Popcorn Love

by KL Hughes

  “What?” Elena blurted.

  “Nothing,” Allison said. “You’re just…you’re pretty amazing, you know?”

  Elena sucked in a soft breath. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  They stared at one another, the air of Elena’s office thickening around them and growing hot. Several moments passed in heated silence before Elena pushed her mostly empty food cartons away and rose to her feet. “Now,” she said, “what do you say we have a little photo-shoot of our own?”

  * * *

  “Are you sure about this?” Allison asked, glancing nervously around the studio. It was now empty but for herself and Elena, the latter having dismissed all her lingering subjects. “I mean, I’m not very photogenic.”

  Elena scoffed. “That is a blatant lie.”

  “True,” Allison laughed, joking to enforce a false sense of bravado. “I am pretty cute.” She stood in the middle of the solid-white set, wearing light-wash skinny jeans and a black tank top Elena had provided from the closet. Her feet were as bare as her soul felt in that moment, and she chewed on her bottom lip as she waited for direction from the other woman.

  Elena smiled as she stepped over to her, a camera strung around her neck. “Allison,” she cooed, running her hands down Allison’s bare arms, “I would love to photograph you. I’m not much of a photographer, but I know a few things. If you are uncomfortable, though, we certainly do not have to do this. I thought it would be fun.”

  “No, it’s cool,” Allison assured, sucking in a steadying breath. “I mean, no harm, right? Plus, you must be pretty attracted to me if you wanna take my picture, right?”

  Elena leaned in to press a feather-light kiss to Allison’s lips. “Right.”

  “Well then, I’m fine with it,” Allison told her, shrugging. “But don’t expect me to like be good at posing or anything. I think we both know how awkward I am.”

  Elena walked slowly backward and away from her. “You aren’t awkward, dear,” she said as she lifted the camera to her face. “You are stunning.”

  Before Allison even realized what was happening, Elena began to snap photo after photo. Allison just sort of stood there awkwardly at first, unsure of what to do. She refused to even look at the camera, keeping her head down or simply looking away from Elena. Her hands were stuffed down in her pockets, and one of her knees was bent as she kept her weight steadied mostly on one foot.

  “Take your hands out of your pockets, dear. Look toward me.” Elena’s voice called from behind the camera.

  Allison did as she was told, still feeling incredibly awkward. She expected Elena to then give her more motion or posing direction, but the woman surprised her.

  “Think of your most embarrassing moment.”

  “Huh?” Allison asked.

  Elena laughed from behind the camera. “I want to shoot your expressions as certain emotions or experiences touch your features.” She crouched a bit and pulled the camera back to her face. “Now, think of your most embarrassing moment.”

  Allison had way too many embarrassing moments to think of only one, but as soon as the collective memories began to flood her mind, she heard Elena chuckle again and she assumed that her face was likely bright red.

  The more they shot, the more comfortable Allison became, even playfully dramatizing a few of her reactions to Elena’s directions. Elena played along with her.

  “Yes, love!” “The camera ADORES you!” “Give it to me!” “Yeeees, yeeees, NO!”

  Allison cracked up at her. She flexed her biceps, posed ridiculously like a tiger, and reveled in the way Elena’s voice croaked when she lifted the tank top and flexed her abs for the camera.

  “Now, imagine me naked.”

  Allison’s brain completely short-circuited. Her mouth went dry, her body quaked, and her flesh heated to an almost unbearable degree. “What?”

  Elena carefully set the camera down and began to slowly make her way toward Allison. As she walked, she began to pop open the buttons at the top of her gray silk blouse. Patches of creamy flesh were revealed, and Allison’s body began to throb, a flood of moisture pooling between her legs.

  “Elena.” Her voice squeaked, her face flooded in crimson. Elena gazed at her with dilated pupils, her lips slightly parted. She reached Allison just as the final button slipped free and opened to reveal a smooth expanse of flesh—a beautifully toned stomach and full, round breasts cupped deliciously inside a charcoal-colored lace bra. Allison’s head swam dizzily at the sight, her senses overloaded.

  “Allison,” Elena whispered in return, drawing so close that Allison could feel the static on her skin.

