199 Steps to Love

by Pauline George

  “I scare you? Why?”

  “I seem to react to you in a way I’m not sure I should.”

  “How so?”

  “You’re definitely not going to let me get away with—I don’t know—are you?”

  “No, I’m not. Look, Lucy it’s not easy adjusting to liking women when society expects you to gravitate toward men. You’re going to be a bit like a kid in a sweet shop, always ready for that sugar hit.”

  “Are you implying I’m sex hungry?”

  “Well—er—not in so many words.”

  “It’s okay I’m kidding, but I think your analogy was spot on. Since coming back after discovering my sexuality, and being with Jamie, my libido seems to be on overdrive. Is it the same with everyone?”

  “Some women who’ve discovered their sexuality when they’re older do have a very active sex life, that’s what I’ve found anyway. Some of it’s the novelty factor, but mostly it’s the passion that was missing in their previous relationships.”

  “That’s exactly how it was for me. My marriage was good but I always felt there was something missing. Sex wasn’t always as fulfilling as I expected, and occasionally I had to take matters into my own hands as I didn’t like to fake it. Maybe if I’d been more forceful in asking for what I wanted, or taken the lead, things would have been different.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you, Lucy?”

  She thought about Frankie's question and realised it wouldn’t have changed anything, she’d obviously been gay her whole life.

  “No I don’t. The more I think back, I can find occasions when I saw a woman and had a reaction, but I couldn’t put a name to it. My thoughts on lesbians were that they were okay as long as they left me alone. Ha, now I’m one of them.”

  “You could say that was karma.”

  “True, and it’s also true I’ve probably been gay all along, but not recognised the signs. However I don’t regret anything. I’ve had a straight life and I’ve got a beautiful daughter in Alexi and now I’m embarking on a new life. I’ve no idea where it’s going to take me.”

  “Wherever you want it to, you’re in charge, Lucy, and no one else. You’ve done your little woman at home role, now it’s your time.”

  “You make it sound like I was chained to the kitchen sink.”

  “Sorry I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant that you’re a free agent and can do whatever you want. The same as if you were straight and got divorced you’d do what you wanted, this is no different except you now fancy women. Am I making any sense here?”

  “Well it’s a bit garbled, but I think I know what you’re saying, that no matter whether straight or gay, I’m free.”

  “Okay, make fun of me why don’t you? I seem to get a bit tongue tied around you.”

  “Why is that?” Lucy asked, although she felt she knew the answer.

  “Why? Well—er here goes, this could be my quickest exit,” Frankie said, and took a deep calming breath. “Right now all I want to do is rip your clothes off and make mad passionate love to you.”

  Lucy was stunned, not by Frankie’s words, but that she’d actually said them. She was becoming wet and aroused by the vision that had just slipped into her head. Lucy took a large drink of her orange juice and stared at Frankie, undecided how she should respond.

  “Oh god, Lucy, please say something.”

  “How old are you?” Lucy blurted out.

  “Er—forty-five, why do you ask? Does it matter how old I am?” Frankie sounded more than a little peeved.

  “Not for you I suspect, but do you know how old I am?”

  “Old enough to be Alexi’s mum, unless she was adopted at an older age.”

  “I’m sixty-two, which makes me old enough to be your mother.”

  “Trust me, you are nothing like my mother. Tell me why this is a problem?” Frankie asked.

  “A seventeen year age gap is quite a lot, don’t you think?” Lucy was avoiding answering Frankie’s question, as she didn’t know herself why it would be a problem.

  “Look, Lucy, you’re an incredibly attractive woman, and if I’d had to guess I would have put you in the late forties bracket. You have a great figure and I happen to think you’re sexy as hell.”

  “Wow, thank you.”

  “I’m not asking you to marry me, move in with me, or even embark on a long-term relationship.”

  “You’re not? Now I am disappointed.” Lucy used bravado to cover her embarrassment at Frankie’s words.

  “What I’m trying to say is we could have a bit of fun. Don’t tell me you’re not interested, because your eyes are saying you are.”

