June 1
While the amount of things that Callie had gained from her two and a half years in Botswana outweighed the amount of things that she'd missed by a lot, the fact did remain that there were things that she had greatly missed. One such thing was sharing a bed with someone else.
However, as consciousness first took a hold of her mind, she was a bit confused as to the location of the bed she was sharing with this someone else. Because this was definitely not her bed; she could sprawl out eagle spread on her bed in any direction and still have her entire body on the mattress. However, where she was right now, she had both a hand and a foot dangling off the edge.
And she always slept with the covers pulled up almost completely covering her face – much like the same way she'd found her sister sleeping a week ago, and right now, she could tell by the air conditioned chilled air on her skin that there wasn't even a sheet covering her.
Blinking her eyes open, she narrowed them at the onslaught of light coming in, using the hand that had been hanging off the bed to cover her eyes, before turning her head and seeing tousled, curly golden hair on the pillow next to hers. The sight made her smile, and she rolled onto her side.
Arizona was curled into the fetal position, practically on the edge of the mattress, and she knew that was her fault. Despite the fact that she didn't mean to do it – hell, she hadn't even meant to fall asleep in the blonde's bed – she inevitably spread out in her sleep, and more than once had knocked her bed partners out. And generally, once she'd knocked those suckers out of bed, she did not let them back in.
But she subconsciously had kept a hold around Arizona throughout the night. They were both still dressed in the clothes they'd worn last night, meaning that her slim, lightly tanned legs were on display, the cutoff jean shorts revealing so much of those legs that she'd spent such a great deal of time in the last weeks thinking about. And the baby blue tank top that perfectly matched her eyes had straps that were slightly askew, and the bottom had ridden up just a little bit, revealing a few inches of the creamy skin of her stomach.
She desperately wanted to touch that skin. Morning sex was her absolute favorite kind of sex. At least, it used to be. All right, so she liked sex during all times of the day, and really, at this point of going for so long without, she was certain that any time of day sex would blow her mind. Especially any time of day sex with Arizona.
Without thinking, she pulled up her hand that was hooked around Arizona's back, as it was starting to get that pins and needles feeling, and just when it was too late and she realized what exactly that action would mean, Arizona was already starting to tumble off the side of the bed.
Alarmed blue eyes opened in panic as she blonde started to move, and Callie tried to grab at her, to help stabilize her to stop the pending fall. Arizona's hands also flung out, grasping, but only managed to get a hold on a pillow before it truly was too late, and brown eyes closed tightly in a wince as Arizona fell to the floor of her bedroom with an audible thump, followed by a low groan.
Biting her lip, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, crawling to look over the edge at Arizona, whose sleepy, bleary, confused eyes were blinking up at her in a daze. And those eyes combined with all of that disheveled hair and a prominent pout on pink lips while smooth bare arms held tightly onto the pillow she'd grabbed on the way down made for probably the most adorable vision she'd ever seen.
Unable to stop a smile, she offered her hand down to Arizona, who in turn just let out a, "Mmmh, what?"
Now she laughed, just as Arizona slid her hand into Callie's and she pulled, helping Arizona back to stand, pillow still clinging to her chest, "I, um, moved a little bit and you fell out of your bed. I'm sorry." But, god, she was so cute, Callie had trouble really meaning the apology at all.
"S'okay," she mumbled back, and reached down to pull down her comforter before sliding into the warm bed instead of on top of it, firmly situating herself into the middle this time, "Back to sleep," Arizona's words blurred sleepily together and then she sighed. Even though her eyes were closed, she put her hand down and patted the area of the bed next to her, inviting Callie to go back to sleep with her.
And then her hand movements slowed and stopped, and her breathing was back in it's slow, deep rhythm, and she knew that Arizona had just fallen back asleep. Grinning, she reached her hand out and smoothed back some of those blonde curls from her forehead to behind her ear, the strands feeling like silk beneath her fingertips.
