Rated M for Mature.
The last thing Piper wanted to do that Saturday was hang around her crude mother. She announced that she would be out most of the day, going to the local bookstore and helping the owner print labels for the homemade jam she made every summer. Piper was obsessed with the woman's strawberry preserves, and every June since high school, she'd get three jars to take home for helping her design and print labels for the jars.
It had been mostly an uplifting day, and Piper successfully kept her mind off Alex for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. She drove back home around dinner time and remembered that she needed to return Alex's clothes. She'd take the garments in a brown paper bag and write a note once she was there, thanking the brunette for allowing her to borrow them.
"I'll be back later," she called to whoever was in the living room before slipping on her flip flops and shutting the door behind her.
Piper walked the familiar path to Alex's cottage, noticing that her truck wasn't in the driveway. It wasn't uncommon for the brunette to leave the front door open with the screen door shut so she could benefit from a constant breeze in the small space. Anytime she'd been to Alex's cottage, her iPod or NPR was playing, and that day was no different. She could hear Terry Gross introduce a guest on Fresh Air, and it brought a smile to the blonde's face as she imagined warm summer days when Alex would chop potatoes or pluck the strings on her guitar while listening to an NPR interview.
While they'd worked in the massive yards or houses along Sand Point Road, Piper and Alex would often discuss current events. The blonde had to admit that her companion knew at least one detail about everything from corporate mergers to farming in America. She'd told Piper that she owed much of her random knowledge to listening to NPR, though she also read the Sunday Times.
Piper trekked down to the red Adirondack chairs and set the bag of clothes down, taking in the stunning view. Her mind was immediately flooded with images of sitting outside with Alex, eating, laughing, and talking. It had been so easy to fall in step with her—like they'd known each other in another lifetime. Piper wished that she'd had the chance to ask the brunette if she believed in past lives, and if Alex did, she had a book to recommend about the subject.
She pulled out the small notepad and pen that she'd stuffed into the bag and began writing.
Alex,
Thank you for allowing me
A voice from behind startled her. "Piper? What are you doing here?"
The blonde whipped her head around and was shocked to see Alex walking down from the shed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out of town?"
"I asked first."
Piper got a good look at the woman she'd once kissed—cascading black hair, faded jeans with a hole on one knee, and a light blue t-shirt with the Chevrolet emblem across her chest.
"I was writing you a note…" Piper set the pad of paper down on the arm of one of the Adirondack chairs. "I'm returning the clothes you let me borrow last week…I didn't think you'd be here."
"So it would be less awkward?" The brunette folded her arms, and Piper noticed she'd cut a V out of the neck of the shirt, and her magenta sports bra peeked out.
"Awkward like it is right now? Yeah, that's what I was hoping to avoid." Piper spun her body completely towards the other woman. "Your truck wasn't here, I assumed you were gone, and I decided to just leave the clothes for you to pick up when you returned."
Alex glanced off in the distance, and Piper wondered what was running through her mind. "My truck crapped out at Shaw's."
"So, you didn't leave town?"
She shrugged, stuffing one hand in her pocket. "Why does that matter?"
The blonde considered her question, averted her eyes and then regained her willpower. "Because I thought you were going to New Hampshire to be with Sylvie."
Alex let out an almost imperceptible huff. "Wow, you're really hanging on to that one."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She took a step forward. "Sylvie spent the night with you last week, and you told me that the two of you had some sort of pact to always be there for each other, so I assumed that's where you needed to be."
The brunette shook her head. "Not everything is so black and white, kid."
"You don't owe me an explanation." She began walking away, but Alex caught her bicep.
"Don't be an asshole, Piper."
The blonde shot her best, take your hands off of me, look.
Alex released her grip. "I'm fairly certain that there are things we haven't asked each other that could clear this situation up pretty quickly." She ran that same hand through her hair. "But we're both too…I don't know…chicken shit to ask."
The blonde lifted her chin. "I'm not afraid of anything."
Alex looked up and laughed. When her gaze returned to Piper, lips still tugging upwards, the brunette replied, "Then tell me what you want to say."
Piper's heart pounded like a drum and she opened her mouth to put Alex in her place, but no words came out.
"What's wrong?" The dark haired woman gave her a smug look. "Cat got your tongue?"
Piper focused on a spot in the distance, careful to keep her gaze away from the other woman. "I thought you'd be above cliché's."
Alex didn't offer a rebuttal, so the blonde continued. "What am I supposed to say? That I'm attracted to you?"
Her companion seemed unaffected, which drove Piper mad.
"First of all, you're not supposed to assume anything, Piper." She took a few steps closer. "Think about the other morning when you saw Sylvie leaving my house."
