Chapter Text
Christen looked over herself in the elegant vanity mirror in her private office. Her brow cocked slightly as she took in the front of the bra, specifically the bridge where the lace was pulling. Slowly turning, she put her hands on her hips as she looked from the side where the embedded lace on the cups spilled out to the wing. As she spun slightly looking through narrowed eyes at her back, she pursed her lips before shaking her head. “This is not going to do it for me at all.”
Turning back around, Christen undid the clasp on the bra before tossing it on the couch and grabbed the other that was waiting for her to try on. She repeated the same process, making a face this time at how the lace sat on the top and bottom cup. Both bras were only prototypes, they were ideas she drew up a few days prior, there was room for disappointment but nonetheless, they weren’t what she envisioned at all. With only three months left before her fall show, she was stressing about having a perfect line up after the success of last fall.
Instead of putting her work clothes back on, she changed into her workout clothes knowing she’d be leaving soon. After a long and frustrating day, Christen needed, craved, the simplicity of physical exercise and the mindless chatting that came along with it. She knew Ali would be done soon, or better yet; she’d force Ali to be done when she swung by her office on the way down towards the first floor to the shop.
She met Ali, her saving grace and best friend, at Stanford. Ali was majoring in psychology and minored in marketing. Christen majored in communications and minored in product design, both having a few classes together in their minor caused them to pair up often, butting heads on projects, but realized quickly early into their sophomore year that they had more in common. After grabbing coffee one day, they became fast friends, and even faster best friends.
As the elevator door opened up, Christen stepped out only to be slammed into by a bolt of lavender colored lacing that was being incorporated into already chosen bras for the fall show.
“Oh, my god, I am so sor-fuck.” An intern, Trinity, exclaimed, her face dropping slightly as she took in exactly who she bumped into.
Christen waved her off, shaking her head and moved right along, heading back to Ali’s office. She saw her out of the corner of her eye instead of standing over one of the long fabric tables in the samples area. As Christen walked closer, she caught the tail end of Ali getting an explanation from the sewing manager, Claude, about the way the lace would lay on the cup and why a different type of lace might be better for that exact application.
Ali’s arm was hugged to her stomach with a cupped hand as her other elbow rested inside of it, her index finger and thumb pulling on her bottom lip as she listened until she heard footsteps and her eyes darted up to meet Christen’s.
“Gym. Now.” Christen demanded, no room for negotiations.
Ali rolled her eyes, nodding as enthusiastically in agreement as possible as she puffed out a breath. “Please, for the love of god. Gym.”
Before Christen turned away, she looked at Claude and nodded at the loose cup in his hand with the lacing laid over it, sewn down already into the materials. “That looks really nice.” She outstretched her hand, looking at Ali who was walking away already to grab her gym stuff before looking back at Claude. “I really love the added depth in the triple layering and the beading pattern in the second layer.”
Claude shrugged Christen off, a bit too ashamed to take the compliment. “It’s not, I mean it was just a suggestion.” He shrugged again, embarrassed Christen caught him in the act of showing Ali something that wasn’t originally designed by Christen. It was one of his own personal ideas and he didn’t want to get in trouble for wasting time and materials.
Christen watched him struggling internally, but she couldn’t deny how talented Claude was. “That’s a very nice suggestion. I really hope you keep making them, maybe directly to me instead of Ali next time though, you’ll get two thumbs up quicker. And maybe a raise.” She winked and gave him two thumbs up, making a mental note to look over the work he’s done over the last eight months since his last raise and push up the timeline. She wanted to expand, she wanted to keep the talent she cultivated, she wanted to avoid the seemingly inevitable purge of losing good employees to more impressive and better-known labels.
“Can I get in on that?” Ali asked, whisking right behind Christen, her gym bag thrown over her shoulder. “Would love a raise.”
Christen handed back the cup with a smile on her face, already stepping back as she squeezed Claude’s hand. “We’ll talk Monday, I promise. That work with you?”
Claude’s snicker from Ali’s comment continued as he tried to be serious with Christen’s offer, but the laughter continued as he stood up straight and nodded sternly. It lasted all of three seconds before he was laughing again, like when you shouldn’t be laughing but you can’t help it anyway.
Shaking her own head, Christen giggled to herself as she walked away, meeting up with Ali in the elevator and pressed the button to begin the descent.
