19. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Oh god, this was stupid. Lara was not enjoying this. Every thirty seconds it seemed, her head would snap around to the break in the trees to see if another guest had arrived yet. And if that guest could possibly be a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman with a kiss that blazed through her like fire, then that would be…wonderful? Terrible? Lara could not make up her damn mind. Was this fluttering feeling in her chest because she couldn’t wait for Ollie to arrive or because she was far too pent up to see her face right now?

“Have you got mosquito repellent on?” she stopped her daughter as she darted past the bonfire in the early evening light, dying for a distraction.

“Yes mum,” Tilly huffed. “You asked me already.”

“Excuse me for caring if you get eaten alive.” She found herself smiling at her daughter’s small, pointy, affronted face.

“You treat me like a child,” Tilly complained.

Lara laughed.

“You are a child?” she reminded her daughter.

“Barely,” claimed the ten-year-old.

“I’m sorry.” She sat back in a deck chair, tugging her daughter along with her. “Did you start paying bills at some point or something?” Tilly giggled, snuggling back in her lap, barely fitting anymore. Lara felt a pang, even as she hugged her. “Get a job perhaps? Got some wrinkles starting I haven’t noticed?”

“I could get a job,” Tilly started to argue. Then she gasped. “Is Rocco here?”

Lara’s head snapped up. Ollie was right there, long limbs bare in the dusk, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders from under an Akubra - like she’d ever done a day’s outdoor work in her life - and looking straight up edible despite it. The very first feeling that hit her chest at the sight of her was an almost shocking warmth. Ollie. She was right there.

“No,” Ollie said apologetically. “I left him at home guarding the grapes.”

“Did you bring Aria?” Tilly demanded as compensation.

“I’m afraid it’s just me.” Her eyes flicked to Lara’s and held her gaze for a quick beat before smiling back at Tilly.

“Oh, man.” Tilly’s face dropped. She slipped off Lara’s lap and ran back to Frankie. Ollie laughed.

“I’m sorry to be such a letdown.” She watched Lara, the smugness on her face making it clear she was confident she was anything but. Lara pulled herself out of the chair, not wanting to stare up at her from such a disadvantage. Once up though, she wasn’t sure what to do with her own limbs. She clutched at her still full wineglass.

“Nice hat,” she said. “Did you buy it from a high street store in Melbourne?”

“Actually,” Ollie said, raising her eyebrows, “it was a gift from my parents. For my seventeenth birthday,” she informed her. “I couldn’t have known that decades later these things would decorate boho hipsters from coast to coast.”

“It suits the whole faux-country girl aesthetic you have happening,” Lara told her .

“Oh, a compliment?” Ollie pretended to let her jaw drop. “That must have been a hot kiss.”

Lara shot her a sharp look, trying not to look around to see if anyone was in earshot while equally, trying not to let herself blush at the memory of Ollie’s fingers and exactly what they’d done to her. Ollie smirked at her perfectly knowingly.

“You didn’t even come with wine?” Lara looked at Ollie’s empty hands for distraction. She’d barely sipped from her own glass yet, having not trusted herself not to neck it in her inexplicable nervousness this evening.

“I’m not drinking tonight,” Ollie said, her tone deliberate. “I find that given a situation like this-” she waved one hand at the space between their bodies, “I like to stay in control.” Lara found herself swallowing at that, her body clenching noticeably at Ollie so calmly pointing out the elephant in the back paddock. Ollie stepped a little further into her personal space. “I also don’t fuck drunk women,” she let her voice drop low and soft, close to Lara’s right ear. “So keep that in mind.”

Lara looked her in the eye. She lifted her glass and took a solid mouthful of her wine, just to prove to Ollie that she couldn’t care less. Ollie seemed to see right through her, laughing, her eyes just daring Lara to keep going. Lara walked away from her. She deliberately left her wineglass next to the BBQ when she went to check in with Eva, her fingers lingering on the stem, hyper aware of the eyes on her body as she did .

When everyone was finally in attendance, she called them all to business. There wasn’t much to hear - a couple of updates, a couple of questions mounting, a few details that needed work - Eva a little teary as the women all checked in, little offers of help and expressions of care. Ollie only spoke when it was her turn to update them on her own part of the plan. Lara tried not to stare at her, but those dark eyes seemed to draw her in, even as she sat well away across the fire from her, the flickering light glowing on her skin.

