Sunset ^beta

Clack clack clack.

Clack clack clack clack clack.

Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack!

Diana slapped her screwdriver down, the partially disassembled computer in front of her wobbling precariously. Who the hell was typing so furiously? She knelt on her chair and pulled herself to the wall of her cubicle, peeking over the top. Rows and rows of cubes contained their own little worlds. People typed on computers, jotted notes on legal pads, talked quietly into headsets. Mostly normal office activity. Mostly.

One person in particular sat laser focused on her computer screen. Her fingers flew across the keys at a ridiculous pace, her hands never left to use the mouse. Diana watched her work, entranced by the sheer power she radiated while she hammered out an important document or something. At least, she assumed it had to be important. Why else would she be diving into her task with such fervor? No one else at this shithole company cared that much.

But then again, this was Leona she was talking about. The golden-haired woman had an unbreakable sunny disposition. She was the kind of coworker to bring donuts for the whole office, organize birthday lunches for employees she didn't even know, and even participate in every single company event with incomprehensible enthusiasm. She was everything Diana wasn't. Preppy office attire with colorful skirts, perfectly ironed blouses, and a different headband every single day. Seriously. In her three years at the company, Diana had never seen her repeat a headband. Ever.

And Diana was hopelessly enraptured. Her glittering smile, her strawberry scented shampoo. Her soft, bright eyes that made her want to crack a smile every time she saw them. Every morning, when Diana's alarm begged her to please get out of bed and be on time for once, it was the thought of seeing Leona that really got her going. She found excuses to be up and about when Leona was walking between cubicles. She timed her lunches to be in the break room at the same time as her. She memorized the smell of her perfume and bought a sampler online so she could still smell her at home.

Okay, maybe she shouldn't admit to that last one, that verged on stalker behavior. But she couldn't help it, everything about Leona was her opposite, and it only made her want her more. She smiled and carefully climbed off her chair. If she was as tall as Leona, she wouldn't have to kneel on a chair to see over the wall. That was enough to keep her occupied for several minutes, daydreaming about Leona towering over her.

The clacking of Leona's keyboard snapped her out of it. What was she working on? She worked like this almost every day. And even considering Leona's boundless energy and enthusiasm, nothing work-related could bring that much joy to her face as she typed. Diana took one last look over the wall. Leona's face was bright red, her chest heaved. Okay, that was the last straw.

It was a horrible abuse of power. A breach of trust. A complete misuse of company resources and company time. But she had to know. Diana rolled over to her computer, brushing aside a collection of barely-working hard drives and SATA cables. She pulled up the company cloud server and started scrolling through files, looking for any recent ones created by Leona.

Every computer in the office connected to the internal cloud server, and Diana was part of the IT department that managed it. She was in charge of keeping it up and running as well as dealing with any of the other computer problems that arose throughout the day. She sorted by creator and found Leona's files. Another sort by date and she found her most recently edited works.

Top result, last edited: three seconds ago. The cursor hovered over the file name. "Secret". Okay, that wasn't suspicious at all. It was her duty as a system administrator to ensure the security of all work systems. It could be malware, after all.

Ah, who was she kidding? She just had to know at this point. She opened the file.

Her hand slides up under my blouse, her hot breath brushes past by ear. I moan, and she silences it with a kiss. My core burns with need, and she seems all too eager to satiate me.

Holy. Shit. Diana minimized the window as she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey, Diana?"

Oh great.

"Yes, Mr. Mundo?" She asked, trying to hide her exasperation. What could their glorious CEO want with her today?

"Finance say payment processor not working. They say they put in ticket two minute ago and no response. What I pay you for, huh?" The titan of intellect known as Mr. Mundo placed a massive hand on top of her cubicle wall, waiting for a response.

"Of course Mr. Mundo. I will get right on that. As soon as finance decides to tell me which payment processor is down. I already responded to their ticket and haven't heard back in days." Diana said through gritted teeth. Whatever coke-fueled fuckery those asshats in finance were up to now was not about to be her responsibility.

"I talk to them. Stay busy," Mr. Mundo said, shooting her a pair of finger guns as he tromped off through the office, looking for some other poor soul to terrorize. Diana spun back around in her chair, taking another look behind her before opening the file back up.

Twenty thousand words. Dozens of pages. Diana's eyes went wide. It was just one continuous story. There were even chapter breaks. She picked a passage in the middle, around the nine thousand word mark.

Her pale white hair stands in stark contrast to the black shirt and tie she insists on wearing every day. And yet, I can't help but experience her for the first time all over again every morning. Her stoic demeanor lends her an air of mystery that I just need to unpack. Every time she cracks a sarcastic joke to a coworker I find myself laughing as if I'm part of the conversation. I want to be part of the conversation, I want to talk to her. But she always seems so far away, so unattainable.

Diana stopped reading, looking down at her clothes. Black slacks. Black button-down shirt. Black tie. The same outfit she wore every day for work. No reason to change. Hmm. Something wasn't…

Oh shit. Diana scrolled through the document again, up to the most recent changes. It was updating in real time. She could see words being added, deleted, replaced, or even formatted.

"Leona…" She moans, fingers tangled in my hair as my tongue brushes over her perky nipple. My hands knead at the pale flesh of her breasts as my kisses trail upward, dragging a gasp from her with every kiss I press into her neck.

Oh my. There was no way. This was… erotica? Smut? Fanfiction? About Leona. And someone she currently works with. Lesbian smut. And it was good? Diana felt twinges of arousal as she watched the words appear on the document, a description of the main character learning just how wet the girl in dark clothes is for her.