“So…” Ali pursed her lips, eyes shifting towards Christen. “About that raise?”
“You ready to saddle up, partner?” Ali jested, knocking into Christen’s ribs with her elbow. When she didn’t receive a response, she turned to look at her and was confused by the sight in front of her, Christen’s head nearly pressed into the glass of the SoulCycle studio they were at. “What?”
Christen narrowed her eyes watching a woman who was parked right outside of SoulCycle look around, almost to check if the coast was clear. She watched as the woman opened up a work van while she kicked off her boots and sit comfortably on the edge of the open door.
“Damn, thirsty bitch.” Ali teased, bumping her elbow into Christen’s shoulder.
They both stood and watched the woman take off her t-shirt, already in a sports bra. She quickly changed out of her jeans into a pair of shorts, pulling out a tank top to put on. She pulled it back briefly, doing an unsuspecting sniff test to make sure it was clean not realizing she was being watched as the two women snickered quietly. As quickly as she undressed, she redressed and started sipping on a shaker bottle, clearly drinking a pre-workout. Before she was able to finish though, she checked her watch before fumbling to put her shaker bottle back in her bag, slammed the door and scurried across the street to Equinox, the gym that owned SoulCycle.
Her departure made Christen snap back to reality, looking at Ali as she tried to clean the drool as discreetly as possible. “So, you ready?”
Ali cackled, choosing to ignore the obvious gawking for right now until Christen couldn’t escape her questions. She knew Christen was in anything but dry spell, but she wanted her to find something at least a little bit more serious, figuring having someone to go home to would be a reason to actually go home and not work at the office all night.
They filed into their studio, Christen’s mind elsewhere, mostly on the woman that piqued her curiosity not even five minutes prior. “She was hot.” Finally offering as she got into her stationary bike knowing Ali was chomping at the bit to talk about it. She also knew she was more interested in her love life than her own.
Ali shook her head in disbelief as she got onto her own bike. “Hell yes, she was smoking hot! You should hit that.”
Christen looked at Ali like she had three heads as she clipped in. “What? You? Ms. I Need To Find Someone And Settle Down?”
“Yes, you should hit that.” Ali nodded. “And then settle down.”
Christen clicked her tongue as she rolled her eyes. “There it is.”
“Yes!” Ali huffed. “There it is. So sorry I want you to find love, oh boo hoo, woe is me.”
“Well, jeeze.” Christen gave her a face, pulling back slightly as the words left a bad taste in her mouth. She knew Ali cared, wanted her to find someone worth her time, be worthy of their time, a happy match, as she liked to call it. Her previous flings and girlfriends were never right, they never understood the struggle she felt, nor the pains of having to stretch herself so thin for the sake of her employees, especially the ones who had mouths to feed. The internal stress she felt every day knowing people were relying on her and the success of her business increased the mental anguish, making her feel alone, even in New York City with a population of eight million and counting.
“Yeah.” Ali rolled her eyes. “Jeeze.”
Tobin slammed shut the door of her work van before looking both ways and taking off across the street with her bag in hand. She was late, she had been ducking Alyssa all day, she was going to hear about it, not be teased for it, but the disappointed silence was somehow always worse.
Making her way to the front desk of Equinox, she nearly came to a grinding halt. The woman who she was almost certain had been flirting with her for a month was at the check in station as she fumbled to get her shaker bottle out of her bag. She was a distraught mess at the moment, almost like she could feel the eyes of disappointment on her.
Without attempting to flirt with the woman, she checked in and sprinted up the stairs to meet her maker, only to be met a little earlier than she thought. “Gah!” Tobin exclaimed, her heart racing in her chest at the sight.
“Hey buddy.” Alyssa nodded as she gave Tobin a big smile. “You good?”
Tobin nodded happily, but she wasn’t fooling anybody, especially her best friend, so she tried to sell the lie a bit better. “I’m good, really.”
Alyssa knew Tobin better than that though. “So…how’d the date go?”
“It went.” Tobin grimaced, Alyssa never pulled a punch and refused to skirt around uncomfortable topics, but the previous night has been horrendous.
“It went?” Alyssa snickered as they headed over to the conditioning bikes to warm up. “Where did it happen to went?”
