Falling for My Bully: A Lesbian Romance

by Alexa Woods

  she was going to provide and make ends meet. She knew she could do it,

  even if it meant working at three terrible jobs until she found something that

  was the right fit. But losing June? There wasn’t anyone like her. In so many

  ways. June was one of a kind.

  “I’m sorry I outed us like that.” June glanced down at her plate. “Thank

  you for making this, but I’m not really hungry.”

  “Would you rather do something else? I can put it in the fridge. I’m not

  really hungry either.”

  “I would.” June stood, still holding Arabella’s hand, and gently tugged

  her out of her chair. She took a few steps that were as nimble and graceful

  as a dance being performed and pulled Arabella into a hug.

  It was the most wonderful thing in the world. Arabella leaned against

  June, allowing all the heaviness she felt to flow away. She breathed at the

  nape of June’s neck when she bent her head and set her chin on June’s

  shoulder. She loved the heady tingle that accompanied the action.

  “I should have asked you if you were okay with everyone at work

  knowing about us.”

  “It’s just Beth. She won’t tell.”

  “But still. I’m sorry. The way I said it wasn’t very sensitive.”

  “I’ve always been okay with anyone knowing about us,” Arabella said.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated on the small things. The way June’s

  thighs pressed up against hers. The silk of her blouse against her fingers.

  Her deep breaths.

  “When I said that we should wait to meet our families and friends, it

  wasn’t because I was trying to decide if I wanted to be in this. I do. I just

  thought it would be better to go slow instead of rushing into it. You’ve

  already met my mom. And Summer’s mom. And, of course, you know

  Summer. I wasn’t trying to not be involved. The work thing is—I do feel

  like it makes things more complicated, but I’m okay with people knowing

  too. I was scared that I would be seen as that boss who was totally

  unprofessional when I expect a certain level of professionalism from

  everyone else, but there isn’t a dating policy at work that says that people

  can’t meet and date each other and fall in love. I know it sometimes makes

  things messy, but I’m not going to decide that for anyone. It’s not right.”

  “I wasn’t mad about any of that. I just thought you needed time. I can

  appreciate taking things slow and I know the work situation can make

  things complicated. No one wants to mess things up and then have to work

  with the person they made a big mess with.”

  “That would be awkward.”

  “It would be.”

  “It’s not going to happen to us. I know that already.”

  Arabella’s heart pounded hard, but it was a good hard. “Yeah?” She tilted

  her head and studied June. June smiled right back at her, which made

  Arabella’s chest feel soft and warm and ultra squishy. “That’s a good

  prediction. I like that.”

  “I want you to know that I meant what I said. About the universe giving

  you bad karma. If it turns out that’s a thing, we’ll deal with it together. I’m

  not keeping score. It was never about scores.”

  “That’s very generous.”

  “It’s very realistic.” June gathered up Arabella’s hair and moved it over

  her shoulder. She set her hand against Arabella’s chin, brushing her thumb

  over her leaping pulse point. “I was never a scorekeeper anyway. Actually, I

  hate sports. You know what I don’t hate? This. Us. Even if it is a little crazy,

  even if it is kind of work inappropriate, even if my best friend still has some

  doubts about you not being a turdbag. She’ll come around. I’m super

  excited for my family to meet you. I’m super excited for everyone to know

  that we’re awesome together and we’re only going to get more awesome.

  I’m really excited because you bring out the best in me and I want to do that

  for you.”

  “You already have!”

  “Then I want to keep doing it. I want to keep helping you be creative. I

  want you to keep succeeding. I want to keep learning about who you are

  and all the things you love. I don’t care who you were before. If I did, it

  would just be to marvel at how far you’ve walked down a road that wasn’t

  easy. I was walking my own road, but now those roads are going to be

  going parallel, I hope.”

  “You don’t have to hope. You can know. The things in my life didn’t

  change me. I wanted to change myself. Even before my dad and all of that,

  in college, and after, I tried to be different. Truly me. I guess like everyone

  else, I seriously needed to figure out who that was and who I wanted it to

  be.”

  “I know.” June’s smile was potent like sunshine. The rays of it were truly

  lifegiving. “I don’t want to scare you or anything, but over the past few

  weeks, I keep having this thought. About you being such a good fit. No,

  that sounds horrible. I mean, it feels like you’re my one. I should have just

  said that, but then I panicked and thought that maybe it was way too soon

  and so I—”

  “That’s funny,” Arabella whispered, leaning into June. “Because I keep

  having the same thought.”

  “Do you?”

  “I do.”

  “Does it scare you?”

  “It’s terrifying.”

  June’s throat worked hard. “Okay, good. Because I feel the same way.

