summary: Alexia Putellas had always been forbidden fruit. She was your father’s closest friend, and the woman who once made it clear she could never see you the way you saw her. You left Barcelona hoping distance would dull your feelings, your craving. But now you’re back and quickly realizing that the desire is still there. Only this time, it feels less like something you’re meant to resist and more like something that’s been waiting to be bitten into.
contains / tags: 18+ mdni, smut, explicit content, older!Alexia, dadsBFF!Alexia, younger!reader, footballplayer!reader, cunnilingus A!receiving, fingering A!receiving, making out, foul and inappropriate language, age gap, shared history, implied consent given, longterm pining and yearning, usage of yn and petnames (princess, princesa) | wc: 7k
DISCLAIMER: This fic contains an age gap of 8 years (present time reader is 24, Alexia is 32) and explores a dynamic of a shared history that not all readers may be comfortable with. There is also some foul language in the fic that references their relationship dynamic. I didn’t want to just leave a “DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT” type of warning. Hence, why I am including this disclaimer just to be safe. I believe I handled the topic with as much caution and tact as there can be when it comes to smut but if you feel that the age gap and history is something you would dislike or feel iffy reading about, do not read.
⋆˙⟡♡ Alexia has not left your mind ever since you met her.
She managed to consistently occupy a disproportionate amount of your brain for years. Even when you tried to get away from her.
You spent six years in Manchester, tried to get as far as you could at that age from Barcelona; you dated all kinds of women in the hopes that one of them would stick and yet, she was still the one who constantly occupied your mind.
Trying to forget about Alexia Putellas was impossible but seeing her again seemed even harder than you anticipated.
You bit your lip as you lingered in your childhood living room, just having arrived back from a small welcome drink with old friends, now returning to your welcome home party at your dad's house.
You watched her standing out there — beer in hand, talking to Patri about something, throwing her head back to laugh. She looked so familiar and yet so different. The once lankier build you were so familiar with was now firm and strong, her hair back to its natural brown, framing her face. She looked so good and every part of you couldn't stand it.
"You good, princesa?" Your dad appeared at your shoulder, reading your face in the infuriating way that fathers do. "Go on outside. Everyone's waiting to see you."
“Yeah, soon, Papà.” You hummed and gave him a small smile. "I was just, uh, reminiscing."
He laughed, a confused look on his face. "Well, you can reminisce outside." He nudged you. "C'mon. Alexia's been asking about you nonstop."
You said nothing, just nodded. "I'll follow you out. Just gotta change first."
"Okay, but don't make them wait too long," he said, already heading outside, already walking toward Alexia and her group. You stayed where you were for another moment, taking a deep sigh before heading to your bedroom to change.
⋆˙⟡♡ Your dad had you when he was young; he was only seventeen, barely settled into his own life, scrambling to figure out single fatherhood. Even if it was hard, he made it work but that meant giving up a lot.
Before he had you, he had been training with the Barcelona B team, trying to make something of himself, but after you were born and one tragically timed ACL injury later, he accepted that his dreams as a footballer were done. The world of football, though, that he couldn't let go of. So he took coaching courses, put in the hours, and slowly found his footing as an assistant tactical coach for the women's team.
Alexia was just a new signee to Barcelona then; she was eighteen, bright-eyed, restless with ambition. She and your dad got close after she badgered him into helping her with her defensive work, knowing he'd been a decent defender in his day.
Eventually, they got closer after all those training sessions, so much so that he started treating Alexia like his work-little-sister.
⋆˙⟡♡ You met Alexia for the first time at your housewarming party. Your dad had just inherited the house from your late grandfather, and after months of renovation, it was finally ready. It felt like a real change from the small apartment you'd grown up in. He invited people from the club, and Alexia was one of them.
You already knew who she was. You were also training in La Masia at that time. The women’s team had just become fully professional and all the femeni players were somewhat heroes to all of you girls in La Masia.
Your dad introduced you the way he always did, calling you his princesa. Alexia found it cute and adopted it on the spot, and began referring to you as princesa as well. While it made you cringe whenever your dad introduced you that way to his friends, insisting that you were too old to be called that, you didn’t seem to mind when it came from Alexia. You decided that you liked the way it sounded when it came from her.
Since then, Alexia became a constant presence in your life.
Along with other people from the club, she always came over to your house for weekends and right before the holidays, before she headed back to her family. In the times that she was there, she taught you to do football tricks. She’d help you with homework.
She occasionally also came to your youth games when she could, standing at the crowd with her arms folded, paying proper attention, and afterwards would tell you what you'd done well and what you needed to work on. Somehow that always mattered more than anything your dad or coaches said.
You didn't think anything of it for a long time. She was just Alexia, just always there.
But as you grew older, you slowly figured that there was something different in the way you felt about Alexia. And, by the time you were sixteen, you had fully figured it out: the reason you couldn't stop thinking about her, couldn't stop smiling when she talked to you, the way your heart did that stupid thing whenever she was near...
You knew, at that point, it wasn’t just platonic admiration.
⋆˙⟡♡ It was your eighteenth birthday. Your dad suggested that you celebrate it at a bar. He said something about celebrating Barcelona B winning the league and also something about wanting you to learn how to drink while surrounded by people you trusted.
Whatever it was, you just went along with it.
Because not only were you celebrating your birthday, the fact that you were finally being able to drink legally and that your team won, you were also celebrating the fact that Alexia was coming to see you again.
"She's actually coming?" your teammate said, for the third time.
"She always comes," you said, bragging a bit but trying to sound like it was nothing.
Throughout the years, Alexia slowly became a household name in Spain. She was catching the attention of everyone, signing brand deals, and receiving awards. She wasn’t just Alexia, your dad’s friend. She was now Alexia Putellas, la reina.
Though, while you loved watching her succeed, it also meant you got to see her less. The visits became less frequent: weekly became monthly, then monthly became occasionally. Then, occasionally became nothing much at all,
But thankfully, she was finally making time to see you for your birthday. Just as you were turning eighteen.
She arrived about an hour in,and you felt the energy in the room shift the way it always did when Alexia walked into somewhere. Your group of friends from La Masia started giggling and smiling, already eager to approach Alexia for a picture.
"Moltes felicitats!" She found you first, arms open. She hugged you properly, wrapping her arms around you and lifting you up for a second. All you could think about was how happy you were to see her again and how amazing she smelled, the same familiar perfume she had always used.
She pulled back from the hug and looked at your outfit, frowning to herself. "You turn eighteen and couldn’t wait to dress like it, huh? What happened to the Hello Kitty shirts?"
You felt the blush climb your face immediately. "Hey Alexia," you chuckled. “I missed you.”
“I know, I know, it’s been so long,” she said, chuckling, patting your head as she did. “I’m sorry I haven’t come to watch your games recently. I’ve been busy.”
“Trust me, I know,” you chuckled, waving off her apology.
"Well, at least I have something to make it up to you." She handed you a small box, wrapped neatly. "I hope you like it."
You opened it and felt the same fluttering feeling in your stomach. It was a delicate gold necklace with a dainty crown charm. You looked up at her.
"Thought it was suitable," she said simply. "For the princesa."
At this point, your face was fully red, heart beating overtime. You thanked her, hugging her once more.
"I'm putting this on right now," you said, as you pulled away from the hug, already fumbling with the clasp.
She laughed. “Let me.”
Alexia helped you with it, letting you turn from her, hands brushing your hair to the front. You bit your lip, a bit giddy she was doing it in front of your teammates. In your teenaged, delusional mind at the time, you felt it was the most romantic scene that could ever happen.
Before you could even turn around to present the necklace to Alexia, your dad materialized from the corner of the bar and clapped Alexia on the shoulder. "Ale, you made it."
"Of course." She said, greeting your dad before gesturing at you. "Xavi, your girl is a grown-up now."
Your dad looked at you with an expression that was mostly pride but also partly teasing. You knew he was going to say something that’ll embarrass you. "I know. I have to start watching out for the boys." He said, squeezing you close to him.
"Papà—" You groaned loudly, pushing him slightly, making him and Alexia laugh.
"My bad, my bad." He held his hands up immediately, grinning. "I meant to say that I have to watch out for the girls," he turned to Alexia to explain. "She came out and told me she likes women yesterday. It completely slipped my mind. again"
"Papà!" You said in an annoyed tone, widening your eyes at your dad. He always managed to stay the stupidest and most embarrassing things about you in front of Alexia. “That's not what I — I wasn't asking you to — madre mia."
Alexia was looking at you with an amused expression, chuckling. "Congrats?"
"I'm going to actually die of embarrassment," you groaned, shaking your head.
Your dad and Alexia laughed. He turned to Alexia "Come on, let’s go before I embarrass my kid anymore." your dad said, still grinning. "All the guys from the club are all over there. Sandra and Patri said they’re on their way too. Let me grab you a drink."
"One second," Alexia said, glancing toward the entrance. "I need to wait for—"
She was looking at the door. You followed her gaze.
"New girl?" your dad asked, apparently reading something in her expression. Just at the mention of it, your heart dropped.
Alexia shrugged, lazy smirk playing around your lips. "For now. I don't know. It’s nothing serious.”
“When did you become such a player, hermana,” your dad joked, squeezing Alexia’s shoulder.
The woman who walked in was obviously Alexia's age. She was confident, pretty, looking around the room until she found Alexia and crossed toward her. She greeted you warmly enough. You were seething too much to even remember her name because all you could focus on was how Alexia’s hand found the small of her back.
You just gave her a tight-lipped smile and said a curt thanks before deciding you’d rather not be around Alexia while she was with this new girl. You made your way back to your friends, who were already excitedly whispering about Alexia. You brushed them off, just wanting to celebrate and drink, pretending not to give a fuck about the Alexia even if you constantly watched her from your peripheral the entire night.
⋆˙⟡♡ By midnight, you were absolutely plastered. It started off fun – dancing with friends as you sang along to whatever song was blasting. Then very quickly, it became… not fun.
You found yourself in one of the booths, slumped over your teammate who was patting your back as you vomited into one of the empty gift bags.
Your dad appeared as soon as he heard. "Dios mío." He said, tone concerned more than mad. “I thought I told you to stop after your last shot an hour ago.”
From where you were slumped over, you gave him a weak shrug.
Much to your dismay, Alexia came rushing to where you were. She sighed at the sight of you absolutely plastered, sweaty and vomiting into a glittery pink paper bag.
She patted your dad’s arm. “You go settle the bill. I can drive her home and take care of her while you settle things here.
Your dad looked between you and her. "You sure?" He asked.
Alexia nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll text you once I get her back to your place.”
Your dad said his thanks as your friends helped you up, giving you a glass of water and wiping your mouth and face. As you stood up, Alexia put your arm around her, arm holding your waist to keep you steady.
She chuckled. “Looks like the princess enjoyed her eighteenth birthday.”
You groaned in response. “Alexia, I’m sorry…”
She looked at you and gave you an easy smile. “What do you have to be sorry for? You’re supposed to be the drunkest person on your 18th.” She joked as she walked you to her car. “Mission accomplished.”
⋆˙⟡♡ The car ride was quiet for a while. You sat in the passenger seat with your head tipped back and the window slightly open. In your hands was a new plastic bag that Alexia had gotten from somewhere in her car, just in case you needed it.
"Okay," Alexia said eventually, focusing on the road. "Lesson one. You have to eat carbs before you drink. Basic stuff, princesa."
You said nothing, closing your eyes for a moment, still feeling the alcohol swirl inside you.
"We'll work on it. Like when I used to teach you those ball control drills when you were little, remember? Except this time we can practice with shots." She glanced at you. "Much more useful life skill, honestly—"
"I hate you," you blurted suddenly.
Alexia wasn’t sure of what she heard. She frowned a bit but chuckled awkwardly. “What?”
"I said I hate you." Your voice came out thicker than you intended. Perhaps it was just because you were drunk, young, absolutely stupid and too honest. "I hate you so much."
Alexia didn’t respond yet. She grew concerned, pulling over to the side of the road, just a block away from your house. “Hey, princesa, what’s going on?” She asked, tone gentle. “Is everything good?”
"How could you bring her?" It came out before you could stop it. Your tone was pained and Alexia could hear it clearly. "To my birthday. How could you bring some girl to my birthday."
Alexia was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry. You're right, it was friends and family, I should have asked your dad first if–-"
"That's not what I mean." You shook your head, settling your back against the reclined seat, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. "You don't understand."
Alexia sighed, unsure of what to do with this outburst. She knew you were drunk out of your mind but she knew that you wouldn’t have said all of it if you didn’t actually mean it. "Then tell me." Her voice was gentle. "You know you can tell me anything. You're like my little sister. I—"
"Stop." The word came out sharp, unslurred for once. "Stop saying that. Stop calling me that."
"YN—"
"I'm eighteen." Your voice broke on it, which was humiliating and yet, you kept going. "I'm not a little girl anymore. I haven't been for a long time and you keep — you just keep—"
You couldn't finish it. You didn't need to.
Alexia watched you as you turned slightly away from her, wiping your tears as you did. She mouthed a curse word to herself, finally realizing what you were trying to say. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"YN," she said, tone careful. “You know, I don’t…” She trailed off, still unsure how to face this situation.
"I know," you said. "I know, okay, I know. You don't have to say shit."
"I'm sorry." She sounded like she meant it, which made it worse. "Princesa, I'm so sorry, I didn't know at all that…”
She hesitated before continuing. “You'll find someone, you know? Someone your age who deserves you, who will treat you like an actual princess.” She said, trying to sound comforting but every single word she said felt like a dagger. “You’re a young and beautiful girl but YN, you know that I’m not— That I cannot…”
Alexia sighed, still struggling to find the words to comfort you. “I'll always be there for you, that doesn't change,” she continued. “There’ll be someone for you, princesa. I promise—"
“I don’t want anyone else,” you said, shaking your head, mascara streaking your face. “I want you.”
Alexia sighed, looking out the car, watching the road ahead. “YN, I don’t… I don’t see you like that,” she started. “You’re too young.”
“I’m eighteen, Ale.” You countered.
Alexia chuckled but it didn’t seem cruel or mocking; it just came out in disbelief. “Princess, I’m twenty-six,” she responded, trying to rationalize with you now. “We’re at such different parts of our lives. I don’t think you would want to date someone this much older. Quite frankly, if it was anyone else, I would disapprove too.”
“You’re ridiculous,” you huffed. “Absolute bullshit and you know it. I'm old enough. I know what I want.”
Alexia sighed, trying to keep patient. “You don’t understand. It’s just… it won’t work.”
You scoffed and before you could think about it. You unclasped your necklace and held it out to her. “Then I don’t want this,” you said, tone harsh. “You cannot give a girl this and act like you weren’t leading her on.”
Alexia frowned. “Leading you on? YN, it was a gift. For your birthday,” Her tone came out offended and hurt. "How is that leading you on?"
You shook your head, dropping the necklace into one of the car’s empty cup holders. “I don't want it."
Alexia sighed, growing impatient. "YN, you're being dramatic. C’mon, I thought you liked it." She said, trying to talk some sense into you. “I really picked that one out for you cause you know how much I care about you. Don’t you like it?”
You shook your head. "I want something else." You looked at her directly as if daring her. "You know what I want."
She looked back at you and she sighed, lips turning into a tight line as she leaned back onto her seat, turning away from you. "No," she said.
"Alexia—" You tried to reach out but Alexia swatted your hand away.
"No." Her voice was harder this time, something in her composure finally frayed at the edges. "YN. I would never — you're practically my little sister or my cousin or whatever. For fuck's sake, I’m your dad’s friend.”
Alexia paused once she noticed that she was starting to raise her voice, breathing out for a moment. “I would never look at you like that." The words landed the way she probably intended them to. She didn’t want to hurt you but if that was what it took to draw the line, then that was what she was doing. "Never."
That was it. That was the moment Alexia broke your heart.
⋆˙⟡♡ After that, you left. You didn’t tell your dad what happened and you were certain Alexia hadn’t either. Which was probably why it must have come as a shock to hum when you decided that you were refusing the renewal offer from Barça B and accepted the offer from Manchester City.
You told your dad it was for the minutes, the development, the chance to play at the first team instead of fighting to work your way up to the first team at Barcelona. All of that was true in a sense but none of it was the real reason why you left.
You spent six years in Manchester City. There, you developed, slowly became very good at football and yet, still so shit at forgetting
You only saw Alexia twice in the time you were away: when City played Barça in the Champions League. The first time you kept your head down and got through it. The second time she tried to talk to you after the final whistle and you found a way to ignore her, walking straight past her and greeting Patri instead, who also knew you from back in the day, switching kits with her instead as if trying to make a point to Alexia.
⋆˙⟡♡ Your contract with City expired this season and you had decided not to renew. Alexia was in a similar situation: contract expired and leaving her club. It seemed like you were both at a crossroads.
You were back in Barcelona negotiating, and your dad had been beaming with excitement for two weeks at the idea of you possibly returning to Barcelona. Hence, why he was so set on inviting a bunch of friends from the club tonight at your welcome home party, as if to convince you to bite the bullet and sign with Barcelona.
That was why she was here.
And that was also why you have been anxiously looking through your outfits, settling on one that felt just right before heading to the party.
⋆˙⟡♡ You walked out into the backyard and felt her notice you before you even looked.
It happened in your peripheral vision. She was in the middle of a conversation, pausing to glance over to you eyes scanning you for a bit before excusing herself moving toward you with one hand holding a beer bottle and the other at the pocket.
She gave you a small smile. “Long time no see,” she smiled as her eyes quickly scanned you, lingering a microsecond longer where your abdomen was exposed. "You look…”
She trailed off and you nodded. “Yeah, I haven’t seen you since we played against each other.” You said.
She chuckled, nodding. “Yeah, when you totally snobbed me,” she said. She looked at you again, almost as if she couldn’t help it. "You look good.”
"You said that already." You said laughing
"I didn't actually say it the first time." She smirked.
You hummed, eyeing her too, dressed in a button-up top with her forearms exposed and straight-cut jeans. She looked good, even better than she did years ago.
Before you could continue talking, your dad caught sight of you, ushering you to talk to some other people from the club, clearly set on his agenda of convincing you to sign.
Alexia drifted away too but one thing was for sure: her eyes were on you the entire time.
⋆˙⟡♡ The crowd thinned out as the night got later.
You found yourself feeling a bit socially drained from all the talk about negotiation and signing, settling on the old, wooden swing at the edge of the yard, beer in hand. Alexia noticed you settle there, slowly walking over to you and sitting beside you.
“So…” She said, “I heard you weren’t dead-set on Barcelona yet. Are you actually considering Atlético?"
You shrugged. "Among others,” you responded before taking another sip of your beer.
"Don't tell me you’re considering Real Madrid," she asked.
You chuckled and shook your head. "Please, my dad would actually kill me."
"Yeah, your dad and everyone else who's ever met you." She bumped her shoulder against yours lightly. "La Masia girl ending up at Real Madrid. You’d be a villain."
You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help but smile.
She hummed. “So, when’s your next meeting with Barcelona?"
"Don't act like you don't already know everything,” you quipped back, looking at her and giving her another eye roll. With your dad’s big mouth, you were sure everyone at the party tonight was updated with all of your affairs.
Alexia chuckled. "I know some things," she said. "But I don't know what you're thinking about. You don't really talk to me anymore."
She paused, taking an exhale, before turning back to you and smiling. “Except from the last Champions League match where you called me a filla de puta on the pitch for stealing the ball from under you.” She smirked.
You chuckled briefly as you shook your head, not saying anything more, trying to pretend that you weren’t absolutely drawn in by the familiar smell of her perfume, trying to pretend that her presence didn’t overwhelm your senses and that you wanted to absolutely just jump her.
Alexia wanted to ask.
She had been wanting to ask for years: why you didn't reply to her texts, why you walked past her after that match like she was a stranger, why every birthday greeting she sent was left on seen.
Deep inside, she had a clue that it was about what happened six years ago, on your eighteenth birthday. But it had been years since then, you were twenty-four now. And from what she’s heard, you’ve been in several relationships. It had been years and yet, it seemed like you haven’t moved on.
"Well," she said instead, breaking the silence. "You know I'm leaving."
She glanced at you. "You'd be the perfect replacement. The next number eleven. It’d be like passing the crown — from la reina to la princesa." She paused, grimaced slightly at calling herself la reina.
You caught it and laughed, short and involuntary.
"Hey." Her voice shifted, something in it warm and pleased. "First smile I've gotten out of you all night."
You looked away but still felt the smile linger on your face.
"Which reminds me. I have something for you, actually." She reached into her jean pocket before presenting it to you.
You looked over. It was her gift from six years ago.
"I found it in my things," she said. "Just a few weeks ago, when I was packing up. I've had it for all those years apparently. Just thought you should have it back, like a welcome back gift."
You took it from her before turning it in your fingers. It looked exactly like you remembered it – dainty and classic. You handed it back to her without saying a word.
You turned slightly, lifting your hair. Her fingers found the clasp and you felt them brush your neck as she clasped the necklace on you. The charm settled in between your collarbones.
You turned around to present it to her. Alexia smiled and her eyes stayed on your neck, smiling, before looking away to take a swig of her beer. If you hadn’t been paying close attention, you wouldn’t have noticed the clear blush on her cheeks.
Gotcha, you thought to yourself, smiling as you did.
"Wait," you said with a smile. "I can't see if it looks right."
You stood up and gestured for her to do the same. "Come inside for a second. I want to see it in the mirror."
⋆˙⟡♡ She followed you to your room because Alexia Putellas had, apparently, never learned to distrust you.
You pushed your bedroom door open and stepped inside. The room was exactly as you'd left it: pink walls, old trophies on the shelf, the same furniture in the same places. She followed you in and stopped, looking around the room as she closed the door behind her.
You walked over to your vanity, bending over to the height of it. You looked at Alexia through the mirror as you adjusted the necklace at your collarbone. Behind you, she moved slowly along the wall, taking in the old posters and framed photos.
She stopped.
She was standing in front of the poster on the wall by your bed where you had a bunch of posters and the biggest of them all was a poster of her. You never bothered taking it down and apparently, neither had your dad. She stared at it with an expression caught between flattered and horrified.
"God," she said, sitting down on the side of your bed facing, taking a swig of her beer. She grimaced as she looked at it again. "I didn't know you had this. I look so young here."
You smirked walking towards her, in the space between the wall and the bed. “Yeah, you know I was always a fan.” You said as you stood in front of her. You bent down slightly, just enough that the necklace was dangling in her eye level from where she sat. “I feel like the necklace suits me more now.”
With the way you were bending, the top you were wearing hung low, just enough to show the lace bra you were wearing underneath. Alexia averted her gaze, pressing the beer bottle back to her lips and taking a swig. “Yeah,” she said, staring at the poster to avoid the sight of you.
You knew that this was your chance. Before Alexia could fully lift the beer back to her lips, you took it from her slowly, urging her to look you in the eyes as you brought it to your lips, drinking from it slowly before placing it on the bedside table.
Alexia gulped and stiffened, watching you standing over her, a look playing on her face.
“Wha–”
Before she could say anything, you moved closer to her, placing a leg on both sides of her lap and straddling her, adjusting until you were comfortably resting on top of her. “You know, I always admired you.” you said.
"YN—" she started.
"What? I always used to sit on your lap." You said it lightly, feignng innocence. “How is it any different now?”
"You know what you're doing." Her voice was careful, controlled in a way that felt strained.
"What? Cause I don’t know," You tilted your head, placing both arms around her shoulders. "What am I doing?"
She looked at you but didn't answer. Her hands were hovering around your hips, just suspended, uncertain but cautious. You smirked, seeing her neck move as she gulped.
You shifted forward slightly, closing the distance between you as your lips moved closer to her ear. "A lot has changed since that night," you said, quietly "Don't you think?"
Her jaw was tight.
"Six years." You leaned in, your breath brushing her ear. You felt her go very still underneath you. "I grew up. I left and I tried to get over you… but I couldn’t”
Alexia shifted a bit but you didn’t budge. "But I still want you," you said. "I still..."
You didn’t continue what you were saying. Instead, you turned your head, moved closer to her and caught the edge of her ear between your lips, nipping at it just enough to garner a small inhale from the older woman. Her hands moved closer to you but she kept them hovering as if she was still apprehensive.
You smirked to yourself before you planted a gentle kiss on the space between her ear and jaw. When she didn’t move, you moved your way further down the jaw, planting slow open-mouthed kissed, following the line of it. She stayed absolutely still, hands still hovering, not stopping you but not pulling you closer.
You moved down further, gripping onto her to keep balance. You kissed the side of her neck, sucking a bit as you did, surely leaving some marks on her. After, you pulled back just enough to look at her face.
Her expression had finally broken open into something unguarded. The pupils in her hazel eyes had doubled in size and she looked flushed, lips partly, open. You held her gaze for another moment before you took off your shirt, leaving you exposed in just a lace bra.
"YN." Her voice was different now, slightly rough at the edges. "You shouldn't—"
Before she could say anything more, you captured her lips with yours. Her lips were soft and she tasted like a mix of a light lipgloss taste and the beer she was just drinking. Alexia didn’t move at first, feeling all sorts of conflicted.
Your hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer. Finally, her hands held onto your waist, keeping you steady and her lips started to follow your lead, lip-locking as you did. She held you lightly, a sharp contrast by the firmness and intensity of your kisses and the way you clung onto her.
This was what you’ve dreamt about all those years and you couldn’t believe you were finally able to do it.
It felt better than you could have ever imagined.
You broke the kiss, keeping your face close to her, looking into her eyes. Her eyes darted from your eyes to your lips, as if trying to make sense of what just happened. It was filled with a look of pleading. A plea or you to stop or for you to continue? You weren’t sure what it was.
You pecked her lips another time before leaving a trail of kisses from her cheek to her jaw then down her neck. After a final kiss on her exposed collarbone, you slid off her lap and sank to your knees on the hardwood floor in front of her, your hands finding the button of her jeans. She put a tentative hand on yours.
"You can tell me to stop," you said, waiting for her response. “Just tell me and I’ll stop.”
Alexia looked down at you, eyes lidded, breathing heavier than before. She blinked but did not say anything, removing her hand from on top of yours.
You smirked at her, pleased with her reaction, as you continued pulling down the zipper. As soon as they were open, you tugged at both her pants and underwear simultaneously. Alexia said nothing but the way she lifted herself slightly off the bed – just enough for you to pull the pants off of her –- told you everything you needed to know.
You took her bottoms off, parting her legs as you did, leaving her completely exposed. You subconsciously licked your lips upon seeing the wetness gathering between her thighs. A moan nearly escaped your lips as you looked at it for a moment more, letting her light musky smell waft to you, feeling yourself clench in arousal.
You moved closer, looking up to lock eyes with her as you did. Alexia’s mouth parted with her chest rising and falling with anticipation. With your hand, you parted her folds, watching the slick glisten beneath your fingers as you did.
Alexia inhaled sharply, her hands gripping the sheets as she leaned back, tilting her head away as though she couldn't bear to watch.
“Ale,” you said, voice soft. “Please look at me.”
Alexia bit her lip before reluctantly looking down at you.
You offered her an innocent smile. “Watch your princess,” you said just audible enough for her to hear.
You watched her neck move as she swallowed, unsure of what to do at this point. Her breath hitched once more as your mouth enveloped around her clit, forming a light suction around it.
You kept your eyes on her, almost urging her to keep eye contract as you continued slowly to suck on it in a slow, steady pace. After you settled into it, you began using your tongue to trace her folds before slowly settling on her clit, pressing it flat against her before swiping upwards, catching her nectar, coating your tongue.
A moan escaped your lips as you tasted more of her wetness – light, salty, and slightly tangy. The moan vibrated against Alexia, eliciting an open-mouthed gasp from her.
You continued to alternate between sucking and licking on her clit. You moved your hands from her legs to just behind her hips, pulling yourself closer. As your pace increased, you pressed yourself deeper against her, determined to make her fully unravel.
Alexia bit down on her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. One hand found your hair, gripping lightly the back of your head. She wasn’t pushing you away nor pulling you closer, just holding you as if just to hold onto something to ground her. You smiled when you felt her shift closer.
Not satisfied with her reactions, you quickened your pace, now flicking your tongue against the small, sensitive part of her clit. A full moan finally escaped Alexia as she took her hand from your hand and moved it behind her on the bed, to keep herself balanced.
You took that as a good sign, keeping your pace fast and steady. A string of small moans continued to spill from Alexia’s lips, arching her back slightly as she fully laid on your bed, brown hair sprawling beneath her.
For a moment, you allowed yourself to savor it all: the taste of her on your tongue, her warmth, the smell of her against you, the knowledge that you were finally tasting Alexia Putellas.
This was the same Alexia you always wanted, the same Alexia who never noticed you, at least not in the way you wanted her to. The same Alexia who swore that you she could never see you in that way. And here she was now, trembling beneath your mouth, choking down her sounds. It filled you with satisfaction. It felt like redemption.
You felt yourself growing more desperate with every passing second, and it only drove you forward. Alexia's moans grew louder. "Sí, sí," she murmured, her voice low and strained. “Sigue así.”
The pride in you filled your chest, urging you to go further. You pressed two fingers against her opening, letting her slick coat the tips of it before pushing in, garnering another sharp breath from Alexia.
You glanced up at her. Her button-up top had ridden up slightly, exposing a strip of toned skin. Her stomach tightened as you began moving your fingers further into her. The sight of it was intoxicating.
Eventually, you lifted your mouth away but kept your fingers where they were. Moving up, you positioned yourself over her. Alexia looked back at you through heavily lidded eyes, mouth still parted.
Before she could react, you captured her bottom lip, kissing her with fervour as you continued to thrust into her, pounding faster into her. You could feel Alexia struggle to keep up with the kiss, her lip-locking growing sloppy, unable to focus on anything else but the pleasure, as you curled your fingers, pressing into her.
You moved your mouth to her jaw, kissing and sucking and biting. Alexia gripped the sheets, knuckles turning white as she did. She arched into you as you continued to pound against her. The sounds of your thrust against her wetness filled the room. Soon, it was becoming impossible for Alexia to keep her moans quiet. She got louder, incoherent words strung together with gasps and moans, as she felt your fingers fuck into her.
You moved closer to her, whispering onto her ear. "Ale, you're getting so loud,” you said, voice teasing and amused. “Do you want my dad to find you getting absolutely wrecked by his only daughter? The idea must turn you on, huh?" With that, you thrusted into Alexia harder, curling your fingers into her as you did.
Alexia winced as she heard your words but could not hold back her moans as you relentlessly fucked her. She felt embarrassed and ashamed of how good it felt to be fucked by you and of just letting you do this to her. Deep inside her, she knew this was wrong, that she shouldn’t be enjoying this.
And yet, here she was, overwhelmed with pleasure and writhing underneath you.
Alexa cursed under her breath as she felt your fingers repeatedly curl into her, hitting her sensitive spot each time you entered her. She could feel the orgasm build up into her as she did. You felt her clench around your fingers, internal walls tightening.
“Yeah, Ale, come for me,” you whispered in her ear, almost taunting. “Come for your princess.”
With one more curl of your fingers, Alexia felt the waves of pleasure take over her body. She arched her back further, closed her eyes, face contorted in pleasure as she allowed the orgasm spread throughout her body.
After a few more thrusts, you pulled your fingers out of her, waited for her to open her eyes fully before you wrapped your mouth around your fingers, sucking your fingers clean as she watched.
Alexia averted her gaze, bringing her hand to her face, pretending to wipe sweat off of it but really just so she wouldn’t have to look at you, feeling the pleasure dissipate slowly only to be replaced by frustration and shame.
You couldn’t make sense of it then but something in you just felt powerful at that moment, like the tables have finally turned. Six years ago, she turned you down and broke your heart, claiming that she will never see you in that way. And here you were now, making her eat her words, showing her that she was wrong.
