"So...what did you think? Was I okay up there?"
The limo was stopped at a red light when Grace was finally able to break the silence with the most loaded question she could have possibly asked. They hadn't spoken a word to each other in what seemed like an eternity, each of them trying to wrestle with the thoughts bouncing off the walls of their minds. And now that they were free from the threat of Lorraine's wrath, Karen couldn't stop playing Grace's performance over and over again in her head, couldn't stop thinking about the way everything faded to black except for the redhead tossing her hair and crawling in her direction, demanding her attention. She couldn't stop thinking about how close she had gotten, how she could swear she felt Grace's breath brush against her skin as she lip-synced to the song, as she timed her final sigh to match the singer's, how her lips could have reached Grace's if she just leaned forward a little bit more before the song ended. She couldn't stop thinking about how quickly everything around them came back into the light as the song died down and the men's catcalls picked up, like the spell had been broken, like it was all a dream. And the missed opportunity made her heart sink to her feet. Because if it hadn't been for Grace's question, Karen could have eventually convinced herself that it was a dream. They weren't talking about it, no one would believe it happened if she did talk about it. This night could pass, and they could go back to the way they were before Karen ever concocted this crazy plan.
But Grace dared to ask. She was waiting for an answer.
"Grace, I don't know if…" Karen trailed off.
"Oh come on, since when are you too shy to give your opinion?" She gave Karen a nudge and a shaky smile, trying to play it off as no big deal, knowing she probably failed. But she needed to say something, anything to break the silence. Maybe trying to force a little levity wasn't the best move. She just wanted to hear the way Karen's voice wrapped around a response. She just wanted to push the door open a little bit, to let the light of possibility shine through, to see if it would intrigue the dark haired woman enough to want to know what was on the other side.
Grace had no idea that Karen was dying to know what was on the other side. Karen wanted to break through the door and never look back. She wanted to make up for decades of lost time as they ran towards the future they deserved. She wanted to finally, finally, stop skirting around all of the things that have been staring them down this whole time, waiting for one of them to make a move, waiting for one of them to at least take a step. How hard could it possibly be?
And what better time than now to finally take one?
Just as Grace dared to ask, Karen couldn't help but dare to be honest. Besides, it wasn't like she had much to lose.
Only twenty years of friendship.
"Honey...you don't know what you did to me." She paused for a moment, wondering if she should put a voice to the thought that was aching to get out; she was already toeing a line she never thought they would actually cross. There was always the chance of it scaring Grace off, and then they'd be trapped in the limo on a seemingly endless ride back to 9C. There was always a chance of it getting out, trailing behind a "You are never going to believe what happened to me today" as Grace catches Will up on the otherwise trivial bullet points of her day. There was a chance that Will wouldn't be able to let her live it down. There was a chance of it changing everything. And not in the way she wanted it to change.
But she saw the way Grace looked at her at the club, on stage dancing like the dark haired woman was the only one watching. And before she could stop herself, her voice wrapped around the words as they spilled out into the electric air.
"You don't know what I want you to do to me."
If it backfired, she could just blame it on the high Grace probably assumed she was riding; it wasn't like it was the craziest thought in the world. It wouldn't matter if she had never felt more clear-headed in her life than she did in this moment. Just laugh it off and slink back to the Valley of the Dolls where she belongs. No harm, no foul. It never happened.
But Grace leaned in a little closer. Grace bit down on her lip as she failed to control her smirk. Because Grace couldn't stop thinking about the way it felt to be the only one that could stake her claim to Karen's focus. She couldn't stop thinking about the way Karen followed her every move, the way Karen inched closer and closer to the stage in a magnetic pull, the way she craved the feeling of Karen's hands on her body so badly, it took all the restraint she had not to pull the dark haired woman up there with her and guide her touch to where she needed it the most. It turned her on then, to feel that she had the power to set Karen Walker off like that.
It turned her on now, to know that she wasn't imagining it.
She let her voice sink to its lowest register before she spoke. "So why don't you tell me? Or better yet…" she murmured as she slid her hand over Karen's, "why don't you show me?"