  About the terror. And the wonder. And the goodness. And the rightness.”

  “That sounds like the perfect ad for a new shoe line. Something a little bit

  edgy, but also awesome.”

  June laughed. “This might be the one time I don’t want to talk about

  shoes.”

  “Oh really?” Arabella purposely pushed her eyebrows up as she cast her

  a dubious glance. “I am shocked.”

  June leaned in and kissed Arabella. The same wonderful warmth and the

  incredible adrenaline surged through her, and she melted against June at the

  pleasure of it. It was crazy how something so small and simple as a kiss

  could be so earth-shattering. Every. Single. Time. Arabella wrapped her

  hands around June’s shoulders and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

  “I think we should go to the bedroom,” Arabella whispered huskily after

  pulling away. “To discuss that new shoe line.”

  June giggled. She pinched Arabella playfully on the bottom and Arabella

  squealed with surprise. “That’s what I think about that idea.”

  “You could have just said so!”

  “You had me at bedroom. If you leave off the shoe part, it would be just

  right.”

  “Okay. We can talk shoes later.”

  “Agreed. As much as you want. Later.”

  Arabella grinned against June’s lips as she went in for another kiss.

  “Alright, I agree. There are some things more important than shoes, though

  I never thought I’d hear the queen of shoes say it.”

  “She’s saying it.”

  “But later, we’ll discuss it.”

  “Later. Much, much later. Seriously later.”

  Epilogue

  June

  “You know which shoes are my favorites, of all the ones that our
/>
  company has ever made?”

  Arabella grimaced as she sank into one of the office chairs in the meeting

  room. One of the many that had been dragged into the company’s largest

  room for the baby shower that was being thrown for Arabella and June.

  June didn’t miss that look of discomfort that crossed her wife’s face. She

  gave her a sympathetic look, but Arabella smiled quickly to reassure her

  that she was okay.

  Arabella was as stubborn as June had been when she was pregnant with

  the twins. She’d refused to stop working until right near the end of the

  pregnancy. Anyone might think that their relationship was a little strange,

  but it didn’t matter to them. They knew they wanted a big family and that

  they would both like to have the experience of being pregnant. It never felt

  weird for them while they were making that decision, going through in-

  Vitro, or while they both took maternity leave. June took the full year, while

  Arabella took six months.

  When the twins, who were a crazy handful at the best of times, but a

  handful of love aside from all their wild shenanigans, were just over a year

  and a half old, Arabella went through in-Vitro since they didn’t want the

  kids to be so far apart in age.

  “Let me guess?” Beth asked, coming up with a piece of cake on a plate

  and handing it to June. “It’s whatever pair is going to be gracing those little

  feet.”

  June took the cake and laughed. “That’s exactly right.”

  It turned out that even though they waited over a year to put their line of

  kid’s shoes into production after the whole design selling fiasco, it was

  worth the wait. They were able to come up with even better, more unique

  designs and better able to put together the best technology they could into

  making shoes that would fit newborns all the way up to adult sizes. They

  were a huge hit, and now their children’s line of animal and insect-themed

  shoes were the company’s new best seller.

  June watched Arabella check her phone, just to be sure that the baby

  shower, which was being held at the end of the day, wasn’t running late.

  She didn’t want to be late to pick up the twins from daycare. Again. She’d

  already been late quite a few times that month, but thankfully, Annie gave

  her a break since she knew that being pregnant with a second set of twins,

  working, and parenting a set of two-year-old toddler boys was tough work.

  “We’re good for time?” June handed the slice over to Arabella, who

  looked thrilled at the rich chocolate icing and dark chocolate cake. She’d

  had the worst chocolate cravings throughout her pregnancy.

  “We are.” She bit down on a forkful of cake and closed her eyes in rapt

  delight. “Oh wow. This is good. Seriously. Good. This might be the best

  thing that anyone has ever handed to me.”

  Everyone in the huge room, which was jam-packed with just about every

  employee from the company, laughed in agreement. There were multiple

  cakes, since there were so many of them, but Beth had known all about

  Arabella’s chocolate weakness and had cut the perfect piece for her first.

  Unlike June, Arabella hadn’t had a rough pregnancy. June might have

  gotten pregnant the first time they did the procedure, like Arabella had, but

  she was so sick throughout the entire time. She never got a break. She

  wasn’t the first woman to barely gain any weight, even when carrying

  twins, but it had been a rough ride. It was hard going to work every single

  day when you were so, so sick. She’d had to keep a garbage can under her

  desk just in case she couldn’t make it to the bathroom in time. She hated to

  think back on how many times she’d had to use it.

