"You go first."
Rita curled herself up into the corner of the sofa, her legs tucked up underneath her body, a glass of wine held just below her chin, and she smiled as Connie half-coughed, half-laughed. Her own glass of wine held loosely between her fingers.
"What would you like to know?"
She asked, running the palm of her free hand over the curve of her calf muscle, her legs neatly folded before her, the lace hem of her night dress pulled tightly against her thighs and the cool silk of her dressing gown pooled about her as she sat, at the opposite end of the sofa to the nurse.
Rita drew up her shoulders. She tilted her head to one side, and with her elbow resting on the back of the sofa she twisted a strand of blonde hair about her fingers and smiled that beautiful, infectious smile.
"Anything! Whatever you want to tell me...just as long as it's something I don't already know."
Her teeth bit gently against her bottom lip as she waited for Connie to think, a gesture that Connie found mildly distracting. This wasn't the sort of game that she was used to playing, and she certainly wasn't well practised in sharing personal information about herself.
"What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What are you afraid of...?"
Rita coaxed when Connie remained silent. She raised an eyebrow and touched her fingers to her lips.
"So many things..."
She murmured, her eyes were glazing over in thought and Rita slipped her legs along the sofa to nudge her with her toes.
Connie cleared her throat and turned to look at her, leaning back in the seat.
"You're rubbish at this game."
Rita pushed her toes beneath Connie's thigh, enjoying the warmth and the gentle shift of the other woman's body to accommodate them. Connie smiled and dipped her lips to the wine glass she held. She could feel the warmth of her breath against the glass, and she tilted her head back to drink.
"What makes me laugh?"
She murmured as she swallowed. She could feel the warmth from the wine radiating through her body. She hadn't eaten anything at all during the day, and the wine was certainly beginning to affect her long before it usually would have.
"The answer to all of those questions could so easily just be, 'you.'"
She let her head fall back against the sofa and glanced across to Rita whose toes still fidgeted beneath her thigh.
Rita pursed her lips slightly.
"I make you laugh?!"
She smiled as she spoke, and she rested her wine glass on her knee, watching as the red wine slopped against the bowl of the glass. Connie nodded slowly, sensing the other woman's doubt.
"Not much makes me laugh out loud. But you've made me smile many times over the past few months."
She shifted slightly so that she could face Rita, and as she did the shoulder of the dressing gown began to slip and gape open at the front. Rita couldn't help but notice how the fabric cast a dark grey shadow against Connie's chest, and how when she reached for her wine she could see the outline of her breast beneath the silk of her night dress.
"More than you'd realise."
Connie added, and she caught the faraway expression on the other woman's face as she glanced back at her. She saw how her eyes lingered, and she felt her chest flush as though Rita had physically leant out to touch her there.
"You've made me cry..."
Her words make Rita blink, and all of a sudden she was listening again, though she noticed that Connie didn't move to adjust her sleeve when it slipped further down her shoulder.
"And as for what I'm afraid of? I'm afraid of failure. I'm afraid of failing myself, I'm afraid of failing Grace, and those at work who depend on me...and I'm afraid of failing you."
She let her fingers slip down the stem of the wine glass until they lay splayed about the base, holding it steady. Rita watched her movements, her feet were still and she sucked in a long breath of air, filling her lungs until they felt like bursting before she released it.
"Well! This is certainly the most serious version of this game I've ever played..."
She breathed, and Connie caught her eye.
"Sorry..."
She murmured. Rita screwed up her nose and wriggled her toes again, feeling Connie shift slightly.
"Remind me never to play Monopoly with you...or Cluedo. They're serious enough games as it is."
Her dark eyes sparkled and Connie pursed her lips, feigning offence.
"I'm not accustomed to playing other people's games."
She murmured, and at her words Rita's toes stilled again and a smile flickered at the corners of her lips.
"You never will, you know."
She said quietly.
"Hmm?"
Connie raised an eyebrow and leant forwards to place her empty wine glass back on the coffee table.
"Fail me."
Rita said simply. Connie struggled with the ghost of a smile that threatened her lips.
"You're got a beautiful smile when you do that..."
Rita whispered, feeling the knot of something within her chest.
"When I do what?"
Connie asked, absent-mindedly letting her hand fall to Rita's legs where she let her fingers trail lazily across the smooth skin of her ankles, causing goosebumps to rise across her flesh.
"When you smile."
Connie arced a perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"I have a nice smile...when I smile?"
She repeated, amusement glittering behind her eyes and Rita's cheeks flushed, as they so often seemed to now.
"Shush. You were distracting me."
Rita whispered, looking pointedly to where Connie's fingers played.
For a moment she let them play longer, she ran the very tips of her fingers across the rise and fall of each bone and tendon, tracing them, imprinting them on her memory, and then she paused, her fingers so close to her skin but not quite touching.
She looked at Rita, really looked at her. She saw the pale blonde hair that curled about her ears, the flushed pink of her parted lips and the wide dark eyes that seemed to say so much without Rita saying a word.
Ever so slowly she moved, releasing Rita's toes so that they felt the chill of the air, and she crept across the sofa until she was above her, holding herself up with her arms either side of the other woman, her dressing gown falling about them like a cloak.
Rita glanced down at the ever decreasing space between them. Connie's body so closely to hers that she could feel the the heat radiating from her. She felt a jolt of something that felt as though a dozen butterflies had swarmed within her stomach and without thinking she arched her back so that she was closer...close enough to touch...close enough to feel how Connie's nipples hardened beneath the silk, and brushed against her own.
Instinctively Rita drew up her legs, parting them and wrapping them about Connie's thighs, pulling her closer still. She looked up at the woman above her. Connie's hair fell in dark glossy curls about her face, whispering at Rita's collar bone as Connie dipped her head to kiss her.
For a moment Rita did nothing but allow Connie to kiss her. Her kiss was so soft, and gentle, a kiss so unlike any other that for the briefest of moments she thought she might cry.
Instead she gave in. She relaxed. She shivered with pleasure as Connie's tongue touched against her own, and she tasted the wine on her breath, and the taste of her...just her. She could feel her blood, just beneath her skin, and when she breathed the air seemed full of Connie's perfume, her hair, and the scent of her skin. In this moment she was fearless, and instinctively she knew, as she gasped against her kisses, that this was Connie at her finest, this was what Connie knew how to do best of all.
She smiled against her, her lips swollen and her breath coming hard, their chests rising against one another. Connie paused, biting her lip, looking down at Rita who couldn't help but smile, her eyes so bright, so happy...
"Feeling more 'physically able' are we?"
She whispered, and Connie exhaled a breath of a laugh. She looked so beautiful, hovering above her like an angel.
"Don't get your hopes up. The wine has gone to my head."
She leant closer to rub the tip of her nose against Rita's.
"I just wanted you to know..."
I hope that last bit makes sense?! It did in my head...
Anyway, I will try to update again tonight, if you'd all like? I've got to get the next Connie/Rita SMUTfic up, after last nights episode, but apart from that (and children permitting) I will be able to get another chapter up this evening :)
Hope you're all having a lovely weekend xxx