The clock beside Arizona's bed read 8:02, which meant that she'd had maybe a little more than five hours of sleep; her body was tired, but there was no way she'd be able to go back to dozing off. Before the Peace Corps, she used to sleep in until the afternoon and stay awake until sunrise. But when she was working in Africa, she'd had duties to fulfill and a job to do, which required her to wake up early, every day for over two years.
And as demonstrated by last night, she now could barely stay awake past a certain time late at night, and her internal clock was now set, alarm ready to go off early in the morning. When she was at home, she couldn't sleep until past seven, so, really, this was late for her, even.
But she remembered Arizona mentioning last week about how she normally slept until nearly noon on nights that she was closing the bar, because she didn't get home until around three in the morning. Much like the night before, or should she say earlier in the morning?
Even so, she liked the feeling of lying in Arizona's bed. Cuddling with someone was something she hadn't done in… too fucking long, and the blonde just looked so welcoming. And it would be even better now that she wasn't going to fall asleep, because then they actually would snuggle rather than her kicking Arizona out of her own bed.
Just before she could scoot under the covers at the blonde's sleepy request, she turned her head back to the clock, and as it glared back 8:05 at her. And she was supposed to be at a meeting with the caterers for the annual beginning of the summer soiree her parents put on every year in less than an hour.
"Shit. Shit, shit shit," she whispered, before she clapped her hand over her mouth as Arizona stirred a little bit. Less than an hour to get home, shower, change, and get to the caterers. She was definitely going to be late.
As the blonde settled onto her side, sighing a little in her sleep, Callie regretfully slid out of the bed, before tripping over the sandals she'd worn last night. "Fuck," she grunted, as this time she fell on the floor. Biting her lip, she peeked over her shoulder to see that she was still asleep, before she snatched the shoes up with a glare.
Before she tripped over them, they had been placed nicely to the side; Arizona must have taken them off for her last night, because she didn't even remember going to sleep, let alone take off her footwear. There was an adorable, sweet, sexy woman who let her sleep in her bed – welcoming her even after she'd kicked her onto the floor, literally – and she was leaving to meet with a caterer instead of cuddling with the possibility of a late morning bed make out. The likes of which she hadn't experienced in years. Actual years.
She tiptoed out of the room and down the stairs in a hurry, already forming a plan for the rest of her day in her mind.
Arizona walked down the stairs later that morning with a prominent scowl on her face. It wasn't often that she woke up utterly grumpy, but this morning she couldn't help it. She'd woken up slowly, reaching her hand out and expecting to encounter a soft, warm body, and her mind was already forming hazy, sleepy plans of a good morning involving her and Callie in her bed. Wondering how far they might take things, and if her hands would enter the promise land of inside of Callie's bra again, much like it had after their second date, when they'd parked in her driveway after leaving the Pucker-Up Point.
Instead, her hand rested on her cool comforter, and she blinked her eyes open in confusion. Because there was no longer a soft, warm body in her bed to have a good morning with. Her room had been completely Callie-free.
She wondered why Callie hadn't left her a note or even texted her, and then she rolled her eyes at herself. Because obviously, she didn't have to do any of that. Callie was a grown woman with her own life, and she didn't have to check in with Arizona after they'd slept in her bed together. It wasn't like they'd had sex and then Callie had snuck off without saying goodbye; it didn't mean anything. They were just two women who were dating and had happened to have slept in the same bed, fully clothed, for one night. It really wasn't a big deal at all.
Except, it kind of was to her. Maybe not necessarily a big deal but she had wanted it to mean… something. Even just the beginning of a day together. But on the most basic, intrinsic level, she'd been wanting to wake up to Callie Torres for as long as she could remember. And the fact that she'd had that morning right in her grasp, and it never happened was enough to sour her mood in and of itself.
And on top of that, her butt kind of hurt from where she hazily recalled falling out of bed onto it. Plus, her eyes burned after sleeping with her contacts in. So, all-in-all, it wasn't that great of a day thus far, and it was only noon.
She started shuffling her way into the kitchen, lulled in by the scent of coffee. Which was odd, because both Alex and Tim made absolutely horrible tasting coffee and usually waited for her to make it. Making her way to the coffee maker, she reached for the pot, then frowned when she held it up, empty.