“Okay.” Tobin sighed, tossing her hair up in a sloppy ponytail as she sat on her bike. “We went to that modern makers in modern art show that I said I’d take her to thinking ya know, this is different? Or I thought it was different enough that it’d be interesting for anyone. I mean, a guy welded a mouse playground, it was cute. There were wood chips and everything.” She thought back to the display and laughed to herself, still impressed by how cute it was.
Alyssa snickered again, prompting Tobin to continue with a soft rolling hand to keep the story going.
“But she hated it, which was fine, really, but she made it known at dinner. She’s in finance, I’m in glass. It felt like she was disappointed I wasn’t a Wall Street drip, which I very clearly never portrayed myself as.”
“Her loss.” Alyssa shrugged so matter-of-factly, she truly felt whoever failed to see Tobin for who she was, in the end, was losing big.
“Yeah.” Tobin shook her head instead of rolling her eyes like she wanted to in response. “Her loss.”
It’d be the third failed date in a month. She thought she was a catch, all her friends told her time and time again she was. She had dates tell her that, but as soon as they got comfortable, they pulled the plug when Tobin let her guard down. The repetitive process of landing a first date and having them hit the eject button has happened three times and it was only June. Tobin was starting to feel like the problem.
Instead of getting hung up on the topic, she just wanted to do what she came to the gym to do. “Bet I can squat more than you.”
“Yeah, you and those tree trunks for legs will never not out-squat me.” Alyssa denied the challenge knowing full and well there was no point. It was obvious too that Tobin was hurting a bit, so she let it slide. “Let’s just circuit and grab some drinks.”
And so, they did. Spending an hour and a half working through different leg exercises, they had some fun goofing around but mostly worked out in silence until Tobin opened up a bit once the endorphins were flowing.
“Work…is going to…kill me early.” She huffed out doing her max on leg presses before rolling off the machine. “Jesus, I need a burger.”
Alyssa moved in as Tobin took off a plate for her to start. She thought back if Tobin had mentioned a higher amount of work stress lately but couldn’t think of anything. “What’s up with work?”
Tobin huffed and ran a hand through the gym worn hair. “What isn’t up with work?” She undid her ponytail out and threw it up into a half bun instead knowing her legs were done for the day. She relented though because even if Alyssa didn’t understand, she had been with Tobin from the beginning and knew what it had taken to get to this point. “I‘ve had huge bids lately for new residential builds. One building is entirely owned by different families as a co-op and they all want different glasswork, it’s about 20 different apartments. It’d be one thing if it was one building, 20 apartments, same style throughout, but it’s not. I won the bid, and they expect additional work on top of the accepted bid at an additional rate.”
Just as Alyssa went to respond, Tobin dove deeper into the stress of what she was feeling lately. “And I haven’t had any time to do any new bids because I’ve been working in the shop, there’s a ton going on.” She shook her head, relieved to be getting some words out for once.
Tobin had been running her own glazier business for five years. She started small in Jersey on the shore and went around marinas replacing windows on boats and yachts with her grandpa. Continuing in his name after he passed away, she moved the business up the shore to Jersey City and soon after got work all over New York City. The growth was exponential, on a good day she’d be chomping at the bit for the individualized projects that would flex her creative muscles, but right now she was overrun with jobs that were the meat and potatoes, and she wanted the gravy.
Alyssa listened and she wanted to respond and give Tobin some words of wisdom, but she knew what was needed a lot more than unsolicited advice. “We’re gonna grab some drinks tonight.”
“Drinks do sound pretty good, and food, please for the love of god, I could eat for a small family.” Tobin nearly pleaded as she peeled off the tank top she was wearing that was now covered in sweat.
The two made their way to the showers to get cleaned up. Tobin had packed away her own clothes in her duffel, Alyssa packing hers in her backpack. Being the quicker of the two, Tobin took a quick shower and put on a nicer pair of slacks and loafers with a linen button down, not wanting to be roasted in the summer heat and humidity.
She had an inkling of someone she could maybe spend the night with, or someone to at least get over the hump of the dry spell she was in, and she was working at the front desk. Skipping down the stairs, she ended up at the front desk resting with her hip against it, interested in who had her back turned towards her.
“Jackie?” Tobin whispered, not enough to grab everyone’s attention, but hopefully enough to get Jackie’s. When that didn’t work, she leaned forward more with her elbow on the desk and spoke a bit louder. “Jackie?”
