When they were finally able to get Lucas to sleep after a wild temper tantrum that resulted in the boy barring himself behind a coffee table and refusing to go to bed, Allison grabbed Elena’s hand and pulled her from Lucas’s room.
“Where are you dragging me off to?” Elena asked once they were in the hallway.
“Living room,” Allison said. “I figured we could watch a movie or something.”
Elena tugged on Allison’s arm to pull her to a stop at the end of the hall. “I thought we were going to bed.” She pulled her a little closer. “That is what you told Lucas after all, and we would not want to violate his precious trust, now would we?”
Allison wrapped her arms around Elena’s waist. “I won’t tell him if you won’t. Come on, don’t you wanna couch-cuddle with me?”
“Can we not cuddle in bed?”
“Totally, but I’m pretty sure that we can’t be an actual official couple until we’ve cuddled on a couch at least once.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yup. It’s in the official, um, manual of couple things.”
“I see.” Elena looped her arms around her neck. She then tilted her head toward the living room. “Then by all means, darling.”
Allison didn’t hesitate to scoop her up, bridal-style, and take off toward the living room.
* * *
“Oh God,” Elena whispered as Allison’s hands slid up her thighs, her hot, wet mouth leaving a scorching trail along Elena’s collarbone. “I thought we were supposed to be cuddling.”
“We are,” Allison said. “This is advanced cuddling.”
They sank further into the couch cushions as Allison shifted to position herself between Elena’s thighs, her hands sliding up the lengths of Elena’s legs and onto her sides. She anchored herself there, holding tight. Mouths melded together, Allison and Elena became a tangled knot of passion as the heat between them grew into a roaring flame and Allison almost began a gentle yet rhythmic thrusting motion with her hips.
Her pelvis pressed firmly against Elena’s clothed sex with every forward thrust, and the friction drove them mad. Her pace quickened as Allison felt Elena’s nails dig into her back, the woman’s ankles locked firmly above her ass. Their breathing became ragged, staggered, and shallow as Allison ground down into Elena’s sex, craving the pressure. They moved together easily, naturally, as if they had been lovers for years, had known one another’s bodies for a lifetime.
Allison chuckled hotly against Elena’s throat, and Elena pushed at her chest so that she could see Allison’s face. “What is so funny?” she panted.
Allison grinned at her, the motion of her hips slowing but never stopping. “I feel like a teenager,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“We’re grinding, fully clothed, on the couch,” Allison said. “It feels like we’re teenagers, you know? Like we’re dry-humping in your parents’ house and might get caught any minute or something.”
Elena laughed out loud and pulled Allison down to swallow the sound. She nibbled at Allison’s bottom lip before whispering, “There is a certain appeal to getting naked with the babysitter, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” Allison asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Okay,” Elena said. “There is definite appeal to getting naked with the babysitter; then again, I am beginning to wonder if we are actually going to get naked at all.”
A sly grin crept over Allison’s lips as an idea sprang to mind. She made a show of glancing around the room before lowering her voice to a whisper and asking, “Are you sure we should? What if your parents come home early? We could get caught.”
Elena’s brows knit together for a moment before realization seemed to kick in and she blushed. Allison worried for a moment that she wouldn’t go along with it, but then Elena bit her lip playfully and said, “Don’t worry. Daddy’s work galas always go on for hours. They’re never home before midnight.”
“Okay,” Allison whispered. “Well, can I, um, can I take your shirt off then?”
Elena pushed herself into a semi-sitting position. She nodded shyly and let Allison pull her top up over her head and drop it on the floor. She giggled as Allison dropped her mouth open dramatically and whispered, “Wow.”
Allison cupped both hands around Elena’s breasts, feeling their weight and rubbing her thumbs over the stiffening peaks beneath the soft fabric. “You’re beautiful,” she breathed.
Elena kissed her deeply. “So are you.”
The kiss quickly turned feverish, both women panting into each other’s mouths and breathing sharply through their noses so that they could remain latched together. Elena groaned her disappointment when Allison finally did disconnect. Allison yanked her own shirt over her head and tossed it. She wasted no time popping open her bra either, and Elena’s mouth was on her flesh before the material even hit the floor.
“Fuck,” Allison gasped as Elena’s teeth grazed her nipple. Her hips jerked forward, and both women moaned as the motion sent Allison’s pelvis colliding into Elena’s clothed clit once more. Elena latched onto Allison’s hips, digging her nails in, and jerked Allison forward and against her again.