Pale hair… All black every day… Much shorter… Stoic demeanor…

Fuck.

Oh fuck.

Diana felt heat rise to her cheeks. Was she embarrassed? Embarrassed for Leona? Embarrassed for herself? Was she scared? Surprised? Turned on? Leona was obviously writing erotic fiction about her and Diana. At work. On a work computer. Uploaded to the company cloud server.

Uploaded to the company cloud server. Whose files are publicly available to all employees. Diana rushed through her computer, flying through the server admin console to restrict access to "Secret.docx". How many people had seen this? Did anyone even know they could access files like this? Did anyone else in IT see this?

If that were the case, she would have heard about it by now. No one in IT could keep that kind of secret. Except maybe Taliyah. Diana glared out of her cubicle, catching sight of Taliyah typing away in some IDE. She had her chair all jacked up, legs covered in colorful striped socks. No, if it was about anyone else, Taliyah wouldn't tell her. But it was about Diana herself… she'd like to imagine she would let her know.

Good. At least no one else would know that model employee Leona was writing smut on her work computer during work hours. About a fellow coworker. Diana leaned back in her chair, heart still racing from the revelation.

What did it mean? Leona obviously thought she was hot. Enough to write first person smut about her! But that didn't mean Leona was interested in her for real, right? It was just something to pass the time, it's not like there was actually any interesting work to keep her occupied all day. Diana wondered if maybe Leona meant for her to find this, like some sort of hint to push her into asking her out. But that definitely wasn't it, Leona sucked at computers. Actually, almost everyone in the office sucked at computers. But Leona especially. And almost no one knew that all their files got backed up to the cloud in real time.

Great, now what was she supposed to do? Put a meeting on her calendar to confess their secret love for each other?

"Hey Leona, so I was snooping through your personal files and found your smut about me."

"Ohh… hi! I saw your smut, do you want to make out until we pass out?"

"Leona! Nice smut! Wanna recreate it?"

No. She couldn't confront her about it at all. Maybe it was best this way. Workplace relationships were never a good idea, that idea had been ingrained into her from the beginning of her career. She put her head on her desk. Why did it always have to be so hard?

The next few days were hellishly busy. Mr. Mundo decided that he wanted to back up and migrate their entire collection of databases barely a week before the financial quarter ended. Diana and Taliyah worked through the evening several days in a row, holed up in the arctic server room. But Diana didn't mind, she got along quite well with Taliyah, even if she was a little bubbly for her taste.

"So I met this girl, from legal," she was saying.

"Legal?" Diana said, raising an eyebrow as she slotted a brand new node into the rack.

"Yeah yeah, I know. She's probably a psycho killer or whatever all lawyers are. But I'm obsessed, Diana! You should see how she looks when she gets going about compliance…"

Judging by Taliyah's tone, it sounded like whoever she was pining after had a very… intimate familiarity with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Oh well, anything could be a fetish.

"Taliyah, how about a thought experiment?" Diana proposed. She'd been thinking about the story she found Leona writing. She couldn't get it out of her head.

"Ooh! I love hypotheticals! Is it romantic?" Taliyah said from the other side of the rack. She was probably basking in the warm row. Diana never saw her wear anything but pastel skirts that flirted dangerously with the corporate dress code.

"Yes it is actually. What would you do if you found out someone wrote a really dirty story about you?"

Taliyah let out an exaggerated scandalized gasp, poking her head around the rack to give Diana a ridiculous wide-eyed stare. "Why, I would just be flattered!" Taliyah said, raising a hand to her mouth. She giggled and went back to work. "How well written we talking? Like a '50k word slow burn' kind of deal or a 'sub 200 word drabble in barely readable English' thing?"

Diana barely had to think about it. Over the last two nights, she'd become intimately familiar with Leona's writing talent. And her vibrator had paid the price. She'd never forget standing in the self checkout line with a questionable quantity of batteries, hair disheveled, pajamas wrinkled, and smelling faintly of sex. Leona's story was the cause of her exhausted misery for the past few days, and also the source of euphoria that kept her going.

"Let's say it's really good. Like really good."

Taliyah peered around the server rack, eyebrows going wild. "And do you, I mean I, hypothetically of course, know this person?"

Diana was too lost in thoughts of Leona undressing her with her eyes to notice Taliyah's not-so-subtle slip. "Yes…"

"Well I'd ask her out of course!" Taliyah chirped without hesitation. "It sounds like the perfect signal!"

Diana grimaced. Of course that’s what Taliyah would say. “Are you just trying to set me up with her?” She asked, discarding all pretenses.

“Why would that be a bad thing…”

“You’re always trying to set me up with people! Camille from acquisitions?” That was one awkward date.

“Okay okay, I admit fault in that one, wasn’t my proudest match. But I really think you two would get along!” Taliyah said, leaning on the back of her chair, giving Diana her best puppy dog eyes.

“She’s like, completely different from me. Like opposites.” She was so bubbly and happy and ugh. Way too pretty.

“That’s what makes it work so well! Didn’t you guys know each other?”

“Yeah. In high school! And we certainly didn’t get along. She was a real bitch back then, involved in some weirdo church.” Bad memories.

“I haven’t heard her mention being part of a church. Or seen any religious iconography or anything. Come on, Diana! Give her a chance!” Taliyah was always like this when she confided in her about women.

