Pleasure of Business

by TheWillOfMythal

Dared by her best friend to visit what turns out being a famous, high-class sex club, Piper Chapman, a young, stressed out businesswoman, finds out that Alex Vause, the intriguing, charming owner of the club, and the kind of entertainment that she offers, might be exactly what she needs in order to loosen up. Vauseman AU.

14. Chapter 14

Hi there!

So, it really seems like the whole Alex/Sylvia thing isn't sitting right with many. Too bad :P Because even though (once again) this is a Vauseman AU, including Sylvia is the way I decided to take with this idea I had, ever since the beginning, when this story was just a thought, and I'm not going to take her out (yet...) just because someone doesn't like the current situation I set. I respect that it may be difficult for someone to read it considering the endgame, but her presence is part of the main plot, so... Yeah, if you are too unhappy about it to continue, the old "don't like it, don't read it" rule applies here as it does in every story ever written.

Now, for those who are still on board, this new chapter is a very long one. Reason why it has taken me some time to complete it, and while all of your requests for an update are quite flattering, just... try to also keep in mind that writing something this long can take some time, ok guys?

Anyway, as I said, long chapter ahead and filled with quite some... nope. I'll leave you to find out :D Just...

Enjoy

---

There are a few things, Alex believes, that are (and that she, also, personally finds) as exquisitely rewarding as watching a woman writhe in pleasure upon reaching that glorious peak.

She has always taken a certain amount of satisfaction in witnessing that sight unfold before her. And also, inevitably - given that her ministrations are what bring to such result - a small, healthy dose of pride, too.

Maybe it is because during this year and a half that she has spent benched - taking care of the more bureaucratic side of the club instead of holding the whip - she had forgotten how it was like to introduce an amateur new to this whole world and train them, personally.

See the delightful responses elicited by the balanced mix of pain and pleasure that some practices can offer in the most gratifying ways when expertly combined.

Feel that result, literally, under her fingertips.

Thick and slippery.

Smell it in the air. That unmistakable, heady, syrupy, musky tang.

But, for how much she tries to make that reason stick, the excuse of having laid down the whip for some time simply doesn't seem to be strong enough to stand on its own when it comes to a certain blonde, young businesswoman, and to the way she reacts under her touch...

Whether it is her fingers, her mouth, or a toy - although (as Alex has very recently found out in a very entertaining way) not the vibrating kind given said young woman's quite endearing... newly discovered ticklish tendencies - the responses that Alex receives from her are always so exquisitely raw. So profoundly sincere.

Primal.

Born from that authentic, most vital place where her desire lives and pulses so enthusiastically to life under her touch.

From the way she quivers, visibly, audibly (given that little stutter in her breathing) with anticipation whenever Alex is about to touch her more... intimately, to the way she tilts her head back, exposing the full, elegant column of her throat, as the first delightful moan falls from her lips (slightly breathier respect any others that Alex has ever heard) and those vibrant blue eyes flutter shut, rolling onto the back of her head, in a combination of relief and authentic bliss when she gets finally filled just like she has been begging to be filled.

Alex's own core clenches in front of such sight and upon feeling those tight, warm, velvety-soft inner walls clench around her. Welcoming her with such enthusiasm that leaves her unable her to move for several long moments.

But rush is not only a concept that doesn't have a place in this profession, but also one that isn't part of Alex's nature, or something she would never surrender to out of impatience.

And so, she waits. Until Piper's breathing - from hard and labored - returns to a more acceptable rhythm, and the grip of that clinging heat wrapped so exquisitely around her has loosened up enough to allow her to move. And when she is finally, actually able to do so again, she can't not take a certain amount of pleasure in seeing the young woman already arching into her touch at the first thrust, hear her whimper for more and cry in ecstasy whenever she decides to curl her fingertips - or add a small, expert rotation of her hips whenever she is wearing a toy - to deliberately hit that extremely sensitive, delightfully responsive spot against her front wall.

For how enjoyable, however, physical pleasure is only a part of what the session involves in its entirety.

The rest is up to whatever she decides to introduce into each encounter. To the ambiance she sets in preparation, the way she tactfully taunts the young woman by teasing some scenario or simply... Talking to her. Knowing well what kind of effect uttering a few, dirty, particularly explicit words tends to have on Piper.

Everything she does is meant to add a certain spark to said pleasure and aid, with its warmth, in unfurling that knot of tension. That spring coiling deep down in her lower belly.

There also are a few items that are never missing lately in their sessions, but that's only because Alex - ever since the first time she has noticed the way the young businesswoman's entire face had lit up when she had first presented her the ropes - (just like it did today when she had dangled a pair of leather handcuffs in front of her) has felt like she simply had to keep the "restraining" part as a regular.

Such reactions, such displays of plain enthusiasm would be pretty hard to miss. Just like the way those blue eyes darken with lust while those rosy cheeks brighten with a contrasting, deep red flush of humiliation do whenever, in the middle of a particularly rougher scenario, Alex dares to throw in some mild insult.

Maybe, that thing that attracts her so magnetically is the juxtaposition of those two sides that she sees battling so viciously against each other within the young woman, but...

There is just... something else, in the way Piper responds to her general attentions that Alex - despite her attentiveness and experience - seems to be unable to properly identify. Even though she can feel it grow stronger the deeper they venture into the session. Reaching its apex the closer she brings the young woman towards that precipice.

There is something in the way the scent of her arousal lifts and clings more persistently in the air. Thicker. Stronger. Enough for Alex to almost be able to taste it on her palate. Leaving her mouth-watering and challenging her self-restraint.

There is something in the way Piper, no matter what, takes everything she has to give her, whether it is a harsher thrust, a slap across her butt, or an insult (without it being particularly degrading either) growled hotly in her ear.

There is something in the way Piper begs her and then waits (so patiently despite the desperation making her entire body quiver, turning her eyes into bottomless black pits) for Alex to grant her permission to come even though every muscle might already starting to tense up during those instants preceding her imminent fall. As if unconsciously preparing itself for an impending crash; mouth falling open, lips parting with a sharp, desperate, stuttered gasp, as that tight spring coil inside of her prepares to snap.

Alex finds herself holding her own breath in anticipation as well. Because it's true when she says that she has never experienced anything more glorious, took more pleasure (without taking her own too, physically, at the same time) and felt a stronger, more profound sense of satisfaction than when she is making a woman come.

But...

With Piper...

For the first time, she feels like she has never taken more enjoyment in wanting to keep her there.

Balanced precariously over that thin, slippery edge, where just the most minimal brush would be enough to send her plummeting down that abyss.

And for how much Alex wants to push her for the rest of the way, she can't help but delay.

For just a little longer...

Because she knows that once she'll grant permission, once that coil will break, once the pleasure will overflow from Piper's body and lit up every nerve endings, everything will slow down for those couple of minutes... only for the rest to fast forward to the inevitable end, and-

And Alex wants to stretch this moment for as long as possible.

She just... does.

For reasons that she doesn't care to dwell much into.

Way too consumed by the glorious scene playing before her.

Focusing on doing her best to make those moments last for as long as she can. Using all of her expertise and skills and tools at her disposal to render the experience as intense as possible for the young businesswoman, and also, while she does so - finding herself archiving every single one of those little details making this whole display so unique, without consciously even meaning to.

And it's from those signs, (from the most subtle, to the most obvious, uncensored ones) how she gets to know if the release that the blonde reaches is a powerful one, or absolutely crushing in the most gratifying way that leaves her a panting, shivering, exhausted, drained, (but mostly wet mess.

Today, much to Alex's infinite satisfaction, it is the latest.

As soon as she grants permission, she watches, breathless, as Piper's entire body tenses up.

Back arching so delightfully, head tilting back against the pillows, eyes fluttering shut, hands closing into tight fists, knuckles turning white, veins bulging and muscles flexing along her forearms as she instinctively tugs, hard, at the leather handcuffs that look just so... exquisite, wrapped around her wrists.

Alex drinks in the sight of the young blonde like this, snapping a mental picture of the scene just as those lips fall open in a shout that echoes all around - and then absolutely reveling upon feeling the first, powerful, extremely rewarding gush of warmth of Piper's release splashing against her lower belly.

She swallows down a groan, and spreads those long toned legs even more open, holding her down and preventing her from buckling too hard while her hips keep thrusting at the same rhythm, maintaining that angulation that is making the trembling woman beneath her release (literally) all over her, until those spurts grow weaker, starting to taper off, leaving Piper to slump back against the pillows, gasping greedily for air, chest heaving, abdomen flexing, and thighs shaking with the same exertion that has left her skin shimmering in a layer of profound satisfaction.

Alex rolls her hips forward a few more times, going all the way in till the hilt. Slowly. Just to make sure that the young woman rides the entirety of her orgasm to its fullest. And then, to add a little spark that will prolong it for those few extra seconds - she also hooks her thumb and tugs a little (although much more gently than she has done earlier) at the chain which extremities are clamped around those exquisitely responsive nipples.

The gesture (and the newfound gentleness in it) earns her that delightful sound that is in between a hissed groan and a purr of approval, and that, once again, doesn't fail in shaping Alex's lips into a deeply satisfied smirk.

Her hips could keep up with the pace and resume in no time with the harsher snapping of before, but she knows that poor, exhausted Piper can't take it anymore.

After all, she did put the young woman through quite a particularly intense session this afternoon. Nonetheless, it's still with a fair amount of reluctance that - once she feels like the tightness wrapped around the toy starts losing some strength as those inner muscles relax - Alex starts pulling out from that still (although weakly) fluttering core. All while ignoring the need throbbing between her own legs, and dismissing as well the dull burning in her lower back.

Yeah... She didn't spare herself today at all.

She couldn't.

Or even felt like she had a reason to.

