“I’m not making you one,” I pointed out. “I’m okay just running this through Celeste and Keiko and anyone else who wants it out there. You can stay out of it. It’s not my story to tell; I’m just stepping out first to take any early shots. Once we prove this is happening, nobody can say it’s being a sore loser when Celeste takes over talking about it.”
“Elin—”
“So congrats on making the quarters, is what we should be saying to each other. Glad I avoided you in the draw this time, all that shit.”
Toni circled the sofa and came back around to where I was standing. “You’re dressed for bed. I’m interrupting.”
“Did I complain?” I reached for her, brushing my fingertips along her upper arm, bare beneath the short sleeve of her running top. She was dressed for the gym but didn’t appear to have worked out yet. If she pulled away, I would respect that.
Instead, she reached for the ends of the belt on my robe and toyed with them a little. “You looked good on TV. Righteous anger works for you.”
“I suppose this is where I have to point out that we’re in the middle of a competition and still avoiding distractions?” I had never sounded less sincere in my life. Toni’s only response was a smile that had a downright predatory quality. A very pleasant shiver went down my spine.
Slowly, deliberately, she untied the loose knot at my waist, slipping her hands beneath the cotton of the robe to take hold of my hips.
“It’s lucky you taught me your trick for shutting out distractions, really. Isn’t it?” Her voice had dropped to something approaching husky, and if I had been weak before, I was absolutely defenceless by now.
“I was, uh, happy to share.”
“I should thank you properly. Instead of yelling at you for standing up for me in public. Just so you can’t tell how touched I was to see you out there defending all of us.”
“Oh.” I didn’t get a chance to comment further. Toni kissed me this time like she’d been waiting ten years to do it, like if we stopped we’d never be allowed to start again. I already knew I couldn’t let that be an option, so I kissed her back with the same fervour.
We made short work of our clothes, and Toni had me naked while she was just down to her underwear. She pushed me down onto the couch, straddling my hips as she stripped off her sports bra, tossing it somewhere across the room. My hands were already wandering, but as her breasts bounced ever so slightly with the motion, I couldn’t focus on anything else. I had to touch her, had to cup each one in my hands and feel the slight weight of them, rounder and fuller than my own.
Not that she seemed disappointed, taking her own touches in turn. More direct, she grazed her thumbs over my nipples, working them quickly into harder peaks. Each touch sent a low-level current through me, ramped up my excitement by one more notch until I thought I might burst from anticipation.
“Let me,” she said, maybe because she could tell I was overwhelmed. She stood just long enough to slip off the last piece of clothing, kicking her underwear away as soon as it hit the floor. Fully naked, she was like something out of a fantasy, but a moment later we were lying together, our fronts pressed against each other like we’d fit that way a hundred times before.
We took our time about kissing each other, letting our fingertips trace and squeeze and massage. I wanted to remember every touch, even though I knew it wasn’t possible. Taking charge without being bossy, Toni directed my hands until our touches mirrored one another. One hand between each other’s legs, revelling in the wetness we both found there. The other trapped between us, and the way she rolled my nipple between thumb and finger worked so well for me, making my back arch. She urged me to be a little rougher, pinching hard enough to make her gasp against my lips as we continued to kiss.
It was almost too intimate, to touch each other that way for the first time, but when I came under her hand it took away the last tiny whisper of fear. She climaxed moments later, my fingers still thrusting inside her. Only when we’d ridden out a second orgasm each did I relent, wrapping my leg over her and caressing her cheek with damp fingers.
She laughed softly, kissing me all over my face in a dizzy, distracted sort of way. “I thought it would be different, the first time. More throwing each other around.”
“Oh?”
“But this was so much better, don’t you think?”
I nodded, utterly high on the endorphins. Any way would be perfect, if we ended up like this. “You know, there’s a bed with a lot more room than this,” I reminded her. “Plenty of space for throwing around if you want to compare.”
“Hmm, maybe in a minute,” Toni muttered, her voice a little raspy. We should drink something. Pull something over us to prevent a chill. Later. Neither one of us wanted to move, not when being this close was an option.
“Morning,” I whispered as Toni finally shifted in my arms. “We should probably think about how you’re going to sneak back to your room. I’m not playing today, are you?”
“Later,” she said, grumbling into my side. We had made it back to bed in the end, with a much more physical round that had been every bit as enjoyable. I didn’t think I’d dislike any way of being with her at this point. “No sneaking. No hiding.”
“Really?” I felt the familiar flip of panic go over like a pancake in my stomach, and yet just as suddenly the feeling passed. I didn’t have to hide, and more importantly I no longer wanted to. Let people talk. How could I be anything