Because she definitely smelled coffee.
"I think you might be looking for this," came Callie's voice from behind her, making her jump.
She couldn't help the surprised, but pleased tone of her voice as she spun on her heel, "You're still here." And then she ran her eyes up and down, her eyebrows drawing down in confusion, "Or not." Because Callie was not wearing the same ensemble that she remembered the taller woman wearing as she climbed into bed with her.
"Not," Callie confirmed with a smile, walking forward with a travel mug of coffee and offering it to her, "I left this morning after I knocked you out of your bed and Tim let me back in less than five minutes ago," she admitted, biting her lip as blue eyes fell to the cup in her hands, "I had some appointments," she explained as Arizona brought her hands up to take it from her, purposefully skimming her fingers against the tan ones.
Arizona's eyebrows shot up in confusion as she ran her eyes down Callie's body, "You don't look like you had… appointments. You look…" she trailed off, feeling her cheeks heat just a bit – why didn't she ever keep her commentary to herself?
But really, if Callie wore a thin strapless black dress that hugged her breasts and then flowed down to her mid-thigh while the straps from a red bikini were pulled up and tied on the back of her neck, then Arizona imagined that every person in a hundred mile radius would be flocking to have an appointment with her.
Such a thin red tie… holding up those glorious, glorious breasts that she had still yet to see. And she really, really wanted to. Her throat ran dry just thinking about it, and then when Callie cleared her throat, she looked up at her, meeting amused brown eyes and she could feel her blush get even worse, as Callie prompted, "I look?"
Clearing her throat, she shook her head just a little bit to knock herself out of the stupor she was in thinking about Callie in her bikini, "You look really…" hot. I want to see you without the dress. And the bikini. And it was with great effort that she shrugged, "Professional."
The sexy smirk that had been on Callie's face dropped and she looked down at herself, "You're absolutely right; this is actually what I wore to my meetings."
"I'm sure who you had meetings with really appreciated that. Much like I appreciate you coming back wearing it," she ran her eyes down again then back up, lingering on her smile as she took a sip of the coffee.
The moan Arizona let out at the taste made Callie one hundred percent positive – if she hadn't been already – that she was just going to have to have sex with Arizona Robbins. Preferably soon. She missed and wanted sex so badly, that simply hearing a moan made her more than ready.
All right, the moan and the fact that it was combined with what Arizona looked like at that moment. She'd changed out of the jean shorts and tank top she'd worn yesterday and slept in, and was now freshly showered. And freshly showered Arizona apparently also meant damp hair that was curling wildly, smelling like heaven, and she didn't have her contacts in, so those ocean eyes that were currently closed in the pleasure of the caffeinated beverage, were behind her black thickly framed glasses.
Glasses that she used to find, the last time she'd seen Arizona with them on, kind of dorky. A little geeky. They fit the image that she used to associate with Arizona Robbins. And now… they still fit the image she currently associated with Arizona Robbins. A little geeky and a lot sexy.
Taking a deep breath, she took the last sip of her own coffee, silently trying to tell her libido to calm the fuck down. But there was really only so much she could do in order to tell herself to calm down when it had been a very long, as the count was at now, twenty-nine months.
Placing her own now empty mug on the counter next to them, "Good, right?"
Arizona's eyes opened again, and she nodded, "Callie, it's absolutely freaking amazing. Where did you buy this?"
She chuckled, "I didn't. It's Thomas' own blend," and when she received a blank look, she bit her lip, "Thomas, he's my parents' chef."
After another sip, Arizona raised her eyebrows, "Ah. Right." Giving her a dimpled smile, she winked, "Well, you can tell Thomas that this is the best coffee I've ever had."
A sly smile spread across her face, "Good, because that's my thank you for letting me sleep in your bed," she nodded toward the cup, before Arizona's sudden, sharp laugh drew her attention. She found herself grinning in response, just because the petite woman's intense laughter was infectious.
