ORIGIN

"T hat was…" Iris let out.

"What do you mean was ? I'm not done with you yet," her lover said.

"We don't have much time, my love," she replied.

"We have all the time in the world. He's two hundred miles away and has no idea that you're here with me."

"I forgot." Iris smiled.

Daphne's brown hair had been let out of its clip and fanned over Iris's thighs. They didn't have opportunities like this very often. Iris's fiancé was out of town for work for a few days, but he only took one trip like this annually, so it was their one chance to have three whole days to themselves. Unlike most unmarried couples in this small town, Iris and her fiancé, Edward, lived together, and it had been quite a scandal when she moved in. Prior to that, Iris had been living in a small apartment all on her own when they first met years ago, but her lease had been up, and she hadn't been able to afford to pay the extra rent the landlord wanted to charge her, so when Edward's parents passed away and he inherited the house, they'd agreed to deal with the rumors that she was pregnant, despite that not being the case, and she'd moved in with him.

It was her only option, really. While Iris wasn't physically attracted to the man she'd marry one day next year, he was a good man. He treated her well. He didn't mind that she worked, and he hadn't had a problem when she'd introduced him to Daphne, a woman she worked with . Daphne was seven years older, more sophisticated, had her doctorate, and was one of the most well-known female scientists in this part of the country. Iris was only a thirty-five-year-old secretary. She was also madly in love with this woman who had made her come undone so easily only moments earlier.

"So, we don't have to go fast. We can take our time," Daphne said with a soft smile as she stared up at Iris. "And we have three days because we both took time off work." She kissed Iris's inner thigh. "And my roommate will leave us alone."

"You mean your ex-girlfriend."

"We only live together to save money. You know that, my love," Daphne replied and kissed Iris again. "Besides, she's at work now, and we have this whole apartment to ourselves."

"I want us to be able to live together."

"Sweetheart, I'd love that, but you're getting married."

"I can't get married to you," Iris replied as she ran her hand through Daphne's hair, loving it whenever she let it down like that.

"But we could still live together," Daphne suggested. "People would think we're roommates, just like they did when I was with Ruth."

"He's a good man, Daphne." Iris gave her a straight-line smile.

"But he's still a man," Daphne countered. "And you're only marrying him because you think it's the right thing to do."

"It's what I'm supposed to do," she replied.

"I've never done what I was supposed to do," Daphne told her. "If I had, I never would have gone to university, never would have gotten my doctorate, and I wouldn't have gotten a job where we work. I never would've met you, and you are my love." Daphne slid back up Iris's body. "I want no one else. Not Ruth. No other woman. And certainly, no man."

"It's not that easy for me," Iris argued. "I'm not smart like you. I'm barely a decent secretary. I couldn't even afford to keep living on my own."

"I would take care of us." Daphne kissed her forehead. "Sweetheart, please. Just leave him. Tell him you don't love him; that you can't marry him. Tell him anything you want, but please, leave him. The thought of him touching you at night, when I'm here alone and you're with him, kills me over and over again."

"I'm sorry," Iris replied. "I don't want him to. We said we wouldn't before we got married prior to me moving in, but living there changed things."

"Because you moved into the house and into his bedroom, sweetheart." Daphne straddled her hips. "I love you, Iris. I am like this with no one else. Yet, you'll go home after his trip away, and he'll touch you. He'll be… He'll be inside you, and that hurts me more than words can say." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "Soon, you'll marry him, then your children will look like him, and I don't know how long I'll be able to stay here alone, wishing you were beside me every night and not with him."

Iris closed her eyes because tears were welling within them and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Daphne replied. "But we only have our midday trysts at the office, we have a few evenings together when he is with friends and we are rushing through touching one another because he'll be home soon or you have to be home from here soon, and we have this ." She motioned around the room. "One time a year when he's gone for a few days at a time and we can just be together. It's been three years of this after one year of wanting you and knowing I was in love with you."

"I've been putting the wedding off this whole time."

"Putting off isn't calling off, Iris. It's not as if you go on dates with him, and he drops you off at home like a perfect gentleman, giving you a kiss goodbye because you're waiting to move in until after marriage. If it were just that, maybe I could be more okay with it, but you can't keep putting it off. He's going to start to wonder, and I can't keep living like this. I love you too much."

"You mean, you want to stop?" Iris asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

Daphne was the only thing about her life that made sense to her. When they met, Iris had been a secretary to the owner of the company, and he'd been rude to her. One day, he'd told her that her typing speed wasn't up to par, and there was Dr.Daphne McDonald, asking him how fast he could type, changing the subject and rescuing her. Iris had smiled at her then, and Daphne had asked her to have coffee with her the next morning. Coffee had turned to evenings in a book club that Iris had recommended Daphne join, and then, dinners had started once a month or so when Iris could get away.