She makes sure to be extremely careful in withdrawing the thick shaft, perfectly aware of the young woman's sensitivity. Promptly stopping whenever she hears a soft whimper fall from those lips or sees a small twitch of something that may resemble pain crease those lovely features.

The fleeting expression of discomfort doesn't mask the much more consistent satisfaction showing all over the rest of her body though, but the act of pulling out also makes her stiffen up instinctively, and as soon as Alex feels that, she can't help but reach out, releasing the hold she has on one of those toned thighs and resting her hand on Piper's waist, soothingly stroking the patch of skin there with her thumb, feeling the tension of those muscles through that first soft layer.

"It's okay," Alex reassures, pleased to see that even just those few words and that simple gesture helps in making the blonde melt a little under her touch, enough to allow her to continue pulling out, but it's also then that she makes the mistake of glancing down between their partially linked bodies.

In the moment Alex's gaze drifts lower - down Piper's elegant neck, noticing the jolts of her pulse against her throat - tracing the small yet delightful swell of those perky, incredibly responsive breasts linked by the chain of the clamps, skimming down that toned abdomen that ripples in time with the harsher breaths Piper is trying to gulp down - in the moment her eyes land between those parted thighs, there is no way to stop the low growl that rises from her chest and that she barely manages to partially suppress in the back of her throat.

Because, generally, Piper is already an exquisite sight like this; thoroughly fucked, sated. The way her body is still quivering with the aftershock of her orgasm is the most tangent proof of that.

But there is a whole other kind of beauty in seeing her core flushed, her outer lips glistening, puffy and blossomed open, in seeing the sheets underneath her drenched with the same slickness covering the toy, which - after withdrawing for those few more inches left - slips out of that clinging heat with a slight bounce. And which loss is also immediately followed by that noise that is in between a groan of disapproval and a contrasting sigh of relief.

The throb that Alex has felt a minute ago between her own legs, represents. Like a vicious stab that has her struggle against the almost overwhelming temptation to re-align the toy and push back inside where she knows - despite the exhaustion seeping into the young blonde's bones - she would still be welcomed with the same warmth and enthusiasm of when she first slid inside that tight entrance half an hour ago.

Alex has no idea how she finds the willpower to tear her gaze away from the wonderful sight of that usually tight opening, now stretched so beautifully, so... invitingly.

When she glances up, however, sucking in a deep breath and blinking a few times in order to regain focus and get a hold of that need swelling in her lower belly, she finds out to not be the only one whose gaze has been fixed on something in particular...

In fact, it seems that Piper (who has apparently recovered enough and regained some of her awareness back) has her own eyes - half-lidded but clearly, visibly, still dark and lustful - fixed on the thick shaft of the toy standing between her legs; admiring the way it shimmers with the slick result of her own pleasure.

The tip of a pink tongue darts out to wet her lips, and Alex can't help but smirk in front of that gesture and the clear thought standing behind it.

Getting into something physical may no longer be an option for many reasons. The lack of time in the session coming to an end being one of them - but knowing how much Piper secretly enjoys it, Alex thinks that it would be just a waste to not at least take the occasion to taunt her a little more.

"Well... Don't you look like you would enjoy putting those pretty lips to work and sucking me off now?"

Even though she has already used such language before, the slang still tastes a bit odd in her mouth. But despite that foreignness, it still slips quite smoothly from her lips, and, most of all, the response that she earns from such explicitness is exactly the one she was hoping to receive.

Those already flushed rosy cheeks turn into a deeper shade of red, but what delights Alex even more, is the way Piper - after releasing the bottom lip she had caught and trapped between her teeth - answers to her question with a slightly husky, but quite firm, "Yes, Mistress."

If there is one thing Alex has learned about how differently people act in the confines of these rooms, is that a particularly powerful release tends to take down those last few barriers of bashfulness and sense of reserve.

And she couldn't be more pleased to see that Piper has grown so comfortable with this dynamic, with her, to allow herself to strip off those restraints and be so honestly open about what she wants.

Being able to see this rawest side finally showing itself from under that deceiving (although still rather endearing) layer of shyness, it's yet another one of those things - those little details starting to emerge, from where Alex takes a fair amount of pride.

She can actually feel it.

Swelling there in the cavity of her chest.

Although... it feels somehow warmer and... considerably more tingly than how she remembered it.

It's a sensation that catches her a bit off guard, but not enough to prevent the smirk on her lips from growing upon hearing that answer; put so easily, yet so respectfully, that any other day she wouldn't need much more to grant such request, but, if she would actually do it, and let the young woman take the head of the toy between her lips, watch them slide down the length until the tip would nudge against the back of that elegant throat, leaving Alex to imagine how that smart, talented mouth would feel like wrapped around her, imagining the heat that would envelop her and how that tongue would flick and those lips seal and suck and-

Fuck...

She inhales sharply as that thought, that compelling image, sends another powerful pang of arousal between her legs, making the ache there swell further, rendering it all the more unbearable when her clit jolts against the leather seat of the strap-on.

Piper seems to notice how she sways and the hopeful look that Alex finds into those glittering blue eyes makes it so much harder for her to deny the young businesswoman's polite request.

"Maybe next time," Is how she answers at last.

Because this isn't about her.

And Piper is (despite that lustful, seemingly-insatiable look) pretty worn out. There is no masking that look, or the plain, deep satisfaction showing on every inch of her body.

"You did so very good today," Alex tells her, smiling, feeling the need to properly praise her, because she herself is immensely pleased by the young woman's... performances and the admirable self-restraint she has given proof to possess this afternoon.

"And I wouldn't want to overtire you." She also admits, honestly, reaching out with one hand to brush aside a few sweat-slick strands of golden hair from that lovely face.

As expected, a shade of disappointment shows into those dark blue eyes. The quivering body beneath hers visibly deflates upon hearing such denial, and something in Alex's chest stutters. Maybe it's the way her heartbeat is finally starting to settle down after such a long and intense... ride, or maybe it has less to do with her own exhaustion (and persistent arousal throbbing dully between her legs) and more to do with the sight of the young woman leaning into her touch, as if taking comfort from it, before those blue eyes drift lower...

Landing on her lips.

It's a fleeting look, but... it's not the first time it happens to linger for a second or two longer.

And Alex sure knows the thought that stands behind it...

There is just this lighter, comfortable ambiance wrapping the moment whenever the session is reaching the end, that feels extremely cozy. Almost... intimate.

It's yet another one of those things about Piper and what her general presence elicits in her that Alex can't quite understand.

Because she used to do this regularly. She has dealt with many clients over the years and got as intimate with them as her dominatrix role allowed, but... she doesn't remember feeling this... quiet energy buzzing around her. Prickling so pleasantly on her skin afterwards.

And for how much she tries to pin it (once again) on her absence from this role for a while - or even blame it on the young woman's post-coital, adorably drowsy state, she knows that those are not strong enough excuses.

She is a professional no matter what.

And yet... her own eyes get inevitably drawn lower to those thin, rosy, slightly parted, oh-so-invitingly-glistening lips, too.

And for a moment, for a split second, she can't help but think that it sure would be incredibly easy to just... lean in, and-

Alex shakes her head, diverting her gaze with a start. Blinking away that thick haze that was starting to dangerously cloud her judgment, and trying to regain focus. Inwardly frowning at the way her heart seems to have just skipped a beat, jolting with a hard thud against her ribcage, as if startled by that very same thought, chastising herself and leaving her to wonder what could have made such a forbidden image even cross her mind.

"Alex?"

The way she hears her name slip so smoothly, with such... an easy familiarity, from those very same lips she has gotten a taste of just once (and might even still remember the sweetness of) doesn't help Alex one bit in helping her recover from that ambushing feeling.

Nor does the matching look that she finds on Piper's face...

But the sound of her voice, even if laced with that note of worry, leads her back to reality.

"Sorry," She murmurs, barely above a whisper, even though she doesn't know for what, exactly, she is apologizing for.

"I just..." She diverts her gaze, immensely grateful when she finds an immediate distraction from the insistent pounding of her heart when her eyes land on the young woman's wrists, still bound together by the leather handcuffs looped around the bar of the headboard.

"Here. Let me untie you."

The half-smile that she flashes the young woman in reassurance only manages to visibly confuse Piper more, at least that's what Alex gets when she sees the previously lighter frown of concern between her eyebrows deepen that bit more in front of that little twitch of her lips. But she finds herself unable to offer anything better or more sincere at the moment.

She feels thrown off balance by the thought that was starting to take such a vicious, almost physical consistency in her mind, taking her back to that first evening, to that rainy late afternoon not so long ago... And in order to regain (after that little stumble) that same stability she usually has in her composure, she proceeds to untie the businesswoman. Slowly finding herself once again in the familiarity of unbuckling the straps of the leather handcuffs from around those slender wrists, and then shifting her attention lower, to her chest, to also remove the nipple clamps there.

After having found out how much Piper enjoys this kind of stimulation, Alex has only felt like she simply had to insert the little gadget into their sessions, which introducion has, of course, been approved of and welcomed with a bit of hesitation at first but that has quickly grown into the most extreme enthusiasm.

Even though she is particularly careful in removing them considering the sensitivity that their... presence have left on those delicate buds, Piper still hisses a little; that same sound of before that is half a groan and half a sigh of relief when Alex takes them off.

Upon closer inspection, she can clearly see that the two twin buds are still hard and a bit swollen with what she hopes is just overstimulation, and that sudden doubt - which makes her stomach twist a little on itself - has her glance up at Piper.

"Were they sealed too tightly?" She asks, and then, immediately after, unable to not wonder if maybe her treatment hasn't been rougher than she thought... "Did I pull too hard?"

A strange look instantly crosses Piper's face.

