No Other Silly Girl Need Apply

By Gun Brooke

Part Three

I swear I held my breath for a full minute, perhaps more. Perhaps I was trying to not breathe since it made my rock hard nipples rub against the naked skin on Miranda's back. Her nightgown was low cut, leaving her bare down to her waist. I trembled now, with the effort to not wake her, trying to figure out how I could disentangle myself from Miranda.

The hardest part was, I didn't want to. Her scent engulfed me, her skin burned mine, and I couldn't fathom why I wasn't wearing any pajamas. Hadn't she said she'd help me into them? In fact, come to think of it, why had she crawled into bed with her naked assistant to begin with?

Miranda shifted slightly and sighed, making me go rigid with terror. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't even turn my head to check the time, or at least I didn't dare try.

"Andrea?" Miranda's voice made me flinch. "If you keep holding your breath you're going to asphyxiate. What on earth is the matter?"

What was the matter? Was she insane? I was freaking naked and she was pressed against me. She had to feel my damn boobs pressed nearly flat against her, for heaven's sake!

"M-Miranda? I'm—I'm sorry. I seem to have invaded your, eh, your privacy. I'm not sure how this happened and I'm truly, truly sorry—"

"Oh, calm down." Miranda rolled onto her back, making me scurry backward, to give her space.

I fumbled for the sheet, to cover myself, but it was stuck beneath me and around Miranda. My cheeks felt hotter enough to be crimson.

"Andrea, you were probably cold." Miranda pulled at the sheet and the duvet, freeing it enough to wrap it around me. To my absolute shock, she kept her arm curled around me, tugging me closer. "There. It's only 4 AM, so relax and go back to sleep."

"I—I don't think I can," I gasped. "I'm…I'm…"

"You're in pain?" Miranda's eyes snapped wide open and zoomed in on me.

"No. I'm fine. I'm okay. I—I—I'm naked!"

"Yes. You are." Was it just me or did her voice sink half an octave? Miranda's eyelids lowered and she studied me through her eyelashes. "I meant to help you into your pajamas, but you were dead to the world."

"And so you decided it was okay to sleep next to me while I was naked?"

"I had to make sure I heard you if you needed me. You were very out of it and tired last night."

Was she being deliberately obtuse? "Miranda, this is beyond inappropriate. I'm—"

"Naked. Yes. We've gone over that." Miranda sighed. "Are you really that uncomfortable about nudity?"

"Not especially, but you are here."

"So, you're uncomfortable around me?" Was there really a hurt tone in Miranda's voice?

"Not around you, not really." Why was this so hard to explain and why couldn't I just blurt it out? "I wasn't prepared to be totally stark-naked around you."

"Were you afraid that I'd judge your body, Andrea?" Softer now, Miranda's voice wrapped around my heart. "I know I made that unfortunate remark about you being fat, which couldn't be further from the truth, and even if you had been heavy set, it still would have been wrong. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You're very beautiful."

"Thank you. That's not what I mean." I realized I was going to have to spell it out. "I'm naked in your bed and it—it affects me."

"It affects you? How do you mean?" Miranda began stroking my back, which nearly did me in.

"Miranda, I never meant for you to know, but I find you very attractive. " I turned my head and buried it into the pillow. "Sorry."

"You find…what?" Miranda pushed at my shoulder and rolled me onto my back. "What do you mean, attractive? In a romantic sense?"

"Yes," I squeaked. "Can't help it."

Miranda leaned over me; her eyes probing my very soul as she looked for something I suspected couldn't be seen in faces. She cupped my cheek with her hand, her thumb stroking along my eyebrow and then my cheekbone. I shivered at the soft touch, which of course didn't escape her.

"I'm going to kiss you." Miranda spoke curtly. "I need to know."

Know what? I barely had time to think the two words before her lips descended on mine. Soft, inquisitive and so incredibly hot, her lips examined mine. First with her mouth closed and then with it half open, but still not deepening the kiss. Eventually I couldn't stand the tension. I was simmering in her heat and I had to have some form of outlet. I stopped talking myself out of it and slipped my tongue into her mouth.

Miranda moaned, guttural and deep in her throat, and let her tongue play with mine. I sucked gently at the slick muscle, unable to fathom that this was Miranda. I was kissing her. She was kissing me. Deep, wonderful kisses that was nothing short of miraculous in how they made me feel.

I knew now that being naked so far with Miranda pressed against me had only been the beginning of my trouble. Now, as my arousal skyrocketed, my stomach clenched right along with my sex, and this sent a flood of moisture between my legs. I pressed them together, but I was already so slick down there, my legs slid too easily against each other.

"Mm, Andrea, you're…you taste amazing." Miranda lifted her head a fraction of an inch and looked down at me. "If I'd known you felt this way—" She kissed me again and I was torn between the sweet ache this caused, and my curiosity as to what she was about to say.

"Touch me," Miranda said, her voice husky now, and kissed my jawline and down my neck. "I need to feel your hands on me. I need to know this is not just another dream of you."

