7.
Andy gave Miranda one last look before she silently closed the door, giving Miranda plenty of privacy to talk to her daughters. A part of her desperately wanted to be there to support the older woman as she reunited with her girls, but she and Miranda did not have that kind of relationship.
"Not yet," a small yet insistent voice in her head added.
She sent up a silent prayer hoping that the conversation went well on both sides. It was easy to tell that the girls loved and desperately missed their mother. Andy had also read the note from Miranda to her girls, so she knew just how much it hurt the other woman to be separated from them. She wondered what kind of man the girls' father could be to separate his children from a loving mother like Miranda.
It did not speak well for the man's character and his involvement in the scheme suggested that he even wanted his ex-wife dead. Andy hoped that wasn't the case because she did not want to see those girls suffer any more than they already had. For now, Andy decided to put her energy towards getting Miranda healthy again. She would focus bringing the twins back into Miranda's life and unwinding the string of other recent tragedies that had befallen the woman.
To that end, the CEO pulled out her phone and sent a message to Lily inviting her over the next day for lunch followed by a conversation with her new client. She decided not to bother Sam for know, knowing that her ex would surface as soon as she had something important to share. It still angered her greatly that these people were playing god with Miranda's life just like her uncle Robert hin years before. Her uncle had paid the price, and Andy promised herself that she would see justice done on Miranda's behalf as well.
It did not take long, after she made it downstairs, for the food to arrive. She paid the delivery girl, tipping generously, then laid the vast array of Italian comfort foods on the kitchen island. She wasn't sure what Miranda liked to eat or if she'd even be awake for this meal, and yet looking at the broad spread she realized that she might have gone a little overboard. It reminded Andy that despite her growing feelings, she really didn't know the former editor all that well.
"What do I know about her?" Andy asked herself.
"I know she loves her daughters
That she has real problems.
That she tried so hard to restart her life despite those problems.
That she gave up on life."
That last part wounded her heart.
"That despite everything she's still alive.
That she's lovely."
Andy could feel a blush creep up her cheeks as she recalled her efforts to warm the silver-haired beauty on that first night. The older woman's body was thinner than it should be and yet her curves were still quite appealing. Then there were those striking blue eyes that so easily captivated the younger woman. Andy was coming to realize that she'd never fallen for a woman so fast.
"Not even with Sam," Andy thought to herself. It amazed her because she and Sam had instant and lasting chemistry. The last time they'd made love was somehow better than it had ever been. She always wondered why her instincts told her not to marry the younger woman.
"Because, she's who you've been waiting for," that same part of her brain informed her.
As if her thoughts could summon, Miranda stepped into the kitchen.
"Are you expecting someone to join us?" Miranda asked with the little Mona Lisa smile on her face that Andy was growing to adore.
Andy blushed again as her eyes fell upon the massive spread of food.
"Well, I wasn't sure what you liked so that I may have ordered most of the menu," she admitted.
The little smile on Miranda's face grew broader making it clear that the older woman was enjoying giving her dinner companion a hard time.
Andy smiled back and could no longer resist the need to touch the other woman. Andy reached out and touched Miranda's arm gently before asking.
"How did it go?"
Before Miranda could reply their eyes met then held for a long, intense moment. Andy finally took a step back but did not let go, as she allowed her desire to kiss the other woman senseless to ebb. The intensity of her feelings should have scared the crap out of her, and maybe they did, but right now she could not bring herself to care. Andy felt like whatever was going to happen between them was almost out of either of their hands.
Without knowing how, Andy was keenly aware that Miranda felt the same way. The only real question was if the woman was willing to accept it as easily as Andy herself had.
Miranda's eyes darkened with a sudden and unexpected desire for the younger woman. She could tell that Andy wanted to kiss her and despite a complete lack of experience with the fairer sex, she most definitely welcomed it too. When Andy stepped back, she felt both relief and disappointment. There was a strange sense of their inevitability hanging in the air.
"Maybe it was just how much she missed plain human contact," Miranda speculated to herself. After a few regrettable incidents of trying to use sex as a tool to mask her pain, she'd given up. For the last year, her hand had been the only thing that gave her pleasure. Miranda's thoughts inevitably turned back to Andy's question and the guilt that her call with the girls had reignited.
Her girls had been thrilled to hear from her but the feeling that she had let them down knawed at her. Eventually, she'd had to cut the conversation short as that feeling turned into deep and painful guilt. She promised them that they would talk again tomorrow, so she hoped she could get her emotions under control by then.