  Lucy pondered over Frankie's words as she finished her drink.

  “I am interested and I know we’d just be having a bit of fun, no strings attached.”

  “I sense a but in there.”

  “I’ve never done the one night stand thing in my obviously very boring life—”

  “And you don’t know what to do?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, we’re going to go to the club and meet a few friends. We’ll have some drinks, dance, maybe play pool and see where it takes us, no pressure. How does that sound?”

  “It sounds good, let’s go.”

  Frankie led the way out of the pub with a big grin on her face. Lucy followed her out admiring the view.

  You’re worse than a guy, Lucy.

  She laughed and Frankie turned around to see what was up. She looked at Lucy with a raise of her eyebrows in question.

  “It’s nothing keep going. I’m right behind you.” Lucy said, with a seductive grin on her face.

  “Yeah, I guess you are.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “YOUR FRIENDS ARE wonderful, Frankie. Thank you for introducing me to them. I had a fantastic time tonight,” Lucy said, as they waited at the cab office.

  “Me too. I think Mandy took quite a liking to you.”

  “She’s lovely, and she’s got a great body.” Lucy thought for a moment about what she’d just said. “That’s the sort of comment I used to moan about, when I’ve overheard blokes talking.”

  “Nothing wrong in admiring someone’s attributes.”

  “And what lovely attributes they are too,” Lucy said, and covered her mouth in embarrassment.

  “Yeah, she’s great. We used to be an item but now we’re just friends.”

  “Oh, I didn’t realise. I think it’s great you can still be friends.”

  “Well, actually we’re a bit more than friends.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “We’re friends with benefits.”

  “Friends with benefits—ah I see.” Lucy had heard of it before and wasn’t sure she agreed with this sort of behaviour, not that she was small minded, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about that sort of situation. “I don’t know why people don’t have a proper relationship.”

  “A lot of the time it’s because they’ve tried and it doesn’t work. But they still like the connection and familiarity with that person. For me it’s about not having one night stands with different women, but being with someone I still care about.”

  “Okay, I can see that is definitely a benefit. But don’t you ever feel like getting back together with Mandy?”

  “Nah, as I said we tried the girlfriend thing but we’re better as friends.”

  “Well I’m sure it works okay, but what about when you or Mandy are with someone else? Does it ever cause any problems? Do you ever get jealous?”

  “No, because we keep to the no strings rule and usually no one else knows about our arrangement.”

  “Well as long as it works for you that’s all right, I suppose.”

  “It does and we make sure no one gets hurt.”

  “I did enjoy myself tonight.”

  “Yeah I had a great time as well. You’re a very good dancer.”

  “It was only a slow one, it wasn’t difficult,” Lucy said, and grinned as she remembered how much she’d enjoye
d dancing with Frankie.

  “YOU WANT TO dance, Lucy?” Frankie held out her hand.

  “Sure.” Lucy took Frankie's hand, letting herself be led onto the tiny dance area.

  The music was fast and they moved to the beat, Frankie dancing in circles around Lucy bumping hips with her every now and again. Suddenly the music slowed right down and Lucy started to walk away when Frankie grabbed her hand to stop her. She pulled Lucy in close and put her leg between Lucy’s and started to move in time with the music.

  “You don’t get away that easily,” Frankie whispered into Lucy’s ear.

  Lucy shuddered as Frankie’s breath played over her ear. She let Frankie hold her closer so their bodies were almost as one. Frankie’s thigh was right against Lucy’s centre and she was starting to get wet. The feeling of arousal was exquisite. A few more minutes of the way they were dancing and Lucy was sure she would embarrass herself. Fortunately the music changed again, and this time Lucy managed to get off the dance floor to take a large swig of her cool lager.

  Frankie looked at her with eyebrows raised in question.

  “I was hot and needed a drink.” Lucy heard the shakiness in her voice and knew Frankie must have as well. It was true she was hot, in the I want you to rip my clothes off sense of the word.