"Can't believe you'd let me do that." You said teasingly as you rested beside her in bed, smiling. "Did the thought of my dad finding us make you hornier?"
Alexia frowned a bit as she heard the question but she didn’t answer. She stood up so suddenly. She ignored the mild dizziness from the sex and the sudden standing, immediately putting her bottoms on and cursing under her breath.
"Leaving me already?" You said, smirking, filled with pride.
She hated how you were teasing her. She didn't know why you were doing so when you knew she was already feeling shameful about what just happened, when you knew that Alexia was the kind of person who would generally never allow something like that to happen normally.
“Hey,” you said, sitting up slightly, watching her look around for the shoe she took off. “Alexia, c’mon.”
She ignored you.
You frowned, reaching out for her hand. “Don’t leave your princess just after she fucked you.”
Somehow, that was what sent Alexia over the edge. She stopped putting on her shoes and spun around to grab your face, clutching so hard that your lips were almost puckering. "Don't ever disrespect me like that again." She hissed at you.
Your eyes widened at the energy shift. It was your turn to be speechless. Alexia was gripping on to your face firmly. Even if you had something to say, you wouldn't be able to at how tight her grip was.
"Actually, don't talk to me ever again." Alexia let your face go, slightly pushing you to the side as she let your face go. You kept yourself steady with your hands on the bed, looking up to her.
She fully buttoned her pants. She didn’t look back at you. She stormed out of the room, slightly slamming the door behind her.
You sat there, silent. You felt a bit guilty and ashamed. You didn't anticipate her to get this angry at you. Actually, you didn't anticipate anything.
You admittedly just acted on all the pent-up frustration from the past few years. Maybe it was just wanting to get back at her for her rejection years ago. Whatever it was, the feeling of pride dissipated quickly. You knew this was a mess you couldn't easily fix.
"Fuck."
a/n: wooop, anyway messy and didnt bother doing much proofreading but i hope u guys liked it! i so rarely write bottom!Alexia but i hope u guys liked it still. if you did, i'd appreciate a like and reblog! i also have other fics ongoing if any of u are interestedddd. anyway, lmk ur thoughts and please be nice.
if any of u are interested in a part 2, which will be... just more smut with dbf!Alexia, lmk in the comments and if i post it, ill tag everyone.
(another disclaimer: the plot is vaguely reused from an old fic I have published for another fandom. I did not plagiarize because… I wrote it ahahah. Changed some things up but there are a few similarities with my old fic and this one.)
"Trust me?" she asked quietly.
It should've been a difficult question, but it wasn't.
An hour ago she was a stranger watching you from across a crowded bar. Now you're climbing into the back of a black Rolls Royce because somehow saying no feels impossible.
She flirts like it's a language. Smiles like she's already won. Kisses like she doesn't ask for permission from the world.
A woman in a tailored suit calls her boss and suddenly the gorgeous stranger you've been shamelessly flirting with might not be just another woman at the bar and you have absolutely no idea what you've just walked into.
Word Count: 15.2k
Warnings: Smut
Masterlist
The bar wasn't somewhere you usually came alone, yet here you were. A long week had finally ended, and the thought of going straight home to your empty apartment had somehow sounded worse than sitting in a crowded bar with strangers.
At least here there was noise, a bit of life, something to distract you.
You sat at the bar, nursing a drink you were in no rush to finish, occasionally glancing towards the television mounted above the bottles behind the counter.
The place was busy, people squeezed around tables, couples laughed in corners, groups of friends shouted over the music.
Nobody paid much attention to anyone else which was why it took you a second to realise someone was looking at you.
You felt it before you saw it, a pair of eyes lingering. You glanced up and froze.
Across the room sat a woman you'd never seen before, brunette hair, sharp features. The sort of confidence that seemed to radiate from her without any effort. The second your eyes met, she smiled, not politely or accidentally a smile meant entirely for you.
Your stomach immediately betrayed you, the sensible thing would've been to look away. Instead, you held her gaze, the smile transformed into a smirk, and you watched her lift her glass almost like a silent greeting.
Before you could stop yourself, you mirrored the gesture, something flashed in her eyes, amusement, maybe victory. You weren't sure, but suddenly your drink wasn't nearly as interesting anymore.
A few minutes passed or maybe only seconds, you couldn't tell, but every time you looked away, your eyes found their way back to he and every single time she was already looking.
The ridiculous thing was that neither of you seemed embarrassed about it, most people would've looked away eventually. She never did. Then, without warning, she stood.
Your pulse jumped, no, surely not you thought to yourself, but she was already moving through the crowd walking directly towards you, each step seemed impossibly confident as if she already knew exactly how this conversation was going to go.
She stopped beside your stool close enough now that you could see the tiny flecks of gold in her hazel eyes, close enough that she somehow became even more attractive.
"Hi." Her voice was smooth, warm and dangerously charming.
You cleared your throat, "Hi."
A grin immediately tugged at her lips, "Nervous?"
You laughed, "Confident, aren't you?"
"Usually." She tilted her head, "Although I have spent the last ten minutes wondering if you're going to tell me to go away."
"You walked across the entire bar without knowing"
Alexia shrugged, "Worth the risk."
Your heart did something deeply unhelpful, "That's a lot of confidence for someone approaching a stranger."
"It's a lot of staring for someone who wasn't interested."
You couldn't even argue, because she was right, Alexia's eyes dropped briefly to your drink, then back to you.
"I'm Alexia."
The way she said it made it sound important, not because she expected you to know who she was. Just because she knew exactly who she was. You smiled, "I'm—"
"Beautiful."
You blinked, "What?"
"I was going to let you tell me your name." Alexia looked completely unapologetic, "But then I got distracted."
Heat immediately rushed into your face, the smile she gave you in response was downright smug.
"See." She pointed at you, "That."
"That what?"
"The blush."
"There is no blush."
"There absolutely is."
You laughed, the sound seemed to make her soften slightly. For the first time since she'd walked over, something gentler appeared beneath all the confidence, something genuine.
She looked at you for a second longer than necessary, then said quietly, "I've been trying not to come over here all night."
Your eyebrows lifted, "Oh?"
Alexia nodded, "Thought I'd make a fool of myself."
That surprised you, because nothing about this woman suggested uncertainty, "And yet here you are."
Her gaze met yours steady and unwavering, "Yeah."
The smile that followed was smaller now, more honest, "Turns out the thought of not talking to you felt worse."
For a moment the noise of the bar seemed to disappear, the music, conversations, the glasses clinking together. None of it mattered, because suddenly all you could focus on was the woman standing in front of you.
The woman who had looked at you from across a crowded room and somehow made everyone else disappear.
Alexia glanced at the empty stool beside you, then back at you, "So." She rested an arm against the bar, "Are you going to let me buy you another drink?"
You smiled, "Depends."
Her eyes sparkled, "On what?"
You leaned slightly closer, close enough to see her own confidence falter for the first time all evening, "Whether you're planning on flirting with me all night."
Alexia's grin was immediate hopelessly pleased, "Oh." She pulled the stool out and sat down beside you, "I was planning on doing a lot worse than that."
The words settled between you dangerously. The kind of comment that could be interpreted a hundred different ways.
The kind that made your pulse immediately pick up whilst Alexia looked entirely too pleased with herself.
You shook your head, trying and failing not to smile, "Does that line usually work?"
"Line?"
"The one where you pretend to be charming."
"Pretend?" she repeated, placing a hand dramatically over her chest.
You laughed, Alexia's eyes lingered on you for a moment a second too long. Something shifted, the teasing was still there, but now there was something else underneath it.
The bartender appeared and Alexia ordered another round without taking her eyes off you, "You're very confident."
"So I've been told."
"You don't seem worried I might reject you."
Alexia considered that, then shrugged, "I don't think you will."
The certainty should have annoyed you, instead, it made your stomach flutter, "And if you're wrong?"
Her expression softened not by much, just enough to notice, "Then I'd thank you for the conversation and spend the next week being embarrassed." The honesty caught you off guard, Alexia noticed immediately, "You didn't expect that answer."
"No."
She smiled into her drink, "People assume confidence means fear doesn't exist."
"And does it?"
Her gaze lifted to yours, "All the time."
The admission hung there suddenly the conversation felt different, more personal, less like a game.
You found yourself studying her, the way she held herself, the way she watched you while pretending not to, the way she seemed completely present in every moment.
It was unsettling, most conversations drifted, this one didn't, Alexia's attention never wandered, not once.
A group squeezed past behind her, and she shifted her stool closer without thinking. The movement left her shoulder brushing yours, neither of you moved away and neither of you acknowledged it.
You became painfully aware of every point of contact, the warmth of her arm, the scent of her perfume, the tiny smile threatening at the corner of her mouth.
She knew exactly what she was doing, "You're staring again."
You rolled your eyes, "You started it."
"I know."
"You admit that awfully easily."
Alexia laughed, "Why would I deny it?" The answer came so naturally that it stole your next response, "You have really expressive eyes, you know."
"Do I?"
"Very." You looked away,which only made her grin wider, "There. You did it again."
"Did what?"
"Got shy."
You immediately scoffed, "I am not shy."
"You're blushing again."
"I'm not."
"You absolutely are."
The look she gave you made it impossible to maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds.
Every time you met her gaze, the air seemed to tighten as though the rest of the room had disappeared and the only thing that mattered was the space between the two of you.
Alexia leaned forward slightly, not enough to invade your space, but enough that you noticed, enough that your attention dropped briefly to her lips before returning to her eyes.
A mistake, because the second you looked back up, you knew she'd seen it her smile became almost unbearably smug. “What?”
Alexia took a sip of her drink, slowly, deliberately, then she set the glass down, "Nothing."
The liar.
You both knew exactly what had happened and judging by the look in her eyes, she was enjoying it far too much.
The conversation continued. One drink became two then three.
Neither of you seemed interested in leaving, every topic somehow turned into flirting. Every joke became an excuse to lean a little closer. Every glance lasted a little longer than it should have. Eventually there was a pause, not an awkward one, the opposite, the kind where neither person feels the need to fill the silence.
Alexia was the first to break it, her fingers drumming against the condensation on her glass, then, with a kind of lazy certainty, she let her hand fall to your knee. Not an accident, not a conversational pat. Her palm pressed warm and steady just above your kneecap, the pressure light but deliberate. You felt a slow, electric ripple climb your thigh, radiating outward from that single point of contact. Your breath caught in your throat.
She didn’t look at her hand or at your lap. Instead, she watched your face carefully, waited for the microexpression that would tell her how to proceed. You tried to keep your face neutral, but it was impossible. Alexia’s thumb drifted, slow, tracing a circle on bare skin just below the hem of your dress.
“Is this okay?” she asked quietly. The question was so uncharacteristically gentle, it almost broke your focus.
You blinked, then nodded, hoping you didn’t look as desperate as you felt.
Her smile deepened, eyes glinting. “You can tell me to stop,” she murmured.
The implication, she wanted you to say don’t was devastating. You managed, “I don’t want you to.”
She squeezed your knee, her hand moving fractionally higher, pinky brushing the inside of your thigh. You suppressed a shiver, acutely aware of every molecule of space between you and her and every molecule she was now invading.
The bartender dropped off your new drinks, misreading the intimacy as a casual touch. You reached for your glass a little too quickly, almost knocking it over. Alexia grinned, leaning in, her voice pitched for only you to hear. “You seem nervous.”
You took a sip, swallowing against the heat in your cheeks. “You keep saying that.”
“Maybe I like it.”
You tried for an eye roll, but your voice was softer than you meant it to be, “You’re a menace.”
“I’m very well behaved,” she said, the words landing somewhere between truth and open dare.
You glanced at her, weighing it, and found yourself thinking about what well behaved could possibly mean to someone like Alexia. Her hand had not moved from your thigh. If anything, she’d gotten bolder, her palm sliding by literal centimetres higher each time you answered a question, until now it was only the thickness of your dress between her skin and the rest of your leg.
Alexia leaned closer still, her temple nearly touching yours, the air around her glittering with the sharp notes of her perfume. “Tell me something true,” she said.
You pulled in a breath, felt your pulse hammer inside your wrist, “Something true?”
She nodded, watching your lips. Her pupils were blown wide, dark, a little dangerous.
You thought about lying, about saying something clever, but the truth snuck out. “I haven’t done this before.”
Alexia stilled, her hand pausing mid-motion. “Done what?”
“This,” you gestured vaguely at the two of you, the not-quite-touch, the careful choreography. “Let a stranger pick me up at a bar.”
She grinned, slow and predatory. “I’m hardly impersonal,” she said. “I’d like to think we’re both somewhat invested at this point.”
“Somewhat,” she conceded, though she could barely remember the last time she’d felt this alive and fidgety in her own skin.
Alexia’s hand, still at your thigh, moved with slow intent now, her knuckles grazing the delicate skin above your knee, then wandering upward, fingers splayed, as if claiming territory. Your breath came shallow, and you crossed your legs, trapping her hand between them. She didn’t seem bothered by the escalation if anything, she seemed to approve. Her lips curved upward, like she’d just watched a dog perform a new trick. She looked at you in a way that made your whole body feel like the center of a searchlight beam.
“Tell me another thing,” Alexia murmured, voice pitched for your ear alone. “Something only I get to know.”
You considered, momentarily at a loss. “That feels unfair,” you said, “since you already know how to make my heart beat faster.”
Alexia’s thumb drew a lazy semicircle along the inside of your thigh. “Then I’ll trade,” she said. “I’ll tell you something first.”
You didn’t trust yourself to speak, so you nodded.
“When I walked over here, I was so nervous I nearly forgot how to speak English,” Alexia said, her eyes darting to yours to see if you’d buy it.
“I don’t believe you,” you said.
“You’re right.” Her grin flashed. “I was only nervous for about five seconds, but they were very intense seconds.”
You snorted, and Alexia’s hand squeezed your thigh, anchoring you to the moment. “Are you always like this?” you asked, without looking away.
Alexia tilted her head as though considering. “Not always.” Her expression gentled, suddenly earnest. “Usually only when I actually like someone.”
You blinked, trying to process the cliché and sincerity in one breath, “I don’t believe you,” you said again, but there wasn’t any heat behind it.
Alexia shrugged, as if to say, take it or leave it. “Truth or dare, then?”
“Are we twelve?”
“Would you prefer spin the bottle?” She laughed at her own joke, and the sound did something strange to your nervous system. You found yourself grinning despite the tension, despite her hand, despite the fact that your skin was now abuzz with anticipation.
“Truth,” you said, because you genuinely wanted to know what she’d ask.
Alexia’s eyes went soft for a moment, like she saw something she liked. “What do you want to happen next?”
The question stole your breath. You’d been bracing for innuendo, for some predictable escalation, but this was much riskier. It required an answer, a real one.
You took a sip of your drink, stalling, the ice clinked against your teeth.
You met Alexia’s gaze and said, “I want you to keep touching me.”
If she was surprised, she didn’t show it, if anything, her satisfaction sharpened. “Permission granted, then.”
You expected her to move her hand immediately, to go for the dramatic show, but instead she left her hand exactly where it was palm firm, fingers spread, thumb still tracing that single path, up and up, until your whole leg felt like a live wire. There was no hurry, she seemed to know exactly how long you could stand to be touched and how long you could stand not to be.
Neither of you spoke for a moment. All the words in your body seemed to have gathered somewhere behind your ribcage, hiding. Alexia’s thumb edged beneath the hem of your dress, just a centimeter, maybe two. The contact was delicate, almost accidental, but the intent behind it was not. It was a dare, pure and simple.
You forgot how to breathe.
Alexia leaned her face against her palm, elbow on the bar. She looked at you, eyebrows high and lazy. “You’re very easy to read, you know that?”
You wished you were better at lying, wished you could pull off even a little of her composure. “Not my fault,” you said, voice embarrassingly hoarse.
Alexia smiled, pleased as a cat, and then said, “I’d invite you to get out of here with me, but I don’t want to be rude.”
You almost laughed, but all that came out was a small, open-mouthed sound. “Is that why you’ve been doing this the whole time?” you asked, gesturing at your thigh, your face, the space between you.
Alexia shrugged, not even pretending. “Maybe I just like making you blush.”
“This is a lot for a first conversation,” you said, though you weren’t pushing her away. Every ounce of you wanted her closer.
“I’m not in the habit of apologising for knowing what I want.” Her fingers played a restless tattoo on your leg. “But if it’s too much—”
“It’s not,” you cut in, surprising yourself with the urgency in your voice. “It’s not too much.”
The look she gave you was so direct, so unwavering, it made you wonder if you’d ever actually been seen before tonight.
“Okay,” Alexia said, soft and steady. “So let’s go.”
You felt for your purse, hands a little clumsy, aware of how sharply the world had contracted to the two of you. The rest of the bar was background noise, lights smeared by alcohol and adrenaline. Alexia watched you reach for your coat, then she stood, not offering a hand because she seemed to know you wouldn’t want that. Instead, she waited, gaze never leaving you.
Outside, the Barcelona night air hit you like a splash of cold water. It should have helped, it didn't. If anything, stepping away from the noise of the bar only made you more aware of Alexia walking beside you.
The city buzzed around you, cars drifted past, distant laughter echoed down the street. Yet somehow all of your attention remained fixed on the woman at your side.
You had barely taken three steps onto the pavement when Alexia glanced towards the darkness beyond the entrance, "Get the car."
The words were calm, matter of fact, as though she'd done this a thousand times before.
Your eyebrows furrowed, a figure emerged from the shadows, a woman. A little taller than Alexia, professional, completely unsurprised, "Yes, boss."
Boss? Before you could process the exchange, she was already moving away.
You stared after her, then slowly turned back towards Alexia.
Alexia, meanwhile, looked entirely unbothered, almost amused by your expression, "What?"
You narrowed your eyes, "Nothing." Her smile suggested she knew you were lying.
The questions immediately started piling up in your head. Who was that? Why had she called Alexia boss? Why was there apparently a woman waiting in the shadows for instructions? And perhaps most importantly, what exactly did Alexia do?
The sensible part of your brain told you to ask, the other part was currently too distracted by the way she was looking at you.
So instead you said nothing, Alexia's smile widened, "You're thinking very loudly."
"I'm trying to decide whether you're secretly running a criminal empire."
She laughed, the sound warm and genuine, "I can neither confirm nor deny that."
"That's exactly what someone running a criminal empire would say."
"Good point."
You were still trying to work out whether she was joking when headlights appeared at the curb, a sleek black Rolls Royce glided to a stop in front of you.
You blinked, once, twice.
The same woman stepped out from the driver's seat and without hesitation she walked around the vehicle and opened the rear door for you.
Your brain completely short circuited, Alexia seemed far more interested in your reaction than the car itself, "You look concerned."
"I'm standing outside a bar with a stranger whilst another opens the door of a Rolls Royce for me."
"Fair."
The woman remained waiting patiently as though this was all perfectly normal, which somehow made it stranger.
Alexia stepped closer, not enough to crowd you, but enough that the warmth of her presence settled beside you again. Then her hand found the small of your back, the touch wasn't possessive it was reassuring.
You looked up at her, the city lights reflected in her eyes, "Trust me?" she asked quietly.
The question should have been difficult, it wasn't not really, because despite the mystery, the unanswered questions and despite her being a complete stranger you met an hour ago you found yourself nodding.
Alexia's smile softened, "Good girl."
You rolled your eyes immediately, "Don't make it weird."
"Too late."
The woman holding the door looked suspiciously close to smiling, you pointed at her, "See? Even she's judging you."
Alexia glanced towards the driver, the driver instantly looked away, professional once more, "I pay her to pretend I'm charming."
You laughed, the sound escaped before you could stop it, Alexia's expression immediately brightened as though she'd won something, "That joke wasn't funny."
"It was a little funny."
"It wasn't."
"It was." Still smiling and despite your hesitation and better judgment, you ducked into the car. The interior was ridiculous, soft leather, ambient lighting, enough space to comfortably fit half the bar.
You slid across the seat trying very hard not to look impressed, trying and failing, a moment later Alexia climbed in beside you.
The door closed and the outside world vanished instantly, silence settled around you, it was private, comfortable and dangerously intimate.
The driver pulled away from the curb and as the city lights began sliding past the windows, you finally turned towards Alexia.
Alexia watched you for a long moment, her eyes so steady and unblinking it was impossible to decide if she was about to say something of consequence or if she was simply cataloguing which way your hair fell, whether you’d keep avoiding her gaze, how you were pressing your knees together under the hem of your dress. The car glided through the city, the silence between you both like a suspended breath.
Then, without warning, Alexia curved her hand around your jaw and kissed you.
There was no hesitation. No lean in, no shy, searching question in her eyes. One heartbeat you were staring forward at your own reflection in the privacy glass, the next you were tasting her: cold gin, salt from a half-remembered rim, something sweet you couldn’t place. She kissed the way she spoke, direct and unapologetic. Her lips were warm, soft but insistent, and her fingers splayed against the side of your neck, anchoring you in the leather-wrapped capsule of the car. It could have been rude if it hadn’t been so fast, so smooth, so exactly the right amount of pressure.
You froze, a breathless half second, not from shock, not exactly, but from the simple fact of being chosen, of being seen, and then immediately being claimed. Her mouth slid from yours to the corner of your jaw, then back again, as if she’d found the first taste promising and wanted to make absolutely sure. The confidence of it, the way Alexia didn’t bother with permission, only checked with pressure and the answering heat of your lips against hers it undid you like a single, practiced knot.
She pulled back, barely. Her forehead tipped against yours, the scent of her perfume mixing with your quickening breath. Close up, you could see the faint constellation of freckles across her nose, the near invisible scar above her left eyebrow. Her pulse beat beneath your fingertips where your hands had landed, one against her shoulder, one clutching the lapel of her blazer.
“Too much?” she murmured, not even bothering to disguise her amusement.
You were supposed to say something witty, reassert some sense of control over the situation, but all you could muster was, “No. Not enough, actually.”
Alexia laughed, and the sound vibrated through her chest to yours. She kissed you again, slower this time, a measured escalation, her tongue flicking the seam of your mouth before she deepened it. She tasted like adrenaline, like the distilled sharpness of citrus and want. Your body answered before your mind caught up, and you leaned into her, hungry, desperate to make up for every kiss you hadn’t had before this one.
It became clear within minutes that Alexia’s mouth was not the only part of her that lived on the offensive. Her hand found your thigh again, sliding up, warm and greedy, and this time it made no pretense of stopping at polite borders. She gripped, squeezed gently, fingers kneading the soft muscle under your dress hem, as if confirming that you were real and here and entirely at her disposal.
Alexia’s hand drifted with the certainty of someone who had never once been denied. She pressed higher, fingers trailing over the impossible heat where your thighs met, the only barrier a thin band of cotton. The touch wasn’t tentative nothing about Alexia seemed to be, her palm settled at the apex of your legs, fingers closing with almost lazy possession.
The whole world funneled to a single point of contact, you barely registered that the city was flying by outside, that the woman driving the car was a living, breathing witness to the slow burn undoing happening in the back seat.
Alexia’s lips moved to your neck, the pressure of her mouth making you tilt your head back against the seat. She kissed the soft skin under your jaw, then lower, slow and insistent, until your whole body was a single receptive nerve ending. You tried to bite back the noise that wanted to escape when her fingers pressed in, tracing the shape of you through the fabric, but a traitorous gasp slipped out anyway.
Your eyes flew open and landed in the rearview mirror. The driver’s gaze met yours for a heartbeat, cool, unreadable, with the faintest ghost of a smile before she looked away. A flush of something shamed and thrilling ran through you.
“Alexia,” you whispered, meaning it as a warning, a plea, something. She paused, her lips at your ear, her hand unmoving but present, holding you hostage against your own body.
She followed your gaze to the mirror, her lips quirked up. “Cata,” she called, voice just loud enough to be heard over the car’s hush. Like she shouldn’t have had to ask.
“Yes, boss,” the woman replied, sliding a pair of earbuds into place, a low, thrumming music started, insistent, and a moment later, the privacy partition slid up, transforming the rear cabin into a cocoon.
Now it was only you and Alexia, and the velvet black of the car, and the hum of terrible possibility.
Alexia’s hand moved again, this time with no witnesses. She gathered the hem of your dress in her fist and slid her palm beneath, skin to skin. Her touch was purposeful, a slow, winding trail up your thigh until her fingers brushed the edge of your underwear. She lingered there, just barely touching, reading your whole body through the trembling in your legs.
She kissed you again, deeper now, her tongue a soft demand. One of her hands tangled in your hair, the other pressed into your cunt through the thin layer of fabric, fingers moving in an excruciating, perfect rhythm.
You arched into her, breath coming short and fast. She nipped at your bottom lip. “Is this what you wanted?” she asked, not as a tease but a genuine question, her voice ragged around the edges.
You nodded, probably too eagerly.
Her mouth traced a slow line from your throat to your collarbone, then back up to the soft skin behind your ear. "Lift," she murmured against it, barely louder than the hum of the car.
You obeyed without thinking, hips rising, and she drew your underwear down in one unhurried motion, leaving it somewhere forgotten around your calves.
The air hit you first, then her hand, her thumb found your clit with the same faultless confidence she brought to everything else, pressing once, firmly, before beginning slow, deliberate circles that made your breath stutter and your fingers curl against the leather seat.
Your head tipped back against the headrest as her fingers pressed in, slow and deliberate, two knuckles deep before pausing there, letting you feel the stretch of it, the unbearable fullness of almost. Her thumb kept its own time, unhurried, entirely indifferent to the stillness of her fingers and then, without withdrawing, they began to move, curling upward on each slow stroke, finding the soft spot of you from the inside.
The pace of it. The way her fingers explored with such calm, with such patient violence. It undid every prepared defence, all the quick answers you thought you’d have for this moment. Your hands went to her wrist, not to stop her but to anchor yourself, to make her real, the hard lines of her hand pressed so warm between your thighs.
The car blurred by city lights you barely registered the route, but the only place that mattered was here, in the tight private world of the backseat and the mess Alexia was making of your body. Her mouth returned to yours, rough this time, her tongue a slow demand, her breathing totally unlike the cool, precise woman she’d been at the bar.
You’d meant to perform better at this. You’d meant to be the kind of person who played hard to get, who made her work, made her wait. Instead, you were unraveling all over her hand, hips pressing up, head tipped back so you barely even saw her anymore, only felt the relentless, exacting motion of her fingers.
“Good?” she asked, voice a hoarse promise, lips brushing against your ear.
You couldn’t speak. You had to search for words, any words at all, but all that came out was a whimper. You clung to her shoulder, the soft wool of her jacket, as if something about the fabric could stabilise you. It didn’t.
Alexia withdrew her fingers, and you nearly whimpered at the loss until she brought her hand, glistening, to her own lips and sucked her fore and middle fingers into her mouth. Her eyes never left yours as she tasted you, and she smiled, a lazy, wicked thing, before she pressed her damp thumb to your lips and said, “Try.”
You did. You licked it, and her whole expression softened, she bit her own lip as if surprised.
“Jesus,” she said, and you felt every syllable like a bruise on your chest.
Alexia crowded closer, lips still parted from the last kiss. She tugged at your knee, insisting it fall open for her. You let it. She moved down the seat, somehow graceful in the confined space, until she knelt on the floor between your legs. There was a reverence to the way she looked at you then, a beat of assessment, the hot, clinical attention of someone memorising every square centimetre of bare skin and shiver.
The world was a dark blur outside the windows, the car eating the city block by block. Inside, only Alexia’s hands, her mouth, and the feverish heat pooling at the base of your spine.
She reached up, fingers spanning your thigh, and leaned in, lips grazing the sensitive skin just above your knee, a single deliberate brush that made every hair stand at attention. She trailed upward, slow as torture, kissing your inner thigh, then biting, just enough to leave a mark. You felt the indentation of her teeth long after she moved higher.
You didn’t dare look out the windows, certain the city would be watching, even though you both knew the glass was blacked out. All you could see was Alexia, her head haloed by the car’s ambient light, her eyes locked on yours as she kissed, licked, nipped her way toward the heat between your legs.
She hovered, a breath away from where you ached for her, and you could feel her exhale, warm and humid, her mouth finally, finally pressing in and up. The first pass of her tongue nearly made you convulse, a shock of sensation that stole your breath. She licked you slowly, methodically, hands holding your thighs apart, steady even as they trembled under her grip.
There was nothing gentle in the way she worked you open. She sucked, then licked, then sucked again, and when you gasped or moaned she’d smile, the vibration of it sending you higher. She was thorough, insistent, the kind of lover who wanted proof of her own effect, who liked to leave you shaky and overwhelmed and a little ruined.
You dug your hands into her hair, the silky strands fisting between your fingers, and she responded by moaning into you, the sound so raw and animal it short circuited your brain. Her tongue circled your clit, then pressed, then flicked so fast and so relentless that you lost track of time, of the world, of everything except the wet, obscene sounds and the mounting, unbearable pressure.
She slipped two fingers into you, the same ones that had made you fall apart already, and curled them just right, just as her mouth closed around you and sucked you hard enough to tear a cry from your chest.
Her tongue slid lower, firm and slow as a prayer, flattening along your clit until your vision shimmered at the edges. Then, a slick tease, she pressed the tip just inside you. She drew lazy, savouring circles with her tongue, working you open in increments so small it was almost agony, and when you dug your heel into the seat edge for leverage, she moaned as if you’d given her a gift.
You wanted to say something clever, something cutting, anything to keep this from feeling like pure, animal surrender, but Alexia stole every syllable from you, translating want into sensation, pleasure into pressure, until all you could do was gasp and cling. The world outside the car ceased to exist. There was only the rough texture of the leather beneath your hips, the velvet slide of her tongue, and the steady, unrelenting rhythm she set with her fingers.
She alternated between licking you and fucking you with her tongue, one moment teasing the rim, the next thrusting deep enough you felt your whole pelvis lift off the seat. Her hands, palms broad and sure, held you open, anchored you so tight it was impossible to run, though your entire body wanted to arch away and into her at once. Each time you came close to shattering, she’d back off, tongue circling languidly, a slow drag that made you sob with frustration, then she’d return, hungry and insistent, as if she was intent on mapping you molecule by molecule.
You barely recognised the sounds coming out of your mouth, didn’t believe yourself capable of the high, desperate noises echoing off the car’s plush interior. Alexia ate you like she was starving, like the world had ended and all that was left was this, your body, her mouth, the heat and salt and slick of you. You felt the build start low, a gathering storm, your thighs trembling so hard you worried you’d break her grip.
She must have felt it, the way your pulse skyrocketed, because her tongue redoubled, fast and relentless over your clit, and when she pressed inside you again, it was with her whole mouth, her face buried so deep she could have been breathing you. You came so hard you saw a burst of white behind your eyelids, your hips jackknifing off the seat as you lost all sense of yourself, of her, of the car or the city or even your own name.
When it passed, you were boneless, melting back into the seat with a sound that was half laugh, half staggered sob. Alexia surfaced, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, her eyes dark and almost tender.
"Lift," Alexia said, and you surfaced slowly, hands still trailing absently along your own calves, the word arriving a beat late. She was sliding your knickers back up your legs, matter of fact, almost tender. "What's your address? I'll have Cata drop you home."
You almost laughed. You had let this woman pull you into a blacked out car and come apart in her mouth, and yet something in you toyed at giving her your postcode. "Just drop me back at the bar." Alexia almost smiled, as if she’d expected that answer, maybe she had. Maybe this was the kind of thing she did on Fridays, collect women from dim bars, corral them into luxury vehicles, and see what they’d let her get away with before midnight, you only half cared. Your whole body still pulsed with spent energy, core tight and legs jelly weak, and you didn’t trust yourself to speak.
