Mira went back to her room, expecting at every turn that Jack and his impeccable timing would be coming out of the conference center at any minute, ready for round two of their confrontation. But nearly everyone had already made their way back from the social hour by now, and she rode alone in the elevator.
By the time she got to her room, she’d replayed her conversation with Chelle a thousand times in her head. She shouldn’t have reacted so viscerally to her touch, or allowed Jack to get inside her head so badly that she couldn’t even find a voice to tell Chelle why she was so upset.
Mira pulled off her running shoes and flopped face-down on the bed, shoving all the overstuffed pillows into a pile on the floor. To the empty room, and more specifically to the wall she shared with Jack’s hotel room, she moaned, “Why do you always make such a mess of everything?”
She wasn’t sure if what she was feeling was more anger toward Jack for that vague threat that sent icicles into her veins, or disgust at herself for not dealing with him better on a thousand different levels. She settled on anger, simply because it was the easier emotion to deal with, and buried her face in the sheets. After six months of struggling with Jack – not to mention all of the various crises and emergencies that Westbrook Public Library erupted into on a nearly daily basis – she was exhausted.
This bed, with its plush comforter and expansive mattress and ridiculously luxurious pillows, should have been heaven for her. It should have been a mini-vacation, like the library conference had always been in years past, and Mira should have been sleeping like a baby.
Instead, she couldn’t fall asleep at all.
She tossed and turned, from her stomach to her back and then over again, for what felt like hours. She heard Jack come upstairs after a while, the springs of his mattress squeaking as he collapsed into it, and then there was silence from their shared wall as he must have fallen into the sleep that eluded Mira.
She closed her eyes and counted sheep and tried a few breathing techniques, and all she wanted to do was be unconscious for a few hours. Things would probably look different in the morning, and hopefully better, and she gained nothing by replaying her altercation with Jack over and over again, watching as he glanced conspiratorially over at Chelle and raised his eyebrow at Mira.
She never heard Chelle’s door, but she must have come back to her room soon after Mira, because she heard the television turn on, and through the wall she could make out the faint sounds of channel-flipping for half an hour or so. Then the television faded into white noise, she heard nothing more from Chelle’s room, and it seemed like of the three of them, Mira was the only one left awake.
***
It was a little after midnight when Mira finally got up the courage to do what she should have done the moment she heard Chelle in her room. She got out of bed, took a quick detour into the bathroom to see how much of a number the tossing and turning had done on her hair, and then crept into the hall.
There was not a soul around – a hotel full of librarians was not the type of crowd to be up late, trashing rooms and partying – but Mira still felt the need to tiptoe as she approached Chelle’s door. She could almost feel her heart freezing in her chest at the thought of Jack’s door swinging open at this moment.
Mira stood in front of Chelle’s door for a minute, feeling nervous. After the way she’d treated Chelle in the gym, she deserved every stomach-churning second of it, and she almost turned around and went back to her room. Finally, she knocked on the door – lightly, in case Chelle was asleep and to avoid attracting the attention of Jack or anyone else who might be angry about being noisily awakened.
There was no response, so Mira knocked again, a little louder. She was just convincing herself that Chelle must be ignoring her, rightfully angry at having been abandoned not once but twice tonight, when Mira heard the chain lock sliding on the other side of the door. It opened, and Chelle looked at Mira a little bit sleepily but with a smile on her lips.
“Hey,” she said, and relief washed over Mira.
“I’m really sorry,” Mira said. “I was an asshole.”
“A little bit,” Chelle said with a wry smile. “But I forgive you. For the record, I’m sorry if I pushed your boundaries a bit too far. I just got excited.”
Mira took Chelle’s hand, kissing her palm. In that moment, she didn’t care who was around to see it – the way Chelle was looking at her melted her heart.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Mira said. “You’re perfect.”
“Wow,” Chelle said, pretending to swoon and fan herself with her free hand. “You sure know how to woo a lady at one in the morning.”
“What can I say, I’m a charmer,” Mira said with a laugh.
“I don’t know if I’m supposed to ask this,” Chelle said hesitantly, “but do you want to come in? Is that too dangerous?”
“I have wanted nothing more since the moment we arrived,” Mira said, and Chelle, grinning, pulled her into the room.
“Me, too,” she said as she shut the door behind them, drawing the chain across the lock again.
As Chelle turned around to face her, Mira wrapped her arms around her waist and planted a sweet, quick kiss on her plump lips. Her heart caught in her throat as she whispered, “I really like you.”
“I like you, too,” Chelle said, her voice going sultry as she walked Mira backward toward the bed and gave her a few more playful pecks on the lips, the tip of her nose, and her cheeks.
Something was swelling in Mira’s heart, telling her to keep talking, to say the things she’d been building up the courage to say on her way over to Chelle’s room, but then Chelle pushed her onto the bed and she surrendered to the moment instead. Chelle hopped onto the mattress, straddling Mira as she grabbed the remote lying beside them on the bed. She pointed it at the television to silence the late-night sitcom that had been playing unnoticed until then, but Mira touched her arm.