“Taliyah, how about you get yourself a girlfriend? Then you can stop living vicariously through my disastrous dates,” Diana said, tightening the screws in the node and turning to face her fully.

“What! Like who?”

“You were just talking about someone in legal. The one with the fetish for consumer protection laws?”

“Okay, first of all, it’s not a fetish. It’s a passion. And second, I can’t just ask her out! Do you know how much pining needs to happen first? And besides, I’m not sure she’s even into women,” Taliyah said, plugging a flash drive into one of the new servers to flash software. Diana busied herself with coiling ethernet cables together with zip ties. If she didn’t do the cable management around here, no one would.

“Right, so why don’t you just ask her out and see what happens?”

“Nope!” Taliyah declared. “Not unless you go ask Leona out.”

“That’s not fair!” Diana protested.

“How! She’s totally into you. And you know it.” Taliyah stared at her, trying to put on her best impression of a serious person.

“Fine. As long as you ask that girl out tonight. What’s her name?”

“Kai’Sa. And I’ll only do it if you ask Leona out. Tonight. Deal?” Taliyah was ruthless.

“Fine! I will! And I better see you come in next week all starry-eyed about how perfect Kai’Sa is,” Diana said, bundling together the last bits of wire that dangled down the top row of the rack.

“You better give Leona a whole new world of inspiration for her ‘stories’,” Taliyah said with a devious grin. Diana glared at her and straightened up, taking a threatening step forward. Taliyah darted out of the server room with a giggle, out into the safety of the main office floor.

Diana frowned as she left. What did she just get herself into? Taliyah was a pro at handling rejection, Diana was a fragile glass flower that locked herself up in her room with several pints of ice cream at the first hint of conflict. Okay, maybe not that bad, but it was enough to be embarrassing. She glanced at her watch. 8:30 pm. Holy shit, another late night. She didn’t even notice the time flying by this time. Her eyelids drooped, the world lurched. Wow, she was exhausted. Time to head home and check if Leona updated her story. As much as she’d hate to admit it, she’d very quickly gotten emotionally invested in the characters.

Big surprise.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and Diana struggled to pull it out, rubber case catching on the fabric of her pants. Maybe Taliyah was onto something with those skirts.

Hey!!! I think I just lost ALL of my files :))))))) Can you help please????

Oh no. Message from Leona. Did she have any excuse to throw this over to Taliyah? Her status was already set to “out of office”. Great. She checked the payment processor ticket from finance. Did they finally send her the server ID? She frowned. Of course the fuck not. Why would they do that when they could just escalate it straight to the C-Suite?

Sure. Come by my desk.

Was that too cold? She didn’t want Leona feeling intrusive. But wait, this was literally her job, why would Leona think she was inconveniencing her? All she had to do was load the backups onto Leona’s computer, she could even do it remotely. Easy ticket. She walked back to her desk with a smile.

“Hi!” Leona chirped. She sat in Diana’s chair, spinning it around with a long bare leg peeking out from under a short black skirt. Her dark red blouse hugged her body, accentuating every curve. The headband of choice today was black flecked with tiny roses, holding back a torrent of golden hair. Diana still couldn’t figure out if it was dyed or natural.

“Hello there, what’s this about all your files?” Diana asked, leaning against her cubicle wall, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Her heart hammered in her chest, she felt so warm that she might start sweating. Leona was so fucking hot. She had no right to look so gorgeous spinning around in an office chair giggling like a schoolgirl.

“Oh yeah, so I don’t know what I did, but I was writing this really important report for finance, and I dropped my mug, empty by the way, on my keyboard and it hit a bunch of keys and I saw a progress bar and then I looked and everything was gone.”

Diana blinked, running the sentence (just one!) back over in her head, trying to process what Leona just said. “So you deleted your files? Like just the Documents folder orrr… the entire computer?”

“Oh it still turns on and works and everything! I just don’t have any documents!” Leona said, stopping the chair from spinning and bracing herself against Diana’s desk. Shit. She was so cute!

“Alright, let me take a look here,” Diana said, leaning down over her keyboard and bringing up the remote access client.

“You want your chair back?” Leona asked, moving to stand up.

“No, you can just sit tight. All I have to do is load the backup to your computer. I can do it from here.” Thankfully. At least she didn’t yank a wire out of her computer and trash the I/O port.

“Really? There are backups?”

“Yeah. All files on every computer are kept in the cloud server. Updated in real time.” It was a point of pride for Diana, a project she spearheaded when she first got hired. It saved everyone a lot of headaches.

“All files?” Leona squeaked. Diana turned to see her face flushing with pink, eyes wide.

“Yes? All files. On every computer. Even yours.” She remoted into Leona’s desktop, finding that she most certainly did delete all of her documents. On a random suspicion, she opened the recycle bin. It was completely full of documents. All of them, in fact. She quickly closed it before Leona noticed. No way… It was way too amateur, way too cliche. She couldn’t be that clever.

“And you can just look at them?” Leona asked again, voice rising another octave. Was she sweating?

Diana felt a swell of confidence. She dragged over a spare chair she kept around for these kinds of calls. She pushed herself up to her desk and typed in the address of the cloud backup. “Yeah. Everything updates in real time. Pretty cool, right? You’ll never lose anything. All your most important documents are safe with me.” Okay, that was a little bold.

“Do you ever just… read other people’s stuff?” Leona asked, struggling to meet Diana’s eyes. She thought about how to answer.

