Chapter 10

“Janeway will be missing you,” Lauren agreed.

“Janeway probably doesn’t care. as long as one of us feeds her,” Mika said, “but I need to unpack, then soak in the tub. I’m going to sleep as much as I can today, then tomorrow I’ll try to combat jet lag and stay awake during daylight.”

“Not hard to do with the days starting late and ending early,” Lauren said, with a laugh.

“So it will be easy,” her lover said, sliding out of bed. Lauren watched her bending down to hunt for clothes. She handed Lauren her pajama pants and underwear, and Lauren put them on, fastening her top as Mika dressed. Then she followed Mika into the living room, where her bags still waited.

“You need to tell me what kind of tea you like so I can get some in here,” Lauren said. “I realized this morning, I know nothing about tea.”

“I can send you links to what I like at Amazon,” Mika said, opening the latches on her suitcase, “or we can make a trip to a local tea shop.”

“I like that plan,” Lauren said.

“Most Brits like black tea with milk, but I grew up with green at home.” Mika sighed. “One reason among several for the girls at school to hate me. I just don’t like milk in tea, and black tea is too bitter without it.” She drew out one of a pair of wide boxes from her suitcase, then stood, holding the box out in two hands. “This is your real Christmas present.”

“Oh, Mika, you shouldn’t have!” Lauren exclaimed. “I didn’t get you anything!”

Mika grinned. “Consider it a souvenir, if you like. I promise you, I’ll enjoy the gift as much as you do.”

“Oh yeah?” Lauren grinned, now having a pretty good idea of what was in the box, which was labelled only with a few large Japanese characters.

She was wrong. Mostly wrong. She opened the box, expecting to find lingerie. Instead, the box contained a royal blue silk robe, decorated with gold patterns and white birds. She took it reverently out of the box. “Mika, this is beautiful.”

Her girlfriend’s cheeks had colored. “I’d thought about getting you something more traditional, but where would you have the chance to wear kimono or even yukata? Come with me on my next trip, as Dad said, and maybe we will. This is a kimono robe. You can wear it for lounging around the house, or whenever you like. Or, you know, if we’re together…”

Lauren pointed to the box still in the suitcase. “You got one to match?”

“Not to match,” Mika said. “It’s red. But to wear with you, yes.” Her blush had deepend a little further.

Indicating one of the birds in the design, Lauren asked, “Please tell me these are not boobies?”

Mika chortled. “They’re cranes. Very traditional. Though there will be boobies inside it, at least in your case.”

“Oh, honey, your boobs are lovely,” Lauren said. “Please don’t let me hear you disparaging the woman I love.”

Mika rolled her eyes. When Lauren set the box down and held out her arms to her, she stepped into her embrace.

“Thank you,” Lauren whispered, then gave Mika a tender kiss.

She helped Mika with her suitcases when they arrived at her house, but didn’t enter. “Call me,” she said, “and give my love to the Captain.”

“Admiral, please,” retorted Mika.

Lauren: “Want to take me to the tea store on Saturday?”
Mika: “I have a wedding. And a client meeting on Sunday. We could squeeze in a visit around 5pm Sunday if you don’t mind it being short.”
Lauren: “It’s a date. And a wedding in January?”
Mika: “At a ski resort. White snow, white wedding. It’s going to be a tiring weekend. Want to come back here and share my tub?”
Lauren: “Hell, yes! I mean, oh, what a nice idea, O girlfriend of mine.”
Mika: “😉 Good to know we’re on the same page. Bring your robe.”

Lauren decided that they’d need to return for a longer visit to the tea store if she decided to buy a teapot. She didn’t think her coffee maker would work well for loose leaf tea, so she only bought tea bags, while Mika picked up a couple of loose leaf packages. After their visit, they stopped at an Indian restaurant on the way back to Mika’s.

As soon as they arrived at the house, Mika ran the bath, then began brewing tea. When It was ready, she had already started the whirlpool and added a foaming oil which created a layer of bubbles on the surface and left a delicious jasmine scent in the bathroom. The water level was fairly low, as, she said, she wasn’t sure how much it would rise with both of them in the bath.

Armed with tea, they were about to find out.

“Do you need a shower cap?” Mika asked. She’d put her hair up in a high knot.