Those still dark-blue eyes drift away from hers as the blonde catches her bottom lip between teeth, squirming, and folding a little into herself under her gaze and that specific question in a rather... guiltily way.

And just as suddenly, in front of that unmistakable, loud reaction, the twisting in Alex's stomach increases tenfolds. As if someone had just given a wrench at her insides.

A feeling so sickening - as much as the awful thought that is forming in her mind - that makes her freeze on the spot.

Piper has mentioned an interest in rough-ish treatment, sure, and even though this is nothing that will leave a permanent sign, the thought of having possibly hurt the young woman because she might have been... taken adrift with today's session herself along with the blonde into that vast tumultuous sea of desire, makes her blood run cold with dread, feeling it turning into ice when she looks down Piper's body and upon a first brief scan, she notices, for the first time - without the haze of... of passion clouding her vision - the couple of dark imprints left behind on that flawless skin.

Her eyes widen and her lips part in consternation as her gaze snaps up, searching Piper's shy one.

"Why didn't you tell me I was holding you so tightly?" She asks. "Why didn't you tell me to slow down?"

She doesn't mean to sound so reprimanding but... Piper is sporting some bruises that are already starting to darken and-

And just as that blue gaze has drifted away from hers but a moment ago, it returns in a flash, loaded with alarm after hearing the worry in her voice and the seriousness laced with apprehension in her tone.

"Because I didn't want you to." The young woman hurries to reassure her. "And I..." She pauses, swallows, but this time, even though the temptation to look away seems to be there, those eyes remain locked firmly with hers.

"I liked the way you were holding me down, Alex... Very much in fact."

Alex's heart slows down, returning to sit at its place in her chest as a soothing wave of reassurance brought by Piper's sincere admission washes over her, allowing her muscles to relax and her lungs to release the breath she didn't know she had been holding for all this time. And yet, even though she feels calmer, that feeling in her stomach has yet to loosen up. The tight knot there threatening to get even tighter when she glances down again at those two, still hard little buds and sees how tender they look.

"I'm fine, Alex."

Piper's soft voice and reassurance coax Alex's gaze up again for a brief moment, but that is more than enough for her to see the sincerity rippling into those blue eyes.

Still, unable to resist, and guided by this... this odd urge to provide comfort and convey some sort of apology, Alex finds herself leaning in and brushing her lips against the most swollen one of those hard little buds. Reveling in the way Piper shivers and sucks in a sharp stuttered sip of air when her breath brushes against the overly sensitive areola.

She blows lightly across it and, in response to that, Piper pushes her chest forward. Arching into that whispered touch that for once is not meant to tease but to soothe, and when those hands reach down (either seeking for something to hold on onto or to make sure that she stays there) carding through her hair, Alex surrenders to the urge of brushing her lips against it.

She lets her tongue dart out to delicately lap at it...

...in something reminiscent of a tentative, soft, first kiss.

If something about this moment strikes her as odd, like... this foreign urge been met in full and with the same urgency coming from Piper, it is only how... flawless, how... easy and light and... effortless it all feels.

It's soothing in a way she doesn't even care to question at the moment, because what has her main attention, what she is most grateful for, is the way Piper seems to melt under that soft attention. And how the knot of worry in her stomach is finally starting to loosen up, rendering her capable to breathe again.

It's a brief relief though. Because as soon as that knot completely melts, she is overcome by that other feeling.

The same one she felt the whisper of earlier while she was watching Piper come.

So deeply comforting and tingly.

It sparks in the depth of her belly, but soon enough is spreads higher.

Blossoming in the cavity of her chest.

...and leaving her unable to breathe all over again.

. . .

Piper knows that the feeling catching in her throat has nothing to do with the rest of all those pleasantly buzzing sensations result of the mind-blowing release that she has just experienced. But she still tries to pin it on that.

Because it's easier convince herself that the reason why she feels like this is nothing but a swirl of hormones winding through her system and general lightheadedness, and not on the fact - on the sad, sad realization - that never before she had a lover who paid her not only even an ounce of the wonderful, fulfilling attentions that Alex, with all her expertise, brings to a higher level with every new session in order to satisfy her so thoroughly... But also showing such an honest thoughtfulness, such a deep consideration that has bordered into actual concern just a few minutes ago.

So rawly sincere.

Seeming to maybe even border a little from that strictly-professional level.

But that's a thought Piper keeps far, far away from emerging, even though it might have already started to poke into her preconscious.

And maybe it's such presence and influence, or that very same cocktail of hormones coursing through her still buzzing system, but... even if knows that she shouldn't, aware that there is a chance that indulging in such thought might make her feel even worse later, she still decides to drink into this moment, taking a profound amount of comfort from in it and letting herself imagine that this is not just a session in a sex club with Alex - a woman she is paying for her time and those attentions and skills.

She definitely shouldn't.

But for a moment, no matter how fleeting it is, she lets herself slip into that fantasy. only to feel that knot grow tighter in her throat when Alex switches between her breasts, brushing her lips just as delicately (a touch that is almost reverent in its softness) across her other hardened, extremely sensitive nipple, before shifting her attention lower. To the few fingertip-shaped imprints left at her side.

Somehow, Piper manages to swallow down that stubborn feeling. Sucking in a shuddering breath. Tearing herself away from that indulgent thought and forcing herself to regain some of her composure, although, even if she searches for that much more comforting and familiar suit that she wears every day and gives her the impression of being in control and shield her from... things, she simply can't let go completely of this moment just yet, clinging onto it for a little longer, as gently as she can, unable to resist the urge to run her fingers through Alex's silky-soft hair, all while trying to convince herself (and get back to that mental set) that this... is better.

That being in an actual relationship, having strings will end up with her tangled up in them.

She wasn't lying to Polly that time she said she wouldn't have had the time either.

No... getting release is what she needs. Extensive exploring and getting to know her own body and its limits in this environment is why she decided to join the sex club in the first place. Nothing more.

But... this shade of softness afterwards...

The infinite care that Alex puts in every detail... The way those usually vibrant green eyes had widened a minute ago with something that was beyond concern and actually bordering into a sickening fear at the thought of having hurt her...

It makes Piper's (not-so-rock-solid-after-all) conviction waver.

And it also makes her heart skip a couple of beats.

Under the compelling warmth of Alex's mouth and the delicate brush of those lips on her delicate, oversensitive, sweat-slick and heated skin, she struggles to slip back into that armor she finds herself needing so desperately right now.

And, eventually, she gives up in her fruitless attempt to.

Melting under the heat and softness of those irresistible lips.

She still stops the raven-haired woman from going any lower however, because she doesn't know how she would be able to handle that touch - so soft and caring - against the bruises left on the inside of her thighs.

Enduring such gentleness somewhere so intimate would be far too much for her right now.

With the tiredness clinging to her bones, a weak little tug on the back of Alex's head is all she manages though, but it's more than enough to get her attention, even if she soon finds out to be not one bit prepared to see that look of worry, the guilt shadowing those green lakes once Alex blinks up at her.

"You okay?" The raven-haired woman asks her, and that feeling that Piper has felt a few minutes ago, swelling in her throat, returns, but this time its crushing grips tightens in her chest instead, where she feels a sharp, halting stutter.

Despite that sudden sensation though, her lips still curl into a smile. And it couldn't be any other way in front of that quiet, tentative question and the look that Alex is giving her.

She just really hopes that her own eyes aren't giving away the strong emotions - the dangerous combination of icy sadness and contrasting warmth born from such thoughtfulness, that she can feel glistening into them, forming a little lump in her throat and almost making her voice quiver when she answers.

"I'm okay..."

As attentive as she knows the raven-haired woman is though, Piper doubts that her attempt to properly masking those emotions turn out being anything other than futile, but she still tries her best to suppress them. Even if there is simply nothing that she can do for the pounding of her heart; which frantic rhythm, however, could easily be disguised as her body still trying to recover from the powerful orgasm she has just experienced and that almost dragged her over to the point of unconsciousness.

As expected, Alex doesn't seem quite convinced by her reply. Looking so clearly, visibly reluctant in front of all the contrasting emotions that Piper knows are showing on her face, even though none of them are for the reasons Alex is probably, currently thinking about and blaming herself for.

And it's exactly that very same look, the way it creases those stunning features with worry and guilt, what shakes Piper hard enough from that grip of melancholy and despondency about her personal life and regain a good dose of her composure back, pushing aside her own self-pity and getting a hold of herself long enough for her to convey all of her reassurance to the one, wonderfully kind, and insufferably teasing woman who has been taking care of her lately with such devotion and consideration in so many different ways Piper didn't think she needed but finds herself craving for.

Especially towards the end of every single session lately; when the haze of lust is dissipating and this other pleasantly quiet atmosphere replaces it, enveloping the moment and filling it with the kind of comfort that her recovering body seeks for. And that Alex's careful attentions render all the more soothing and comforting.

"I'm okay, Alex." She repeats, and this time, the smile that shapes her lips is easier, which makes it also much more sincere, and the sight of it, of its honesty now reaching her (although still glistening) eyes, seems to be able to melt away some of the tension from Alex's frame.

Those broad, strong shoulders of hers drop with what looks like the same relief that smooths out the crinkles of worry that had been etched in her expression.

"And I'm sorry," Piper also apologize, just as sincerely and a bit self-consciously, too. "I didn't mean to concern you."

She most definitely didn't.

To worry and consequently upset Alex because of her... dubious behavior... in these always delicate circumstances, is the last thing she wanted.

But...

"It's just that..." She feels her cheeks heat up again when she pauses, taking in a breath and releasing it slowly through her nose, readying herself for that confession.

"I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that you would have... stopped, altogether." And I didn't want you to hold me less tightly, neither, she also thinks between herself, because god... She likes that feeling.

She likes having something keeping her grounded.