Turning around in a small, yet clearly victorious smirk, Jackie looked at Tobin, giving her a once over before responding. “Yes?”
She realized that it wasn’t ideal to ask Jackie outright to go out, especially given that she was at work. Instead, she did the next best thing she could think of. “I’m looking for a decent bar. Do you know any around here?” Tobin wondered, leaning forward just a tiny bit more hoping Jackie would understand what she was implying but still giving a very big out.
“I love LB. Awesome cocktails! I go almost every Friday night.” Jackie replied, inferring that maybe she’d be going there later on with it being Friday.
Tobin nodded, thinking to herself she’s been to LB a number of times, but she’d never say no to how Nate made an old fashioned. “That sounds awesome, I’ll head there. Thanks for the rec.” She made a showing of pulling it up on Google, confirming the address and nodding towards Alyssa as she came down the stairs. She wagged her phone in her direction, confirming the plans for the night in her head before turning back towards Jackie. “Have a nice night.”
“I love how these taste.” Christen smacked her lips quietly as she slid her Tom Collins towards Ali, offering a sip. As she sat in her booth, she stretched her back out feeling a bit tense from the spin class. “I should have stretched.”
Ali nodded into Christen’s glass, exaggeratedly pointing to it, nodding while she got herself a decent taste for herself. “That is so good, I want one.” As her eyes trailed over towards the bartender to see if he was free, but they quickly caught something else.
Christen followed Ali’s gaze to try and pick up what was catching her attention, but her second Tom Collins that she already ordered was being placed in front of her by a bar runner and met their attention with a big smile. “Oh, thank you!” She tried, but before the words could get out, he was already off towards the bar.
“Hot stuff at 9’oclock.” Ali whispered, straining her voice for Christen to hear.
Christen looked to her left, her eyes meeting the wall of the booth they were in.
“My 9 o’clock! My 9! Your 3!” Ali smacked her palm against her forehead as she looked at Christen falling into a fit of giggles. “Jesus Christ, did we graduate from the same school?”
Christen ducked her head, giggling into her wrist as she turned her head to catch who Ali was talking about, only for her to stop laughing immediately and sit up a little straighter. “ Oh .” She mustered out as she took in the same woman who she saw bolt across the street before, now seeing her in three types of attire all within three hours. That wasn’t the type Christen usually went for either, but she was drawn to something, maybe an aura, or maybe the easy smile. Whatever it was though was cracked slightly as she saw the woman turn her body to talk to someone else.
“What are you waiting for? Go over there.” Ali pressed, clearly reading Christen’s piqued interest for the woman across the bar.
“What? Are you nuts? She’s flirting hard with that... child .” She nearly sneered at the word child, but it wasn’t exactly wrong. The woman that the mystery woman was hitting on was definitely on the younger side, at least much younger than her 30 year old self.
Ali rolled her eyes at Christen. “Just go over there, take a lap, see what happens. You look hot . She clearly has eyes, I can guarantee that you’ll at worst a very long glancing over.”
Christen stood up with her first empty Tom Collins glass and slid the fresh one over to Ali. “I’m going to get a drink.”
Ali nodded with a big smile. “Heck yeah you are.”
Christen shook her head as she walked off towards the bar. The closer she got to the mystery woman and the woman she was chatting up, the clearer the conversation became as she listened in passing. It sounded like the younger woman was discussing college courses which only had her wanting to roll her eyes in response. She overshot them so she could get a better look at the mystery woman, leaning with her elbows on the bar as she strained for the bartenders attention. As she looked to her right, she noticed the woman look up and towards her, and that was enough. Instead of giving in to the pair of eyes that she could feel on her, she ordered her drink and waited, watching the bartender make another drink.
“I love a Tom Collins.”
Christen wanted to smirk, she recognized the voice that placated the conversation about school. Without even turning her head, she nodded. “Me too.”
“I’d offer to buy you one but you’ve clearly got that covered.”
Christen nodded again, this time turning her head to decide if she was going to shut the conversation down. What she didn’t expect were the doe eyes that grabbed her attention right away, and the more innocent and natural pout on the relaxed face. Making a split second decision, she opened up her posture a bit and turned towards the woman. “I didn’t pay for it yet.”
“So I can cover that then.” The woman nearly insisted as she sat on the stool next to Christen. “I’m Tobin, by the way.”