Karen could feel the pulse between her legs grow stronger the second she felt Grace's touch. "Honey…" she trailed off, knowing that if she kept speaking, she would inevitably say something that would make all of this stop, pulling from the methods of all the other times they came close to doing something before backing away, simply because it was the precedent. She didn't want backing away to be the reflex anymore. She didn't want to stop.
She wanted everything Grace could possibly give.
"Come on," the redhead murmured, the fire in her eyes that first sparked in the club reigniting into an inferno. She started singing in a low, husky voice that sounded nothing like the one Karen was used to hearing as it spilled from her lips, a voice that sent shivers through the dark haired woman's body. "It could be sweet...like a long forgotten dream…"
Karen couldn't deny herself anymore; in one swift motion, she pulled Grace on top of her, her kiss crashing into the designer's lips. She raced to unbutton her pants as she felt Grace take her face into her hands, losing her concentration for a moment as the redhead's tongue swept along hers, coaxing a small moan out from hiding. Grace's fingers set off sparks as she let them travel the porcelain of Karen's neck, down to the buttons of her top, tearing through each one with such force, it was a wonder she didn't rip them off entirely. She let her touch slide up the newly exposed skin of Karen's torso, pushing the lace of the dark haired woman's bra up to free her breasts. Scooting back as far as she could (surprisingly far, actually, how big was this limo anyway?), Grace slid Karen's nipples in between her fingers as she bent down to press her lips against Karen's stomach. She could hear Karen sigh and feel the way her assistant's fingers started weaving through her wildfire locks, and started smiling against her skin when she realized she could control the way Karen reacted. With a subtle brush of her fingertip, she could elicit a soft, barely audible sigh, as if Karen was almost soothed by the contact. Give a little pinch, and Karen would become a little more vocal, a choked off "Oh!" or, if she was lucky, a nearly breathless "Gracie" or "Honey." Keep the pressure on her, and Karen's moans would get louder and longer, making her throw her head back in unadulterated euphoria. It all thrilled Grace to no end.
She could feel the way Karen's moans traveled to her clit and hoped to god she lasted long enough for Karen's touch to be the thing that made her come.
Grace kissed her way down to Karen's navel and started drawing circles around it with her tongue, basking in Karen's "Oh my god" for a moment before traveling back up her body. She couldn't get over how sweet Karen tasted; for a fleeting moment, she wondered if she was imagining it and hoped she wasn't. It was the taste that truly fueled her. She knew she wouldn't rest until she had ridden every curve, until she had teased every part of Karen she could, until she made her assistant quake, cry out in a way that might have embarrassed her, if not for the memory of Karen once casually mentioning Driver's advanced hearing problems (how he hadn't been fired in the time Grace had known Karen, she didn't know, but what was the point in questioning it?).
Although, tonight definitely made her a little bolder. She was beginning to think she wouldn't care if he was listening in through the partition.
"Gracie…" Karen tried to will her voice to hit the air, her concentration on anything that wasn't Grace's tongue being shoved aside every time the redhead found another inch of skin she hadn't yet covered. "You really...want me to show you...what I want?" she finally managed in between the breaths that were becoming more and more rapid by the second, even though this sure as hell felt like what she wanted.
Grace paused and lifted her head to meet Karen's blissed out gaze. Her eyes shined as she took in the sight. "Show me," she commanded.
The redhead pressed one hand to the window to steady herself as Karen grabbed onto the wrist of the other, sliding it underneath her panties and gasping in surprise at the touch she initiated. She looked down to find the dark haired woman's eyes pleading with her, as if there was ever a chance that Grace would hold out on her. God, the way Karen acted like she needed it made Grace weak. To know that it could have been like this every time they pushed the boundaries of their friendship made her long for the ability to go back in time, to stop herself from denying the thoughts that went through her mind every time they had kissed, every time they had brushed up against each other, every time they spent the night alone together with no threat of anyone walking in and spoiling everything. Because those thoughts, she knew now, led to something brilliant, something she couldn't put into words, something she couldn't have fully expected if she tried. Something that filled her before it had truly started.
It just seemed cruel to both of them if she didn't give Karen what she wanted.