Piper rolled her eyes. That was the last thing she wanted to think about.
Once again, Alex folded her arms. "What didn't you ask me?"
"I don't know," she began with a frustrated sigh and a quick shake of her head. "How many times you fucked that night?"
Alex raised her eyes to the heavens and appeared exasperated.
"I really don't want to know the answer to that," the blonde continued.
"Actually, I think you do." She tugged Piper by the shoulders until their lips met. Once again, there was very little affection and no room for tongues to explore. Their lips crashed together like two meteorites in the sky—no tenderness; all explosive.
The blonde pushed against her chest until their lips parted. "Fuck you, Alex!"
Alex trapped both of Piper's wrists in one hand. "I didn't have sex with Sylvie that night."
That couldn't be true. Why would a woman with a rainbow sticker on the back of her car spend the night at her friend-with-benefit's house and not have sex? Especially when the other person was Alex Fucking Vause?
The blonde shook her head. "I don't understand."
"That night before dinner, Sylvie texted me, telling me she needed a friend." She released Piper's wrists and ran a hand through her thick hair.
Piper crossed her arms protectively over her chest.
"She'd lost her job and needed someone to listen. Usually that kind of conversation would make me feel sorry for her and we'd have sex, but I couldn't do it." The dark haired woman looked directly into Piper's eyes. "And it was because of you."
Piper creased her brows.
"I had to tell a woman I've been…involved with…for the past five years that I couldn't have sex with her that night, because I was falling for someone else," Alex's voice quivered.
Piper couldn't breathe—it was as if a helium balloon was stuck in her chest, waiting for someone to pop it.
"I had zero expectations for you, kid. I mean, I thought you were cute, and I could innocently flirt without any repercussions." She shrugged. "I had absolutely no intention of taking things further, but you were…I don't know...you, and it fucked with my head." She let out a long puff of air, and the blonde stood ramrod straight, afraid if she'd move, she'd realize she was waking from a dream. "I wasn't looking for a random hook up or for some sort of intellectual equal, but you came along and…"
"And what?" Piper kept her tears at bay, but she was trembling.
The brunette gently shook her head, as if she herself couldn't believe what she was about to say. "Knocked my world off its fucking axis."
Piper took a step forward and reached for her, pulling Alex by the shoulders. The blonde angled her head and their mouths fused together again. A whimper escaped her own mouth, followed by Alex's moan. Piper's head was spinning—it didn't feel like the moment was real. When Alex changed angles, the blonde could feel the other woman's tongue caress her lower lip. Piper opened her mouth wider, allowing Alex to slip her tongue inside. Kissing Alex was better than anything Piper had ever experienced—better than making out with any boy, eating her favorite ice cream, swimming in the cold ocean, or feeling a runner's high—this was other worldly good, and she didn't want to stop.
Alex's hands found their way through blonde hair, and Piper held on to her companion's waist so tightly, she was sure she'd leave bruises. The brunette started walking backwards, never breaking the kiss, and their hands began to roam all over each other's body. One of Alex's slid under the hem of Piper's gray tank top, and when her hand came into contact with bare flesh, the blonde whimpered. Piper ran her right hand up the other woman's body on the outside of her shirt, and when it reached her breasts, she gently squeezed one. She'd never touched a woman's breasts before, and a shiver spread through her body at the way it felt in her hands. Piper wondered in that moment if she would ever go back to boys. Alex was soft in all the right places and firm in others. Her arms were hard and strong, and her shoulders—my God, those shoulders—were broad and muscular. Piper wished she had another hand to explore Alex's body more fully, because two certainly weren't enough.
Piper lowered her head after breaking the kiss. "I just assumed…"
Alex lifted her chin with two fingers. "Never assume anything when it comes to me."
She looked the brunette in the eye, a smile slowly tugging at her lips. "Should I assume that you like me?"
"All evidence points in that direction, so yes, that's the only thing you can safely assume."
They made it through the front door, and the NPR broadcast was much louder inside. Piper's senses were on overload—the feel of Alex's tongue in her mouth and hands on her body, the scent of her, the sounds she was making—everything was driving her over the edge, and she thought she might have an orgasm without taking her clothes off.
"I've never…" Piper pulled back when they reached the center of the living room. "I mean, this is my first time with a woman."
"I bet it's also going to be your first time with NPR in the background." Alex smiled and brushed blonde hair out of her face.
She smiled. "That, too."
The brunette caressed her cheeks with her thumbs. "We can take it slow."
"Maybe we can go slow next time," she replied with need in her voice. "Right now, not so much."
