Chapter 45 #2
Until that day. That day, Varen came into the unlocked bathroom five minutes after Nala started her shower when she stood naked against the wall and let the hot water drip down her chest and speckle her legs.
She said nothing as Varen undressed and pulled back the shower door. Haven’t seen her this naked in a while. Her eyes went straight to her chest. Good to know I’m still alive even after all the shit. Thinking that meant one of the things Varen saw was a smile cracking on her face.
“Hope you don’t mind if I crash your naked party,” she said, stepping in and flinching when the hot water hit her unsuspecting skin. “As it so happens, I need to take a shower too. Why waste the extra water when we could take one together?”
“Why, Ms. Lake, we don’t shower together often.”
“We should change that. You look great naked. And wet. I’d love to see you naked more often. And wet.”
Nala laughed, the water droplets covering her arms and chest. “I don’t mind seeing you naked either.”
Varen came closer, which was a feat in a standard-sized shower. Nala pressed against the wall, not going to her, but also not declining her advances. Make love to me. Make me forget everything. “Look at that. We’re both naked in the shower. Who would have ever thought?”
Nala tilted her head back. “Cut the crap, Varen. Make love to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her kisses started as tender caresses to Nala’s face before pushing against her, Varen’s strong, naked body taking over Nala’s existence and blocking her in a world where everything was peachy and fine.
Nobody got hurt. Nobody was in danger. It was only Nala and her girlfriend, the woman she loved more than anyone else she wanted to think about.
It felt oddly safe in their hideaway. Their shower was warm, but their bodies were warmer.
All Nala wanted was to feel Varen surrounding her.
She was rewarded with that latter request when Varen sat Nala on the elevated seat in the corner of the shower and wrapped her legs around a waist that begged to have her.
With the wall propping her up from behind, it was easy enough to make love like that without a care in the world.
That’s not true. I care. About herself. About Varen. About their possible future together.
What would they do when it came to it? When Ravenwood was gone? When justice was served and their thirst for vengeance quenched? Would they keep being a couple? Or would the real world come crashing down on them?
Nevertheless, being taken to a place of ecstasy was most welcomed, even in that hotel shower.
When Nala began to climax, holding on tight to Varen with both arms, she fantasized about a world where she didn’t have to fantasize at all.
Because everything would be as it should.
She could live in the moment. She could bask in the love emanating from both of their bodies.
Suffice to say, neither of them got very clean that night.
“That was worth every sore muscle I’m going to have tomorrow,” Varen said with a satisfied sigh as she climbed into bed later. She brought Nala into her hold, planting a kiss on her forehead. “I’ve missed you like that. I’ve missed you in a lot of ways.”
“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for kinky sex when we’re on the run.”
“No, but… this is nice too.”
Nala sat up, rubbing her hand against Varen’s bare skin.
Good skies above, have I ever missed this.
It was a wonder Nala could speak instead of placing her lips all over Varen’s body.
If stuff like this kept up, she would be forgetting all about the shit going on outside of the hotel room.
That could be as equally dangerous, however.
“Don’t tell me, Ms. Lake,” Nala said, looming over her. “You’re getting antsy for something a bit more in line with your predilections.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I like vanilla sex as much as the next woman.”
“Of course you do, but you’re Varen Lake. You also like spanking my ass and tying me up in elaborate designs.”
“Would I ever deny it?”
“I hope not.”
Varen gripped her with hands that left their marks all over Nala’s skin.
Thank you, ma’am. I haven’t felt properly owned and used by you in a good while.
If there was one nice thing she could say about that week of hotel hopping in Portland, it was that it got such needs out of her system for a while, but they were back now, demanding Varen to flip her over and show her what she was.
Turned out that kinky role-play scenarios were her favorite form of escapism.
Some women read books. Others played fantastical video games.
Nala Nazarov? She pretended to be a sex demon in need of capture and taming.
Or maybe it was Nightingale who was those things.
“Let’s be real, Ven. We’re always going to be on edge unless we can purge those negative thoughts and feelings from our bodies. We both know how we do that.”
Nala didn’t wait for a reaction. “We’re going through some heavy shit right now. Things are going to come to a head. We’re going to need to be as clear-headed as possible for what lies ahead of us.”
“What are you trying to get at, exactly?”
