Early chapter today! And a long one :) And it's NSFW so there's that
"Cosima we are going to be late!" Delphine protested as a pair of warm lips attached themselves to the back of her neck and strong arms wrapped around her waist.
"Yeah, well, you know me." Cosima mumbled between kisses. "Kinda always late, so" She turned Delphine around in her arms. "Kinda always sorry."
Delphine let her head fall back under the spray of the shower as Cosima palmed a breast in her hand. "You are not sorry at all." Honestly neither was she, but Cosima didn't need to know that. It had been a risk coming to Italy to surprise Cosima. She knew too well of their agreement. Cosima could have had someone to travel with, someone to share her bed, but she did it anyway. Cosima's constant absence from her life was starting to affect her in a way that was far outside the boundaries of their little deal. It was a physical need to have the brunette close. One she didn't understand and had never felt before. One she was sure Cosima felt as well.
Cosima smirked. "Not even a little bit."
Delphine nodded breathlessly, eyes fluttering shut as she leaned forward and kissed Cosima until neither of them had any breath left in their bodies. "We have a train to..." She tried to protest, but Cosima took a nipple into her mouth and all coherent thought left her. "...catch."
"Say the word and I'll stop." Cosima purred as her mouth moved to Delphine's other breast and her hands started slowly trailing lower down the blonde's wet body.
Delphine reached out an arm to steady herself against the shower wall. Too late to stop now. "If you stop I will hurt you." They could always postpone their plans. They already did once as they couldn't find it in themselves to leave the bed yesterday. What was another day? When in Rome, right...
Cosima smirked. "I thought as much." Capturing Delphine's lips once again, her hands came to the blonde's hips and pulled her as close against her as humanely possible. Her tongue was quickly granted entrance and she explored every inch of Delphine's mouth. The doctor moaned as Cosima's hands reached the apex of her legs, sliding slowly down the bare mound to her wet center. "Jesus Delphine." She moaned. "Excited much."
"Are you complaining?"
"Absolutely not. I love it. I just thought after last night there wouldn't be anything left." It was easy to feel the blonde's arousal around the spray of the shower and she was absolutely soaked. Cosima enjoyed running her fingers up and down the length of Delphine's sex, coating her fingers in the slippery wetness she caused. It still sometimes blew her mind that this beautiful, brilliant woman wanted her; that she was the one responsible for Delphine's increased heart and respiration rates, the dilation of her pupils, the rose colored flush over her body...her arousal.
"Cosima stop teasing!"
With a smirk Cosima easily slipped two fingers into the blonde. Swallowing Delphine's moans, the brunette quickly worked her up to a writhing, squirming, thrusting mess. Delphine was wet enough that Cosima slid a third finger in without any resistance. When she noticed the blonde's breathing pick up she changed her angle so that with each thrust the heel of her hand was hitting the doctor's clit. Delphine was forced to wrap her arms around Cosima to keep herself up right as her body stated to tremble.
"Cosima..."
"Don't worry baby I'm right here." As she thrust, Cosima drew her teeth gently up Delphine's neck until she found her mouth again. The blonde was so close. She was moaning into their kisses and her walls were squeezing Cosima's fingers tighter with each thrust. Soon Delphine's hips started thrusting out of rhythm and her body shook as her orgasm took over, burying her face in the crook of Cosima's neck as she rode out her high. Only when Delphine stopped trembling and started taking deep breaths to calm herself did Cosima stop and withdraw her fingers. Amber eyes darkening as Cosima sucked the arousal from her fingers did not go unnoticed.
"You know, if we hadn't been up all night doing this I'd be tempted to continue."
"Again?" Delphine panted. Delphine gave as good as she got so keeping up with Cosima's sexual appetite had never been an issue, but if the brunette truly wanted to go again it would have to be the first time Delphine ever told her no. They had been up most of the night and it was very early in the morning.
"Yeah." Cosima confirmed with a smirk. She knew the blonde's body and judging by how fast she just coaxed that orgasm out of her body, Delphine was good for a while. Everyone eventually needs a recovery period. "But at some point today we do have a train to catch and a lot of walking ahead of us and I don't want you to be too sore."
Delphine closed her eyes and bit down on her lower lip, nodding in agreement as she stepped back under the water. For a few moments she let the water wash over her, hoping the lukewarm temperature would bring some relief to her overheated body.
"I'm gonna go get-"
Delphine reached out and grabbed Cosima's wrist and pulled her back against her. "The only thing you are getting is off ma chérie." While her body needed a sexual break, she knew Cosima's wouldn't which was a good thing because after what Cosima just did to her she needed Cosima's body writhing under her touch. Needed to see her pupils dilate, her pulse quicken, her body shake. She needed to watch Cosima come undone.