“Can you please leave it on?” She asked, feeling wretched for needing to. “For the background noise, in case we’re loud. I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing,” Chelle said, flipping the channel to MTV which was, by no small miracle, actually playing music for once. Then she chucked the remote on the cushion of the armchair across the room and turned her attention back to Mira with a grin. “I can only hope I’m good enough to make you so loud we need the television as a decoy.”
Then she pulled her shirt up over her head and Mira wriggled out of her tee shirt beneath Chelle. She slid her hands up Chelle’s waist and cupped them over her breasts as Chelle leaned down to kiss her, tongue snaking into her mouth and sending waves of excitement through Mira’s body.
She shoved Chelle onto her back beside her and slid her hand down the front of Chelle’s pajama pants, feeling her shiver as Mira’s fingers found the wetness waiting between her thighs. After a few strokes, Chelle yanked her pants down over her hips and kicked them off the foot of the bed, throwing her leg over Mira’s hip and taking Mira’s face in her hands as she rolled her middle finger over Chelle’s clit. They kissed and she felt herself getting wetter with every shiver of delight running through Chelle’s body that she felt at the tips of her fingers.
Chelle didn’t need much, and before Mira had a chance to do much more than slide her fingers up and down over her wetness, she felt the pulse of Chelle’s body around her hand. She pressed her lips together, stifling a moan as she came, her body shivering against Mira’s as she held Mira’s hand against her and she felt the spasms clenching her fingers.
Then after she’d gotten a chance to catch her breath, Chelle crawled to the foot of the bed, yanking at the bottoms of Mira’s leggings. As they started to give way, sliding down over Mira’s knees, Chelle grinned deviously at her and gave them a quick twist, crossing Mira’s legs and causing her to flip onto her stomach. Mira let out a thrilled laugh as Chelle pulled the leggings the rest of the way off and threw them to the foot of the bed with the rest of their clothes.
Then Chelle climbed back onto the bed, one knee thrust between Mira’s thighs to push them apart, and she felt herself getting wetter. It was always something new, something interesting, with Chelle, and she was never content to do the same old expected things. That’s what Mira loved about her, and that happy, swelling feeling filled her chest again as Chelle pinned her down and pressed her body against Mira’s back, her hand sliding down her back and then between her legs.
Her fingers ran up and down through Mira’s wetness, finding her clit and teasing at it before plunging deep inside her for a few strokes, then coming back to her clit again. After no more than a couple motions like this, Chelle had Mira aching with desire and practically screaming to be fucked.
“Please,” Mira said, arching her back and craning her neck to find Chelle’s lips as they locked in a sloppy, almost feral kiss. She murmured against Chelle’s lips, nearly at a loss for words, “Make me come. You’ve got me so hot.”
Chelle broke their kiss, sucking and then gently biting at the crook of Mira’s neck as she inched her way down toward the foot of the bed.
“You want to come?” She teased as she kissed a trail down Mira’s spine and lightly slapped at her ass.
“Yes,” Mira said, her body instinctively seeking Chelle’s fingers and her hips grinding against her hand.
“And you need me to make you come?” Chelle asked innocently.
“Oh please,” Mira begged, feeling Chelle’s hair brushing over her lower back.
Then Chelle turned her palm down to the mattress, her fingers rubbing over that special place inside Mira that made her whole body want to curl up as tiny as possible and then burst out again like a powerful explosion. A preliminary convulsion rippled through her and she buried her face in the nearest pillow, moaning loudly into it.
Chelle started to thrust her fingers and Mira felt her whole body beginning to bloom into that blissful, tingly sensation that she craved. Just as she felt like she’d lose herself in the feeling, Chelle slid her other hand beneath her hips and circled her finger over Mira’s clit, making her go completely nonverbal as she groaned into the pillow and bucked her hips against Chelle’s hands, her thighs clamping tight and her whole body quaking.
It was one of the best orgasms of her life, going on and on until finally it broke and she lay in a shuddering, weak heap on the mattress. Chelle crawled up beside her and Mira was still panting as she turned to her, coming up with nothing better to say than, “Wow.”
“So I can make you loud enough to need the TV,” Chelle said with a smirk, pulling the pillow that Mira had been burying her face in between them and putting her head down on it. “And a pillow, too. Does that come with some kind of trophy?”
“Shut up,” Mira said, throwing her arm around Chelle as she kicked the blankets down and they both crawled under them. Her eyes were growing heavy and she was beginning to drift into sleep as she murmured, “I might not be much, but I think I’m all the trophy you’re going to get tonight.”
Just before she fell into a dream, she felt Chelle kiss her cheek and heard her say, “You’re the best trophy I can think of.”
***
Chelle woke up a little before dawn, slightly disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. She stretched in the large bed and her hand found Mira, nestled next to her. Chelle wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. It felt so much like home to be waking up next to Mira, even if they were several hours away from their own beds.