“Only if they pose a security risk or would violate company policy. I usually have to ask security before I do that. Usually.” Diana gave a small smile at the end. Leona squirmed in her chair, lips pressed tight together. What she wouldn’t give to kiss those perfect pink lips. What would they feel like? What would her lipstick taste like? She caught herself staring, and looked away to her computer. The progress bar slowly inched forward.

“Have… Have you ever read anything off mine?” Leona asked timidly. She wiped her hands on her skirt.

“Once or twice,” Diana said, looking back at Leona. Their eyes met, wide and sparkling. A strange energy crackled in the air between them, like a high peak in the mountains during a thunderstorm. Diana almost expected to smell ozone, the hair on her arms prickled as goosebumps ran down them. Her gut felt tight, her thighs tense. Leona’s body looked like a coiled spring ready to burst, she maintained the intense eye contact, subtly licking her lips and swallowing hard. What were they doing? What was this?

“See anything… incriminating?” Leona asked quietly. Diana followed her gaze directly to her lips. Her hand tightened on her thigh. Heat pooled in her stomach.

“Maybe just a little bit,” Diana said, mouth completely dry. “I… Took care of it though.” Leona’s eyes burned, her mouth was a straight line. Diana couldn’t get a read on her. Her entire body felt tense. Her heart slammed against her chest, she could feel her pulse pounding in her neck.

“Oh good,” Leona said. Diana stared, her pupils were huge. She couldn’t take her eyes off of her. Leona bent over slightly in the chair, leaning forward from when she was watching Diana work. Or did she just do that? Was she getting closer?

“Uh. Um. Leona?” She stammered. Her agreement with Taliyah sprung back to mind, but she could barely think straight enough to speak. Her thinking was far, far from straight right now.

“Diana?” Leona returned, the edges of her mouth curling in a small smile. She couldn’t take her eyes off that mouth.

“I… W-Would you… So… Uh…”

“Yes,” Leona said.

“Yes?” Diana’s head spun, her body hummed with something.

“Yes. Tomorrow at six? Send me your address, I’ll pick you up.” Leona asked. She leaned back in her chair, still refusing to look away.

“Uh… Yeah, sure. What’s, uh. What’s your phone number?” Her lips quivered, her thighs felt so tight they started to cramp. What the fuck was going on?

“I’ll type it in,” Leona said, reaching over and plucking Diana’s phone out of her frozen fingers. She tried to speak, but she couldn’t make a sound. Leona typed into her phone. “Here you go!” She said cheerfully, handing the phone back over. Diana looked down at the new contact.

Leona <3

Shit shit shit.

“Just text me your address whenever you can! I’ll see you tomorrow night!” Leona said, standing up and walking out of the cubicle. She didn’t even look at Diana’s computer, let alone the progress bar of her backup restoration.

Diana couldn’t move. She felt hot and cold at the same time. Tension crackled in the air, even with Leona gone. The faint smell of strawberries wafted from the empty chair. Diana held her phone in her hands, the screen slowly going dark before shutting off completely.

What the fuck just happened?

She didn’t need to check Leona’s story for updates that night, she came around her fingers with Leona’s name on her lips.

D: Wtf wtf wtf Taliyaahhhhhh!

T: Did you ask her out???

D: SHE asked ME! I think???

T: What??? She was still there when I left???

D: idk she was working late or something. She came to my desk, deleted ALL her files!

T: That’s way too dumb for her.

D: Her excuse was shit!

T: Well yeah, obviously.

D: Get this, I checked the recycle bin

T: No fucking way.

D: YESS!!!!!!! Helllppp…

T: Great Weaver help you, Diana. You are getting RAILED tonight.

D: WTF??? STFU! I’m NOT! IT’S THE FIRST DATE.

T: idk dude.

D: Whatever. Status on legal girl?

T: Kai’Sa! I’m going to text her tonight, I swear.

D: Taliyah…

Holy shit. What would she even wear? Where were they going? What was Leona wearing? Was this even a date?

She had to stop and lean against the wall, taking deep breaths. She was on the verge of panic, everything was moving so fast. She sent Leona her address that morning.

Great! See you at 6:30!

That was the last she heard from her. It was 5:00 pm now, and she was in full panic mode. She just stepped out of the shower a few minutes ago, her hair dried in a towel. All day she’d done nothing but scroll through dozens of articles about first dates on her phone. 

“Going On Your First Lesbian Date”

“Top 10 Lesbian First Date Mistakes To Avoid”

“14 Must-Know Lesbian Dating Rules to Impress a Girl on a First Date”

Why was dating so complicated? She’d combed fashion blogs for ideas, but nothing really seemed to fit. She stood in front of her mirror, staring at her closet on the other side of the room. It was basically all black. Would Leona find it weird if she wore the same thing she wore at work to the date? Would she expect her to dress lavishly? Would she expect her to look different? How much makeup should she do? Should she do any? Was shaving the right call?

At least thirty minutes passed just in front of the mirror, agonizing over every detail of her wardrobe. In the end, she went with black slim-fit jeans; white shirt, slightly cropped; and black leather jacket, well-worn and handed down from her mother. She would need every once of her strength tonight, she prayed she was watching. Maybe just the first part of the night though. If everything went well. She paced around her house in her socks, fretting over her makeup. A bit of concealer, some black liquid eyeliner. Just a touch of dark purple lipstick and mascara. Okay, nothing too excessive.

6:17 pm.

