Chapter 17
Around midnight people started making leaving noises.
“I'm going to head back," Solana said. "I need to be up sometime before midday tomorrow for the big launch.
" She hugged each of them in turn, and when she got to Becca she held on for an extra second and said, "It was really lovely meeting you.
I meant what I said about that book… I'll send you the details. "
"Please do," Becca said warmly.
Brooke left with Solana, though not before giving Ellie a hug that lifted her slightly off the ground and whispering, "Take care of our girl tonight," with a wink that was entirely unsubtle.
And then it was three.
Kelly looked at Ellie and Becca across the table, her blue eyes bright in the bar light, and Ellie felt the tilt, the sudden pivot of the night from social to something else much, much more intense.
"So," Kelly said. "Your place or my hotel? I’m easy.”
Becca looked at Ellie, deferring to her.
“Is your hotel close?” Ellie asked.
“Closer than your place.” Kelly smiled. “It’s got a very convenient armchair…”
“And a minibar?”
“And a minibar.”
“I’m sold,” Ellie replied, glancing at Becca. “If you are?”
“I’m in. I quite like the thought of looking across and seeing you sat like an evil mastermind with a drink in your hand.”
Kelly smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that."
***
Stood out on the street, Becca unfastened her necklace and Ellie held her hair out of the way while she put it around her neck. Kelly watched quietly, and Ellie saw something change in her expression. Recognition, maybe, or respect. Whatever it was she didn’t ask what it meant, didn’t need to.
Becca held out her hand to Kelly, who took it, and the three of them headed off down the street.
It was different to before, Ellie realised, because they all had a better understanding of what it all meant.
Right now, and until she returned the necklace, Becca wasn’t hers.
She was Kelly’s. And that meant that Becca and Kelly walked down the street as a couple, while Ellie took the part of the friend.
When Becca slipped her arm around Kelly and Kelly leaned her head on Becca’s shoulder as they waited to cross an intersection it looked right.
Fuel for the jealousy-arousal loop, absolutely, but the right type of fuel now that Ellie understood much better what it all was now.
***
It was better than the first time.
Ellie would struggle afterwards to explain to herself exactly why, because the first time had been incredible.
But this was different, as if the first time with Kelly had been about discovery, raw, overwhelming, and with a real frisson of danger.
This time they knew it worked, and by knowing that it freed Becca and Kelly to really have fun.
Even though it was her hotel room rather than her home, Kelly was more relaxed than she had been the first time. She insisted on mixing Ellie’s drink from the minibar (“there, now you’ve got that evil mastermind aura,” she’d teased) and getting her comfortable before anything else could happen.
And then… this time there was no transition.
Becca simply walked over to Kelly and kissed her, Kelly kissed her back, and the two women fell on to the bed like they were picking up where they’d left off before.
Ellie, for her part, settled into the armchair and watched, and from the first moment she could feel the difference.
With Cass the jealousy-arousal loop had been silent.
With Kelly the first time it had been deafening, almost too much to process.
Now it was loud, but manageable… her mind could function, it was a volume that she could thoroughly enjoy rather than sometimes feeling like she was being battered into submission by it.
She watched as they fooled around, really taking their time with each other, hands and lips and tongues, and the clothes were slow to come off…
in fact Kelly’s first climax came with Becca topless and her hand inside Kelly’s shorts, them pressed close, their kiss getting sloppier and messier as Becca built her teasingly towards and then over the edge.
The look between them straight after, Kelly catching her breath, Becca flushed with her own arousal, was pure, focused lust.
And then Kelly devoured her… it was the only word.
The clothes came off faster and once Becca was naked Kelly went down on her with a passion and an intent that Ellie couldn’t take her eyes away from.
It was as if Kelly wanted to go one better than Becca, and as Becca had slowly teased her towards her climax she was going to do even better, edging Becca repeatedly until she was begging for the shuddering, noisy release that Kelly finally granted her, Becca calling out her name again and again while Ellie’s hand gripped the arm of her chair tighter.
That. That was what she needed… the hot rush of jealousy flooding her body and making her mind go blank, followed a few seconds by a flood of the most insane arousal she’d ever felt.
She said her name, not mine. The real threat, followed by the knowledge that Becca would come back to her and the joy that she was experiencing such an intense connection with her lover.