Everyone seemed to want to chat that night, Chloe throwing log after log on the fire like she couldn’t stand the thought of leaving its warm glow, and even though Lara knew very well the reasons the younger woman needed to linger - still needed the company of other women to help her through her week - she felt her impatience like an itch. Ollie was chatting across the fire from her with Audrey, looking for all the world like she was content to bond with her old soccer teammate for hours but her eyes flickered to Lara’s enough that she knew that she too, was very, very ready to get to be alone with her.

It had been three full days since they’d kissed, five nights since their moment in the vineyard, three long weeks since Ollie had first waltzed back into her store, beautiful, infuriating, her eyes holding both a threat and a promise. Lara had finally had about enough.

She grabbed Sadie’s arm.

“You know that thing where you’re going to take Tilly back to yours for a sleepover?” she started, a slight edge in her tone .

Sadie looked at her and a grin teased the corners of her mouth.

“You need me to do that now?” she asked. “ Right now, so that you can shove Ollie Gabrielli down onto her knees and let her do what she’s obviously been dying to do to you forever?”

Ollie chose that moment to cast her dark eyes on Lara again and she sucked in a breath at the heat of her gaze.

“Yes,” she gritted out to Sadie, no longer caring about avoiding her friend’s teasing, far too desperate for whatever would just get them all out of her house as fast as possible.

“Oh my god,” said Sadie, her eyes going wide. “Seriously? I was never entirely sure if you were maybe into women, but holy fuck if anyone on this planet needs to get properly laid, it’s you. She’s going to eat you alive.” She looked thrilled. Then she caught the expression on her best friend’s face. “Okay, okay, we’re going,” she pretended to cower. “Hey everyone!” she suddenly yelled. “It’s late. Get the fuck out of here, our host needs her home back.”

There were choruses of laughs and boos, and it seemed to take about nine hours for everyone to pack up, Esme dousing the fire while Sara covered the embers with dirt, everyone else collecting beer bottles and BBQ trays, picnic rugs and beanbags, the sounds of women’s laughter echoing up the paddock as they all returned to Lara’s house. Handbags were collected, rubbish put in bins, benches wiped, the toilet flushing repeatedly as they all drifted out, Lara eyeballing everyone to make sure there was a sober driver to every car that left, hugging her daughter goodbye and calling instructions after her.

Chloe hung back longer, looking for a maybe non-existent jacket, while Esme tapped her foot at the door ready to drive her home. Finally, Lara pulled the still slightly emaciated woman into a hug.

“Honey,” she squeezed her. “Remember that you’re safe now,” she pulled back to try to look her in the eye. “Okay?”

Chloe’s shoulders dropped, a tear spilling.

“Okay,” she said tightly. Lara waited, until she finally met her gaze. “Okay,” Chloe’s voice strengthened.

“Call me if you need me.”

“Thank you,” Chloe whispered. Esme reached out a hand and gently tugged her out the door.

“Night ladies,” she said.

When Lara looked over, Ollie was standing still in her kitchen, her stupid hat on the bench top beside her, her eyes on Lara and her gaze soft .

“Lara Bennett,” she said, her voice low. She crossed the room and finally, finally touched her, a gentle hand tucking back Lara’s hair, drifting to her shoulder, then both hands curving around her hips. “I’m not sure I even understand everything it is you do for the women in this town, but I do know a damn good person when I see one.” Lara swallowed at the look in her eyes. Something made her sure Ollie knew what it meant to her, that word, good. “God, I just…admire you so much,” Ollie said softly, and by her tone, Lara actually believed her.

“It’s not your admiration I need right now,” she murmured, almost dizzy with need now that Ollie was this close.

Ollie looked at her for a beat. Then she pushed her, firmly, to sit astride her own dining table, pressing between her legs, her hands resting on Lara’s bare thighs, her fingertips just barely an inch beneath her dress. Lara’s breath caught.

“Better?” Ollie asked quietly.

Lara nodded breathlessly and just like that, Ollie was kissing her.

The night was quiet. No customers, no trucks, no child, no neighbours. The moment was finally here, just Ollie Gabrielli and a whole dark night. Lara clutched her in tight like she might disappear, but Ollie just pressed in closer, the heat of her mouth, the firmness of her hands holding Lara’s head to kiss her harder .