They'd gone an entire year without telling each other how they felt, and finally, Iris hadn't been able to take it anymore. Daphne had often touched her. Usually, it had been a hand on her forearm or her knee, but that night, at dinner, Daphne had kept her hand on Iris's knee under the table at the restaurant instead of quickly pulling it back like she normally would, and when it had moved ever so slightly toward Iris's inner thigh, she'd gasped right there at the restaurant.

"Where is he tonight?" Daphne had asked her then.

"With his brother. They're playing cards with some friends."

Daphne had nodded, and when they left the restaurant, she'd driven them to a hotel unexpectedly.

"I have a roommate," she'd said while they sat in the car.

Iris hadn't understood what Daphne had meant by that right away, but Daphne had gotten out of the car without another word, and she'd gone inside to check them into a room .

Of course, Iris hadn't been able to stay the night. She'd been home by the time Edward had gotten there a few hours later. He'd also had a few drinks, and whenever he had a few drinks, he usually just went to sleep and passed right out. Iris liked those nights the best, which was a bad thing to say about the man she was to marry.

"We can just talk," Daphne had told her that night.

They'd just entered the room, locking the door behind them, and Iris's heart had been pounding.

"I don't know what you mean. We always just talk," she'd said.

"It's been a year of just talking, yes, but it's also been a year of wanting for me, Iris. And I think you feel the same way. We can keep pretending like we mean nothing to one another, or we can admit how we feel and take advantage of the room and the precious few hours we have to finally be together. If you want to keep talking, I won't deny you, but I'd much prefer it if I could kiss you."

Iris had turned around then and found Daphne to be standing right there in front of her. The brown hair, still in its clip, had been too tantalizing to pass up, so she'd reached for the accessory and removed it. Daphne had smiled at her then and let the hair fall around her face.

"You like my hair down?"

"I've never seen it down," Iris had replied. "I've always wondered what it looked like."

"And?"

"Beautiful," she'd confessed.

Soon after, Daphne's lips had been pressed to hers in a soft kiss, which told Iris that she hadn't been in this by herself how she'd assumed, and their touches that night had been equally as soft.

Daphne, Iris had discovered later, had been with women before and had only been with women. Iris had only ever been with one man, her fiancé, but that night with Daphne had confirmed for her what she'd already known: she wanted to be with women. She wanted to be with one woman: Daphne McDonald.

So, asking Daphne now if she even wanted to be with her still, as she stared up at her, naked, above her, was the last thing Iris wanted to be doing.

"No, of course not," Daphne replied. "I love you. I've loved you for four years now. I've been with you like this for three of those years. But, Iris, I can't think of you being with him anymore."

"What if I tell him that I don't want to do that anymore until after we get married? I can tell him that it's a sin and that we shouldn't have done it before the ceremony."

"You may do that, but, Iris, he'll want you to stick to the wedding date this time if you do. After being able to freely touch the woman already because they're getting married, what man wants to be told that he can no longer do that until after the ceremony? You won't be able to put this off any longer."

Iris swallowed, staring into the beautiful green eyes she loved, and said, "Where would we live?"

Daphne looked surprised and asked, "Where do you want to live?"

"Not with the woman you pretend is just a roommate but who also got to touch you like this," Iris said, placing her hands on Daphne's thighs. "That hurts, too, you know? Knowing you lived with her when you were together and that you still do."

"I'm making better money now. I can move out on my own into a smaller apartment. I didn't see the point before because I only want to move out if I'm moving in with you."

"An apartment for the two of us?"

"Yes. Someone at work mentioned a building to me. They said their landlord just put up a vacancy sign. I can take a look."

"It would have to be a two-bedroom, like this one," Iris said. "For appearances."

"You would have to call off your engagement, my love." Daphne leaned down and pressed a kiss to Iris's forehead.

"I'll tell him when he returns," she offered.

Yet again, Daphne looked surprised and said, "You can't promise me that and then not do it, Iris. It's not fair to me."

"I want to be brave for you."

Daphne smiled wide and said, "You mean it?"

"Yes, I do." Iris smiled back.

"Then, let's continue taking full advantage of these three days together because we're celebrating."

Daphne kissed her hard, and Iris kissed her back, feeling both terrified and free at the same time. She was going to tell her fiancé that the wedding was off, and she was going to move out.

She assumed she'd live here with Daphne temporarily until they found another apartment, which she didn't really want because the woman Daphne had been with when they first met still lived here with her and wasn't particularly nice to Iris, but she'd do this because Daphne was the love of her life. She'd give her the world if she were able to. And Daphne had already put up with years of Iris going home with someone else.

When Daphne lowered herself back down Iris's body, Iris spread her legs and waited, knowing what would come next.

"I'm still the only one who's ever done this to you," Daphne said before she licked her.

"Yes, my love. You are. And you always will be," Iris replied.

Then, Daphne took her into her mouth and made her tremble.