Cosima shuttered in anticipation. It was so unbelievably sexy to her the things that came out of this graceful, poised, composed woman's mouth when they were in private. No one would expect it by looking at her. Which was probably the point, Cosima reasoned. A lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets and all. It was a part of Delphine only she got to see and maybe for that reason it was one of Cosima's favorite parts of her.
There was no preamble, no foreplay. For as well as Cosima knew Delphine's body, the blonde also knew her body and knew that getting Delphine off was enough warm-up for her. "Wouldn't be anything left?" Delphine teased as her fingers easily slid into Cosima. This was never an issue between them. One look from either of them and the other was a puddle. It was so easy. It was the only thing about any of this that was.
"I said that for you. You know what you do to me." Cosima moaned as she blonde thrust her fingers agonizingly slowly – pulling out completely and then thrusting as far in as her slender fingers would go.
"Oui." Delphine agreed with a slow, passionate kiss with her tongue mimicking the rhythm of her fingers. "I do."
Cosima groaned and threw her head back in frustration as Delphine removed her fingers, this time not thrusting them back inside. "No one likes a tease Delphine."
"Oh, mon amour, when have I ever just teased you?"
Cosima didn't remember much French from her high school days, but that one she knew. Her spine straightened as reality came crashing down directly on top of her. With a few quick, panicked breaths she told herself it was just the heat of the moment. People said things they didn't mean during sex all the time. It was the flood of endorphins and hormones. It didn't mean anything. It couldn't mean anything.
She prayed it didn't mean anything.
Her internal freak-out would have to wait though because Delphine dropped to her knees in front of her, guided a leg up over her shoulder and buried her face deep in Cosima's sex. They were on a time crunch if they wanted to make the train for a day trip to the Cinque Terre region and she knew this was the quickest way to get Cosima off. With one hand she spread Cosima open so she could lick and suck as she pleased.
Cosima braced her arms against the walls of the shower as Delphine worked her tongue deep inside her. It was embarrassing, really, how quickly Delphine could work her up in this way. Any other day she would have fought to prolong her release as long as she could, but she was really looking forward to the day's adventure, but at least if Delphine was going to make her get up this early she was making it enjoyable. In one swift motion Delphine wrapped her lips around Cosima's clit and drew her tongue back and forth on the underside of the sensitive bud while two fingers plunged deep into her core. "Shit, Delphine, harder."
The blonde acquiesced immediately and soon Cosima was crumbling around her.
Delphine stood and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman just as Cosima's legs gave out; kissing her neck, her cheeks, her forehead, the tip of her nose, finally landing a slow and dizzying kiss on her lips.
"Holy shit."
"Yeah?" Delphine smiled.
Cosima nodded with a few deep breaths. "Don't get cocky, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to walk today."
With a few more gentle kisses and caresses Delphine got out of the shower, leaving the brunette to shower while she got ready. Surprisingly Cosima showered and dressed quickly, donning a pair of flowy harem pants in bright, bold colors and a black tank top. Delphine opted for a pair of burgandy shorts that made her impossibly long legs look even longer and a flowy cream colored sleeveless top. She had her hair pinned back, low at the base of her skull and Cosima had to tear her eyes away or they really would miss their train.
"Do you have your swim suit?"
"Yep." Cosima pulled her tank-top down revealing a dark, multi-colored halter top. "You?"
Delphine nodded. "Of course."
"Do we need anything else?"
"I don't think so." Delphine had packed while Cosima was finishing her shower - towels, sunscreen, sunglasses, wallets, water bottles. Delphine Cormier was nothing if not a prepared traveler. "Do you have a change of clothes?"
Cosima held up her backpack. "I just need my make-up bag." If she would be going in the water she would need to re-apply when they were finished. It was one thing that had really changed since she had been sick. Her dreads were gone and that completely changed her entire image, but her winged eyeliner was another thing she was known for. She spent so much time being too sick to do her make-up and feeling like she wasn't herself that she made sure to have it done at nearly all times now. It made her feel more human; more like the old Cosima.
"I'll grab it." Back in the bathroom Delphine had to laugh at the mess. Make-up was all over the counter along with various rings, bracelets, necklaces and a bra was hanging from the lights above the mirror. She tried, and failed, not to remember the events that lead to the particular garment being tossed high enough to get caught up there. With a smirk she grabbed the make-up from over the counter and opened the small black bag on the floor beside the sink to put it all in. "Cosima?"
"Yeah?"
"What is this?" From within the black bag she pulled out a rather large bottle with one hand and two other smaller ones with the other.