Alexia’s hands were smooth, methodical as she helped you gather yourself, dress tugged discreetly back into position, wrists steadied together momentarily. Not possessive, but careful, as if she knew exactly how fragile a person could be when they’d just let go of a lifetime’s worth of control in the span of a half hour. For a second you almost expected her to light you a cigarette.
“Cata?” Alexia called out after pressing a button near your head, as the divider slid down and the muted thrum of the city returned through her open window. “Back to Calle del Bruc, please.”
No one asked for clarification, Cata’s tone was even, automatic, “Yes, boss.”
Alexia looked at you sidelong, one corner of her mouth quirking in a private joke. “Don’t worry, there’s a shop at the corner if you need a tactical recovery snack.”
It hit you, belatedly, that you might actually be starving, “Don’t suppose you’d let me walk it off?”
“In those shoes?” Alexia made an exaggerated show of glancing at your feet. “You’d make it one block.”
She had a point. Your heels dug into the thick carpet, ankles wobbling, and there was something indecent about offering the stranger in a tailored suit this much leverage over your literal ability to stand, but you didn’t hate it. Instead, a laugh tumbled out, unguarded and light, and Alexia softened to it, slow, genuine, the sort of smile that only happened when she wasn’t trying for effect.
“Okay,” you said, “I’ll take the ride.”
Alexia stayed angled toward you, every line of her posture open, the pants of her suit stretched tight over muscled thighs, her fingers steepled together like someone interviewing for a position only you had no doubt who was being sized up for potential.
“Is this where I’m supposed to say something clever?” you asked.
She shrugged, not breaking eye contact, “Only if you want to.”
You could feel the blush return, but you didn’t try to hide it this time. “I don’t know if I can outdo you.”
“Maybe that’s not the point.” Alexia’s tone was different, now, less tease, more invitation. “Maybe you just enjoy the ride.”
The car settled into a red light outside a late night panadería. Neon flickered against the window, painting the interior in pinks and blues. Alexia tilted her head, as if waiting for you to look away. You didn’t.
Soon the club the night started in came back into view, your hand reached for the handle before you could the door was open Cata standing tall above you in your seat.
You got out from the car, legs unsteady on the pavement, almost forgetting the state of your own body, the way heat still flickered up your thighs with every movement. Cata gave you a single nod, bored or respectful, you couldn’t tell, then ducked back inside, returning to whatever in cabin playlist she’d engineered for herself.
The street seemed too bright, the laughter spilling from the bar at double volume, the world now in high contrast after the hush and luxury of the car. Alexia moved over into the seat you had been in, she looked as immaculate as she had hours ago, utterly untouchable, except for the smear of pink at the corner of her mouth, nearly the same colour as your lipstick.
You wanted to say something, anything to break the spell of the night, but the words were stuck behind your tongue. You were suddenly aware of what it meant to be seen together this way, to be half dressed and full of teeth marks, to have been made open so thoroughly and so quickly you barely remembered your own rules for how moments like this should play out.
“I didn’t get your name,” Alexia said, into the silence between you.
The breeze hit first. You folded your arms against it, against her, against the whole unbearable composure of her still sitting there. “I don’t think that matters much now, does it.” Not a question, you held her gaze one beat longer than was wise. “Bye... Boss.”
She smiled at your quip, you saw it fall the moment you turned away.
The bar door was loud and bright and full of strangers. Behind you, a car door closed, and the engine pulled away down the street as you stepped back into the place it all started.
The Rolls Royce merged silently back into the late night traffic, for the first few minutes, nobody spoke.
Cata's hands rested confidently on the steering wheel, eyes scanning mirrors as much as the road ahead. Years of driving for Alexia had taught her that silence was rarely uncomfortable.
Tonight, however, it felt... different, she caught Alexia's reflection in the rearview mirror still looking out of the window, watching the bar disappear into the distance.
"You want me to turn around?" Cata asked eventually.
Alexia didn't answer immediately, "No." A beat passed, "...Keep driving."
Cata's eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly.
Interesting.
💪🏼
The wrought iron gates rolled open before the car reached them.
The estate beyond was more fortress than home, hidden behind centuries old stone walls and towering cypress trees. Cameras tracked the Rolls Royce as it wound up the long drive before stopping beneath the portico.
Before Cata could step out to open the door, the front door swung open.
"About time." Patri bounded down the front steps wearing an oversized hoodie, a packet of crisps tucked under one arm, "We were taking bets."
Cata sighed, "I told you not to say any-"
"You also bet." Patri grinned, "And I won."
Alexia climbed from the car, smoothing invisible creases from her jacket, "What exactly did you win?"
Patri held up a handful of notes triumphantly, "Mapi said you'd be back in an hour."
"I said two," Ingrid called from the doorway, drying her hands on a tea towel.
"I guessed you'd bring someone home." Patri looked dramatically offended, "Which, for the record, would've won if you hadn't decided to be mysterious for once."
Alexia shot her an unimpressed look, "You're all exhausting."
"We know," Mapi replied, appearing beside Ingrid with a mug of coffee in hand, "That's why you keep us."
Inside, the house smelled unmistakably of fresh bread, garlic and slow cooked tomatoes, Ingrid smiled warmly as Alexia stepped through the doorway, "I kept your dinner warm."
Alexia loosened the top button of her suit jacket, "You always do, thank you"
That finally earned a small smile, the kitchen was already occupied, Misa sat at the island cleaning one of the training pistols they used in the private range beneath the house.
She glanced up briefly, "No bullet holes?"
"No."
"No stab wounds?"
"No."
"Disappointing."
Alexia rolled her eyes, "It was a quiet evening."
From the corner of the room came a snort, everyone turned, Pina was leaning against the counter, methodically sharpening a knife with the kind of concentration most people reserved for crossword puzzles.
Without looking up she asked, "So. Was she worth being late for the meeting you called?"
Silence, even Patri stopped eating, Mapi slowly lowered her coffee, Ingrid looked between them all, Alexia reached into the fridge, retrieving a bottle of water."I don't know what you're talking about."
Six voices answered simultaneously, "Boss."
Alexia unscrewed the cap, "I met someone."
Patri slammed both palms onto the counter,"I KNEW IT!"
"You owe me fifty euros," Jana said without missing a beat.
Patri groaned dramatically before fishing money from her pocket, "Worst night ever."
"You literally won the first bet."
"I've now lost the important one."
Mapi folded her arms, "So you met someone..." Alexia nodded, "...and?"
"There isn't an 'and.'"
"There is always an 'and,'" Misa replied.
Alexia took a long drink of water, hoping it would somehow delay the interrogation, but it didn't.
Pina finally looked up from the knife she'd been sharpening for Ingrid after complaining none of the knives she used for cooking was sharp enough, "What was her name?"
Alexia froze just for a fraction of a second, "...I don't know."
The room fell silent, Patri blinked, "You..."
Mapi blinked, "...don't know?" Mapi finished for Patri
Even Cata turned around, "You didn't ask?"
Alexia rested the bottle on the counter, "I did."
"And?"
"She didn't tell me."
Patri stared, then burst into hysterical laughter, "Oh, this is priceless."
Mapi joined in, "The great Alexia. The woman who has politicians returning missed calls. The woman whose enemies cross continents to avoid her...got rejected by a woman whose name she doesn't even know."
"I wasn't rejected."
"No?" Mapi grinned, "Then what's her name?"
Alexia's silence answered for her, Patri was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes, "I love her already."
Ingrid hid a smile behind her mug.
Cata folded her arms, "So what did she call you? If you didn’t find the time to get names"
Alexia couldn't stop the smallest smile from tugging at her lips, "'Boss.'"
That only made everyone laugh harder, Pina slid the newly sharpened knife onto the counter and, for the first time all evening, smiled, "Interesting."
Alexia looked over, "What?"
Pina shrugged, "You've spent years making people fear you." She tilted her head thoughtfully, "And tonight..." A knowing smile spread across her face, "...someone walked away."
The laughter around the kitchen faded, Alexia found herself looking toward the dark windows overlooking the grounds.
She could still picture you disappearing through the door without looking back, without giving your name, or asking who Alexia really was.
For perhaps the first time in years, Alexia realised she wanted something she couldn't simply command, buy, or intimidate into her life.
She wanted another chance encounter, that prospect was far more unsettling than any rival family waiting in the shadows.
💪🏼
The marina shimmered beneath the last of the evening sun, rows of yachts bobbed gently against their moorings, each one more extravagant than the last, but they all paled in comparison to the one looming at the end of the dock.
You stopped walking., "...That's a yacht?"
Lily looked over her shoulder, grinning, "What?"
"That's not a yacht." You pointed towards the floating palace”, "That's a small country."
She laughed, "I know." The thing was absurd, multiple decks, floor to ceiling windows reflecting the orange sky, crew moving efficiently across polished teak decks.
You'd never seen anything like it outside of films, "Remind me," you said, tearing your eyes away for a second, "how exactly do you know someone with a yacht this size?"
"I don't."
You frowned, "You don't?"
Lily shook her head as if that was the least surprising part of the evening, "You know Jana? The one who comes into the coffee shop every morning?"
You hummed, "The one you think I don't know you're sleeping with... that Jana?"
Lily shot you a look, "I'm not sleeping with Jana."
"Her car is outside at the end of your shift four nights a week."
"Coincidence."
"There’s an extra toothbrush at your flat."
"Allegedly."
"You accidentally called her 'babe' while steaming milk."
"I was tired."
You snorted, "So... definitely that Jana."
Lily sighed dramatically, "Fine." A beat, "Maybe."
You bumped her shoulder, "I knew it."
She rolled her eyes, "Anyway, Jana invited me and told me to bring a friend, so I assume she knows whoever owns this ridiculous thing."
"Comforting."
"It'll be fine." You weren't entirely convinced.
The closer you got, the bigger the yacht seemed, people in expensive clothes laughed on the upper deck, champagne catching the fading light, staff moved with quiet precision. Everything about it screamed money, old money, the sort that never had to tell anyone it existed.
Lily was already digging through her handbag, "Found it."
She held up a sleek black invitation with gold lettering before presenting it to a member of staff stationed at the bottom of the boarding ramp.
The woman scanned it, smiled politely and stepped aside, "Enjoy your evening."
Lily flashed you an excited grin, "See? Easy." She bounded halfway up the ramp before realising you hadn't followed, "Y/N?"
You had turned, distracted by movement beside the entrance, your stomach dropped. No...
Standing a few feet away, dressed in a tailored black suit with an earpiece tucked discreetly behind one ear, was a woman you recognised instantly.
Cata. She recognised you at exactly the same moment, there wasn't the slightest flicker of surprise on her face however. Just that same unreadable expression she'd worn outside the Rolls Royce.
Your heartbeat picked up, she walked towards you with measured steps, professional and controlled.
When she stopped in front of you, neither of you spoke, not at first, "Can I check your bag?" Her tone was courteous, almost gentle.
You swallowed, "Yeah... of course."
You slipped the strap from your shoulder and unzipped the bag, holding it open.
Cata's inspection was quick and methodical, she barely disturbed anything inside before stepping back.
For one impossible second, your eyes met again. Did she actually remember you?
Of course she remembered you. She remembered everything.
She gave a single nod, "Enjoy your night."
You managed a small smile, "Thanks."
She stepped aside and you started walking, one foot in front of the other trying very hard to appear completely normal.
Your thoughts, however, had other ideas, Cata, not someone who merely resembled her, the same woman, the same driver, the same bodyguard, the same quiet, observant presence who had watched you climb out of a blacked out Rolls Royce only a few weeks earlier.
Your pulse refused to settle, there were only two possibilities.
Either Cata worked security for multiple wealthy people...or this yacht belonged to Alexia.
You weren't entirely sure which possibility made you more nervous.
"Y/N!" Lily called from further up the gangway, "You coming or what?"
You blinked yourself back to the present, "Yeah."
You forced your legs to keep moving, each step carried you further onto the yacht. Further toward answers you weren't sure you actually wanted and despite every sensible instinct telling you to turn around a small, traitorous part of you hoped with embarrassing intensity that Alexia was somewhere on board.
💪🏼
The upper deck hummed with effortless luxury, music drifted from hidden speakers, low enough that conversations never had to compete with it. Crystal glasses caught the evening sun, laughter rolled across the decking as guests wandered between the bar, the plunge pool and the shaded seating areas.
At the centre of it all sat Alexia, one ankle rested across the opposite knee, an untouched glass of whiskey balanced loosely in her hand.
She looked exactly as she always did perfectly composed and perfectly in control. It didn't seem to matter that half the yacht revolved around her, women drifted in and out of conversation with her, each one impossibly beautiful.
One leaned against the arm of her chair, laughing at something Alexia had said that wasn’t even funny.
Another perched on the edge of the sunbed beside her, making no secret of the fact she was trying to catch Alexia's eye.
Someone else appeared with two fresh drinks, offering one with a hopeful smile. Alexia thanked her politely, nothing more, it hadn't gone unnoticed.
Patri watched another failed attempt and leaned towards Mapi, "That makes..." She counted under her breath, "...eight."
Mapi didn't even look up from her beer, "Nine."
"The blonde by the pool doesn't count."
Across from them, Ingrid laughed quietly, shaking her head, "They'll keep trying."
"They always do," Misa muttered.
Alexia, blissfully ignoring the commentary surrounding her love life, took another sip of her drink.
She wasn't listening to the women competing for her attention, she was listening to the sea, the engines, the rhythm of the yacht beneath her feet.
Then something changed, not the music or the conversation, the atmosphere, someone approaching quickly.
Alexia lifted her head, Cata, she rarely hurried, which meant something had happened. Without waiting to be acknowledged, Cata crossed the deck, weaving effortlessly between guests until she reached Alexia's chair.
"Boss."
Alexia set her glass down, Cata leaned in, speaking quietly into her ear, the words lasted barely three seconds.
Alexia's expression changed instantly not dramatically, anyone who didn't know her would have missed it, but the people around her knew every tiny shift in expression she'd ever made.
"Bring her to me." Alexia picked her whiskey back up, settling into her chair as though the conversation were already over.
Cata didn't move. "I anticipated that. So I went to find her first." A pause, just long enough to be uncomfortable. "I can’t find her"
Alexia turned her head slowly, the glass pausing at her lips, "Then keep looking."
Cata stepped back with a single nod, "Yes, boss," and was gone, threading back through the crowd with the same quiet efficiency she'd arrived with. Alexia brought the whiskey to her mouth, and whatever had just crossed her face crossed it no longer. Across the seating area, Patri, Mapi, Ingrid, and Misa exchanged a glance. Not one of them said a word. They knew better to.
💪🏼
You were grateful for the relative anonymity of the bar that was built into the main deck, a sunken space filled with expensive people who all seemed to know, or want to know, each other. Lily had already vanished into a small knot of women near the bowling alley, because, of course, there was a bowling alley on this ship and you could see her holding court, basking in the attention of anyone who mistook her accent for novelty.
You hovered, uncertain. You tried to make yourself small, blending into the pale curve of the banquette near the glass doors, but every so often you'd catch eyes on you, some tracing the line of your outfit, some evaluating you for a social transaction you didn’t understand.
When you realised you’d been staring at the same drink for ten minutes, you made yourself get up and cross to the rail. The air was spiced with salt and ozone, the city’s skyline had already begun to blue out in the dusk, and the lights on the next yacht over blinked like landlocked constellations.
You felt aimless, suddenly, remembering the rush in the car, the way your own body had become unfamiliar, a stranger’s for a little while. You wondered if Alexia was here, if she ever thought about you, even as a punchline. If she was the kind of person who remembered or the kind who always needed newness.
You tried to picture her among these people, she wouldn’t be laughing in the way you saw the women laughing here. She wouldn’t be smiling for the camera or parading a new girl on her arm. She would probably be quiet, watching, drinking something brown and expensive while running a thousand unspoken calculations.
The thought made you smile, which was, mercifully, the exact moment someone cleared their throat beside you.
“You need to come with me” a low, familiar voice spoke.
You froze, then turned, Cata stood there in her suit, hands clasped behind her back, expression unreadable. "Took her longer than I expected," you said and something shifted at the corner of Cata's mouth, gone before it fully arrived.
"Follow me." She turned and walked, not waiting.
The upper deck was quieter, the music from below reduced to a low pulse through the floor. Fewer people up here, and the ones who were watched you the way people watch someone walk into the wrong room. You stayed close behind Cata.
"Boss." Cata announced you without ceremony.
"Kiss arse," you muttered thinking she wouldn’t hear you, evidently her hear was better than you gave her credit for.
Cata looked over her shoulder, “Speak when spoken to"
You held her gaze, "Yes, boss," you said, borrowing her own phrase back, and watched something that might have been respect flicker across her face before she turned fully toward you, close enough that you felt the shift in air.
"You have quite the smart mouth."
You let yourself smirk, "Thank you."
"Cata." Alexia's voice came from somewhere behind her, low and unhurried, and you felt it move through you before you even found her face. "Let her be." Cata held your eyes a moment longer, then stepped aside with a single nod, and the space she left open framed Alexia exactly as though it had always been arranged that way.
Alexia's eyes moved down your body and back up. You became aware, suddenly, of your shorts and tank top and the way you'd heard boat party and dressed for the weather instead of whatever this was.
“Come sit”
Your feet didn't move, "Do I have to?" The words were out before you could stop them, and the silence that followed had a texture to it. Across the deck, four heads turned in unison, Patri, Mapi, Ingrid, Misa each of them suddenly very interested in you for the first time all evening.
“No” Alexia sipped her drink, you're guess of expensive brown liquid correct, “I’d like it if you did though”
You moved, then. What else could you do? You crossed the deck, conscious of every pair of eyes some curious, some dismissive, some openly assessing. Your body felt a half step behind you, as if your limbs needed reminders to carry out the simplest commands.
You reached Alexia, and even sitting she radiated a tethered energy, a gravity that made the upholstered benches and overfull glasses and even the Mediterranean itself seem like a backdrop for her benefit.
You took the seat she gestured to, two places down from her rather than the empty one directly at her side. It felt less like keeping your distance and more like making a point, though what that point was you couldn’t have explained. For a moment she didn’t look at you, her profile cut a sharp line against the glow of the city behind her, hair slicked back, lashes heavy. You took a breath, then another, and tried to remember how talking worked.
Alexia broke the silence first, “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” she said, as if this were her own birthday party and you were the surprise.
“I wasn’t really given the option,” you replied glancing to Cata, and watched a hint of pleasure arc across Alexia’s mouth.
“I run a tight ship,” she said, though you gathered from the yacht, the suits, the entire performance, that ‘ship’ was a flexible concept for her.
Someone behind you snorted, you glanced back. The four women at the other end of the seating area each with a drink, each angled for maximum eavesdrop were practically vibrating. One said something under her breath Alexia’s gaze flicked her direction and the group fell silent, as if their boss had snapped a leash taut.
You turned back to her, heart pinwheeling, but your hands were steady. “So what’s this?” you asked, gesturing at the yacht, the party, the entire orchestration, “Just another Friday for you?”
“Yes,” she said, as if finding the question quaint, “But not for you?” Her eyes didn’t blink as she asked it.
You shook your head, made yourself relax into the plush seat, “Where I come from, the closest thing to a boat party is watching old men play dominoes on the beach.”
She considered that, head tilted, as if calibrating how much of it was a joke. Then she smiled not the predatory smile from the car, but something private, almost delighted, “I would like to see that,” she said.
You almost said, “You wouldn’t,” but stopped yourself. Alexia already knew what she liked and what she didn’t, she didn’t need anyone to tell her.
A server appeared from nowhere, placing a drink in front of you gin, your favourite, garnished with a literal flower. You raised an eyebrow, “You have people following me?”
Alexia’s face resembled perfect innocence, “We have a good bar staff,” she said.
You sipped, it was, of course, the best thing you’d ever tasted and not what you had been served earlier. You allowed yourself a second sip before returning to the conversation at hand. “Do you always get what you want?”
Alexia didn’t answer right away. She looked at you for a while, fingers tracing a lazy orbit around the lip of her glass “Statistically,” she said, “more often than not.”
You scoffed, “I bet you hate losing.”
She grinned, small and sharp, “I prefer not to waste time on impossible things.” You liked that, or maybe you hated it. Either way, your blood ran a little faster, the gin burning a path down your throat.
“Why did you want me here?” The question surprised even you, the boldness of it, the edge, but Alexia seemed to enjoy it.
She set her glass down, leaned back in her chair, “Curiosity,” she said. “I think better in company.”
You looked around, “You seem to have plenty of company.”
She followed your gaze, the three women at the bar, the servers and silent security detail, the handful of guests now half watching the two of you from the pool, “Most people,” she said, voice dropping a little, “never say anything interesting to me.” She watched you, as if to see what you would do with that. “I like that you do.”
You felt the flush rising again, but met her eyes until she blinked firs, “That’s not a high bar.”
She laughed, and the tension in her posture eased a notch. Behind her, Patri leaned closer to Mapi, whispering “Wait, is she flirting with her?” and both burst into silent laughter.
Alexia ignored them, but you did not miss the flicker of annoyance that crossed her brow before it smoothed flat again.
“So what do you talk about,” you asked, “when you’re not being entertained by strangers?”
She looked out at the water, considered, “Business, usually. Or Tv shows. Or why Catalan food is objectively superior to all other food and nobody wants to admit it.”
“I’ll admit it,” you said, “as long as you never make me eat a snail.”
It was meant as a joke, but Alexia’s face lit up as if you’d just offered a secret handshake. “Deal,” she said. “We’ll start with something easy. Croquetas.”
“Croquetas are not easy,” you said, remembering the last time you’d tried to make them, oil splattering across your forearms, half the batch dissolving into a kind of béchamel soup.
Alexia raised her glass in a small salute, “They are if you know the trick.”
“I bet you know a lot of tricks,” you said, before you could stop yourself. She looked at you with a look that could turn concrete to steam, and you felt a jolt of adrenaline, as if you’d taken a dare you never meant to accept.
“I do,” she said, very quietly, her voice dissolving the space between you. “Would you like to learn one?”
You opened your mouth, then closed it again. The urge to say yes was so loud it drowned out every other sound on the deck, but that was not what you said. You said, “Show me.”
She stood, unhurried, glass in hand. “Take a walk with me.” You followed, aware of every person watching, of Cata’s silent shadow two steps behind, and of the way your heart pounded against your ribs, trying to keep pace.
She led you to the prow of the yacht, past the glass walled gym and the helipad, out onto a private viewing deck where the rest of the party was a distant rumour. There was no one else up here, the wind caught your hair and the edges of Alexia’s shirt, untucking it slightly, exposing a bare inch of stomach that glowed under the lighting.
She leaned against the rail, folded her arms loosely, and looked at you as if waiting for the next move. For the first time, you realised she was maybe as uncertain as you were about how the rest of this would go.
You cleared your throat, “So, what do you want to know?”
She gestured to the empty air between you, as if the night itself was the question, “Start with something true.”
You swallowed, tried not to think of her mouth or the hum of the car, or the fact that you’d spent weeks replaying her name in your head until it made almost no sense. “I’m terrible at parties,” you said, surprising yourself with the confession.
She smiled, not in the predatory way, but with a slow warmth that made her eyes crinkle at the corners, “You’re doing better than most.”
You shrugged, suddenly shy, “That’s only because I don’t care what these people think.”
“Is that so?” she stepped closer, angling her body to block the wind, “Does it matter what I think?”
You considered it for a second, then, “Yes.”
She nodded as if she’d known it already, stepped forward until you were pinned by the intensity of her, the hush between your bodies as taut as cello wire. “I’ve been trying not to think about you,” she said, as if reading the lines of your own private screenplay. “It hasn’t worked.”
A laugh caught in your throat, unsteady, “I figured you would have plenty of distractions.”
She didn’t smile. Instead, she extended her hand, palm up, inviting, and after a moment’s hesitation you took it. She squeezed, her grip warm and dry, and drew you closer until your hips touched the railing and the heat of her arm pressed yours.
“I lied, before,” Alexia said, voice pitched low. “I did want you to tell me your name. I still do.” You stared at her, the way the city lights painted bars of gold and blue along her jaw, the sincerity unguarded in her eyes. Her thumb traced the line of your wrist, patient, “You don’t have to.”
For a moment you were six years old, hiding under the kitchen table from your mother’s temper, unheard and unseen until you wanted to be. The urge to withhold was a muscle, one you’d trained since girlhood. But here, in the wind and the hush and the unyielding steadiness of Alexia’s hand, you wanted the opposite.
You told her your name. It came out quieter than you meant, small, like you had to try it out for both of you at once.
She repeated it, tried its weight on her tongue, then, “It suits you,” like it was something valuable, a keepsake she’d been hoping for.
Her thumb lingered, the movement slowing as she watched your reaction, then she leaned in, brushed your cheek with the side of her knuckle. For a second, you thought she might kiss you again, and you weren’t sure if you were ready for it, or the kind of night spent in the blast radius of Alexia’s attention.
Instead, she let the moment stretch, the two of you suspended in the hush of approaching midnight, city lights flickering, the yacht’s gentle sway pulling you both out to sea, metaphorically or otherwise.
You said it again, your own name, like maybe this time it would count more.
She smiled, wider now, the kind of smile that could build bridges or break ribs, and for a moment you saw the edges of the woman you’d met in the car, the one with a whole private world hidden behind calculated calm and jokes that always landed halfway between tease and dare.
“Thank you,” she murmured, and you didn’t know if she was talking about the name or simply standing here beside her without stepping away.
Behind you, the city was already a collection of distant lights. Up here, you didn’t feel watched, or judged, or anything except anchored to the spot. You’d forgotten what that was like, to be in a place and not want to be anywhere else.
You leaned on the railing. Alexia joined you, her shoulder pressed to yours in a way you didn’t hate. She looked at the water, then at you, something thoughtful shading her face. “What do you want, really?” she asked, and for a split second you didn’t know if she meant here, now, on this deck, or in the cosmic sense.
You thought of your answer, surprised at how easy it was, “I want to do something that isn’t about what anyone else wants.”
Alexia’s gaze flickered, as if she’d been waiting for that, “And what would that look like?” Her voice was softer, the competitive edge blunted by something that felt damn close to hope.
You considered the question. There was a time you would’ve answered with the first clever thing to come to mind, but now, wind in your face, her gaze locked on yours, you went for honesty. “I don’t know yet,” you said, “But I think I’d like to find out.”
She nodded, as if this was the best answer she’d ever heard.
You looked at her, really looked, and realised that for all her show and sharpness she was just as curious about the next step as you were. “Show me a trick, then,” you said, and her face split wide, delighted.
“I was making an innuendo”
“What makes you think i didn’t know that?” She was closer now, her face a question. For a long moment all you heard was the wind rushing past the railing and the hollow thump of your heart under your ribs.
She leaned in, her lips finding yours as if the answer to every riddle was hidden in your mouth. This time the kiss was the opposite of the car, no performance, no urgency, a long slow hush that pulled at your bones. She kissed you like she wanted to remember every detail, taste every secret, build the anticipation to a point so bright it burned through all the layers you hid yourself under.
When it broke, she kept her face close to yours, breathing in the same inch of air. "You going to leave just as quick this time," she said, and you had to laugh, because you recognised your own pattern even as she named it.
"Maybe I like the chase," you said, and she traced her fingertip along your jaw, not quite smiling.
"Me too."
The world fell away, the city, the yacht, the crowd, until it was just you and her and the pressure of her hand against your lower back. Alexia drew you in until your hips rested together, her body angled around yours like a shield. You felt something unclench in your chest. The wind lashed at your hair, and she smoothed it behind your ear with unnecessary care.
You could see now that nothing about her was casual, not really. Every gesture, from the careless way she drank to the way she held you, was a tic of discipline learned so early it became invisible. She was always running a calculation, how much to reveal, how much to risk, how close to get before she startled herself into retreat.
You didn't pull away. Instead, you asked, "What now.. Boss?"
She smirked, let her hands drift down your arms, fingers trailing heat, "Sometimes," she said, "the trick is there isn't one."
You felt her smile against your cheek, the slow, coiling satisfaction of a plan coming together. Then her hands were at the backs of your thighs, and in one smooth motion, she scooped you up, your legs reflexively circling her hips. You laughed, startled and delighted, but the sound dissolved when she pressed you into the wall of a stairwell, her mouth capturing yours, hard and slick with intent.
You clung to her, fingers threaded in the fine hair at her nape, only distantly aware of the world beyond her, the city a smear of colour in the porthole window, the thudding bass of the party below now just a private drumline for the two of you. She kissed you with a kind of greedy discipline, her mouth coaxing yours open, teeth gentle but insistent, tongue sliding hot against yours until you forgot to breathe.
She carried you down, footfalls muffled by expensive carpeting, the darkness pressing in close and intimate. At the bottom of the stairs, she manoeuvred you through a heavy door before letting it swing shut behind you. The click of the lock was a perfect, surgical sound. You were alone, the hush of the room thick and absolute.
She set you down your back thudding softly onto a mattress that could have slept four. She loomed over you, all dress shirt and precision lines, the heat of her body radiating over your own. You reached for her, and she let you, gathering your wrists in one hand and pinning them above your head on the bed, her mouth returning to yours, then to your neck, then lower, each kiss a claim.
You arched into her, thighs falling open, and she slid between them, grinding in slow, deliberate pulses that made you whimper. She was all pressure and rhythm, the fabric of her trousers rough against the thin fabric of your shorts, each movement a study in controlled violence.
She never let up, never released your wrists, just moved her mouth lower, teeth scraping lightly at your collarbone, then the edge of your breast peaking out the side of your tank top. She shifted, stripping you carefully, exposing you to the cool air and to her.
She took her time then, as if mapping your body for later use, hands and mouth and tongue leaving a trail of heat from your ribs to your hips to the inside of your knee. She was patient, so patient, the kind of patience that only made you want her more, until you were writhing beneath her, pleading wordlessly for her to close the final distance.
She did, eventually. She knelt between your legs and slid her hands up, thumbs tracing the sharp lines of your pelvic bone before pressing your knees wider. Her mouth was a question, and your answer was in the way your back arched, the way your hands found her hair and pulled. She licked slow at first, almost lazy, but when you gasped, she smiled into you, then licked again, harder, faster, tongue and fingers working in unison until your vision went white and the only thing you felt was her mouth, her tongue, the burning pleasure that built and broke, built and broke, until you unravelled so violently you nearly sobbed her name.
Alexia gave you no room to recover. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, eyes gone almost black, hair a mess from your grip. She slid off the bed to her feet, unhurried, pulling you to the edge with one hand under your arm.
She then paused to look at you really look, as though you were something rare she’d found washed up on the sand. You lay there, breathless, skin prickling with the rush of exposure, and for a second you wondered if she’d make you wait for it, if she’d force you to beg. But she only smiled, a crooked, open hunger, and slowly began to work open the buttons of her shirt from top to bottom slowly.
She wore nothing underneath, the sight was enough to make your mouth go dry, the lines of her body sharp and golden under the room’s dim light. She was sculpted, almost severe, the kind of body that came from discipline and war with herself. She stood at the edge of the bed, letting you stare, and when you reached for her, she didn’t slap your hand away, but caught it, kissed your wrist, and pressed your palm to her toned stomach.
“Good?” she asked.
You nodded, unable to manage a syllable.
“Want more?”
Your voice was ragged, “Yes.”
She bent to kiss you, slow and exploratory, her whole weight pressing you into the mattress. She tasted of whiskey and salt, and her hands roamed your body as if memorising every detail for later. When she broke the kiss, she nipped your bottom lip, then traced her tongue along the seam of your mouth, teasing until you were shaking with want.
“I have a strap,” she murmured, voice rough with intent. You didn’t trust yourself to speak, so you nodded, throat tight. Your gaze locked onto her as she turned toward the dresser, the drawer slid open with a whisper, and her fingers brushed against the leather, the buckles, the polished metal. She lifted it out like it was something sacred, something dangerous.