So it went on… the jealousy-arousal loop strong, Becca and Kelly trying different positions and different ways, trading orgasms until Ellie lost count of how many times.
Compared to last time with Kelly or the night with Cass this was more playful, more adventurous, punctuated by laughter and whispered conversations that Ellie couldn't hear and didn't need to.
Kelly tried things she hadn't tried last time, as did Becca, but it was the intimacy of their connection that really grabbed at Ellie’s soul and did wonderfully weird things to her…
private, conspiratorial, the shared pleasure of two people who were having the time of their lives. It was amazing.
This only works when it's real, she thought, and God is this real.
Near the end, lying together on the bed, Kelly said something quiet to Becca that made Becca laugh, and they shared a look of such genuine affection that Ellie felt like she’d witnessed something special, that she loved watching her wife be happy in someone else's arms knowing that she'd be back in Ellie's within the hour.
***
They left some time after two, Becca dressed again and looking radiant. Ellie put the necklace back on her once she was dressed and this time Kelly said something.
“Maybe not my place to say, but y’all have got the cutest ritual there.”
Ellie glanced at Becca, then at Kelly. “You don’t mind?”
“No, far from it. I love it. She’s yours again, not mine. It’s perfect.”
As they headed to the door, after a friendly hug for both of them from Kelly, Becca very obviously took Ellie’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
Ellie glanced down and smiled… she’s come back to me.
And funnily enough, even though she’d known she would, she felt something relax in her.
All was well with the world, well, not quite all: she did have the most insane, unfulfilled arousal to contend with.
Becca had better not be planning to go straight to sleep when they got home.
"Same time next month?" Kelly said with her grin as she opened the door.
"We'll see," Ellie said, smiling.
"That's a yes," said Kelly, pointing at her. "I know a yes when I see one. How about you Becca?”
“We’ll see,” she grinned, echoing Ellie.
“Two yeses.” She leaned against the door frame, looking at the two of them out in the corridor. "You two are something special. You know that, right?"
"We're getting there," Becca said.
"You're already there." Kelly blew them a kiss as they headed off down the corridor, the sound of the door closing behind them.
***
They’d passed the taxi ride in silence, Becca’s head resting on Ellie’s shoulder.
Ellie could understand her being tired… she’d been at work that day, the gig, an evening out after, then that with Kelly.
If she hadn’t been tired she wouldn’t have been human, and Ellie started to mentally prepare herself for the possibility that the reclaiming part of the night might have to wait until morning.
She needn’t have worried though, because as soon as they got upstairs and Becca closed the door behind them she turned to Ellie and seemed to come alive, the look on her face everything: flushed, bright-eyed, radiant, the exact expression she’d had when they’d first started out on this journey but amplified and refined, with none of the uncertainty that had characterised their previous encounters.
“Hey you,” Becca said, a mischievous smile on her lips and a look in her eyes that left Ellie in little doubt as to what she intended.
“Hey to you too.”
Becca tilted her head. “Come here.”
Ellie felt herself grin as she walked over and Becca’s hands found her hips. “You ok?”
“Better than ok. You?”
Becca looked deep into Ellie’s eyes, and her hand reached up to push Ellie’s hair back from her cheek. “Never better.” She leaned in and kissed Ellie softly. “My wonderful wife. I love you so much.”
“I love you so much too.” Ellie kissed Becca, loving the familiar feel of her lips, thrilling to know that she could surely taste Kelly on her. “You said her name when you came," Ellie whispered. "Kelly's name."
Becca leaned back and her eyes widened slightly. "I didn't realise…”
"Don't apologise. I liked it. It showed how much you were into her. It was maybe the hottest thing yet.”
Becca looked at her for a long moment, reading her, making sure, and when she was satisfied that Ellie meant it completely she smiled… a slow, wicked, beautiful smile.
"Then you should probably do something about how turned on you are right now."
"I intend to."
"Good. Because I owe you a reclaiming that makes what we did after Cass look like a warm-up."
“You’ve got the energy?”
“For you, always.”
Ellie kissed her, hard, then Becca kissed her back harder, and without delay they stumbled toward their bedroom. What happened next very likely served as an early alarm call for their long-suffering neighbour and it was, brilliantly, the best night yet.
Yet. Because they both knew, as they lay tangled together in the aftermath, that this was no longer an experiment or an adventure or a phase.
This was part of who they were now, and they were only getting started.