"Oh okay," I relented. "Let me see!" I tried to grab the envelope, but Tori evaded me. "Oww, no fair," I complained as Tori pinned my arm behind my back. "You can't use your LAPD training on me. You promised," I said firmly.
Tori released my arm and said, "Sorry. It is a force of habit. Here." She held the envelope out to me which I snatched away from her and stuck my tongue out of her just to be that much more childish toward the blond. The woman smiled as she watched me tear into the envelope.
I let out a victorious "Whoop!" when I saw my name at the top of the winners. I threw my arms around the blond woman's shoulders and sighed happily, "I did it!"
"Looks like you were a prodigy after all," Tori said with a grin.
"I don't need your approval," I said haughtily with a smile.
Tori shook her head and said, "You never did, but you have it anyway."
I leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. The envelope was soon forgotten as we kissed one another deeply. We did not normally indulge in workplace dalliances because it was simply not professional, even if everyone at work was aware we were dating by now thanks to Danny.
Tori straightened up and tapped my nose with her finger. "Nice try," she said with a smile.
"Oh, you know you want to be bad," I said in a teasing tone as I ran my finger along the color of Tori's perfectly pressed jacket.
Tori nodded and said, "I do, but I'm also at work."
"You are no fun," I said as I made a show of slumping down to sit on the desk. "You don't love me," I said sulkily.
The blond woman's laughter rang out loudly enough that I am sure every one of the surrounding offices heard her. I gave her a smile. Tori said, "Not only do I love you, but I also adore you. I also like my job just like you like yours. So, let us try to keep them, shall we?"
I sighed heavily, "If I must."
Tori came over and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. "Do you still want to go camping this weekend?" She asked as she eyed me with patience.
"Of course," I said without reservation. "I can't possibly miss the opportunity to see Danny try to put up a tent."
Tori and I shared a laugh. "We might have to help him," she said at last.
"Maybe," I conceded. I reached out and tugged at Tori's jacket. "Just one little kiss more?"
"And then you will go to your site and work?" Tori ventured.
"I swear," I said and raised my fingers in what I hoped was a scouting symbol of some kind. Tori just rolled her eyes. "Please?" I said in a honey sweet tone.
Tori sighed and leaned over to brush her lips against mine. My hands grabbed her jacket as the blond kissed me so deeply that I wondered if she would ever stop. When Tori pulled back out of the kiss, I felt light-headed and gasped for breath.
"Ready to go to work?" Tori asked in amusement.
I smiled at her, "You are still the worse boss."
A Perfect Stranger
~ Bonus Story ~
An Erotic Contemporary Lesbian Romance
Oh, right. Perfection. It doesn’t exist. But she is perfect for me. Even with her short temper, and her need to make a pun every three seconds, and her scatterbrain.
I’m gonna marry that girl.
I needed to know the answers to the questions I asked. And so I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled her down to my level. I pressed my lips to hers in a searing kiss. It burnt me deep in my belly. It awakened something deep within me, that I was unaware was even there.
Dragging her closer to my body with my hands on her muscular shoulders, my mind was blank. Only feelings flew through me, wanting- no, needing more. The rush, the fireworks, everything. It was just too much and too little all at once.
* * *
Chapter 1
“Absolutely not!” My voice was a touch too harsh, even I could hear it.
It’s not their faults that I was always busy. That I could never make time for my friends no matter how much I love them. I can do it soon! That’s what I need to keep telling myself. Soon, we can all be happy. Soon, we can all be having fun together.
“I’m sorry. Sarah, Joanne… I am really sorry. But I won’t be able to do it.” It sucked to disappoint my friends. I wanted to make them happy. But, I couldn’t.
Sarah began to pout. If I was honest with myself, I could admit that I often envied her. She knew exactly what she wanted, and got it so easily. And she was perfect, she had a dancer’s body and was adorably short. She had a doll face and an adorable temperament as well. “Are you sure you-“
If Barbie was a natural blonde with a pixie cut and had the body of a dancer instead of her impossible, unrealistic form, you’d have Sarah in the flesh.
“Sarah,” Joanne’s voice was reproachful. Like a disappointed mother. “If she says she can’t do it, she can’t do it.” It was always kinda weird to see their dynamic. Joanne had black hair with purple streaks throughout it and a monotone voice, and she was still the voice of reason between the two of them. She was the rebellious emo stereotype, wrapped up in a maternal figure who cared more than my mother ever did.
“It’s always work, isn’t it?” My lovely Miranda hissed, her upper lip curled in a snarl. She acted like an angry cat sometimes. Her red hair adding to the whole fiery nature of her personality.
“Oooh, look at the time," Joanne commented, taking her pretty pink girlfriend away. Joanne never really liked exposing Sarah to conflict. Once, when Sarah was around and Joanne and I got into a fight, Sarah had burst into tears and would not stop crying for an hour straight. “We have to go to dinner now.”
“What are you talking about?” Sarah replied, pouting up at her tall badass girlfriend. She put her hands on her hips and scowled, somehow oblivious to the fight that is so obviously starting up between the two of us.
