself and Vi. My girlfriend has expensive tastes after all, and bondage gear I can’t DIY is fucking overpriced.
In the lobby, I was shaken out of my thoughts by a voice.
“Hi ladies, if you’re employees, I’ll need to see your ID badges.”
Vi reached into her pocket and withdrew her hand, holding up her middle finger, sticking it out at Yara who already had a silly grin on her face.
“Does this work for you?” Vi said, smiling maybe bigger than Yara before breaking into a laugh and running behind the desk to hug her.
“We literally saw each other last night…” Yara giggled at Vi’s sudden love bomb.
“I think what we did was a lot more than seeing…” I said, a flash of last night’s fun running across my mind. Damn, Yara was flexible. Good music taste, too.
“I know, I know…” Vi said, continuing to hug Yara. “But now, you work here, with me! And with everyone! How do you like it?”
Yara finally broke from the iron grip of my girlfriend’s arms, something pretty tough to do, and plopped down into the fancy reception chair, twirling as she pushed herself back.
“The pay is definitely better than bartending, and I don’t have to be up until three in the morning if I don’t want to anymore, but I do miss the tips, not gonna lie. ”
“I could arrange to have you paid in singles, if that would make the transition easier.” Kim said, rounding the corner of the partition that separated reception from the rest of the building.
“Hmm…” Yara tapped at her lip. “What about, like, just ten ones a week I can slip into my bra so I can feel like I haven’t left my old days behind me entirely?”
“Deal.” Kim grinned. I’m sure she would have greeted Vi in a normal way if she wasn’t already a pink-haired streak bounding over to her, practically jumping into her arms. “My god…what is with you today, Vi?” Kim said.
“I don’t know, just…excited.” Vi wrapped her arms around Kim’s hips and the much taller woman tilted down to meet her on her level. They kissed passionately, as Kim and Vi had been doing since they reconnected almost a year ago at this point.
“Don’t want to leave you out of the action, Em…” Yara wrapped her arms around me from behind, nibbling at my ear, her coarse hair brushing my cheek. “Still sore from last night, babe?”
I brought my hand up and wrapped it around Yara’s forearm. “It’ll take a strap-on bigger than that to make me feel it the next morning, Yar…”
“Is that a dare?”
“Fuck yeah it is.”
“You know, now that I don’t have to leave you and Vi’s place to make my night shift, I’m going to have more opportunities to try to tame that pussy of yours.
” Yara kissed up the back of my neck and slid her hands up to my breasts.
I reached up and ran my hand over Yara’s hair, the short cropped cut was new for Yara, and so was the color.
“It’s ridiculous for you to think you can tame me, but I guess if it involves you fucking me all the time, I’ll let you try as long as you’d like.
” I turned around and faced Yara, running my hands over her scalp and down the back of her neck.
“Have I mentioned that I like the new look, and the turquoise?” I said.
She’d put a shocking blue-green streak into her hair the day she got the job at Pallas, a bit of a fuck you to the owner of the bar that she used to work at…
a man who said he was progressive and cool, but had a very weird hangup about ‘unnatural hair’ - he would have died if Vi tried to get a job there.
“You’ve said it a few times…but I know it looks good so you can keep saying it.” Yara grinned at me, leaning into my touch.
“It just suits you so well…” I said. I’m sure I looked like Yara was melting me into a puddle, because she was.
“Mmm…say it with actions, not words, Em…” Yara leaned in and kissed me, and the kissing quickly turned to making out.
Yara was so close to feeling me up when I heard Kim snap. “Alright, you two…we keep anything beyond polite kisses isolated to the research rooms, ok?”
Yara and I snapped out of the moment, the lingering sizzle of her hands still heating my skin.
We both laughed at Kim’s admonition and straightened up, and I turned to face my boss, but Yara didn’t miss the opportunity to still lightly touch my ass while we made it seem like we were going to keep things cordial.
“Well, speaking of those research rooms,” Vi smirked, “Em and me haven’t seen them since they’ve been finished…”
“Wow, Vi, so subtle.” Yara giggled.
“Alright, it’s…” Kim glanced at her watch. “Just before ten, and you two are lucky my ten-thirty cancelled.”
“Two? What’s Emma going to do then?” Yara said.
“This is not going to be an every day thing, ok? This is still a business and we need it to succeed.” Kim said.
“But…we are going to the research room to fuck each other right now, am I correct?” I said.
“Yes.” Kim smirked. “I may be a CEO but I’m still stressed the fuck out about all of this, so…” She turned on her heel and began to walk away, the act of which was seductive on its own with how much attention Kim commanded. “Let’s relieve some of that stress.”