Christen snickered. She didn’t mean to, but it slipped out. “Nice to meet you.”
Tobin smirked at the laughter and took it in stride. “What’s so funny?”
Leaning in slightly, Christen put her hand on Tobin’s knee already deciding she was definitely going to be taking her home if she was interested. “Can I tell you something?”
Tobin nodded as she spread her leg just a little to let Christen’s hand go wherever she wanted it to rest. “I’m listening.”
“I saw you strip in a van today.” Christen said, tapping Tobin’s knee politely before pulling away.
Tobin sucked in her bottom lip as she nodded, not entirely sure how to recover from that. She didn’t care, that’s not usually the opener she’d like when flirting with someone new, but she went with it anyway “You like what you saw?”
Christen guffawed as she reached for the drink that was placed in front of her. “I didn’t hate it.”
“Oh good.” Tobin nodded as she pointed to her drink as the bartender looked over at her, silently ordering another. “I can work with that.”
Sitting back in her seat, Christen gave Tobin an indecipherable look. “Who said you’re working with anything?”
“Just hedging my bets.” Tobin shrugged, smiling as she finished the last of her drink while she waited for the new one. “How quickly can you drink that?”
Christen narrowed her eyes at Tobin slightly before she tipped her glass back, ignoring the incredulous look from Tobin. She finished it all, the only repercussions being a slight brain freeze and nearly slammed the glass on the bar top in victory. “All done.”
Tobin’s jaw dropped ever so slightly as her new drink was placed in front of her, causing Christen to giggle. “What’s the laugh for?”
“What a waste of an old fashioned.” She shook her head, still chuckling at Tobin. “How fast can you drink that?”
Without saying a word in response, Tobin drank the entire thing in two sips, sad by the waste of the perfectly mixed drink. She licked her lips as she shuffled to grab her wallet out of her back pocket, digging for her credit card. “Do you like food?”
“I’ve been known to eat.” Christen shrugged, trying to snag the check but was too slow. “Ya know I’m not alone. There’s more than just my drinks.”
“Oh, you mean peeping Jane over there?” Tobin nodded towards the booth Ali was sitting in still, watching their entire interaction. “Real subtle.” She gave her card to the bartender, paying for all three of their tabs.
The bartender handed Christen back their cards, giving Tobin hers back when everything was paid for and wished her a good night.
“Do you come here often?” Christen wondered.
“Often enough, good drinks. Sometimes there’ll even be a stunning woman who lingers and eavesdrops on my conversations that I get to chat up.” Tobin snickered as she flashed Christen a smile, pulling her chair out for her.
Christen’s jaw dropped at the pinpoint accusation, still slightly horrified by how easily Tobin saw through her intentions. “Well then…”
“And what exactly, have you been known to eat?” Tobin wondered as she offered Christen her hand to help her off the higher bar stool.
The forward question and how it was asked made her jaw drop again, taking Tobin’s hand, grateful for the help with how tight the dress she was wearing made it hard to maneuver to stand up. “Well, you just hush, Ms. Flirts With 20-Year-Old NYU Student.”
Tobin shrugged it off. “23, Baruch. Will definitely be passing.”
“Awww.” Christen pushed her side into Tobin’s front as she stood up. “And here I thought you’d be a great babysitter.”
It took nearly every ounce of resistance for Tobin to not wrap her arm around Christen’s waist and keep her there, wanting to feel her again. “You can make fun of me while we grab a burger? Shake Shack’s right up the block.”
“Shake Shack sounds good.” Christen easily agreed as she let go of Tobin’s hand, she loved Shake Shack. “And so does making fun of you.”
The second Christen’s hand left hers, she was desperate to come up with any excuse to touch her again. Internally struggling, she turned her head in Ali’s direction who was toasting to her paying for her drinks, and almost like she could read Tobin’s face and understood her dilemma she motioned with her hand to touch Christen, so she went for the safest area she could. Right before Christen was able to reach for the door, she pushed it open and put her other hand on the small of Christen’s back, guiding her outside into the stifling late June nighttime air.
“You’re going to drink it all!” Christen whined as she watched Tobin sip the cookies and cream milkshake they got from Shake Shack. Well, Tobin got it, let her try a sip, and then considered it to be a shared treat even though she offered to buy her one.