“Shush.” I heard Joanne reply as she led her out of the room and the house, trying to leave as politely and quickly as possible. “Just go.”
“A-Alright then. BYE GUYS.” Joanne’s annoyed groan and Sarah’s lighthearted giggle almost made me genuinely relax. Those two sweethearts are so lovable.
It’s like god granted them miracles. Of course, it helped that Sarah’s family doesn’t know Joanne goes by Joanne now. When the two started dating, she still went by Joe in public.
I hate it when someone refers to her as Joe. It makes my skin crawl because it is so profoundly wrong.
This line of thought wasn’t helping my mood in any way as I looked up at my girlfriend- fiancée. She was still ranting and raving.
I hate it when she gets like this, the passion in her eyes is usually something I would die for. I would do anything to consume that beautiful gaze- usually. Like a goddess of creation, willing to do anything to achieve her goal. Beautiful and terrifying as on can possibly get.
But when she gets into this mood it’s monstrous, almost. Destructive and terrible. The look on her face makes her more of a beast than a beauty. After dealing with this for years, I was all out of patience with it. “Miranda,” I was losing my cool with her. I hate when that happens. It feels as though I am proving her right! She is so passive aggressive sometimes. It just makes me crazy. The least she could do is give me the basic respect of being genuinely aggressive so I could counter her argument in a rational way. “It’s my job. I can’t just-”
“I am your fiancée. We’re going to get married! Or did you forget that too?” She was huffing and puffing like a petulant three-year-old who didn’t get their way for the first time.
“And what exactly is that supposed to mean, Miranda?” I scowled at her. When I spoke her name, most often, my tongue curled around the word as if I was using a cutesy pet name. Right now, I spat it as if it were the vilest, most grotesque slur my mind could come up with. Usually, we were all lovey Dovey, the perfect couple in the eyes of others. How could there be trouble in such obvious paradise? Sometimes, though… Miranda was exhausting and she lit up that fire in my blood in more ways than one.
Even though she gets on my every las
t nerve, she is my soulmate. And a soulmate supersedes anything else. Passion or lust or any other feeling one could have for another.
“You know exactly what I mean!” Miranda’s nose was scrunched up as she made the least attractive expression I had ever actually seen on somebodies face. I didn't think she could make herself unattractive to me. As if a Valkyrie scowled, and suddenly, was a grotesque, boar-headed, freak of nature. “You always choose your work over me! Over our relationship!”
I groaned to myself. This is always how it is to her. There is no middle ground. Either you love me, or you hate me. Either the cup is full or it is empty. Either you put me above all else, or you don’t respect me or care for me in any way. Protecting her ego and supporting her is sometimes, an impossible task.
“That isn’t true. And you know it,” I took a deep breath to steady myself as I tried to force myself to relax. I can’t let her words at a time like this affect me. I know she doesn’t actually mean them. I wasn’t that important to the company, as I was just an actuary, but I couldn’t take a vacation, soon I’ll get my promotion. Then I can go work anywhere, but for right now… “The company is having their busiest time of the year. I can’t just-”
“That’s all you ever say! I can’t. Not now. Later, I swear. How dare you accuse me of being too busy for you? Do you know how much I value my work over you?” Her voice had turned into the mocking high-pitched tone she used to make fun of people.
My lip curled in response, mirroring the ugliness which is the feelings she inspires in me. I tried to calm down, but I was so angry that I couldn’t see straight.
Oh great! Now I’m crying! Why does this always happen?
“You don’t understand. I’ll never get the promotion that will let us have more freedom if-“
“No!” She glared at me heatedly. “YOU don’t understand!”
Alright. Now I’m pissed. I will not stay quiet at this point. “I understand that you aren’t paying attention to a word I ever say if it's not exactly what you want to hear. I understand that you don’t care, and you don’t even bother to pretend to care.” I huffed. “I understand that you want me to put you above everything else. I understand that you don’t even consider the fact that, though I love you dearly, my entire life doesn’t actually revolve around you!”
Needless to say, we didn’t really solve anything with our little spat. If anything, our argument only escalated.
It wasn’t really her fault. It’s just… sometimes… sometimes it was really hard to try and balance being with Miranda and being who I want to be, a successful woman with a fabulous career.
Miranda just demanded so much out of me. There is never time for a moment of peace. It is the world as she wishes it or no world at all.
I eventually made my decision as I went to my boss. I asked to use those vacation day’s I had spent the last two years saving up. I wanted to have a grand vacation in Italy!
I would do anything for Miranda though. And there is always next time. There will always be another vacation. Always a new destination.
If we are being honest here, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when he said yes, and now I had no out. I wanted him to say no. I was too valuable to the company and they needed me. But they didn’t.
I never get what I want.
Little did I know that I would learn exactly what I wanted soon.
So now, I had to go all the way to California.
Miranda was ecstatic. That was the reason I was doing this. To make the person most important to me happy.
Her eyes glittered when she smiled. I’d do anything to see that smile directed towards me. Even for only a moment.
She is my soulmate after all!
And a soulmate is more than anything else.