"What's what-" Cosima's eyes went wide. She shook her head to give herself a second to think of something - anything, to cover up what they really were. "Oh, Alison is on some serious health kick. She's convinced I can't possibly be getting all of the vitamins I need when I'm out of Canada so she's making me take these." As calmly as she could she took the bag and medications and shoved them back in, hoping Delphine wouldn't see right through the lie if she couldn't look into her eyes.
"That many pills?"
"Yeah, well, like I said she's on a serious health kick. . . She uh doesn't like multivitamins. Says they have too much of stuff you don't need and too little of stuff you do so she prefers to get all the vitamins separately to make sure to get the correct doses." She walked back into the room, hoping Delphine would let it go. She wasn't like Sarah. She wasn't good at coming up with things on the fly, but Delphine had met all of her sisters and saw a couple of Alison's neurotic tendencies first hand so she hoped the blonde would accept it. That or Delphine might think she was a pill popper and, honestly, that was better than her knowing she was sick.
"And the inhalers?"
"Asthma." She continued to lie, subtly pocketing one of the said inhalers. If they were going to be doing a lot of walking she needed to have one with her. Even if she wasn't currently coughing or hacking up blood, her lungs were still riddled with growths and she was never quite sure how much they could take. As quickly as she could she shoved the small bag into her big suitcase in the closet and zipped it back up. "Ready to go?" She couldn't even meet Delphine's eyes. If she did and saw that Delphine didn't believe her she wasn't sure what she would do. The medication was essential to keeping her symptoms in check and slowing the progression of her disease as much as they could.
Somehow she would have to figure out a way to take them without Delphine seeing. So far she had managed it, but now that Delphine knew a case of mysterious pills existed she would be looking. It was one thing to see these vitamins in a bag, but another to see Cosima taking a rainbow pill cocktail twice, sometimes three times, a day. It would definitely make the doctor question.
Despite their late start they got to the train station with ten minutes to spare and met their tour guide, their male tour guide, and the other four people in their tour and began their adventure for the day. It was a short train ride in which they got to know their fellow tour-goers and the guide told them of the day's plans and the history of the various places they would visit. Cosima was sure Delphine didn't believe her explanation back in the hotel room. They both knew she was too smart for that, but aside from a few questioning looks Delphine dropped the topic completely and after a quick shot of vodka one of their tour companions brought with her, the tension and unease on Cosima's part let up.
They started at the largest and southernmost of the five villages they were set to explore in Cinque Terre – Riomaggiore. It was a historical village dating back to the thirteenth century. The views were simply breathtaking and Cosima was glad that she chose to bring her actual camera because her cell phone surely would not be able to keep up if she took this many pictures at every stop. They walked hand-in-hand down the small, cobbled streets as they looked out at the views across the water and up the hills and at the pastel-colored buildings lining the streets. Of course they drank their first glasses of wine there despite it still being early morning. Riomaggiore was well known for it's local wine. Actually, each of the five towns were and Cosima and Delphine were inclined to try some at each stop regardless of the time of day.
There was a legend in the route that connected Riomaggiore to their next village, Manarola, known as Via Dell'Amore or Love Walk. It was said that a long, long time ago young men from Manarola used to go to the river near Riomaggiore to get water and as usually happened in neighboring towns back then, at least in legends, the two villages were less than friendly with one another.
It was said that of the boys from Manarola met this beautiful young woman from Riommagiore and, as luck would have it, they fell in love. Typical. But they had to keep their love hidden and see each other in secret. Even more typical. The girl had older brothers, because don't they always?, who found out about the secret romance and locked her in the house. Of course she managed to get out and went to the boy she loved, but tragically they both slipped into the sea and died. It was said that their determination to see one another despite the consequences is what changed the relationship of the two villages who have lived in harmony since.
They took a lot of pictures together on that route.
Manarola was next. The small fishing village was one of the oldest and as such held a lot of medieval history. They weren't there long, but had the required glass of wine and took plenty of pictures during their walk along the harbor.
Then they came to the smallest of the five villages, Corniglia. It had a population of under three hundred, which was smaller than Cosima's high school graduating class. The only way to get there was to climb an extremely steep staircase. Cosima almost didn't make it as her lungs screamed for air, but she shot her lungs full of steroids and pressed on and was glad she did. The panoramic view they got at the top was absolutely amazing.
Delphine was pressed against her back, holding her close by the waist as they looked out and Cosima had to stealthily brush a tear away with a shaky hand (albuterol was a bitch on the nervous system). The view was just . . . it really drove home that there was so much Cosima wanted to see and do before she died. The world was such a big place and she was just one little person in it. Never had she been more sure in her decision to leave the hospital and live than she was in that moment. If only there was a way for her to live and see and do everything, but that just wasn't in the cards for her. They took some pictures, had a glass of wine and moved onto the next town.
