28. Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ollie had been in Lara’s house on a number of occasions now, but she still found it as fascinating as she had the first time Audrey had driven up and parked on the grass that bonfire night. Lara Bennett’s home . She hadn’t been inside the walls until Lara had been the one to invite her in and she was extra glad of that now.

Lara didn’t let a lot of people in. Not to her bed or to her life and here Ollie was in both. She felt every inch of that privilege as she followed Lara in through her front door on a Saturday evening.

The house was so damn pretty. From the paint accents on the Victorian detailing on the exterior, to the smooth lines, polished floorboards, delicate art on the walls and the enamel jug full of fresh flowers that always seemed to sit on her dining table, changing every week. It was the girliest house Ollie had ever walked into; even down to the dusky pink of Lara’s bed sheets. Ollie was intensely curious about every single deliberate thing about it .

Lara had first shared this house with her husband but it seemed scrubbed of him now. Ollie figured that was intentional. Ollie herself owned a small terrace house in Brunswick that had been built in 1896. It was filled with generations of history, absolutely none of it hers. Lara’s house was a map of her experiences and Ollie longed for the key.

Lara was in her kitchen now, pulling out ingredients, getting ready to make them dinner and Ollie caught her breath yet again at the sight of her. The sheer, over-the-top attractiveness of her. The complexity of knowing, but not knowing her for so long. If she tried really hard, she could probably conjure up a memory of Lara aged nine. For crying out loud they would have been in kindergarten together. Her high school memories of Lara Bennett had moments that were still vivid, but they were followed by not even a glimpse of her for over a decade and a half. Zero contact. So much history missed and yet somehow, the main events of Lara’s life had reached her ears anyway.

That she knew what the back of Lara’s head looked like as she bent over her exam papers at fifteen, that she knew without having to be told that Lara had cooked in this same kitchen for Josh fucking Rees for years, that she would have sat right here in this living room, hearing for the first time that he was gone… all these moments rushed over Ollie in a wave. It was like looking at forty different versions of the same person, but all from the wrong end of a telescope.

“What are you thinking about?” Lara looked up and caught her expression .

Ollie blinked.

“That I’m going to make you dinner,” she told her. “Sit the fuck down.”

In the end Lara leaned back against the kitchen bench while Ollie cooked, making snarky comments and getting her smart mouth kissed. She poured them both a small splash of wine, Ollie trying to bite back a grin at the size of the pour; Lara had yet to try to test her on her threat she wouldn’t have sex with her if she was intoxicated. She’d meant it and the rule was sticking. Especially the kind of sex they were having, and especially with Lara’s history.

“Is it weird-” she found herself blurting as she sautéed vegetables “-still living here?”

“In Ribbonwood?” Lara asked, her fingers toying with a sprig of fresh thyme. “Always. It’s home though, I guess.”

“Well yeah,” Ollie agreed. “I meant this house though, specifically.”

“Oh.” Lara’s head came up. She watched Ollie for a beat. “You mean with the ghosts?”

“I guess? ”

Lara took a sip of her wine.

“I remodelled it,” she said after a moment. “As far as possible. New kitchen, new bathroom, new paint. Moved that wall-” she pointed. “Put in the fireplace. Stripped the floors. It’s kind of unrecognisable.”

“Right.” Ollie felt weirdly relieved by this. “Makes sense.”

“The night after he died I started sleeping in the spare room,” Lara said. “You must have noticed I don’t sleep in the master bedroom.”

Ollie blinked. She’d not thought a lot about Lara’s bedroom aside from the fact that it had romantic lighting, soft sheets and Lara Bennett in it. But now that she did she realised it was right off the living room and not especially large.

“The master bedroom is the guest room now,” Lara went on. “Sadie sleeps in it more than anyone. Tilly’s still in what was her old nursery, but honestly she ended up just sleeping in the bed with me until she was about seven anyway.” She gazed skywards before her eyes flicked to Ollie’s again.

Ollie felt a clench in her abdomen at that look. She was starting to recognise it. Lara didn’t let people in her bed. Or in her head. And here she was, sharing intensely intimate details of her life with Ollie. The look said, is this too much ?

She let the spoon drop into the sauce and took three steps to tug Lara’s chin up and kiss her.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “You did a beautiful job. Of all of it,” she told her, hoping Lara knew she wasn’t just talking about decorating.

“Thank you.” The fact that Lara turned away to study her wineglass, slightly too late to hide the fact that her eyes had misted, showed that she did.

Ollie kept feeling gut-punched with wonder. Sharp-tongued, standoffish, sassy, flirty Lara Bennett was secretly incredibly sensitive. For one wild second Ollie allowed herself to imagine what it would be like if a future between them was possible. She knew without even a second’s hesitation that she’d be all in, giving whatever she had to figure out this woman. The thought was dizzying.

She focussed hard on the sauce, while Lara stared into her wine.

“That,” Ollie bit her lip, catching her breath and gazing down at Lara where she had her pinned, “was almost disappointingly easy. I mean, disappointing except for the fact that you’re now entirely naked.” She let her eyes wander where they wanted, which was damn well everywhere .

Lara was breathing hard, her eyes sparkling, despite her struggle to lift her wrists off the bed.

“You don’t play fair,” she complained after trying to push against Ollie’s grip got her nowhere. She tried to use her hips to throw Ollie off. Ollie only pressed her own hips down, making Lara gasp, her movements turning more to a slow grind up against her. Ollie smirked down at her.

“Getting impatient are we?”

Lara rolled her eyes.

“I’m fine,” she tried, making her body still. “Whatever.”

Ollie laughed and without letting go of her wrists began to kiss her throat hotly, Lara moaning in response and arching her back. Well that was never a fair move when you had the body Lara Bennett did. Ollie was up for the challenge though. She shifted her weight and the angle but managed to keep Lara firmly pinned while she teased and licked her breasts and nipples, listening to her cries get desperate.

