by Bryce Oakley
"So, you're saying there's hope for me yet, being a woman in my 20s," Zoey joked.
"Well, I certainly think you've got a lot of potential," Pia teased back.
"How did you know that you wanted to be with women, then?" Zoey asked. "Asking for a friend."
Pia smirked. "Well, my first kiss with a woman changed my life," she said.
"How so?" Zoey asked.
"Well, reader, I married her," Pia answered.
Zoey had known that Pia had been married before. She had read something about Pia in an extremely innocent Google stalking session about how Pia's wife had died suddenly. "Oh," she said, not knowing exactly how to respond. "So, you married her because of your first kiss with her? It was that good?"
"Yep."
"That's a hell of a first date," Zoey said, grinning.
Pia nodded, an almost wistful expression on her face for only a second.
The room grew heavy with tension.
"Tell me something about you that no one else knows," Pia said, looking at her over the tipped edge of the glass as she took a sip.
"Something no one else knows?" Zoey repeated the request, unsure of how to answer. "Not just you?"
"Yeah."
Zoey considered it, then leaned forward to kneel in front of Pia, moving to place a gentle kiss on Pia's lips. "That."
"Well, you make a very good point," Pia said, setting her wine glass down as she took Zoey's hips in her hands.
"I like to think so," Zoey said.
Pia looked up at her like she was a goddess, meant to be worshipped. She felt adored in that moment. She felt as though Pia was awed by the situation as much as she was.
"We don't have to do anything you don't want to do," Pia repeated.
"I know," Zoey whispered. "And we don't have to do anything you don't want to do, either."
"Ah, believe me,there's so much I do want to do," Pia growled.
"Such as?" Zoey asked.
Pia moved her hands down, grabbing Zoey's ass. Pia yanked her forward until Zoey stumbled and grabbed onto Pia while giggling, steadying herself with a knee on either side of Pia's hips.
Pia leaned forward to place a kiss on her collarbone over her shirt.
"You're so fucking beautiful," Pia said, her hands moving to explore Zoey's back, holding her tightly. "And you're wearing entirely too many clothes."
Zoey grinned, pulling her shirt over her head.
Pia's hands moved over Zoey's hips and stomach to touch her breasts through her thin bra. Her touch sent electric shocks of pleasure through Zoey's body.
"Is this okay?" Pia asked, looking up through her eyelashes.
Zoey nodded. "Oh, yes, it's more than okay," she said, the words barely audible.
"Wow, you sure know how to compliment a woman," Pia teased.
"Shut up and take off your shirt," Zoey said, reaching for the edge of Pia's shirt.
Pia flung her shirt across the room haphazardly.
Zoey moved her hands over Pia's bare shoulders, over the soft fabric of her sports bra, exploring the other woman's body with her touch.
"Your skin is so soft," Zoey said with slight awe. Pia's skin was so fair compared to her light brown skin.
"Thanks, I use lotion," Pia said in an exaggeratedly seductive voice.
Zoey laughed, but her laugh was immediately cut off as Pia leaned forward, catching Zoey's nipple between her teeth, only the flimsy fabric of her bra barely separating them.
Zoey's head tipped back involuntarily, and Pia moved her mouth, kissing up her sternum and over the soft sloping curves of her neck.
The room was silent save for their breaths and the sound of skin on fabric, connecting and exploring.
She suddenly felt nervous again, like she had before getting in the car. Her stomach flipped in anticipation and she needed to take a deep breath.
Zoey looked down at Pia, pausing. "I'm not..." She began.
Pia stopped every movement of her body. "What's up?"
"I don't know what I'm doing," Zoey confessed.
Pia tilted her head, her brow furrowing. "As in?"
"Am I doing it right?" Zoey asked, feeling self-conscious.
Pia let out of a gentle sigh. "You're doing everything fine so far," Pia said with a small grin.
Pia's hands came up to squeeze her hips again, her thumbs circling over the bare skin of her stomach.