By boat they traveled to Monterosso where they started with lunch of sea food, pasta, and of course, wine. Naturally, with all this wine the women were feeling tipsy, but not in a sloppy can't walk sort of way. Just in a happy, nothing else matters but you and I, here and now, sort of way. Cosima was able to forget that Delphine saw her case of meds and that she needed to keep her emotional distance from the blonde and was just able to just be.
After lunch they enjoyed a couple of hours of sand and sun. They must have had to re-apply sunscreen to Delphine's pale form at least four times, but it had been worth it. They tanned, they took selfies on the beach, they swam, they had a splash war with the others from their tour during which Cosima had to drag Dephine away from their "over-friendly'" tour guide - Delphine's words, of course. Cosima knew what he wanted and as long as she was there Delphine was off limits to anyone else.
Cosima knew it was selfish. She and Delphine could spend time together and enjoy each other's bodies, but they would never be together - at least not in the way that would make her justified in wanting to keep Delphine to herself.
"Are you jealous?"
"Of Tarzan over there?" Cosima scoffed. "Please. I am like, totes, hotter."
Delphine chuckled softly, cupping Cosima's face and forcing the brunette to look into her eyes. "You have nothing to worry about." She said, gently brushing her thumbs over Cosima's cheeks before pulling her into a kiss. "I don't want anyone but you."
That did not make Cosima feel any better.
Thankfully then it was time for their two-hour kayak tour. It had been a while since Cosima kayaked and she was pretty sure she had pushed her body enough for one day, so they opted for a double kayak.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Delphine looked deep into Cosima's hazel eyes and slowly raised an eyebrow. "I just think it would be more romantic to take one." She said seductively. "But if you don't want to-"
"Non, non. I do. You are right."
A pit was forming at the bottom of Cosima's stomach making her feel physically ill from of all the lying, but she pushed it down. The alternative wasn't any better. She wasn't emotionally ready to tell Delphine she was sick. She hoped to never have to tell her even if that meant ending things. It would hurt the blonde less if she walked away rather than telling her she was sick. It's one thing for a person to not want you anymore. It was another for them to want you so much, but it not to matter because they were dying.
They paddled along the crystal waters, catching a pod of dolphins in the distance. They paddled past cliffs and caves and stopped for a swim at a little hidden spring. On the way back they stopped at a cove accessible only by the water and had some more wine. Cosima smiled and laughed with the tour, resting securely in Delphine's arms, but it was forced laughter, forced happiness and Delphine could tell. Sensing something going on within the brunette, Delphine refilled Cosima's glass and pulled her closer.
"Here, give me your camera."
The two pressed their cheeks together as Delphine held the camera up and just before she pressed the button to take a picture she turned and kissed Cosima's cheek. Cosima's eyes closed as she smiled and dipped her head in Delphine's direction. If she questioned either of their feelings before, that photo sealed the deal. You could just see how much they loved each other by looking at it.
The final stop on the tour was the last village, a seaside town known as Vernazza. They moseyed their way through the fourteenth century church of Margaret of Antioch and the Belforte Tower and the ruins of a ninth century castle. They walked along the winding streets, drinking wine and taking pictures before stopping for a quick dinner then boarding the train back to Florence.
Cosima had to hand it to the blonde, she picked a great tour for them to go on. Aside from the mounting tension she was trying to hide from Delphine, she had an amazing time. Between calling her "mon amour" in the shower this morning and what she said to Cosima at the beach and the love you could plainly feel looking at the picture they took at the cove, Cosima was in agony. She knew Delphine had strong feelings for her. You would have to be an idiot not to see that and she had strong feelings for her too, but she refused to act on them. They had an arrangement.
"I'm not asking for a relationship. I am too busy myself. I practically live in my lab. It doesn't leave many opportunities for romance. And that is fine, that is what I signed up for, it is what I've spent my whole life working toward. I love my work, but that doesn't mean I can't make time for you when you are in Toronto."Italy aside, this had evolved far beyond Toronto. They were both invested. It was too late for Cosima to pull back now. Every look, every touch, every kiss further proved the depth of their feelings for one another. They were both going to get hurt now regardless of what happened. but she would deal with that after Italy. Delphine was already here and wanted to share this with her and Cosima wanted to share it with her as well. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas so what happens in Italy stays in Italy . . . right? Their feelings for one another were already clear for anyone to see so what could really happen? It wasn't like enjoying the next two weeks were going to make them fall in love – they already were. She just needed to keep herself from saying it and everything would be fine.