  Their eyes met for one gloriously charged moment before they simultaneously dove into one another, lips smacking together roughly. It was fast and hot and messy—teeth and tongues and noses clashing as they tried desperately to get closer to one another. Allison’s hands wasted no time in exploring the exposed flesh of Elena’s stomach, her fingertips making patterns over heated skin. They both moaned at the sensation and pressed harder still.

  Allison suddenly pulled back, just an inch, and locked eyes with a very flushed Elena. “Elena, you sure? You sure you don’t wanna wai—”

  “No.” Elena dug her hands into Allison’s long golden hair. Her lips were practically molten as she slid them up the length of Allison’s slender neck and hovered over her ear. “No more waiting.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Those three little words burned in Allison’s cells like the red tips of matchsticks held between Elena’s teeth and stricken across the salt of Allison’s skin.

  No more waiting.

  The smell of the heat from the flames that burst instantly between them burned in her body down to her bones. Elena’s eyes seemed to grow wider and darker like beckoning tar pits pulling her in and drowning her in the sweet stickiness of a promise that throbbed beneath her ribs and between her legs.

  No more waiting.

  This was the moment, the culmination of heated gazes and timid touches, of wet kisses and ghosting breath over lips and lashes, of waiting and wanting, of distance and closeness and the timid yet eager steps in between. This was the moment when the rolling wave of desire that had been building between them finally crested and crashed, melting down into fingertips that sought to discover new worlds in trembling limbs and sighs.

  Allison almost didn’t recognize her own voice as her words came out in a strangled whisper, ragged and raw from Elena’s intentions alone. “Yeah.” She breathed into Elena’s hair, the thick silky strands slipping across her lips as Elena’s breath turned her neck loose and fluid. Her head fell back at the press of Elena’s scorching kisses. “Yeah,” she uttered breathlessly again as she grabbed Elena’s shoulders and gently pushed.

  When their eyes met, she whispered, “I think we’ve waited long enough.”

  She dove forward then, swallowing Elena’s expelled sigh of relief and melding their lips together again in a wet press that made them both only long for more. Allison’s itching fingers dipped into Elena’s naked flesh, sinking into the quicksand draw of her warmth and dimpling fissures along her exposure. Every press evoked delicious whimpers that vibrated against Allison’s own tongue and teeth as they kissed.

  Allison followed the path from Elena’s hips to her waist, up to the lace-clad swells of her exquisite breasts and felt her gasp as it pulled the air from the depths of her own lungs. She hovered there a moment, an ache building at the base of her spine that was nearly unbearable as she splayed her fingers over the rough pattern of the lace before letting her touch travel higher. She traced over the goose-pimpled flesh adorning delicate collarbones until her fingertips met the material of Elena’s open blouse.

  Her lips slipped from Elena’s, and Allison held the other woman’s gaze as she caught onto the edges of the gray silk and slowly slid the material down two slender arms. She held Elena’s gaze a moment longer before letting it drop to take in the sight below.

  Allison’s eyes tracked ove
r the entirety of Elena’s torso and arms, seeking out every detail and absorbing each slowly. She didn’t move to unclasp her bra and further expose her. Her hands didn’t jump to grab at the full swells and hardening peaks beneath the lace. Instead, she moved slowly, her fingertips following the trail blazed by her burning gaze. She traced her fingers down the length of Elena’s arms with feather-light whispers of flesh on flesh and pressed gently into the pad of each of her ten fingers before tickling across her palms and circling her wrists.

  “Elena, you are so…”

  Their eyes met. She swallowed thickly as she tried to put her thought to voice. When her lips parted again to finally finish the sentence, all she could manage was a single word. “Everything.”

  Elena’s breath expelled in a rushing sigh that quickly evolved into a guttural moan as she latched onto the front of the black tank top and jerked Allison forward. They collided roughly, melting into a heated kiss that was wet and hard and made no further room for slow exploration.

  Their arms became a tangled mess as they each struggled to fulfill the same needy objective—the removal of all barriers. Within seconds, they abandoned their separate tasks and moved to work together, both pulling at the hem of Allison’s tank top and damn near ripping it off of her as they yanked it over her head to reveal the small designer bra Elena had pulled from the studio closet. Elena’s fingers then found their way to the waistband of Allison’s skinnies, and as soon as the soft pads dipped below and out of sight, that trembling knot of tension at the base of Allison’s spine exploded.