That was all it took for their passionate kissing to resume. Piper's legs hit the side of the sofa, and she tumbled back, Alex on top of her. There was no time to laugh at the urgency and gracelessness of the encounter, but the blonde could feel Alex smiling against her lips. Alex's hands trailed under Piper's tank top and landed on her perky breasts. She continued moving her hands upwards until the shirt gathered on the brunette's forearms and she flung it over the back of the leather sofa. She leaned down and placed wet kisses along Piper's neck, chest and then breasts, untying the bikini top with one hand while massaging her right breast with the other.
When the garment was gone, Alex got on her knees and stared with an open mouth at the blonde. "I don't know if you realize how fucking beautiful you are."
She blushed and reached for the brunette's waist, pulling her back down and taking her t-shirt off at the same time. Alex was able to maneuver out of her sports bra, and Piper couldn't resist taking one of her dangling nipples into her mouth. They tasted like marzipan, and if she was thinking clearly, she would've commented as such, but her mind was focused on bathing the other woman's nipple with her lips and tongue.
"So are you," Piper managed to mumble.
Alex scooted down, which forced the blonde to release her nipple, and kissed a path across her stomach. She unzipped Piper's shorts, and as the blonde kicked them off, she hit a ceramic lamp that went crashing to the floor.
"Fuck, I'm sorry!" She tried to sit up, but Alex pinned her down with her forearm against Piper's stomach.
"Don't worry about it." She continued kissing a trail down the blonde's tight abdomen. "I bought it at a garage sale."
Piper giggled, but her mirth didn't last long when she felt Alex's hand touch her center. "Oh, mmm."
The brunette slithered down Piper's body, pulling her shorts and bikini bottom off simultaneously. Once again, she sat up and took in the woman beneath her. Alex's expression was hungry, but it was also affectionate. She skimmed the blonde's breasts, then sides, and then her thighs with her fingertips, and then lowered herself to the end of the sofa, pushing Piper gently so that both of them had room on the furniture.
Alex kissed her most sensitive spot several times, and Piper's hand instinctively flew to the back of the brunette's head. She moaned and wiggled, trying to indicate wordlessly to Alex what she wanted. When the dark haired woman took her sweet time, kissing the blonde's mound without spreading her folds, Piper had enough.
"Alex, please." She looked down at the other woman between her legs and almost came on the spot at the sexiness of their position.
The brunette smirked, and then parted her folds with two fingers. She rubbed her finger up and down the inside of Piper's center, gathering wetness with each stroke, and by the fifth pass, Piper couldn't take it any longer. "Oh, fuck, Alex, God! Alex, oh my God!"
Just as the blonde was coming down from her first orgasm with a woman, Alex replaced her fingers with her mouth, and less than a minute later, another orgasm ripped through her. She couldn't see straight—everything was starry and blurry and right. Alex's hand crawled up to feel the blonde's belly tighten as she continued licking her sensitive nub.
Piper moaned and gasped and threw her head back, squeezing her eyes shut until the second orgasm subsided. "Holy shit!" She panted loudly. "That was…"
"Bad?" She kissed her way up the blonde's body.
Piper draped her arms around Alex's shoulders and kissed her firmly on the mouth. "I never knew sex could be that good."
"Makes you question why the fuck you were ever into boys, huh?" Alex chuckled between kisses.
The women made out leisurely on the sofa until Piper requested that they stop listening to NPR and maybe got into some mood music. Alex teased her about what she might consider mood music, so Piper shuffled through the iPod until she found a suitable playlist. "Something like this."
In the Air Tonight came on and Alex raised her eyebrows. "This is what you consider mood music?"
She shrugged. "I love how mysterious it sounds, and the drum riff at the end is so dramatic."
The brunette reached for Piper's hand and started walking towards the bedroom. "You know it's about Phil Collins' bitter divorce, right?"
"Don't tell me that when I'm trying to get in the mood!"
The brunette smirked. "Cause you're not already?"
"I'm about to not be," she replied playfully.
"Stop! Stay where you are." The brunette looked down at the ceramic lamp in pieces on the floor.
Piper tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she eyed the thick shards of glass. "I'm really sorry about that."
"I'm impressed that whatever I was doing to you in the moment warranted that forceful of a reaction." She carefully moved towards the front door, slipped on her flip flops, and then returned to the center of the room. "Step on my feet, and I'll walk you to the bedroom so you don't cut yourself."
She threw her arms around Alex's neck and stepped on the tops of her feet. "Why don't you just carry me?"
She took four big steps, and they were in the bedroom. "That would be entirely too cheesy."