Grace drew her finger along Karen's folds, reveling in the dark haired woman's "Ohhhh" of rapture before dipping it into her opening. "Jesus, Karen, you're so wet," she smirked, and she couldn't figure out which was better: the discovery itself, or the way Karen could only nod and moan at the statement.
"Well, god, honey," Karen said when she found her voice again, "it's not my fault you surprised me with-Mmmmm, good lord-with those hidden talents of yours back at the-"
Grace cut her assistant off by sliding two fingers inside of her, causing her to cry out in ecstasy. Karen panted over the way the redhead was twisting herself, but it wasn't until she felt Grace's thumb start to rub her clit that she arched her back as far as she could and started to cry out. "Fuck, right there," she moaned, over and over, begging Grace to keep going, until the designer plunged her lips into the dark haired woman's neck, making her gasp away the chance of forming any sort of coherent response.
It wasn't until Karen felt the vibrations from Grace's lips that she realized the redhead was humming the song she had danced to earlier in the night, the melody crashing into Karen's skin in a way that completely obliterated every last word in her vocabulary, every last thought that wasn't centered around Grace's touch. The way Grace moved inside of Karen. The ebb and flow of pressure on Karen's clit that was somehow taunting the dark haired woman and fulfilling her at the same time. The way Grace made her start to tremble when the motion of her thumb started to dance more rapidly on her clit, and the way that Grace smiled against her neck when she noticed but good god, she never stopped humming, and it made Karen's trembling turn into a full-on quake. It was unbelievable.
Karen wasn't sure if it felt this good because it always would have been this good-whether they had taken that girl's night twenty years ago any further, or if one of them had tried to slide their hand under the other's skirt when they were caught up in a kiss-or because the wait made everything explode with overwhelming pleasure. She wasn't sure if she should be wishing they had done this so much sooner, or if she should simply focus on how the wait was worth it (god, it was so worth it). But now that she was here, in the back of this limo with Grace's touch blissfully roaming every part of her body, she knew that she wouldn't be able to live without this feeling, without the promise of this feeling.
She was never going to deny herself again.
Grace started to feel Karen tighten up around her fingers, and she pulled away from her assistant's neck, knowing she had to see the way Karen looked right now. She found Karen's features gorgeously tangled up in the growing charge overtaking her body, her lips forming a perfect "O" that seemed to amplify her moans. For a fleeting, shining moment, Grace's gaze met Karen's, and she was nearly bowled over by how beautiful that shade of hazel looked against the city lights passing them by in the night; she didn't think anything could top that view. But then Karen shut her eyes and cried out, her body taut underneath Grace as she rode out her orgasm before opening her eyes again in the afterglow. And the way she looked in the afterglow completely proved Grace wrong.
They stayed like this for a minute, Grace hovering over Karen, still inside of her, as the dark haired woman let her breathing even out. Reluctantly, Karen started to fix her bra, never once taking her eyes off of Grace, still a little stunned over all of the ways the redhead surprised her tonight. She wanted to say something, but the silence was too sweet, she didn't want to ruin it; she wasn't even sure she could form a proper sentence to begin with. So she watched as Grace pulled out and slid back to her side of the seat. She watched as Grace got the most deliciously devilish look on her face. She watched as Grace slipped her fingers into her mouth, closing her eyes and sighing the second the taste of Karen touched her tongue.
And Karen honestly couldn't believe she didn't come again from the sight of it.
It made the socialite fly to the other side of the limo and crash into Grace's kiss, desperate to know what they tasted like when they mixed together like that. She felt the redhead wrap her arms around her as her kiss probed deeper, as her hands burrowed underneath Grace's skirt and journeyed up her thighs. She reached the cotton of Grace's panties and immediately felt the redhead lift her hips slightly, waiting.
"Get rid of them," Grace whispered. And her wish was Karen's command.
Karen tossed the panties on to the floor of the limo before her fingers found Grace's clit. "Jesus, Grace, you're so wet," she smirked in a playfully mocking tone, parroting back the designer's earlier exclamation as she watched the redhead writhe to her touch.