Miranda still couldn't fathom why she'd chosen to abandon her girls. She understood the suicide attempt on a clinical level, and yet she could not connect to the state of mind that drove her actions.
Gentle pressure on her arm pulled the older woman away from those dark thoughts. She looked into brown eyes and was comforted by the affection, empathy and well love that she saw there. It amazed the older woman that Andy could say so much with her expressive, warm eyes. Miranda cleared her throat before she relayed the high points of her conversation with her girls. They were overjoyed to hear from their mother and to know she was OK. They still were not happy with their father for misleading them about Miranda's supposed demise. The conversation had left her with some serious questions about Greg's actions.
"Did you tell my girls to lie to their father?" Miranda asked.
After the words came out of her mouth, she realized that it sounded like more of an accusation than she intended. Given the circumstances, Andy's request was sensible. She was surprised, however, that her girls had so readily agreed to trust Andy, who was a virtual stranger, so easily.
"But you trust her," the voice in the back of Miranda's mind added.
And it was true, for some reason she trusted the other woman completely even is she couldn't say why.
Before Andy could answer Miranda decided to rephrase the question, "Why didn't you want the girls to tell their father that I was alive?"
Andy was thoughtful for a moment before she decided to just tell the truth," Because I don't trust him. There is no way that I would have told your girls that you were gone unless I was able to confirm it with my own eyes."
Miranda had wondered the same thing, so she voiced her concern. As she kept talking Miranda found herself opening up much more than she intended, "I've put my girls through so much over the years and now this."
There were no tears just a deep sadness Miranda felt in her soul. Andy wanted to make things better, but for now, all she could do was offer sustenance.
"Why don't we eat a little then we can talk more." Andy offered.
When Miranda consented, Andy stood then grabbed plates, silverware, and glasses for them both. Miranda listened as Andy described the entrees and side dishes on the counter. Andy poured them both a glass of sparkling water then asked Miranda what she would like to eat. Andy made them both a plate of food then touched the other woman's back briefly as she sat the plate in front of her. Andy took the chair next to Miranda, and they began to eat. Miranda was strangely unconcerned by Andy's frequent intrusions into her personal space. In fact, she found the young woman's proximity comforting. Her mind noted almost continual contact as their knees grazed each other before finally settling against one another while they ate.
When dinner was done, Andy cleared both plates before depositing everything into the dishwasher. She put away the remaining food then joined Miranda back at the island.
It was quiet for a moment until both women smiled at their sudden shyness.
Finally, it was Miranda who broke the silence, "I think we've already shared enough with each other to skip the awkward getting to know you portion of this."
Miranda paused on the last word before taking the tiger by the tail by adding the word, "relationship."
Andy liked the sound of that, but there was something she needed to say before they could move forward.
"I want to make something clear," Andy began.
"I know that you've been put through the wringer and it would be natural for you not to trust me."
Miranda disagreed with that statement but allowed the younger woman to finish her thought without interruption.
"I would like to offer my assistance in getting you back on your feet and in regaining access to your girls. It is clear to me from one conversation that those girls love you very much."
"I want to make it perfectly clear that my offer comes with no strings attached," Andy added firmly.
Andy pulled up the banking app on her phone then showed the other woman before she said, "I took the liberty of opening a new bank account in your name. There should be enough money in there to accomplish both those goals so if you want to walk away from me, you may do so at any point."
Miranda looked at the phone and was stunned to see a one followed by seven zeros sitting in the account. She handed back the phone before she responded, "Andy, That is far too generous."
"Not really, I am the CEO and majority owner of a multi-billion dollar company and to be honest between salary and investments I clear that amount every few months."
"My god," Miranda thoughts as things began to make more sense. Andy's home was expensive but not opulent meaning she could live a far more extravagant lifestyle than the one she chose.
"My corporate counsel Lily is reviewing the court documents from the custody hearing. I invited her over for lunch tomorrow so she can relay the next steps if you decide you want her on the case."
If at any point you decide you don't want a relationship with me the bank account is yours, and you can deal directly with Lily or your new attorney."
Miranda looked at the other woman in amazement.
"How did you grow up wealthy and still be this selfless?' Miranda asked.
Andy blinked a few times not quite sure how to answer. Yes, she'd grown up wealthy and even when she went to live with Lily's Gran and Gramps her standard of living didn't change much.
"I don't know; I've just always felt this way, " was Andy's honest yet straightforward answer.
Given Andy's far too generous offer of help with no strings attached, Miranda accepted. She also somehow knew it didn't really matter. In her heart, she did not believe Andy was capable of abandoning her like so many others had.
