Cuddling together – check.
“That better?” she asked, almost breathless with the feelings surging through her.
For a moment, Caroline couldn’t speak. She couldn’t believe how good it felt. She couldn’t believe Rhetta’s courage. Couldn’t believe that she got to call such an amazing woman hers.
“Much,” she choked out.
Rhetta laughed at Caroline’s fluster and turned her head until she could see her. She pouted her lips for a kiss and Caroline’s tense grip on her finally relaxed as she leant down and softly brought their lips together. Rhetta moaned into the kiss and tried to deepen it, but the line moving cut it short. She whined it frustration.
“Just wait until I have you on that dance floor,” she husked in Caroline’s ear before pulling away and walking into the club, leaving Caroline staring wide-eyed after her swaying hips.
* * *
They didn’t bother with a long drink. They were here to dance, not to hold onto a glass, so they ordered tequila shots, knocked them back and headed out to the dance floor. There was no way that she was going to get drunk when Rhetta was teasing her like this. They had been apart for way too long for her to chance not remembering it in the morning.
“I love this song!” Rhetta squealed as they found a spot to dance.
Usually, when they danced apart, they were dancing for each other. Rhetta had always secretly loved it, having Caroline’s eyes trained on her whilst she danced. It made her feel like she and Caroline were the only ones in the room. But tonight she didn’t just want Caroline’s eyes on her. She wanted her hands too. She was done dancing apart.
As soon as the song kicked in, she wrapped her arms around Caroline’s neck and pulled her close. She kissed her teasingly then turned around, dancing back against her in a way that she knew would drive Caroline crazy. Caroline’s hands went instinctively to her hips and Rhetta swayed them provocatively to the music, loving the way Caroline’s touch burned through the thin material of her dress.
Dancing together – check.
“Damn, Al. What’s gotten into you tonight?” Caroline whispered. Rhetta could tell how worked up she was already and they had barely even started dancing.
The music was too loud for her to answer in their current position, so she turned around again, making Caroline’s hands to slide onto her ass. She leaned up and whispered hotly in Caroline’s ear, “Hopefully, when we get out of here, you.”
Caroline’s rhythm faltered. Had Rhetta really just said that?
“What about Sam?” she managed to ask. Damn, she needed a drink.
“There’s no way I’m taking you back to my brother’s place tonight,” Rhetta murmured, her lips brushing against Caroline’s ear. “I told you, I want you all to myself. I don’t want to be quiet.”
Though Rhetta wanted to dance, she knew that there was no way that Caroline would let her stay there much longer if she carried on like that. Caroline could only be teased so much before she pushed Rhetta up against a wall and ripped off her clothes. By the way Caroline’s hands squeezed her ass, Rhetta knew that point wasn’t far away.
“Three more songs,” Caroline husked out. “And I’m taking you home.”
Rhetta couldn’t have that. She let her leg slip between Caroline’s, pressing up. “Five more songs and I’ll be the one taking you home.”
Caroline was in no position to refuse. She was so worked up that Rhetta was barely touching her and she could already see stars. “Yes, mam.”
Rhetta smirked and pulled back to that see Caroline’s eyes were dark with desire. “Good. Now, why don’t we show that guy who’s been watching me from the bar exactly who I belong to?”
Caroline didn’t need asking twice. She leant down and crashed her lips to Rhetta’s, kissing her fiercely. “And who exactly do you belong to?”
“I’m yours, baby. All yours.”
* * *
Caroline let Rhetta take care of the address when they got into the taxi. Rhetta knew LA way better than she did and was sure to know of a hotel nearby.
“Do we need to text Sam?” Caroline asked, her hands shaking with anticipation as she unlocked her phone. She really hoped that the hotel was near.
“Nope,” Rhetta said, sliding closer to Caroline and placing her hand on her thigh. “I told him not to expect us home tonight.”
She pressed a kiss to Caroline’s neck and slid her hand higher up Caroline’s thigh. “Sometimes I wish you wore skirts. These jeans of yours are getting in the way.”