She revels in being left powerless under her Mistress' exquisite roughness.

Or maybe...

Maybe it's simply the contact itself, and the comfort it brings her in its simplicity knowing that she doesn't have to keep control, because Alex is already keeping a firm enough hold on it for both of them, appositely so she can just... let go.

It's a sensation so delightfully freeing knowing that even if she is getting dragged adrift by that indomitable current of passion, Alex is there. Holding onto her. And preventing her from going so far that she won't even be able to find her way back.

The bruises on her hips, the little circles left on the inside of her thigh by those strong, talented hands, are a reminder of that, a testimony.

One that she will be skimming her fingers over with a smile on her lips in a couple of days when they will have turned into that faint shade of green.

Because she might take a significant amount of pleasure in sporting those signs on her body. It helps her in getting through the week that she'll have to wait for until her next session.

Realization and something that looks a lot like understanding is the first thing that she sees widening Alex's eyes when she voices that explanation. Although, after such confession gets properly absorbed, the raven-haired woman still seems ready to scold her again.

Those aqua-green eyes narrow and that general, unmistakable, reprimanding look shows on her face, and Piper is already bracing herself for it.

But... after a moment, much to her infinite surprise, those features softens as Alex exhales a long, silent breath and shakes her head, as if dismissing whatever other admonition she was thinking to voice as her gaze shifts lower once more, where the proof of her wonderfully, barely restrained... dedication... has left physical imprints on her skin.

"You have to tell me if I'm going too far, Piper."

It's still a reprimand, but the softer tone doesn't make it sound like one since the layer of worry predominates, making Piper feel both scolded and guilty.

"I know..." She admits. "But you didn't," She also adds. Truth be told she could have taken more of those hands gripping her so... so possessively, while those hips slammed against hers, filling her over and over with that thick shaft that combined with Alex's expertise has managed to reach and stroke every single, most pleasurable spot deep inside her.

"And I deeply enjoyed it." She states, voice strong and certain - without disrupting the quietness of the moment - and leaving no space for arguments or any more doubts.

Still, Alex releases another long breath through her nose, studying her closely, as if searching for traces of uncertainties that simply aren't there to be found.

"Just..." She pauses, stroking one of those little darkening circles with her thumb and with an impossible tenderness that still amazes Piper and leaves her wondering for the hundredth time how can it be part of the woman who ten minutes ago was pounding so mercilessly, so passionately, inside of her with hard, full, long thrusts of her hips and whispering a string of dirty, mildly humiliating, filthy things in her ear.

"Just... promise me you will tell me next time and use our slow-down word?"

It's not as much as the way Alex asks her such thing (like that "our word" part) but it's something in her expression, in the way she glances up at her with those eyes holding an unexpectedly soft vulnerability that makes such question sound just so... intimate.

That stutter in her chest represents.

Ten times stronger than before.

So harsh and sudden that the breath catches in her throat and slips past her parting lips in a muted gasp.

It's impossible, in front of that look, for Piper not to feel the heavy weight of guilt already threatening to overcome her again, because now she knows, now she has the actual confirmation about how worried she got Alex. But she doesn't let that feeling cripple her. Instead, guided by a need - an urge that is almost primal and instinctive in its nature - she finds herself sliding forward one of the hands she still has laced through Alex's hair, cradling her jaw in her palm. And something about such gesture, seems to already lighten the air and bring a comfort that she would have never thought could be achieved with so little.

Charged by a new surge of confidence and the even more powerful urge to reassure Alex, she wills her voice to remain steady when she answers to that question with a firm, yet soft, and earnest, "I promise."

She keeps her gaze locked with that emerald one and doesn't waver, leaving herself open, and allowing the raven-haired woman to see the sincerity in such promise as well as the note of guilt that is still there, sticking in her voice, along with the apology she wants to convey.

Alex sees it all after a long, accurate scrutiny, and the way her lips curl - slowly, at last, into a hinted smile - for how subtle, it's beautiful in its simplicity and honesty.

Authentic.

But Piper is starting to get that Alex is nothing but absolutely authentic in everything she does.

And such thing... worries her.

Starting from that smile.

Piper would have never thought possible that seeing a smile, for how small yet so sincere, would have been able to lift the weight that was starting to crush her chest.

But what really soothes the uncomfortable pressure that was left there from such weight and makes her heart stumble all over itself for a few beats, is the way Alex, upon feeling her thumb stroking the side of her cheekbone, turns her head, ever so slightly on the side, just enough for those impossibly soft, rosy lips to slide against the inside of her palm.

It's not a kiss. But the movement is a conscious one.

She even lingers there for that beat that it takes Piper to be able to suck in a sharp sip of air and that only catches in her throat when those emerald eyes, sparkling so beautifully with relief and gratefulness, find her blue ones once again.

...only to drop lower.

Down to her lips.

Suddenly, the air all around her seems to change.

It grows thicker.

The next following seconds tick by as slowly as if the world itself had been inundated with molasses. And yet, despite that rich, enveloping density that seems to be swallowing anything else, the moment is both light and loaded with another... invisible presence.

An unknown feeling, a thought, an unnamed knowledge that seems to surround them both.

It tingles on her skin, and makes her own eyes drift to Alex's lips as they have done earlier.

So easy... she thinks.

It would be so easy to just... cradle that perfect jaw a bit more firmly, give a little tug and lean forward at the same time.

To erase that minimal, insignificant distance left and... deliver the rest of her reassurance, apologize all at once like no other word beside her own promise would be able to convey on its own as much as that simple, single, glorious gesture which warmth and softness would be able to take away and soothe any sting left from lingering doubts and...

Piper's heart feels like it's truly about to evade from the cage of her chest, and she finds herself in a desperate need for a distraction, something, anything that would prevent her from plunging deeper into those green lakes sparkling with the sincerity and care that she has never experienced or seen in anyone else she has been with before. A care and consideration that, in some way, seems to reach a bit deeper than sole professionalism.

She searches for something that will prevent her from doing something incredibly stupid and forbidden and-

Someone must be listening to her desperate plea apparently...

Because the need for a distraction comes just when her hand is about to give into that itching urge to pull Alex closer.

But she is the opposite of grateful when such distraction is provided by an embarrassingly loud, deep growling sound coming from her belly.

It's so loud that at first, she thinks it is one of the metal bars of the headboard groaning and finally giving out under all the violent pulling that she has done earlier when she was handcuffed to one of them. But oh no...

Not such luck.

That low rumble definitely came from her stomach.

She almost startles.

Her entire body tenses up.

Her eyes widening with horror, as do Alex's - even though her expression shifts much more quickly from puzzlement, to suprise and then...

And then the raven-haired woman simply does the most impressive job in trying to hold back a laugh that ends up just scratching the back of her throat in a strangled snort, but even though she manages to keep her mouth closed in order to not let that sound escape and risk embarrassing her more than Piper isn't already, those lips still stretch into one of those hugely pleased smirks that only make Piper wish that she could just pull the sheets over her head and... disappear for this room, from the club, from the world. Or even combust on the spot, which doesn't seem like such a ridiculous thought given the heat of humiliation that is currently boiling inside of her treacherous stomach and scalding her face and neck and chest, and that she feels reaching the tip of her ears like a fuse when Alex, as expected, in front of such a way-too-tempting opportunity, ends up giving in to her playful, teasing nature.

"I think I'm going to take that one as a compliment." The raven-haired woman quips, green eyes brightening up and glittering, rippling with infinite amusement.

It would be quite a delight to see the way the colors in there change, bringing up the clearer shade of humor that allows her to glimpse at the flecks of gold shimmering at the bottom of those lakes. But Piper is way too consumed by embarrassment to keep eye contact.

She barely refrains from hiding behind her own hands even though she folds a little on herself, feeling quite self-conscious.

"I'm so, so sorry, Alex... I'm just-"

"Hungry." The raven-haired woman deduces, and, much to Piper's surprise, instead of widening, that smirk on her lips actually softens into a lighter version showing understanding instead of just plain humor. "Obviously, I mean... after all this should be your lunch break, right?"

Yeah, and I spent it quenching my thirst instead, Piper thinks, wondering if spontaneous human combustion is indeed possible.

The blush that rises on her cheeks (over which she has absolutely no control over) and the way she bites her bottom lip, guiltily, feeling cornered by that question (which sounds almost like an accusation) is what makes Alex release a quiet little chuckle before pulling away from her.

With an instinct that Piper can't quite understand the origin of (or even cares to investigate at the moment) but that feels linked to that need of closeness and warmth and refuge into general comfort as her body recovers - she finds herself reaching out when Alex climbs down from the bed.

"Wait where are you going?" She even asks, inhibited.

In her hope to find a distraction that would dismiss the dangerous thoughts taking form in her mind, she has ended up ruining the moment and turning it into... this. Bringing Alex to conclude the session so abruptly. Which is exactly the opposite of what Piper wanted.

"Don't worry," The raven-haired woman reassures her, flashing her a smile that is all mystery and that sparkle of mischief that Piper instantly notices glittering on the surface once again.

"I'll be right back. Just... wait here." Alex tells her, which is... totally unnecessary given that she sure feels still uncertain about getting on her own feet and keep herself up on her wobbly knees, least of all go anywhere that isn't maybe just a couple of inches towards the center of the bed where the sheets are... drier.

"I'm gonna get you something," Alex announces, enigmatically, and just like that, with that curious reply (and a wink that if Piper wasn't laying down would most definitely make her swoon a little) the raven-haired woman unbuckles the strap-on from her waist with those incredibly deft hands and steps out of it before retrieving her dark-framed glasses from the nightstand and a black dressing gown from the bottom drawer of the dresser against the wall, putting it on and then slipping out of the room before Piper can get a chance to ask what, exactly, she has in mind. Getting quite distracted by the delightful sight of those glasses sitting once again where they belong on the bridge of her nose, and by the sight of that soft black fabric wrapping all of that exquisite alabaster skin in a silky embrace.