  “I know what you mean,” Frankie said, and waggled her eyebrows telling Lucy she was feeling the same. Frankie took a long pull on her drink, put the glass on their table and grabbed Lucy’s hand.

  “Shall we get out of here?” Frankie’s voice was a little husky and her eyes betrayed her desire.

  “DO YOU WANT to come back to my place for a night cap?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Lucy answered and took Frankie’s hand in hers, their fingers entwined.

  Their cab arrived and they sat close together in the back, enjoying the feel of each other’s bodies as they had on the dance floor. Lucy was a little nervous about to going back to Frankie’s, and she wondered what Alexi’s reaction would be. What she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.

  They arrived at Frankie’s house, which was a Victorian mid-terraced property. Frankie opened the bright yellow door and led the way, leaving Lucy to close it behind her. The hall was narrow with the main part of the house on the left of it. The first room she passed was the lounge and then the dining room. The stairs to the bedrooms were on her right as she followed Frankie into the kitchen.

  “What would you like? I have lager, wine, soft drinks, tea, coffee, blah, blah, blah.”

  “I’ll have blah if I may, I’ve never had one of those,” Lucy replied, with a completely straight face.

  “Oh, you are very funny.”

  “Well if you’re out of it I’ll stick to lager please.”

  Frankie organised the drinks and they sat together on the sofa in the lounge. Lucy took off her shoes and left them on the floor.

  “This is a nice room. I love the colour scheme.”

  Frankie had done three of the walls in the ubiquitous magnolia and contrasted the fireplace wall in terracotta. Either side of the fireplace were bookcases chock-a-block full of books. Frankie had just enough room for a sofa which stood against the back wall at a right angle to the left side of the fireplace opposite the window. On either side of the window were two matching armchairs. At the right end of the sofa was a small table on which sat a lamp giving the room a lovely glow, and enhancing the warm feel. Lucy’s feet sank into the plush terracotta carpet and she wiggled her toes in it.

  “I’m glad you like it. I used to spend a lot of time in here reading and relaxing. Nowadays I’m too busy working. I don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything I want.”

  “That’s a good thing though, isn’t it? It means your business is doing well.”

  “Yes and don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining, it’s just that I’d like a little more time for me.”

  “Ah, the perils of a start-up, eh? Just think it’ll get easier, and remember this conversation if you get a lull.”

  “I know I should count my blessings.” Frankie was quiet and Lucy let the silence lengthen as she didn’t feel the need to fill it. After a while Frankie got up and went out, a couple of minutes later Lucy heard soft music in the lounge.

  “Where did that come from?” Lucy asked as Frankie came back.

  “Ah, I’m sure you’ve realised there’s no entertainment centre in here.”

  Lucy looked around the room. “That’s right there isn’t, so where is it?”

  “I didn’t really have room for it in here so I put it in the dining room along with the TV and made this a gadget free room. I put speakers in the corners of this room that have been wired up to the music centre.”

  “What a good idea.”

  Frankie took Lucy’s hand and pulled her up and they started moving to the music.

  “Is this how you seduce all the women you bring here?”

  “Am I seducing you?”

  “I think you know very well what you’re doing.”

  “I’ll stop if you want.”

  “No, it’s okay. I’m enjoying it.”

  “Actually I’ve never brought a woman back here, you’re the first.”

  “Oh really? I thought you’d have them lining up outside.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I was like that once. A love ’em and leave ’em type, but that got old very quickly and now I’m more discerning about who I hook up with.” There was a tinge of pain in her words and voice.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to touch a nerve.”

  “It’s okay, where I lived before I had a bit of a reputation, and I decided that when I moved here I’d change all that and just be me. I think I was out to prove something before.”

  They carried on dancing to the slow music.

  “Lucy, I really want to kiss you right now, would that be okay?” Frankie sounded nervous and it endeared her to Lucy.

  “It would be more than okay.”

