Chapter 12 #2
“Or so I’ve heard.”
“So where would I have found you?” Charlotte asks. Riley shoots her a questioning look, so she elaborates: “If you’re not in your room, and you’re not downstairs, then where did I find you?”
“Oh!” Riley exclaims, and thinks about it for a moment. “Hm. Right here in the bathroom?” Charlotte stomps on her foot. “Ow!”
Riley steps around her and walks backward out of the bathroom. “I don’t know, how about… on the balcony?” she says with crossed arms and a casual nod in the direction of the windows.
“Riley,” Charlotte says in a warning voice, following her into the room with a threatening look on her face. Before she can get closer, Riley darts around to the other side of the bed, grinning.
“...or maybe behind the curtains?”
“Ri, you really don’t want to provoke me after the little amount of sleep we’ve had,” Charlotte grumbles.
She reaches down to lift the sheet so as to not trip, but soon realizes that’s not exactly convenient either.
She runs out of care pretty quickly and just discards the sheet with a flourish, closing in on Riley fully naked. Nothing she hasn’t seen by now.
Riley jumps onto the bed—her only option to not get cornered—and lands up on her knees.
“Oh, I’ve got it!” she grins, wagging a finger at Charlotte. “You found me in your bed!”
Charlotte acts on instinct. She dives forward and rugby-tackles Riley, sending her flying onto her back.
Before Riley can move she crawls over her, grabs her wrists and pins them above her head.
The fire between her thighs ignites instantaneously.
Oh, how she loves sparring with this woman.
How she’s always loved it. She just never knew this type of raw want has always been beneath all that frustration Riley manages to stir up in her.
What she feels is weeks, or months even, of pent up energy.
“You’re fucking with the wrong lady,” she drawls, her face inches from Riley’s. The sparkle in Riley’s eye makes her look somewhere between surprised and deeply turned on.
“Are you sure? I believe I’ve been fucking the right lady. All night long,” Riley replies, her tongue darting over her bottom lip. “And from the look of it, she still hasn’t had enough.”
Charlotte stares at her. She doesn’t like being outsmarted.
Her hips grind down, deep and dirty, seemingly of their own accord because she can’t recall telling them to.
The fabric of her own robe, still on Riley’s body, rubs against her bare pussy.
Her eyes flick down to glance at where the robe has fallen open a little, uncovering most of Riley’s upper body. Shit, shit, that’s hot.
“Stealing this was a mistake,” she says softly, her heart rate picking up. She lets go of one of Riley’s wrists to pull the tie, making her feel like she’s opening a present. The present in question seems to be just as excited about it as she is, from the look of her hardening nipples.
“You’re into women now, so you’re gonna have to deal with a lot more clothing theft than just a hotel robe,” Riley teases her. “Get used to it.”
Charlotte leans in even more, their noses touching now. “Stealing is bad,” she husks, her voice rough.
“So take it back, if it’s such a big issue.”
Charlotte shakes her head, making their lips brush over each other, not quite touching.
“No. I’m taking something else in return,” she says, the hand that has untied the robe now traveling down. It had been a little over twelve hours since her fingers had gone exploring for the first time, but the route is already familiar.
Riley breathes in sharply and she snatches Charlotte’s wrist before she can reach her destination. “Charlotte, we don’t… have time. Brunch… in 30 minutes.”
“If we do it now, I’m sure it still counts toward those 8 hours.” Her skin sprouts goosebumps at the mere thought of feeling Riley come undone under her.
To her disappointment, Riley shakes her head and smiles apologetically. “I need to guide you through another lesbian ritual first,” she says with a strained voice.
“What ritual?”
“You’re gonna cut your nails,” Riley says, as Charlotte sits up straight and throws her hair over her shoulder. “Or at least a few from your left hand. You almost sliced me open from the inside last night.”
Charlotte huffs. “I think we can make that happen.”
“Good, good.” Riley sucks in her own lips, looking seconds away from giving in after all. “Here’s what’s gonna happen: you get up, you turn around, and you get in the shower without looking back.”
“Are you not joining me?”
“Again, we are expected in 30 minutes. If I get to see you not only naked but wet too, Lou and Gabi are going to have to report us missing.” The honesty on Riley’s face is very close to being endearing.
But Charlotte knows what she wants: “Ah, Ri..?”
“Charlotte, I am so, so serious right now.”
Charlotte drops her head and reluctantly accepts the no. She exhales dramatically as she gets off of Riley and swings her legs off the bed. “Copy that,” she says, followed by a whispered “...spoilsport.”
“You’re going to regret that.”
“Can’t wait!”
