Noma stood up straight with her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes facing forward. It was her typical stance when she was on duty, but it was not a typical day, and Noma knew that her posture was stiffer than usual. She doubted anyone – even Madam Arika with all of her "intuitive gifts" – could note the difference in her, but Noma was painfully aware of it, and the way it kept making that muscle in her lower back twinge.
Noma closed her eyes briefly and had to fight the urge to sigh. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was nervous. She'd felt an attraction to Madam Arika the moment she had laid eyes on the woman, but it was different now. Their last encounter had changed things. Before her last shift with Arika, Noma had let her eyes roam over the Helenian's body appreciatively a few times while on duty, but she hadn't been truly distracted by Arika. She hadn't been infatuated with her.
That was no longer the case.
In the days that followed their last conversation, Noma had been consumed with thoughts of Arika. She mulled over the offer Arika had made, and lost herself in contemplations of acting on the desire she was sure she had seen in Arika's eyes and heard in Arika's voice. That last meeting between them caused Noma's casual appreciation of Arika's beauty and grace to bloom into something stronger and far more dangerous, and now that this yearning was at the forefront of her brain, Noma struggled to shove it back into the dark recesses from whence it had come.
Restless energy pulsed inside of Noma, and she knew that she had to move around and distract herself from her thoughts before they made her say or do something that a lowly soldier should not say or do to the First Lady of one of the most powerful nations in the world.
"Perimeter check," Noma called out without looking in Arika's direction.
"If you insist," Arika murmured from behind the antique mahogany desk that dominated the small section of the suite that served as a study.
"It's protocol," Noma replied as she made her way to the front of the suite.
"You're quite the stickler, Sergeant Walker," Arika drawled in response, her strong, rich voice easily reaching Noma as the sergeant moved through the suite. "I had you pegged as more of a rebel."
"Not when it comes to my job, ma'am," Noma replied stiffly as she neared the end of her circuit. "Not when it comes to your safety," she continued as she looked out the window behind Arika's desk.
"Your diligence is appreciated," Arika breathed out, her eyes following Noma as the sergeant returned to the spot she had been occupying before the perimeter check.
"Kind of you to say," Noma replied before directing her gaze forward, focusing on the large painting that occupied much of the wall opposite her.
"Have you been?" Arika asked some time later, her voice disturbing the quiet that had come over the room after she went back to work and Noma went back to staring at the painting.
"Where?" Noma asked instinctively, even as her brows scrunched together in mild confusion. Her brain was still trying to make its way out of the fog it sometimes drifted into after standing around doing nothing for a length of time.
"Have you been?" Arika repeated. "To the sea?" she clarified, watching Noma with a gently amused expression. "You seem quite enchanted with the painting."
Noma's eyes followed Arika's motion back over to the painting even though she had been staring at it long enough to know almost every stroke by heart. It was a stylized painting, from before the war, Asian in origin she was sure though she could not say which of the old countries it had come from. In the painting, vibrant blue waves stood tall and menacing, frothing at the edges, and Noma wasn't certain whether she was supposed to feel drawn to the raging sea or terrified of it.
"No, ma'am," Noma replied as she turned to face Arika. "The closest I've ever gotten to the sea is the oceanographic holo-room at the Natural History museum. They made us go every year in grade school."
Arika rose gracefully from the plush chair she had been seated in and began to walk towards Noma.
"Mm, a longing then?" Arika asked as drew closer to the sergeant.
Noma glanced at the painting again, partly to confirm that the sea didn't seem like such a big deal and partly to avoid her eyes inevitably dropping to watch the sway of Arika's hips.
"I can't say that it seems too appealing, actually. Those rocks look unfriendly," Noma drawled cheekily. "Your intuitive powers must be malfunctioning, ma'am."
Arika smiled at that, the expression both soft and mysterious.
"You're very glib," she observed a few moments later as she closed in on Noma's position.
"You're very observant," Noma replied without missing a beat, and in her peripheral vision she was just able to make out Arika smiling at the words.
When Arika finally reached Noma, she came to stop directly in front of the sergeant. In response, Noma turned her head slightly and shifted her eyes to the side hoping to avoid danger that lurked in Arika's beautiful brown eyes.