She’d brushed her teeth at least three times now. Pulled her hair up in a tight high ponytail. Trimmed her nails down and filed away any hint of a sharp edge. Should she paint them? No time. She pulled on a pair of Docs and sat at her kitchen table, legs shaking. What if she really messed this up? What if all those articles were for nothing? Focus on her, don’t talk about exes (easy), pick up the check, be on time. It was all so banal, all of that advice swam through her head, bouncing off the inside of her skull. A car door slammed shut in her driveway, her stomach seized. She felt sick.

Knock knock knock.

The sound reverberated through her house, Diana jumped to her feet, nearly sprinting to the front door. She flung it open, Leona stood in front of her, beaming.

“Hi!”

A white collar peeked out from under a ruby red sweater that matched perfectly with high-waisted blue jeans cuffed just enough to reveal tanned ankles above canvas shoes. She clutched a black purse in both hands in front of her. Her wavy golden hair floated well past her shoulders. Diana was stunned.

“You look good!” Leona said, stepping forward. She reached out for Diana’s hand. She mindlessly took it and allowed Leona to pull her out of her house.

“Y-You as well,” she said, trying to tear her eyes away long enough to lock the door behind her and make sure she had her keys and wallet. “I love your sweater.”

“Thanks! I picked it up just for this!” She said, smiling as she dragged Diana over to her car, opening the passenger side door for her. Diana sunk into the leather seat as Leona climbed in on the other side.

“You’ve been working late a lot recently, work kicking your ass?” Leona asked, starting the car and slowly pulling out of the driveway.

“Yeah. Mundo mandated a server upgrade and backup at the last minute. Taliyah and I have been trying to grind that out. What about you? You were at the office really late last night.”

“Ha! Trying to catch you alone, of course,” Leona said, much more casually than Diana expected.

“So you ‘deleted’ all your files on purpose?”

“Of course, you think I would do that on accident?” Leona asked, rolling to a stop at a red light. She looked over and flashed a smile. How was she so sunny all the time?

“N-No! Of course not, that’s why I was so suspicious.”

“But I’m glad you could help me.”

“Y-Yeah. No problem. Where we going?”

Leona looked back to the road as the light turned green. “I figured we would go to dinner and then walk around downtown for a bit after, I have a few places in mind. As for dinner, you like pasta?”

“I love pasta,” Diana said, trying not to make her staring too obvious. Leona was perfect.

“Perfect! You go out often?”

“Sometimes Taliyah and I go out for dinner or some drinks. Sometimes she comes over and we play games and stuff. You seem like you go out a lot.”

Leona shook her head. “Nope! I’m a total homebody. I just cuddle up with my cat and my giant pile of books. Sometimes I’ll go out to the bookstore when my stock runs dry.”

“That’s… surprising.”

“Yeah I know, I’m a social butterfly at work. But that’s more than enough social interaction for me, usually. Speaking of Taliyah, you guys…?”

“Together? Hell no, I don’t think I could handle dating her!” Diana said with a laugh. “In a good way, of course. We are much better off close friends.”

Was that a sigh of relief?

“Cool, you guys are inseparable at the office, so I just wondered if there was any history.”

“Nah, we met there. Just get along really well.”

“That’s nice. I wish I had more friends, coworkers barely count.”

“I hear that, I got really lucky with Taliyah. She’s one of my only friends. But… hopefully you have one more now?” Diana asked with unexpected confidence.

“Yeah,” Leona said, a little bit wistfully. “You’re always locked up at your desk busy with something, it always felt wrong to bother you.”

“Oh! I’m actually never really that busy. The past few days have been an anomaly. You can stop by anytime!”

“That’s good to hear! Maybe I’ll do just that.”

They settled into a comfortable silence as Leona drove them through the city. Diana didn’t go downtown that often, there wasn’t really anything there for her. The last time she went was for Taliyah’s birthday, several months ago. They pulled into a parking spot in front of a small building sandwiched between towering skyscrapers. Diana wondered how it managed to avoid the iron grip of real estate development.

“This place is a classic, it’s almost a hundred years old!” Leona proclaimed, stepping out of the car and quickly running around to the other side to open the door for Diana.

“Why thank you,” she said, standing up and stretching. She noted Leona’s gaze lingering on her just a bit too long.

“Of course!” She said cheerfully, taking Diana by the hand and pulling her toward the door. She moved so fast!

“Leona for two?” The hostess asked, leading them to a table for two near the window, neon “open” sign flashing above them.

“Reservations, eh? Had this planned out?” Diana teased as Leona pulled her chair out for her.

“I was reeeaaally hoping you would say yes,” Leona admitted, picking up the menu and flipping through the pages. Diana did the same. Everything cost just about as much as she expected, Leona was a pro at this. She almost asked her how many dates she’d been on, but those articles came back with haunting words of caution. She kept her mouth shut.

“What if I said no?” Diana asked, scanning the menu. Everything was in Italian, it seemed that she would be ordering on vibes alone this time.

“Well I’d like to imagine I would still go by myself, but I think I would actually end up in front of the TV with a bad rom com and ice cream.”

“Wow, that’s my usual,” Diana said.

“Well let’s hope that’s not how our nights end up anymore!” Leona said with a giggle. The waiter came by to take their orders. Leona ordered with ease, Diana struggled with the pronunciation, trying not to embarrass herself too much.

“I’d like to think they won’t,” Diana said, “I’m feeling pretty good about this one.”

“Is that so? What makes you think that?” Leona asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Well, for one, you’re gorgeous. Definitely the cause of several hours of lost work,” Diana admitted, looking down at the water swirling in her glass.