Tobin smirked as she walked alongside Christen, holding the shake out for her to take if she wanted it. “It’s getting kind of late.”
They had a good time at Shake Shack, they talked about nonsensical things, and it felt so good to not mention an ounce of work. Christen didn’t even have an idea of what Tobin did, it didn’t really matter though, she didn’t see them really going beyond the night.
“It is.” She nodded, taking a sip of the shake as she looked sideways at Tobin with her head tilted. “Did you want to come back to my apartment for a drink?”
Tobin snagged the shake out of Christen’s hand, taking a sip and made a show like she was really thinking about it. “Hmm, maybe? Where is it?”
Just as Tobin asked, Christen had already come to a stop right in front of a cream building, all the window trims resembling the green patina on the Statue of Liberty. “Right here.”
Tobin’s jaw dropped a little at the apartment building. “What is, uh, what did you say you did?” She wondered, following behind Christen into the lobby and walking past the door attendant with a wave, catching up in a half jog to the elevator that Christen was holding for her.
“I didn’t.” Christen shrugged, not wanting to spend too much time on that after the work day she had.
Taking a peek, she gave Tobin a once over now that they were in a well-lit elevator. She hadn’t noticed how light of a brown her eyes were, she didn’t notice the way the bags under her eyes told a tired story, she didn’t notice how firm her forearm muscles seemed to be either. The way she held herself told Christen a few things, but it only left her with more questions than answers.
“You’re pretty.” She mumbled loud enough for Tobin to clearly hear as the elevator got to Christen’s floor, opening to an ornate hallway. “I’m just down here.”
Tobin followed Christen again, this time appreciating the view from behind and still a little rosey with blush from the simple compliment in the elevator.
“Stop looking.” Christen laughed, accusing Tobin of doing exactly what she was doing, not even needing to turn around to look.
Tobin’s eyes shot up to the back of Christen’s head, fighting off a laugh through a bitten lip as she came to a halt at Christen’s door while she opened it, desperate to touch her again. “For the record, I really like what I see.”
“Oh, I know.” Christen teased with a serious face as she unlocked her apartment door, pushed it open and walked inside with Tobin on her heels.
“Did you really want that drink?” Tobin wondered, her fingertips desperate to sink into the fabric that felt more like silk the more she touched it.
Christen shook her head. “No, not really, I can think of better things to do.”
Tobin bit her lip as she wasted no time at all taking in Christen now that she had very clear permission to do so. “Like what?”
Shrugging, she crossed her arms and stepped up to Tobin. “You tell me.”
“I mean...” Tobin scratched the back of her neck, stretching slightly as she leaned in even closer. “I’d really like to touch you.”
“Oo, touch me.” Christen snickered, her eyes narrowing even more as she realized Tobin had touched her, but she had barely touched Tobin except for the offered hand to get off her barstool. Suddenly the only thing she wanted to do was reciprocate and touch her everywhere she could get her hands.
Tobin nodded as she stepped even closer, her body brushing into Christen’s. “Yeah, I’d really like to touch you.” As she spoke, she dropped to her knees, looking up to never break eye contact. Her lips barely brushed over the fabric against Christen’s stomach on the way down until she was finally on the floor. “I just never specified where.”
Christen’s eyes had to have visibly rolled back for Tobin to see, because as soon as she broke eye contact with her, Tobin’s lips were on her thighs placing the most delicate kisses on her skin and over the fabric of the dress, the alternating feelings driving her absolutely crazy. Her fingers slid in the hair on the top of Tobin’s scalp while her back leaned into the wall barely able to stand. It was truly unfair how perfect Tobin’s mouth felt on her.
Tobin thought she had the upper hand, she thought she’d be able to charm her way into Christen’s dress and give her a night she’d never want to forget. All of that was going according to plan, especially when she lifted her dress slightly and kissed along the bottom of underwear, and they immediately piqued her attention. Her fingertips sank into Christen’s thighs, as she tried to kiss higher.
Christen lifted her foot, pushing Tobin back and dug the ball of her foot into Tobin’s chest, her heel pushing into her sternum as she shook her head. “That’s not how this works.”
A shot of impatience flashed through Tobin as she sat back against her calves on her knees, letting a pout slip past her schooled expression by the treatment, not exactly hating how Christen’s heel felt digging into her. “How does this work?” She nearly begged, needing to know what she had to do to continue on the trail her lips were following.