"Including you," a dark part of her psyche added.
"There are some other things that you need to know, and they're not good," Andy said as a preamble.
Miranda sat in silence as Andy laid out all she had discovered about Miranda's troubles as well as her and the girl Sam's speculations about a larger conspiracy.
It was surreal for Miranda to see her recent troubles through an entirely new lens. She'd always suspected that Stephen had done something underhanded to get their prenup invalidated, but never would she have guessed that Greg could be so heartless.
"How much of this can we actually prove?" Miranda asked as Andy finished her retelling.
"All of it, but doing so without revealing how we came across the information may be difficult. Sam's methods are, shall we say unorthodox."
It surprised Miranda that Andy would associate with someone so willing to skirt the law. Not that Miranda minded, she was grateful that this girl, who'd she never met, was willing to do so much on her behalf. Then again she was probably doing it for Andy. Miranda wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. It was clear that Andy trusted both Lily and Sam, but there seemed to be more there between Andy and Sam. Even though she'd only known Andy for such a short period, she had to admit to feeling a certain possessiveness. She wondered how Sam fit into Andy's life, but she wasn't ready to broach that subject, yet.
Miranda tried and failed to stifle a yawn, which caused Andy to check her watch.
"Gosh, I didn't realize how late it was. If it's OK with you, why don't we finish this conversation in the morning?" Andy suggested.
Andy offered her arm and Miranda gratefully accepted it allowing the younger woman to escort her up the stairs. They took turns in the ensuite preparing for bed. There was an awkward moment when the two met next to the large king size bed. Ever the gentlewoman, Andy gave Miranda the bed as she grabbed a pillow and made to move to her chair. Miranda slipped into the bed while she watched the other woman arrange herself in the oversized chair. After several minutes trying to get comfortable, Miranda wondered if she should have invited the younger woman to at least lie next to her. Before she could voice that thought, she slipped into sleep.
Sam pulled into her private garage and parked her bike next to her latest toy. The Audi E-Tron was a cutting edge all-electric sports car that wasn't even on the market yet. The car was a gift from her girlfriend who was able to buy it early through a profitable business arrangement with the German automaker. Mia had lots of those connections, but that wasn't what Sam loved about the older woman. Mia was just the most fantastic thing that had ever happened to Sam period end of sentence. She ran her hand along the sleek body, as she remembered riding in the passenger seat of this very car as Mia drove them far faster than was advisable.
They'd just finished making love, but neither of them was ready to sleep. So Mia suggested they take a drive. It was one of Sam's favorite memories, watching Mia's silky brown tresses blowing in the wind. Later, Mia had admitted how free she felt when she was with Sam. It brought a tear to Sam's eyes knowing that Mia found a freedom in their time together that her highly regimented life did not always allow.
Sam put Mia out of her mind for now as she moved toward the elevator. A moment later, she strolled into her empty apartment dropping her leather jacket and helmet as she went. She walked to the far end of her loft and placed her bag on a metal bench she used to build and repair computer hardware. She extracted the hard drives and the little box before booting up a desktop computer. The machine was air gaped meaning it wasn't connected to any other network, which made it perfect for tonight's mission. She hooked up each drive then ran a diagnostic program that would check for both malware and tracing software. When the drives came up clean, she opened one at random and began to explore the data.
After several minutes she'd already cataloged thousands of files. She chose a file at random, then found herself looking down into Miranda's bedroom. Since the shot began with Miranda walking through the door, Sam speculated that the cameras were motion activated. She chose several more files all of which began with the older woman moving into frame.
She wondered what the people who bugged her apartment were hoping to see as she watched yet another video at thirty times normal speed. As the video played on, Sam blushed then averted her eyes as Miranda appeared to be attempting a manual release.
"You knew that was a possibility," she told herself as she pretended to find the brick wall in her loft interesting. By the time she looked back at the screen, Miranda lay on her side asleep. Sam was about to go to the next video when she realized the video still had hours left to run. She continued to watch as every few moments the woman tossed and turned in her sleep.
Playing a hunch, Sam opened the video for the next night. She decided to jump it ahead of the time Miranda had fallen asleep the night before hoping to avoid catching the woman's other late-night activity. It did not work out as planned, as Sam started the video just in time to witness Miranda's O'face in crystal clear HD. Sam felt her blush return in full force as she tried to drag her eyes away from the sensual look on Miranda's striking features as the older woman orgasmed.
Sam looked back at the screen and witnessed an almost exact repeat of Miranda's previous night of restless sleep.