Noma thought that Arika would move on once she looked away. She thought that maybe Arika would circle behind her like she had the last time, or that maybe she would move into the sitting room which housed the suite's bar, but Arika did not move. She stood in front of Noma, quiet and damnably calm; waiting for when Noma could no longer ignore the manners she'd been raised to have and turned to face her.
Arika smiled at her brightly when Noma finally turned and their eyes met, and Noma cursed herself as Arika's smile made her body flush with warmth.
"When I spoke of what you longed for," Arika began anew, her voice as rich and intoxicating as a fine wine. "I wasn't referring to the sea."
Noma's brows scrunched slightly as she tried to work out Arika's meaning.
She couldn't.
"So ah, you and straight answers … you're pretty much mortal enemies, huh?" Noma finally drawled.
"Lifelong," Arika agreed easily, and despite how frustrating Noma was finding their conversation, she couldn't help but smile. "Yes and no questions, black and white answers, traveling straight to your destination on the straightest road. It's all so boring," Arika sighed. "One should never ignore the means and focus entirely on the ends. You can learn a lot from a journey, or a good chase. I like a good chase," Arika declared, finding Noma's eyes with unerring accuracy as she finished speaking.
"I can certainly believe that," Noma murmured lowly, her olive eyes shining with both appreciation and trepidation, for as much as Arika's softness and elegance appealed to Noma, Noma had been aware since the day they met that Arika was as dangerous as she was beautiful, and she wasn't sure what it meant that Arika was now giving her a glimpse of the predator that lay beneath her modest façade.
Arika smiled again, and then, much like she had at the end of Noma's last shift, she began to slowly circle around the younger woman, a shark toying with its food before devouring it.
"Do you know what I think?" Arika breathed out when she was standing directly behind Noma.
"Never," Noma answered honestly, which made Arika smile again though Noma couldn't see it.
"I think you were using the painting as a distraction," Arika breathed out, placing her hand lightly on the small of Noma's back and allowing it to linger there for a few seconds as she started to walk again, moving in front of Noma once more. "I think you needed something to train your eyes on so that they would not wander and reveal the true source of your interest."
"And what might that be, ma'am?" Noma asked stiffly, very aware of how close to her Arika was, and how that proximity was affecting her.
"Me," Arika said softly, her voice sliding over Noma like silk.
Noma's lips parted to issue a denial, but before she could speak, Arika smiled at her fondly and lifted her hand, using it to gently stroke Noma's cheek and Noma's eyelashes fluttered involuntarily, and then closed. It was only for a second, the span of a heartbeat, no more, but the reaction was enough to give her away. It was enough to show how much she wanted that touch, and she knew it. Her desire was in the open now, and while it was still physically possible for her to lie and deny Arika's words, she knew that Arika would not believe her, and that to attempt it would only diminish her in Arika's eyes.
"You're a very impressive woman," Noma began carefully. She would not deny her attraction, that would be useless, but she was not quite ready to willingly expose her underbelly to the lioness in front of her either. "I could only improve myself by watching you and learning from you."
Noma's words drew an airy laugh from Arika and the sweet sound did pleasant things to Noma's body.
"That's a very … politic response for a soldier," Arika commented softly, looking up through her eyelashes to meet Noma's eyes once more.
"I told you, ma'am. I'm not…"
"Like other soldiers," Arika finished for her. "No, you're not," she agreed, closing the already scant distance between their bodies until she was practically in Noma's arms. "You have a functioning brain," Arika continued, smiling teasingly at Noma, who couldn't help but smile back, even if it was tinged with uncertainty. "And a beauty that could topple nations," Arika concluded, sighing softly, almost reverently as she allowed her eyes to roam admiringly over Noma's features.
Noma's cheeks reddened a little at Arika's bold words and even bolder expression, but she managed to hold herself together.
"I'm really more of a defender than a toppler,"Noma drawled, struggling for a nonchalance that she wasn't quite able to achieve.
"Yes," Arika agreed silkily. "You are very brave. Very robust," she purred as she ran her hand down Noma's uniformed arm, making Noma have to fight the urge to flex for her. "I admire that strength," Arika continued, meeting Noma's eyes intently. "I desire it."
"Desire it?" Noma breathed out uncertainly.
The way Arika was looking at her and touching her suggested that the desire she referred to was one best satiated in a bed, but Arika could have also been referring to the offer she had made the last time they had seen each other.
"Oh yes," Arika breathed out, "very much so."