Lara’s legs wrapped around Ollie’s thighs, anchoring her there, her back starting to arch. Ollie’s hands slid down the curve of her spine, a little low moan of approval as she held her.

“Fuck,” Ollie breathed, pulling back slightly. “I don’t know where to put my hands first… you make me feel like I’ve literally never touched a woman in my life.”

“Do you need me to get you started?” Lara bit the corner of her own smile, somehow reassured by Ollie’s clear fluster. She gripped the hem of Ollie’s t-shirt and pulled it up over her head. Then she stared. “Oh god,” she whispered.

She let her hands roam up the bare olive torso she’d just revealed. Ollie’s skin was warm and achingly smooth and her breasts… Lara swallowed hard as she traced a finger wonderingly over the small firm curves disappearing into a black bra. She couldn’t stop staring, pushing Ollie back just enough that she could kiss the tops of them, fumbling for an excruciating second before she successfully undid her bra and pulled it down her arms.

“Oh fuck,” the words fell out her mouth like a prayer, her fingers trembling at the strength of her desire as she trailed them over Ollie’s bare breasts, eyes full of wonder as she cupped them.

“I so called it,” Ollie’s voice was a soft tease. “You’re extremely gay, Lara Bennett. ”

“Shut up,” Lara slipped her mouth around Ollie’s firm nipple, gratified to hear Ollie’s tease sputter out in a sharp gasp.

“Mm.” Ollie pressed her body closer into Lara’s mouth and Lara just about lost it, one hand spread around Ollie’s firm waist, the other cupping a soft breast, her mouth teasing a hardened nipple, her thighs splayed to let Ollie in. It was already complete overload and no one was even naked yet.

With that thought in mind, with effort, she pulled back. Ollie gasped as she looked down at Lara’s parted lips and hungrily dipped to kiss her mouth, the hot slide of her tongue dragging a moan from Lara’s throat. She slid off the table while her legs could still function and pulled Ollie down the hall to her bedroom.

Ollie didn’t stop to pay attention to how absurdly neat it was, how perfectly made the fresh bedsheets were, all the tasks Lara had found herself anxiously completing earlier that day in anticipation of exactly this moment. Instead she pushed Lara down on the edge of the bed and straddled her lap.

“Had your fill yet?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow and pressing her shoulders back just a little, those fucking breasts at Lara’s eye level. Lara squeezed her lashes closed for just a second, unsure how exactly she was going to survive this night between Ollie Gabrielli’s smug face and killer body.

“That depends,” she managed, her mouth already kissing across the top of Ollie’s collarbones, “on whether you’ve figured out what you’re doing yet.”

Ollie laughed, low in her throat. She pulled off Lara and pushed her slowly back up the bed before pressing her down into her pillows.

“Oh,” she said, her gaze tracking down Lara’s body, “I’m fairly confident I’ll work it out.”

She wrapped her fingers around Lara’s bare ankle, bending her leg at the knee and placing kisses up the inside of her thigh as Lara’s dress slipped back to her hips. Lara whimpered. Ollie let her feel the wet heat of her mouth on her skin like a promise, slow and thorough. Lara began to ache. Ollie tugged the dress up, baring Lara’s underwear, her stomach, her ribs, trailing her fingers and then her kiss over everything she’d uncovered, making Lara dizzier with every soft brush of burning skin.

Lara arched her spine to help Ollie drag her dress up and then over her head. The dress hit the floor and Ollie leaned down on one hand to stare at her body with awe.

“ Lara, ” she whispered. “God. You’re so… fucking…. smart ,” she bit her lip.

Lara laughed .

“You can say it,” she told her, shockingly turned on by the sheer hunger in Ollie’s eyes.

“Say what?” Ollie raised her eyebrows, feigning ignorance, even as she traced her fingers over the bra that was barely containing her, then trailed over her underwear, her gaze drinking her in. Lara rolled her eyes against her smile and Ollie snaked one hand between her shoulder blades, barely seeming to brush against her bra-clasp before it came undone. Lara’s jaw dropped at the infuriating audacity of such a move.

“Oh please-” she started, but the words died as she saw Ollie’s expression as she dragged Lara’s best lace bra down her arms.