Allison began a steady rhythm between Elena’s legs again, pumping forward with absolute abandon. She shoved up Elena’s bra and sucked one nipple roughly into her mouth as she continued to grind down into Elena’s sex with her own. She moved hard and fast until her flesh began to feel too hot and her jeans too tight and constricting.
Panting, Allison pulled back and popped open the button on her jeans. She emptied her pockets, too, just to give herself a little more comfort. Her wallet dropped to the floor with a soft thud, and then she reached for the hard knot where her keys were shoved down in the front right pocket of her jeans. She yanked them free and then chuckled as she held them up for Elena to see.
“Look,” Allison told her. She held up the small bottle of pepper spray attached to her keychain. “I brought protection.”
Elena laughed out loud before slapping a hand over her mouth. She shook her head as she laughed into her hand before taking a breath and saying, “You are such an idiot.”
Allison just grinned at her and dropped down to kiss her again. “But a lovable one, right?”
Elena pressed laughing kisses to Allison’s lips and chin and cheeks. “Yes, dear,” she answered. “Now, finish what you started before my parents come home and catch us.”
“Oh right,” Allison said. “I can’t believe you’re gonna let me take your virginity on your parents’ couch.”
“Oh, now I’m a teen virgin?” Elena asked. “Does this make you the experienced senior? Because, considering the fact that I am older than you, I think I should get to be the experienced senior, and you can be the hot, young freshman.”
“Good point,” Allison said. She then cleared her throat and slipped back into character. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do this, Elena. I used to watch you in math class and write your name in little hearts all over my notebook. This is like a dream come true!”
Elena giggled so adorably in that moment that Allison actually pulled back. “What?” Elena asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Allison said, shaking her head. “I just…I never thought you would be the giggling type. You surprise me sometimes.”
Elena pulled her back down so that their chests rubbed together. “I never was before,” she whispered against Allison’s mouth. “I suppose you bring it out in me.”
They smiled into their kiss, and then Allison whispered, “Let’s see what else I can bring out, shall we?”
Elena yelped as Allison suddenly and swiftly jerked her up off the couch and pulled her onto her lap. Peppering kisses over Elena’s chest, she wrapped her hands around the brunette’s hips and slowly began to rock her back and forth on her lap. Elena’s hands tangled in Allison’s hair as Allison sucked at her nipples, one after the other, and then licked her way back up to Elena’s neck and then her mouth.
As their kisses grew deeper and hotter, Elena’s hips surged forward faster and faster, until she was panting and riding Allison’s lap, grinding against the rough material of Allison’s jeans. When she couldn’t take it any longer, she reached down to unclasp her slacks. “I need more,” she whispered. “Touch me, Allison.”
She reached for Allison’s hand and pulled it to the top of her pants. Allison slipped her hand down into the thankfully loose material, and both women moaned deeply as her fingers slid through Elena’s soaked slit.
“God, you feel good,” Allison panted against Elena’s open mouth as the woman gasped and slammed her hips forward so that Allison’s fingers slipped even further south.
Allison positioned two fingers at Elena’s opening and teased it, dipping in and out with just the tips, just enough to drive Elena positively mad. “Is this what you want?” Allison whispered, and Elena nodded against her forehead.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, please.”
“You want me inside you?” Allison husked, still only teasing. She felt a new rush of fluid as Elena moaned at the words and her sex clenched tightly around Allison’s fingertips.
“God yes, Allison,” Elena pleaded. “Do it.”
Allison teased her only once more before plunging her fingers upward and inside, loving the way Elena’s breath slammed from her lungs and she instantly began to ride her hand. Allison pumped in and out of her the best she could in this position, Elena’s knees digging into the couch on both sides of Allison’s thighs.
Elena had one arm wrapped around Allison’s back, her fingers pressing into Allison’s side. The other hand was still tangled in blonde hair. Her grip tightened as Allison drove her to the edge of orgasm, and she bit into Allison’s shoulder when she came, coating Allison’s hand in her pleasure. She rode out the last waves of her orgasm, jerking with each movement of Allison’s fingers inside her before expelling a massive sigh of relief and going limp in her lap.
“Mm,” she hummed against Allison’s neck. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Allison said. “That was sexy as hell.”
Elena chuckled hotly against the sweat-slicked flesh of Allison’s neck. “You must be dying,” she said after a moment. “Let me touch you.”
Allison kissed Elena’s shoulder. “Whatever you want, Elena.”
“That’s what I want,” Elena told her, leaning back to look into Allison’s eyes. “I want to touch you, and I…”
“What?” Allison asked.