“Haha! I would be lying if I said that wasn’t the case for me as well.”

Diana had to fight to keep herself from saying “I know, I’ve read your smut!”. That would not do, especially not in the middle of a restaurant. She just smiled. “I’m flattered. That’s kind of hard to imagine.”

“Well you do your best to keep anyone from seeing you!”

“What can I say, I definitely don’t go to work for the people,” Diana joked. “Mostly.” She had to tack that on to the end to make sure Leona knew she wasn’t talking about her.

“Oh yeah, understandable. With how much Mundo visits your desk, you’d think you were his secretary!”

“Oh God, yeah,” Diana said, massaging her temple. “That guy… I just don’t know how the company hasn’t gone under yet.”

“If my friends in finance are to be believed, it isn’t long for this world!” Leona said. Her smile was so bright, so infectious. Diana couldn’t help but smile back.

“How about you tell your friends in finance to answer their damn emails if they want their stuff fixed!” She said, obviously feigning anger. They could take all the time they wanted.

“Ha! I’ll let ‘em know,” Leona said. She sat back as the waiter brought them a big basket of bread. Diana’s mouth watered, it looked delicious. Leona handed her a slice before picking hers apart with slim, perfect fingers. Diana felt clumsy in contrast, everything she did felt heavy and slow compared to her.

“This is amazing,” Diana said, the bread practically melting in her mouth.

“Yep, this is my go-to spot,” Leona said, carefully placing small bits of bread in her mouth. Their feet touched under the table, Diana pulled hers back with a muttered apology. Leona just smiled at her.

“You live by yourself?” She asked.

“Yeah, I moved out here a few years ago.”

“Not from around here?”

“Nah, my family lived out in the country. No good tech jobs out there though.”

“For sure. I’ve always wondered what the mountains are like out there. I heard there are tons of flowers in the spring.” Leona stared out the window, watching headlights pass by.

“It’s beautiful. The mountains just explode with them, it looks like a painting sometimes,” Diana said, tracing the curve of Leona’s jaw with her eyes. She looked so regal, like a princess. No, a queen. Leona turned to look at her with a smile.

“Maybe you’ll take me there next year.” It was more of a statement than a question. Diana froze. Leona wasn’t thinking about this as a one-time thing. Granted, neither was she, but hearing her talk about them being together in the future set her heart on fire.

“I definitely will. My family has a cabin up there we could stay at.”

“A cabin? How romantic!” Leona teased. The waiter returned with their food, giant plates of pasta in a buttery sauce, bits of chicken in Diana’s, artichokes in Leona’s.

“Don’t get your expectations too high,” Diana warned, spinning her fork in her pasta. “Place is nearly falling apart.”

“I’m sure it gets the job done,” Leona said, popping a coil of long noodles in her mouth. She closed her eyes, sighing. “I love this place.”

The food was good, for sure. Diana tore into it, she realized she hadn’t eaten anything all day. They ate in relative silence punctuated by a joke or casual question. Two hours flew by in a blur of conversation and laughter. Diana couldn’t think about anything else other than her. The rest of the restaurant faded to a blur, as if her eyes were a camera taking a perfect portrait of Leona.

Eventually, the waiter returned with the check. Both of them reached for it at the same time, Leona’s hand resting on top of Diana’s. She felt a spark travel up her arm as Leona touched her, a deep longing following shortly after. Leona pulled her hand away.

“What a lady!” Leona teased as Diana put her card on the edge of the table. She blushed.

“You went through all the trouble of planning this, it’s only right that I pay!”

“Of course, of course. But drinks are on me then.”

“Drinks?”

The bar was much classier than the dives she frequented with Taliyah, where the goal was to get as drunk as cheaply as possible. Here, a band played soft chamber music in the corner, a fire crackled in a fireplace, and all the upholstery was leather.

“This is one of my favorite places to come and write at night,” Leona said, ordering a very fruity cocktail before taking a seat in a booth. Diana ordered something easy, a dark and stormy, and thought about Leona sitting at the bar, writing lurid smut about her coworker. She put her drink on Leona’s tab and sat across from her, sipping at her drink.

They sat silent for a while. Leona finished her drink much quicker than Diana and ordered another. She was halfway through that one when Diana asked, “What do you write about?” She couldn’t just write erotica.

“Well…” Leona trailed off, swirling her drink in one hand. Oh shit. She was wrong. Maybe she did just write erotica.

“What? Something embarrassing?”

“No! Just… romance.”

“Like mysterious secret agent falls in love with femme fatale and they kiss under a flickering street light?” Diana asked.

“Ha! Only if the secret agent is a woman.” Leona said, muttering something under her breath after. Diana didn’t catch it over a violin solo in the corner.

“What was that?”

Leona leaned in, voice dropping low. She reached out and traced the rim of Diana’s glass with a finger, her foot resting on top of Diana’s.

Her heart pounded in her chest.

“I said, only if they go home and fuck right after.”

For the hundredth time that night, Diana was stunned. She didn’t know how to respond, her leg bounced up and down, her neck tensed. Heat settled in her stomach, a familiar craving resurfaced. Leona didn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed.

“Is that so…” Diana said. Even those three words were a herculean effort.

Leona nodded, finger leaving Diana’s glass and tracing her hand. She watched Leona’s eyes roam hungrily over her body. She barely suppressed a shiver.

“I… Saw one. On your computer,” Diana finally admitted. Leona’s finger halted its motion, she blanched, confidence slipping.