But Arizona must have noticed her confusion, because she shook her head, before pressing her hand against her stomach, "No, it's just…" she let out a sigh, some more giggles coming out before she managed to continue, "You're thanking me for letting you sleep in my bed. With me." Another laughing sigh was released as she tipped her head back to drink some more of the coffee, "I'll just say that a thank you is really, completely unnecessary." Her eyes sparkled in amusement as she added on, "I'll take this as a token of apology for knocking me on my ass."
Lifting her eyebrows, she shrugged, keeping her voice light as her fingertips tapped on the counter next to her empty cup, "Well, I was hoping that you would be free today, and I could take you to the beach as my apology for that. Hence my professional wardrobe choice."
Plus, seeing Arizona in her own bikini was something Callie and her already on overdrive libido very much wanted to see.
The smile that was already on her face widened and Arizona nodded quickly, "Yes! I am so free today. At least until later tonight, for the bar. But this afternoon, absolutely. You know, I haven't been to the beach at all since the fall," she frowned just thinking about it. She usually loved the beach.
Excitement raced through Callie, and she bounced up on her tiptoes briefly before touching back down, "I haven't been since before Botswana. Mmm, I can't wait." When Arizona tipped her head back to chug the remainder of her coffee, she held up her hand with a chuckle, "I can wait a little bit, slow down."
But Arizona shook her head, putting her mug onto the counter, her mind already visualizing Callie on the nearly white sand, peeling that dress over her head, revealing loads of smooth, caramel skin. And she didn't want to wait any longer than necessary, "Nope, I'm ready to go."
They both took a moment to move their eyes down her body, taking in her loose, worn Just Cause shirt and the boxer shorts she'd put on that were barely visible at the bottom of her shirt, and Arizona rolled her eyes, "So, I'm not ready ready. But I will be as soon as I change."
"All right, while you're up there, I'll take care of the mugs," especially because she needed to make sure that the travel mug that had contained Arizona's coffee – which she'd sniped because it was one of the only other ones they had available – was back before Aria wanted to use it.
She was already at the sink, pouring dish soap onto the sponge, before Arizona came up next to her and nudged her hip, "Hey, you brought the coffee, you don't do the dishes."
Callie lifted the already soapy cup up, "Too late!"
As she rinsed it, Arizona reached over to take a cloth, offering, "I'll dry."
It barely took a minute to have them both done, and before she could turn off the water, she scratched the tip of her nose, which made Arizona laugh. Narrowing her eyes, she asked, "What?"
The way Arizona bit her lip and looked away for just a second before darting her eyes back to her nearly killed her, and then she giggled again, "You just scratched, and you have soap on – here," she finished, lifting her hand and rubbing the tip of Callie's nose and getting the soap off of her, before cheekily grinning and bringing up her other hand that she must have swiped into the soapy dish soap and smearing soap on Callie's chin, "Oh, you've got a little bit more now."
She lifted her eyebrow in challenge, "Oh, I have soap on my chin? Well, you have some too. Right there," she swipes some bubbles from the water and smears them on Arizona's, who then came up to wipe more on her. "Uh uh," she countered, grasping her wrist with one hand, and maneuvering so she trapped Arizona's body between her own and the sink.
Arizona's laugh caught in her throat as soon as it registered how close they were, and she looked up, swallowing hard. Slowly, Callie wrapped a curly lock of blonde hair around her finger, tucking it behind her ear, before drawing her hand down, over the soft skin of her neck, leaning in closer.
Just as the shorter woman's deliciously faint moan vibrated against her lips, just as she was about to move in the last few centimeters, Tim's voice appeared from behind them, "House rules, Z! House rules!"
Their heads sprang back, the trance of the moment between them broken as he chuckled lightly and opened the fridge a few feet away.
Arizona's hand, the one that had just rested on Callie's hip, about to slide onto her lower back and then possibly down to cup that ass, as she'd been waiting to do again, tensed into a fist before she lifted it up to flip her brother off, and then let it fall back to her side, lightly banging it on the counter behind her. Just as she let out a groan, he laughed, closing the fridge and walking back down the hall.