About 45 minutes later, after a shower and a few texts to meticulously coordinate their separate arrival, Charlotte pours a generous helping of syrup over her waffles. Riley has just joined them at the table, a few minutes later than Charlotte, and is still looking over the menu.
Lucky for them, there have been no questions about Riley’s whereabouts so far.
“So,” Charlotte announces loudly, taking charge of the conversation. “The big day is coming up. How are we feeling, ladies?”
Gabi and Lou share a look, their smiles radiant.
“I guess it’s weird,” Lou says, picking up her coffee mug. “To know that I’ll have a wife by the end of the week.”
“A good kind of weird, I hope?” Gabi teases her.
“Obviously.”
Gabi grabs her fiancée by the chin to give her a peck on the lips. Charlotte makes a gagging sound.
With her lips still on Lou’s, Gabi's eyes flick to Charlotte and she releases Lou with an amused sneer on her face. She opens her mouth to say something, but a server interrupts them to take Riley’s order. When he leaves, Gabi asks:
“What about you two?”
Charlotte’s jaw tightens. Across from her, Riley awkwardly shuffles in her chair.
“What about us?” Charlotte asks defensively, taking a large bite of her waffle.
“How do you feel about the big day? The first guests will arrive soon, so you’re gonna have to get to work.” Gabi looks genuinely interested.
“Oh!” Charlotte exclaims, quickly correcting herself for sounding too relieved. “Oh.” Luckily, Riley takes over.
“I think we’re prepared,” Riley shrugs. “We each have our own responsibilities, and that's been going great so far. Right?”
Charlotte nods, wiping the corner of her mouth with her thumb.
“I’m just so excited to see you at the altar together,” Riley continues, smiling excitedly. “I can’t wait to see your outfits. You’re gonna look amazing. I made sure to have wet towels on hand, because everyone will faint when they see you.”
Lou snickers, touched by Riley’s words. “Thanks, love,” she says, putting a hand on top of her friend’s. Her eyes travel over to Charlotte.
“So everything has worked out in the end?” she asks cautiously. “Between you two, I mean. At some point I was convinced we were gonna have to do everything by ourselves, but you don’t seem to be getting… in each other’s face anymore.” Lou’s lip twitches.
“No, we’re not…” Riley clears her throat. “...getting in each other’s face anymore.”
“Yeah, we can be civil,” Charlotte adds.
“Like grown ups,” Riley nods.
“Doing grown up things,” Gabi pitches in.
“Exactly.” Charlotte squints at Gabi. “Like writing those goddamn speeches again. You’re quite content with yourselves, huh? Wanting us to hype you up twice.”
“You didn’t exactly hype us up the first time, dare I remind you,” Gabi cocks her head with a stern look on her face. Charlotte wants to counter, but the server shows up to bring Riley her omelet. An awkward silence follows while Riley digs in.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” Lou eventually says, focusing on her own meal again.
“Yes, me too,” Gabi says warmly. “Ecstatic, even.”
Riley, sensing the tension, jumps in. “What about the rehearsal dinner? Have you picked your outfits for that yet?”
“Of course.” “Yeah.” The couple answers simultaneously, after which another awkward silence follows. The scraping of cutlery on plates is clearly audible.
Then, after taking a breath, Gabi says: “We’re actually looking forward to that day a lot. We got an upgrade to the wedding suite for our last few days here.”
Riley’s eyebrows shoot up. “Mm, that’s great!” she says while chewing her hot food. “Where is it? Have you already seen it?”
“Ninth floor,” Lou answers. “So far away enough for— oomph.”
“To get ourselves some privacy,” Gabi sweetly interjects. Lou puffs up her cheeks and reaches down to somewhere beneath the table.
Charlotte keeps staring straight ahead, knowing that she’ll break if she looks at Riley now.
“And we’re gonna need it,” Lou mutters under her breath.
“It’ll be amazing,” Gabi quickly adds. “Because there’s a bathtub, a small living area… we can open the windows,” she sums up dryly.
“We can open the windows!” Lou sighs in relief.
Charlotte blinks at them, her fork coming to a halt in front of her mouth. “I cannot put into words how over the moon I am about the both of you… getting some fresh air,” she deadpans.
At Riley’s audible snort, she whips her head around. “What?” she snaps, but Riley shakes her head and keeps eating, so Charlotte flips her off.
“That actually reminds me,” Gabi says, pointing at Charlotte’s middle finger. “We’ve got a manicure booked. Lou, we’ve got to go.”
Getting up from her chair, she says to Riley and Charlotte: “I’m sorry to leave you here, but we assumed you’d be down earlier.”
“That’s okay,” Riley says.