Lara’s hips were grinding up against hers again when Ollie started to grind back. She leaned in and murmured in Lara’s ear.

“You know, this reminds me-” she let go of Lara’s wrists, but was up and off her body entirely before Lara could reach her.

“No-” Lara choked out, looking faintly anguished and Ollie smirked. She paused, leaning back in to press her lips against Lara’s earlobe and murmur exactly where her mind had just gone. She drew back to watch the heat rise up Lara’s neck.

“Yeah?”

“Mmhm,” Lara managed. She bit her lip, her eyes hungry. “Yeah.”

Ollie left the room, finding her bag. It took her a few minutes but when she walked back in - also naked now, except for one critical detail - Lara who was reclining back on her elbows sat bolt upright in the bed. “Oh lord. ” She stared. She looked slightly lost for words.

“Yeah?” Ollie raised her eyebrows, wanting to be sure.

“ Yes,” Lara confirmed adamantly. She took a sharp breath. “Ollie Gabrielli, you sure as hell better have bought some lube wherever you bought that monstrosity.”

Ollie laughed and ducked back to grab the other recent purchase she’d almost forgotten in her eagerness to test out how Lara felt about the concept of strap-ons.

“You’re right,” she agreed as she stood watching Lara, quickly slicking the strap until it gleamed. “How’s that?” She couldn’t stop her small grin at the expression on Lara’s face as she watched Ollie’s hand moving.

Lara hadn’t taken her eyes off her and Ollie could see her breathing getting rapid. She looked aroused as hell and Ollie couldn’t wait to watch her take it, the same way she drove Lara insane with her fingers: fast and dirty.

Then she hesitated. You must have noticed I don’t sleep in the master bedroom. Ollie hadn’t noticed. She was going to start noticing.

“Come here,” she said. Lara bit her lip. She came up off the bed and Ollie sat on the side of it, hips all the way back, feet on the floor for steadiness. She crooked her finger at Lara who eyed her, then smirked in understanding. She came and stood straddling Ollie’s thighs, looking down with anticipation at the adamantly not small erection she was sporting. Ollie pressed Lara back slightly before she tugged her down, so she was in Ollie’s lap but with the strap-on trapped between them.

“Ollie-” Lara’s voice came out strained.

Ollie smiled. She loved how Lara got when she wasn’t getting what she wanted. It was clear what she wanted right now.

“Are you cool with this?” She checked in anyway .

“I’m not cool with this- ” Lara squirmed in her lap, eyes narrowed. “But yes, I want this. Now, please.” She tried to shift up and Ollie held her firm.

“You know I like to push you a little.”

“Yes please-” Lara was perhaps a little too far gone for this conversation to land.

“Anything I should know?” Ollie persisted anyway. “Anything you know right now is a no?”

Lara lifted her chin to meet Ollie’s eyes.

“Are you being sweet again?” she asked, her tone slightly exasperated, but her eyes incredibly soft.

Ollie shook her head.

“No,” she denied. “I just want to know your likes and dislikes before I fuck you hard and fast.”

Lara’s head fell back in clear want. When she raised it again she fixed Ollie with a look.

“I’m not going to suck that thing,” she told her, “and don’t go thinking you want to try to stick it anywhere else.” She raised her eyebrows for emphasis.

“Right,” Ollie said, trying not to smile. “Just fingers there,” she said with utmost seriousness. More than once recently Lara had come incredibly hard when Ollie had teased her back there. Lara glared at her, her cheeks flushing slightly. Ollie kept her face innocent. “And maybe my tongue.”

“Oh my god, Ollie,” Lara shook her head. “You’re out of control.”Then she smirked. “If you think you can fuck me with that thing and tongue my ass at the same time then you can be my guest.”

Ollie nearly fell backwards laughing.

“You know I can just unstrap this right?” she pointed out. “Be careful what you offer me Lara Bennett because I will take you on.”

“ That’s not what I meant!”

“Lara,” Ollie managed to stop laughing. Lara’s hair was out, tumbling down over her shoulders, bright gold in the lamplight. Ollie twisted a lock of it around her fingers. “You can say no to anything,” she reminded her.

Lara leaned in and kissed her, long and slow.

“Did you hear me say no?” she said when she finally drew back, her eyes sparkling.

“Lara Bennett.” Ollie shook her head slowly. “You have no idea what’s coming for you.”

“Then enough talk, ” Lara stood up. She shifted forward so that the head of the strap was right where she wanted it.

“Use your safe word.” Ollie smirked up at her.

“You’re cute,” Lara bit out. Then she sank slowly all the way down until she was sitting in Ollie’s lap again. Ollie could have come just watching her, Lara’s lips parting in a slow gasp, her eyes scrunching closed in concentration, the hazy look in her eyes when she opened them on Ollie’s face. “Oh yes please,” she whispered in hungry anticipation. And then she began to move.

Later, Ollie did push her down, on her hands and knees, fucking her hard and fast, Lara’s back bowing in pleasure, Ollie’s hands gripping her waist, their bodies slapping together. When Lara’s orgasm hit her, it was loud, incredibly hot and immensely satisfying.

But as she lay awake that night, listening to the rain on the roof, Lara asleep in her arms, it was the first round that kept replaying in her mind. Not just how Lara looked as she writhed in her lap, but the way they couldn’t stop looking at each other. The expression in Lara’s eyes as Ollie gazed back, Lara’s shaky gasps against her mouth when she kissed her, as her soft moans turned staccato, turned to stuttering breath, turned to her coming undone, right there in her lap. The intense intimacy of having a front row view to Lara’s undoing, of being the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes again, that gaze full of something.

Ollie knew she would never forget it.