Caroline kept her eyes focused dead ahead. The shaded divider was down so she knew that the taxi driver couldn’t see them, but still.
“No you don’t.”
Rhetta chuckled and bit down lightly on her earlobe. “You’re right, I don’t.” Her chuckle turned into a giggle. “I have seen your highschool photos, after all.”
Caroline slapped her hand away and pouted. “Well, that was just mean.”
“It’s okay, baby. You still looked beautiful,” Rhetta cajoled, placing kiss after kiss on her neck. “A different kind of beautiful, but still beautiful. Now you also look hot. Really, really hot. Especially when you’re in your keeper jersey, ordering me around on the field. Or when you’re all dressed up for me like you are tonight. Or when you look at me like you looked at me in the club. Damn, Caro, that look.”
Just when Caroline thought that she wouldn’t be able to take it any longer, the taxi pulled over. They had been driving for at least half an hour, but Caroline was still surprised when she opened the door and saw not the bright lights of a hotel, but a small, beautiful beach house.
“Surprise,” Rhetta whispered in her ear, wrapping her arms around Caroline’s waist from behind and resting her chin on Caroline’s shoulder. “Do you like it?”
“This is where we’re staying?” Caroline asked excitedly. There was nothing she loved more in the world than waking up to the sound of the sea and Rhetta in her arms.
“I may have spent a little bit more than I should have done, but it’s worth it to make you happy,” Rhetta said, placing a kiss on Caroline’s neck. “One day we’ll have a holiday home like this and we can have all the romantic weekends away we want. Plus, we need somewhere by the beach one day so that you can teach our kids how to surf.”
Caroline’s stomach flipped over. She knew that Rhetta wanted a family one day, but she had never mentioned having children with Caroline before. “You – you want to have kids with me?”
“Mmhhhhmmm,” Rhetta purred. “Have you seen you with kids? Damn right I want to have babies with you, Caro. Who else’s babies do you think I’d want to have?”
“I don’t know…” Caroline mumbled.
Rhetta walked around to look her in the eye. “Then let me make this very clear, Caro. Yes, I want to have kids and yes, I want to have them with you. And when the time comes, I’d really love to talk about me carrying your baby. Because if I can’t have a baby that’s half mine and half yours, then that’s what I want more than anything.”
Caroline didn’t know what to say. Rhetta seemed intent on rendering her speechless as much as physically possible that night. The thought of Rhetta carrying her baby did weird things to her stomach and was pretty sure that if she didn’t think about something else quickly, her knees would give way.
“But we’re not talking about it tonight because tonight is just for me and you, okay?” Rhetta asked softly, saving Caroline from crumbling just in time. She wanted to show her that she was all in, but she didn’t want to freak her out. Having Caroline’s baby was something she had thought about a lot and she was sure that that’s what she wanted to do, as long as she could get Caroline to agree.
Caroline nodded, her mind still clouded with thoughts of Rhetta and a baby, and let Rhetta lead her towards the beach house.
“Now, where were we…” Rhetta drawled when she had unlocked the door and started to tug Caroline inside by her tie.
That was it. The tie pulling was the last straw. Ca
roline had had enough of Rhetta taking the lead for one night. She shut the door behind her and grabbed Rhetta around the waist, throwing her over her shoulder in a fireman’s lift.
“Caro!” Rhetta scolded. But she couldn’t be too annoyed. Not when Caroline had just lifted her that easily. It seemed that all of her working out had really paid off. She wondered what it had done for her stamina, but she couldn’t wait to find out.