"In your service, professionally," Noma said, seeking more clarity as her hand unconsciously moved to the hilt of the sword strapped to her side.
"Yes, of course," Arika murmured. "The offer I made the last time we spoke still stands."
"I'm considering it," Noma admitted, still too off-balance by Arika's actions and proximity to deflect the truth with a glib reply.
"I'm glad," Arika said softly, reaching up to caress Noma's cheek with her thumb once more. "You would enjoy Helena."
"How can you be so sure?" Noma asked.
"Because you enjoy me," Arika responded confidently, her eyes holding Noma's unwaveringly.
Noma's jaw clenched as a wave of arousal coursed through her.
"You're very pleasant company, ma'am," Noma managed to choke out.
"Thank you," Arika murmured before averting her eyes from Noma's shyly.
It was an act, this eye-dropping diffidence, of that Noma was sure. Arika was too mature, too worldly, too experienced to become genuinely bashful upon receiving a compliment. However, Arika was the type of woman who knew exactly how arousing coyness could be to others, even if it was just a guise.
"Is my company the only thing you find pleasing about me?" Arika asked a few seconds later, looking over at Noma through her long, dark lashes.
"Ma'am?" Noma questioned warily, sensing that the conversation they were having was wading into dangerous waters.
Arika stepped closer Noma and lifted her hand to Noma's cheek, stroking it as she had before. This time however, before she drew her hand away, Arika brushed her thumb suggestively over Noma's bottom lip and Noma's eyes closed in pleasure.
"I know that you feel it," Arika breathed out, easily able to read Noma's desire in the fluttering of her eyelashes, the rapid rise and fall of her chest, and the parting of her lips.
"I'm not allowed to feel it," Noma rasped in a pained tone as her eyes slid open. "I'm on duty," she continued, forcing her gaze past Arika and back onto the painting on the wall behind her. "I'm meant to protect you, not to …" Noma paused, catching herself just in time to stop the words 'bed you' from escaping.
"What are you not supposed to do, Sergeant?"
Noma's jaw clenched and she kept her gaze focused on the painting.
"What are you not supposed to do, Sergeant?" Arika repeated.
Noma looked away from the painting. The terrifying power of nature embodied by the towering, foaming waves was starting to make her feel anxious. It disquieted her, how the waves were perpetually posed for attack, yet the onslaught never came. The painting allowed for no catharsis. The rocks, the viewer, they were just left waiting, anticipating and fearing something that never came.
"I'm not supposed to take advantage of the loneliness you must be feeling trapped so far away from home," Noma finally replied, knowing that she would not be able to dissuade Arika from questioning her by ignoring her questions.
"You sell yourself short, my dear," Arika murmured, trailing her fingers down the coarse material of Noma's uniform jacket before taking Noma's hand into her own. "It is not loneliness that draws me to you." There were many professional women in Vega that Arika could have sent for if sex was all that she was after, and Noma knew this as well as Arika did. "And it is not fear of reprimand that makes you resist your desires."
Noma wasn't sure if Arika's words were chosen to provoke her or not, but provoke her they did.
"I know it may be hard for you to comprehend, ma'am," Noma began brusquely, "but some of us do actually need our jobs."
Noma was certain that Arika had noted her sharper tone, but the Helenian seemed unconcerned with it.
"You don't," Arika breathed out. "You have options."
"Yeah, well, better the devil I know," Noma replied, once again refusing to look at Arika.
"An attitude that will keep you forever in hell," Arika noted softly before she took a few steps back from Noma.
Arika's movement drew Noma's eyes over to her, as she had hoped they would, and then, under Noma's curious gaze, Arika lifted her hands to the broach the held her dress in place and unclipped it, allowing the material to fall to the floor. Beneath it she wore nothing but a pair of lacy carmine panties, and the sight of her made parts of Noma stir.
"You have my permission to touch," Arika said softly, reaching for Noma's hand again, but this time to place it on her hip. "This should be the only permission you need," she continued, allowing her hand to fall away from Noma's.
"Madam Arika," Noma began, her voice tentative and pained as she struggled to keep her hand in place on Arika's hip instead of moving it up to cup Arika's breast like she desperately wanted to. "Please. I can't."