“You’re going to stand up.” Christen said, holding her hands out for Tobin to take and helped pull her up to her feet. “And then...” Her hands let go of Tobin’s, finally allowing herself to get a feel of the body in front of her as she let her hands roam across Tobin’s back. “I’m going to sit on your face.”
Tobin visibly gulped, taken by the idea that within seconds, this woman could be sitting on her face. Not to mention the way Christen’s front was pressed into her own, and the nonsensical pattern her fingertips were making across her back nearly had her knees buckling. “What else?”
“I’m going to ride it until I finish.” Christen said so matter-of-factly.
Tobin nodded, perfectly content with that idea. “And?”
Christen smirked. “Then I’m going to bed. You can stick around after if you want, I guess.”
“That so?” Tobin asked, confused, frustrated, ridiculously turned on, ears burning up, and completely incapable of any sane thoughts. Not with how Christen was touching the middle of her back on her spine, not with the thoughts of her using her face just to orgasm.
“If you’d like.” She shrugged, tightening up her hold around Tobin’s shoulders as she leaned in closer, now just desperate to kiss the slight pout off Tobin’s face. “I really want to kiss you.”
Tobin mirrored Christen’s shrug. “I won’t say no.” Her own hands began to wander, holding Christen’s waist with her fingertips brushing into her ass.
Christen tilted her head back as she looked at Tobin through slightly narrowed eyes. “I think you should kiss me.”
“I’d argue with you, but I realized you’re going to be doing all the work in a bit so...” Tobin leaned in, only to be met with laughter which only caused her to laugh. “What’s so funny?”
Christen shook her head as she laughed, her arms tightening around Tobin as she forced herself to get even closer. “You’re very blunt.”
“You’re very sexy, and I’d really like you to shut me up and sit on my face.” Tobin confessed, trying to lean in again to kiss Christen, only to be met with a little resistance and a coy smile. “What?”
“Very sexy? Haven’t even gotten me naked yet.” Christen teased, softening a little to the genuineness behind Tobin’s words.
Tobin nodded before she lifted Christen up by the waist, pressing her forehead into Christen’s before finally getting a chance to steal a kiss that lasted less than a second. “Very sexy, now, where’s your bedroom so I can get you naked and we can decide what other adjectives I find you?”
Christen laughed, wrapping her arms around Tobin’s neck as she held on, nodding backwards to the right. “That way, down the hall, past the living room to the right.”
Tobin silently followed the directions, not bothering to look around as they walked through the apartment to learn more about Christen, she was a bit too preoccupied to care at that moment knowing her face was going to be taken for a ride. By the time she got to the bedroom, Christen’s hands were busy unbuttoning her shirt and slipping down the back of it to feel her skin.
“Your back...” Christen whimpered, overwhelmed herself by how turned on she was. The night had been easy, the conversation flow was comforting, the flirting was just the right amount of heavy, and she wanted Tobin to be immediately naked in her bed. “What is it that you do at the gym?”
“Circuit training?” Tobin said as she tossed Christen onto her bed before bending down to kiss her legs, trailing south to her ankles. She had a one-track mind, ignoring the little gasps coming from above, to take off the heels that had already clam jammed her from going down on Christen in the entryway. Kissing over what would now and forever be her favorite calves, she unbuckled the heels one at a time and tossed them over her shoulder.
Christen had never been kissed, more like worshipped, quite like that before. Nobody she had been with had her body so on fire and the almost embarrassing puddle between her legs just confirmed that. The read Tobin had on her body would be too concerning, but she didn’t care, she was too preoccupied with a need to sit on, and ride, Tobin’s face. To combat the feelings, she pulled Tobin on top of her, flipping her on her back. Hearing the little moan that escaped Tobin's lips was too much, so she pinned her down and kissed her, trying to stifle the noises instead.
The way they worked together taking Tobin’s shirt off, tugging her pants down to her ankles to be kicked off, unzipping Christen’s dress and finally pulling it off was seamless. It had both of them craving more, needing to feel each other. Both were desperate, both were trying to play it safe, but it was truly a lost cause at that point.
Tobin’s hand slid down Christen’s back, rolling so she was on her back and pulling Christen on top of her, catching a handful of ass in the process. She hadn’t noticed, she wasn’t trying to, really, she was preoccupied. “This is nice.” Tobin whispered into Christen’s neck, fingertips trailing across the swell of her butt.