Chapter 2
Furious didn’t even begin to describe my feelings right now.
I was a million degrees passed angry, and so far passed enraged that I don’t even have the capacity to explain how I was feeling.
Of course, that meant I started crying again. Angry tears pouring down my soft cheeks.
“Oh, so when something comes up in YOUR job, it’s waay too important to miss. But the second something comes up for ME, it’s fine. It doesn’t even matter? Oh no, that’s NOT how this works! We are a partnership, me and you. And without your respect, we don’t have anything.”
Maybe I was overreacting just a tad, stomping around our home and knocking things off shelves in order for me to make my point as clear as possible. But can you really blame me? All this stink over me putting my work before her, and she has the gall – the sheer audacity! - to say to me, that she has to work and therefore can’t make the trip? How DARE she.
I can’t stay mad at her. I’d forgive her eventually. I mean, how could I not?
She is my soulmate. And a soulmate trumps everything else.
But for right now.
Soulmate or not. My hand itches to smack a bitch.
“Sorry. I can’t come on the trip, Babe. An important project came up. I tried to say no, but they insisted.” Miranda said to me, a less than an hour before we had to leave to catch our flight with our girlfriends. She said it as if she didn’t care, so nonchalantly. As if it didn’t matter that I went through all of this because it was what she wanted.
“No! You can’t do this to me!” I snapped.
“You’re being overdramatic. If you just-“
“I’m being overdramatic? Did you seriously just insinuate that I am the one being unreasonable right now?” I snarled. I had done so much for her, and to just back out.
How much of a spineless coward does one have to be?
"There's no time to argue. Don't you have to get going? I'll miss you." She used that tone. The tone that says ‘I won. I won and that's all that really matters. I won and you should just relax.' Well, I don't WANT to relax!
I glared at her. I didn’t say goodbye. I rearranged my schedule for this so I am leaving, but I was much too furious with her to say goodbye.
“Oh, Rachel!” Sarah’s sweet voice called to me when she saw me. “I’m so happy you could make it! Where- Where’s Miranda.”
I may have just been in a bad mood, but I had never before realized how nasal and shrill her voice was. My ears felt like they were bleeding.
I sat down on the car seat. “I don’t want to talk about it!” The tone of my voice was biting.
This was going to be an awfully long car ride.
Chapter 3
So here I am, alone. Without my fiancée. I didn’t call her when I got here, I was too furious with her and her flakiness.
Joanne could tell I was going to stew in my anger. I only know this, because she suggested we all go to the beach immediately. She dragged me into the bedroom and chose my outfit. “You will have fun. And you will enjoy yourself. And that. Is. Final.”
She is so bossy, but she is always right.
I hate it.
They globbed on the sunscreen. They needed it. Their fair skin was weak against the harsh rays of the sun.
I put on a layer myself before I left. My tawny skin wasn’t as sensitive as theirs was.
I ran a brush through my hair a few times and sighed, giving up. My brown hair with fire red tips – It was the same shade as Miranda’s hair, as a testament to our love - was never gonna look the way I wanted it to today, it was too unruly. I put it up in a messy bun and fixed my thick glasses.
We got to the beach and I went up to the bar, ordering a Mai Tai and sipping on the drink as I paid small amounts of attention to what was actually going on.
I did notice when a… Well, a surfer girl walked up to Sarah and Joanne.
I almost swallowed my tongue. Girl’s like her weren’t supposed to be real! They were supposed to be stuck on a magazine cover because they were imaginary, Photoshopped, and designed entirely for the male gaze.
She was holding a surfboard. She had an athletic body, wearing a bikini. Her abs were visibly toned and I felt myself lickin
g my lips. It’s fine to look. I’ve been told that before, back when I thought I was straight my boyfriend’s said that to me. She had breasts that made my C-cups look small, and I bet I would look even chubbier and even less passably pretty when seated next to her.
Long dirty blonde wet hair. She had pink lips that looked soft. Most interesting, were her big beautiful doe eyes.
When I walked to the group – to be with my friends ONLY. Get your minds out of the gutter! I mean, I have a girlfriend- fiancée. I have a fiancée. I noticed, her eyes were glittering. Yet, one eye was sapphire blue and another was emerald green.
“Oh, so do any of you beautiful girls want to buy…” I stopped listening. Ooh, she was a saleswoman.
“I don’t have to offer anything to you,” She flirted with me. I felt my cheeks flush a dark red. “You’re too pretty to need any of it.”
Oh dear. I can’t even handle a little flirtation.
“On the other hand.” She purred, smirking at my reaction. “Maybe some repellent. You’ll be batting off your suitors left and right with looks like those."
She spent most of the night on this – we did end up buying some of the surfboard wax, and facial cream she sold.
“Zoey was seriously flirting with you.” Sarah teased, the second we got into the cabin that night.
The two of them were smirking knowingly at me. They were always up for some hot gossip, and neither of them would ever take no for an answer.
“No, she wasn’t. She was trying to sell me some product. And even if she was, I have a fiancée!” I argued, wanting to nip that in the bud.
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