She dreamed of me? She'd had dreams of me of…this? Of doing this? My head was swirling as I slipped my arms around her and held her tight. Hugging Miranda Priestly. Another insane, wonderful, but insane, thing to happen. What if she felt how aroused I was? What if that repelled her?

"Miranda?" I whispered, my voice trembling along with my body. "We—we should stop. This, I'm not sure this is—"

"What?" Miranda raised her head and glared at me. "You're not sure this is what? Smart? Appropriate? What?"

Oh, shit. Damage control. "I'm not sure we're ready for this. Yet. Please?" I wanted to explain, but how the hell you do you tell the most gorgeous woman in the world that she has to stop touching you or you will embarrass yourself and come right then and there? How do you tell her that if this is merely a fun experiment she's conducting after having some "dreams" of her assistant, which might have made her curious, it would break your heart in a million pieces?

"Yet?" Miranda had one hand tangled in my hair and the other cupping my cheek. "You said you find me attractive. You deepened the kiss. You're clearly aroused."

"Y-yes. All true." I struggled to find words that wouldn't send me into years of therapy after suffering her wrath. "Listen." I shifted away from her a fraction of an inch, but her eyes wouldn't allow more than that. She had this eerie way of holding me close with some weird Miranda-magnetism. "I'm attracted to you, but that's not all. I mean, it's more than that. Okay? So, if this goes too far, too fast, I'm not…oh, damn, this is fucking hard. Let's just say I won't do so well if that happens." I was ready to just pounce on her and not give a damn about any broken heart on my account at this point, but something, and I can't say exactly what, made me think her heart might just get ever worse shattered than mine.

Slowly, Miranda relaxed. "You're right of course. I—I suppose the unexpected closeness and intimacy got the better of me."

"And me." I smiled carefully, as usual, as Miranda was her very own sort of powder keg. You just never knew when you stepped too far to the side of the safe path in the minefield around her.

"Roll over." Miranda made a circular movement with her hand, startling me.

"What?"

"I want to make sure we didn't pull at your stitches."

"Oh. I don't think so, but, okay." I rolled half onto my side, away from Miranda.

Her fingers gently lifted the bandage. I was embarrassed to admit to myself that even this made me have to clench my legs.

"It looks fine. Now, can we please go back to sleep?"

I glanced at the alarm clock on her side of the bed. 4.30 am. "Absolutely. I tucked the duvet around me and tried to disregard the fact that I was still naked and still on edge.

"And Andrea? Don't think for a moment this topic is dealt with. We will discuss this at the earliest possible opportunity." Miranda rolled over, facing away from me. "Now go back to sleep."

That was easy for her to say. How the hell would I be able to sleep when she meant to "discuss" with me. As far as I knew, Miranda never discussed anything. She issued orders, expected everyone around her to not only ask how high when she said "jump", but to set world record in how high they jumped as well.

I stared through the darkness, only lit up very faintly from the city lights filtering through minor cracks in the blinds. I wouldn't be able to sleep, I just knew it. Miranda's scent engulfed me. It was in the bedding, it was of course all over her form next to me, and it was driving me insane. The memory of the wondrously heated kisses, how she clung to me as she kissed so deeply, would not allow me to sleep wither.

"Andrea, please find a good position and lie still."

"Perhaps I should…you know, the guestroom?"

Miranda rounded on my so fast, I nearly fell off the bed on my side. "Do you not wish to give us any chance whatsoever to examine these—these feelings?" She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "If you cannot bear to be near me, then by all means, go sleep in the guestroom." She sounded furious, but I knew her well enough now to realize this type of fury was only this strong to mask something else.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. Keeping it there, I scooted closer. Again, damage control. This time it was easier, as it was Miranda's profound pain and anguish that was in focus. How many times had her husbands yelled at her, criticized her, only to go and sleep alone in the guestroom? Here I had suggested something similar, waking all the old ghosts without realizing it until it was nearly too late. "I don't want to sleep alone in the guestroom. I was just trying to be considerate."

"Well."

"I want to sleep here with you. I'm just nervous," I admitted.

"Nervous?" Miranda pushed her fingers into my hair, caressing my scalp. "Because of me?"

"Partly." I knew I had to be honest or Miranda would swoop down like a hawk and pounce on it. "I guess we all battle with fear of rejection, one way or another." My thoughts strayed to my Lily, and also Nate, who had rejected me, each in their own way. In a sense, Lily's dismissal of years upon years of friendship hurt more than Nate's and my breakup. Wasn't your best friend supposed to have your back no matter what? But, then again, if Lily had been there for me, I doubted I'd be in Miranda Priestly's bed, in her arms, or on the receiving end of her kisses. Go figure.

"How profound." Miranda's words were as acerbic as ever, but her hands were warm and gentle as she tugged me closer. "Rest your brilliant mind now. That's an order, Andrea."

Suddenly it was easy to relax. Breathing no longer hurt and I curled up next to this woman I had yet to figure out—if ever. Tomorrow, I knew she would corner me sooner or later for that talk. Too tired to worry about that, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

TBC