“I’ll be fine,” Lauren said, knotting her own hair into a bun. “I’m not planning to swim.”

Lauren felt a little self-conscious stripping before Mika. This wasn’t teasing, and it wasn’t undressing during foreplay, it was simply taking her clothes off before a girl with whom she was in a fairly new relationship. So she undressed only to her bra and panties, then waited for Mika to be the first to disrobe completely. But it seemed that Mika had the same idea, standing before her in her floral bralette and cute floral panties, her cheeks red.

She chuckled. “Panties on three?” she suggested. Mika looked puzzled for a moment, then grinned at her. “One, two, three.” Both dropped their panties to the floor. Another “One, two, three,” and Mika had lifted her bralette over her head, while Lauren was still unfastening her clasp.

Mika laughed at her struggle, and moved to help, but the clasp came free, and Mika’s eyes widened. Then she turned and climbed into the bath, Lauren following suit a moment later to sit across from her. With their knees raised, they both fitted comfortably into the bath. The level rose, but the bath was still far from full, so Mika ran more water, until Lauren’s breasts were barely submerged. She noticed that Mika seemed fascinated by the sight. Her eyes tracked the ripples that they made every time she moved.

She found the view of Mika as sexy as hell. Her small, high breasts didn’t really float or cause ripples, but her nipples peeked out above the water every time she moved.

Legs intertwined, they relaxed in the warmth. After what must have been about half an hour, Mika added a little more foaming oil to get the bubbles a little higher. This had the side effect of leaving two small gaps in the bubbles where the ripples from Lauren’s breasts kept bubbles from forming. Mika clearly found the view amusing.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Lauren asked.

“You know I am,” said Mika. “But I think they’re missing something.”

Lauren knew there was mischief afoot, but she didn’t know what form it would take. “What’s that?” she asked.

Her girlfriend’s legs moved from hers as Mika rose onto her knees, moving forward. “Me, between them,” she said, curling her body further over Lauren’s, her lips moving to hers. Mika’s breasts pointed down from her narrow chest, giving the lie to her frequent protestations that they were too small to notice. Lauren didn’t have long enough to admire them before Mika’s hand found the small of her back, lifting her body to meet Mika’s.

She floated upward as Mika’s lips met hers, supported by her elbows and Mika’s hands on her back. Her breasts broke the surface as they began to kiss, which was probably her girlfriend’s goal.

Confirming this notion, Mika left one hand supporting Lauren’s back while the other wrapped around a breast, sliding against the smooth wet skin as she caressed it. Her belly pressed against Lauren’s sex, and she moved as she kissed Lauren’s lips, the kiss together with the intimate closeness feeding the tingling in Lauren’s belly. Lauren felt herself relax in her girlfriend’s hold, her legs weightless on either side of Mika’s hips.

After a time, Mika returned her hand to Lauren’s back, using her hold to slide Lauren’s floating body against her own. Lauren’s breasts were compressed by Mika’s chest, giving a wanton appearance as they rolled with the movement of her body. Her pussy continued to slide against Mika’s body, building a warmth greater than that of the water surrounding her.

When Mika drew back, Lauren missed the contact of her body intensely. Mika looked down, grinning at her erect nipples emerging from the bubbles surrounding them. Then she curled forward until her mouth took in a nipple, sucking it deep, and the flare of arousal within Lauren banished any sense of loss. Relaxing in the warmth of the water that supported her felt almost like a void of feeling. Mika’s tongue and teeth painted on that blank canvas, spikes of sensation shooting into her body. She felt her clit pushing outward as sparks of excitement reached it.

Then those sparks were more direct as Mika’s mouth moved lower, covering her clit directly, suckling it in the water that surrounded it. The feeling was like nothing Lauren could recall, focused euphoria in a null space. She moaned softly, then not so softly as the feelings continued to build.

Mika didn’t allow her to overload on the sensation. When Lauren felt her body beginning to tense, Mika moved from her clit, lifting her body enough to kiss her navel and draw her teeth over her belly, creating more lines on the canvas of her body, before closing her mouth on Lauren’s other nipple, flicking her tongue against it and tugging with her teeth. Lauren groaned, losing herself to her growing need.