Oh God, it really was going to happen. She was going to have sex with a woman. And not just any woman. Pia.
"Wait," Zoey said, leaning back again.
Pia looked up at her patiently.
"Ground rules," Zoey said.
Pia nodded, leaning back to prop her elbows on the arm of the couch so that she was nearly lying flat beneath Zoey.
"This doesn't mean we're..." Zoey said, pointing between them.
"Oh, yeah, casual. Got it," Pia said.
"Just friends," Zoey said.
Pia raised an eyebrow. "No pressure," she said.
"We're just two people who occasionally take private planes and make out," Zoey said.
"Sure, so normal," Pia joked.
"It isn't, like, a thing," Zoey said.
Pia nodded.
"This doesn't mean anything," Zoey said.
Pia stilled under her, her brow furrowing.
"Well, let me rephrase. This isn't more than it is," Zoey said, knowing the answer was still vague, but it was a difficult concept to explain. "We're just two women who happen to have a physical connection and also we are friends."
"Zoey?" Pia said quietly.
Zoey paused, blinking down at her.
"Stop talking," Pia said, and she sat up, taking Zoey's mouth in a rough kiss.
They awkwardly stood, unable to keep their hands off each other as they stumbled toward one of the bedrooms — the room that Pia had claimed earlier.
Their pants and bras came off in a flurry of fabric and laughter and lost balance, sending Zoey falling onto the bed.
When Pia moved on top of her, she stilled at the touch and feel of Pia’s mostly naked body, the weight of Pia on top of her, sliding over her, was making her heart pound out of her chest in anticipation.
She had been hesitant before, but now, like this... She could hardly wait one moment longer.
Zoey's body and desire turned desperate and greedy, wanting her, and wanting her now. Zoey clutched at Pia, pulling at her shoulders and her hips as her lips seemed to be everywhere at once, journeying down her throat, over her breasts, lingering to gently bite her sensitive skin.
Zoey was impatient for Pia to continue. “Pia,” she begged, her voice sounding far away.
Pia took her time, making Zoey wait as she kissed over Zoey’s stomach and down to her hips, along the soft skin that led her to Zoey’s inner thighs.
Finally, with a languid pace, Pia hooked her finger under the waistband of Zoey’s underwear and slid them over her hips and down her legs.
Zoey was impatient for Pia to continue. “Pia, please,” she begged, her voice sounding far away. She needed Pia in a way that might have frightened her if she wasn’t so consumed with the feeling of finally.
Pia slid her hand over the length of Zoey’s leg, her palm curving over the muscles until she was touching Zoey’s most sensitive spot. Zoey’s knees fell open, welcoming the sensation as she closed her eyes, her head tipping back again in pure agony and delight.
Pleasure rolled over her in waves, unlike anything she had felt before. Pia’s touch felt intimate and intense and delicious all at once. The all-encompassing feeling was an intoxicating mixture of passion and newness. Pia’s touch was so much softer than anyone she had been with, and she played Zoey’s body with the expertise of a musician.
Pia slipped two fingers inside of her, keeping pressure in all the right places as Zoey felt as though she was floating off the bed entirely. She tried to ground herself by looking down, but meeting Pia’s intense dark-eyed stare, and seeing the raw hunger that was within her immediately sent he
r over the edge of climax.
Pia continued to touch her exactly how she needed until she had come back to earth, her hands gripping the bedspread under her.
“That was…” Zoey said, trying to catch her breath. "I don't think I expected it to be..." She swallowed, unable to find the right words, or any words, or any grasp of the English language at all.
Pia slid back up her body and wrapped an arm around her. "That's what all the women tell me," she joked.
Zoey flipped onto her side, swinging a leg casually over Pia's hip. "Oh yeah? Is that why they call you Magic Hands Marino?" She teased.
"Among other things," Pia said, a grin quirking up the edge of her mouth.
"I have a very serious question," Zoey said, taking a deep breath.
Pia looked instantly concerned. "Of course," she said.