  She was glad Arabella had only gone through a little nausea during her

  first trimester. Unlike the first time, they had wild twin boys to look after,

  and it would have been doubly hard if Arabella couldn’t get out of bed most

  days or scrape herself off the couch like June.

  She knew how horrible it had been for Arabella during that time. How

  much she’d worried about the babies and about her. Not that June didn’t

  worry. She did. God, some days all she did was worry, but she knew they’d

  get through it.

  Everything would be fine.

  And very soon they’d go from having two beautiful, extra-boisterous,

  keep you on your toes constantly little boys to four little boys. Yes. Four.

  They’d kind of hoped that there would be at least one girl, but they were

  still thrilled when they went for their ultrasound and found out that both of

  these babies were boys as well.

  Their families might think they were crazy, having four boys under the

  age of two and a half, and they very well might be, but who didn’t have kids

  and wonder at their sanity sometimes? Both sets of their grandparents

  absolutely adored the twins.

  Arabella’s parents were incredibly helpful. They’d sold the old house

  where they were living after Arabella moved in with June, and they’d

  bought a tiny condo in a good neighborhood. Arabella made sure their

  health insurance was paid for, but they hadn’t had to use it. Her dad’s health

  had really improved, especially after the twins were born. He liked to joke

  that his grandsons were like a special batch of medicine, and he was

  probably right, except it was likely love that was the best medicine of all.

  “Oh, you guys!” Arabella exclaimed when a tide of gifts started to flow

  magically into the room. “We said not to get us anything. We already have a

  houseful from Luke and Liam.”

  “That’s nonsense,” Beth protested as she directed the flow of boxes onto

  the table. “Boys are hard on their clothes. So hard that I’m sure only our

  company’s shoes survived because they’re built super tough and strong.”

  “Strong enough to last from generation to generation and then some,”

  Arabella quoted directly from their marketing campaign.

  “You bet!” Beth kept waving her arms like she was piloting a plane down

  a runway, and those boxes kept appearing.

  June had to blink back tears when she noticed Arabella was smiling but

  doing the same. They were loved. They were so loved. Their co-workers

  weren’t just co-workers. They were friends. They were fellow parents and

  grandparents, and everyone had cheered them on when they found out they

  were dating, then when they got married, then when they announced they

  were pregnant the first time. And the second.

  “I can’t wait for the company picnic this year,” Beth said. “Shannon is so

  excited to talk to you guys about Amelia’s school.”

  “It’s coming up,” Arabella agreed. “Just two weeks away.” She stroked

  her huge baby bump lovingly. “I hope I make it.”

  “Those babies will hang on a little longer. They wouldn’t want you to

  miss the best part of the year.”

  Shannon had mentioned to them at the last picnic how well Amelia was

  doing at her school. It was hard to believe that in the fall, Sky would

  already be starting kindergarten there herself. June and Arabella thought it

  was a great idea to send the twins there. Eve
n if it was years down the road,

  they both knew that they’d go by very, very quickly.

  June had to wipe at her eyes before the moisture overflowed and leaked

  down her face. She couldn’t believe the boys were already nearly two and a

  half years old. It literally seemed like yesterday that they were in the

  hospital with them, scared and so incredibly excited to take them home.

  Both her parents and Arabella’s parents were always saying that whole

  “blink and you’ll miss it” thing, but they were right.

  The next year would be a hard one, with two newborns and two toddlers.

  It would be busy and filled with a lack of sleep. Only Arabella was taking

  maternity leave this time, and they were hiring a nanny to help out. The

  company was going full steam and June didn’t feel like she could take

  another year off, which made her more than a little bit sad in some ways,

  but Arabella encouraged her and supported her fully.

  They worked together, and that was one of the best parts of their

  relationship. Arabella knew exactly what was going on with the company at

  all times, and she’d also agreed that June really couldn’t take another year

  or even six months off. When June suggested a nanny, Arabella had been all

  for it. They’d interviewed a few people from a few different agencies. Their

  nanny, who was sixty-two with a ton of her own grandchildren, was the

  nicest woman in the world. They were very lucky to have found her.

  Even though June couldn’t take time off, she vowed that all the minutes

  she spent at home would be minutes she made the absolute most of.

  It wasn’t long before the cake was finished, and everyone crowded into

  the meeting room started to root for the mound of presents to be opened.

  June sat down beside Arabella and took her hand.

  They still didn’t really do the whole PDA thing at work, but this was

  technically just after work hours, and this was their baby shower. She

  brought Arabella’s hand to her lips and kissed the back of her palm and the

  room erupted in cheers.

  Arabella went scarlet, and while the cheering and clapping was still

  going strong, June leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Thank you for

  making me a one plus one. You’re the best wife in the entire world. You

  made me a mother and you’ve made us a family. I promise you I’m going to