You watched, breath shallow, as she stepped out of her trousers, the fabric pooling at her ankles before she kicked them aside. Her underwear followed, black lace discarded without ceremony. The strap was already in her hands, the harness fitting snug against her hips with the ease of someone who’d done this a hundred times before. The way she adjusted the straps, fingers skillful, movements precise made your pulse hammer in your throat. There was no hesitation, no fumbling. Just the quiet authority of someone who knew exactly what she wanted.
Your lungs locked when she turned, when the mattress dipped under her weight, when her knees bracketed your skull like the jaws of something beautiful and inevitable. The words came low, scraped raw, “I want your tongue.” You obeyed without thought, extending it flat, exposed, a living offering.
Then her hips began their movement, deliberate, her pressing the tip on your tongue. Each roll of her body drew a slow, wet path from the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, her breath hitching when you flicked instinctively against her, a betrayal of control neither of you acknowledged.
You watched her hips move, the liquid confidence there, the way she didn’t treat you like a prop but like an accomplice, an equal participant in whatever this was between the two of you. She made a small, approving sound as you adjusted angle, depth, pressure, all of it on instinct, as if your own body ran algorithms to anticipate what she’d like most.
She kept her hand in your hair, not to force or dominate, but to feel each trembling, hungry movement you made. The slick, silicone weight of her slid over your tongue, filled your mouth, and each time your lips dove deeper, the muscles of her legs tensed around your head, thighs caging you in the dark. Her breath came ragged, every inhale a shudder that vibrated through her skin to yours, her composure cracked and light poured through the seams.
She looked down at you, hair falling across one cheek, brows knit in focus, an expression you’d never seen on her before. It was completely unguarded, almost raw. The knowledge that you had done this unravelled the perfect Alexia, lit you up from the inside. You doubled down, hollowing your cheeks, flattening your tongue, letting her fuck the softness of your mouth at her own pace.
She started slow, a testing roll of her hips, but soon she found the rhythm she liked, thrust, grind, retreat each stroke making her breath catch at the top, mouth slack and beautiful. You gripped her ass, pulled her closer, and Alexia let her head tip back, a perfect, silent moan written across her throat, the line of her jaw sharp under the pressure.
"Jesus," she muttered, the word both a warning and a surrender. You took her deeper, feeling the fullness in your mouth, the slight burn at the corners of your jaw. She liked that, liked it even more when your breath came short and needy. Every time you tried for air, she’d slow, let you catch it, then start again, showing you that patience you’d already learned from her hands and her tongue.
The world narrowed to the taste and the weight of her, the shuddering in her thighs, the salty sweat on your tongue, the quiet, desperate noises that slipped out of her despite every attempt to restrain them. You lived for those noises, for the messy, unprofessional honesty of them.
Her hands cradled your head gentle, then rough, then gentle again. At one point she cupped your jaw, thumb stroking the hinge, and you nearly broke from how careful she was, even when fucking your mouth. Every inch of her screamed confidence, but the way she held your face, the way she watched you, none of it was cruel. You realised then, in the dark, that you wanted her to break, to lose every scrap of composure with you.
You forced your eyes open, met her gaze, and watched the exact moment her control snapped. She swore, a soft Catalan curse, and pumped into your mouth with a rhythm that was almost punishing, almost needy. You let her, relaxed your jaw, took her as deep as you could and then further. The base of the harness kissed your lips, the heavy drag of it forcing your tongue flat and your eyes watering, but you didn’t stop. You gagged, for real this time, an involuntary spasm that made her flinch like she might pull away, but you gripped her hips tighter, pushed back, let the embarrassment burn through every inch of you and transform into something shameless.
She watched you, transfixed. You knew it wasn’t about dominance or humiliation, Alexia was too careful, too precise for that. It was about proof, about seeing how much of her you’d take, how much you wanted, how much you could stand to bear for the taste and feel of her. You blinked tears from your lashes, swallowed around her, and when the next wave hit, you welcomed it, the fullness and the ache, the sweet stretch of being bruised open for her.
She rocked her hips, short and sharp, a rhythm you felt all the way to your core, and with each pass she said your name, sometimes a whisper, sometimes a growl. You lost yourself in the sound of it, in the heat, in the pure intent of her body moving with yours, for you, because of you.
Eventually her pace faltered, hips slowing, and she dragged herself out, slow and slick. The silicone glistened, your spit threading in lines between you and the tip, and she wiped it on your tongue, a final, deliberate press. You licked your lips, Alexia smirked down at you, “Atta girl”
Your hands found her thighs, the muscle there dense and unyielding under your palms. You traced upward, over the curve of her ass, the harness straps cutting neat lines across it, then up and over her hip bones, then the chiseled marble of her abdomen, each ridge rising to meet your fingertips as they climbed.
Her breasts were softer than the rest of her, a contrast that made you pause, palming her breasts, and you flicked your thumb across a nipple. It hardened instantly, and the noise she made was almost a laugh, almost a threat. You rolled it, pinched, rolled again, and caught the way her jaw clenched, the way her hips rocked forward in reflex.
The cock bobbed just inches from your mouth, shining, and you licked it again, slow, letting the tip bump your lower lip, then your cheek, then your tongue. You looked up to see Alexia watching you really watching, pupils huge, face flushed with the kind of hunger you’d never had directed at you before.
You grinned up at her, hands sliding down her thighs to brace yourself and guide her backwards until, you sat up, chest to chest with her, and held her gaze as you wrapped a hand around the length of her with the other you encouraged her to lay back. You put your leg over her hips and guided it between your legs. You were still shaking, still slick, still wide open from before, but the pressure of the harness against you sent a fresh bolt of heat through your entire body. You lined the cock up, rolled your hips down, and took the whole length in one, trembling motion.
Alexia groaned, and you felt her hands grip your waist, holding you steady as you started to move. The first few strokes were slow, measured, you both watching the way her cock disappeared inside you, the way your bodies slotted together.
She let you set the pace, her hands resting on the small of your back, just above the swell of your ass, anchoring you in place. You started to ride her, slow at first, then faster, watching her face for every twitch, as you bounced on her lap.
Your hands found her shoulders, and you braced yourself, using her body as leverage. Every time you dropped down, you could feel her fill you, the thickness of the cock stretching you out perfectly, and the soft rub of the harness against your clit.
It was better than any other strap you’d ever taken, because Alexia made it feel like an extension of her will, her control, her desire for you. She didn’t just fuck you, she orchestrated your pleasure, built it up with every roll of her hips and every hungry sound from her throat.
You started to perform for her, grinding down harder, circling your hips at the bottom of each stroke, letting your head tip back so your hair fell in a wild curtain, your breasts bouncing with every movement. You moaned, loud and shameless, and her hands clenched tighter at your waist. You could feel her watching, totally focused, as you rode her, faster and harder, the slap of your skin against her thighs echoing through the room.
“Fuck,” she hissed, a wild, broken sound, and you rode her even harder, chasing sensation, chasing that next impossible edge. She sat suddenly and twisted a nipple with her mouth, teeth scraping, and you nearly lost it, your whole body lighting up with pleasure and pain, the sensations blurring until you were nothing but nerve endings and hunger.
You pulled her in for a kiss, biting her lower lip, still rolling your hips against her in a slow grind, when the ceiling above you thumped. You both stilled, a beat of silence, then voices, sharp and overlapping, somewhere high on the yacht. Alexia's eyes cut to the door.
A single gunshot. Two screams, then nothing.
She was off the bed before the echo died, the harness hitting the floor with a heavy buckle clank. She dressed fast, the efficient movements of someone who had done this before. She was pulling open a drawer, rummaging, when she said, without looking at you, "When I leave, lock the door. Don't open it until I tell you." She found what she was looking for. You didn't see what it was. The door clicked shut behind her, and you were still sitting there, flushed and breathless and completely alone.
The lock clicked, then silence, not true silence.
The engines still hummed beneath the yacht, but inside the cabin the quiet felt oppressive.
You stared at the door, your pulse was still racing, only now for an entirely different reason.
Another shout echoed from somewhere above, closer this time.
You slid off the bed, hastily pulling your clothes back into place with hands that suddenly refused to cooperate. Your fingers fumbled with buttons you'd managed perfectly well only minutes earlier.
Another dull thud reverberated through the ceiling, not another gunshot, footsteps lots of them heavy and running.
You crossed the room before stopping yourself, Alexia had been very clear. Lock the door. You checked it anyway, locked.
Your eyes drifted around the cabin for the first time, it wasn't just a guest suite.
The shelves held books in three different languages. A chess board sat half finished on a side table. One wall displayed framed photographs of coastlines and mountains instead of people.
Nothing about the room felt temporary this was hers, another voice barked somewhere outside, firm and controlled.
You couldn't make out the words, then "CLEAR!"
It was Misa, you recognised her voice from earlier.
Another answered almost immediately, "Port side secure!" that was Patri.
You frowned, they sounded calm not frightened and certainly trained. Your stomach tightened, Alexia hadn't been exaggerating about her world. This wasn't some glamorous fantasy she'd built around herself. It was real, every bit of it.
The sound of footsteps approached your door, you instinctively stepped backwards as someone stopped outside. A shadow crossed beneath the gap, your breathing slowed to almost nothing.
A single knock, three short taps, not Alexia, you didn't move, the was handle tested once, then whoever it was walked away.
Only after the footsteps disappeared did you realise you'd been holding your breath. Minutes crawled by or maybe only seconds time had become impossible to judge.
Then voices again, this time much closer.
"...one in custody."
"...sweep the lower deck."
"...check every cabin."
You caught Alexia's voice among them, steady and completely unshaken.
"No unnecessary casualties." A pause. "I want answers before sunrise."
You closed your eyes, she sounded exactly the same as she had ordering a drink earlier that evening, that frightened you more than the gunshot had.
Eventually, the voices faded, a key turned in the lock, your entire body tensed. The door opened and Alexia stepped inside, her white shirt sleeve was rolled to the elbow now, and there was a faint smear of blood across one cuff you couldn't tell if it was hers.
She closed the door quietly behind her, for the first time since you'd met her she looked tired, not physically, just heavy.
Her eyes found yours immediately, "You listened."
"I wasn't exactly tempted to ignore you."
The corner of her mouth twitched, "Good."
You looked at the stain on her sleeve, "What happened?"
Alexia followed your gaze, she glanced down at the blood almost absently, "Someone made a very poor decision."
"Is everyone okay?"
There was a brief pause, "My people are."
The wording wasn't lost on you, you took a careful step closer, "Alexia..."
She looked at you, really looked at you, the composed facade she'd worn all evening had cracked just enough for you to glimpse the woman underneath.
"I told you," she said quietly. “My world is... complicated."
You thought back to the party, it had looked almost normal, and now you understood why they all watched the exits.
Why Cata searched every bag herself.
Why Alexia always seemed to know exactly where everyone was.
"This happens often?"
Alexia was honest, "Often enough that everyone knows what to do." The answer settled heavily between you, she reached for a clean shirt folded over a chair, unbuttoning the stained one with practiced movements. Then she stopped, "You should leave."
You blinked, "What?"
"Cata will take you ashore."
"And you?"
"I'll be busy."
There it was again, the invisible wall she'd built around herself, the one that separated her life from everyone else's.
You studied her for a long moment before asking quietly, "Are you trying to protect me...or push me away?"
Alexia opened the door. Cata was already there, hands clasped behind her back, expression unreadable.
"Cata will take you home."
You looked at Alexia for a moment longer than you should have. Then you clasped your hands behind your back the way Cata always did and simply nodded once and murmured, "Yes, Boss."
What the Border Wouldn’t Let You Carry | Alexia Putellas
Summary: You can't give up everything, even if it's for the one person who means everything.
Word Count: 6.9k
Warnings: no use of Y/N
Masterlist
The lawyers never spoke cruelly.
That might have made it easier.
They were always careful with you, sitting across polished conference tables or appearing inside neat rectangles on Alexia’s laptop. They used patient voices and precise language. They explained each requirement, exception, and unlikely possibility as if they were guiding you through a difficult tactical problem.
No one ever said your work didn’t matter.
They didn’t have to.
The first lawyer came to your apartment in Barcelona on a Tuesday afternoon in March. Alexia had arranged the consultation through her representation before she’d even formally accepted London City’s offer. The woman arrived carrying a leather folder, declined coffee, and spent nearly two hours asking about your education, employment history, income, nationality, professional qualifications, and relationship.
You answered everything.
You’d worked in museum education for almost nine years, the last five at a cultural center in Barcelona. You managed accessibility programs, coordinated school visits, developed exhibitions with local artists, and ran community workshops for children who didn’t always have the money or opportunity to experience art outside their classrooms.
You loved it.
You loved the quiet hour before the doors opened, when the building seemed to hold its breath. You loved watching children approach a painting with suspicion before finding some small detail that belonged only to them. You loved the elderly visitors who came every Thursday and treated the café like their own dining room. You loved the years of relationships you’d built with teachers, artists, families, and community groups.
It was work that had taken time to become good at.
It was work you were proud to do.
The lawyer listened, made notes, and asked if you held any additional qualifications.
You told her about your master’s degree.
She asked if you’d ever worked in university-level research.
You hadn’t.
She asked if your current employer operated in the United Kingdom.
It didn’t.
She asked whether any British organization had offered to sponsor you.
Not yet.
Her pen stopped moving.
Alexia sat beside you on the sofa, one knee pressed against yours. She’d barely spoken during the consultation. Every few minutes, her thumb moved across the inside of your wrist as though she could soothe you without interrupting.
The lawyer closed one document and opened another.
“Your occupation may fall under several classifications depending on the exact responsibilities of a prospective role,” she said. “That gives us some room to explore. The difficulty will be finding an employer licensed and willing to sponsor the position at the required level and salary.”
“But it’s possible,” Alexia said.
The woman looked at her.
There was no recognition on her face, or at least none she allowed to show. Alexia was simply another client sitting in a sunlit apartment, asking for certainty where none existed.
“Possible isn’t the same as probable.”
Alexia’s hand tightened around yours.
“What does probable look like?”
“For you?” The lawyer glanced down at the section of her notes dedicated to Alexia. “Your club will handle your immigration status. Your professional record makes your case relatively straightforward.”
“And for her?”
The woman hesitated for only a second.
“That will be considerably more difficult.”
The late-afternoon light streamed through the balcony doors and stretched across the floor. Outside, Barcelona carried on without you. A motorbike passed below. Someone laughed from another balcony. A dog barked twice before being shushed.
You looked at the mug in your hands.
The coffee had gone cold.
“What if money isn’t an issue?” Alexia asked. “For applications, legal fees, anything necessary.”
“Money can give you excellent representation. It can make the process smoother. It can allow us to investigate every legitimate route.” The lawyer folded her hands over the folder. “It cannot create an eligible route where the requirements aren’t met.”
The answer seemed to offend something fundamental in Alexia.
You felt it in the way her leg became rigid against yours.
Alexia understood the rules. She’d spent her life inside them. Ninety minutes. Eleven players. A rectangular pitch with fixed boundaries. Contracts with clauses that could be negotiated if the right people sat at the right table.
She understood obstacles too. Injury. Rehabilitation. Coaches who underestimated her. Institutions that treated women’s football as a favor rather than a profession.
She had learned that if a door didn’t open, you pushed harder.
This wasn’t a door.
It was a wall built by people who would never know either of you existed.
“So what do we do?” she asked.
“We begin contacting employers. We look carefully at the nature of the roles rather than simply their titles. We explore whether your partner’s experience qualifies as an eligible occupation. We prepare for the possibility that it may take time.”
“How much time?”
“I can’t responsibly promise that.”
Alexia looked toward you.
You gave her the smallest smile you could manage.
It was meant to reassure her.
It didn’t.
By the end of March, you had three lawyers.
One specialized in employment sponsorship. Another handled complex immigration cases for high-net-worth clients and public figures. The third had been recommended by London City’s ownership group.
They worked from offices in Barcelona and London. They spoke with your employer, reviewed your contracts, translated your qualifications, and produced lists of organizations that might be able to hire someone with your experience.
No expense was spared.
It still didn’t change the answer.
The second lawyer was the first to mention marriage.
He did it carefully after nearly an hour spent reviewing the same qualifications, job classifications, and sponsorship requirements you already knew by heart.
“There is another potential route,” he said.
Alexia leaned forward immediately.
“What route?”
The lawyer glanced between you.
“If you were married, or if you could otherwise establish eligibility as long-term partners, she may be able to apply as your dependent.”
For one suspended second, the room changed.
Alexia’s fingers tightened around yours.
You had discussed marriage before. Not seriously enough to choose a date, but enough that it existed somewhere in the future you’d built together. It belonged to a quiet morning, a family dinner, a ring Alexia would overthink for months before pretending she hadn’t.
It had never belonged to a conference room.
It had never been meant to arrive as an immigration strategy.
Alexia looked at you, and you saw the hope before either of you understood the full answer.
“So she could come?” she asked.
“She could potentially live in the United Kingdom with you.”
“And work?”
His pause was brief.
It still answered the question.
“That would depend on the specific terms attached to the immigration arrangement secured through the club. We would need the final documentation before giving you a definitive answer. However, you should prepare for the possibility of restrictions that would prevent her from continuing paid employment.”
The hope disappeared from Alexia’s face.
You stared at the legal pad in front of you.
“So I could move,” you said slowly, “but I might not be allowed to work.”
“That is a possibility.”
“In any job?”
“Potentially.”
“And volunteering?”
“That may be permitted, provided it doesn’t amount to unpaid employment that would ordinarily be compensated.”
You nodded as though the distinction made sense.
It didn’t.
Alexia turned toward you.
“We could do that.”
Her voice was soft. Careful.
You knew what she meant.
You had enough money. More than enough. Alexia could support both of you without noticing the difference in her bank account. You could live in the house she’d chosen, travel when her schedule allowed, fill your days with dinners, charity appearances, language classes, and carefully approved volunteer work.
You could be with her.
You would simply have to stop being the version of yourself you’d spent nearly a decade becoming.
“I can’t,” you said.
Alexia went still.
The lawyer looked down at his papers, offering you the illusion of privacy.
“I don’t mean I won’t marry you,” you added quickly.
“I know.”
But the hurt was already there.
You reached for her hand.
“I love you. I want to marry you one day.”
“Then why can’t we do this?”
“Because I’d have to leave my work.”
“Only until we find another route.”
“And if we don’t?”
“We will.”
You looked at her.
She stopped.
For weeks, Alexia had spoken in certainties because anything else frightened her. There would be another lawyer. Another application. Another exception. Another route.
You couldn’t build your life around another promise that neither of you controlled.
“I’d wake up every morning in your house,” you said. “You’d leave for training, and I’d have nowhere I needed to be.”
“You could do anything you wanted.”
“Except work.”
“You could study. You could volunteer.”
“I don’t want to study for the sake of filling time. I don’t want to volunteer beside people doing the same work as me while knowing I’m not legally allowed to build a career from it.”
Her expression tightened.
“I’m not asking you to give up who you are.”
“You wouldn’t have to ask.”
You lowered your voice.
“That’s what the visa would require.”
Alexia pulled her hand away and stood. She crossed to the window, staring down at the street.
The lawyer remained silent.
You hated that the conversation had an audience. You hated that something as private as marriage had become another file on his desk.
“I can support you,” Alexia said.
“I know.”
“You’d never have to worry about money.”
“I know.”
“You could have anything.”
“Not anything.”
She turned.
You could see the frustration rising in her, sharpened by helplessness.
“You’d have me.”
“I already have you.”
“Not in London.”
The words struck hard enough that you had to look away.
Alexia’s face changed immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“But you meant it.”
She came back to the table and crouched beside your chair.
“I meant that I want you there. I don’t mean that your work doesn’t matter.”
“I know you don’t.”
You took her face in your hands.
“That’s why I can’t do it.”
Her eyes filled.
You continued before you lost the nerve.
“If I leave everything and become dependent on you in every legal and financial sense, I’m afraid I’ll start resenting the life we built there.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I might.”
“I wouldn’t let you.”
“You can’t control that.”
She closed her eyes.
“I love my work, Ale. I love having something that belongs to me. I love being good at something that has nothing to do with football or your name or the opportunities your career can give us.”
“You think people would see you as my wife.”
“I think immigration would.”
The word wife sat between you.
Under any other circumstances, it might have made Alexia smile.
Now she looked devastated.
“They’d call me your dependent,” you said. “That would be my legal status. Dependent on your contract. Dependent on your income. Dependent on whether London City renewed you.”
“You wouldn’t be dependent on me.”
“On paper, I would be.”
“You know that isn’t how I see you.”
“I do.”
You brushed your thumb beneath her eye.
“But I have to live inside my own life too.”
Alexia lowered her forehead to your knee.
The lawyer quietly excused himself to make coffee, leaving the two of you alone in the conference room.
“I hate that there’s a way,” she whispered, “and we still can’t take it.”
You rested your hand against the back of her head.
“There’s a way for me to exist beside you.”
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
She looked up.
“I want you to have your own life there.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want you waiting for me to come home every day.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want you to marry me because the government has made it the least impossible option.”
Your throat tightened.
“Neither do I.”
Marriage had always felt like something you would choose when the time was right.
Now it had been placed before you as a transaction.
Sign here.
Prove the relationship.
Give up your work.
Receive permission to remain beside the person you loved.
Alexia stood and pulled you into her arms.
“I would marry you tomorrow,” she said against your hair.
You held her tighter.
“I’d marry you tomorrow too.”
“Just not like this.”
“Not if it means disappearing.”
She pressed her lips to your temple.
“I couldn’t bear that.”
“Neither could I.”
That was the cruelty of it.
You had enough money to survive without your salary.
You had enough money for lawyers, applications, appeals, and every legitimate legal route worth pursuing.
What you didn’t have was a way to bring your whole life with you.
The United Kingdom might allow Alexia to carry you across the border as her dependent.
It simply wouldn’t promise to let you remain yourself once you arrived.
You sent applications to museums, galleries, charities, heritage organizations, and educational foundations throughout London.
You applied for positions beneath your level of experience because the titles sounded promising. You applied for jobs you didn’t really want because they came with a small line at the bottom of the advertisement about sponsorship being considered in exceptional circumstances.
You were exceptional, Alexia told you.
The employers disagreed.
Some rejected you within hours.
Others invited you to interviews, praised your experience, and apologized when the subject of immigration arose.
One director called personally. She told you that your community access programs were exactly the kind of work their organization wanted to develop. She asked intelligent questions about sensory-friendly exhibitions and multilingual family programming. For forty minutes, you felt like yourself again.
Then she asked whether you already had the right to work in the United Kingdom.
When you said no, her expression changed.
Not because she thought less of you.
Because she already knew what came next.
Their organization had a sponsorship license, she explained, but the position hadn’t been approved for international recruitment. The salary band was fixed. They couldn’t restructure the role. They couldn’t justify the administrative burden when qualified applicants were already permitted to work in the country.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Professionally, you’d be an excellent fit.”
You thanked her.
After the call ended, you remained at the dining table with your laptop open in front of you.
Alexia was at training. The apartment was silent except for the low hum of the refrigerator and faint traffic from the street.
Professionally, you’d be an excellent fit.
Legally, you were an inconvenience.
The message from the lawyer sat unread beside the rejection email. It contained further information about the dependent route, documentation requirements, and the risks of committing to a status that could leave you unable to work.
You closed both windows.
Then you went to work.
That evening, you guided a group of teenagers through a new exhibition by a Catalan photographer. You helped one girl find the words to describe why a portrait of an empty kitchen made her feel lonely. You adjusted the route when another student became overwhelmed by the crowd. You stayed late to speak with their teacher about returning for a quieter session.
You were good at your job.
You knew you were good at it.
For the first time, knowing that hurt.
Alexia didn’t announce her decision immediately.
The club knew.
Her agent knew.
You knew.
The rest of the world continued to speculate.
Every training session produced another article. Every photograph of Alexia became evidence for a different theory. She was staying because she’d smiled during warmups. She was leaving because she hadn’t celebrated a goal intensely enough. She was retiring. She was moving to the United States. She was accepting an executive role at Barcelona. She was joining London City.
That last rumor was accurate, but it still felt unreal when you saw it written by strangers.
You watched people debate the decision as if they understood what it cost.
They discussed salary, ambition, legacy, playing time, and the appeal of joining an independent women’s club with plans to challenge England’s established powers.
No one mentioned your visa.
No one knew that Alexia had sat on the bathroom floor with you after the third lawyer confirmed that the dependent route would likely cost you the career you loved.
No one knew she’d asked whether she should refuse the offer.
You’d been brushing your teeth when she said it.
Her voice had been so quiet you initially thought you’d misheard her.
You turned off the tap.
“What?”
Alexia stood in the bathroom doorway wearing a faded Barcelona shirt and sleep shorts. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and there were shadows beneath her eyes from another night spent staring at the ceiling.
“I can say no.”
“To London?”
She nodded.
You set your toothbrush beside the sink.
“Alexia.”
“I haven’t signed.”
“You’ve agreed.”
“Verbally. It isn’t finished.”
“You want to go.”
“I want you with me.”
The words made your chest ache.
You dried your hands slowly, buying time to arrange your thoughts.
“We knew there was a possibility I wouldn’t be able to come.”
“We knew it would be complicated.”
“We knew it might be impossible.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You said that. The lawyers said that. I didn’t believe it.”
You almost smiled because it was such an Alexia answer.
She moved closer.
“I thought we’d find someone better. Another lawyer. A different job classification. Some exception no one had considered.”
“We did find better lawyers.”
“Then better than them.”
“There are only so many lawyers in Europe, amor.”
“I don’t care.”
“I know.”
Her eyes filled with a frustration that had followed her for weeks. It had become part of the apartment, moving with her from room to room. She carried it into bed, into breakfast, into phone calls with her agent. It lived in the tense line of her shoulders and the way she checked your email more anxiously than you did.
“I can stay,” she said again.
“You could.”
Her face shifted.
She hadn’t expected you to agree.
You stepped closer and rested your hands against her waist.
“You could stay, and we’d still have this apartment. I’d still go to work every morning. You’d still know all the roads without using your phone. Your family would still be close. We’d have dinner with Alba on Sundays, and we wouldn’t need to calculate how many days a visitor is allowed to spend in another country.”
“Then I stay.”
“But every time London City played, part of you would wonder.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“You would.”
She looked away.
You touched her cheek, guiding her attention back to you.
“You’ve given everything to Barcelona.”
“I don’t feel like I’ve finished.”
“That isn’t what I mean. You’ve given this club your childhood, your knee, your best years, every version of yourself you knew how to give. Wanting to discover who you are somewhere else doesn’t mean you love it less.”
Her mouth tightened.
“You sound like my agent.”
“Your agent is very wise.”
“My agent doesn’t sleep beside me.”
“Thank God.”
She almost laughed.
It didn’t last.
“What happens to us?” she asked.
There it was.
Not the contract.
Not London.
Not whether she could adjust to England’s weather or a new league or teammates who had grown up watching her on television.
Us.
You lowered your hands from her waist.
“I don’t know.”
Her expression crumpled before she controlled it.
You hated yourself for giving her the truth, but you’d made too many promises to each other to begin lying now.
“I know what I want,” you continued. “I want to go with you. I want to complain about the rain and pretend I don’t like the house you chose. I want to find a job there and build a life with you. I’ve done everything they’ve asked, and I’ll keep trying.”
“But?”
“But loving you doesn’t give me the legal right to live in the same country as you without giving up something I can’t bear to lose.”
Alexia turned away sharply.
She lowered herself onto the closed toilet lid, elbows resting on her knees. You watched her press both hands against her face.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“I hate that they can decide this.”
“I know.”
“I hate that I can sign one piece of paper and move, and you need strangers to decide whether the work you’ve spent your life building is valuable enough.”
The last words broke in her throat.
You sat on the tiled floor in front of her.
Alexia immediately reached down, pulling you closer until you were kneeling between her legs. She cradled your face with both hands.
“Your work matters.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
You swallowed.
“I did before all of this.”
Her eyes closed.
You hadn’t meant the admission as an accusation. It still wounded her.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“I’m still sorry.”
She bent until her forehead rested against yours.
You stayed on the bathroom floor for a long time. The overhead light was too bright. Your knees began to hurt against the tile. Neither of you moved.
Eventually, Alexia whispered, “I don’t want to leave you.”
“You aren’t leaving me.”
“It feels exactly like that.”
The official announcement came two days after Barcelona’s final match.
By then, most of Alexia’s belongings had already been divided into three categories.
London.
Storage.
Yours.
The categories didn’t work particularly well.
Half the clothes marked for London migrated back into the wardrobe because you weren’t ready to watch her pack them. She kept placing things in your pile that clearly belonged to her, claiming she wanted you to have them. You accused her of trying to avoid exceeding the airline’s baggage limit.
She bought a house in England rather than renting.
You learned about it through a video tour conducted by an estate agent who called you both “ladies” with relentless cheerfulness. The property was in a quiet area with enough privacy for Alexia, a garden neither of you knew how to maintain, and a spare room that she immediately referred to as your office.
You didn’t correct her.
The announcement video was filmed with the club’s owner. Alexia wore the new colors and spoke about ambition, identity, and the future of women’s football. She looked composed and certain.
You watched from your office at the cultural center.
Your coworkers had gathered around your computer, whispering excitedly as the video began. Most of them knew Alexia. They’d met her at exhibition openings or staff dinners. They knew she sent coffee to the entire building when a program you’d designed won a national award. They knew she sometimes appeared thirty minutes before closing, leaning against the reception desk until you finished work.
They knew you were trying to move.
They didn’t know you’d received another rejection that morning.
When Alexia appeared wearing the London City shirt, the room erupted.
Your closest colleague grabbed your shoulders.
“She looks incredible.”
“She does.”
“You must be so proud.”
“I am.”
“When do you leave?”
The question came from somewhere behind you.
You kept your eyes on the screen.
Alexia was talking about challenging herself.
“I’m not.”
The excitement faded so quickly that you could feel it leave the room.
Your colleague’s hands loosened on your shoulders.
“What do you mean?”
“The visa isn’t happening.”
“But with Alexia’s club…”
“They’ve tried.”
“And the lawyers?”
“They’ve tried too.”
Someone muttered a curse under their breath.
Your colleague lowered her voice.
“Couldn’t you marry her?”
The question was gentle.
That made it worse.
You stared at the screen.
“We could.”
Her confusion deepened.
“But I wouldn’t be able to keep working.”
The room became quiet.
You didn’t explain further.
You didn’t tell them that Alexia had offered to support you before you could even calculate the cost. You didn’t tell them that you could live comfortably for the rest of your life without earning another salary.
That had never been the point.
Money paid for the apartment you shared and the food on your table. Your work gave shape to your days. It gave you relationships, responsibility, confidence, and an identity that belonged entirely to you.
You didn’t know who you’d become if you surrendered it to follow Alexia.
You were afraid that one day you’d look at the woman you loved and blame her for a sacrifice she had begged you not to make.
“It’s okay,” you said.
It wasn’t.
You’d begun saying it anyway.
The farewell at Camp Nou belonged to Alexia.
You made sure of that.
You stood with her family and watched the stadium honor fourteen years of her life. You watched highlights of the girl she’d been and the woman she’d become. The screens showed goals, trophies, celebrations, and the long walk back from injury.
The supporters sang her name.
Alexia cried without hiding it.
You cried too.
For Barcelona.
For her.
For yourself.
When she thanked the club, her teammates, her family, and everyone who had carried her through the years, her eyes found you.
She didn’t name you.
She didn’t need to.
You knew the look she gave you. You’d seen it across crowded rooms, airport terminals, hospital corridors, and football pitches. It was the look that had always meant home.
For the first time, home was becoming two places.