Elena blushed beautifully in the semi-dark. “I would like to taste you as well.”
Allison’s limbs all turned to jelly in that moment as an image of Elena’s head positioned between her thighs sprang instantly to mind. She moaned before she could even stop herself, her clit throbbing almost painfully inside her jeans.
Elena smiled. “I take it you are amenable to this?”
“Oh my God, Elena.” Allison groaned, shifting her legs so that Elena bounced on her lap a bit. “I’m so fucking amenable I should change my damn name to amenable. Amenable Sawyer.”
Elena laughed so hard in that moment that she actually snorted, the sound only causing Allison to adore her more. She blushed again as she bit her bottom lip and said, “Very well then, Amenable Sawyer. Shall we take this to the bedroom?”
Allison jumped to her feet with an excited grunt, taking Elena with her.
They tripped their way down the hall, Allison shuffling along with Elena in her arms. When they finally made it to the bedroom, Allison practically tossed Elena onto the bed. She took just a moment to shut and lock the door before leaping onto the mattress. They wasted no time in divesting themselves of their remaining clothing before their mouths melded together once more and Elena’s fingers dipped into the molten heat between Allison’s thighs.
“Yes,” Allison hissed as Elena touched her eagerly, the s sound carrying on for what felt like forever. She writhed beneath Elena’s touch, realizing that Elena was intent on teasing her just as much as she herself had been teased. Allison didn’t care. Worked up as she was, she was fairly certain she could get off on Elena’s teasing alone.
She was right, because a moment later, Elena’s fingers slipped up and pressed against her clit. “Oh God,” Allison gasped. “Elena, I’m gonna come.”
Elena pressed her clit again and then ran a circle around it with her thumb, and Allison’s hips surged up off the bed as she came with very little urging.
“Wow,” Allison panted as she trembled. “Wow.”
Elena ran her fingers through Allison’s slit again, collected the juices and then brought her fingertips to her lips.
Allison propped her head up just in time to see the woman’s fingers disappear between supple lips, and when Elena moaned at the taste, Allison thought she might just orgasm again.
“Fuck, that’s hot.” She gulped. “Do you like it?”
“As if you can’t tell,” Elena said. She leaned down then and licked along Allison’s bottom lip before kissing her deeply. “Are you ready for more?”
“So ready.” Allison moaned as she slid her hands over Elena’s heated flesh and then up into her hair when Elena began to kiss her way down Allison’s body.
Elena hovered over Allison’s sex, breathing her in. She hesitated only a moment before dipping down and pressing a firm kiss to Allison’s wet outer lips. Allison jerked at the touch but urged Elena to continue with a gentle press to the back of her head.
Elena slipped her tongue down through Allison’s slit and pressed at the soaked opening that begged for her attention. She sucked at every inch of Allison’s sex, obviously enjoying learning the places that made Allison moan the deepest or jerk the hardest, and when she sucked Allison’s clit fully into her mouth, Allison rocketed over the edge with a sudden cry. She clamped her thighs around Elena’s head and rode out the orgasm on her tongue.
Elena continued to kiss and suck between Allison’s legs until Allison’s thighs went slack. She pressed a final kiss to the sensitive flesh before crawling back up to rest just to the side of Allison’s heaving chest. She smiled down at her, looked quite pleased with herself.
“So, I take it I did well?” she asked, kissing Allison’s shoulder and tracing a finger around a taut pink nipple.
Allison, unable to even speak, nodded and patted Elena’s thigh. She then rolled over and pulled Elena against her chest, and they lay there, wrapped around one another, sharing soft kisses and slowly regulating breaths until they both drifted off to sleep.
* * *
Allison woke to Elena’s soft lips brushing over her naked shoulder and down her side. She smiled into the plush pillow she was partially wrapped around as she lay on her stomach and tried not to jerk with each kiss. They made her body feel electric, her spine tingling to the point of pain. When Elena slipped the sheet from Allison’s hip and bit softly into the flesh just above her hip bone, Allison couldn’t hold still any longer.
“Mm,” she moaned as her hip jerked forward just a bit.
Elena laughed quietly, the sound ragged from sleep and sexy as hell. She licked over the area she had just bitten before pressing a soft kiss there. She then crawled up Allison’s body and lay on top of her back. “Good morning.”
“Best morning,” Allison said, her own voice low and raspy. She rolled, Elena rolling with her, and then resettled with the woman now resting on her chest.