. . .

Piper has no idea how she does it.

Regaining some resemblance of composure and cool off the heat of embarrassment that was threatening to swallow her whole turns out not to be an easy task at all, but, for some miracle - by the time Alex returns a few minutes later - that feeling gets completely erased and replaced by another, much more powerful one when the raven-haired woman, with a widening smile, presents her a small snack packet.

And then Piper truly doesn't know if she should laugh, or just follow the example of that something in her chest and... melt a little at the thoughtfulness of the gesture.

She really doesn't have any control over it either way.

Just like the smile that stretches on her lips.

Unable to mask the note of amusement mingled with that dash of puzzlement that seeps into her voice when she reads the label.

"Dark chocolate almond clusters?"

"Yeah... I know it hardly counts as a meal," Alex acknowledges rolling one shoulder in a half- shrug. "But... it's the healthiest thing I could find." She explains, as that little smirk finally emerges under that uncharacteristic thin layer of self-consciousness. "And an appropriate treat to restore some energy." She also adds, suggestively, instantly regaining her composure back and throwing her a wink.

And, once again Piper is left absolutely powerless against the grin that spreads across her face, digging dimples on her flushed cheeks.

She accepts the offered, relatively-healthy snacks feeling that same warmth that has claimed her face enveloping her from the inside too in front of that kindness, that thoughtfulness that she now knows quite well, being part of the raven-haired woman's true core, and not just an act made out of some sense of obligation to be nice with a client and please them however she can.

Piper knows that that's not who Alex is.

She knows now that a wild creature like her does nothing she doesn't want to do out of her own will, and the fact that Alex actually even just thought about bringing her the snacks, is a gesture that in its simplicity and spontaneity whispers a few... things that Piper doesn't want to listen too closely and risk reading too much into.

She holds back for a moment longer before voicing her thanks though. Because for how much she would like to properly express her gratefulness, once she remembers the way Alex has teased her about snacks when she let that detail slip last time, well... She thinks that it's only fair if she returns the favor.

"It seems like I'm not the only one with an emergency snack drawer after all."

Alex winces a little at the reference. "...Touchè." She says, and, if possible, Piper's smile widens further in front of that look of who just got caught with the hand in the metaphorical cookie jar. Well... apparently not-so-metaphorical after all.

Still, the thoughtful, incredibly kind offer dims the brightness of her smile into something softer and more grateful as she turns the little packet around in her hands. "Thank you Alex. But you really didn't have to."

On this, however, Alex seems to fully disagree.

"Oh, but I think I did." The raven-haired woman counters as she climbs once more onto the bed. "You see, it would give a very poor impression if I would just let you go like this. Swaying on your heels and faint at the front door. It's bad for business." She states with that exaggerated weight of seriousness in her expression that is betrayed by that same twinkle of mirth shimmering so beautifully into those smiling, rippling green pools.

"I believe it would be good publicity, actually." Piper retorts, pensively, while getting more comfortable by pulling herself further up and leaning back against the headboard, covering her front with the sheets and fixing it under her armpits like a dress. "This way people would know that those that frequent this place get their money well spent." She reasons, but upon hearing what might as well be a business-strategy, Alex's previous chuckle blossoms into a full, humorous, beautiful laugh, and Piper is absolutely delighted for having been able to elicit that sweetly husky sound without even meaning to.

It rumbles in her throat so softly and fills the air with even more warmth, rendering it infinitely pleasant and light.

It's as wonderful to hear it as it is seeing it shaping those gorgeous features, and of course, admire the way it reaches those magnetic eyes of hers from which Piper barely manages to look away in time before she would find herself helplessly plunging into their depths once more.

"Is there any chance you are going to share this with me so I'll feel less guilty about cheating on my diet?" She asks Alex, holding up the packet of chocolates and tilting it towards her, not even looking surprised when her first response comes in the form of that amused little smile.

"A few of these would hardly be considered as actual cheating," The raven-haired woman points out reassuringly. "But... I guess that if it would make you feel less guilty about it, then sure. After all, I would never leave a lady to eat alone." She states, oh so gallantly, with that teasing note that seems to border a little into a more seductive territory.

An impression that is reinforced by the wink that follows, and that most definitely doesn't make Piper's heart trip over itself (or elicits another, brighter, warmer flush on her cheeks for that matter - of course not) before reaching into the little packet and grabbing a couple of clusters, popping one in her mouth.

"So... Ah..." Piper starts, conversationally, tearing her gaze away from Alex, all while trying not to moan around her own first bite, which smooth, enveloping taste of dark chocolate melting on her palate is perfectly balanced by that note of bitterness completed by the most delicate sweetness of the toasted almonds, creating a perfect bond in her mouth - because god knows what kind of further teasing letting that sound escape from her lips would earn her from Alex right now, who definitely won't just let such chance slip.

And so, instead, after swallowing down that moan along with that first bite, she decides to ask the raven-haired woman if "Does this kind of treatment fall also into the rest of your duties? Providing snacks to a client after a session, I mean." She specifies when Alex just tilts her head at her with that little frown knitting ever so slightly her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

Getting that note of teasing in her voice doesn't mask the genuine curiosity behind that question however, which doesn't fail in making Alex's lips twitch into a wider smirk.

"Well, usually, the services I offer variate on the client's request," The raven-haired woman informs her, and... the mention of such thing instantly lights up a question in Piper's mind. Or rather a possible request she might have been pondering over for some time...

"But no. This specific snack-in-bed service is usually not included." Alex replies, frowning, as if suddenly reminding herself of something of a certain importance by providing such an answer. "Actually... food in general shouldn't be allowed in these rooms at all. Least of all this kind containing several allergens."

Piper is equally thrilled upon hearing that information or better yet receiving the confirmation that this is kind of a... special... circumstance, as she is surprised (and also a bit worried) knowing that Alex has brought her something to eat in here despite it being something not allowed.

She automatically stops chewing, looking down at the packet in her hand as she swallows, and then looking between the folds of the sheets to check if she has left any crumbs around, before glancing back up at Alex, whose lips are curling into this huge, incredibly amused smirk.

"Don't worry, based on the known-allergies I ask everyone to compile before joining the club, I don't remember anyone of our contract clients being allergic to nuts... Oddly enough."

Piper almost chokes upon hearing what turns out being an awful, yet incredibly clever quip that is both cringe-worthy and so absurdly amusing, especially considering the disgusted little sneer showing on Alex's face when she says that, before her expression chances once again, shifting to that deeply satisfied look when those bright emeralds happens to land on the sheets and, in particular, on the damp patch left there.

"Also, those are going to need changing anyway."

Piper finds herself caught in between the absurd grasp of amusement and embarrassment, even though the sting left by the latest isn't half as uncomfortable as she expected it to be.

Because she knows that Alex didn't say that to mock her or humiliate her, but just to tease her, which, considering the frequency she does that, might as well be one of her favorite things to do, and the soft light of humor shimmering into those green gems is the confirmation of that.

Still, Piper throws her a playful little glare. "Does this mean that you are breaking your own rules right now?"

"Well..." Alex drawls, chewing and thoroughly savoring the chocolate she just popped in her mouth before answering with the smuggest grin ever. "Every rule has its exception, doesn't it?"

Ugh...

God, this woman... Piper groans inwardly.

Always with the most perfect answer at the ready and that overly pleased, gorgeous smirk to accompany it.

It's so incredibly annoying

...but also... kind of sexy.

But that may be the slightly raspier quality in that exquisitely deep voice that always grows a bit deeper and gets slightly huskier with that hint of exertion after they... well...

Or maybe its the way she looks like this; laying so elegantly on her side, resting on one elbow, head propped up on her hand, black hair cascading down the side of her neck, toned long legs stretching down the length of the mattress - all perfect ivory skin draped by the soft, dark silk of that mid-thigh dressing gown...

She looks like a Queen.

...or a rather playful black panther.

Either way, she looks simply, effortlessly... majestic.

Regal.

As gallant as ever, giving further proof of a possible noble heritage in whatever kingdom she might belong, Alex leaves her the last almond chocolate cluster left in the packet, but Piper insists that she must be the one to take it because, after all "I'm not the only one who needs to regain some lost energies." She points out, although the way she says it sounds much more suggestive in a particularly... seductive way, that gets further accentuated by the sly little smile tugging at her own lips, and that seems to absolutely delight Alex as much as it surprises Piper herself, but... it works.

Alex accepts the last chocolate without any further arguing and with that trademark smile of hers that reaches those green gems and makes them shimmer with mischief and hilarity.

Piper could literally lose herself counting the precious flecks of gold that this particular, lighter shade of aqua-green allows her to see laying at the bottom, and... for a few, long moments... she does.

"...Piper?"

Until that deep, sweetly husky voice brings her back from those depths.

She blinks back into focus, into the present, finding herself back into this room, where she is naked under the sheets draped around her torso, and Alex is laying beside her, propped on one elbow, wearing a thin dark dressing gown that for how simple looks so ridiculously elegant on her - and where they are sharing a packet of chocolates in between quips and a flow of banters that goes smoothly back and forth, and which intimacy doesn't even strike her as odd, even though the naturalness of the moment, the ease in it, does make her stomach erupt into a series of flutters.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asks somehow managing to disentangle herself from those... feelings, greeted back by the sight of Alex smiling at her.

"I just wanted to know how's the beast." The raven-haired woman inquires, tilting her chin where her no-longer-growling stomach is hiding under the sheets wrapped around her torso.