Afterward, the celebrations continued in a private suite. Former teammates embraced her. Staff members told stories. Her mother held her face between both hands and kissed her forehead as though Alexia were still a child returning from her first training session.
You slipped out into a quiet corridor.
The stadium sounded different from there. The singing became a distant vibration through the concrete. You leaned against the wall and tried to breathe through the pressure building in your chest.
The door opened a minute later.
You didn’t have to look to know who had followed you.
Alexia stopped beside you.
“You disappeared.”
“I needed a minute.”
She studied your face.
“You said that seventeen minutes ago before disappearing from the party.”
“You’re counting?”
“I always know where you are.”
The words hurt more than she intended.
Her expression changed immediately.
“Amor.”
“I know.”
She reached for you, but you folded your arms across your chest.
Not to reject her.
To keep yourself together.
“This is your night.”
“It’s ours.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Her forehead creased.
You looked toward the closed door.
“Everything in there belongs to you. The memories. The people. The years. I don’t want my sadness to take up space tonight.”
“You’re part of those years.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t stand in a corridor pretending you aren’t.”
You looked at her.
She was still wearing the suit she’d chosen for the ceremony, though the jacket was open now. Her eyes were red from crying. A strand of hair had fallen loose near her face.
“You’re leaving in twelve days.”
Her lips parted.
You’d both known the date for weeks.
Saying it in the stadium made it real.
“I know.”
“I thought I was handling it.”
“You don’t have to handle it.”
“I do. Everyone keeps looking at me like I’m the tragic partner being abandoned for football.”
“I’m not abandoning you.”
“I know that.”
The answer came too quickly and too loudly. You lowered your voice.
“I know you’re not. That’s what makes this so hard. I can’t even be angry with you.”
“You can.”
“For what? Taking an opportunity you earned? Wanting something after giving your entire life to one club? Believing me when I said we’d find a way?”
Alexia stared at you.
You pressed your tongue against the inside of your cheek, trying to stop the tears.
“I applied for another job last week.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t want you waiting for another answer.”
“What happened?”
“They offered it to someone who didn’t need sponsorship.”
Her eyes closed briefly.
“They said I was the strongest candidate.”
“Of course you were.”
“But not strong enough to make the paperwork worthwhile.”
“That isn’t what it means.”
“It’s exactly what it means.”
“No.” Alexia moved in front of you. “It means their system is broken.”
“A system can be broken and still decide what happens to my life.”
She took your hands despite the way you’d folded them against yourself.
“You have a life here.”
“I know.”
“You have work you love.”
“I know.”
“You have friends, people who depend on you, an entire community you built.”
“I know, Alexia.”
“You aren’t being left with nothing.”
“I don’t want to be grateful that I’m only losing you.”
The words silenced both of you.
You tried to pull your hands away.
She held on.
Not forcefully.
Desperately.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.” Her voice trembled. “Don’t apologize for that.”
“I didn’t mean…”
“You did.”
Tears slipped down her face.
“You meant it because it’s true.”
You let her pull you closer.
The first contact was awkward; both of you were still too tense to soften. Then Alexia wrapped her arms fully around you, and whatever remained of your composure disappeared.
You pressed your face into her shoulder.
“I want to go with you.”
“I know.”
“I want to see the house.”
“It’s yours too.”
“I want to hate London until it becomes home.”
Her arms tightened around you.
“I want that.”
“I don’t want to visit you. I don’t want to count days or keep clothes in a suitcase or ask border officers how long I’m allowed to stay with the woman I love.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want our life to become evidence in a legal application.”
Alexia made a broken sound against your hair.
For months, lawyers had requested proof.
Joint bills.
Travel records.
Photographs.
Messages.
Evidence that your relationship was genuine and continuing.
Years of love had been reduced to documents organized inside electronic folders.
You had photographs of birthdays, holidays, hospital visits, ordinary dinners, and sleepy mornings. You had lease agreements and shared accounts. You had thousands of messages.
None of it had produced the outcome you needed.
Alexia drew back enough to look at you.
“I’ll come back whenever I can.”
“You’ll be playing.”
“There are breaks.”
“You’ll have Spain.”
“I’ll make time.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can.”
“Alexia.”
“I can promise that I’ll try.”
You touched the dampness beneath her eye with your thumb.
“That’s different.”
“Then I promise I’ll try.”
You nodded.
It was the only honest promise either of you had left.
The last night in the apartment wasn’t romantic.
The bed had been stripped because Alexia had accidentally packed the sheets. You ate takeaway on the living room floor surrounded by boxes she’d sworn she didn’t need.
At eleven, she realized she’d packed her phone charger.
At midnight, you found it inside a box labeled kitchen.
At one, neither of you were asleep.
You lay on the bare mattress beneath a blanket that had escaped the movers. Alexia rested with her head against your chest, one arm across your stomach.
The apartment echoed around you.
“I can hear the refrigerator,” she murmured.
“You’ve always been able to hear it.”
“No. You usually talk too much.”
You threaded your fingers through her hair.
“I’m glad you’re leaving.”
She lifted her head.
“That isn’t funny.”
“I’m serious. I’ve spent months thinking about what this is taking from us. I don’t want you to get on the plane believing I resent the part of you that needs to go.”
“You can resent it.”
“I don’t.”
She watched you carefully.
“I resent the border. I resent every employer who told me I was perfect before deciding I was too complicated. I resent that before Brexit, we could’ve packed our lives into boxes and figured the rest out after we arrived.”
Alexia’s fingers curled into the blanket.
“I resent that we could get married and go together tomorrow, but only if I agreed to stop working.”
“I hate that most.”
You looked down at her.
“Why?”
“Because it would put you beside me and still take you away.”
Your throat tightened.
Alexia shifted until she was sitting beside you.
“I’ve imagined you in that house,” she said. “I’ve imagined waking up beside you. I’ve imagined you making coffee and complaining that the kitchen is too small. But every time I picture leaving for training while you stay behind with nothing that’s yours, I can’t breathe.”
“I’d find things to do.”
“That isn’t the same as having a life.”
“No.”
“You’d tell me you were fine.”
“Probably.”
“You’d try to make it easy for me.”
“Probably.”
“And one day I’d come home and realize you’d made yourself smaller so I wouldn’t feel guilty.”
You reached for her hand.
“I wouldn’t mean to.”
“I know.”
She laced her fingers with yours.
“That’s why I can’t ask.”
“You never did.”
“I thought about it.”
You appreciated the honesty even though it hurt.
“How many times?”
“Every day.”
You lowered your head to her shoulder.
“I thought about saying yes every day.”
Her cheek rested against your hair.
Neither of you spoke for a while.
There was comfort in admitting it.
You had both wanted the easier answer.
You had both understood it would create a different kind of damage.
“I don’t know how to do this without you,” Alexia eventually whispered.
“You’re not doing it without me.”
“You won’t be there.”
“I won’t be in London.”
“That’s what I mean.”
You cupped the back of her neck.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“You’re going to wake up there. You’re going to train. You’re going to learn everyone’s names and forget where you left your keys. You’re going to call me to complain about the weather.”
“I already hate the weather.”
“You haven’t moved yet.”
“I’ve seen it.”
“You’re going to play football. I’m going to go to work here. We’re going to miss calls and become irritated and say things badly sometimes.”
“This isn’t helping.”
“We’ll visit. We’ll keep speaking to lawyers. I’ll keep applying. Maybe something changes. Maybe a museum realizes I’m worth the trouble. Maybe the law changes. Maybe your contract ends before any of that happens.”
“And if none of it does?”
You looked at the ceiling.
“Then eventually, we make another decision.”
Fear moved across her face.
“About us?”
“About what we’re willing to keep sacrificing.”
She sat up straighter.
“I’m not sacrificing us.”
“Neither am I.”
“Then don’t talk like this has an ending.”
“Everything has an ending, Alexia. A contract. A season. A life. That doesn’t mean we stop choosing it while it’s here.”
Her jaw tightened.
You knew she wanted certainty.
You wished you could give it to her.
Instead, you sat up and took her face between your hands.
“I love you.”
“That sounds like a goodbye.”
“It’s not.”
“It feels like one.”
“Then listen to the rest.”
She became very still.
“I love you, and I want you to go. I want you to find out who you are when everyone around you doesn’t already know your history. I want you to build something there. I want to hear every detail, even when it hurts.”
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“I want you beside me.”
“I want that too.”
“I could still stay.”
You shook your head.
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide for me.”
“And you don’t get to turn down London because a government made me feel small.”
“You aren’t small.”
“Then don’t make your life smaller to prove it.”
Alexia’s breath caught.
You moved closer until your knees touched hers.
“My work matters. My life here matters. I matter. I need to believe all of that even if the United Kingdom doesn’t recognize it on a list.”
“It should.”
“Yes.”
“It should recognize everything you’ve done.”
“Yes.”
“It should let you come with me without asking you to surrender it.”
“Yes.”
Her face crumpled.
You pulled her into your arms.
She cried against you with a rawness she’d held back for months. You kept one hand at the base of her neck and the other around her waist.
There was no solution hidden inside the moment.
There was only grief.
You let yourselves feel it.
At the airport, Alexia’s luggage was overweight.
It was such an ordinary problem that both of you laughed when the attendant told her.
Alexia opened one suitcase on the floor and began moving clothing between bags with the same concentration she used to study match footage.
“You don’t need six jackets,” you said.
“I do.”
“You’re moving to London, not the Arctic.”
“It’s cold.”
“It’s July.”
“It will become cold.”
“You could buy a jacket there.”
“I like these.”
You crouched beside her and lifted a Barcelona sweatshirt.
“This is mine.”
“You gave it to me.”
“You stole it.”
“You didn’t ask for it back.”
“I’m asking now.”
She held the sweatshirt against her chest.
“No.”
You laughed again.
For a few minutes, you were simply yourselves.
Then the suitcase closed.
The attendant accepted it.
There was nothing left to delay.
Alexia stood in front of the security entrance, one hand wrapped around the strap of her carry-on. People moved around you with practiced impatience, dragging bags and checking phones.
“I don’t want to go through,” she said.
“You have to.”
“I could miss the flight.”
“There’s another one tonight.”
“I could miss that too.”
“They’ll keep scheduling flights, Ale.”
Her mouth trembled.
You reached into your bag and handed her a small wrapped package.
“What’s this?”
“Open it when you get there.”
“I’ll open it now.”
“You won’t.”
She looked at the package, then back at you.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“No matter what happens.”
“Don’t.”
She frowned.
“Don’t make it sound like we’re already preparing for the end.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Alexia set her carry-on down and took your face between her hands.
“Then let me say it properly.”
You waited.
“I’m going to England. You’re staying in Barcelona. I hate both of those sentences.”
“So do I.”
“But I am still your partner.”
“Yes.”
“And you are still the person I’m coming home to.”
Your eyes burned.
“Even if home is here?”
“Home isn’t a country.”
She kissed you before you could answer.
It wasn’t delicate. Her hand slid behind your neck as you clutched the front of her shirt, holding her close despite knowing you couldn’t keep her there.
When she pulled back, both of you were crying.
“I’ll call when I land.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I’ll call from the car.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I’ll call from the house.”
“Alexia.”
“I’m going to call too much.”
“I know.”
She kissed your forehead.
Then she picked up her bag and walked toward security.
She looked back four times.
You counted.
You remained in the terminal long after she disappeared.
The package contained a key.
Alexia called you from the floor of the empty bedroom, holding it in her palm.
“What does it open?”
“The apartment.”
“Our apartment?”
“My apartment.”
“Our apartment.”
You smiled despite the ache in your chest.
“You left yours in the bowl beside the door twice last month. I thought you should have a spare.”
She ran her thumb across the metal.
“Why give it to me now?”
“Because I need you to know you can come back.”
Her face blurred briefly as the video call adjusted.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I think leaving makes people feel like they need permission to return.”
Alexia looked away from the screen.
Behind her, the new bedroom was empty except for her suitcases and a mattress still wrapped in plastic.
“I put a key to this house aside for you.”
“I don’t know when I’ll be allowed to use it.”
“You’ll use it when you visit.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“No.”
You appreciated that she didn’t pretend.
She held your key in her closed fist.
“One day, I’m going to put this on the ring beside the London key.”
“One day.”
“And we won’t need lawyers.”
“I’d like never to speak to another lawyer again.”
She laughed softly.
The sound traveled from England to Barcelona with a slight digital delay.
It wasn’t enough.
It was something.
Outside your window, the city had begun to darken. The apartment around you still held evidence of Alexia everywhere. Her mug is beside the sink. Her spare boots near the door. The indentation her body had made on her side of the sofa.
In London, she sat in a new house that had been purchased with you in mind, though you had no legal right to build your life there without surrendering the work that helped make you whole.
The unfairness remained.
It would still be there tomorrow.
You would wake alone. She would begin training. You would return to the cultural center and guide another group through rooms filled with art people had created because ordinary language wasn’t enough.
Perhaps that was what the two of you were doing now.
Building something from absence.
Giving shape to a hurt too large to explain cleanly.
Alexia lifted the key toward the camera.
“I’m coming home.”
“You just arrived.”
“I mean Barcelona.”
“I know.”
“And you’re coming here.”
“I’m going to keep trying.”
Her eyes softened.
It wasn’t certainty.
It was the promise you could honestly make.
For now, it had to be enough.
The border had decided where you could work. It had decided how many days you could spend in Alexia’s new home and what documents you would need to show before being permitted to enter.
It had measured your education, your salary, and your profession.
It had offered you a route through marriage, but only if you agreed to become dependent on the woman you loved and leave behind the work that made your life your own.
It had found your career useful, admirable, and insufficient.
It could determine where your body was allowed to remain.
Friends to Lovers (An “It Was Only a Matter of Time” fic) - Alexia x Reader
Warnings: Explicit content. Minors DNI.
If you haven't read It Was Only a Matter of Time yet, I'd highly encourage you to read that first. This takes place between ficlet 1 and ficlet 2.
Alexia made it exactly 3 hours after you arrived in Ibiza. You'd landed a day after everyone else and so when you walked into the rental house, everyone was already outside enjoying the pool and recovering from a hangover from the night before. You saw Alexia in her bright red bikini sitting on the edge of the pool with Vir, talking. You'd texted her to let her know you were on your way from the airport and had gotten a string of hearts and kissy face emojis in response.
It was like she sensed you. As soon as you walked out of the house, her eyes snapped to you, and she faltered in her conversation. You awkwardly waved at her. This was the first time you two were seeing each other since the morning she left for Barcelona. And it was true, you had talked every day. But seeing her, here in the flesh, was so different from seeing her through a screen. You were less sure of yourself here. You didn't know if you could just rush to her and haul her into a hug. You didn't know if you should approach with a small kiss. You didn't know what steps to take to not make a fool of yourself in front of Alexia.
As if she could see the turmoil on your face, she stood, carefully walking along the edge of the pool towards safer ground. And then sprinted. Full force. Right into you. You had enough wherewithal to brace before she slammed into you, and were glad when you managed to stay upright.
"You made it!" she said, squeezing her arms around your shoulders, grin massive on her face.
"Hi, babe," you sighed into her neck, keeping your arms locked tight around her waist. She smelled incredible, like that rose body wash she had always preferred. Not like a girl who had been sitting, baking, out in the Spanish sun for hours.
She pulled back just enough to take your face in her hands and kiss you. You moved in perfect sync with each other. Her pushing, you pulling. As her tongue explored your mouth, you were both hit with freezing cold water. You jerked away from her.
"What the hell?" You glared at Leila, who was standing next to you holding an empty cup.
"Get a room," she tossed out.
"If you say so," Alexia said. She held out her hand to you, and when you took it, lacing your fingers together, she led you into the house. "Is this yours?" she asked pointing at the suitcase by the front door. You nodded and she took it in her other hand, rolling it behind her. "I'll show you where you're sleeping." The two of you walked through the house and down a flight a stairs, coming to a door at the end of the hall. She pushed opened the door and stepped through with you.
There was a beautiful view of the ocean from the room. You took in the simple room around you - the king size bed, small side tables, the large mirror in the corner propped against the wall, and a few bags, already sitting in the opposite corner.
"I figured we could share a room. I hope you don't mind," Alexia said nervously.
You obviously didn't mind sharing a bed with Alexia. The two of you had shared beds hundreds of times over the year. You were also logical enough to know that you and Alexia would probably end up having sex on this trip. Sharing a room, sharing a bed, wasn't something you were concerned about.
But it was the way Alexia was looking at you. Nervously, like she wasn't sure if she had overstepped some unspoken boundary. Your favorite little crease was forming between her eyes as she watched you.
Not wanting her worry to drag on, you brought your linked hands up to your lips and pressed a kiss to her fingers. "Wouldn't have it any other way," you said, looking at her over the top of clasped hands. "Here, let me," you said gently, gesturing towards your bag. Taking it from her, you put it on the bed and unzipped it. You'd packed your swimsuits on top, knowing today was a pool day.
"I'll wait outside," Alexia said.
You didn't say anything, just let her go. You weren't shy, and the both of you had been in locker rooms with each other for years. But things were different now. Maybe that meant the rules were different too. You didn't think too hard about that. There was time to figure all that out still. A lifetime if you had your way.
You changed quickly into the emerald green bikini you had bought for this trip. It left very little to the imagination, leaving all your muscles on perfect display. Looking at yourself one more time in the mirror, you shut your suitcase and moved it off the bed.
Alexia was leaning back against the wall waiting for you when you stepped out into the hall. One of her long legs was bent, her foot resting against the wall under her. She let her eyes slowly work up you, taking in every detail that was now on full display. Your body had changed since you'd moved to England. Where before you were skinny, now your muscles had filled out. You no longer looked like a kid but had become a woman.
"This might be the best swimsuit you've ever worn," Alexia said.
"Thanks. It's new." You reached out to touch her hip. "Ready to go back to the pool?"
"In a minute." She looked up at you expectantly, waiting for you to catch the hint that she wanted another kiss. Smiling at her, you leaned down, letting your lips find hers. But only for a second.
"Last one to the pool has to make the bed all week," you said quickly, running in the direction of the pool.
"Cheater!" Alexia yelled, running after you.
You let Alexia win, grabbing her around the waist and canon-balling into the pool with her. She came up, sputtering and pushing her wet hair out her face. You grinned at her, your face already hurting from how wide your smile was.
"You asshole!" She pushed your shoulder and when you just laughed in response, she went for your head, dunking you under the water.
You took the opportunity while you were down there to graze your fingers over her thighs. She let you go almost immediately and you floated back to the top.
"Even?" you asked.
She just nodded at you, eyes wide, mouth slightly slack.
"You want something to drink?" you asked, swimming to the side and hoisting yourself out of the pool. You glanced down at Alexia and found her staring. "Babe? You want a drink?
Alexia dunked her head back under the water for a moment. When she came back up, she closed her eyes, tipping her head back to sweep her hair off her face. "I'll take a beer," she said, not opening her eyes yet.
"You got it." You went in search of the cooler. You found it tucked away in a shaded spot of the patio. Opening it, you dug around, looking for something you knew Alexia would like.
"Y/L/N," Vir said.
"Vir, hi. How you doing?"
"Better now that Ale is better." There was something sharp in the way she said it.
You grabbed the two beers and straightened, closing the lid of the cooler. "We cool?" you asked cautiously.
"We will be if you never break her again."
Your heart pounded in your chest. Tears burned the back of your eyes, an immediate response that you had no control over. Thinking about the last year, your heart hurt. For yourself and for Alexia. You both had wasted so much time. Had hurt each other so much.
"I love her, Vir. She's it for me." You looked across the patio, where Alexia had pulled herself out of the pool and was laying on a chair next to Leila. "I'll never break her again," you said with as much conviction as you could muster when your heart was in your throat. "At least on purpose. Because if I do, it'll break me too."
Satisfied with that, Vir nodded and left you standing there. You took a minute to yourself. The year without Alexia had been such a dark time for you. You had survived, finding people in London that you cared for deeply. But no one had filled the Alexia-shaped hole that was ingrained in your soul. No one could ever fill that hole other than Alexia. She'd been it for you since you were teenagers and now that you had her, you weren't ever letting her go.
Not intending on wasting any time, you went back over to her, pulling a chair closer to her. You held the beer bottle out to her. "Here you go."
She smiled at you, taking the bottle. Studying your face, she scrunched her eyebrow and reached out to rub a hand over your shoulder. You knew how tight it probably felt. "Everything okay?"
You looked at her, taking in everything about her face. The way the crease on the left side of her smile was deeper but longer on the right side. The way her eyes held yours, waiting for you, nothing but gentleness and kindness in those big beautiful brown eyes. The way her smile started to falter the longer you sat there, not saying anything. How had you ever let this break? This woman knew every bit of you and had shown up every day for you.
"All good, gorgeous," you finally managed. You dropped a kiss to her collarbone. "Ready to get this vacation going," you said easily. You turned in your chair, stretching out your legs in front of you.
"You're too far," she whined. Instead of waiting for you to move, she put a hand under your chair and pulled it towards her until your chairs were right next to each other, no space left between you. People shouted across the patio at her for causing such an abrupt loud noise.
"Well alright then," you said with a small laugh. You tipped your head back, letting it rest against the chair and closed your eyes, intending on taking a nap.
You made it 5 minutes. A hand landed on your leg. Your eyes snapped open and you looked down. Slowly, torturously slowly, it slid toward the middle of your thighs. Alexia's hand stopped just short of where you wanted her, just pushing on the boundaries of what their friends would likely tolerate from them. You glanced at her, eyes wide, but she was completely engrossed in her conversation with Leila. When her fingers flexed into your thigh, you bit back a groan. You adjusted your hips, trying to squeeze your thighs together without drawing any attention. You needed to relieve some of the pressure that was so quickly building. You saw the corner of Alexia's lip turn up into a smirk.
You barely registered Leila stand up, your mind hyper-focused on the hand between your legs. Alexia turned her body towards you, dragging her hand across the top of your thigh to rest in the space between you.
"Ale, what are you doing?" you whispered.
"Nothing," she said innocently. "Can't I touch my girlfriend if I want?"
"Yeah. On my head, my arms, my chest, whatever. But not there!" you hissed. "We're surrounded by our friends."
Alexia straightened, leaning her weight on her hands so she could get closer to you. "Just making sure we're ready for lunch."
"How is that going to help me get ready for lunch?"
"You're the lunch," she whispered. She pressed a kiss below your ear, letting her tongue touch the sensitive skin there.
Every nerve in your body short circuited. "Jesus." You looked around to make sure no one could hear your conversation. This was a new side of Alexia that you had never seen before. If you weren't already so attracted to her, the boldness would've sent you spiraling over the edge.
Alexia smirked, letting one of her fingers trail up your arm. This time you let the groan out rather than biting it back.
"Ale, it's a while before lunch. Keep your hands to yourself or I'm going to end up embarrassing both of us."
"Yeah, don't care." She moved closer, her body almost covering yours. Her chest met yours, wet bikini tops slightly sticking together. She cupped your cheek, looking at you for a minute. "I love you, Y/N." And then she kissed you. She pushed your shoulder back and moved to straddle your hips.
"Nope." You broke the kiss, pushing her backwards. "Nope, we're not doing it like this. Like two horny teenagers who can't wait."
"We've waited so long, baby." Alexia dropped her forehead to yours. "I can't wait any longer."
You'd thought about this, Alexia desperate and nearly begging. But this was wrong. You were in public. Your friends were around. You might already have a small pool forming between your legs, but you weren't going to let Alexia go further right now. Not this first time. Not when you'd both already waited so long.
"Just a little while longer, gorgeous, and then I'm yours." You pulled her back into you for a brief kiss. But it was full of heat. Full of promise. "How about you sit here with me for a bit? I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time just holding my favorite girl." You could tell Alexia liked that. She turned, positioning herself between your legs and melted back into you. You let your hands settle around her and pressed a few kisses to the side of her head.
And if over the next hour, you let your hands wander a bit, you told yourself you were just getting her back for working you up earlier.
The girls went inside about an hour later, needing time to get ready for their lunch. They had booked a private patio for a new poke place on the island. You and Alexia stayed curled on that chair.
When they were leaving, Vir came out to make sure you didn't want to go with them. You both smiled and politely declined. Vir gave you a look, like she knew why you were declining lunch, but left you behind anyways.
The house had been quiet for ten minutes before Alexia stood and held her hand out to you. You knew what it was, an offer to keep going or not. But you'd never been more sure of anything before. You wanted Alexia. Had been wanting her for a long time. You took her hand, lacing your fingers with hers. She pulled you up off the chair, giving you a kiss.
You had barely closed and locked the door to your bedroom before Alexia was attacking your mouth. You wrapped both arms around her waist to pull her closer. The movement brought her to her toes. You walked her backwards, until her knees hit the edge of the bed. Not wanting to break the kiss, you gripped her waist tighter and hurled both of you backwards on the bed. She moved backwards until her head hit pillows, dragging you with her deeper into the bed.
You started to wander down her body. Pressing your lips to her collarbone. The slight whimper let you know she liked that and you filed that information away for later. Years of thinking about her under you and now that she was here, you were starved for her. The edges of your brain were already going foggy, and you forced yourself not to pass out. Forced yourself to pay attention.
Running your tongue along the edge of her swimsuit top, you reached under her to untie the tiny string holding the bikini in place. In every scenario you'd run through of this in your head, none of them included peeling Alexia out of a tiny little bikini. You scraped your teeth lightly over the sensitive skin.
Alexia's hands came up, cupping the fabric to her and she moved back a little, breaking the contact between you.
"Hey," you said, sitting back slightly. You put a hand on her cheek. She leaned into the touch. "Are you okay?" Worry was settling in. Had you hurt her? Had she changed her mind? It was okay if she had. You wouldn't push her to do anything she didn't want to do.
She reached out, resting a hand on your chest. Her eyes were searching your face, for what you didn't know. "Have you ever done this before?" she asked quietly.
"No. I was waiting for you," you said honestly. She gave a small smile at that.
"I'm scared I'm going to do it wrong," she admitted. "Scared you won't like it."
"Baby, there's no right or wrong here. Just tell me if there's something you don't like or something you want. And I'll do the same. Okay?" you asked gently. "I'm already a mess for you."
"Really?" she asked, bewilderment clear in her tone. Her eyes skimmed down your body.
"Really. Look at me, babe." You waited until Alexia's eyes met yours again. You could still see the fear behind those beautiful brown eyes. "We can stop anytime you want."
"I don't want to stop. I'm just scared."
"We'll talk each other through it, just like we talk each other through everything else." Alexia nodded. "Can I please get back to what I was doing?" Alexia nodded again. "I love you." You leaned down to kiss her, waiting for her to settle again. Eventually her arms relaxed, the hand on your chest moving around your body to rest on your back.
You moved back to her chest, trailing open mouth kissies as you went. "Can I take this off?" you asked, hooking a finger under one of the strings. She looked up at you again, that fear still evident on her face. But she nodded. And that trust, that willingness to go forward despite her fear, made your heart turn in circles. Because her ewas Alexia, literally baring herself whole to you. You'd both seen every corner of each other's souls and this was the last barrier between you. Drawing the swimsuit away from her body, you took a minute to just look at her. She was so beautiful. Instinctively, her hands came up to cup herself again.
"Let me," you said, moving her hands to replace with your own. She didn't protest. Progress. Her nipples were already hard, pressing into the pads of your hands. Her hips involuntarily jerked under you when you rubbed your thumbs over the tips. "Okay?"
"That feels good," she said, watching your every move.
Pushing her, you leaned down and took one of her nipples into your mouth. Your own stomach was filled with a thousand butterflies. Alexia tasted so good. You let yourself just feel her, flicking your tongue over her nipple a few times, seeing how she responded. With your hand, you gently massaged her other boob. You felt her fingers grip the hair at the base of your neck. You dragged your mouth to her other nipple, wanting to give it the same attention, encouraged by Alexia's reaction.
Needing to feel more of her, you moved your hand down her body, skimming her waist, her hip, and stopped at the top of her bikini bottom. "Can I?" you asked, looking up to meet her eyes. Your voice was thick, and you barely recognized yourself. She nodded once, her eyes unfocused, her lips parted, that crease evident between her eyes like she was trying to focus and failing.
Sitting back on the bed, you were careful not to break all physical contact with her. One hand stayed on her stomach. You were trying to make sure she stayed grounded in this moment. For now.
Swallowing, you ran a finger over the space where the fabric met the top of her thigh. She sucked in a breath. Testing, you tried it on the other leg as well. Same reaction. You trailed her finger to the top band, where fabric met her stomach.
"Y/n/N." You looked up. She was looking at you through hooded eyes. Don't pass out, you reminded yourself. "Can I see you?" she asked quietly, her hand moving up your side to play with your bikini top. She sat up, her hips shifting away from your hands. "I need to feel you." She waited, patiently, for you to nod at her before carefully untying the strings. You let the top fall away. Alexia's eyes moved hungrily over you.
"Fuck," she whispered. Your eyebrows shot up. Alexia rarely swore. "You're too beautiful, Y/n/N, it's driving me crazy." She leaned into you and greedily took one of your nipples into her mouth.
"Shit," you breathed out, hooking an arm around her shoulders to hold yourself up. You were certain your knees were going to give out any second. Her mouth on your skin was so much warmer than you anticipated, so much warmer in comparison to her colder hands. Her mouth was wet, creating a sensation that was wholly unfamiliar to you. Now you understood why Alexia had such a reaction to your earlier. You could feel yourself getting wetter every second that she worked your nipples between her hands, her lips, her teeth, her tongue.
Needing to see if you were having the same effect on her, you trailed your hand back down her stomach. This time you didn’t let the fabric stop you, instead moving back in, down between her legs, to the heat. The front of her swimsuit was soaked against the back of your hand. You moved your fingers down, trying to decipher what you were feeling while Alexia continued wreaking havoc on your chest. She was so warm, so wet, and when you accidently grazed her clit, she jerked so hard against you that you pulled your hand out.
"Are you okay?" you rushed out.
"More than okay. I need you to touch me, baby, I can't wait anymore."
Fuck. That was all you could think. No fantasy you'd had over the years had even come close to the real girl. Keeping your eyes on hers, you moved your fingers back down, through the heat, the wet. You tried to push one finger into her. And now you really were on the verge of passing out. Nothing had ever come close to the feel of Alexia squeezing around your finger.
"You're gonna have to move it, baby."
"Uh, right," you said, momentarily embarrassed that you had just stuck your finger in her and left it there. Refocusing, you leaned down to kiss her neck as your hand got to work. You moved in and out her slowly, your thumb starting to rub slow circles on her clit. Her hips were rolling into your hand with each movement. You bit down, maybe too hard, when you felt her fingers move into your bikini and through your folds. "Fuck, Ale." You bucked against her hand. "God, you feel so good."
She kissed you, hard, as you both kept moving your fingers, kept pulling different reactions, exploring each other's bodies for the first time. You were having a hard time holding on, a hard time focusing. But you couldn't stop, not when Alexia's body was moving under yours, when she was clearly getting closer to the edge.
Your entire body was tightening and you used what little willpower you had to keep yourself up on your knees. You'd never had an orgasm in this position and you were desperately afraid your body was going to give out and collapse on top of Alexia any second.
"Ah, shit," Alexia said, burying her face in your shoulder. "I can't hold on much longer."
"Let go, Ale." You circled your fingers around her clit, trying desperately to give her what she needed. Alexia's head fell backward just a second before her entire body started quaking. And when she let out the filthiest moan, your stomach tightened and the orgasm ripped through you. You tried to keep your fingers moving, to help her through her own orgasm but you blacked out for a second, collapsing down.
You came to with the feel of her fingers drifting up and down your back. Gently. Too gentle in comparison to what had just happened. You shifted so your weight wasn't fully on her, and propped yourself up your elbow to look down at her.