Grace tried to laugh, but it got swallowed up in a moan as she felt Karen's fingertip come to rest and grew overwhelmed with anticipation. "Well, god, honey," she quipped once she could find her speech again, mirroring her assistant's tone, "do something about it."
Karen could tell it wouldn't take much, a couple of carefully timed sweeps of her finger along Grace's clit before she had the redhead riding out the same waves of pleasure that overcame her just a few moments before. And she wanted to make it count. Slowly, she started tracing circles with her fingertip, feeling the hold Grace had on her grow a little tighter. But it wasn't until she leaned in and dipped her tongue into Grace's ear that she felt her clutch onto the fabric of her top for dear life, heard her call out her name over and over while she alternated between a sweep of her tongue to Grace's ear and a sweep of her finger to Grace's clit. She felt the way Grace's body had tightened up beneath her and knew she was close, pulling away from her ear just in time for Grace to muffle the cries of her orgasm into Karen's shoulder. The designer's body slackened afterwards, but the fistfuls of Karen's top was still securely in her hands, allowing her to pull her assistant into her as close as she possibly could, plunging her lips into the kiss she couldn't stop craving.
"I can't believe we just did that," Grace said breathlessly when she pulled away, with the same wonder and enthusiasm she had when she said it just after their getaway from the club.
Karen couldn't help but grin. "I can't believe we didn't do it sooner," she said, hoping to god Grace wouldn't take it as a joke.
The redhead paused to consider it. "Yeah," she murmured in amazement. "What the hell were we waiting for?"
The way Karen's breathless laugh filled the limo with so much light made Grace's heart overflow. This is the way she always wanted to see Karen: enraptured by her touch, rattled by the electric charge in her core, glowing so radiantly in the moments after. This was the Karen that was just for her, the one that she was positive no one else had seen because no one else could take her to this place (there was no way she looked like this for Stan, no way she looked like this for Malcolm, and no way you could convince her otherwise). This was the Karen she needed in her life for the rest of her days. This was the Karen that helped her move the earth.
But if they moved the earth, why was everything around them so still?
Oh. The engine wasn't running. Of course. That made sense.
But then that would mean...
Oh. Fuck. How long had they been parked?
When they finally noticed the limo had come to a stop, they straightened themselves up and took in their surroundings. The trees were no longer speeding by them, the lampposts stayed perfectly still as they shined down on them. For all they knew, Driver could have gotten them here before Karen even had a chance to show Grace what she wanted. Nothing else seemed to matter in the moment. Not much else seemed to matter now. Which is why it felt impossible to accept that their night was over.
Grace leaned over Karen to look out the window, seeing the awning of her building welcoming her back from her journey. "Oh. I guess I'm home," she said, her words wrapped inside a disappointed sigh.
Karen tried to fix her gaze on Grace's view, but she couldn't seem to take her eyes off the redhead stretching across her lap. She wasn't necessarily complaining. "Is Will up there?" she asked as she started to button herself back up, hoping 9C would be free for them to pick up where they left off here.
"I think so. He's supposed to be cooking dinner for that douchey news guy tonight."
Karen deflated for a moment; how dare Wilma suddenly gain a love life during her hour of need? But then the gears of her mind started turning, and she lit up with a new plan. "Well, then let's go back to my place, honey. Yeah! I can give you the grand tour of the new digs. I think there are a few rooms that could use your touch." She drew her finger along Grace's collarbone. "And even if they don't, I know I could use your touch." She pulled the designer in, their lips colliding softly, lingering for as long as she possibly could before she needed to hear Grace's answer. "So whaddya say?" she asked as they pulled away.
Grace was silent at first, studying the dark haired woman for what felt like forever. But then, Karen saw a sly half smile slowly show itself on Grace's face, watched her as she moved to bang on the partition. "Hey, Driver," the redhead called out, loud enough for him to hear. "Let's move out. We're taking Miss Karen home." They heard him rev the engine, felt him start to pull the limo out of its parking spot. And Grace looked to Karen with the same wicked flame in her eyes that had fueled them all night, as she let her voice drop back into its lowest register, soft enough for only Karen to hear, for only Karen to keep close to her heart.
"I'm not quite done with her yet."