Not wanting to chance catching the woman her friend was falling for in another compromising position, Sam gave up on the video search for the time being. Besides, if she needed more information from the video, she could always have the woman herself take on the task. It pissed her off to know that whoever was monitoring Miranda would have no regard for the other woman's privacy.
She grabbed a nearby laptop then opened the sniffer program that was tied to the tracing malware she'd left on the video server. There was no activity, so she set up an alarm that would ping her phone whenever the malware went active. Finally, she took the stolen hard drives and stored them in her wall safe.
She stepped back to her desk and turned her attention to the black box sitting there. She started by placing the box under an led magnifying glass and examined all six sides. It did not take very long to determine that the outside of the box was truly free of markings. What she did find was two sets of screws on the bottom of the device. She removed all four screws allowing the bottom to slide free revealing several circuit boards. After using the magnifying glass, Sam was able to determine who manufactured the boards. She used the built-in camera to take a series of pictures of the inside of the device. Despite her engineering background, Sam couldn't deduce the purpose of the device but the company that made the board specialized in medical equipment.
She was a little too worn out to follow up on this lead, but she knew someone who could. She sent a quick message to her fellow hacker Invictus asking if he was up for doing a little research. They agreed on a price, she sent him the high-resolution photos, and he promised to produce results by morning.
Sam sighed then stretched as the last several days caught up in a rush of fatigue. She headed to her bedroom stripping off clothes as she walked through the door. She was down to just a pair of black panties by the time she reached her bathroom. She quickly completed her nightly routine then climbed into bed. She checked her phone and grinned when she saw texts from Mia.
Mia: You are ruining my focus
Mia: All day in important meetings and all I can do is think about you
With a grin, Sam sent back her response.
Sam: Miss you too sweetie, we'll talk tomorrow, my tomorrow not yours
"Sometimes having your girlfriend six time zones away sucked," Sam thought as she put her phone down.
When Sam closed her eyes images of Mia's body under hers immediately came to mind. As unlikely as their meeting and subsequent romance was, Sam could not get enough of the other woman. The feeling was mutual, but Mia's schedule was hectic leaving them with little time together of late. Sam opened her eyes and grabbed her phone. She pulled up her favorite photo of Mia then sat the phone next to her on the pillow.
She imagined Mia's hands touched her as she explored her own body. When a hand eventually found it's way into her panties she discovered that she was soaking wet. She knew it was more than just MIa. The rush of adrenaline that came after knocking out that pervert caused a spike in hormones that always left her aroused. Seeing Miranda's face during orgasm certainly factored in, but she chose not to dwell on that fact. She rolled onto her side then reached into her nightstand. She pulled out her rabbit vibrator wanting to take full advantage of her well-lubricated state. She closed her eyes and pictured the device in Mia's hand. She slipped out of her panties, turned on the vibrator, then moved it into position.
"Oh, that's good," Sam whispered as she made contact with her outer lips. She slid the head up and down enjoying the sensation of her own slickness. She spent moments sliding it back and forth coating her lips with her own moisture. She shuddered as the vibrating tip came closer to her clit than she intended. Sam rolled onto her side recreating a position that Mia had put her in the last time they'd been together. She loved it when Mia took control so, she imagined her girlfriend's weight straddling her body as she slid the rabbit home.
"Oh, Mia" Sam cried out as the rabbit worked its way fully inside of her. Sam took a moment to enjoy the sensation of being full. She felt herself begin to clench around the foreign object prompting her to start a slow in and out motion just like Mia had. It still surprised her how quickly the older woman learned to master Sam's body. She picked up the pace as her need for release built effortlessly. In moments Sam was panting as she fucked herself with increasingly faster strokes until finally, bright light exploded behind her closed eyes.
"Mia, she moaned as she shoved the rabbit home one last time.
She felt her muscles tighten around the device as she drew the orgasm out for all it was worth. As her body calmed, she withdrew the rabbit before putting it away. She rolled onto her other side and quickly fell asleep.
AN: Sorry for the delay in posting but my weekend was hectic. Sam is moving closer to unraveling the mystery while Andy and Miranda are getting to know each other. Expect more of that for them in the next chapter. The next chapter will also feature a cameo by a couple that I really like. It's not the other fandom I promised just a pit stop that will also help move the story forward. As I said from the beginning, I have this story more or less worked out, and there is a lot more to tell. There are more surprises to come so stay tuned.
I am doing my best to update once a week so bear with me. I appreciate all the positive feedback, so thank you all.