Piper grinned. "It wasn't too cheesy for you when the splinter was stuck in my foot."
"That was different." The brunette kissed her.
"How?"
"I was just getting a feel for you then. It wasn't a move, per se." Alex ran her hands down the blonde's bare arms.
"In my mind, it was," Piper said, nibbling on Alex's ear.
"Oh, really?" The other woman chuckled.
"How do you still have jeans on?" Piper asked, unbuttoning them.
She stepped out of the denim. "Changing the subject?"
"No, just realizing you aren't as naked as I am." The blonde sat on the lip of the bed. "What did you think of me when we first met?"
"Honestly?" Alex sat next to her. "I thought you were hot, I mean, that was my first thought, but I figured you'd be a spoiled brat."
"Hey!" She playfully slapped her lover's arm.
"What?" Alex chuckled. "All the kids down this street are pretty much assholes."
"Except me."
She kissed Piper's nose. "I know that now. Your little brother seems kind of cool, too."
Piper leaned in and began kissing Alex far more gently than they had previously. They made out in the bed, both fully naked, for several minutes before Piper decided to and go down on Alex. She didn't know what to expect as she positioned herself between the brunette's legs. Piper breathed in the musky scent of her pussy and was surprised that she wanted to taste it. She opened Alex's folds with both index fingers and looked inside, swallowing hard as the desire pooled within her.
Piper looked up, and Alex put her hand gently on the side of her head. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
"I want to," she replied, dipping her head lower and sticking her tongue out for the first taste of Alex Vause. With a pointed tongue, she made three tentative licks on the brunette's clit, and then pulled her tongue back into her mouth to see what Alex tasted like.
She liked it…a lot.
Piper dove back in, this time flattening her tongue and making longer, broader strokes until Alex began to squirm. The blonde kept pulling her tongue back into her mouth to swallow the taste, and the more she went down on Alex, the more she couldn't get enough. Eventually, Piper opened her mouth as wide as she could as she ate Alex out, sucking the pink flesh into her mouth over and over again. Piper never thought it would feel so satisfying to make another person cum, but she didn't want to stop hearing the little sounds her partner made just before an orgasm roared to life.
The women stayed in bed until the playlist came to an end, and Piper figured they'd probably fucked a total of six or seven times. She'd never wanted anyone the way she wanted Alex, and during one of the times when Alex's head was between her legs, she felt tears prickle her eyes.
Hours later, the dark haired woman rolled over. "I'm getting kind of hungry for something other than your pussy, which, by the way, is delectable."
"Is it?" Piper bit her lower lip and blushed.
That resulted in a relatively quick 69 position, and both women came within seconds of each other. Piper climbed off and flopped on her back, one hand on Alex's stomach.
"You're insatiable," the brunette commented.
She turned her head to face her lover. "I want to do this all night."
Alex gathered the blonde in her arms. "I think I can accommodate that request," she chuckled.
They laid in bed together, wrapped in each other's arms until Piper's stomach growled. The women laughed at the deep rumble, and finally got out of bed. The blonde texted her father, letting him know she was spending the night at a friend's house. She didn't care what his response would be—spending the night with Alex was her priority, and come hell or high water, she would sleep in her lover's arms that night.
"Mind if I play some music?" Piper had thrown on one of Alex's black t-shirts and found her own bikini bottom behind the sofa.
"Go for it." Alex had on a white baseball shirt with red sleeves and gray, cotton shorts.
She found the Bootstraps Homages CD and put it on shuffle. The first song, Everywhere, was one of Piper's favorites.
Piper wrapped her arms around the other woman's waist and rested her chin on Alex's shoulder. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do this in your kitchen?"
The brunette grinned and turned her head slightly.
Piper kissed her way up Alex's neck and cheek. "Why does this feel so natural?"
Alex turned in her arms, back resting against the counter, and flung her arms over the blonde's shoulders. "Have you ever been in love?"
"No," she answered somewhat sheepishly.
"Well…" Alex lifted her eyebrows as if trying to get Piper to understand what she was silently communicating.
"Oh." The wheels turned in Piper's head. "I mean, oh."
Alex smiled, blush spreading across her cheeks.
They kissed very, very tenderly, and Alex started swaying her hips until the women ended up dancing in the kitchen—Piper's head buried against her shoulder, and Alex's cheek on top of blonde hair.
Piper knew what Alex said had to be true—she'd been falling in love with the other woman more and more each day, she just hadn't known what to call it until that moment.
When the song was over, Alex kissed the top of her blonde head. "That was nice."
"It was."
The brunette opened the Frigidaire. "I have some leftover pulled pork; we can make sandwiches."
"Sounds great."