Page 50 of Shifting Gears

She considers ignoring it. She doesn’t get up from the couch in the quiet that follows the bell, her fingers unmoving, but soon it rings again, slightly more insistently this time.

With a frustrated groan, Nora ties the robe back up and stalks over to the door, trying to ignore the slickness that coats her inner thighs.

The frustration dissipates when she rips it open to reveal Dani. She’s leaning against the doorframe, looking as intense as Nora has ever seen her.

“Dani,” Nora says in breathless surprise. “I didn’t… I thought you went home?” She’s suddenly intensely aware of the fact that she’s wearing absolutely nothing under her robe. Her fingers are still slick; Nora slides them together self-consciously at her side, hoping Dani won’t notice.

“I was driving home and thinking about you, and I just thought…what kind of idiot leaves in a situation like that?” Dani’s voice is low and breathy, and it makes Nora shiver. “I figured I should be a gentleman, but I was so into it—and you seemed to be, too—and I sort of panicked. So I came back to see if—but if you don’t want to, I understand.”

Whatever confidence Dani had when she knocked seems to be evaporating by the second, and Nora has an idea how to stop that.

She grabs the tie of her robe, untwists it, and lets it drift open.

Dani chokes on her words. Her gaze drifts down, her eyes visibly darkening as she takes in all the skin Nora just shamelessly bared.

Nora is at least moderately confident in what she has to offer. Her thighs are maybe a bit softer than she’d like, her stomacha little more rounded, and she hasn’t bothered to shave quite as religiously as she used to before her vacation, but she’s never had any actual complaints. She’s perfectly adequate.

Dani looks at her with a hunger Nora’s never experienced before. She doesn’t feel just moderately confident when Dani drinks her in—she feels hot. She feelswanted. She feels the path Dani’s gaze takes like a brand on her skin; it tingles and burns and reminds Nora viscerally of exactly what she was on the edge of just a minute ago.

“Fuck,” Dani breathes. Seconds later her rough hands are cupping Nora’s face and her entire clothed front is pressed to Nora’s terribly naked one. Their kisses pick up exactly where they left off earlier—hot, open-mouthed, and messy.

“I’m so glad you came back,” Nora gasps as Dani trails kisses down her neck, calloused fingers sliding down to cup around Nora’s bare thighs.

“Me, too.” Suddenly there’s a denim-covered leg being pressed into Nora. She’s still so wet that she can feel the wide, slick spot she’s leaving on the fabric.

She wants to feel Dani’s naked skin there.

“Off,” Nora mutters, fumbling with the button of Dani’s jeans as Dani bites at her lower lip. Her hands are shaky and inefficient. “Take these off.”

Dani is already knocking Nora’s hand away, yanking the jeans down until she’s left in green, checkered boxer briefs just visible under the hem of her shirt. Dani momentarily struggles for balance while she rips off her boots and socks, but before long she’s free, and she pulls Nora to her again, picking her up like she weighs nothing at all.

Nora wraps her legs around Dani’s waist with a shaky gasp, grabbing two fistfuls of Dani’s crisp shirt. The collar wrinkles under her eager hands. The easy strength with which Dani carries her to the couch, and the way her hip bone presses intoNora, quickly has her just as close to coming as she was before Dani arrived.

They fall back onto the cushions, throw pillows scattering across the floor, and Nora cups Dani’s face to guide her in for a kiss.

Just before their lips meet, Dani stops.

“Your hand is wet,” Dani says distractedly.

Nora can actuallyseeher own blush, climbing its way up her naked chest.

“After you left, I was a little…worked up,” Nora says. Through her embarrassment, she sees understanding dawn on Dani’s face.

Nora tries to distract from the subject by grabbing Dani’s chin with the wet hand. “Yes, I was ridiculously turned on after you left, but you’reherenow, so can we just—”

“Did you come?”

That question is enough to make Nora stop. It’s the most blatantly sexual thing she’s ever heard Dani say, uttered with an intensity that borders on fascination.

“No,” Nora whispers, rubbing her legs together to relieve some of the pressure. Dani shifts her hips so that they pin Nora’s thighs open, spread and helpless with nothing to press against, and the quiet confidence in the movement is enough to make Nora feel a little unhinged, a wild, thrashing thing under Dani’s body, nothing but shaking need. “I was—when you got here, I was about to.”

Dani smiles, slow and satisfied. And in a move that almost makes Nora’s brain shut down entirely, she turns her head and takes Nora’s wet fingers into her mouth.

The sweet, gentlemanly Dani that Nora has been getting to know is nowhere to be found. A new Dani is emerging, one who moves her mouth down Nora’s slick fingers until they’recompletely engulfed and then sighs at the taste. Who grinds her pelvis between Nora’s bare, spread legs and grins at her moan.

The duality is as intoxicating as it is surprising. Nora can feel Dani’s shirt rubbing against her—dry and then so,sowet. She knows she’s leaving a stain on the clean cotton, but Dani doesn’t seem to care. She just grinds harder, finally kissing Nora again hard and fast and swallowing her whimpers.

“I’m sorry I left,” Dani gasps into Nora’s mouth.

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