Chapter 46

Megan groaned at the alarm, but her groan lacked energy. She wasn’t used to having an early alarm on Saturday. Wait for it. Tasha pounced on her, sending poor Julius scrambling off in a huff toward Sophia’s room.

“Megan,” Tasha purred. “Are you ready for yoga?”

“You know, I recall that you once accused me of being a monster, and now it seems that I’ve created a monster instead.”

Tasha nibbled gently on her ear. “I’ll let you pick out what I should wear…” They had been playing that game every morning and it was very fun.

“Mmm, but I like your current outfit.”

“I know, and I like your current outfit, but I should remind you that you’re the one with the ‘No Topless Yoga’ rule.”

“Ugh, why do I do this to myself?”

“Um, why do you do this to us is the better question?” Tasha was moving down from her earlobe to her neck.

Goddess, that feels amazing.

Megan was struggling to form coherent thoughts or words. This problem didn’t get any easier when she felt Tasha’s tongue tracing her jawline before moving up her chin to her mouth. Megan surrendered to the kisses.

Eventually, she reluctantly pushed Tasha away. “You were the one who insisted on early morning yoga on a Saturday.”

Tasha pouted at her.

“Maybe we could lock the door and do yoga in here. I think there’s enough space.”

Tasha practically bounced with glee. “Let me check!” Tasha raced for the closet to grab the mats. “They fit, mostly. We can’t be side-by-side, but that could have benefits…”

“Lock the door then, and I guess we’ll be doing topless yoga.” Megan watched Tasha do a happy dance.

I never really thought about getting a tattoo, but those really are amazing works of art. I’ll have to check with Sophia first, though.

Tasha’s happy dance wound down, and Megan watched as Tasha hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties.

“You know, Megan, since we’re already ninety percent of the way there…” Megan groaned as she watched Tasha’s arms inch tantalizingly downward. “Oh, Goddess.”

I’m not sure which is sexier, watching Tasha jump up and down while topless, or watching her slowly tease her panties down. We saw each other naked in college, but this is so much better. And now she is turning around for me. She has to know what this is doing to me.

I’m going to murder Brad if he doesn’t sign those papers. Focus, Megan. It’s time to tease Tasha a bit.

“You mean like this?” With that, Megan hooked her thumbs into her own waistband and started a slow, sensual shimmy as she lowered her panties. On instinct, she turned and looked over her shoulder as she bent to drag them down to her feet. Megan could see that Tasha was transfixed.

Mmmm, that’s the reaction that I wanted.

The first few minutes of their nude yoga session was a mixture of self-confident poses, leering, and awkward stretching. After a few minutes, the routine kicked in and their state of undress became mostly background noise. Mostly.

Feeling invigorated and sweaty, they finished their yoga session and were staring openly at each other in lotus poses. Megan felt extraordinarily confident, even as she was completely exposed.

“Tasha, I need to tell you something.”

It looked like Tasha was trying to focus on her eyes but struggling to maintain contact. “What’s that?”

“I am soaking wet right now, and I’m not talking about yoga sweat.”

“Megan, that makes two of us.”

Megan watched Tasha’s hand move down to touch herself and then come back up with visual evidence of just how turned on Tasha was.

“As much as I really want to take care of that for you, I still can’t, you know, because of the marriage thing. I do have an idea though.”

Tasha was panting, and Megan could only assume that it wasn’t from their recent exertions. Megan continued, “I think that now would be an excellent time to see how big that shower is.”

“Hell, yes.” Tasha jumped to her feet, grabbed Megan’s hand, and Megan felt herself being dragged toward the shower.

As much as the two of them enjoyed their shower, they had to eventually bring it to a close. It was time to get ready as they had a big surprise for Sophia today. Megan checked on her daughter and found her sleeping soundly, sandwiched between two cats. While Tasha showered, she put out food and fresh water for Nocturne and Julius. Tasha fixed human breakfast while Megan showered and the cats ate. Megan got Sophia up and moving while Tasha made a run for three hot chocolates as neither of them felt like they needed coffee after their morning.

Sophia’s mood brightened up with the hot chocolate. “Hey, sweetheart. Tasha and I have a surprise for you.”

“What is it?”

“If we tell you, it won’t be a surprise, will it? Once you finish your breakfast, we’ll get our coats on and go for a drive.”

It was a short drive to a scouting fundraiser tree lot. As she parked, Megan said to Sophia, “Sweetheart, would you like to help us pick out a Christmas tree?”

“Yes, Mommy!” It took extra effort to get Sophia unhooked as she was very excited.

Megan and Tasha strolled hand-in-hand through the tree lot, watching Sophia bounce excitedly from tree to tree. Megan leaned in and asked, “Are you sure that you’re okay with this?”

“Me? I’m fine. I hope that the cats don’t go crazy. You’ve seen those videos, right?”

Megan laughed. “Oh, yeah! I’m hoping that as well. You’re an atheist and I don’t want to…”

“Baby, it”s okay. Like I said, I may not believe, but this,” Tasha gestured to themselves and Sophia, “this is what I care about. Look at that girl. She is over the moon about this. Spending time with you and her, with friends, that’s what is important to me. The 25th of December was just a random day picked to compete with an ancient pagan holiday. This tree that we’re picking out is a recycled Germanic pagan tradition. I don’t care about none of that. I care about that big ol’ smile on our little girl’s face.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to be sure. And I liked that you said ‘our little girl.’”

“I appreciate that. I do. And you know… ever since I saw you walk into that holiday party in that green and silver dress, like Brigid herself, I’ve started to think that the problem is that men screwed up religion, as usual, and that goddesses are real and where it’s at.”

“Who is Brigid?”

“Are you sure that you’re Irish? She’s the ancient Irish goddess of poetry, healing, wisdom, and the forge. Absolute badass who of course got christianized into a sappy saint.”

“I don’t have your classical background, but you’ve definitely got some goddess in you.”

And I’d like to put some goddess in you, too. Okay, down girl.

“Don’t you forget it! Hey, munchkin! Did you find a tree that you like?”

“Yes, Mama Tasha! I think that this is our tree!”

The tree seemed fresh enough to last a few weeks. There was a bit of a bare patch, but placing it in a corner would fix that problem. They talked to the nice Scout mom in charge and got the tree loaded on top of the car. They also purchased a stand and some light strings.

Once home, Megan and Tasha maneuvered the tree into place, much to the interest and amusement of Nocturne and Julius. Within minutes, the lower branches of the tree were decorated with the four golden orbs of the two cats. “I hope that doesn’t become a problem,” Megan said to Tasha.

“You and me both! I’m hoping that they get bored of it soon.”

As a family, they strung up lights and hung some wooden ornaments. The tree looked good, but a bit barren. Sophia suggested that they cut out paper snowflakes and hang those. Megan and Sophia worked on that while Tasha did some freelance work close by. By the time that they were done, the cats had settled in on the couch with Tasha, so Megan and Sophia hung up the snowflakes while Tasha supervised from afar.

They spent much of the rest of the day on the couch, Tasha working, Megan and Sophia reading, Nocturne and Julius snuggling the humans.