Her vision was blurry from sleep, so she quickly rubbed at her eyes and then blinked. When Elena came into focus again, Allison’s chest clenched so hard, it hurt. She thought it was the best pain she had ever felt, like a physical jolt from all she felt in that one breathtaking moment of seeing a bare Elena partially wrapped in a white sheet, hair wild and eyes glimmering in the streaks of early morning sunlight spilling through the window, and wearing a smile so small but so intimate and so radiant that it seemed impossible that it could actually be directed at her.
“You see,” Elena whispered, “my bedhead is horrible.”
Allison didn’t say a word. She simply continued to stare at the woman, her breath completely gone and her heart racing.
Elena sighed. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?” Allison choked out, barely able to form words as she lost herself in Elena’s eyes.
“Look at me and make me feel as if the entire world has disappeared.” The words barely touched the air before fading in another gentle sigh.
Allison licked her dry lips and swallowed thickly before saying, “Maybe…” Her voice cracked on the word, and she closed her eyes to settle her soul. She felt so much in that moment that it was hard to keep her shit together. She felt like she was on the verge of cracking open and letting everything spill out. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she felt like she needed to say, and so much that she didn’t have a clue how to say.
She knew how she felt about Elena. She knew it so intimately that the knowledge seemed to thrum in her veins. It was a feeling she had spent her life thinking she would never know, and yet, here it was. It was embedded in her cells as if she had always known it, as if all the days of her life that she spent feeling unlucky and unloved and alone were eradicated by its presence, and all that remained was Elena and Lucas. Family. Love. Belonging.
She took a deep breath and tried again. “Maybe because when I look at you, it sometimes feels like the world actually does disappear. Sometimes, it feels like you’re the universe and I’m just lucky to be here. I’m just lucky to exist here, to be a small part of your world.”
Elena’s eyes watered, and she took a shaky breath. She reached up and traced her index finger over Allison’s bottom lip as a tear escaped her eye and slipped down her cheek. “You are so much more than a small part, Allison,” she whispered. “You are so much more.”
Allison could see Elena’s love so clearly in her eyes, and it made her heart beat heavy and hard in her chest. This was the moment, she thought. This was the moment to say it, to say everything; this was it. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, the words dancing on the tip of her tongue.
“Momma?”
Both Elena and Allison leaned up to glance at the bedroom door. Lucas’s soft voice echoed through it, followed by a gentle knocking against the wood. Allison cursed herself for letting the moment pass as she watched Elena slip from the bed, pull on a robe, and move to the door.
“Time to return to the rest of the world,” she said with a soft laugh, wiping at her eyes.
“Yeah.” Allison sighed. “I guess I should head out soon.”
Elena hesitated before opening the door. “Already?”
“I wish I didn’t have to,” Allison said, “but I really do have a lot of homework that I need to get done before class tomorrow, and I’ve got finals coming up soon. I should study.”
Elena frowned but nodded anyway before opening the door to see her son.
* * *
As she made her way to the nearest subway station, Allison was still annoyed with herself for not having told Elena how she felt. Her stomach was unsettled by it, almost like she felt guilty for not having put the feelings to words. It ate at her, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe it was because she knew that other days and other times weren’t always guaranteed. Maybe it was because she was afraid she would lose her nerve altogether if she didn’t just do it as soon as possible. Maybe it was because she had never felt this way before, and she was bursting with the feeling. She just had to say it.
It didn’t really matter the reason, because that uncomfortable feeling was enough in itself, and, before Allison even realized what she was doing, she turned around and took off at a sprint. She needed to say all the things swirling around inside her. She wanted to. She wanted Elena to know, and she wanted to know if Elena felt the same way about her.
So, in true Allison fashion, she ran; only this time, she ran toward the hope of love instead of away from it.
Allison entered Elena’s house quietly and made her way toward the living room. She stopped just outside the room, though, when she realized that Elena wasn’t there. Lucas sat on the couch, mouth open as he stared at the television, watching cartoons. He didn’t hear or even notice Allison, so she quietly turned and made her way back toward the kitchen. It was empty, so she hurried down the hall to Elena’s room.
“Elena?” she called as she stepped inside, but she received no answer. That was when she noticed the sound of the shower running in the bathroom.
Allison darted over to the bathroom door and opened it just enough to poke her head in. “Elena?” she called. She wanted to make the woman aware of her presence before Elena could startle and chuck the nearest object at her head.
The foggy shower door slid open just a crack, and Elena’s face came into view, her hair slicked down around her cheeks. “Allison? Did you forget something?”