Piper rolls her eyes, shaking her head, barely resisting the urge to groan. This woman... she thinks once more, but the smile is already there, tugging at her lips (despite what she insists calling annoyance caused by that insufferably teasing nature; so inconsistent with that weirdly pleasant, fluttery sensation in her belly that might have even moved further up in her chest.

"Subdued, for the moment." She replies, indulgently, at last. Even if it seems like hunger is not the only monster to peek its head right now.

Because as soon as she finishes saying that, with her stomach temporarily content after the snacking, Piper gets hit by an unexpected wave of tiredness that makes her realize how drained this session left her.

She can feel it in her muscles, in her shoulders - stiff after having been restrained for a glorious half an hour of which she has cherished every single moment.

It seeps into her bones and it rises from her chest as a yawn that - even though she tries her best to suppress before it can grow into something more - it slips out anyway.

She still covers it with her hand, but Alex has already caught it.

The first thing that she expects from the raven-haired woman, is, of course, given the golden opportunity, some kind of quip, maybe even one of those soft, quiet, sweetly raspy chuckles.

Instead, when Piper, somehow tentatively glances back up at Alex, she is met with a surprisingly, unexpectedly guilty look, and a just-as-hesitant "I hope I haven't pushed you too hard."

There is no smirk, no smugness whatsoever showing on any of her incredibly expressive features, but there is an apologetic little smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.

"I must admit that I haven't taken into consideration the early appointment and the fact that you had to get back to work after this," Alex admits, looking as close to sheepish as Piper has ever seen her. A foreign sight (one that almost makes her rub her eyes out of bewilderment) although an endearing one. But it's that concern, and hearing that veiled apology what sparks once again that warmth that melts her a little further from the inside.

"You did everything I wanted," She tells Alex because even though it would be deeply amusing watching the raven-haired woman squirm for a few more moments and see her trying to... adapt into the tighter, scratchier suit of self-consciousness that simply doesn't fit her whole demeanor, the need that Piper feels about soothing her doubts is much stronger, and she delivers it with a reassuring smile. "But the body has its limits." She also points out, feeling exactly the extent of those limits in her aching muscles and stiff junctures and... pulsing on those others most sensitive, intimate places of her body.

And you are pushing me beyond them, in the most enjoyable way, she adds silently between herself, but doesn't dare to voice that fact out loud, because she knows that nothing would spare her from the smug grin that would most definitely reclaim those gorgeous features and take away that adorably (although unnecessarily) guilty look, if she would actually confess such thing to Alex so openly.

Instead, when a shiver elicited by a whisper of cold on her naked skin crawls up her back, she finds herself snuggling a bit more under the sheets, pulling them further up her body while also sliding down from the headboard, unable not to think about how soft and comfortable the bed is as she does so, humming in the back of her throat at the feeling of the foam mattress dip and mold under her weight to welcome and cradle her frame.

And even though the sheets are too thin to provide actual warmth, they still shield her cooling body from that slightly sharper air - from that gently brushing breeze brought in the room by the ventilation system.

As her head rests on the pillow, her eyes flutter automatically shut. And, this time, the contented sigh that slips from her smiling lips does earn her one of those soft, sweetly raspy chuckles she might have longed to hear...

But hearing that sound, especially with the light distortion coming from the world that is slowly beginning to fade around her as the heaviness of tiredness starts weighing on her eyelids, dragging her into a whole other dimension, makes Piper will her succumbing body to react and resist, while fighting against that drowsiness and another bigger yawn.

"I better get going," She states, even though the idea of getting up is the most less appealing to her right now. "...go take a shower before going back to work and-"

She barely manages to pull herself up by a couple of inches though when a hand, warm and soft on her shoulder, yet firm and purposeful in its gentleness, urges her back down onto the bed.

She blinks up at Alex, but even through her half-lidded eyes, she is still capable to see the smile gracing those lips with a hint of tentativeness.

"...stay." Alex tells her and there is a softness in her voice, a welcoming, enveloping warmth in the way she simply utters that single word, that incredibly tempting offer... Her tone so soothing and quiet that makes that suggestion all the more inviting.

But a part of Piper - the businesswoman in her - thinks about the reports on her desk, the preparation for the meeting tomorrow, the calls she has to make and...

"I should go..." She says but her voice sounds as weak as her wavering resolution, and when Alex insists with another inviting "Stay," and the following, reassuring "for as long as you need to" adorned with that same (although now considerably less tentative) soft smile, Piper starts to give in.

"You still have about ten minutes before the session ends anyway," Alex informs her, presenting her with what is probably the compelling argument. "And this is supposed to be your time. So you really shouldn't feel guilty about indulging if that's what you need right now."

Even feeling as drowsy as she is, Piper gets what the raven-haired woman is telling her.

She is right.

This is her moment, dedicated to herself. The work waiting at her company, the pile of reports sitting on her desk, the unread emails, aren't going anywhere, and she already has tomorrow's meeting all planned out anyway, she just needs to discuss a few last details with Polly but-

Later, she tells herself, having made up her mind, even though it is the softness of Alex's look and that impossibly tempting offer (her second one today, so exceptionally kind in providing her what she needs in two separate ways that didn't involve the session itself but rather her recover) what, serves as the ultimate conviction.

"Okay," Piper nods at last, only to feel her heart flip into her chest in front of the smile that tugs at those lips. So simple, mischief-free for once and... absolutely gorgeous as it is in its naturalness.

"Would you... stay, too?" Piper finds herself asking then, hesitantly. "And keep me company?"

She doesn't even have the time to feel self-conscious and think that such request may be... too much. She doesn't have to. Just like she doesn't have to apologize for drawing the conclusion that Alex doesn't have anything better to do than stay here and keep her company while she... takes a five minutes nap. Because that smile widens so naturally, instinctively, upon hearing that request. It reaches her eyes, and makes them sparkle like the most precious emeralds.

"Sure..." Alex answers, so easily, so matter of factly. And then as a further reassurance, whispered a bit more softly, "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise you won't let me fall asleep either?" Piper asks her, or rather slurs, because that heaviness is dragging her further down, making her sink into the mattress despite her intention to not succumb to it but unable to fight for much longer against her heavy eyelids and the too-compelling thought of laying her head down for just a couple of minutes.

"I'll wake you up," Alex assures her, her velvety voice as soft and as gentle as the most delicate caress. "I promise."

And it's that promise or rather that deep voice and the softness of that tone, what lulls her right to that place that stands in between sleep - right before that final jump into that vast realm - and wakefulness. Leaving her to wonder if she is actually dreaming or has simply just imagined the feeling of a hand, the warm soft touch of gentle fingers tuck that rebel strand of hair brushing her cheek, behind her ear. Or even the thumb that may linger there for a few moments longer, tracing that shell with the same infinite softness.

All Piper knows is that she seeks more of it- of that... confidently firm gentleness.

Leaning blissfully into its warmth.

. . .

"You went through my snacks again?"

It's late, the club is empty and silent, and Alex has just finished taking care of the last few things - like check the takings, making sure everyone had left, turn off the hot tubs - just as she usually does before closing up and leaving - when Nicky's voice reaches her at the reception from the bar along with the sound of the fridge behind the counter getting opened, followed by the unmistakable clinking noise of glass against glass as her partner retrieves two beer bottles.

"Don't worry," Alex answers reassuringly, shutting down the screen of the reception before standing up and stretching her... uncharacteristically sore back. She winces slightly and presses her hand on the lower part near her kidnesy as she rounds the desk and approaches the bar. "I went out earlier to get a few things and I've already restocked everything I took." She tells her friend.

"Yeah, I noticed." She hears Nicky chuckle. "Usually that's how I know you did it," Her friend tells her, flashing her an amused smirk as soon as she rounds the counter and steps into view.

"It's curious how that drawer tends to fill up with extra treats whenever you take something. You should really try that trick with the tip jar, Vause."

Now it's Alex's turn to chuckle at that quip, accepting the beer bottle that her friend uncaps for her and deciding to follow her to one of the small tables rounded by leather chairs near the window facing the street.

Taking a few minutes right now sounds truly wonderful. She's had... quite an intense afternoon followed by a pretty busy night. And even though she usually doesn't drink beer, she welcomes its refreshing, sparkling coolness and the taste of that delicate note of honey in the end that erases that bitter bite of the brew that has touched her tongue at the first sip. She might even sigh as she follows her friend's example and sits down on one of the chairs, although she does so much more elegantly respect Nicky, who just drops, tiredly, unceremonious, on the one across from her.

"So, you got a sudden drop in blood sugar or something?" If it wasn't for the hint of that already-forming smirk and that mischievous, knowing glint starting to shimmer into those dark eyes, Alex would even think - from that tone and the deceiving little crinkle forming between her eyebrows -that her friend was concerned.

She takes a sip another sip of her beer, holding a perfect poker face, even though, at this point, she wonders why she keeps putting such effort. Because it's not like Nicky, after all these years, hasn't learned to read right through her.

Still, Alex keeps the nonchalant act on. "Yeah, something like that..."

Seeming to realize that she isn't going to get anything more, Nicky drops the subject, even though Alex already knows that her friend might have grasped the reason that brought her to go through her personal snacks after a session...

She can feel a smile twitching at her lips at the reminder, and promptly hides it against the bottle lip, without taking a sip though this time.

"Well," Nicky sighs accepting defeat and refraining (luckily) from inquiring about today's appointment and how it went, since it seems to have become her favorite thing to do lately. "You are welcomed to take anything from stash any time you want, partner. So keep that in mind for next week. It's going to be quite a long night."

Her business partner can pretend to whine and groan and complain about all the preparations that stand behind such event, but Alex knows better, and she knows how much her friend loves this particular occasion and getting ready for it. Probably even more than she herself does.

"You can't wait, can you?" Alex asks her, smirking knowingly and Nicky's eyes actually sparkle with enthusiasm as her partner reveals that "I already got the suit I'm going to wear pressed, and the shoes polished."