“You… did?” She asked quietly.

“Yeah. I hid it from anyone else though. Restricted the permissions.”

“Thank you,” Leona breathed. “Thank you so much.” And then she stiffened, mouth dropping to a concerned frown. “Oh no, you saw…”

Diana nodded. “Yeah. That one.”

“You read it?”

“Cover to cover. Several times. I may have a few suggestions…”

Leona’s eyes burned into Diana’s, she was almost taken aback by their intensity. “I’ll pay the tab,” Leona said, standing up abruptly, leaving her drink half finished on the table. She dragged Diana out of the booth. The bartender seemed to notice her urgency, whipping out the card and setting down the receipt on the counter. Diana watched with awe as Leona scribbled her signature, tipped 40%, and pulled her out the door, into the car.

Leona violated at least three different traffic laws on the way to her house. Diana sat in terrified arousal as they weaved through traffic. They were both silent, but Diana could feel the tension rising with every minute, similar to their encounter last night. When they finally pulled into Leona’s driveway, Diana’s heart threatened to leap out of her chest.

She tried to open the car door herself, but Leona was already there, pulling it open and taking Diana by the hand. She led her up the steps and to her front door. Leona fumbled with the keys, finally cracking open the door. An orange cat waited patiently. Diana reached down to pet it. The cat purred softly, rubbing against Diana’s legs, leaving hair all over her black jeans. Oh well.

“Her name is Luna,” Leona said, locking the front door behind them. She walked further into her house, the clatter of cat food into a dish sending Luna scampering away from Diana’s legs. Diana took off her shoes, leaving them by the front door. Leona returned shortly after, walking up to her. She was close. Very close. Neither of them said anything. Leona looked down at her, eyes locked on her lips.

“Leona…” Diana whispered, but she was already leaning down, eyes closed and mouth slightly open. Diana stopped thinking, she closed her eyes and tilted her head up, meeting Leona’s lips with her own. Leona pushed her up against the door.

An explosion of sparks and warmth. The feeling ran from her lips to her jaw to her chest to her stomach. Leona’s lips were so soft, but she was aggressive. She pressed her mouth into Diana’s, briefly pulling away to tilt her head and kiss her again. The feeling was thrilling, Diana felt her stomach flutter as Leona’s hands cupped her face. She moaned softly into Leona’s mouth, pressing her hips against Leona’s.

“I… think you’re really really hot,” Leona said breathlessly, still gently caressing Diana’s face.

“I’ve been thinking about you all week,” Diana said, grabbing Leona’s hips and pulling her closer. She wanted Leona’s mouth all over her.

“I’ve been thinking about you for years,” Leona whispered, dropping her hands to Diana’s shoulders. She leaned down and kissed Diana’s neck, sending sparks of pleasure throughout her body. Diana’s nipples stiffened, she felt herself get wet.

“I particularly liked the part where you carried her,” Diana stopped and corrected herself, “Carried me up the stairs.”

If Leona looked hungry before, she was ravenous now. With a low growl, she reached down and swept Diana off her feet. She squealed in delight, wrapping her arms around Leona’s neck as the much taller woman carried her effortlessly up the stairs. Diana could feel Leona’s arms tense under her sweater. She was so strong. How could she hide such a figure so well?

They reached the top of the stairs, Leona stumbled into her bedroom, tossing Diana onto the bed. She giggled as she hit the soft plush mattress. The giggle turned into a squeak as Leona bounced on top of her, kissing down her neck and all over her chest.

“Leona!” Diana cried, running her hands down her back. Leona’s hands disappeared up Diana’s shirt, and she gasped as they dipped under her bra and caressed her breasts.

“Just tell me when you want me to stop,” Leona said, biting the shell of her ear.

“Oh, don’t you fucking dare stop!” Diana growled, tilting her neck to the side so Leona could continue to kiss the pale flesh. Leona’s thumbs brushed over her nipples, arcing pleasure through her chest. She gasped as she felt teeth around her neck, biting gently. Strong arms lifted her upper body off the mattress. Leona quickly stripped her of her jacket and shirt, tossing them off the bed and into a messy pile on the floor. Diana tried to reach up and relieve Leona of her sweater, but strong arms held her in place. Leona climbed off of her and slowly pulled the sweater off, revealing a matching bra that she quickly discarded. Her sizable chest was on full display, Diana couldn’t help but reach out and caress their curves. Leona moaned softly when Diana’s fingers kneaded sensitive skin. She let Diana touch for a while before she reached down and unfastened the front clasp on Diana’s bra, exposing her pale breasts to air. Her dusky nipples stood straight up, and Leona descended upon them with her mouth, capturing one and sucking gently. Diana arched her back and groaned, the contrast of Leona’s warm mouth with the cold air only playing up her pleasure.

“I think… we should lose the pants,” Diana said between gasps as Leona moved to her other nipple.

“You’re so right,” Leona said, standing back up and working her pants down. Diana barely got hers unbuttoned before Leona stood completely naked before her. Her hands stopped, she looked Leona’s body up and down. Her bronze skin was flawless, her broad shoulders perfectly balanced with wide hips. A splash of blonde hair sat just above the faintest hint of her pussy.

“You’re… perfect…” Diana breathed, right as Leona dove forward and yanked her pants off, black underwear sliding down her pale thighs very soon after.