  She moaned loudly as her back bowed forward, and the raw, throaty chuckle that escaped the woman who was wrapped partially around her was heated enough to evoke yet another. As soon as the button popped open and Elena’s fingers pushed at a zipper that easily gave, Allison was practically itching to get out of her jeans. She pushed desperately at the tight material while trying to keep her lips locked onto Elena’s, sucking at the woman’s bottom lip like her life depended on it. When her jeans were at her ankles, Allison managed to almost get one bare foot free. She kicked the other frantically and, in her struggle, took one miscalculated step backward and completely lost her balance.

  Allison stumbled, her hands wrapping tightly around Elena as she attempted to steady herself, to no avail, and down they went, barreling to the floor in a jumble of jean-tied ankles and nearly naked torsos. Allison’s back hit the sheet-covered floor with a hard thud, the air expelling from her lungs in one loud rush of breath, and Elena landed atop her with a raspy grunt.

  Heat burned in Allison’s face the instant her breath returned, and she closed her eyes against the mortification of the moment. A second later, though, her heart burst beautifully with the sound of Elena’s melodic laughter as it drifted up to her. She opened her eyes to see the glint of mirth in Elena’s own as she let out another loud, bubbling laugh and crawled up Allison’s body to press kisses to her lips and eyes and chin.

  Face still hot, Allison grinned as her hands found their way once more to Elena’s sides. “Sorry,” she muttered, rolling Elena onto her back. She hovered over her, a hand planted on each side of Elena’s head. “Guess I got a little eager.”

  Elena’s hands ran the length of her sides and spine, and Allison thought she might simply melt when Elena reached up to cup her cheek and whispered, “Don’t be sorry.” She lifted her head to press her lips to Allison’s again. “The jeans were my idea after all.”

  “Good point. Still, I’m guessing that ending up in a laughing fit on the floor probably wasn’t how you pictured our first time going, right? Not exactly sexy.”

  “Except that it is,” Elena told her, her voice low and melodic. “It is sexy, Allison.” She took a deep breath, holding Allison’s gaze, and whispered, “You make me feel so alive.”

  Allison smiled down at her, breathless and aching from the confession. “This is crazy, right?” she murmured as she held Elena’s sparkling gaze.

  “What?” Elena asked. “Sex on the floor of the studio in my work building, or our inability to remain upright?”

  With a small laugh, Allison shook her head. “Falling for each other this way,” she whispered, the words so quiet that they were hardly more than breath that dusted gently over Elena’s kiss-swollen lips. “So fast?”

  Elena’s breath caught, and she swallowed heavily.

  “So intensely?” Allison said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. I mean, it’s crazy, right?”

  Letting out a shaky breath, Elena nodded. “Yes,” she said. “It is absolutely crazy.” She hesitated only a moment before adding, “And wonderful.”

  Allison’s eyes stung at the sincerity in Elena’s soft voice as she nodded in return. “Yeah, it really is.”

  Threading her fingers through Allison’s cascading hair, Elena pulled her closer. Allison’s body blanketed over Elena’s, pressing in and fitting perfectly as they met in a kiss much slower than before, so slow that it was nearly torture as they explored one another’s mouths.

  They ran their hands along the lengths of each other’s sides, letting their fingertips become acquainted with newly bared flesh. Elena’s back arched upward as Allison’s right hand slid beneath her and, a moment later, the tension in Elena’s bra released as Allison unfastened the clasp at the back. Allison held her breath as she pulled the lacy material from Elena’s body and let it fall to the floor beside them.

  Allison swallowed thickly as she took in the sight of Elena’s plump breasts. She leaned her weight on one elbow as she brought up a hand to caress the soft mounds. Elena’s chest heaved, her breathing becoming rapid as Allison’s fingertips tickled over the pebbled peaks of hardened nipples, pinching slightly, before Allison cupped each breast fully one by one. She kneaded the flesh and watched as her touch caused Elena to tremble, her teeth digging into her bottom lip as her dark eyes watched her every touch.