“I’m saying that I think we should take a little time to be as wild as possible. You know it would be good for both of us. This vanilla stuff is good for the day, maybe two days, but regardless of what we’re up against, we need to take ourselves as far as we can go and own it.”
“My darling.” Varen grinned, her fingers combing through Nala’s hair as they loved to do. “I dare say that you and I make a great pair.”
“It’s because I can sense all this tension in your body.”
Nala rubbed her stomach. It was warm, yes, but it was also fraught with the terrible things she always thought about, tucked deep inside her gut and threatening to come forth at the most inopportune moment.
“It’s not good for you. Not right now, not ever. It’s not good for me either. I want to spoil you. I also want you to spoil me. We need that spoiling before we do whatever needs to be done next.”
“You don’t have to keep making a case to me. I’m fully on board.”
“We’ll start by getting this shit out of sight.”
Nala climbed out of her embrace and off the bed.
Naked, she crossed the room, picking up the emails strewn across a table and tucking them back into their folder.
She made sure to put her sister’s emails on the bottom.
“Unless it’s necessary, we are not to look at any of these things. Agree?”
Varen rolled onto her side and propped herself up on her arm. “Agree. I won’t look at them if you won’t look at them. We should try to forget about them… until the time is right.”
“Yes. Until the time is right to use them to fuel our rage.”
Varen took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“All right.” Nala tucked the folder deep into the back of her backpack, padded with spare changes of clothes. “That’s done. You keep doing your research, Ms. Lake. After all, we need to finish our mission eventually. In the meantime, I will do some research of my own.”
Varen raised her eyebrows.
“I’m going to come up with the perfect role-play scenario.”
Nala ambled back to the bed, sure to sway her hips and let her hair flow free all around her body - one Varen never once stopped staring at.
Maybe it was time for a preview. Was there anything Varen could use to tie her up with in here?
“You and me, ma’am. We’re going to use all this crazy energy to fuel the wildest sex either of us has ever had. Cosmos willing, it will clear our heads enough to let us focus on the bigger picture. Right now, we need to focus on us.”
Varen grinned, extending a hand to draw Nala back into bed. “Living fast. Living loose. You’re a terrible influence on me, darling.”
She was more than happy to crawl into bed next to her, feeling Varen's arms wrap around her as she sank deep into that embrace again.
Her skin feels perfect against mine. Even if they didn’t make love again that night, it would still be the best day they had in a long while.
“Believe it or not, I’m doing what I think is best for you, Mistress.”
“I love it when you talk dirty.”
“If you think that’s dirty, then you have no idea what’s already stirring in my mind.”
“Oh, I have a good idea.”
“No, you really don’t.”
“I’m looking forward to finding out, then. Just know that we don’t have much time. I’m planning on driving down to California soon. I’ve contacted a few lawyers I know there who may be able to help us. Not to mention… I have a few friends in Silicon Valley who owe me a few favors.”
Yeah, yeah. Nala wasn’t thinking about that.
Her mind was far, far beyond, already planning the best way to be useful.
She may not be able to hack into servers or have connections all over the West Coast, or a billion dollars at her disposal, but she understood Varen and her…
needs. Nala was going to concoct the perfect scenario for them to enact.
It would let her purge her brash mind and mounting anger.
Because Nala could feel it in every flexing muscle.
Varen might smile, she might crack jokes right now, and she may bask in the afterglow of sex, but inside she was a ticking time bomb with a very low counter.
It was only a matter of time before she exploded and ruined every chance of seeing the justice she so desperately needed.
Nala knew how to curb that. She also knew how to save herself in the process. It’s kinda scary. If her plan worked, they would both come out the other side different people - and even closer to one another. How did one embrace such a possibility?
With an open heart and an even more open mind. Not only would Nala need both, but Varen would as well. This will either kill us or make us stronger. She didn’t know if she referred to the role-play or finally taking down Xan Ravenwood in any way possible.
Nala returned to the convenience store and purchased a notebook.
She stole pens from the hotel rooms they used.
She used both to copy pertinent information she researched on her phone and wrote out drafts of a script to follow.
Meanwhile, her girlfriend kept to her phone, whether to do her own research or make phone calls to people all over the country. Perhaps the world.
Nala listened closely while writing her script.