"Can we order french fries and more wine and then talk me through how I can do that to you?" Zoey asked.
Pia's eyes widened in surprise as she laughed. "I thought you'd never ask."
Hours later, after having a bed picnic and relaxing for awhile, Zoey's hands skimmed Pia's stomach, then dipped lower between her legs, sliding into the warmth of her. It was so like her own, and yet, completely different.
And when she lay between Pia's legs, her tongue finding the spot that made Pia's entire body shake and clench, something tightened in her own chest at the idea that she was giving Pia such pleasure. That she was the name on Pia's lips as she came. Twice. Zoey found herself giving into the heady arousal of how Pia tasted just slightly sweeter as she shattered, her back arching off the bed as her fingers wound in Zoey's hair.
Zoey's eyes opened as her phone alarm quietly sang, the gray dawn began to lighten the room. They had forgotten to draw the shades in their haste to get into bed the night before.
She turned off her alarm and turned back to Pia, replaying particular scenes from the night before. How Pia had stared into her eyes as she licked her fingers after touching Zoey. How Pia had tasted, the feel of her on Zoey's fingers, on her tongue.
Last night...
Zoey rolled onto her back, staring at the soft light of the window. Her stomach twisted — had she made a huge mistake?
She had enjoyed the hell out of herself, that was for sure. But had sleeping with Pia taken her attraction too far?
She turned back to the woman, watching her sleep.
Were they really on the same page about the sex just being sex?
Just her curiosity and intrigue, nothing more?
About their chemistry together being physical and that was it?
Even with the swirling emotions, she couldn't help but grin at Pia's content, sleeping expression. Even with all of the horrible ways the situation could go up in flames — and oh, she was envisioning all of those scenarios vividly — she didn't necessarily regret what had happened.
It had been fun, of course. It had been satisfying in ways she had never felt.
Just because she had enjoyed it... it didn't mean anything.
She wasn't dating Pia.
She wasn't suddenly a lesbian.
She hadn't ordered a U-Haul.
She wasn't "Pulling a Pia" and marrying the first woman she slept with.
She was just no longer a zero on the Kinsey scale. Okay, so she had never been a zero. A one, at most, of course.
But after last night...
Pia opened one eye. "Stop creeping on me. I know I'm gorgeous, but I'm trying to sleep," she teased, reaching out to wrap an arm around Zoey and pull her body close.
"I've got to go soon," Zoey whispered, trying not to tense under Pia's touch.
No, cuddling the morning after felt a bit too much like a relationship move.
Pia groaned. "No," she said, her grip on Zoey tightening.
"Unfortunately, I am a woman in high demand," Zoey said, pushing onto her elbows.
"Well, you're back in LA next week, right?" Pia asked, blinking her eyes slowly open to look down at Zoey.
Zoey nodded.
Pia sighed, looking disappointed.
And something melted slightly in Zoey. She didn't want to leave, either.
"Hey," Zoey started, feeling suddenly shy about what she was about to ask. "There's a secret show in New York tonight. Want to come?"
"To New York?" Pia asked.
Zoey nodded again.
"Let me see what I can do," Pia said, her hands slowly moving over Zoey's naked body. "Until then, do we have time for me to see what I can do about the here and now?"
Zoey's body came alive at Pia's touch. "I suppose I can pencil you in," she said with a laugh as Pia tugged her closer.
Chapter Eight
Pia
Pia had rearranged a couple of meetings and shifted one more meeting into a call — or, rather, she had Mark, her assistant, do the rearranging for her — but she had made it out to New York.
In fact, she had flown into the city with Zoey that morning.
She had also nearly become a member of the Mile High Club, but the thought of being able to look Archer in the eye ever again after he could potentially overhear or even see... Nope, she had to draw the line.
Zoey had been a bit quieter that morning, but she could understand why.
After having sex with Elle the first time, she questioned everything. Every relationship with a man she had ever had, every time she had lusted after a woman and tried to talk herself out of it...