  Frankie brought her lips to Lucy’s and pressed gently, then more firmly, tracing them with her tongue. Lucy responded, allowing Frankie entrance. Although the music still played both of them had stopped moving. Their bodies cleaved together and fitted so well nothing could find a way between them. Their kiss became very passionate and Lucy was getting more aroused as each second passed.

  “Frankie, where’s your bedroom, I need to lie down. If you keep this up I’m liable to fall.”

  “It’s this way.”

  The stairs were quite narrow so there was no way they could carry on kissing. Frankie led the way to her bedroom, but Lucy stopped and waited nervously by the door. Suddenly she wasn’t at all sure she should be doing this. Part of her was feeling she was cheating on Jamie. But how could that be when they weren’t a couple, had made no promises to each other and Jamie had told her to do this, hadn’t she?

  “It’s all right, Lucy we don’t have to do anything, it’s up to you.” Frankie sounded concerned for Lucy’s feelings.

  “I’m sorry. I’m a bit nervous that’s all.”

  “Not to worry we can take it very slow. Let’s lie down on the bed and just kiss.”

  Frankie got on the bed and held her arms out to Lucy, who lay down next to her. They held each other and Lucy began to relax a little. Frankie ran her hand up and down Lucy’s back in a calming way and pulled her in close. She kissed the side of Lucy’s head and then down to her cheek. Lucy turned her head and looked into Frankie’s eyes where she saw her concern then arousal. They lay like that for a few minutes just looking at each other until Lucy gently touched her lips to Frankie’s. As they parted she let her tongue play with Frankie’s. That was all it took for Lucy to become bolder and push her leg in between Frankie’s. As they continued to kiss Frankie pulled the shirt from Lucy’s jeans and undid the buttons letting it fall open to reveal her lacy bra. Breaking from their kiss and looking at Lucy’s nipples pushing at the fabric, Frankie almost ripped the shirt from Lucy’s shoulders but resisted the urge.

&nb
sp; As she looked hungrily at her, Lucy smiled, raised herself up and let the shirt fall from her shoulders. She unhooked the bra letting it fall away and lay back down looking up at Frankie.

  “My god, Lucy, you’re gorgeous.”

  “I thought I was luscious.” Lucy wriggled out of her jeans leaving just her sexy panties on. “I think you have some catching up to do.”

  She watched as Frankie removed her shirt, revealing small but perfect breasts and a trim waist. Her jeans slipped off her slim hips leaving her standing in pair of women’s boxers. She looked very sexy to Lucy, who was now relaxing and beginning to enjoy herself.

  “Jesus, Frankie, you have a fantastic body.” Lucy lay there admiring the muscles beneath the soft curves. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fat anywhere.

  Frankie took on a body building pose and then collapsed on the bed in a fit of giggles. She moved on top of Lucy and felt Lucy’s wetness through her panties against her thigh.

  “God, Lucy you’re so wet, I’ve got to taste you.” She kissed Lucy’s soft mouth and then more kisses on her way down Lucy’s body. She gently pulled Lucy’s panties off and kissed her inner thigh, enjoying the softness. Frankie then licked Lucy’s length, and gently sucked her clit, spurred on by Lucy’s moans.

  “You taste so good.”

  “Oh, Frankie, my god, that feels—”

  Lucy opened her legs farther to give Frankie better access and to increase her own pleasure “I need to feel you inside me, Frankie, please.”

  Frankie answered by filling Lucy and thrusting in and out.

  “Don’t stop, Frankie. Oh my god, don’t stop. I’m going to come. It’s so bloody fantastic, and so are you.” Lucy went rigid, her muscles clenching around Frankie's fingers as she crashed over the edge into a roaring climax.

  “Oh. My. God. Frankie oh yes, yes.”

  Frankie was still milking the last of Lucy’s orgasm to be able to utter any more than a few guttural grunts. Frankie laid her head on Lucy’s thigh and got her breath back. After a few minutes she slowly moved up Lucy’s body and lay next to her. Lucy turned her head and kissed Frankie, tasting herself on Frankie's lips.