"You look pleased with yourself," you said, taking in the closed eyes, the softened features, the smirk.
"I made you pass out," she said. Opening her eyes, she looked up at you, cocky smirk still on her face. You buried your face in her neck, embarrassed beyond words. "Oh, I'm never letting you forget that one," she said, laughing.
And then you were teenagers again, laughing at each other, with each other, rolling over the bed as you tickled each other. You tickled the space under her ribs that was most sensitive. "Say mercy," you said as her laughter grew to silence and strangled breathing.
"Mercy mercy mercy," she said, throwing up both hands.
"That's what I thought." You had ended up side by side. Rolling onto your elbow again, you rubbed a finger over the band on her bikini. She sucked in a breath, the air in the room immediately changing. "Can I take these off now?" She gave you permission and you slipped your fingers into the band to pull them down her legs. "God, you're so beautiful."
Alexia's hands went to your bikini. "Off," she sighed. You wiggled your hips, pulling them off and throwing them on the floor.
You leaned over, trailing your lips from her shoulder to her neck to her jaw, stopping to nibble just under her ear. "I need to taste you, Ale. Do you trust me?"
"With my life," she said.
You wrapped an arm around her waist and rolled until she was on top of you.
"Wha-?"
"Sit on my face," you said, more confidently than you thought you'd feel asking her for what you so desperately needed.
"I- Are you sure?"
Cupping her face in both your hands, you kissed her, tongues and teeth, messy, just bordering on the edge between so fucking good and too messy. "I want you to sit on my face. I'll take care of you, baby," you promised.
You could see the fear in her eye but also the curiosity, the excitement. Tapping her hips, you helped her get settled above you. She hovered over you, just out of reach. You could feel the heat of her on your chin and your mouth watered.
"Won't I crush you?"
"I'll let you know if I need to tap out." You wouldn't need to but if it reassured Alexia, you would promise her anything. Dragging your hands up her thighs, you settled them on her ass. "Ready?" Alexia gave the smallest nod and you yanked, pulling her flush down on top of you. Her hands flew to the top of the headboard to hang on.
Using your whole tongue, you licked from her entrance all the way up to her clit in one broad stroke. "You taste amazing," you sighed into her. You let your tongue explore, sliding up and through her folds, over the sensitive bundle of nerves that was already jerking. Closing your lips over her clit, you let your tongue swirl around it a few times before returning to the flat broad strokes. Alexia's taste was intoxicating.
Alexia gasped above her, one of her hands coming down to play with her chest. You glanced up, burning the image of Alexia into your mind. You moved her other hand to her chest as well, encouraging her to give into the feeling fully.
You continued your work, moving to pay her clit some attention before sliding your tongue down further, sliding into Alexia. Alexia was talking above you, no coherent sounds coming from her. You gripped her tighter as you felt her start to slide, her muscles clearly having turned to Jello above you.
You had one goal and one goal only - make Alexia fall completely apart.
Anything that pulled an extra twitch or moan out of Alexia got extra attention. When it started to become too much, Alexia reached down and grasped your hair, holding it tight. You slid your tongue back into her and Alexia moved her hips, fucking herself on your tongue.
It's how you knew she had finally given in. She wasn't worried about anything but pleasure now. And that drove you crazy. You squeezed your own thighs together, feeling the slick spread around your thighs. When Alexia's thighs tightened around your head, you dove deeper, trying to pull everything she had to offer, every bit of pleasure she had in her, out to the surface.
"Baby, I'm gonna cum." She said it like a warning.
You figured you weren't working hard enough if she was still saying full sentences. You drew away from her, letting air move between you. She whined at the loss of contact. Moving your hand between her legs, you pushed two fingers into her without warning and attacked her clit with your tongue. You set a furious pace, intent on making her lose her mind.
"Baby," she whined. Her hips were moving fast, trying to keep up with the pace you had set, that you weren't letting her out of. As her movements became messier, your own pleasure grew. Finally. She was giving in to you, to herself, to this feeling you were creating together.
The orgasm took you both by surprise, moving into her so fast it left her breathless, gasping. You fucked her through it, letting your fingers slow but giving her something to clench onto. You gave yourself the pleasure of licking through her a few more times as you withdrew your fingers. She whined again, pushing your head back.
"Too sensitive?" you asked. She nodded, unable to speak. Success. Wrapping an arm around her waist, you brought her down to lay next to you. When you could feel her eyes back on you, you lifted your fingers, the ones still covered in Alexia, to your mouth and sucked them clean. "Damn, Ale, you taste good," you moaned.
"Jesus," she said, when she could breathe again. "You're trying to kill me."
"Can't have that. We're just getting started."
"Oh obviously. I haven't even had my lunch yet."
The laugh was automatic. You didn't know how the both of you had managed it, but in your first time together, you'd found the balance between sexy and best friend, between breathy moans and laughter, between coming apart and coming together. It shouldn't have surprised you. You two had always been in sync with each other.
"I just need a minute," she said, sliding a hand up your thigh to rest at your waist. You bit your lip to keep the moan from escaping. Pleasing Alexia had turned you on so much you weren't sure how long you could hold on. But you wanted to. For her. For her to get the same pleasure of tasting you for the first time.
After her allotted minute, she turned her head to look at you, leaning her head towards you for a kiss. She grabbed your jaw in her hand, holding you in place, groaning as the taste of herself hit her tongue. Her hand moved down, stopping to squeeze one of your boobs before continuing down over toned abs to your heat. When her finger slid through, she broke the kiss.
"You're so wet," she said in fascination.
"That's what you do to me, babe."
"Oh my god." She moved her fingers through your slick folds a few times, unable to believe this was because of her. You moved your hips into her hand, trying to get her to touch you where you wanted. "Aren't you a needy girl?"
"I need you, Ale." You were on the verge of begging. "Please."
Alexia moved down the bed, positioning herself between your legs. You widened your legs for her, giving her room. She used two fingers to spread you open and used the flat of her tongue to swipe through you, causing your eyes to roll back in your head.
"Fuck, that feels so good."
"You taste incredible." She moved her tongue through you slowly, deliberately. You looked down to find her looking up at your face, which nearly sent you over the edge. She reached up for your hand, lacing her fingers with yours over your stomach. "Relax, baby," she mumbled when you strained against her.
Keeping her eyes on yours, she put her mouth back to work. But this time, there was nothing soft about it. Now she was devouring.
Her tongue moved quickly, searching, swirling, her lips closing over your clit to suck. You had lost your mind. The heat had spread throughout your entire body. Her tongue pushed into you, and you moaned, completely at her will.
It wasn't perfect. You were still learning each other. But it was so fucking hot. Alexia was eating you like it was her job. And she had always been really devoted to her job.
"Ale, don't stop. Don't - ah." Your body bowed back, your hand going up to grip the pillow below your head. She whined into you when your muscles tightened around her tongue. You was so close, barely hanging on. "I'm so close."
Alexia continued the same movements until you fell apart, your legs fighting to stay open and not kill Alexia between your thighs, your entire body pulsing. Alexia's moans vibrating against your clit making it more intense.
"God that was so fucking hot," she said when your body stopped shaking. She crawled up, hovering over you. "You're incredible." She leans in and kisses you, the taste of yourself on her tongue sweet. "You okay?"
"Perfect." You tipped your face back towards her, needing her to keep kissing you. She kissed, cupping your face to hold you to her.
When your body calmed down, you rolled off the bed. Alexia stared at you, nerves clear on her face. You leaned over and gave her a small kiss. "Give me a minute."
Not caring that you were completely naked, you walked out of the room to the bathroom across the hall and got a washcloth. You turned on the faucet, waiting for the water to warm and wet it, wringing out the extra water.
In the bedroom, Alexia was still laying on the bed, waiting for you. You nudged her legs apart and cleaned her up. She stared up at you in awe. You used the same washcloth to quickly clean yourself. Dropping it near the door, you climbed back onto the bed and pulled Alexia into you. You let your hands wander, left small kisses on her shoulder, her forehead, the side of her head. These touches weren't to turn her on. These touches were to comfort. To keep you connected.
She pulled the blanket from the bottom of the bed and covered both of you. Tucking her head into the curve of your neck, she threw her arm around your waist.
"I need a nap," she mumbled. "And then we're doing that again."
And That’s How It Works (That’s How You Get The Girl) | Ona Batlle
warnings: m for major fluff
word count: 678
summary: a short sequel to last year’s fic for ona’s birthday, Birthday Presents
a/n: unedited because i rushed to write this a whole hour before 10 june ended for me but happy international ona batlle day 🤣
It’s late at night by the time your love arrives home from national camp.
You’re already in bed and Ona’s gaze softens as she sets her bag down quietly.
You are sleeping on her side of the bed, wearing one of her oversized t-shirts.
Ona doesn’t know it but the whole time she’s been away, you’ve been sleeping on her side of the bed, more often than not, wearing her clothes.
It is Ona’s familiar, comforting smell that you have grown to love, on her pillow and on her clothes that gets you to sleep when she isn’t there to hold you.
Your England teammates often teased you when you wore Ona’s clothes at national camp but you didn’t care.
It was rare for you to sleep without Ona, England camps being the only times you do so and she had never seen you sleep in your shared bed, without her.
This is the one exception because you had gotten injured, right before the international break.
A concussion had kept you from attending your national camp and had nearly kept Ona from hers because you had barely been able to convince her to go.
Your girlfriend had been very worried, anxiously wondering if it would be better for you if she stayed to look after you.
While her concern had melted your heart, you had insisted she go to Spain. Millie and Hannah would come and check in on you, you promised.
Still, Ona had called or texted you every chance she had. She made time in her busy training schedule to frequently remind you to take your medicine and rest.
You love her, you really really do. How could you not when she so clearly cares for and loves you as much as she does?
Ona finishes changing into a more comfortable set of clothes and then climbs into bed with you.
She lightly pushes loose strands of hair out of your face before kissing you awake.
Sleepily, you reach for her.
‘Need cuddles.’
‘Okay.’ Ona murmurs, more than happy to put her arms around you.
You press yourself closer to her, fingers closing tightly around the material of her shirt.
‘I missed your cuddles when you were gone.’ You admit.
The Spaniard brushes a feather light kiss onto your hair, ‘Spots was no help?’
That had been the other thing she had done, that had melted your heart, bringing new depth to the love you had for the brunette.
She had left the stuffed cheetah you had gifted her with, for her birthday last year, with you while she had gone for national camp.
The cheetah that she had been inseparable with for a year.
When Ona had video called you one night, during the international break, Mapi had expressed her displeasure at the absence of their designated team mascot.
Ona had simply flicked the older woman’s ear in response, saying that you needed Spots more.
Despite Ona’s efforts to leave you with some form of comfort in her keenly felt absence, it wasn’t the same as having your girlfriend with you.
And you tell her as much, mumbling, ‘She wasn’t good enough. Not as good as you mi amor.’
‘Naughty Spots.’ Ona teases.
Rather smugly, you say, ‘I put her in the laundry basket.’
Your girlfriend tries really hard not to laugh, kissing your forehead gently.
‘A wash will do her good.’
You huff, fingers slipping under Ona’s shirt in search of the skin to skin contact you craved with her, ‘I hope she drowns.’
At that, the Spanish fullback that you are oh so in love with is no longer able to hold her laughter in, dissolving into a fit of giggles.
‘I’ll forgive you for saying that simply because I missed you so much amor.’
Ona kisses you sweetly and makes sure you’re covered by the blanket before she settles down for the night.
With your love back beside you, it’s not long before you’re falling back asleep again, this time into a much more fitful rest, with a smile on your face.
summary: You had a lot on your plate: a little sister to raise, two jobs to juggle, and a massive secret. For years, you had been secretly working at a strip club to fund your sister’s needs: from school trips to football kits. Between keeping a secret and making ends meet, there was no room in your life for anything else, especially not romance.
Meeting Alexia Putellas made that a little difficult.
tags: stripper!Reader, slight age gap, client!Alexia, angst, smut, secret/forbidden relationship, drama, femme!Reader, minimal use of YN, lap dances, suggestive content, strap r!Receiving, cunnilingus r!Receiving, cursing, use of pet names, tldr: u meet alexia when she attends irene's bachelorette in the club u work at (irene not yet married in this fic haha)
index
— fic playlist
— moodboards
— chapter one
tags: 18+, 16k words, smutty content, mature scenes and themes
— chapter two
tags: 18+, 17k words, smutty content
— chapter three
tags: wip
taglist below the cut; reblog/comment on latest chapter if you want to be added!
You and Alexia Putellas have never liked each other.She thinks you’re uptight and impossible to please. You think she’s arrogant, emotionally unavailable, and incapable of committing to anyone for longer than a few months.The only thing you have in common are your best friends, a happily married couple with a one year old daughter.But when a tragic accident leaves that little girl orphaned, everything changes, because hidden inside their will is one final surprise.They named you and Alexia as the legal guardians.
Part 9
Word Count: 7.5k
The room was almost silent, not truly silent hospitals never were, there was always something. The soft rhythm of monitors, the quiet hiss of oxygen, footsteps passing outside, the occasional murmur of nurses changing shifts.
You sat beside Olivia's bed, exactly where you'd been for hours, you hadn't moved, not really.
One hand rested gently on the top of her head, your thumb stroking slowly backwards and forwards through her impossibly soft hair.
The movement was instinctive now, the same one you'd used every night when she struggled to sleep, your eyes never left her.
She looked so small the hospital bed swallowed her whole, tiny fingers disappeared beneath layers of blankets. One arm lay outside them, taped carefully where the IV disappeared into the back of her hand, a pulse oximeter wrapped around one little finger. Heart monitor leads disappeared beneath her gown, machines quietly confirmed what you already knew.
Heart rate, respiratory rate, Oxygen saturation, numbers you'd spent years reading without emotion.
Today they were the only things stopping you from falling apart, she looked peaceful, her little chest rose and fell steadily. A dummy rested against her cheek where it'd slipped from her mouth sometime after she'd been sedated to keep her calm.
You reached over, gently brushing a curl away from her forehead looking to the clock, you knew Alexia would still be on the pitch, you just wished time would go quicker.
🍼
The car hadn't even fully stopped outside the emergency department before Alexia was opening the door.
She ran past reception, past the waiting area, all she wanted was to find you.
She reached the paediatric department, the automatic doors slid open and a wall of noise hit her, children crying somewhere further inside monitors beeped steadily, parents sat with exhausted expressions.
Alexia's eyes darted everywhere, then she spotted you immediately, still wearing the same clothes you'd left the hotel in that morning, hair uncharacteristically a mess sitting in one of the chairs outside a treatment room.
You looked up as she approached, the relief on your face was instant, "Ale."
She was in front of you in seconds, "What happened?" Her hands found your arms immediately, "Where's Olivia?" she asked pulling you into a hug as you burst out crying a hand cradling your head as she kissed your forehead.
You wiped at your tears trying to pull yourself together, "She's having an MRI scan" You guided Alexia into the empty room Olivia was just in, "She should be back soon"
"What happened?"
"She had a seizure"
Alexia stared at you, for a moment she didn't speak, didn't breathe the words didn't seem to register, "She..." Her voice came out barely above a whisper, "...had a seizure?"
You nodded once, your eyes red raw from crying, "She'd just started walking." You rubbed your hands together nervously, "She took a few steps towards me... then she tripped." You swallowed hard, "It wasn't even a hard fall." You stared at the floor, "She cried for a minute I picked her up I cuddled her, I thought..." Your voice cracked, "I thought she'd be alright."
Alexia quietly pulled another chair over until it was directly beside yours. She reached for your hand, you held on immediately, you squeezed your eyes shut.
"I should know better. I'm a doctor, I should've—"
"No." Alexia's voice was firmer now, you looked at her, "You stop that." She took your face gently between both hands until you couldn't look anywhere except at her.
Her thumb brushed away the tears still falling, your shoulders shook, "I froze." You whispered, "For a second...I froze."
Alexia rested her forehead against yours, "You got her here." Her voice softened.
You broke then, really broke, "I was so scared." The words dissolved into sobs, "So..." You struggled to breathe, "...so scared."
Alexia wrapped both arms around you, pulling you against her chest, you buried your face into her shoulder, "I know." She whispered into your hair, "I know."
You cried for several minutes, neither of you cared who walked past the room. Eventually your breathing steadied enough for Alexia to ask quietly, "What have they said?"
You rubbed tiredly at your face, "The CT didn't show any bleeding." Alexia visibly sagged with relief, "But..."
You couldn't quite make yourself continue, her stomach tightened again, "But?"
"They're worried because of the seizure." You nodded towards the corridor, "They've taken her for an MRI. They want to make sure there's no injury the CT couldn't pick up."
Alexia looked towards the empty doorway as though she could somehow see through the walls to where Olivia was, "Has she..." Her voice caught, "...has she woken up?"
You nodded slowly, "Briefly. She's been under a mild sedation for the scans and things"
"And?"
"She cried." Your own voice cracked again, "She didn't understand why strangers were touching her." You smiled sadly through fresh tears, "She just kept reaching for me."
Alexia closed her eyes.
"And then they gave her a top to help her settle before the scan."
Silence settled between you, Alexia squeezed your hand again, "You've been here on your own?" You nodded, "You called me."
"I knew you were playing but I knew if they told you, you'd come."
Alexia looked at you with an expression so full of love it almost hurt, "There was nowhere else I was ever going to be."
You gave a tiny nod, "I know."
A gentle knock interrupted the silence., both of you looked up, one of the paediatric nurses smiled softly from the doorway, "They're just bringing Olivia back now."
You and Alexia were both on your feet before she'd even finished speaking.
A moment later the bed appeared around the corner, Olivia looked impossibly tiny beneath the blankets, still sleepy, still pale her curls flattened where they'd been tucked beneath the MRI head supports.
The porter carefully wheeled her back into the room as soon as the brakes clicked into place, you were beside her again, your hand immediately finding her hair.
Alexia moved to the other side of the bed, she reached carefully for Olivia's tiny hand, avoiding the IV taped to the back of it.
Olivia stirred, her eyelids fluttered slowly very slowly she opened her eyes, for a second she looked confused.
Then she saw you, "Mama..." The tiny whisper was barely audible.
Your eyes immediately filled again, "I'm here, baby." You bent down, kissing her forehead, "Look who's here."
Olivia's gaze drifted across the bed, "...Ale."
Alexia let out a shaky laugh that sounded suspiciously like a sob, "Hi, princesca."
She kissed the back of Olivia's little hand, "We're both here." Neither of you let go, and neither of you intended to.
A soft knock came at the door, a consultant neurologist stepped inside, followed by one of the paediatric registrars you'd worked with before.
You immediately stood, doctor mode threatened to take over again.
The registrar noticed, "You can stay where you are." You nodded, but couldn't quite bring yourself to sit.
"So..." The doctor smiled reassuringly, "We've reviewed Olivia's MRI." Your stomach tightened, "There is some good news."
You instinctively reached for Alexia's hand, she intertwined her fingers with yours.
"The scan is completely normal." The breath you hadn't realised you'd been holding escaped all at once, "No bleeding or swelling and no evidence of structural injury."
You closed your eyes, Alexia's head dropped forward with relief, "Oh thank God..." She whispered.
The consultant continued, "We believe Olivia has suffered what's called an impact seizure." You nodded slowly, he recognised the look, "I imagine you already know what that means."
"I do." You answered quietly., "But..." You looked up and glanced to Alexia, "...could you explain it anyway?"
He smiled knowingly, "Of course." He glanced briefly towards Alexia, "Sometimes after a bang to the head, particularly in young children, the brain essentially has a temporary electrical overload. It can cause a seizure. It looks incredibly frightening, but..." He smiled gently, "...on its own, it doesn't necessarily mean theres anything to worry about."
Alexia looked between the two of you, "So..."
The consultant nodded, "We're optimistic. We'll keep her overnight for observation, If she remains ok in herself and has no further seizures or concerning neurological changes then she'll be able to go home tomorrow."
You finally sat back down, your legs suddenly didn't feel capable of holding you anymore, "I thought" Your voice was barely audible, "...I'd missed something."
The consultant looked at you kindly, "I've read your notes from the emergency department. You recognised the seizure immediately. You protected her airway. You even thought to time it. You handed over every important detail before she'd even reached us." He shook his head gently, "You didn't miss anything. You did exactly what I'd hope any A&E doctor would do."
Your eyes filled again, "I wasn't her doctor." You admitted quietly, "I was just" You looked at Olivia sleeping peacefully between you and Alexia, "I was just terrified."
The consultant smiled, "I can imagine." He glanced between the pair of you, "She is very lucky."
When he left, neither of you spoke for a long while, eventually Alexia broke the silence, "You know" She looked down at Olivia, "...I have never been so scared in my life I've played World Cup finals, thought my career was done when i tore my ACL, I've played in front of ninety thousand people." She shook her head slowly, "None of that..." Her voice caught, "felt anything like trying to get here today."
You squeezed her hand, you understood, "I know." You whispered.
The room fell quiet again, Olivia sighed in her sedated state, her tiny fingers twitched before finding both of your hands resting beside hers.
One little hand settled over yours, the other over Alexia's, holding both, completely unconsciously.
Alexia looked down and smiled through fresh tears, "Bossy even when she's asleep."
A small laugh escaped you, "Wonder where she gets that from."
Alexia looked sideways at you, "I'm choosing not to answer."
You rested your head gently against Olivia's pillow, for the first time since the ambulance doors had closed you finally felt your breathing slow, because Olivia was safe and the three of you were together again.
For now that was enough.
🍼
The ward had quietened, lights had been dimmed, the bustle of the afternoon had given way to the soft rhythm of the night staff.
Olivia slept between the two of you, one tiny hand still resting across both of yours as though making sure neither of you disappeared.
Neither of you had moved for nearly an hour, eventually you spoke, "So..."
Alexia turned her head slightly, "Hm?"
You smiled tiredly at Olivia, "I think we should probably address the fact she's calling me mama."
Alexia looked down at the sleeping toddler, then back at you, "I was wondering when you were going to."
You let out a quiet breath, "I don't know how I feel about it."
Alexia didn't answer immediately, she waited.
"I mean..." You searched for the words, "part of me" Your eyes stayed fixed on Olivia, "...part of me loves it." Your throat tightened, "And I feel guilty even saying that." Your voice became quieter, "But every time she does" You blinked away fresh tears, "I feel like I'm stealing something that belongs to Sofia and Marta."
Alexia reached over, gently rubbing your arm.
"They should have heard it first." You whispered, "They should've been there, the ones crying when she said mama. They deserved that."
The room was silent for a few moments, then Alexia spoke, "They did deserve that." You looked at her, "They deserved every first. All of it."
She looked down at Olivia.
"And it's desperately unfair that they don't get those moments." She paused, "But..." Her hand found yours again, "you aren't taking there place."
You frowned, "It feels like I am."
She shook her head gently, "Sofia and Marta being her mothers doesn't disappear because she calls you mama. They're still her mother's. They always will be."
You looked away, "I just" Your voice was barely audible, "don't want her to forget them."
Alexia smiled sadly, "She won't. She might not remember them, but forgetting someone" she squeezed your hand, "requires knowing them first."
The words settled heavily between you.
"We'll tell her." Alexia continued, "Over and over. We'll tell her how ridiculous Sofia was."
A watery laugh escaped you, "She was ridiculous."
"And how Marta pretended she wasn't emotional."
You smiled, "She cried at everything."
"Exactly." Alexia smiled too, "We'll tell her how excited they were to meet her. How much they loved her. How impossible they found it to stop talking about her."
You nodded slowly, "She'll know them."
Alexia looked at Olivia, "Through us."
You brushed a finger over Olivia's curls, "I've thought about correcting her." You admitted "When she says mama, I did the first time" Alexia looked at you, your eyes filled again, "It's horrible to find so much joy in something you feel so guilty about"
Neither of you spoke for a little while, then Alexia smiled softly, "You know..."
"Hm?" You looked at her.
"I think she's saying mama" Alexia glanced affectionately towards the sleeping toddler, "because that's what love she holds for you."
You closed your eyes, a tear escaped anyway, "I don't know if I'm ready for that." you looked back down at the little girl sleeping peacefully between you.
Her tiny lips moved in her sleep, a sleepy murmur escaped, "Hungee..."
This time neither of you cried, Alexia simply smiled, and quietly whispered to the little girl, "You've always had a way of making me smile, cariño."
She looked at you before finishing.
"You and mama both do."
🍼
Alexia had climbed carefully onto the hospital bed, mindful of every wire and monitor attached to Olivia.
Now the little girl was tucked securely against her side, one tiny fist curled into the front of Alexia's shirt as she lay contently.
You stood nearby, watching them both a soft knock interrupted the quiet.
You glanced towards the door before walking over and pulling it open, Eli and Alba stood outside.
Alba held a small overnight bag,Eli clutched Olivia's well-loved stuffed rabbit beneath one arm and a McDonald's bag in the other.
You smiled tiredly,"Hi."
"We don't want to keep you," Alba said quietly, holding out the bag. "Or interrupt. We just thought... Alexia might want a change of clothes."
You accepted it gratefully, "Thank you."
Eli held out the rabbit,"And Olivia might want her rabbit."
You took it gently, the familiar little toy made something tighten painfully in your chest, then Alba lifted the paper bag with a sheepish smile.
"We were grabbing some food anyway, so we picked some up for you both. We figured you'd probably be hungry."
You looked between the three things now filling your hands, "You didn't have to do all this."
Eli reached over, giving your arm a gentle squeeze, "It's nothing, honestly." Her eyes searched yours, "...Is she okay?"
You nodded, "Do you want to eat with us?"
Both women immediately shook their heads,"Oh no," Eli smiled. "We wouldn't want to intrude."
"You're not intruding." You stepped aside, opening the door wider, "You're family. Please."
They exchanged a small look before slowly walking inside the moment they saw Olivia lying in the hospital bed amongst the monitors and IV lines, both of them visibly faltered, their smiles disappeared.
The reality of it all landing much harder than hearing about it over the phone. Both women instinctively lowered their voices even further as though the room itself demanded it.
Alexia noticed immediately, "She's awake." She smiled reassuringly, "It's okay."
You smiled softly towards the bed, "Look who's here."
Olivia peered over Alexia's stomach before recognising them, one little arm slowly lifted away from her chest to point at them.
Eli's face softened instantly, she stepped over, gently taking Olivia's tiny hand, "You gave us all quite the scare, cariño."
Olivia simply blinked sleepily.
Alexia carefully kissed the top of her head, "I'm just going to change out of my stinky kit."
The reaction was immediate, Olivia's grip tightened ger little bottom lip wobbled dangerously.
Alexia laughed softly, "I'll come back, I promise. I'm just going to the bathroom."
The wobble became even more dramatic, before the tears could arrive, Alba stood beside the bed, holding out both arms, "Shall Olivia and Alba have a cuddle?" She smiled brightly, "Yeah?"
Olivia looked between Alexia then Alba, to everyone's surprise she reached for Alba.
Eli touched with Alba's back with gentle encouragement, "Sit with her, Alba." Alba sat on the bed leaning back as Olivia tucked herself into her arm.
Alexia disappeared into the bathroom with the overnight bag, you wandered back over as Eli unpacked the food onto the little hospital table.
You leaned gently on the side of the bed looking at Olivia, "Who's that?" You pointed towards Alba, "Who are you cuddling with?"
Olivia rested comfortably against her, then with complete confidence, she lifted one finger towards Alba's face, "Silly Abba."
A quiet laugh escaped you, "Yeah..." You smiled warmly, "That's your silly Alba."
Alba immediately looked away, biting down on her lip as her eyes filled, she blinked rapidly, trying desperately not to cry in front of Olivia.
Eli noticed, without saying a word, she reached over and squeezed Alba's shoulder.
Olivia, completely oblivious to the emotion she'd caused, reached up and patted Alba's cheek with one tiny hand, "Silly Abba."
Alba laughed through the tears she'd failed to hide, "Oh, carino." She kissed the top of Olivia's curls.
🍼
By the following afternoon, Olivia had made her opinion on being allowed home very clear, she wanted to swim.
Apparently, the hospital had been an inconvenience she'd already decided to move on from. You found out Alexia often brought Olivia to her home to make use of the pool and she absolutely loved it at Alexia's.
You'd barely finished helping her into the tiny swimming costume Alexia had produced from a cupboard before she was pointing enthusiastically towards the garden doors.
"Wa'er!"
Alexia laughed from the kitchen, "I told you."
You shook your head, smiling, "She had a seizure yesterday."
"And today she wants the pool. Children they're resilient." Alexia disappeared upstairs before calling down, "Y/N?"
"Yeah?"
"I've left something on my bed."
You frowned but headed upstairs anyway, sitting neatly folded on the bed was a dark green bikini.
You blinked, Alexia appeared in the doorway a second later in a hoodie a bikini under it.
"I thought" She rubbed the back of her neck, "if you're getting in with her, you probably don't want to do it in your clothes."
You picked up the bikini, "You own a spare bikini?"
She smiled, "I own several."
You laughed, "Of course you do."
"It should fit."
You looked between the bikini and her, "You've somehow guessed my size?"
Alexia's ears pinkened almost instantly, "I" She cleared her throat, "...educated guess."
"Hm." You looked at her knowingly, "Very educated."
She looked everywhere except your face, "I'll... go get in the pool with Olivia."
You couldn't stop yourself smiling as she made a very quick exit.
A few minutes later, you stepped out into the garden, the bikini fit perfectly, almost suspiciously perfectly.
Olivia was already in the pool with Alexia, kicking her little legs excitedly.
The moment Alexia looked up she stopped, entirely.
You almost smiled, "Well?" You asked, "You guessed right."
Alexia swallowed, "...Yeah."
She hadn't expected that, not really. She'd pictured it, of course she had, but imagination and reality turned out to be two very different things.
The afternoon sun caught your skin, your hair was up from tying it back, something Alexia learned she liked very quickly, you with your hair up.
The dark green somehow suited you better than it ever had her, Alexia became acutely aware she'd been looking for far too long.
She tore her eyes away, "Olivia wants you to get in."
"Mhm."
You answered, already smiling because you knew exactly what had just happened.
You crouched at the side of the pool, smiling at Olivia, "Ready?"
The little girl nodded enthusiastically, "Wa'er!"
You lowered yourself carefully into the shallow end, she squealed immediately, tiny hands slapped happily against the surface, sending little splashes in every direction.
Alexia's attention stayed firmly on Olivia, very firmly, exceptionally firmly, almost unnaturally firmly, "You can look, you know."
Alexia blinked, "What?"
"I'm just saying, you're making a remarkable effort not to when you don't have to"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Mhm."
"I don't."
"You've looked everywhere in this garden except at me."
"I've looked at you."
"Barely."
"I've looked enough."
You laughed, "So now you're rationing it?"
Alexia sighed dramatically, "You are impossible."
You smiled and she risked another glance, just one, it lasted perhaps half a second before she looked back at Olivia again.
"I am trying to be respectful."
You couldn't help smiling, "Alexia."
"Hm?"
"I've seen you stare at cake for longer than that."
She burst into laughter, "That is completely different."
"Is it?"
"Very."
"Because?"
"Cake doesn't turn me on"
You grinned, "So that's the issue?"
Alexia immediately realised what she'd admitted, she groaned, rubbing a hand over her face, "I walked into that."
"You sprinted into it."
Olivia looked between the two of you before deciding neither of you were paying enough attention to her. She slapped both hands into the water as hard as she could, water splashed straight over the pair of you.
Cold water hit Alexia square in the face and she stared at Olivia in mock disbelief, "You little menace."
Olivia shrieked with laughter, you laughed just as hard, Alexia looked over this time she didn't immediately look away, her eyes met yours. There was amusement there, affection something softer than either of you had quite found the courage to name yet.