Christen laughed, her face falling into Tobin’s hair and ear. “I spin and run, I’d hope so.”
Tobin shook her head at the response. “No.” Giggling, she sank her fingers in to Christen’s butt just to appease her anyway. “Your underwear, this is really nice. Soft.”
“Mmm.” Christen hummed, not wanting to give away that it was her brand. It’d also been the first and only time someone complimented it by feel instead of sight, and that mattered more to her than knowing someone thought it looked good.
“Mhm, and as nice as it is...” Tobin kissed her neck a little harder, nibbling for good measure. “You really need to sit on my face.”
Christen propped herself up, looking down at Tobin while her hair covered them both, isolating them even more in the empty apartment. “Desperate to get this over with or are you desperate to taste me?”
Tobin bit her lip and grabbed Christen’s hips, pulling her upward. “A taste, definitely a taste.”
“Thought so.” Christen laughed as she wiggled herself up onto her knees and pulled her underwear off. She smirked at the look on Tobin’s face, but it quickly vanished when Tobin pulled her on top of her.
With zero hesitation, Tobin was licking through Christen. The laugh that threatened to escape couldn’t be contained after three swipes of her tongue. The cause? Christen was absolutely, positively, soaked. She talked a big game all night, she heeled Tobin’s sternum, she played the cat and mouse game, and yet there she was dripping down Tobin’s chin almost immediately. She licked through her again, sinking her hands into her hips.
In between lapping her up, she kissed along the soft skin of her most inner thighs, sucked several hickeys into the cusp where the back of her thighs meets each butt cheek, teased kisses around her clit, and nibbled anywhere else her mouth could reach. All the action was met with moans, gasps, and whimpers from above. It got to a point where Tobin was moaning into Christen as she fucked her with her tongue. The taste was so perfect and overwhelming, something she’d beg on her knees to have again if given the opportunity, hopefully with a heel to her chest in response.
“Don’t.” Christen shook her head, her knees buckling as she sat back into Tobin’s chest, met with the softest hands stroking her outer thighs.
“Don’t what?” Tobin smirked, kissing her thigh gently like she wasn’t just fucking her as deeply as she could manage with her tongue, taking her fingertip to Christen’s clit and rubbing over it gently.
Christen whimpered. “Don’t tease me, please?”
Tobin shook her head and wrapped her arms around Christen’s back, pulling her forward to sit back on her face. She kissed her clit, making a promise to Christen as she looked up at her to never double back on. “Never for long.”
Before Christen could respond, Tobin had her mouth on her clit and sucked, making her slump forward and use the headboard to hold herself up. “Jesus fuck.” She groaned and started to grind into Tobin’s mouth, already at the edge after being teased for so long. “Don’t stop.”
Tobin didn’t make a sound, didn’t respond, didn’t acknowledge the pleading. She knew exactly what Christen needed and didn’t want to make her wait any longer. She felt her legs tighten up, felt her body rock forward into her mouth harder, felt a hand in her hair tugging, heard the moans and curses fly out of Christen’s mouth as she felt the inevitable drip post orgasm. That was enough for her. She could make Christen orgasm, clean her up, walk away for good, and be completely satisfied for a lifetime with the memory of the fully sated woman on top of her.
“Fuck.” Christen groaned.
She woke up to a blinding sunlight, tangled sheets, a slight headache, and more noticeably, an empty bed. The side Tobin had been on was clearly slept in, but it was cold, a warm body having disappeared probably at least a few hours earlier.
She rolled over to find her dress now on a hanger where she usually puts the clothes she’ll wear for the day, her heels from the night before with their shoe forms inside. The lingerie she wore was in the hamper too. When she rolled back to her side of the bed, a bottle of water was on the nightstand, coupled with a few tablets of Aspirin and a note.
You don’t seem like the breakfast in bed with a stranger type, so I just left the breakfast in the kitchen.
~Tobin
Following the note, Christen sat up and got out of bed, sprinting down the hallway to the kitchen where she found a fresh, flakey croissant and a still piping hot cortado from La Colombe, her favorite style of coffee from her favorite coffee shop that she mentioned in passing on the way to Shake Shack before she even invited Tobin home.
“I think I’m in love.”