Now to see how Sara feels about this whole situation.
God damn it, Oliver.
Sara knows he's competitive and good at improvising in a fight, but she really thought she had him beat. She is the one laying on the ground with Felicity straddling her hips, after all. But, of course, she forgot his ultimate trump card: those abs. They were nice before the island, but now they're impossible to ignore. She hasn't felt that way about him in a long time, but even she isn't immune.
She knows Felicity isn't. It was hard to miss the hungry look on her face when Oliver brought up the salmon ladder and it was impossible to miss the way she unconsciously ground herself against Sara when he took his shirt off.
She's got to get Felicity's attention back on her. So, she grips the other woman's hands a little harder in hers and slides them straight up above her head along the ground so Felicity is forced to lean down. It has the added benefit of making her turn from Oliver and she looks down with that sexy, mischievous smile on her face that Sara's grown so fond of.
"Nice move, Smoak," she says. "I'll have to compliment Diggle on his training techniques."
"Diggle didn't teach me that one," Felicity replies, but, unfortunately, doesn't elaborate. Even more unfortunate, she climbs off Sara and stands, reaching down a hand to help her up. Sara quirks her brow questioningly, but Felicity just smiles and turns away, contemplating Oliver as he stretches on the other side of the mats.
Not for the first time, Sara looks after her and wonders if Felicity has any idea how sexy she can be. At the very least, she seems to have an idea of how physically attractive she is. Few women can wear a tight dress as well as Felicity Smoak can. But when it comes to the way she teases them both or how aware she is of this little game Sara's started, she isn't sure. In the time they've known each other, Sara's come to believe that Felicity's most charming moments are those she doesn't plan, but they also made it pretty difficult to discern if she was even interested. She eventually found a surefire indicator, though. Her favorite thing about Felicity's guilelessness (besides the sexually suggestive verbal gaffes, of course), is her seeming inability to control her facial expressions. All a thought has to do is flit across her mind and it's written all over her face.
Right now, for instance, she's staring at Oliver with unbridled lust. Which wouldn't be so annoying if he weren't aware of it. He stands up from where he's stretching on the floor and gives Felicity a wolflike grin that has her blushing and turning away in embarrassment.
This just won't do. Sara may have asked Felicity to train with her hoping to torture Oliver, but she'll be damned if he thinks he's going to turn the tables and steal Felicity out from under her-so to speak. In her experience, Felicity is an equal opportunity ogler. So, she reaches down and takes off her shirt too, leaving her standing in just workout pants and a black sports bra. Felicity's reaction is immediate and she eyes Sara's body with the same look she was giving Oliver a moment before.
"OK," Sara says to draw her eyes upward, "let's see if you can do that again." Felicity doesn't respond, just nods dumbly with her mouth still agape. She squares her stance and her forehead crinkles as she gets that adorable little serious look on her face that means she's thinking through a problem. She finally makes her move, but Sara can see after one step that she's telegraphing her attack and dodges it easily. They continue to circle each other and though Felicity's staring pretty intently at Sara's abdomen as they do, she seems unwilling to place her hands on the bare skin. On the one hand, Sara appreciates that she doesn't take advantage of the situation considering what Sara's told her about her past (though it seems a little ironic given that Felicity seems to have no problem with intimate physical contact in all other situations). On the other hand, she took off her shirt for a reason.
The next time Felicity swings at her, Sara ducks down to avoid it and grabs her leg. She lightly checks her in the stomach with her shoulder and then twists her to the ground so that Felicity is on her back and she's kneeling next to her with Felicity's leg still cradled under her arm.
"Got you," Sara says triumphantly. Felicity smiles up at her, narrowing her eyes in challenge, and Sara drops her leg, letting her fingers linger on the exposed skin just below the hem of Felicity's workout shorts. She seems to notice and she looks like she's going to say something about it as Sara helps her up when she's suddenly distracted by the clanging sounds of Oliver climbing the salmon ladder. Sara looks over too and while she won't deny it's impressive, she can feel Felicity's attention slipping away from her with every clank of the bar. It also doesn't help that Oliver is smirking while he does it.
"Try again," Sara commands a little roughly and Felicity snaps her head around to look at her again. As before, she gets that serious look on her face as she prepares to attack and as before, Sara easily avoids her. This time, however, she grabs Felicity's wrist with one hand and grips her shoulder with the other, kicking her in the back of the knee and forcing her to a kneeling position. Felicity, looks up at her, clearly annoyed at getting taken down so easily when she's distracted yet again as the sounds from the salmon ladder suddenly cease.
Sara turns to see Oliver hanging beneath the bar about three quarters of the way up. He pulls himself up so that he's holding his body flat above the bar, almost parallel with the sides of the ladder. The move seems effortless, like he's doing it without a thought, but it's clearly calculated to draw Felicity's attention. And it works.
"Again," Sara growls and pulls Felicity up from the ground. She looks a little startled at Sara's roughness, but doesn't comment. They take their positions on the mats again and this time, Sara doesn't wait for Felicity to move. She lunges at her and though Felicity quickly sidesteps her first attack, Sara catches her a moment later, tackling her to the ground and landing so she's laying on top of her between her legs.
"Oof, OK," Felicity grunts after they land. "I give, you win," she grumbles. "Now spare my life."
"I'm sorry," Sara says, her voice full of the regret she feels for getting so aggressive. "Are you OK?" she asks softly and moves her hands to the sides of Felicity's face. She smiles up at her and brings a hand up to encircle Sara's wrist comfortingly.
"I'm fine," Felicity says softly and looks at Sara so reassuringly that it reminds her of all the reasons she started flirting with her in the first place. Her fingers brush through the edges of Felicity's hair and-on impulse-she lifts Felicity's head up slightly so she can take her hair out of its ponytail, muttering, "I love how you look with your hair down," as she does.
But she makes the mistake of turning Felicity to face Oliver and she can actually see the moment Felicity shifts her focus to him. She turns a jealous eye toward him and finds Oliver hanging upside down from the salmon ladder doing possibly the hottest crunches in the history of crunches. She understands perfectly why Felicity wants to watch, but that doesn't mean she has to stand for it. She leans forward onto her elbows and runs her fingers through Felicity's hair, delighting in how beautiful she looks with its soft waves splayed out around her face. Felicity turns back to her then, her expression tender at first but turning desirous when she quickly glances at where Sara's lips hover just inches from hers and Sara decides she's done playing games. At this point, she's got nothing to lose.
And the gamble pays off better than she expects. Felicity doesn't hesitate; the moment their lips meet, her whole body responds. Her thighs squeeze more tightly around Sara's waist and her nails scrape deliciously over the skin of her back, moving over the scars like she doesn't even notice them. Sara's just thinking that Felicity is a phenomenal kisser and sliding both hands under her shirt when a terrific crashing sound draws their attention. She looks across the room and finds Oliver sprawled out on the floor under the salmon ladder, scrubbing a hand through his hair and looking a little dazed.
"Are you ok?" Felicity asks, worried.
"I'm fine," he replies, picking himself up off the ground and avoiding their gazes. "I'll give you two some space," he adds, his face flushed—likely from some combination of embarrassment, arousal and the physical strain of his workout. Sara smirks at him then, knowing she's won, and he scowls back. But then, as always, Felicity surprises them both.
"Or you could join us," she suggests, her voice deep and rough with lust.
"Well I'll be god damned," Sara mutters.
Thanks for reading and, please, let me know what you thought. I worked very hard trying to make Sara's voice distinct from Oliver's and I'd love to hear if I did.
Next chapter should be up by the end of the week.