"You know" She said quietly, "I think this bikini looks much better on you than it ever did on me."
You felt warmth creep into your cheeks despite yourself, "You've finally admitted you were looking."
Alexia smiled, "I never said I wasn't."
"You absolutely did."
"I changed my mind."
You laughed, shaking your head, "I noticed."
Before either of you could say anything else, Olivia splashed you both again, giggling so hard she nearly toppled backwards into Alexia's waiting arms.
"Alright" Alexia laughed, lifting her higher out of the water, "I think someone likes having both her people in the pool."
Olivia beamed at the pair of you.
You laughed as Olivia splashed both of you again, “Right, little fish, I think that's enough." You said as you carefully lifted yourself out of the pool sitting on the edge, water cascading down your skin as you sat on the warm edge, pulling your hair over one shoulder to squeeze the excess water out.
The sun was warm against your skin as Olivia squealed happily as Alexia spun slowly with her in the water, Olivia's giggles echoed around the garden, "Again!" you heard Alexia laugh as Olivia kicked her little legs.
Alexia looked up and stopped, her eyes travelled over you far less subtly than they had ten minutes ago.
You raised an eyebrow immediately, as a grin spread across her face,” Ay Olivia" she said casually, "who knew your mama had a body like that?"
You nearly choked, “Alexia!"She looked entirely unashamed.
Olivia just laughed because Alexia was laughing, Alexia shrugged innocently, “What? She doesn't understand."
You pointed accusingly at her, “That is not the point!" She grinned wider.
Olivia looked at you and clapped her hands, “Mama!"
Alexia looked at Olivia with complete seriousness, “I know, princesa. Ale agrees."
You covered your face with both hands, “Oh my God."
Alexia walked closer to the edge of the pool, still holding Olivia securely against her, "Do you think it's nap time, princesca?" Olivia yawned immediately as if on cue and Alexia gasped dramatically, “Look at that." Then she looked directly at you, “Ale needs to help mama get out of that bikini."
You stared at her, ompletely stunned, “Alexia!" She burst into laughter, you pointed at her in complete disbelief, “You've gone from being stupidly respectful to... that!"
Alexia lifted Olivia higher against her hip as she climbed out of the pool, "Well I tried respectful."
"And?"
She smiled shamelessly, “I didn't enjoy it nearly as much."
"You practically needed permission to look at me 15 minutes ago!”
"I did."
"And now?"
Alexia walked closer, water dripping from her hair, entirely unapologetic, “Now I know I'm allowed to look." You stared at her, she smiled slow and confident, dangerously charming, “And I like what I'm looking at." You felt warmth rush straight to your cheeks. Unfortunately for you, Alexia noticed that too.
"Come on then, little fish." Alexia shifted Olivia higher onto her hip. The little girl was already rubbing sleepy fists against her eyes, all the excitement of the pool finally catching up with her, she glanced towards you, "I'll get her dried off and down for a nap."
You watched her disappear into the house, Olivia's head found Alexia's shoulder almost immediately, one tiny arm wrapped around her neck as Alexia kissed the side of her head on the way inside.
"You are so sleepy, princesa."
You heard Olivia mumble something unintelligible.
Alexia answered as though she'd understood every word, "I know."
The patio doors slid shut behind them, silence settled over the garden.
You leaned back on your hands, letting the afternoon sun warm your still damp skin.
Your eyes drifted towards the now still pool as your mind wandered.
You'd been so busy reacting to Alexia's shameless comments that you hadn't really allowed yourself to acknowledge the obvious.
She'd looked ridiculously good. The black bikini she'd been wearing had fitted her like it'd been designed specifically for her strong shoulders, tanned skin still glistening with water. The defined muscles in her arms every time she'd lifted Olivia into the air, her stomach.
The tattoos, even the way she'd laughed her head tipped back. completely carefree.
You groaned quietly, you'd always known she was attractive, anyone with functioning eyesight knew Alexia Putellas was attractive and happened to look like that in a bikini.
You let out a long breath, as the patio door slid open again.
You looked up instinctively, Alexia stepped back outside, hair now tied into a messy bun, sunglasses resting on top of her head.
You couldn't stop your eyes travelling over her for the briefest second.
Alexia caught it immediately, a slow smile spread across her face, "What?"
You looked away far too quickly, "Nothing."
"Mhm."
She folded her arms, "You've been looking at me."
"I have not."
"You absolutely have."
You rolled your eyes, "I was merely" You searched desperately for something believable, "checking you'd remembered to dry off."
Alexia laughed, "Oh, was that it?"
"Yes."
"Interesting." She took another step closer, "Because from where I was standing" Her smile grew, "it looked a lot like you were checking me out."
You watched her with narrowed eyes as she prowled closer to the pool’s edge. Alexia shrugged out of her hoodie and tossed it onto a lounge chair. She dropped her sunglasses alongside it, then, without preamble, walked straight to where you sat, legs dangling in the blue.
Her shadow flickered over your knees, you didn’t move. You didn’t have the sense or the will to move.
“Is there room for one more?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for a reply.
You watched as she dipped her toes, then slid into the water, resurfacing with a quick, practiced flick of her head. The droplets caught the light, scattered like glass beads over her neck and shoulders. She treaded water, took a hand to slick her hair back, and then drifted toward you until she was close enough that your knees pressed against her collarbones.
You should have said something, anything. Instead, your breath came shallow, a tremor in your thigh you hoped she didn’t notice.
She settled herself between your legs, hands braced casually on either side of your hips, and looked up, “I think I like this view.”
You snorted, but it came out thin and shaky, “Is that so.”
She grinned, leaning in to rest her chin just above your knee. “Mhm.” Her voice went low, almost a growl, “But I still think the bikini looks better on you.”
You rolled your eyes, but your skin burned where she touched it, “Bold claim.”
She ran her palms up your thighs, slow, deliberate, “I like to be bold.”
You tried for a retort, but the words died as she pressed a kiss to the inside of your knee, then another, higher. The sun was suddenly too hot, the world too sharp. You tried to glare at her, but she only smiled with a lazy confidence that made your heart stutter.
She kissed up carefully, like she was savouring some new and precious discovery. When she reached the hem of the bikini, she hesitated a question in her eyes. You felt it, the simmering tension of the moment, and you tipped your chin in the smallest nod.
“Still want me to be respectful?” she asked, voice ragged at the edges.
A shake of your head, then she ducked again, mouth hot and wet and perfect along the inside of your thigh.
Alexia’s hands slipped higher, knuckles grazing the crease at the top of your thigh. She left a trail of damp heat, mouth teasing along each centimetre upward, and when she nudged your bikini aside and set her tongue to work, you nearly slipped off the edge entirely.
She steadied you with a tight grip around your hips, pinning you in place, then licked a slow, deliberate stripe. The sun was on your shoulders and the world narrowed to the warm press of her mouth, the scrape of her teeth, the low hum she made as you shuddered underneath her.
You fisted your hands in the pool towel but the sound that came from you was nothing like restraint. Alexia grinned against your skin, then redoubled her efforts, relentless, single minded, like she’d decided this was her afternoon’s work. She pulled you closer to the edge of the pool, your calves braced around her neck, and the slip of tile against your back did nothing to ground you.
You felt the groan in your throat more than heard it, and Alexia paused only long enough to say, “Don’t worry. The neighbours can’t hear you.” Her voice dark with satisfaction at how little control you had left.
She brought her mouth back, hands anchored at your waist, and took her time. She was methodical, attentive, absolutely ruthless each pass of her tongue seemed designed to unravel you. She must have felt the way you trembled, because she slowed until you were nearly begging. You hated how desperate you sounded, but you couldn’t stop. Not when her mouth was so good, not when her fingers dug into you like that.
You reached for her, fingers tangling in the roots of her wet hair. She looked up, flushed with pride and bright with the kind of happiness only mischief brings. There was a streak of your slick on her cheekbone and you almost lost it at the sight.
Alexia pressed two fingers inside, slow at first, then curling with authority. Her mouth followed, relentless, you squeezed your eyes shut, head tipping back, and moaned loud enough that it echoed off the garden walls.
She pumped her fingers, found that sweet, secret spot that made your moans dissolve into shameless noises you’d once only heard in movies, and she ate up every sound like it was a reward she’d earned. You heard yourself pleading once without even knowing what you’d asked for. Alexia answered you by moaning back, a muffled vibration that nearly finished you right there.
Above you the sky was clear blue, trembling in the heat, but your world telescoped to the pressure building between your legs and the glorious, obliterating tug of her mouth. You clamped down, your thighs squeezing tight around her head, and Alexia didn’t protest she just urged you on, like she wanted to see how far you’d go.
When you crested, the surge left you gasping, a convulsion that left you slumped on the pool’s edge, knees splayed, hair damp and sticky at the nape of your neck. Alexia glanced up, gaze flicking to your face for permission, and then licked a finishing stripe, slow and self satisfied.
You tried to catch your breath, but you tasted chlorine in the air and the hint of salt on your lips. Your hands spanned your own thighs in disbelief. Alexia eased her fingers free and pressed a kiss to your knee, then wiped her mouth on the back of her hand with a cocky little smirk that made you want to throttle her and kiss her, preferably both at once.
“Jesus Christ,” you managed, “You’re…” The words failed to queue.
She let her head rest on your thigh, blinking up, “Incredible? Best you’ve ever had? Internationally recognised?”
You snorted, still half dazed, “I was going to say ‘shameless,’ but yes, internationally recognised also works.” You slid a hand through her hair, the strands warm and slippery from the pool. “I can’t believe you just did that. In your backyard. In broad daylight.”
Alexia grinned, unbothered, “It’s my backyard. My rules.” She pressed her cheek to your knee, voice lowering, “And my girl.”
You snorted, “We haven’t even gone on a real date yet.”
She shrugged, all fox and trouble, “We’ll do that after. I have plans.”
You couldn’t help it, you laughed. Your body still trembled, energy frizzing with aftershocks and nerves.
Alexia straightened, hands sliding up your calves, then to your thighs, then to your waist, she pulled you down into the pool trapping your body against the pool wall, your legs wound around her waist, the both of you still in nothing but those damn bikinis, skin slick and hot, arms tight around each other. She held you there, just above the waterline, barely afloat, her hands braced beneath your thighs.
You couldn’t think, not properly, not with her mouth on yours, insistent and wild, not with the shudder of pleasure still rippling through your nerves. Your head felt light, like you’d been spun around and let go.
She pressed in, tongue begging access, and you parted for her, hungry for the taste of her.
You lost track of time whether it was minutes or hours, the sun slipping behind the neighbour’s roof, or if it remained caught immobile, like you were trapped in a time warp. You barely cared that you were half-naked in a suburban backyard, Alexia’s hands all over you, fingers carving patterns on the small of your back, your chest pressed against hers.
She groaned into your mouth, low in her chest, the kind of sound you hadn’t heard from anyone in years not directed at you, it made everything inside you combust.
Eventually, after what felt like lifetimes, the fever broke. You pressed your forehead against hers, both of you panting, reckless with endorphins, as you both grinned like idiots.
You rested there, still tangled, cheek against her temple. The pool water was cooling, the air breezing damp over your skin. You shivered, and Alexia rubbed your back, softly.
Alexia’s hand moved in slow circles on the small of your back, your bodies floating gently, anchored together in the cool water. Alexia’s hair had escaped the bun and fanned along her shoulders, the ends curling at her collarbone. She pressed a soft kiss against your jaw, then rested her chin on your shoulder, quietly.
Just the sound of the water, birds somewhere in the trees, the distant hum of a lawnmower a few gardens down.
"You know..." She rubbed absent minded circles against your side beneath the water, "I've been thinking."
"Dangerous."
She smiled, "I think" There was a slight hesitation, "the three of us should live here."
You lifted your head to look at her, "What?"
She nodded towards the garden, "I mean" She looked around, "look at this."
You followed her gaze, the pool shimmered in the afternoon sun, beyond it stretched the lawn where Olivia would undoubtedly spend hours running around one day.
"When she's bigger" Alexia continued, "she'll have somewhere outside to play in a garden, a pool. Space." You stayed quiet, "The apartment is lovely" She shrugged, "but it's still an apartment. Here she could learn to ride a bike, kick a football, run around."
You tipped your head back, water lapping at your neck, and gazed up at the trees. The thought was so outlandish it almost made you laugh, but Olivia’s giggle had sounded different here, brighter. The last apartment had thin walls and concrete everywhere and held so many good and bad memories.
You pictured the three of you, a morning with Olivia in the grass, breakfast at the patio table, the way it would feel to turn the key and step inside this luxury home as if it were already home.
She squeezed your waist gently, “I just think” Her eyes followed the sunlight dancing across the water, “this would be a nice place for her to grow up."
You smiled faintly, "You've thought about this."
"A lot." She admitted without embarrassment, "I may have even imagined where we'd put a swing."
You laughed, "You've planned the garden?"
"Only a little."
"A little?"
"Fine." She grinned, "I also know where I'd put a sandpit."
You couldn't help smiling, "You really have been thinking about this."
Alexia's smile softened, "I have." There was a long pause, then she spoke much more quietly, "It isn't really about the house."
You looked at her.
"I just" She searched for the right words, "I like waking up with you both." Your heart skipped, "I like hearing Olivia shouting for us in the mornings. I like eating breakfast together. I like” She laughed to herself, "...watching you pretend not to like me flirting with you."
"I don't pretend."
"No?"
"No."
"What do you do then?"
"I tolerate it."
Alexia smiled knowingly,"Mhm."
"I do."
She leaned her forehead lightly against yours, "I've spent years living in this house on my own." Her voice was barely above a whisper, "It stopped feeling like home a while ago."
She glanced towards the baby monitor, "Then I moved into their apartment with you and it quickly felt more like home than this place ever did. And i realised, a family makes a home.”
You reached up, your fingertips brushing lightly against her cheek, "You know I was almost convinced this conversation was about the pool."
Alexia laughed, "Well that too." She looked back at you, "Am I making a very compelling argument for Olivia?"
You narrowed your eyes playfully, "Entirely for Olivia?"
Alexia held your gaze, for a moment she looked like she might lie, instead, "Mostly."
You laughed, "I appreciate the honesty."
She rested her chin lightly against your shoulder again, "I'm not asking you to decide now." She said quietly, "I know its quick and very sudden" Another gentle squeeze around your waist, "I just wanted you to know I've been thinking about it."
You looked towards the house again, then you looked back at Alexia, "You know I’ve come to realise, I think she'd be happy anywhere as long as we're both there." Alexia didn't say anything, “I’ve held onto to this idea that if we’re there, we’re somehow close to Sofia and Marta but in a way, i feel the furthest from them there, because it's a constant reminder they aren’t here any more.”
You admitted it, not just to Alexia but to yourself.
“I think I’ve held myself hostage in that place,” you said, “Maybe it’s time to stop.”
Alexia didn’t smile, she didn’t need to, she just tucked a strand of hair behind your ear and said, “Then we’ll look at it together, when you’re ready.”
“Deal,” you said, and meant it.
You drifted for a while in the pool, legs still hooked around her hips, neither of you spoke. You just soaked in the warmth, the steadiness of her arms, the contentment on her face.
“I need a shower,” you said eventually, teeth chattering as the sun dipped behind a cloud, “I smell like chlorine and regret.”
Alexia laughed, a bright, delighted sound, “I like both.”
You splashed her on the way to the pool ladder, but she caught your wrist before you could escape. She pressed her mouth to your knuckles, then let go, “Go on. I’ll check on Olivia.”
You didn’t look back as you made your way upstairs, heart warm and pried open. You could get used to this, this house, that pool, her hand in yours.
Showering in Alexia’s house felt different than at the apartment. There was more space, more glass, a sense of being on display even behind steamed-up doors. Her shampoo smelled like citrus and something floral, and when you stepped out wrapped in a towel, you nearly ran headfirst into Alexia, who’d materialised on the landing in her hoodie, hair still dripping.
“Sorry,” she said, not moving aside.
You stood there, droplets tracing your collarbone, the air thick between you, “Do you always just stalk the hallway, or is this special?”
“I missed you,” she said, deadpan.
You rolled your eyes and edged past, but she caught your elbow lightly. “Hey,” she said, voice shifting. “I meant what I said earlier.”
“Which part?”
“That this can be our home,” she said, “whenever you want it to be.”
You studied her, unsure what to do with the swelling in your chest. Not fear, but something adjacent, maybe hope. “That’s a pretty big promise,” you said.
She smiled shy, “I’m a big promises kind of girl.”
You shook your head, gave her a half shove before ducking into the bedroom. Olivia was already in her pajamas, sprawled starfish on the bed, she stirred when you entered, blinking sleepily.
“Mama,” she said, eyes already drifting closed.
You knelt by the bed and brushed her hair back, the wet strands sticking up in soft tufts. You kissed her forehead, then her cheek for extra measure. She smelled like sunscreen, sugar, and something indefinably sweet. You whispered, “I love you, baby”
You kissed her forehead once more before carefully pulling the blanket a little higher over her tiny shoulders.
Behind you, the floor creaked, you didn't need to turn around to know it was Alexia.
She'd changed into joggers and an oversized T-shirt, her damp hair hanging loose over one shoulder.
She smiled at the sight in front of her, she came to stand beside you, both of you looking down at the sleeping little girl.
Alexia reached over, gently smoothing one of Olivia's curls away from her face.
"She looks so peaceful."
"She does."
There was something about watching Olivia sleep that always seemed to slow the world down, you looked back down at Olivia, "I think" You spoke quietly, "today felt normal." Alexia looked at you "In a good way, yesterday was awful, but today we went swimming. We laughed. She splashed us. You flirted far too much."
"I flirted the perfect amount."
"You absolutely did not."
"I disagree."
You smiled despite yourself, "My point is..." You reached down, absentmindedly rubbing your thumb over the back of Olivia's tiny hand, "it felt like a family day."
Alexia didn't answer straight away, instead she stepped a little closer until your shoulders brushed, "It did."
You let the silence settle, then quietly admitted something you hadn't expected to, "I liked it."
Alexia turned her head, "So did I."
You looked at one another, Alexia spoke carefully, "I think it's the happiest I've been in a very long time."
Your heart tightened, "I was going to say exactly the same thing."
Her fingers found yours tentatively, giving you every opportunity to pull away.
You didn't, instead you intertwined them, she smiled, "So does this mean you're going to let me keep flirting with you?"
You rolled your eyes affectionately, "I've accepted that's probably a losing battle."
"I knew you'd come around."
"I didn't say I enjoy it."
"You smiled."
"I smile at lots of things."
"You blush at me."
"I do not."
"You absolutely do."
You laughed quietly as she lifted your joined hands, pressing the gentlest kiss against your knuckles.
She gently tugged at your hand, "Come on, I'll give you a tour, so you can feel at home"
"Alexia, I'm literally in just a towel"
Alexia titled her head playfully tugging at it, "Why don't we just loose the towel all together?" You called her bluff and let the towel drop and you saw her brain short circuit for all of a second, "Why don't we start with the master bedroom?"
You giggled as she pulled you into her, her arms snaking around you as she walked you backwards out the spare room laughing with you.
You and Alexia Putellas have never liked each other.She thinks you’re uptight and impossible to please. You think she’s arrogant, emotionally unavailable, and incapable of committing to anyone for longer than a few months.The only thing you have in common are your best friends, a happily married couple with a one year old daughter.But when a tragic accident leaves that little girl orphaned, everything changes, because hidden inside their will is one final surprise.They named you and Alexia as the legal guardians.
Part 6
Word Count: 9k
A soft knock echoed through the apartment, followed by the unmistakable sound of the front door opening with the spare key Alexia had eventually found after loosing weeks ago.
"Y/N?" she called softly.
She knew the bedtime routine by now, knew that if she was too loud she'd be responsible for undoing forty five minutes of carefully negotiated sleep.
"We're here."
You smiled to yourself from inside the nursery, Olivia had finally settled, her favourite rabbit tucked beneath one arm.
You gently eased your hand away from where it had been resting on her back, waited a few seconds, then quietly stepped backwards, pulling the nursery door almost closed behind you.
The baby monitor rested in your hand as you walked into the living room, "She's just gone down"
You placed the monitor on the coffee table before finally looking up, Alexia was already watching you. Gone were the joggers and oversized hoodie she'd become so accustomed to seeing you in, instead you'd made an effort, nothing extravagant, just different.
A nice top and a short skirt showing off the legs, your hair done. The faintest hint of perfume, Alexia's eyes travelled over you before she could stop them, her throat bobbed. You were completely oblivious.
You smiled, "Well..." You folded your arms, "Don't you scrub up well."
Alexia blinked, it took her a second to recover, "You..." She cleared her throat, "You too." Her voice came out noticeably quieter than she'd intended.
You smiled, "Thank you."
Eli, who had been standing quietly beside the door, looked from Alexia to you, then back again, a knowing smile slowly appeared, she'd caught the way her daughter's eyes had lingered.
Alexia, meanwhile, was still looking at you, "You clean up alright yourself."
You laughed, "'Alright'?"
"I didn't want your ego getting too big."
"My ego?"
"You've been insufferable all week."
You gasped dramatically, "I've been lovely."
Eli couldn't help herself, she laughed and only then did you notice the two women standing just behind her, Alexia seemed to realise at the same time.
"Oh." She stepped aside, "I should probably introduce everyone." She pointed first to the older woman, "This is my Mami, Eli."
Eli smiled warmly, "So you're Y/N."
You stepped forward, offering your hand, "It's really nice to finally meet you."
Instead of shaking it, Eli gently took your hand in both of hers.
"It's lovely to meet you too" There was something immediately kind about her, comforting. You instantly understood where some of Alexia's softer moments came from.
Alexia turned to the younger woman beside her, "And this is my sister, Alba."
Alba grinned, "Hi."
"Hi."
"You know..." Alba looked you up and down before smiling, "I've heard quite a lot about you."
You looked towards Alexia, "You have?"
Alexia looked horrified, "Alba."
"What?"
Alba laughed, "I'm just saying."
"You two enjoy yourselves."
"We will." Alexia answered perhaps a little too quickly, Eli's smile only grew, Alexia noticed immediately, "Mami..."
"I didn't say anything."
"You don't have to."
"The point is..." She looked back at you, "...we're here to make sure Olivia is cared for if she wakes up."
You smiled gratefully, "Thank you, both of you. I really appreciate it."
Eli waved a hand dismissively, "We're very happy to help."
Alba nodded, "Besides..." She smiled towards the nursery door, "...I've been wanting to meet the famous Olivia."
Alexia immediately pointed a finger at her, "And no waking her up."
Alba looked offended, "I wasn't going to."
"You thought about it."
"I absolutely did."
You laughed, "I'm beginning to understand this family dynamic."
"Good luck." Alba said, "You'll need it being apart of the family now."
Alexia rolled her eyes, "Come on." Before either of them could embarrass her any further.
You picked up your keys and checked the monitor one last time, the steady sound of Olivia's breathing filled the speaker.
Satisfied, you slipped out the living room Alexia held the apartment door open for you, "After you."
You stepped into the hallway, as soon as the door closed behind you, Alba slowly turned towards her mother, "...They are so gone for each other."
Eli smiled knowingly, "I think they've both got a little way to go before they realise it themselves."
Inside the lift, blissfully unaware of the conversation one floor above, that her mother and sister had worked her out within thirty seconds of meeting you, you glanced sideways at Alexia, "So..."
"Hm?"
"You really don't look half bad."
Alexia smiled to herself, "Careful."
"Why?"
"You keep complimenting me like that..." She looked across at you, "...and I might start believing these famous moves of yours are real after all."
You laughed, shaking your head as the lift doors slid open, "You are impossible."
"And yet..." Alexia held the building door open for you, "...you still agreed to join me."
You couldn't argue with that, which judging by the smile Alexia wore all the way to the car, was victory enough for her.
🍼
The drive across Barcelona was surprisingly easy, you'd expected traffic, instead, you spent most of it listening to Alexia explain which teammates would be there.
"...and if Pina starts asking you embarrassing questions, don't answer."
You looked across at her, "Why?"
"Because she'll somehow make it everybody else's business within five minutes."
"So she's the gossip."
"The worst."
"Good to know."
Alexia smiled, "I've warned you."
You laughed, "I work in an emergency department, Alexia. I've dealt with far worse than footballers."
"Oh, she's worse."
"You say that like you're frightened of her."
"I am."
You snorted, "I don't believe that for a second."
"You should."
The dinner was being held in one of the city's waterfront hotels, the foyer buzzed with quiet conversation as club staff, coaches and players filtered inside.
Alexia barely stepped a foot into the reception before someone from the club greeted her immediately.
"Capitana." They smiled warmly, "It's lovely to see you."
"And you."
They glanced towards you, "You must be Y/N."
You smiled politely, "I am."
Alexia noticed your slight surprise, "I might have mentioned you."
"Might have?"
The staff member laughed, "We've heard wonderful things."
You shot Alexia a suspicious look, she very deliberately looked anywhere but at you, "I don't know what they're talking about." she mumbled.
"Hm."
The staff member gestured towards the dining room, "Your table's this way." You followed them through.
The room was elegant without being over the top, sound tables dressed in white linen, soft lighting, the low hum of conversation already filling the space.
Your guide stopped beside one of the tables, "There you are."
Alexia thanked them before pulling your chair out for you, you gave her an amused look, "Oh. You do have manners."
She looked mildly offended, "I always have manners."
"Mhmm."
"You'll see."
You sat down beside her and around the table already sat several familiar faces.
Patri looked up first, her grin was immediate, "Well" She looked between you and Alexia, "look who finally showed up."
Alexia sighed, "It has been approximately thirty seconds."
"I've been patiently waiting."
Patri smiled at you as she leaned back in her chair, "I've heard loads about you coming to this."
Alexia groaned quietly beside you, "Not you as well."
Pina looked up from across the table, "Wait" She pointed between the two of you, "This is the doctor?"
Alexia pinched the bridge of her nose, "Pina."
"What?" She smiled brightly at you, "Hi."
You couldn't help laughing, "Hi."
"Alexia said you were incredible in the hospital that day."
Your smile faltered slightly, "Oh."
Alexia noticed immediately, before you had chance to question, she smoothly changed the subject, "Pina. Food. Now."
Pina grinned, "Fine." She picked up the menu dramatically, "I wasn't going to interrogate her"
Patri snorted, "You absolutely were."
"I was going to ease into it."
You laughed quietly, Alexia leaned slightly closer, "I told you."
"You did."
"They're exhausting."
"I quite like them."
Alexia looked at you sideways, "Give it an hour."
Across the table, Mapi watched the exchange over the rim of her glass, she nudged Vicky with her elbow, "She's smiling."
Vicky followed her gaze, Alexia was and more than that she looked relaxed, comfortable, she looked different.
"You don't see that very often."
Mapi smiled knowingly, "No."
Meanwhile, completely oblivious to the quiet observations happening around the table, you picked up your menu. "So..." You looked at Alexia, "If Pina interrogates you..."
"Mhm?"
"am I allowed to interrogate you?"
Alexia smiled, "You can certainly try."
Patri looked up immediately, "Oh, this is going to be fun."
Alexia sighed dramatically, "I've made a terrible mistake bringing you."
"You absolutely have." You smiled, reaching for your glass, "And it's far too late to change your mind now."
Dinner settled into an easy rhythm, conversations crossed over one another around the table. Patri was halfway through telling some story to Mapi. Pina had somehow convinced Vicky to watch something on her phone. A coach at the other end of the table was discussing training plans.
Nobody was paying much attention to you or Alexia, which suited Alexia perfectly. She lifted her beer bottle to her lips, taking a slow sip before glancing sideways at you. "So..." She rested the bottle against her lower lip, a teasing smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, "About your moves."
You looked at her over the rim of your own glass, "My moves?"
"The ones you apparently have." A slow smile spread across your face, "I'm still waiting."
You set your drink down, “I don't know..."
"You've been talking a very big game."
"I have."
"So?"
You tilted your head, "I don't think I should."
"Why not?"
"Because." You let your eyes settle on hers for a second longer than usual, "I don't think you're ready."
Alexia laughed quietly, "I'm not ready?"
"No."
She folded her arms, "Try me."
You held her gaze, then, very deliberately, let your expression soften. The teasing smile disappeared replaced by something quieter, more intent. Alexia's own smile faded almost immediately. You spoke more softly now, turned slightly in your chair until you were facing her properly.
"I suppose..." Your voice lowered just enough that it felt like the rest of the restaurant faded away. "...they're actually very simple."
Alexia rested her forearm on the table, "I'm listening."
"The first one..." You held her gaze, didn't rush it or look away. You simply watched her, long enough that she became acutely aware of being watched. "The eye contact." You smiled softly, "You don't break it."
Alexia realised she hadn't blinked in several seconds, "And?"
"And" You leaned in just a fraction, "The trick..." Your voice was calm, "You don't keep looking around the room." Your eyes never left hers, "You make them feel like, for a few minutes..." A tiny smile tugged at your lips. "...they're the only person in it."
Alexia swallowed, you noticed and she didn't realise you had, Alexia's throat tightened. It was ridiculous, nothing had happened, you hadn't touched her, hadn't even flirted that much and yet she suddenly couldn't hear anyone else. Couldn't remember what anyone else at the table was talking about, there was just you watching her, speaking quietly, like this conversation belonged only to the two of you.
"And then..." Your gaze dropped briefly only for a heartbeat, before returning to her eyes. "...you move a little closer."
Alexia hadn't realised she'd stopped hearing everyone else until the laughter around the table seemed impossibly far away.
"I even sometimes..." You lowered your voice another notch, "...touch."
Your fingertips drifted lightly across the table, barely brushing the inside of her wrist where her hand rested, just enough for her to feel the warmth of your skin.
Your finger tips traced the faintest line over the place where her pulse fluttered beneath the surface, "...sometimes."
Alexia's eyes immediately dropped to your hand, her pulse betrayed her completely, quickening beneath your fingertips. You felt it with quiet satisfaction before looking back up at her.
She watched your fingertips trace lazy patterns over the inside of her wrist, her heart was beating far harder than she was comfortable with.
"You'd be surprised..." You smiled gently, "...how much people say without saying a word.”
For a second neither of you moved, neither of you spoke. Alexia swallowed, hard, you heard it.
You smiled, "There." You withdrew your hand, "My moves."
For a moment Alexia simply stared at you speechless, then, very deliberately, she cleared her throat snapping back to reality, she reached for her napkin, unfolded it. Then, with far more concentration than a napkin had ever required, spread it carefully across her lap.
You watched her, one eyebrow lifting, "...Alexia?"
She still didn't look at you, "Hm?"
"Everything alright?"
Only then did she finally glance sideways, there was the faintest flush creeping across her cheeks. She gave a tiny shake of her head and let out a quiet, breathless laugh, "...You did that on purpose.”
You smiled innocently, "I thought you wanted proof."
Alexia held your gaze for a long second before laughing under her breath again, "I did."
She picked up her beer took an unnecessarily long drink, then looked back at you.
"...I'm beginning to think I may have underestimated you."
Your smile widened, "I did try to warn you."
"You really did."
For the rest of dinner, every now and then, Alexia caught herself absently rubbing the inside of her wrist, as though she could still feel where your fingertips had rested.
She hated how much she'd noticed something so small, she hated even more that you seemed to know exactly what you were doing.
You smiled to yourself before taking another sip of your drink, "So." You looked at her, "Your turn."
Alexia raised an eyebrow, "My turn?"
"You've criticised my technique enough."
"I didn't criticise it."
"No?"
"No." She smiled, "I admitted it was... effective."
You folded your arms, "So let's see these famous Alexia Putellas date moves then, i've been hearing so much about all these years."
Alexia laughed softly, "You want me to flirt with you?"
"I want to see if all that hype is actually warranted."
"It is."
"Prove it."
