After the giggling stopped and the water warmed up, my nerves took deep root in the bottom of my stomach. Maybe it was all the bourbon, maybe it was because it was four in the morning and I hadn't slept, maybe it was because I was standing in a shower, Holly's shower, and had no clue what to do next.

Her lips found my left ear, and nerves I apparently wasn't hiding so well. "I can hear your hamsters, Gail." Not a bad observance, especially one punctuated with a kiss to the skin under my earlobe.

"That obvious, eh?" I managed.

"Nothing more is going to happen unless you want it to, " she said earnestly, having pulled back and was now standing directly in front of me.

"Well something is going to happen. We are going to run out of hot water sooner than later if we keep kissing like teenagers in here," she continued, obviously trying to infuse a bit of levity into a sexy situation that my nerves were on the verge of ruining.

"Hol, I'm sorry. I don't mean….it's just that…I…I'm suddenly very shy and I don't know what to do next, " I blurted with zero grace.

"I'm shy, too. And I don't want to rush you into anything. Today, tonight…it's all been a lot. A lot," she repeated, her words trailing off as she looked down. In that moment I felt like I needed to save her. I didn't want her thinking for one second that I was climbing my cat tree, that I wasn't loving being with her, that I wasn't eternally grateful to her for her kindness and support, even though I had been acting on and off like my typical jerk self.

"Hey, I have an idea," I whispered to her as I gently lifted her chin back up to face me. "I'm going to turn around and face the water, ok?"

"And? Sorry…I am lost, Gail," she replied with a half smile.

"Well if I am facing away from you I will be less shy, right? You can get me out of my clothes that way," I somehow awkwardly managed.

Her laugh filled the bathroom. A genuine burst of a laugh, one I wasn't exactly expecting. "Gail, do you really think that will work? That is will make you less shy?"

"Yes! I am a child ok! Let's just try it because as nervous as I am, I am also insanely itchy in this damn wet shirt and I want it off!" I exclaimed, my words growing less confident as they left my mouth.

The smile slowly left her face and she carefully removed her glasses. I don't know what it was about such a simple, innocent act but it made my stomach flip. She leaned out of the shower and placed them on the bath mat. She came back to me and brushed the fresh water away that had sprayed her face. She then leaned into me and placed a chaste kiss to me lips as she whispered into my mouth "Turn around."

I only hesitated for a moment before I turned to face away from her. I lifted my face, searching for the strong stream of hot water that was now assaulting me in different ways. I closed my eyes and let the water pelt my face. I was getting lost in the feel of the spray when I felt her hands reach under my shirt at the sides. As soon as I felt her begin to raise my shirt, I helped by raising my arms, allowing her to remove my shirt entirely. All I heard behind me was a heavy thud as she dropped it to the tub floor.

I was waiting to feel her hands on me again. I had thought she would unhook my bra. But just as I was about to turn to her, I heard a second thud and then my mind went blank in the realization that it was Holly's own shirt that had hit the tub floor that time. I can't explain what that awareness did to me. To suddenly know that my beautiful librarian brainiac was now standing behind me topless rendered me weak. A new set of nerves was settling in my stomach, but they weren't born from being shy but rather from being turned on. Insanely turned on.

Holly interrupted my thoughts by sliding her hands around my waist and stepping into me. Her lips fell to my now exposed shoulder and she began to pepper my skin with kisses as her hands softly played with my stomach. My head instinctively fell back to rest against her. I needed to feel more contact. As I did that, I felt something I had never felt before – the sensation of full breasts pressing into my back. It felt amazing and I silently admonished myself for waiting so long to experience something so erotic.

Holly's lips travelled from my shoulders to my neck. Her full lips were lavishing me with love, and I could feel the intensity of her desire growing, mirroring my own.

"You're so beautiful, Gail," she whispered into my ear before gently pulling my right earlobe into her wet mouth. "So incredibly beautiful."

She moaned the last word as her hands disappeared from my quivering abdomen. She kissed the back of my neck, unaware that it had always been one of my more pronounced erogenous zones. My head dropped in the all-consuming pleasure and I was suddenly happy to have insanely cut off all my hair for my neck was now completely exposed and so very easy for Holly's mouth to explore.

When I raised my head back up and opened my eyes, I focused on quite possibly the sexiest site I had seen in a long while. Holly had silently removed her very lacy black bra and was now offering it to me as it swayed on its precarious perch that was the tip of her finger. My mind went blank. Holly was now naked, as least from the waist up and she was playful on top of that. A smile warmed my face as I reached out and took it from her and examined it in my hands. It was wet, and feminine, and dark, just like Holly.

At that, I felt her hands go to my back in her hopes of removing my own bra. I smiled to myself again and wondered for the first time exactly how blind she is without her glasses as my bra hooked in the front.

"Give me your hands," I asked of her as I reached behind me searching for them. When our hands met and laced together I brought them around me. I leaned forward to offer a few kisses to her soft knuckles before guiding them to my breasts.

She hesitated a bit a first, I'm sure somewhat surprised at my bold move. I guided her to open her palms and I laid my hands on top of hers and circled my breasts a few, lazy times. She leaned forward over my shoulder to watch what our hands were doing in unison and at that, I turned to her, eagerly needing our mouths to connect. We shared a few deep kisses before I whispered into her mouth "This one unhooks in the front."

I felt her smile into my mouth and respond by taking her hands to the centre and adeptly unhooking my bra. I couldn't help my subtle smirk realizing that such ease and skill is just another advantage to dating a woman.

I thought that Holly would lift my bra off and away from my body, as she had done with her own, but I was wrong. She didn't seem to care at all about my bra. As soon as the clasp let go and my breasts spilled out, she immediately set to massaging them with searching hands. She allowed them to fill her palms as her thumbs skillfully teased my already erect nipples.

"Oh god, Gail. You feel so good, so fucking good, " she hissed in my ear.

(Ok, mental note. Holly swears, and it's hot.)

My own growing arousal had replaced my earlier shyness. I turned around to face her.

The second our upper bodies melted together and I felt our breasts glide against each other, I thought I would pass out from sheer pleasure. It felt incredible. Holly felt incredible. Our kisses were now completely uninhibited. Her tongue felt amazing and it sent a shiver right down my spine. I shuttered at the thought of that strong tongue discovering my entire body in time.

"Should we stop?" she said out of breath. "You've had such a crazy day… we haven't…" I stopped her words with a lone finger against her mouth. "Shhhh. Please. Please stop talking. It's true, today was beyond awful and I don't still quite know what this is, but all I do know is that if you stop, if we stop, my heart might break. I want you, Holly. I want this, all of it."

Her sexy, lopsided grin peaked out again as she reached behind me to shut off the water.

"Well in that case, let's get you out of this shower, and into my bed."

TBC