Allison swallowed around the massive lump that had suddenly taken residence in her throat and nodded.
“Oh,” Elena said. “What was it?”
Allison’s entire body felt like it was on fire, her nerves sparking electrically under her flesh. She sucked in a deep breath and moved, not even bothering with her clothes or her shoes before pushing back the shower door and climbing into Elena’s shower.
“Allison!” Elena exclaimed, stumbling backward under the spray. “What are you doing?”
“I…” Allison began, water droplets streaming down her forehead and over her eyes. They clung to her lashes, making her blink rapidly, but she never closed her eyes. She continued to stare at the beautiful bare woman before her. All of those feelings bubbled rapidly to the surface again, and a surge of confidence ignited in Allison’s heart. “I read a lot,” she finally managed to say and then immediately wanted to smack herself when she saw Elena’s brows furrow.
“I don’t understand,” Elena said. “You climbed into my shower, fully clothed, to tell me that you read a lot?” She laughed awkwardly, the sound croaky and weak, but her eyes deepened with concern. She reached out and cupped a hand around Allison’s cheek. “Are you feeling ill, dear? You’re behaving strangely.”
“Just listen,” Allison said. “Please.” She rubbed her thumb back and forth over the inside of Elena’s wrist as she pushed all of her feelings into her voice. “I’ve read all those stories about soul mates and true love and all that stuff, but I never thought they were real, you know? I never thought any of that could happen to me.”
“Okay,” Elena whispered, the quiet word dying quickly in the roar of the shower rain.
Allison’s breathing was shallow and made tiny bursts of white fog as each breath hit the heated water raining down around them and soaking through her hair and clothes. “I never thought I’d feel that way about someone. I never thought anyone could ever feel that way about me, but every time I’m with you and every time I think about you, I find myself hoping that you do.” Her voice cracked terribly as her throat tightened and tears began to blend with the shower water on her cheeks. Still, she pushed through it. Putting herself out there, laying her feelings bare, scared the hell out of her, but she had to say this. She wanted to say this.
“I find myself hoping that you feel that way about me,” she confessed, “or that you could feel that way about me someday, because all those books say that you only get one, you know? You only get one great love to last a lifetime, and I think it’s you. I think you’re mine. I want you to be mine.”
Elena’s eyes widened and her lips parted around a sharp breath.
“You and Lucas,” Allison continued, her voice now shaking so hard that she could hardly get the words out, “are always on my mind. You’re always in my heart, both of you. I love Lucas like a son, Elena. I want to be in his life. I want to watch him grow up. I want to be there beside you watching him play Little League or singing in his first school play. I want to be there. I want you to want me there. I’ve never wanted anything more in my whole life.”
“Allison,” Elena croaked, her hand now clasped over her mouth as her body trembled and she blinked through her tears.
Allison took a step forward, the shower spray now beating down on top of her head as she pulled Elena closer. “Remember when I told you that I learned to say something in Spanish that I wanted to say to you?”
Elena nodded, eyes locked on Allison’s.
“Bear with me, okay?” Allison sniffled and pushed wet hair back from Elena’s cheeks. “I know my Spanish sucks, but it’s important that you know that mi corazón es tuyo.” She said the words slowly, doing her best to pronounce them as perfectly as possible while conveying how much she meant them, and she did. Her heart was entirely Elena’s.
A small sob escaped between Elena’s fingers, still cupped over her mouth.
“It’s yours,” Allison promised, “because I love you. I’m in love with you, and I know that I don’t have anything to offer you. I don’t have any money. Hell, I don’t even have a job right now, and I’m just a goofy kid who will probably never fit into your fancy lifestyle, but I don’t really care. I don’t care, because if you love me, then I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy. If you love me, I—”
Her next words died against Elena’s lips as Elena surged forward and kissed Allison hard on the lips. She pressed her soaked bare body against Allison, arms wrapping tightly around her neck, and sobbed into Allison’s mouth as she said, “I do,” over and over. “I do love you.”
They stood beneath the shower rain, wrapped around one another and soaked to the bone, and the world drowned away in the hum of the spray, until the heated presses of desperate kisses and of fingertips to flesh became all they knew.
“You do?” Allison asked, needing to hear the words again.
Elena nodded against Allison’s forehead, their soaked skin sliding together. “I do,” she whispered in a puff of fog. “Te amo, Allison.”
Allison smiled at the words, letting them fill her up. They pressed together again in a perfect kiss, long and deep, and, as the spray beat down around them, they gave themselves over to the feeling of loving and being loved in return.