“ Lara,” she whispered again, her voice almost choked. “Lara…”

And then she began to move. Oh god, Lara was not prepared for this, could never be prepared for the sensation of a half-clothed Ollie Gabrielli, sliding her silky smooth body against Lara’s sensitive skin, a firm hip pressing between her thighs, hot mouth tracking down her throat, all over her large breasts and then her fiercely hard nipples. The wet of her tongue, the graze of her teeth. Gasping, drowning in sensation, Lara gripped tightly to Ollie’s hips, fighting the desperately aroused haze in her brain as she unbuttoned Ollie’s shorts, dragging them down, needing more of her - closer - needing everything.

Ollie’s thigh pressed in again and now all Lara could do was cling to her, her hips already starting to writhe, her vision wavering at the edges as the sensations took over her, making her lose her breath .

“God.” Ollie was watching her face closely. “Look at you,” she breathed in raggedly, “you’re so sensitive.” She let her thigh drag against the soaked lace that had once passed as Lara’s underwear, seeing her whimper, “you’re close already aren’t you? I’ve barely touched you and you’re almost there,” her voice was low, full of wonder.

“It’s so good,” Lara whispered shakily, shocked, needy, unable to stop the slow grind of her hips.

“I have to have you,” Ollie begged, hooking her finger into the waist of Lara’s underwear, dragging it down her hips. “Please let me have you-”

“ Please- ” Lara gasped back. “I’m not gonna be able to- oh god-” her voice stuttered out as Ollie’s fingers stroked over her, the very second she had her bared.

Ollie swore. Lara was so wet it was tracking down her thighs.

“ So sexy,” Ollie ground out, slipping her fingers softly, around and around in the wet heat, watching intently as Lara struggled wildly for breath, her back arching in need, unable to control her body’s response to the sensations Ollie was pulling from deep inside her. It has been so, so long since Lara had been touched like this. Had she ever been touched like this? Not even close.

“ I can’t-” Lara gasped, already drowning, “you’re going to make me-”

“I’ve got you,” Ollie didn’t stop her perfect, swirling, knowing fingers, “oh you’re right there, aren’t you? Fuck - you’re so pretty and on edge. Look at you ,” she whispered, eyes full of hunger, “don’t stop yourself honey,” she argued firmly against Lara’s emphatic struggle. “You know I’m just going to make you come all night.”

“Ollie-” to Lara’s deeply, entirely embarrassed shock, she found herself sliding unstoppably over the edge at that, coming helplessly, deliciously - immediately - from Ollie’s confident, purposeful soft strokes. “Oh my god, ” she ground out as her hips arched, deep waves of pleasure making her tremble as every muscle she owned contracted.

“Fuck,” Ollie looked on the edge herself as she watched Lara’s face crumple with her sharp desperate release. “You’re the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. God, Lara,” her voice was almost a whimper.

Lara clung to her, pulling her down to press her face into her shoulder, struggling to regain her breath, her body pulsating with pleasure.

“I can’t believe you just did that to me-” she accused, faintly humiliated by how desperately her body had reacted to Ollie’s touch.

“Mm,” Ollie rolled them both slightly, running her fingers down Lara’s naked spine. “Well, you did say it had been a while,” she observed. “But I’m going to have to warn you: I’m really good in bed.”

Lara burst out a small laugh, the aftershocks flaring into deep warmth, her limbs loose, something like joy blooming in her chest.

“I’ve never met someone so unbearably smug all the time.” She tried hard to make her voice wry, but it was immensely difficult when Ollie was almost naked and pressed half on top of her.

“Give me a break,” Ollie bit her lip, her eyes glowing. “I just made the hottest woman I’ve ever met orgasm in well under sixty seconds. This might well be the pinnacle of my life’s existence,” she said, her tone dreamy. “It’ll probably be written on my tombstone: Made Lara Bennett come, hard.”

“ Please stop talking.” Lara gave her shoulder a little push, trying not to laugh again, before pulling her down to kiss her. Ollie licked into her mouth, pulling Lara’s thigh up high around her body.

“Now that we’ve taken the edge off,” she flickered her eyes down Lara’s still trembling body, “I want to take my time. Feel free to try not to come again just yet,” she bit her lip, her eyes full of heat and confidence.

Lara had just enough time to gasp before Ollie began to take her apart all over again.