Mira stirred in Chelle’s arms, murmuring something in a half-sleeping state as she swam slowly back up to consciousness. Chelle kissed her forehead, indulgently smelling the coconut scent of Mira’s hair as she whispered, “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Mira said, still not fully awake as she nuzzled her face further against Chelle’s chest. Feeling Mira’s lips brush against her skin, this movement roused something hungry inside Chelle. She pulled Mira closer and was rewarded with a delightful, raspy moan, “Mmmm.”
“Wake up, lazy bones,” Chelle said, rolling Mira onto her back to try and shake the sleep from her.
“Is it time to go downstairs?” Mira murmured, reluctant to open her eyes.
“Something like that,” Chelle said, pushing the covers back and sliding down to the foot of the bed.
She hooked her arms under Mira’s thighs and lay down on her stomach between them. Chelle lapped her tongue slowly between Mira’s legs, feeling her move and arch her back in response.
“Wow,” Mira said, closing her fists around the bedsheets as she came fully out of sleep and Chelle made another long stroke of her tongue. “I want you to be my alarm clock every day.”
Chelle gripped Mira’s thighs, squeezing her and holding her steady as she felt Mira’s body responding to every motion of her tongue. She flicked it over her clit and watched Mira’s hips twitch, then lapped in long, slow strokes, delighting in Mira’s reaction as it became impossible to anticipate the pattern Chelle traced with her tongue. Mira threw a pillow over her face at one point and let out a long, agonized moan, and then she tossed it aside and reached down to twine her fingers through Chelle’s wild hair.
“Get up here,” she said, gently tugging Chelle back up to the top of the bed. “I want to come together.”
Chelle laid down beside Mira, closing her eyes and kissing her passionately as Mira swirled her tongue over Chelle’s and greedily lapped up the taste of herself on Chelle’s lips. She felt Mira’s fingers dancing up her leg and then sliding between her thighs, and she threw her head back against the overstuffed pillow as Mira’s finger found her clit.
A wave of pleasure washed over her – Mira was beginning to learn exactly how to touch Chelle to send her straight over the edge, and she was so turned on she had to concentrate to keep from coming too fast. She raised her head to kiss Mira again, just as another wave washed over her and a groan escaped her lips. If Mira wanted to come together, then Chelle would have to get to work because Mira was bringing her dangerously close.
She sat up, kissing a line down Mira’s neck as she moved toward the middle of the bed, sitting in Mira’s lap and pulling her in for one more kiss. Chelle swiped her tongue along Mira’s lip as her hand ventured down her stomach and reached between Mira’s legs. Chelle slid her fingers into her, and Mira reached down to do the same in return. It was an absolutely blissful feeling, their hands moving in tandem as their hips moved with the rhythm and shivers of euphoria washed over Chelle.
She lost herself in the thousand little sensations smoldering like flames all over her body as their bodies undulated in an increasingly frantic pace. Chelle pumped her fingers faster between Mira’s thighs and rocked her hips against her palm as she felt her climax building and swelling in her core. Mira was looking at her with an ecstatically tortured expression, her mouth open as if she’d started to moan or beg for release and found herself without a voice. Chelle grabbed her and pulled her in for one last passionate kiss as she felt herself tipping over the edge, and they both came, panting and moaning into each other’s mouths.
Then she collapsed, her head going toward the foot of the bed while Mira fell back onto the abundance of pillows behind her. Their labored breathing was the only sound to fill the room for a minute or two, and then Mira asked, “Do you think anyone would notice if we skip the conference and stay in bed all day?”
“I wouldn’t care if they did,” Chelle said, then with some effort she sat up and took Mira’s hand, pulling her upright. Chelle wiped a lock of damp hair from her face and said, “But I think you would.”
“Maybe not,” Mira said, but Chelle was already pulling her out of the bed.
“Let’s get a quick shower,” she said, then with a swat at Mira’s ass, she added, “Come on, I’ll soap your tits.”
She pulled Mira into the bathroom and they hopped in the shower together. It took about three times as long as it would have if they’d showered separately, but it was also at least ten times the fun so Chelle counted it as a win. Then they got out and toweled off, and Chelle couldn’t help but smile when she caught a look at Mira through the fogged over mirror, wrapping her towel around her.
It was exactly like her fantasy, and before her brain even had a chance to catch up with her heart, she was catching Mira up in a tight embrace, kissing the corner of her mouth and saying, “I wish I could tell the world how fucking incredible you are.”
“I think you’re pretty incredible, too,” Mira said, twisting around to face Chelle.
Mira put her arms around her shoulders and Chelle said, “I want to be with you. Not just after the library closes and on Sundays and behind locked hotel doors.”
“I know,” Mira said, a pained expression clouding her face. “I haven’t felt this good in so long I forgot what it was like.”
“I’m falling for you, Mira,” Chelle said, bowing her head and kissing Mira’s shoulder so that Mira wouldn’t see the fierce blush spreading across her cheeks as she said it.
“You make it so hard to ignore this feeling,” Mira said.
“So don’t ignore it,” Chelle said. She knew that she was asking a lot – too much, maybe – and that Mira would have to be the one to do most of the sacrificing if they were going to have a shot at a real relationship. But she had to ask anyway. “Let’s be together.”