Page 52 of Shifting Gears

“I want to touch you, Dani. If you really don’t want me to, that’s okay. But this doesn’t need to be all about me.”

Dani seems to deliberate a moment. She looks almost confused, as if this is something she’s never heard before, and Nora briefly wonders exactly what kind of people Dani has dated in the past; but her face finally breaks into a smile. She nods, relaxing onto the pillows. “Okay.”

“An enthusiastic okay?” Nora asks, laying a kiss just over where her hand rests on Dani’s sternum.

Dani nods again, much more excitedly this time. “Yeah. Very.”

With Dani now eagerly awaiting to be touched, Nora abandons rational thought for action.

The action, of course, is kissing her way down Dani’s body, pulling off the boxers, and putting her mouth to work. But not too quickly. She wants to savour this. She wants to settle in, spread Dani out, and explore.

So Nora does just that—she eases Dani’s legs apart and slips into the space.

Nora starts, rather selfishly, with Dani’s nipples. They’re pink and puffy, smaller and differently shaped than Nora’s are, and she pulls them into her mouth eagerly as Dani’s breath hitches. But Dani clearly is not as sensitive there as Nora is—she’s enjoying herself, but it’s not driving her wild.

Eleanor moves on, nipping her way down the trembling plane of Dani’s stomach and nosing her way through the soft line of Dani’s treasure trail all the way down to her pelvis. Nora enjoys it just as much as Dani seems to.

When Nora moves lower, Dani’s hand slides over her shoulder to grip tightly. Not a warning, but more of a groundinghold—like Dani is afraid that if she doesn’t hold on, she might float away.

Dani’s inner thighs are as downy as her belly; clearly, Dani doesn’t shave, and Nora revels in how the soft hair feels against her lips. She drags them over uneven skin and faint stretch marks up to the apex of Dani’s thighs—spread open, glistening, surrounded by denser hair in a darker blonde.

Nora leans in and noses through it happily. She can feel Dani’s tense muscles relax a little. And then, finally, Nora applies her tongue.

Oral is historically one of Nora’s favourite things in the world to do. She doesn’t get to indulge in it as often as she’d like, but she loves how women taste. How they feel under her tongue. The way they arch and whine when they come in her mouth. And of all the women she’s done this for, Dani is by far the best.

She tastes incredible, deep and addictive in a way that has Nora’s face a mess in seconds. And, above all, she’s responsive. Her hips twitch and jerk with every swipe of Nora’s tongue, and her fists are clenched hard as if she’s trying to control herself. But she also seems to be holding herself back. Each twitch is suppressed, her face screwing up in concentration rather than being in the moment.

Nora wants Dani to let go, to experience everything Nora can offer. She wants Dani to release that tightly held restraint and chase what feels good.

“What do you need from me?” Nora murmurs, kissing a wide circle around Dani’s swollen clit and revelling in the way Dani’s hips move to follow her mouth. Dani herself is wordless, her hands clenching and releasing again, but Nora can see in her eyes a kind of desperation. Like she’s trying to communicate telepathically, maybe unused to voicing her desires.

“Whatever it is, Dani, I promise you I will be into it,” Nora assures her, dragging short nails over Dani’s outer thighs as Dani spreads her legs wider. “You just need to tell me.”

Dani swallows, biting her lip. “I need,” she starts, but her voice cracks and falls silent again. Instead she eases her hand into Nora’s hair and tugs experimentally, her hips shifting upward toward Nora’s mouth.

It’s not the vocal instruction Nora was hoping for, but she can guess at Dani’s intentions. And it makes her entire lower body feel like it’s melting into a puddle somewhere on the mattress.

“You need it rougher?” Nora asks quietly.

Dani nods frantically, her teeth sunk deep into her lower lip.

“Do you want to grind on my tongue?” Nora asks, pitching her voice low and smoky. She licks a slow line up, punctuating it with a kiss to Dani’s clit. “Pull my hair?”

Dani whimpers. There’s an insistent voice coming from between Nora’s legs which is very much in favour of this development, and Nora lets it do the talking.

“Go ahead. I like that.”

That seems to give Dani the permission she needs. As soon as Nora’s tongue is in position again, Dani is pulling at her head, using her grip on Nora’s hair to grind her hips hard into Nora’s face, and it’s every bit as gratifying as Nora thought it would be. Nora doesn’t break eye contact, happily letting Dani ride her mouth.

When she flattens and stiffens her tongue to give Dani a better surface to grind on, Dani’s composure finally breaks.

“Fuck,” Dani chokes out, her head falling back as her hips move faster. Her other hand joins the first, gripping Nora’s hair just hard enough to make her moan. “Oh, fuck, Nora—”

Nora tightens her jaw and holds on for the ride. When Dani finally seems to realize how much Nora is enjoying herself, ittakes less than a minute of focused grinding before she’s coming, her whole body snapping up like a tightened rubber band.

The surprised noise Dani makes is music to Nora’s ears. She logs it away in her mental bank for vigorous use in the future, taking Dani’s recovery time as a chance to savour the taste of her.

“Wow,” Dani pants while Nora traces the sensitive edges of her clit with her tongue. Dani’s thighs are quivering on either side of Nora’s face. She releases Nora’s hair, her arms falling limp against the duvet. “You’re fuckingamazing. Holy crap.”

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