The good news was that it didn't seem as though Zoey had a lack of physical interest.
Quite the opposite.
Pia touched her lips, smiling to herself at the thought of Zoey's kisses.
And other parts of her, of course.
"So," Freya said, looking at her over the edge of an Old Fashioned she held. "You fucked her."
Pia kept her face completely blank.
Freya was in town — something about an artist's conference, or something along those lines — and had agreed to tag along to the secret show that The Shrikes were playing that evening.
She was only going to the show because she liked the band and the new album, of course. And her good friend Zoey had invited her personally.
They were in a Lower East Side bar down the street from the venue. It was overpriced, dark, and crowded, and better yet, not a single person glanced her way as she walked in.
"You definitely fucked her," Freya said, shaking her head.
"Sorry, it's so loud in here," Pia said, gesturing to her ear as she feigned innocence.
"You're a bad liar," Freya yelled louder.
Pia grinned, sipping her wine. It was a touch too dry for her mood.
"Why?" Freya asked.
"Why what?" Pia said, not understanding.
"Why did you fuck her?" Freya said, over-enunciating each word to make her point loud and clear.
Pia lifted a shoulder. "I don't kiss and tell," she said, shaking her head.
Freya narrowed her eyes, scowling at her.
Pia set her glass down, lifting the wine menu again. It was short and left much to be desired. "Because I wanted to, and she wanted to," she said, trying to sound casual.
"I'm about to speak from a place of love and support, do you understand?" Freya said, straightening her posture.
"Why does that statement worry me?" Pia said, arching a brow.
"Do not fuck her again," Freya said, again over enunciating each word.
Pia tried her best not to make a face. "Your reasoning?"
"I'm not in the habit of handing out toasters," Freya said.
Pia laughed. "I'm not in the habit of trying to get toasters," she said. "It's nothing serious. It's just casual."
Freya fixed her with a stare. "You are heading straight for something that is going to blow up in your face," she said.
Pia shook her head. "Well, I will consider myself warned," she said, glancing around for the waiter while trying her hardest to not meet Freya's eye.
"One of you is going to catch feelings," Freya said.
"My niece says it all the time," Freya said. "And I think it applies here."
"You know I don't do that," Pia said.
"Not usually, but this one is different and you know it," Freya said.
"I need you to cool your jets, Frey. I'm walking in with my eyes wide open," Pia said.
Freya didn't respond. She just glared at her.
"And if it ends badly, I'll supply all the wine as you listen to my woes," Pia said, lifting her glass in a toast.
Freya laughed, melting slightly from her icy mood.
"Thank you so much for coming out tonight and supporting our new album," Billie said into the microphone, smiling. "We know it's been a little while, so, uh, thanks for sticking around."
Pia, clapped, marvelling at how calm and collected Billie was both on and off-stage. She had to be, dating a firecracker like Vero De Luca.
Pia and Freya sat in a VIP section of the balcony, anonymous in the dark. They were very conveniently seated on the same side of the stage as Zoey and her keyboard. From here, Pia could see Zoey's fingers expertly move over the keys, graceful and knowledgeable.
She smirked to herself, knowing exactly how expertly those fingers could move.
Domino leaned into her microphone. "And thanks again for finding our secret show. Zoey kept telling me that our hints were too difficult and no one would show up," she said with a laugh.
Zoey yelled an audible, "Hey!" and the crowd cheered and laughed with them.
Pia grinned, watching her. With the lights in her hair, gleaming off her skin, and her adorable sequined crop top, she looked positively goddess-esque.
A feeling of possession came over her, like she wanted Zoey all to herself. Like she wanted others to know that Zoey was hers.
She squashed the feeling almost immediately, taking a sip of her water.
She could practically feel Freya's eyes on her. She turned, but Freya was looking down at the stage, her eyebrows raised in mock-innocence.
"Because Zoey was wrong," Domino began, and Zoey played a quick "dun dun dun" on her keyboard. "She's going to sing this next one for y'all."