"You Veganese confuse me," Arika breathed out as she moved her hand to settle on Noma's waist. "Attaching so much shame to such natural instincts and desires," she sighed sadly as she idly stroked the sturdy material of Noma's uniform with her thumb. "In Helena, you would not need to feel ashamed of wanting this, as I am not ashamed of wanting you now," Arika continued, drawing her hand behind Noma and then grasping the sergeant's ass firmly.
Noma barely managed to suppress a moan as Arika handled her.
"If you are satisfied and content with your position in Vega," Arika began, pressing her nude torso flush against the rough material of Noma's uniform. "Step away from me now and, disappointed as I will be, I give you my word as a woman that I will make no further sexual advances. However, if the allure of Helena and all of her wonders tempts you … take me, as I know you want to, and I promise I will see to your needs, both physical and material."
Noma was still and quiet as she considered Arika's words. She had told Arika that she was concerned about losing her job if it was discovered that they were sleeping together, but the chances of them being caught in the middle of anything incriminating were actually rather slim. No one, with the exception of David Whele, could open the door to Arika's suite if it was locked, and even he had to follow time-wasting protocols before disarming the lock. Next to Whele, recording devices where the biggest threat they faced, but even that threat was negligible since Noma and all of the other women standing guard for Arika were required to sweep the suite at the beginning of their shifts. The truth was that if they exercised the barest amount of discretion, it should've been relatively easy for them to keep their intimacy secret.
Of course, even taking all the precautions in the world, it was possible that they could be discovered, and if they were there was a good chance that it could get her discharged. Alex sleeping with Vega's Favourite Princess could be easily brushed aside, but her sleeping with a Helenian detainee was not likely to be forgiven. So the question Noma pondered was not so much would she lose her job if they were discovered, but would it be so bad if she did?
She had heard stories about Helena, the land of women, all of her life and she'd often thought about what it must be like to live there. When she was younger she'd thought of Helena as a sort of paradise, but she was older now and hopefully wiser, and she knew that no place human beings lived could ever be a utopia. That being said, some places had to be better than others, and Noma figured that Helena couldn't be worse than Vega, where even Claire Riesen could be sold off by her father like a prize dairy cow.
Noma drew her hand up Arika's torso until she was cupping Arika's breast.
Arika breathed in sharply at the contact and lifted her eyes to meet Noma's.
Noma brushed her thumb over Arika's already stiff nipple, and Arika's lips parted as her eyelashes fluttered.
Arousal coursed through Noma, dampening her palms and heating her skin, heating the blood in her veins until she could deny herself no longer. She was ready to be consumed by the waves.
Noma leaned forward and crushed her lips against Arika's. Supporting and seizing, Noma's hand cupped Arika's neck as she claimed her mouth in a forceful, passionate, dominating kiss that Arika melted into, pressing herself against Noma's front as her hands clutched at Noma's uniform.
Noma's hands traced over smooth, soft brown skin as they kissed, and Arika's hands moved too, trailing down Noma's back and over the globes of her ass, which Arika then grasped roughly as she rolled her hips into Noma, drawing a low moan from the sergeant.
When their kiss finally broke, Noma drew her head back so that she could see Arika's face. She found an affectionately wicked smile pulling up the corners of Arika's mouth, and at the sight of it, Noma could not stop herself from grinning at Arika in return.
Arika lifted her hands to Noma's face again, cradling it gently in her hands. "Beautiful," she whispered, her eyes tracing over Noma's features lustfully before she brought their lips together for another kiss.
"Secure the door," Arika rasped when their lips finally parted.
"Giving orders already?" Noma asked, arching a saucy eyebrow at Arika.
"Mm," Arika purred. "But I assure you. I can follow them as well," she breathed out, and Noma's eyes hooded with desire.
"Go," Arika said, nodding her head towards the gilded doors at the front of her suite. "Then join me in bed."
"Yes, ma'am," Noma replied, saluting Arika cheekily. "My pleasure," she continued, grinning as she started to walk backwards towards the front of the suite, not ready to let Arika out of her sight just yet.
"It will be," Arika promised, smiling wickedly before she turned from Noma and began to saunter towards the bedroom.
Noma watched Arika for a few seconds, enjoying absolutely everything she saw, and then she turned and hastily made her way to the front of the suite. There was a very big mistake waiting for her in the bedroom, and Noma was anxious to get the doors locked so that she could get back there and make it.
The End