CHAPTER FIVE
Caroline gentled awake the next morning, happy and content. The sound of the sea filtered in through the open bedroom window, calming her in a way that almost nothing else could. Nothing, that is, except for the beautiful woman sleeping beside her The night before had been like a dream. If it hadn’t been for the beach house, she would have believed that it was just some nighttime fancy of the kind she had had many of over the years. But it had been real. Rhetta had thrown all caution to the wind and gone all in. She had made sure that Caroline knew exactly how much she loves her and exactly where she sees them in their future. Even better than that, she had showed it to the world, kissing and holding Caroline like she was proud to be hers. It made Caroline’s heart swell and she couldn’t help but think that the coming year was going to be her best yet. With Rhetta by her side, she felt like there was nothing that she couldn’t do.
She lay there beside her girl, thinking. Thinking about how far they had come in an day. Thinking about how far they had come in four and a half years. If she was going to propose, she was going to do it right. It wouldn’t be something she could plan overnight. Rhetta deserved more than that. She deserved the best. The best ring. The best proposal. The best wife.
In the past, all of Caroline’s best thinking had been done on a beach. It was where she had decided to fuck caution and kiss Rhetta the day after she met her. It was where she had promised herself that they could make the distance work. Where she had decided to leave the seashore behind and make a life in landlocked Germany, just to be closer to the woman she loved. It was where she had come to terms with some of the shitest things in her life and where she had stopped to appreciate some of the best. Which meant that usually, when she had the chance to let her thoughts flow free on by the beach, she would not waste a moment in bed. Because who knows what revelation that moment might bring her. Especially when she had something so important on her mind as planning for her future with Rhetta. But not that morning. She wanted to keep her promise and be there when Rhetta woke up, at whatever time that may be. After all Rhetta had done the night before, it was the least she could do. Maybe this could be her new ritual. Every time Rhetta slept on after Caroline woke up, she would lie there with Rhetta in her arms and think. There was nowhere better to contemplate their future than by Rhetta’s side.
Not that thinking in Rhetta’s presence was particularly easy. Especially not when the bed sheet was riding so low on her hips, leaving the rest of her body bare for Caroline to gaze at unabashedly. Rhetta would be blushing if she was awake, blushing but not moving to cover herself up. It wasn’t their way. She was greeted with this sight every morning, even when the winter bit cold in DC. Rhetta had read once in a German magazine that the secret to a healthy, passionate and lasting relationship was to always sleep naked when you sleep together, even if all you do is sleep. There was something so intimate about it. Like you were both exactly where you were meant to be. Caroline had never slept so soundly. She wanted to sleep like that for the rest of her life.
* * *
Hours after Caroline had first woken, Rhetta began to stir. She arched her back and snuggled closer into Caroline, pressing a half-asleep kiss against Caroline’s neck.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Caroline whispered. She pulled back and pressed a kiss to Rhetta’s forehead, making Rhetta whimper and snuggle back into the warm, dark safety of Caroline’s neck.
“What time is it?” she mumbled so sleepily that only Caroline could have understood.
“A little after ten,” Caroline said, a small smile tugging up the corners of her lips in anticipation of Rhetta’s reaction.
Rhetta pulled back. “What? Baby, you should have woken me! You’ve wasted your beach morning!” Caroline just chucked and kissed the frown from Rhetta’s lips. “I know that my princess needs her sleep. And how could a morning spent in bed with you be wasted?”
“But what about your thinking time? It’s almost spiritual to you, baby. It’s one of the reasons that I rented this place for the night,” Rhetta reasoned ash she propped herself up on her elbow.
“I made you a promise, R. That’s more sacred to me than a couple of hours on the beach.”
All of the emotions of the previous night burned in Rhetta’s chest, so intense that she could barely breathe.
“R?”
Tension coiled in Rhetta’s belly like a coiled spring. Her body thrummed with it, building higher and higher until she couldn’t stand it anymore. Could’t stand to be still. Couldn’t stand spending another moment not kissing the one person who had ever made her feel like this
Her body moved of its own accord, surging forward until she caught Caroline’s quickly exhaled breath between her lips, breathing it down into her lungs where it spread through her body like the exhilaration of a win, pulsing in her veins and filling her with a thirst that only Caroline could quench
Caroline’s head spun. Rhetta had her pressed into the bed, burning a trail of kisses over her jaw and down her neck.