She looked at you for a long second, then, unlike you, she didn't lean closer. She leaned back, like she had all evening.
She let the silence sit, you found yourself waiting for her to speak. She knew you were, a slow smile spread across her face.
"You know..." She twirled her beer bottle idly between her fingers, "That's the first one."
You frowned, "What is?"
"Patience." She shrugged lightly, "Most people panic when there's silence." Her eyes never left yours, "They start talking."
You opened your mouth, then realised that's exactly what you'd almost done. She smiled wider and you laughed, "That doesn't count."
"It absolutely counts." She rested her elbow on the table, chin balancing against her knuckles, "You've been waiting for me to say something for nearly thirty seconds."
"I have not."
"You have."
"I was observing."
"Oh?"
"Mhm."
"What were you observing?"
You tilted your head, "Whether you actually had any moves."
Alexia chuckled, "You still sound unconvinced."
"I am."
She nodded slowly, "Okay." This time she leaned in, just enough that her perfume reached you, she lowered her voice, "My second one..."
Her eyes drifted over your face slowly to your eyes, your mouth, then back again.
"...is making people feel seen."
Your heartbeat stumbled slightly, Alexia noticed, of course she did.
"You've got this thing..." She spoke quietly. "...where every time you laugh properly..." Her eyes softened, "...your left eye squints just a little before the right one does."
You blinked, "I..."
"You also push your sleeves up whenever you're thinking."
You instinctively glanced down, your sleeves were halfway up your forearms.
Alexia smiled, "And..." She nodded towards your glass, "...when you're nervous, you always turn it a quarter turn before you take a drink."
You looked down again, your fingers were resting against the glass exactly as she'd described.
"I notice things." She said it simply like it wasn't intended to have any effect at all, but it did.
You looked back at her, "You've been watching me."
Alexia didn't even try to deny it, "A little."
"A little?"
She smiled, "Enough."
Something warm settled in your chest, Alexia reached for your hand, not taking it, just turning it over gently where it rested on the table.
Your brow lifted, "I thought touching wrists was my move."
"It is." She smiled, "I'm borrowing it."
Her fingertips brushed slowly across your palm instead barely there, not teasing, but intentional.
"You know what the difference is?"
"What?"
"You touched me to see my reaction." She looked into your eyes, "I'm touching you because I already know it."
Your breath caught, Alexia's thumb traced one slow line across your palm before letting go picking her beer back up as though nothing had happened.
You stared at her for a moment, "...That was cheating."
She laughed, "It wasn't."
"You psychoanalysed me."
"I observed you."
"You've been studying me."
"I have."
You couldn't help smiling, "That's unfair."
Alexia's grin turned almost unbearably smug, "What? You never heard of the concept of studying for tests before?" She took another sip of her beer, "So... Who wins?"
You looked at her for a long moment, then shook your head, "I don't know."
"No?"
"No." You leaned a little closer, "I think..." A smile tugged at your lips, "...we're both in a bit better at this than we thought."
Alexia had no clever reply, she simply smiled into her drink, hiding the blush that crept onto her cheeks.
You laughed quietly, shaking your head, "I'll admit..." Alexia looked pleased with herself, "...that was annoyingly good."
"I know."
"You've definitely done that before."
She feigned innocence, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Liar."
"Probably."
You smiled into your drink before setting it back on the table, "I'll be right back."
Alexia looked up, "Everything alright?"
"I just need the bathroom."
"Okay."
You pushed your chair back, standing, as you stepped behind Alexia's chair, your fingertips found the back of her hand where it rested on the edge of the table. You didn't stop, you let your hand glide slowly over hers, from the tips of her fingers across her knuckles your thumb brushing lightly over the back of her hand before your fingers slipped away completely.
Alexia felt every second of it, you continued around the back of her chair, your hand gliding up her arm before settling briefly on her shoulder with a gentle squeeze, it was intimate.
You leaned down just enough that only she would hear you, "Behave while I'm gone."
"I always behave."
You laughed under your breath, "That's the biggest lie you've told"
Alexia looked up at you, smiling, you took a few steps away, turning back over your shoulder, you caught her eyes immediately.
Exactly where you'd expected them to be, still on you, your smile grew, "And now..." You tilted your head ever so slightly, "...you're watching me walk away."
For a split second Alexia looked caught, then she recovered, realised then laughed, "You set me up."
"I absolutely did."
You winked, then turned and continued walking towards the restroom, Alexia watched you go, she didn't even try to stop herself this time.
She watched until you disappeared around the corner, only then did she let out a slow breath, "...Madre mía."
She rubbed a hand over her face, your hand she could still feel it against the back of hers, against her shoulder.
She looked down at the table, then quietly laughed to herself, "She has good moves." and had absolutely no idea what to do next.
🍼
Alexia was still smiling to herself when you returned. She spotted you before you'd even reached the table, you noticed immediately, "You are." Alexia looked up innocently, "Still watching."
"I happened to look up."
"Mhm."
"Coincidence."
You laughed as you slid back into your chair, "If that helps you sleep tonight."
Alexia shook her head, smiling into her beer, "It will."
You settled comfortably beside her again, "So" You picked up your glass, "...did you miss me?"
Alexia didn't even hesitate, "No."
"Do you want to think about that answer?"
"I enjoyed the peace."
"Ouch."
Alexia shrugged, trying and failing to hide her smile behind her beer bottle, "You asked."
"I was hoping for something a little more flattering."
"You should've lowered your expectations."
You nudged her knee lightly beneath the table, "I'll remember that."
"I'm sure you will."
A comfortable silence settled between youneither of you seemed in any rush to fill it. You found yourself smiling.
"What?" Alexia asked.
"I was just thinking."
"Dangerous."
"Very."
She smiled, "What about?"
You swirled the drink in your glass thoughtfully, "Olivia.. I miss her when I'm not with her now"
Alexia's expression softened immediately, "So do I."
You looked across at her, "You do?"
She smiled into her drink, "My life feels..." She searched for the right word. "...quiet when she's not there."
You laughed softly, "I know."
"I walked in yesterday after training and actually thought something was wrong."
"What?"
"There wasn't a tiny person trying to steal my shoelaces."
You smiled, "She does have quite the obsession lately she's also started doing this thing." Your smile grew without you even noticing. "When she's concentrating she sticks her tongue out."
Alexia immediately laughed, "I've noticed that."
You smiled, shaking your head as you looked down at your glass, "I think she's changing me."
Alexia's voice became quieter, "How?"
You took a moment before answering, "I've never been someone who wanted children."
She looked surprised, "You didn't?"
You shook your head, "I loved paediatrics. I loved Olivia, but..." You shrugged, "I liked giving them back."
Alexia laughed, "Fair."
"I always thought my life would be work because i wouldn't have time for anything else and i was ok with that as it was a career i chose."
"And now?"
You smiled to yourself, "Now I don't want to go back to work" Alexia listened quietly, "I'd spend half my shifts wondering what she's doing. If she's napped. If she's eaten. If she's learnt something new." You laughed under your breath, "I've become that person, the one who shows everyone photos."
Alexia smiled warmly, "You have."
"I showed one of the consultants twenty three photos the other day when I went in for a meeting."
"Twenty three?"
"They asked how she was."
"I don't think they needed a slideshow." Alexia laughed properly.
Another comfortable silence settled, Alexia traced a finger around the rim of her bottle, "I convinced myself I never wanted children either."
You looked at her, "You did?"
She nodded her head slowly, "Football was always..." She shrugged, "Everything. I never really let myself think beyond that and i thought maybe by the time my career ended that wouldn't be an option for me"
You frowned slightly, "And now?"
Alexia looked down at the table, "I don't know." She admitted it so quietly you almost missed it. "I didn't expect" She smiled faintly, "...any of this." Her eyes met yours again, "I didn't expect to look forward to bath time or reading the same book six nights in a row or finding tiny socks in my training bag."
You laughed, "She does put them everywhere."
"I found one in my boot."
"How?"
"I genuinely don't know."
You smiled, "I've stopped questioning it."
Alexia nodded, "Me too." Alexia slid the dessert she'd ordered for you both to share towards you, "So." You looked up, "I've been thinking. I don't think we've finished our experiment."
You rested your chin on your hand, "The experiment?"
"Mhm. Seeing whose moves are better."
You laughed, "Oh, we're still doing that?"
"We're absolutely still doing that."
You picked up your spoon, "I thought I'd already won."
Alexia looked offended, "Won?"
"I made you blush."
"I did not blush."
"You fiddled with your napkin like-"
"I was..." she interrupted, "...organising it."
"Mhm."
She narrowed her eyes, "You think you're funny."
"I know I'm funny."
Alexia smiled despite herself, "Fine." She leaned back in her chair, "Round two."
You mirrored her, "Go on then."
She didn't say anything straight away, instead, she reached across the table, not for your hand, for the dessert spoon in it.
She turned it over in her fingers, studying it thoughtfully. You frowned, "What are you doing?"
"You'll see." She scooped up the first spoonful, then held it out towards you.
You blinked, "...Seriously?"
She shrugged, "I've found sharing dessert works surprisingly well."
"You've found?"
"Mhm. It catches people off guard."
You looked at the spoon, then at her, "You feed all your dates?"
Alexia laughed, "No. Just the ones I like." The words slipped out before she could stop them. Her own eyebrows lifted slightly, you noticed, she noticed you noticing, neither of you acknowledged it.
Instead you leaned forward and accepted the spoonful.
"Well?" She asked.
You swallowed, "The dessert's good."
"I'm talking about the move."
You smiled, "It would've worked if you hadn't pre-warned me."
"It did work"
You raised an eyebrow, "Confident."
"I have reason to be."
You shook your head, laughing, "My turn."
"Oh?" You reached for her spoon, Alexia looked almost triumphant, "I knew you'd copy me."
"I'm not."
"No?"
"No."
You ignored the dessert completely, instead reaching across the table for the small dish of fresh strawberries that sat in the middle.
You picked one up by the stem. Alexia watched curiously, "What now?"
"You said your thing is catching people off guard."
"It is."
"So..." You held the strawberry out towards her, "...open up."
Alexia laughed, "You've literally just copied me."
"Have I?"
"Mhm."
"Then don't eat it." Without another word you brought the strawberry back towards yourself.
Alexia watched, still expecting some kind of trick, instead, your eyes stayed on hers, never wavering.
You smiled, the smallest, knowing smile, then, deliberately took a slow bite from the strawberry yourself, not breaking eye contact once.
Juice caught briefly at the corner of your mouth before your tongue swept it away almost absentmindedly.
You chewed, still watching her, still smiling, Alexia's brain seemed to short circuit, her eyes had followed the strawberry, then your mouth Then she realised she'd been staring, her heartbeat kicked unexpectedly hard against her ribs.
She cleared her throat, far too late, you'd already seen it.
You swallowed, "Hm." You nodded approvingly, "That's actually really good."
Alexia blinked, "What?"
You tilted your head innocently, "The strawberry."
She opened her mouth and closed it again, your smile grew just a fraction.
"Oh..." You rested your chin lightly against your hand, "...were you expecting something else?"
Alexia let out a short laugh, rubbing a hand across the back of her neck, "You..." She shook her head, "...that was deliberate."
"What was?"
"The eye contact."
You smiled, "I learnt from the best."
Alexia looked away for a second, laughing quietly to herself. When she looked back, there was a faint warmth across her cheeks she couldn't quite hide. "I think" She admitted, almost under her breath, "...that might actually have been your best one."
You raised an eyebrow, "Really?"
She nodded once, "Really."
There was a beat of silence, then she reached for her beer, taking a drink that was perhaps a little longer than necessary. You watched her over the rim of your own glass, "So..."
"Hm?"
"What do the women win..." You smiled into your drink, "...when you decide they've given you a good date?"
Alexia didn't even hesitate, "Sex, usually."
You let out a small, "Oh." She looked at you expectantly, you rested your elbow on the table, "So..." Your smile turned teasing, "...you put out on the first date, do you?"
Alexia laughed, "I wouldn't phrase it quite like that."
"But it's accurate."
She tipped her head from side to side, "...Sometimes."
You raised your eyebrows dramatically, "Alexia."
"What?"
"I thought you had standards."
"I do. They're just... flexible. I don't sleep with just anyone"
You laughed, "That's one word for it."
She nudged your knee lightly beneath the table, "Don't judge me."
"I'm trying very hard not to."
Alexia smiled into her drink, "I don't always."
"No?"
Alexia met your eyes, "No" A slow smile appeared, "and what about you?"
You looked up, "What about me?"
She mirrored your earlier question, "What does someone get if they've given you a good first date?"
You pretended to think about it, "Hm." You laughed quietly, "I don't know..." She waited, "I don't even really kiss on a first date."
Alexia looked genuinely surprised, "You don't?"
You shook your head, "No."
"Never?"
"I didn't say never." You smiled, "I just... don't usually."
"Why?"
You shrugged, thinking for a moment, "I suppose because if I'm kissing someone" Your expression softened "...it's because I actually want to."
Alexia smiled, "I'd hope so."
You laughed, "No, I mean..." You searched for the words, "I don't kiss people because it feels like it's expected, or because it's the end of the evening. If I'm kissing someone" You held her gaze, "it's because I can't quite convince myself not to."
Something about the way you said it made Alexia's smile falter into something quieter, "So" She rested her chin against her hand, "how many dates?"
"It depends."
"On?"
"The person."
She laughed, "That's a very diplomatic answer."
"It's an honest one."
"So there isn't a rule?"
"No." You smiled, you took another sip of your drink, "I just think..." You shrugged. I'd rather it just happen naturally but usually because I don't know them I'm not comfortable enough doing that."
Alexia looked at you for a long moment, "I get that."
"You do?"
She nodded as she twirled her beer bottle slowly between her hands, "I don't think I've ever looked at it like that."
"No?"
She shook her head, "I've always been..." She smiled to herself, "...quite impulsive."
"I'd noticed."
Alexia looked down at the table for a second before looking back up, "So, if tonight really was a date" She let the question hang. "and it ended in an hour" She smiled, just enough to tell you she was only half joking. "I'd have absolutely no chance of kissing you?"
You looked at her with an expression somewhere between amused and thoughtful, "I didn't say that."
Her eyebrows lifted, "You didn't?"
You slowly shook your head, "I said I don't really kiss on a first date."
"But?"
You smiled, "There are exceptions to every rule."
Alexia laughed under her breath, "I was wondering when the doctor was going to let loose... what makes someone an exception?"
You leaned back in your chair, "I couldn't possibly tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't kiss and tell"
Alexia smiled, unable to look away from you.
🍼
The apartment was quiet when you unlocked the front door, you stepped inside first, immediately slipping your heels off with a grateful sigh.
"I've never been so happy to walk on flat ground."
Alexia laughed behind you as she locked the door, "You chose those shoes."
"I was lied to."
"By who?"
"The salesperson. They told me they'd be comfortable and they were, but only for the first six minutes."
Alexia smiled to herself, "You're dramatic."
"I work in A&E. I'm entitled to be."
Before either of you could continue, Eli appeared from the living room. She smiled the moment she saw you, "There you are."
You smiled back, "How was she?"
Eli's face softened immediately, "Not a peep. She slept the entire time."
Relief settled across your features, "Good." You bent down to pick your heels up, "Thank you for sitting with her."
"Oh, it was no bother." Eli waved a hand dismissively, "Honestly." Behind her, Alba wandered into the hallway carrying two empty mugs. "We've just been watching films."
She looked between you and Alexia with an expression that was entirely too curious, "So how was your evening?"
Alexia answered before you had chance, "It was nice."
"Nice?" Alba folded her arms. "That's all we're getting?"
Alexia shrugged, "The food was really good. And..." She glanced sideways at you, "it was just" Her smile was smaller now, "...nice."
Alba looked unconvinced, "Right."
You bit back a smile, Eli noticed. "So..." She asked gently, "You enjoyed yourselves?"
You nodded, "Yeah. I did. It was lovely."
Eli smiled knowingly, "I'm glad."
She picked up her handbag from the worktop, "Well. We'll get out of your hair."
You looked between her and Alba, "You don't have to rush off."
"It's getting late." Eli smiled warmly, "And you've both got an early start."
You nodded reluctantly, "Fair enough." As Eli reached the front door, you leaned back against the kitchen counter, "You'll have to come back sometime" Both women looked towards you, "when she's actually awake."
Eli's entire face lit up, "I'd love that."
"So would I." Alba grinned, "I've heard she's got everyone wrapped around her little finger."
You laughed, "That she has."
Alba smiled at you, "It was lovely meeting you."
"You too."
For just a second, Eli looked a little emotional, "Thank you, we'll arrange something soon" She stepped forward, giving your forearm a gentle squeeze, "Take care of yourselves."
"We will."
"And give Olivia a cuddle from us tomorrow."
"I will."
Eli smiled one last time before opening the apartment door, "Goodnight."
"Night."
"Goodnight."
The door clicked shut behind them and the apartment fell quiet again, you let out a slow breath, still leaning against the kitchen counter.
Alexia had wandered to the fridge for a glass of water, you watched her absently, she'd loosened the top button of her shirt at some point since she'd got back, rolled the sleeves up to her forearms.
She looked...it was a thought you didn't let yourself finished as she took a sip before setting the glass down.
When she turned, she found you already looking at her, "What?"
You smiled, "Nothing."
Alexia studied you for a second, then, instead of saying anything, she walked back across the kitchen stopping directly in front of you, close enough that you could see the tiny flecks of gold in her eyes.
Close enough that you caught the faint scent of her perfume mixed with the cool night air from outside.
You smiled first, "What? You've been standing there for a full minute."
"It hasn't been a minute."
"It feels like it."
Alexia smiled, "I was deciding something."
"And?"
She was smiling, but there was something nervous underneath it you'd never seen before, "I have a question."
"Okay."
"It might be a stupid one."
"I'll be the judge of that."
She laughed quietly, "I suppose you will."
You waited, Alexia looked at you for a long moment before speaking, "Theoretically..." Your eyebrows lifted, "If" She glanced down for the briefest second before meeting your eyes again, "...tonight had actually been a real date..." Your heartbeat immediately sped up, "...would you have kissed me?"
You didn't answer straight away not because you didn't know, because you wanted to be sure.
Your eyes searched hers, looking for the teasing smile, the joke, the easy escape. There wasn't one, she was genuinely asking.
You smiled softly, "I think" You admitted quietly, "I'd have wanted to." Alexia's breath caught, "But" You continued, "...I'd probably have spent the whole evening trying to work out whether you wanted me to."
A tiny laugh escaped her, "You really are a doctor."
"What does that mean?"
"You overthink everything."
"I do."
She smiled, "I've noticed."
You looked at her, "So" Your voice was barely above a whisper now, "...would you have wanted me to?"
Alexia didn't answer with words instead she took one small step closer, until there was barely any space left between you.
She lifted one hand slowly, giving you every opportunity to move away, her fingertips brushed lightly against your jaw, almost tentative.
"You know" She murmured, "for someone who says they don't kiss on a first date" Her thumb rested gently against your cheek, "you've been making it very difficult not to ask."
You smiled, "I did say there were exceptions."
"I remember." She searched your face one last time, "This is okay?"
You nodded immediately, "Very." You closed the last inch between you, not all at once. Slowly giving her time to change her mind, but she didn't, her eyes drifted shut only at the very last moment.
Your lips met so gently it almost wasn't a kiss at all, just a soft and warm press of lips, neither of you moved for a heartbeat, simply letting the reality of it settle.
Alexia was the first to respond, her fingers slipped carefully into your hair as her lips began to move as she kissed you, a little more confidently this time, still unhurried, still impossibly gentle.
You found your hand settling against her waist, feeling her breathe and feeling her smile against your lips, that it made you smile too.
When you finally drew back, it was only far enough to look at one another.
Neither of you seemed capable of saying anything, Alexia's forehead rested lightly against yours, "...Well."
You laughed quietly, "So..."
"I've definitely kissed you now."
"You have."
She smiled, "I was right."
"About what?"
"You don't kiss people because it's expected."
You shook your head, "No."
"What changed?"
You looked into her eyes, "I couldn't quite convince myself not to."
Alexia let out the smallest laugh, then, before either of you could lose your nerve she leaned in again.
This kiss was even softer than the first more about simply enjoying the fact that, somehow you had both ended up exactly where you wanted to be.
When she finally pulled away, she rested her forehead against yours once more.
"I think..." She whispered, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“I should go”
She groaned, a near silent sound, and pressed her palm sweetly to your jaw, her thumb drifting down, slow, deliberate, learning the shape of you. Her hair fell forward, grazing your cheek, and then you were kissing again, this time with the relief of having crossed some invisible line, the tension unspooling down your spine.
Everything about her was new and familiar all at once, the taste of her tongue, she was sturdy and soft at the same time, confident but uncertain, like she was calibrating each new sensation as it happened.
"Careful," you whispered, breathless, "if you keep that up, I might actually sleep with you on the first date."
She smiled against your mouth, "Promises, promises," she said, and you felt the vibration in her chest, a richness you wanted to bottle and keep next to your bed, to open each night before sleep.
For a while, you just stood together in the dim kitchen, her body a buffer between you and the rest of the world, her arms bracing you against the counter as if she couldn't let go.
Nothing in your last thirty years had prepared you for the sensation of being kissed in your friends' apartment with their child in the next room and the taste of cheap wine still on your tongue, of being wanted so specifically, so precisely, not as an afterthought, but as the direct line between Alexia’s mind and her hands and her whispered, "I want you, but I don't want to mess this up, either."
You let yourself rest your forehead on her collarbone, drew in a breath. She was real, not a fantasy, not a theory, not some impossible future you watched from a safe, unpopulated distance. She was right here. It was both fantastic and terrifying.
"In case you couldn't tell," she went on, "I've never really done this before."
You laughed into her shirt, your lips brushing the place where her pulse beat. "Kissed someone?"
She pinched your waist, enough to make you yelp and grin, "No. Not like this." Her voice gentled, "Like it actually means something."
You felt the words settle under your skin, somewhere that hadn't been reached in years not since the last time you'd let anyone stay past midnight.
She must have sensed the shift, because she pulled back, hands braced on either side of you as if she was worried you might flee if she gave you any more room. “I need to hear you say it” Alexia held your eye contact, “I need to know what ever happens tonight, it doesn’t affect how we care for Olivia”
Your fingers found the collar of her shirt without meaning to, turning it over slowly. "I'm nervous," you said. Alexia's arm came back around your waist, her forehead returning to yours. "I don't do this." Your hand stilled against her chest. "And there's Olivia to think about." You felt her waiting. "It's just" you exhaled, "it's been a long time since I've wanted someone the way I want you right now."
Alexia let the silence sit for a moment, then quietly, "Shall we go to bed?"
You didn't answer right away. Just lifted your eyes to hers, and nodded.
She took your hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world, threading her fingers through yours and guiding you down the hallway with a confidence borrowed from floodlights and full stadiums. In private, she was still learning to be this brave, but there was a steadiness to her that buoyed you both. You could feel the heat of her palm all the way up your arm.
The bedroom was darker than the rest of the apartment, the slow orange glow of a city night creeping in through the slat of blinds. There were shadows everywhere; you barely had time to catalogue them before she pulled you in and kissed you again, deeper this time, her hand splayed flat at the small of your back. You pressed into her, feeling the hard line of her thigh between yours and the softness that belied the strength of her arms.
It was slow, almost ridiculous how slow, and you tried to make a joke about it "Is this one of your famous moves?" but the words died in your throat as she ran her hands up your sides, mapping the lines of your rib cage through your shirt.
Your hands found her collar, thumbs tracing the notch of her throat. You had never been so aware of the mechanics of a button before. Each one yielded to you, slowly, exposing more of her skin, the way her shoulders sloped, the scar under her right clavicle, the shimmer of her necklace in the light. You took your time, letting your fingers learn her, the way her breathing deepened, the way she smiled at you when you did something right.
When her shirt was off, she stood still for a moment, bare to the waist, letting you look. She didn't cover herself or turn away, and something about her confidence, no, her trust made you ache. You reached for her, hands following the curve of her ribs, up and over the delicate plane of her back. She felt solid, like a promise. You pressed your mouth to her shoulder, to the hollow of her neck, and she exhaled, her hands sliding up to cradle your jaw, tipping your face up to hers.
It was a slow dance, and you half expected her to take the lead, to pin you to the bed or flip you over, but she didn't. She let you set the pace, let you explore her body with the kind of awe you didn't know you were capable of. She sat on the edge of the bed, pulling you into her lap, her hands spreading over your thighs. You ran your fingers along the waistband of her jeans, unsure, but she guided you, her breath warm in your ear, "Whatever you want. I want you to touch me wherever you want"
So you did, tracing the curve of her hip, the heat blooming under her skin as you learned her, every inch, every freckle. Her hand found the back of your head, tangling in your hair as your tongue mapped the notch of her throat. There was nothing but the sound of your breathing, the hush of sheets, the creak of the mattress when you finally, finally let the rest of the world fall away.
At some point she tipped you back into the bed, half on top of you, her mouth at your ear, her body flush with yours. She kissed you until you had no idea where she ended and you began, until you forgot whose heart was pounding hardest, until the only words either of you could remember were please and yes and don't stop.
Even then, she moved with care, you knew she was strong enough to take you apart, but she never did, not even when your leg locked around her waist, not even when your hand trembled against her spine.
Alexia’s hand was a map sketched in the dark, each new inch of skin she discovered a place she wanted to memorise. She found the hem of your skirt, hesitated, and then her palm slipped beneath, resting warm and electric on your thigh. Her other hand followed, so careful, like she was worried you might vanish if she moved too fast. You felt the air shift as she drew your skirt upward, you lifted your hips to meet her, and for a heartbeat, the two of you hung there suspended, breath held, time odd and elastic.
She slid the skirt down your legs, and let it fall to the floor. You became hyper aware of every exposed inch, the coolness of the room on your skin, the way her gaze lingered not in the abstract but in the most literal sense, she watched you. She watched all of you.
You should have felt shy, maybe, or self conscious, but instead, you felt in a word devoured. Alexia looked at you like she’d been waiting for this her whole life, she ran her hands along your outer thigh, up to the waistband of your underwear, and paused again.
“Tell me if you want to stop,” she said, and her voice was low and rough, not a question but a promise of safety.
“I’ll tell you if I want to stop,” you managed, but what you wanted was for her to keep going. She lowered her mouth to your navel, pressing a slow, open mouthed kiss there, then another, just below the line of your underwear. You felt her smile when you arched toward her, and when she finally hooked her thumbs into the waistband and drew your underwear down, you had to close your eyes.
She kissed the inside of your knee, the apex of your thigh, the softest part of skin you’d never thought of as a place to be worshipped, and then she moved up and up.
She was patient, so patient, and when you finally felt her tongue, you almost sobbed. She found your rhythm quickly, of course she did, but she didn’t just memorise, she innovated. She drew you out, drew you open, and when you pressed your palm to her head, she moaned in response, as if the compliment was physical, as if your need was feeding hers. You didn’t recognise the sounds you were making, but Alexia seemed to know them already.
After, you dragged her up by her chin, kissing her hard, tasting yourself on her lips. Your hands fumbled with her jeans, but she was already helping, getting them off, her mouth, her hands, her everything. She shimmied them down and off, tossing them somewhere that neither of you would probably ever find again, and then she was bare, skin to skin, the heat between your bodies almost comical in its intensity.
You reached up, suddenly greedy, and Alexia let you run your hands up and over her, worshipping the lines of her shoulders, the soft dip of her lower back, the muscle beneath her stomach. Her breasts pressed against you, perfect, and you found yourself gasping, every nerve ending on high alert.
She kissed you again, and your hands fumbled for her, trying to get her underwear off, and she helped you, both of you laughing a little at how tangled and graceless it was until you were both finally, completely bare.
You pulled her to you again, legs locked around her hips, and this time she kissed you with an intensity that left you dizzy. Her hand found your breast, cupped it, thumb brushing over your nipple. You inhaled sharply, you’d forgotten how sensitive you could be when you let yourself go and her mouth followed, hot and wet, tongue circling, then teeth, and it was all you could do not to cry out.
“Fuck, look at you” she mumbled, mouth still busy with your breast, and you felt her smile when you arched into her. She switched sides, greedy, worshipful, and you let her, hands in her hair and nails digging deliciously into her back.
When she finally made her way down, her mouth mapped a line of heat over your ribs, your stomach, every inch accounted for, and then she was between your legs again, this time slower, more deliberate, as if she wanted to see how long she could keep you on the edge.
Her fingers were devastating, you’d had partners before who were eager, enthusiastic, but never, never someone who seemed to know what you wanted before you did. She was attentive, relentless, and when you bucked against her, she didn’t pull away, just held you steady, groaning into your mouth as if this was the only thing she ever wanted.
When you came, it was like a circuit closing, an inevitability, heat arcing up your spine and blooming out in every direction. Alexia didn’t stop, not right away, working you through it, letting you shudder against her fingers until she finally eased back.
You were still catching your breath when she kissed you, slow and deep, and you could taste yourself on her tongue.
She rolled you onto your back with more strength than you expected, and you let her, finding an odd comfort in the way she took control, the way she seemed to know exactly where to touch, when to slow and when to press harder. She kissed your jaw, your throat, the soft dip of your clavicle, both of you drifting through the half-light with nothing but the sound of your breathing, your moans, the urgent hush of the sheets twisting under you.
She kissed you again, this time with tongue, urgent, almost greedy, her thigh sliding between yours, pressing up, forcing your legs wider. She wanted all of you, and you wanted her back with almost violent intensity. When she ground her hips against you, you gasped, the heat at the apex of your thighs turning molten. You bucked against her, and she moaned, her mouth tracing frantic lines up your neck. Her hand curled around your thigh, moving you where she needed you, the heel of one of your feet moved to rest on her shoulder.
She shifted, bracing herself over you, and you felt her slick, feverish pussy pressed against your own, your hips aligning perfectly.
She smiled, wicked, and then she rocked into you, slow at first, then harder. You met her, thrust for thrust, moving together, not thinking about what you looked like or how it sounded, but only about how it felt. Every movement sent shockwaves through your belly, every grind a new jolt of pleasure.
Her hand slipped between your bodies, and the first brush of her fingers against your clit sent you wild. She kept working you, not stopping for a second, alternating between circling and pressing, her hips never losing their rhythm against you. You felt her muscles flex, her abs tight and trembling, the sweat pooling in the hollow above her sternum under your explorative fingertips.
She was lost in it too, completely gone, her voice raw as she whispered your name, once, twice, like a prayer.
Your hand gripped her arse cheek hard leaving marks, needing something to anchor you, because you were starting to come apart. She felt it, matched your urgency, grinding harder, her thigh slick with her own wetness. She was right there, and so were you, both of you straining, shaking, unable to stop.
When you came, you cried out, your whole body arched and slick with sweat. She didn’t stop, didn’t even slow, chasing her own finish with a focus that was almost terrifying. She shuddered, gasped, and then you felt her pulse against you, a wet, hot rush that only made you press closer. You carefully let your leg fall from her shoulder, as she eased her body down on top of yours.
You stayed like that for a long time, tangled together, neither willing to move, the sticky heat of your bodies sealing you in place. You could feel her heartbeat against yours, wild, then slowing. She kissed you, softer now, her whole weight splayed over you, and you ran your hands over her back up and down.
Eventually, she moved to your side, facing you in the dark, she laced her fingers with yours, the heat between your palms a quiet echo of everything you couldn't vocalise. She watched you, eyes soft, as if she wasn't sure if she was still allowed to be gentle with you.
She shifted closer, her leg slung over yours, her arm curling protectively around your stomach. Her thumb traced lazy circles along your inner wrist, the pulse point there throbbing, even as your breathing slowed. You felt her lips brush your shoulder, softer than the scrape of a sheet, and you let your eyes flutter closed.