“As are you, Diana,” Leona said, running her hands all over her body. Compared to Leona, she was tiny. But that made it all the better when Leona gathered her up in her arms, pulled her close in a tight hug. And she flew through the air again, landing on the pile of pillows at the head of the bed. Leona crawled after her on all fours, trailing kisses from her calves to her inner thighs to her…

Diana groaned loudly as Leona forced her legs apart, planting kisses all around her folds. She was soaked, she could feel it. And Leona could too. Her hands gripped Diana’s hips tightly as the kisses grew ever closer to her clit.

“Leona…” She sighed, running her fingers through golden waves. Leona looked up at her, mouth poised, as if asking permission. Diana nodded vigorously, and Leona descended. It felt like she got electrocuted. Leona’s warm, wet tongue dragged all the way across her slit, leaving no part untouched. She moaned loudly, hands tightening in her hair. Electric pleasure coursed through her body as Leona continued to lick, tracing her tongue all around her labia before pulling it up to press gently against her clit. She was so sensitive, her legs quivered as Leona licked her clit again, increasing the pressure with every stroke. Her chest felt tight, her entire body sat on the edge, and Leona never let up. Her tongue worked magic against her pussy, pushing her higher and higher, never giving her a moment of rest.

With a long, shuddering breath, she fell. A wave crashed down on her, sending tremors through her entire body. She gasped, moans slipping out as she stroked Leona’s hair, riding her tongue through another pulsing wave of pleasure. Stars danced before her eyes, and she threw her head back into the pillows and moaned Leona’s name as a final surge ran through her body, accompanied by the loudest moan Diana had ever managed.

She panted as Leona rose from between her legs, licking her lips, a satisfied grin painted on her face.

“Was… it good?” She asked, softly trailing her fingers along Diana’s inner thighs. She nodded weakly.

“More… More please,” she begged, grabbing Leona’s face and pulling her up into a kiss that smelled and tasted of her own desire. She didn’t care, and neither did Leona. They kissed hard and deep, she felt Leona’s hand brush against her overstimulated clit, and she shivered.

“Not… yet…” She moaned into Leona’s mouth, and she stopped.

“In that case,” Leona said with a grin, breaking off the kiss and pulling on Diana’s hips. She laughed as Leona pulled her away from the pillows, flat on her back. Her laugh turned to a groan as Leona straddled her chest, pulling herself forward to hover over Diana’s face. “Three taps if you can’t breathe, okay?”

“Yes… Fuck yes…” Diana said, and Leona pressed her wet folds against Diana’s mouth. Her smell and her taste overwhelmed Diana’s senses, she was surrounded by the sight, sound, and touch of Leona at her most desperate. Leona grinded her hips against Diana’s mouth, she barely had to do anything but keep her tongue out and flatten it against her clit. She felt herself get even wetter as Leona rode her face with staggering enthusiasm. She was soaked with her arousal, surrounded by her smell. She drank it all in, happiness coursing through her as she continued to pleasure her. This was everything she dreamed of, everything she fantasized about when she touched herself at night.

“Diana, you’re so… good…” Leona moaned from above, hands braced against the headboard. The bed creaked as she worked her hips, Diana reached up and grabbed at her hips, her ass, her back, her stomach. Whatever she could reach. Leona moaned in response. “Yes… Keep… Touching me…” She gasped. Her legs started to shake, a shiver ran down her spine. With a few more licks, her entire body quivered as she rode her orgasm out on Diana’s face. With one loud groan, she pressed down, making a mess of Diana as she finished.

Leona quickly rolled off Diana’s face, turning to comb fingers through her hair with trembling fingers. “Diana…” She whispered, wiping the results of her orgasm off of her face.

“That… was so fucking hot,” Diana breathed, trying to catch her breath. It had been hard work, but so, so rewarding.

“You are just incredible,” Leona praised, running her hands down Diana’s body. Her touch felt so good, so comforting. And her words stirred something within her. More desire.

“Okay, I definitely want to try that,” Diana said, sitting up and kissing Leona’s breasts.

“Of course, my love,” Leona said, leaning into the kisses. She laid on her back and Diana pushed kisses up her neck and behind her ear, stopping to plant one right on her forehead.

“I could do this forever,” Diana said, throwing a leg over Leona’s chest.

“Me too,” Leona said. “Now come sit on my face. You haven’t cum nearly enough to satisfy me.”

Diana woke up to bright sunlight streaming in through the blinds. Leona snored next to her, still deep asleep. She looked over to the standing mirror near the bed, her neck and breasts were covered in marks, her hair was an irrecoverable mess. She touched her lips, remembering Leona’s taste. Her entire body felt so relaxed, she felt so satisfied. They’d both lost track of how many times they finished each other last night, how long they sat and kissed and whispered in each others’ ears. It still felt like a dream. But here she was, waking up in Leona’s bed. Completely naked and smelling of sex.

She laid back into the pile of pillows, checking her phone. It was almost noon. Five messages from Taliyah.

How’d it go???

You have to tell me how it went!

You sleep at her place??

Are you dead!

Okay, you HAVE to let me know how it went. I just KNOW you two fucked.

Diana smiled and put her phone away. Leona mumbled something in her sleep and turned to the side, throwing an arm around Diana and dragging her in. She hummed happily to herself as Leona snuggled up against her back, the curves of their bodies fitting together perfectly.

She didn’t want to get out of bed just yet. She closed her eyes and listened to Leona’s breathing, focusing on the feeling of their naked bodies pressed tightly together. Before long, she was back asleep, dreaming of wildflowers and golden hair.