  With Elena’s eyes on her, Allison dipped her head to draw one tight nipple between her lips. As soon as the wet tip of her tongue caressed the flesh, Elena’s back shot off the floor and she let out a low moan that had Allison clenching her thighs. She grazed her teeth over the sensitive flesh, circling her tongue slowly, before sucking in long, deep pulls. She then released her hold and switched, paying some much-needed attention to the neglected breast. Elena writhed beneath her, a hand cupping the back of Allison’s head.

  Allison was already addicted to Elena’s body, and she hadn’t even seen all of it yet. The sheer softness of her skin was enough to warrant addiction in Allison’s opinion. Whatever damned moisturizer the woman was using had to be infused with pure magic. She ran her hands along the quivering plane of Elena’s stomach before releasing a now-reddened and wet nipple from between her lips and sitting up. She smiled as Elena whimpered with the loss but then gaped as Allison reached back and snapped open the clasp of her own bra. The overwhelming desire to feel her flesh pressed against Elena’s had simply become too much.

  Elena’s hands were on her in an instant as Allison dropped the bra away to reveal what lay beneath. Allison’s head rolled back on her neck, her eyes closing as a soft moan escaped her the moment Elena’s fingers pulled gently at her nipples and cupped her small breasts. She followed eagerly when Elena urged her back down, and when their chests pressed together, nipples grazing and flesh dipping into flesh, both women trembled and let out throaty moans that echoed around the studio.

  “Fuck,” Allison whispered as she slipped along the static of Elena’s skin, the ache between her legs growing with the friction; and then Elena’s mouth was on her again. They kissed roughly, messily, their breathing ragged against teasing tongues and teeth digging into full lips. They nipped at one another as they touched.

  Elena’s thighs clenched tightly when Allison’s tongue began a rhythmic dance at the roof of her mouth, slipping in and out and stroking her in a way that was all too similar to another action she could be performing with her tongue. She pinched Allison’s side and muttered
, “Tease.”

  Allison laughed, her breath hot and wet as she dropped to suck at Elena’s bottom lip again. “It wasn’t a tease, babe. It was a promise.” She slid down from Elena’s mouth, her tongue and teeth carving a scorching path down Elena’s throat and over her collarbones. Just before Allison sucked one taut nipple into her mouth, she added, “And I always keep my promises.”

  “Oh God,” Elena moaned, back arching up and out. When Allison’s fingertips pulled at her waistband a moment later, her breathing grew shallow and she whimpered.

  Allison toiled with the fastener of Elena’s black pencil skirt, and Elena became visibly agitated in the wait. She smacked Allison’s hands out of the way and made quick work of her skirt, kicking it off over her heels and not even bothering to send the shoes flying away with it. Allison certainly wasn’t complaining. The sight of Elena laying naked beneath her but for bright red pumps and gray lace panties nearly caused her brain to explode inside her skull.

  Slender fingers slipped up Elena’s thighs, teasing close to her throbbing center before backing away again. Allison’s entire body felt like it was on fire just from touching Elena. The woman wasn’t even touching her in return. She didn’t think she had ever been so turned on in her life, except maybe that one time that she was talked into taking Ecstasy at a house party her sophomore year.

  Allison could feel the heat radiating from between Elena’s legs, and it made her pussy throb almost painfully. When she finally sucked in a breath and ran her fingertips over the soaked lace covering Elena’s dripping core, Elena cried out beneath her and latched onto Allison’s wrist, urging her to stay right here, to press harder, to never stop.

  “Fuck, Elena, you’re so wet,” she groaned as she ran her fingers up and down over the drenched lace and then slipped them under the material, pushing it to the side and letting her middle finger glide through Elena’s molten slit.

  A guttural moan rumbled up from Elena’s chest and slithered across her lips as her hips bucked up and she ground into Allison’s hand. That one sound drove Allison over the edge. She yanked Elena’s panties down slender legs and nestled between trembling thighs, her breath puffing hotly against Elena’s pulsating need. The scent of Elena’s arousal filtered through her nostrils, and Allison’s head bowed forward, her forehead resting against Elena’s lower abdomen. She moaned as she pressed her lips to Elena’s core in a gentle kiss that had her bucking and jumping once more.