"Of course you do." Alex chuckles. "I just hope they are going to properly fit in with the main theme though."

If possible, the sparkle of excitement into those dark pools brightens even more, lighting up her friend's entire face with the grin that stretches across her lips.

"Oh don't worry, Vause. You'll mistake me for a real gangster of the thirties." Her partner assures her, throwing her a wink.

Such excitement is deeply contagious, and Alex finds herself smiling as well.

"What about you though?" Nicky asks her then, unable to hide her obvious, bubbling curiosity. "Are you and Sylvia going to take the occasion to dress up as Bonnie and Clyde?"

Even though she knows that her partner is simply teasing her, Alex still frowns at that image, or rather at that assumption that she would even think about doing something like that and wear a suit matching with someone else's dress like a... couple would do.

Her frown deepens at that thought.

"Why would I..." She starts asking only to shake her head and dismiss her own question, opting to tickle her friend's imagination instead in order to distract herself from that... uncomfortable sensation twisting in her stomach.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to wait to see my choice of clothing for the night." She says, even managing to flash a small, enigmatic smile before taking another sip from her beer, but something is still sitting wrong with her. Weighting in her mind as much as that dull sensation that she can feel spreading further up into her chest.

"Also... Sylvia isn't coming." She informs, paying particular attention to the way Nicky might react at that bit of information, which, as Alex is starting to suspect, is the kind of detail her friend might have been subtly trying to get with that previous humorous comment.

"Being officially promoted to manager at the restaurant means that she has to stay beyond closing hours to take care of a few extra things, so I doubt she will make it."

It's a good thing, Alex thinks, that she is appreasing her friend so closely as she says that, otherwise the partial darkness would have even masked and prevented her to catch that look that crosses her Nicky's features when she informs her of the redhead's absence during the special night. But Alex doesn't miss the way her partner's expression drops a bit upon hearing that. Or the soft sound of not-quite-disappointment that slips past her lips.

"Oh... I see."

What truly betrays her though, is the exaggerated nonchalance she puts in trying to settles into a more comfortable position on her chair, shrugging as if pretending that she doesn't care, which she obviously does, and leaves Alex wondering if maybe, given how often such behavior is coming out lately, given the awkward smiles and stuttered greetings and all of the almost-painful charade she has to assist whenever her friend finds herself in the same room Sylvia is, it is the case maybe to go through the whole thing once more, even though Nicky has already, repeatedly, waved off her... concerns on the matter.

She really didn't want to bring it out in the open, mostly for her friend's sake knowing how much Nicky hates this kind of things, but... Alex feels like she has no choice, and, at this point, she needs to have an answer and just know if her frequenting the redhead is having some impact on her best friend.

Because she knows who she would choose in that case.

Without even thinking about if for a second.

"Listen, Nicky," It's not the best of starts, she knows it, and it already, visibly, puts her friend on guard - even before she can settle her beer bottle on the small table between them and lean forward, resting her elbows on her knees and assuming that serious-conversation-coming posture. But even though neither she or Nicky are much into straightforwardness (not even when more serious things are involved) that's still the approach she chooses to have over this issue.

"Are you sure you are okay with..." She gestures vaguely, awkwardly, with her hand. "You know..." She mumbles. "Me and Sylvia-"

"Jesus Christ..." As expected, her best friend groans, rolling her eyes. "This better not be what I think it is, Alex." She warns pinching the bridge of her nose. "Not again. Because if it is I swear to you-"

"I'm just asking to be sure." Alex defends firmly, successfully interrupting whatever threat her friend was about to throw her way and waiting until she has calmed down enough and released a steamed breath through her nose before continuing, even though deciding to skip the part about her not having been so subtle in masking her... appreciation towards the redhead lately. Because she would probably deny that and the exposure would most definitely bruise her ego, too.

And so, Alex, with an awkward, nonchalant little shrug reminds her that, "We aren't... exclusive, you know." She doesn't know if that fact is supposed to feel comforting for Nicky or what. Because, after all, Alex could be wrong, about having read... things... in all of those occasions. She she just... throws that reminder there, deliberately avoiding her friend's gaze as she does so, leaving her that much of privacy at least and not reading into whatever her expression might give away before adding (much more tentatively) but with all of her honesty, "And if you'd want to give it a try... I wouldn't mind."

She really wouldn't. And a part of her knows that, at least in some minimal way, the thought should bother her a little, even if the other person - the so-called competition - would be her very best friend in the world.

Or maybe that fact should bother her a lot more. She really doesn't know...

All she knows is that when she dares to glance up again from the beer bottle in her hand, Nicky's eyes have widened like saucers upon receiving such a blatant suggestion. Her lips have parted with something like shock, but despite it, she still manages to snap her mouth shut before her jaw can actually drop.

But even though she succeeds in masking that expression pretty quickly, Alex should have knows that (even if her face shows still no trace of amusement) her actual response would have included shifting the whole conversation towards humor instead of the potential awkwardness it could bring if she would let it steer towards the much more serious and important core of the issue.

"Is this your way of telling me that you want to have a threesome with me and your non-girlfriend?"

There is it...

"Because I'll tell you right now... I could give some thought into that scenario." Her friend concludes throwing her a suggestive once over to which Alex simply responds by narrowing her eyes in a glare and flexing her jaw; fighting against the laugh that she feels itching and keeps trapped there in her chest.

It's not easy, but she won't allow humor to take over and let this whole conversation slip towards that easier route that Nicky usually takes and uses as a defense mechanism shortcut.

"I'm not joking, Nicky."

If the seriousness in her expression wasn't enough to prove that point, stating it openly definitely does.

Those dark chocolate eyes lock intensely with hers, mischievous smirk erased, as well as any trace of humor.

"I know, but this isn't high school either, Alex." Her friend says, somehow reprimanding, sounding maybe even a bit offended by the fact that she felt the need to bring up the subject.

"We are all grown women. And I already told you it was okay." Nicky repeats, almost exasperatedly. "Hell, I'm the one who has encouraged you when I saw that there was some... potential there." She reminds, running a hand through the unkept mass that is her reddish-blonde hair, sighing and taking a long breath to recollect her thoughts and get a hold of her emotions, finally seeming to have realized that Alex doesn't have any intention to let this thing slide without receiving a proper answer first.

"Would I like to knock boots with your super hot pseudo-girlfriend? Yes." She admits, guiltily, but it hardly surprises Alex hearing what she already suspected. "But I would also like to do that with half a dozen of regulars that I see coming here every night."

The humor that has been bubbling inside her chooses the worst possible moment to come out but, between Nicky's previous... invitation, and the "knocking boots" part, Alex has to lick her lips to hide the smile that she can feel starting to form there. Barely refraining from asking her friend if she happens to act like a babbling idiot in front of the rest of the clientele here at work too, because if that is the case, she should really spend less time at the reception then and enjoy such an endearing sight.

"...But anything more," Nicky continues, pulling her out from those thoughts, and Alex already knows even before she sees her friend shaking her head and looking positively terrified even just at the mere thought of getting into something that isn't strictly a one-night thing. "Nuh uh. I don't think so." She concludes taking a long, generous sip from her beer, craving for the light sting it brings as if to wash off and drown all of the uncomfortable emotions that such speech must have triggered in her.

There are... reasons, behind such approach.

Not the drinking, but the one night stands her friend indulges into every once in a while.

Justifiable reasons.

Even if old ones.

And Alex is starting to wonder... "Why?"

She decides to just ask it at last. Not to annoy her or prying, but because she is sincerely curious about why, after all this time, her friend still refuses to even try getting to know someone a bit more deeply, despite being indeed surrounded by women who fall under her unique, pungent humor and just-as-compelling charm. Because she knows, despite the bar not being the place she spends most of the time, that there isn't a night where she doesn't find her best friend surrounded by women at the counter, whenever she finds herself nearby. All of them attracted by her peculiarity and colorful personality.

For the first time since she has sat down talking with her friend, Nicky doesn't try to come up with something humorous to divert the conversation towards that safer route (and most likely dismiss it by doing so).

She grows a bit pensive instead, and... quite serious.

Alex can easily tell so from the way she avoids her gaze, releases a long breath through her nose and relents the nervous, restless bouncing of her leg and starts playing absently with the ring resting on the annular finger of her right hand still holding loosely the beer bottle instead.

It would look quite a casual gesture.

Distracted even.

But Alex knows it's far from that.

Just like she knows the answer that she is about to receive.

"My... My Sponsor." Nicky murmurs at last. "She... she said it was best to not get involved in anything with anyone for at least a year..."

Alex had a feeling she was going to hear that excuse again.

But it doesn't render her any less immune to that wave of sadness coming off from her best friend.

It clenches her heart and forms a little knot in her throat.

But that's hardly enough to prevent her from speaking, leaning forward once more and laying a gentle hand on her friend's knee when that nervous, frantic, bouncing starts once again.

It stops as soon as she lays her hand there and then, those dark eyes, the color of melted dark chocolate, find hers with tentativeness, still filled with all of that old sadness.

"That was almost two years ago, Nicky." Alex tells her, softly, as if afraid to spook her and disrupt this delicate balance her friend didn't make it easy for her to get to.

"You are no longer a recovering addict." She continues, smiling at her, reassuringly.

"You haven't had relapses, or fallen back into bad habits." Well... exception made for some occasional drinking, she thinks, eyeing the beer bottle, but there are only a few things that can be taken from her best friend at once. Alcohol drugs and sex together would have been too much.

Two out of three has been somehow more manageable. And Alex has been there to make sure she didn't sway during her recovering journey. As much as she could anyway.

And as much as Nicky allowed that.