As much as her insides already felt all tangled up in want, and their lips had hardly even brushed, Callie couldn't help but let out a low laugh, especially at the adorable – yet apt – glare on Arizona's face, "Out of curiosity, for possible future reference, what are the other house rules?"
Blue eyes, already slightly darkened, looked into hers. This close, only a handful of inches away, she could see the indigo ring around the edge of them. Sighing, she leaned back just a bit and brought her hand up to push up her frames that had slipped down in the last few minutes. Arizona sent her a grateful smile, before bringing up her own hand and scooping it through her hair, "Let's see." She narrowed her eyes in thought, "No sex in the foyer. No sex in the kitchen. No sex in the upstairs hallway. No sex in the bathroom without a locked door –"
An amused chuckle came from full lips, and Callie's perfect eyebrows arched, "Gotta have that locked door."
She threw her a grin, with a one shoulder shrug, "Exactly, that one was my idea. Let's see… no bodily fluids on the couch, no porn is ever to be left lying around outside of a bedroom, and," she hesitated to build up the tension, before finishing with a flourish, "The person who has the night off from the bar has the responsibility of cleaning the house."
Callie nodded, her mind already racing with all of the possibilities that left them with in the future. Hopefully the near future, "All very logical rules. And mostly focused on sex."
"You know, every single one of them exists for a reason," she grimaced at the images that she, to this day, couldn't get out of her head of both her brother and Alex and various women over the years. They were burned into her mind, and several of them not nearly in the awesome way her close encounters with Callie were.
Brown eyes narrowed at her, "I'm positive Tim and Alex aren't the only causes for those rules." In fact, her eyes roamed Arizona's hair that was now almost completely dried – curlier than she'd expected it to be – and those damn glasses, she was completely sure of it.
Arizona's blush was fading, though a pink tinge remained lightly as she managed a small smile, "You'd probably be right."
Her eyes closed, and she shook her head, her voice tight as her heart beat just a little faster, "Talking about you having sex really doesn't make it easier to not want to have sex with you." And she didn't exactly want to hear about Arizona's past with women. Much like the night of their first date, weeks ago, hearing the rules about where the blonde wasn't allowed to take her because of her taking other women there made Callie want to take her in those places all the more badly.
And she hadn't even had her once yet.
The shorter woman released a shuddering breath that washed over her lips, and prompted her to take a full step back, as Arizona sighed, running her tongue over her bottom lip, "Well, you know, we both could have been in my bed this morning…" she trailed off, and a devious smile that Callie had yet to see from her before crossed her lips.
Shaking her head, she crossed her arms, "Arizona… just get upstairs and get ready to go," she directed. Because she knew that Arizona was all about not rushing them. And honestly, the more she thought about it, the more she wondered why she didn't just cancel with the caterers this morning to stay in bed with her.
All right, so her mother would have been pissed off because it would have screwed things up with a business she'd been working with for years, but Callie was willing to bet it would have been worth her mother's wrath. So, so worth it, she thought, muffling a groan. "Oh, and I already packed a cooler and towels and beach chairs. We're going to the area that's down the street from my house; have you ever been there?"
Of course, living in Miami meant they were rife with many different beaches and locations to enjoy the sea. And Callie had frequented many of them. But her favorite would always be the one in the neighborhood she'd grown up in. Plus, it was bound to be less crowded than the nearest beach to Arizona's house.
Blonde eyebrows rose on her forehead as she took in her question, nodding, "Yeah… once or twice." Before Arizona left the room, though, she turned back to give her a small smile, a blush rising on her cheeks, even as she admitted, "Do you want to know a funny story?"
She nodded, putting both of her hands up on the counter behind her and leaning back, "Absolutely."
Then Arizona paused and shook her head, "Uh, never mind. It's… never mind," she muttered, the blush on her cheeks becoming an even deeper red before she turned back toward the doorway, "I'll be right back down!"
Feeling like she was missing out, she called back, "Don't think you're getting away with that! I want to hear the funny story!"
Today was going to be a good day. She could already feel it.
Please let me know what you think! Your thoughts and opinions so far are greatly appreciated, and thank you for reading!