“Fuck, R,” she panted, her fingers finding purchase in Rhetta’s hair, giving her anchor whilst Rhetta’s lips dipped lower and lower, trailing down until they met with the place that made Caroline’s eyes fly open and Rhetta’s name fall like a plea from her lips.
* * *
They pulled into the parking lot of their San Diego hotel just as the sun set. Caroline jumped out of the driver’s side and ran around to open Rhetta’s door, helping her out by her hand before running around to the back of the car to fetch both of their bags. Rhetta just laughed, knowing from experience that when Caroline was in a mood this good, there was no way she could convince her to let her help, not when Caroline was having so much fun treating her like a princess.
Before they could even reach the hotel lobby, Natalie was barreling towards them, colliding with Rhetta with such excitement that anyone looking on would have guessed that that hadn’t seen each other in years instead of what could not even be called weeks.
“I missed you guys so much!” she cheered excitedly, squishing Rhetta in her arms before launching herself at Caroline as well. “I’m so glad you came!”
“Yeah well, when one of our best friends phones up and asks us to join her for a little holiday in the sun, how could we refuse?” Rhetta giggled, tugging Natalie off her girlfriend and giving her another hug. “How was Christmas in the Geralt household?”
Natalie’s grin broadened. “Awesome. What about you, Morsten? Caro?”
“Not as good as next year will be,” Rhetta said, all of her attention on Caroline as she fought with Natalie for the right to tow Rhetta’s case.
“Oh yeah, Princess, and why’s that?” Caroline asked, relinquishing her hold on the case that Natalie showed no signs of letting go of.
“Because I’ve decided that it’s the last we’re ever spending apart,” Rhetta said, crinkling her nose in a smile that Caroline found impossible not to mirror. “Next year is a Williams Christmas.”
In more ways than one if you’ll only ask me, Rhetta thought and she turned around and made her way over to the front desk.
“Hello, mam. Can I help you?” the dark-haired woman behind the desk asked politely.
“We have a room booked under ‘Williams’,” Rhetta supplied. “I called ahead and let you know that we would be checking in a little late.”
“Ah yes, Ms. Williams. Thank you for letting us know,” the woman said, her eyes fixed on her computer screen.
Rhetta blushed when the receptionist called her Williams and found that she liked it. She could never have imagine
d giving up being a Morsten just a few years before, but now she wasn't so sure. Rhetta Williams had a ring to it.
“Here we are. You have a reservation for one of our superior double rooms. We currently have the executive suite empty, only $40 a night more and that includes breakfast served on your balcony and a lovely whirlpool bath. Are you interested in the upgrade?”
Rhetta bit her lip. She had already splashed out on the night in the beach house, but with both of their salaries looking to rise in the next 12 months, why not? It wasn’t like they got this opportunity every day.
“I hear that the private balcony is very romantic, especially when the sun is setting,” the receptionist added, keen for the commission that selling the room would bring.
“Oh, why not! You’ve persuaded me!” Rhetta giggled, reaching into her bag for her credit card at the same time that Caroline appeared next to her.
“Hey babe,” Rhetta greeted, leaning up to kiss her. “Looks like we’ll be staying in the lap of luxury for a few days.” “Awesome,” Caroline grinned.
“Don’t worry about sending someone up with out bags. I’ve got ‘em.”
Rhetta rolled her eyes and shared a smile with the woman behind the desk.
“Oh my God!” Natalie squealed when the lift doors closed behind them. “Since when do you guys do that?!”
CHAPTER SIX
The sun was just starting to set when the party began. Natalie was happier than any of her teammates had ever seen her and it was infectious. They were all buzzing far beyond the few drinks they had drunk with dinner, but Caroline just wasn’t feeling it. Rhetta had been dragged off to the dance the moment that the music began and Caroline had been left holding their table. The moment Denise came back for a breather, Caroline took her chance and slipped away.
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