"Yeah, right." She hears her best friend scoffs, awkwardly, self-reprimanding, bitterly, shaking her head... but not pulling back from the hand still resting comfortingly on her knee. "And neither I did last time," She reminds. "At least until..."

Her voice trails off then, and those dark, expressive eyes of hers grow distant, pensive, mournful. Assuming that look that Alex knows far too well and that makes her own heart crack a bit open.

There is no need for her friend to continue.

She knows that story.

She knows how good Nicky was doing two years ago.

So good that she had started seeing someone. Inevitably let her guard down, fell in love, and everything was good until...

Until she got her heart broken.

Or maybe, thinking better of it, brutally shattered would be the most appropriate description actually.

Alex doesn't think she has ever seen anyone suffer the way her best friend had in that period.

She can't and doesn't even want to imagine how horrible that pain must feel like.

It was more than enough for her to see the strong woman she thinks of as a sister reduced to the shadow of herself.

As she shakes herself from that dark period and those awful memories, Alex knows that she has two choices here.

She could coddle her friend and bring back up the past, risking to re-open those still tender wounds. Or... she could just give her that extra, encouraging push that would kick away that self-pity that might still linger under that armor made of sarcasm and pungent humor.

Having reached her decision (the only reasonable decision) Alex takes the beer bottle from her friend's hand and sets it down on the table beside her own, ignoring the "hey!" of protest that doing so earns her, and just preparing to give her friend the speech that she should have given her a long time ago if this is really what has been stalling her.

"Look, it's happened to everyone, okay? But you can't hold back forever from getting yourself into the game again just out of fear about what could or could not happen if you get to know a little better someone you like, Nicky."

Her friend is not a coward.

But if such motivation, if that fear is indeed what has sunk its fangs so deeply into her that she keeps bleeding because of it after all this time, then Alex must find a way to tear it out of her.

A few, long moments of silence pass, but when Nicky's gaze finds hers again, this time out of her own volition - slowly lifting it from where it had been distractedly fixed on the floor - the last thing Alex expect to see on her friend's face, once the thick mass of her hair allows her to take a glimpse of it, is a smile.

And that's already enough to throw her off balance.

But not as much as the question that Nicky presents her just a moment later.

"Is that why you hold back, too?"

The quizzical inquiry comes with a curious, deeply attentive and quite knowing look.

As if her friend has just realized something she couldn't piece together before. Like in one of those optical illusions where she couldn't see the other figure hiding within the same image, but that looks just so obvious and clear to her right now that she can't see anything else beside it.

Alex, however, just frowns under such scrutiny, utterly confused.

"What?" She asks, but ends up dismissing the question before she can actually give a chance for Nicky to answer it, realizing that this is most certainly one of her friend's attempts to divert her attention from the subject. From herself.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you deserve a chance to try." Alex summarizes. "I mean... After all this time... You have matured, Nicky. And might even own it to yourself to give it a try."

She knows that her words hit a spot. Nicky visibly reacts to them but... Alex can still see it.

As soon as she concludes that speech.

That expression on her partner's face.

That soft-looking smile that seems to see right through her lingering confusion and pick up that unconscious part of her that has understood (perfectly) her friend's previous, quizzical question.

"So you don't think you do then?" Nicky asks her this time and... Alex's had enough of this game.

"Why are you trying to make this about me?" She demands, trying not to lose her patience even though she is pretty damn close to exasperation. "We are talking about you here, Nicky."

"Are we?"

The softness of the tone and the unexpected gentleness that she finds in the smile that her friend is giving her - which is actually almost startling in its nature - doesn't make that question sound like an accusation, but it still makes Alex stiffen up.

The implication in there is more than enough. And this time she doesn't dare to say anything and risk putting herself under the spotlight instead. Not that she'd have anything to hide. Even though... That look that Nicky is giving her makes her realize that there might be something that she herself hasn't properly acknowledged yet.

...or deliberately decided to dismiss and look past it.

Whatever the case may be, all she knows for sure is that if this is some kind of trick Nicky is playing (which wouldn't surprise Alex in the slightest if it were) just to get her off her back and to make her stop fussing over her brooding state, then she has most definitely succeeded in diverting the entire focus of the conversation.

"I better get going," Nicky says, standing up, groaning when her knees pop as she does so, and reaching for her beer on the table before Alex can wrap her mind around what exactly her friend might have been alluding to, or even think about how to respond to her not-accusation.

"You finished with yours?"

Alex blinks out from the haze of doubts and confusion clouding her mind, glancing down at the beer bottle left on the table.

There isn't much left, but she doesn't feel like finishing it with the swirl of emotions that has started twisting in her stomach just as the doubts are doing in her mind.

She just shakes her head at last and wordlessly passes it to her friend, who finishes it in one big gulp.

"I'll get out the trash tonight," She tells Nicky as soon as she feels like she has regained enough of her composure back, standing from the chair and taking the two empty bottles from her. "You go ahead and go home, I'll finish down here. I... I got a few things that I need to... sort through, back in my office anyway." She lies, plainly. Poorly. And for a moment, Nicky (so completely unconvinced by such excuse) looks like she might call her out on that one or even just protest about her staying late, but then, sensing the need for space in that badly veiled lie, she just nods.

"Sure. Just... don't stay too late, okay partner?" Her friend tells her, with genuine concern etching her features, even though that question seems to once again be referring to that something else they have been not-quite-discussing in the past few minutes, making that recommendation sound more like a "Try to not overthink stuff" and her look of concern appears more like one of apology for having elicited such reaction in her.

Alex however, simply nods in response, going to retrieve the trash bag filled with empty bottles from behind the counter and throwing away the two in her hand while her friend slips into her coat and gets ready to leave.

She doesn't though.

Not immediately. And Alex can feel that dark gaze piercing her back in the stillness of the moment until, at last, she decides to just turn around.

"What is it, Nicky?"

"Look, I eh... I appreciate the pep talk." Her friend tells her, honestly, even if awkwardly. "I do. And I promise I'll give it some thought. But..." She pauses, pondering over a thought that is making her quite squirmy. "In case, after you have... sorted things through in your office, you'll need a listening ear... you know you can always borrow mine."

Alex doesn't reply to that. Mostly because she doesn't know how, since she is not used to hear her best friend make such an offer.

It's just not something that they generally do actually.

The whole confiding-thing. Not in such a direct way anyway as most people do, but... she does chuckle when her friend throws her what's supposed to be a wink meant to add lightness and that hint of comforting playfulness to that offer, before deepening her voice and adding a sultry, teasingly seductive "The good one, too."

That little laugh that she breathes through her nose seems to be enough for Nicky, who, apparently, really didn't seem willing to leave without some kind of reassurance that they are... good, even if they have both kind of got deep into a particularly delicate conversation that has ended up eliciting a lot of confusing, troubling feelings in both of them.

"Goodnight Nicky."

"Night partner." With that and one last smile, Nicky heads for the front door and leaves, venturing into the dark cold winter night.

Alex watches her go until she is out of sight and then sighs, looking around the quietness of the club; an emptiness into which her friend's earlier words and implication seems to echo much louder in her mind, no matter how hard she tries to push them into the background.

Inevitably though, even if just the thought alone makes her uncomfortable for reasons she still doesn't want to look too much into, she tries to picture how a relationship - a real, committed relationship - with Sylvia would look and feel like. Because that's what her friend must have been hinting at earlier by turning those questions back to her, right?

And if that's the case, then sure... She has definitely no problem in admitting that she obviously likes the redhead. She is funny, smart, very attractive, and the sex is good enough that Alex has collected a fair amount of pleasant memories whenever they end up in bed.

But...

Somehow, she still finds herself frowning.

As if there is a component there, in those thoughts, in those actual moments that she has lived, that is simply... missing.

Something that she searches for and that her mind, eventually, provides.

But with images taken from a more recent memory...

A memory where those gray eyes lose their glint of mischief and gain a color that resembles more the one of a clearer, warmer summer sky filled with wonder.

Where the loud groans of pleasure are replaced by a softer, breathier, quivering gasp.

And where a sultry laugh and sharp, seductive smile is replaced by a smoother one laced with an attractive layer of shyness and adorned by... twin dimples.

Alex tears herself away from those thoughts only to feel her own heart jolting, hammering in her chest. Violently enough to make her breath stutter.

Even that feeling in her stomach is back.

That weird, fluttery-like sensation that she finds worrying in its foreignness. But also, undeniably... pleasant.

She does her best to ignore it, dragging the trash bag over to the front door, deciding that the few things she needs to take care of in her office can wait till tomorrow.

She just retrieves her things and coat before closing up.

Because even though work helps her in setting her mind straight, right now she really craves the night air.

Hoping that its cold embrace will bring some numbness to that swirl of sensations rolling excitedly inside of her and that keeps making her heart flip helplessly all over itself in an equally excited, frantic staccato.

A morse code that spells trouble and that hammers even more relentlessly against her ribs whenever her mind drifts back to earlier this afternoon.

To that post-coital moment spent in between genuinely easy laughs and light teasing and...

Fuck.

Maybe, after all, Nicky wasn't talking about Sylvia earlier.

And, as if it weren't enough, adding to that thought follow all the others about the very recent times her friend has teased her (and not-so-subtly inquired) about her sessions with...

The slap of realization is far sharper than the one she receives once she steps outside and into the night, which chilly embrace though does absolutely nothing to soothe that feeling that is still there, coiling in her stomach... and sneaking further up into her chest.

There is no other way for her to describe it that isn't glorious and terrifying at the same time.

And what scares her the most is exactly that inconsistency.

...or maybe it's the way such sensation tickles her heartstrings.

---

I think that some questions, as well as some doubts, might have received an answer in this chapter... Ah, when I say you guys need to trust me and let the story unfold and you don't because you are just so impatient, even though... I might take a certain pleasure in teasing :P