“No rush,” she murmured.
Debra’s chin dipped in agreement, her eyelids heavy as the room seemed to breathe with her. Anticipation rose in the air, an electric whisper that left even Billie breathless.
She turned her attention to the sash of silk and slipped one finger underneath. The material surrendered without resistance, opening as though it had been anticipating her touch.
“See yourself,” she whispered against Debra’s neck. Billie couldn’t help but breathe her in. “What do you find there?”
Debra lifted her gaze to the glass, darting between their mirrored forms. The parted robe revealed a subtle mark near her hipbone, an intimate detail uncovered through chance and tenderness.
“I see someone…attempting,” Debra said.
“Attempts matter,” Billie told her as her fingers travelled lower, delicate and confident as she grazed them just above the waistband of Debra’s lace underwear. “Few people ever make them.”
“I’m not like the others.”
“No,” Billie concurred. “You’re not.”
She leaned in, the last of the space dividing them no longer an issue. Their reflection merged them into one outline, with Billie’s height sheltering Debra’s form, her hands achingto worship, the current of dominance resting silently between them.
Billie’s lips grazed her ear. “I don’t transform you into someone else. I reveal who you’ve always been.”
Debra’s eyes softened. “What if I’m afraid of that person?”
“Then we wait and try again another time, but trust me, you’re far more than your fears would have you believe.” Billie’s fingers inched the robe open a little more. “Still with me?”
“Yes.” They locked eyes, Debra’s stare unwavering. “Completely.”
Something charged passed between them, but this was the threshold she sought. Desire acknowledged out loud.
“Then we continue,” she said. “At whatever pace you’re comfortable with.”
Billie slid the robe from Debra’s body, fighting back the urge to drop to her knees for this woman. That wasn’t who she was anymore. She didn’t give herself freely to the first beautiful woman she came across. Actually, she didn’tgiveherself to anyone at all anymore.
She took a breath, inconspicuously of course, and leaned in once more. “Shall we?”
“Yes.” Debra trembled when Billie ghosted the back of her hand over the taut nipple peeking through the lace fabric. “I’m ready.”
“Keep those beautiful eyes on me.”
The wordreadystill hung between them as Billie pressed herself to Debra’s back. Debra caught their reflection—Billie’s dark suit and her own pale skin, the two of them separated onlyby breath—and the air changed. The temperature had certainly crept up.
She’d meant to keep her eyes open, to follow Billie’s instruction, but that first brush of contact when the back of Billie’s hand had teased her nipple into a painfully hard peak had made her world tilt. She exhaled a breathy moan and surrendered to whatever was happening here.
“So beautiful.”
Debra swallowed, entirely consumed by the woman pressed against her.
“Do you know what I see?” Billie asked as she slowly stroked her palm down Debra’s stomach, the tip of her tongue teasing the outline of Debra’s ear. “A woman who got back up.”
Billie didn’t hurry. She moved with purpose, inching that soft hand lower until it slipped past the waistband of her underwear. Debra’s breath hitched when Billie stilled her hand, aware that she was soaking wet with each whisper against her neck.
“A woman who deserves to feel wanted and explored…”
Those words lodged somewhere deep inside Debra, in a place that hadn’t heard anything like that in a long time. Her throat squeezed, a raw ache clawing its way upward and towards release. She blinked, fighting the sting behind her eyes.
Billie noticed. Of course she did. When her hand shifted again and two fingers pressed to Debra’s clit, her legs almost gave out. She wasn’t sure anyone had ever touched her quite like this. With care and respect…with a look of want buried deep in their eyes. “B-Billie…”
“Feel me. Feel what I see when I look at you…when I touch you.”