She wanted to encourage her lover, to tell her how incredible she was making her feel, but she wasn’t sure that she could speak, and she didn’t want to disturb Mika’s creative magic, so she remained wordless, the small moans of passion all she could manage as Mika sucked both nipples into a firmness so sensitive they prickled.

Then her mouth was on her clit again, fusing all of Mika’s work into a core of passion. She felt Mika drive her desire to a peak, and then take it yet higher, until the need within her erupted, her body thrashing and splashing as her lover’s tongue continued to caress her, not letting go until her climax had finally run its course and awareness returned to her.

“Mika…” she finally managed to croak. “Oh, my God.”

Her girlfriend’s smile seemed both cocky and shy at the same time.

Mika’s towels were huge, soft, and surprisingly warm. Lauren towelled off quickly, then knotted the towel around herself and insisted on helping Mika dry. Unnecessary but fun. When Mika eventually managed to avoid her groping hands, she also wrapped her towel around herself, and sat on the side of the bath, Lauren beside her.

“It’s fortunate we had the floor tiled when we had the bath installed,” said Mika. “It’s going to take a day to dry.”

“To be fair, I didn’t have a lot of control at the time,” Lauren said. “You made me come pretty hard, there. It’s not surprising I splashed a little.”

Mika smiled, her cheeks pink, though a lot of that might be the heat from taking a bath. “Will you stay the night?”

Her tone seemed casual, but Lauren sensed the nervousness behind her words. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You wanted to use my place to be close.”

“I did,” Mika agreed, “but I really want to be with you. The bath was fine. My bed will be.”

“I didn’t bring my business clothes,” Lauren objected. “I’ll need to leave early to dress for work. That’s okay, though, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure,” Mika said. “I want to sit with you on the couch and drink tea. Listen to music, or watch TV. I want to do girlfriend things with you. And then I want to go to bed with you and do other girlfriend things.”

“Oh, those girlfriend things,” Lauren said. “It might be worth sticking around for those.”

Mika rolled her eyes. She moved over to the door, then spread her towel out on the floor, allowing her to leave without walking over the wet tiles. She dressed in panties and her new robe, which was a deep red with a design of a flower cart and large white and pink flowers. Lauren did the same, standing on the towel to change. Then she stepped back into the center of the bathroom to see her reflection.

“This is the first time I’ve worn the robe. It looks even better than I expected,” she said. The hem was just above her knee, and the fabric felt light and sensual against her skin.

With nothing but panties beneath it, Mika’s robe seemed doubly attractive.

The most watchable show was a late episode of a multipart British drama and was already ten minutes in, so they decided to leave the TV off.

Instead, they drank tea on the couch. Lauren told Mika the full story of Rachel’s attempt to make a pass at her on New Year’s Eve, and how embarrassed Rachel had been at work afterward.

“If not for me, would you have gone home with her?” Mika asked.

Lauren thought for a few moments before shaking her head. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t do one night stands, and she’s not someone I could build a relationship with, even if I didn’t work with her. My party days were in college. Rachel is still a party girl.”

“Did you date at all after the woman you lived with?” Mika asked.

Lauren shook her head again. “I had two first dates that led to nothing. She made me realize that I needed to avoid getting too close to a woman I didn’t already feel a bond with. When I met you, I felt that there was a possibility of a connection that I’d never had with any girlfriend. I feel that now more than ever.”

“What was it that made you think that?” Mika asked. “How do you recognize that you want to get to know someone before you get to know them?”

“I think it was when you brought me tea,” Lauren said. “The setting was perfect. Outdoors in the fall. You were reserved but friendly, considerate but strong, elegant in a cutesy tee shirt, hot pink socks and jeans, and so pretty that you seemed to fit naturally with the golden leaves.”

“You’re just trying to make me blush now,” Mika said. “Though you’ve clearly given the day some thought.”

Lauren sipped her cooling tea, looking over the rim at Mika. “I think I’m succeeding in making you blush,” she said. “But yes, I’ve thought about the question. In the last couple of years, how many potential relationships have I avoided because I didn’t recognize the possibility of being with a woman whom I didn’t yet know? But that afternoon I felt that I’d seen enough to recognize that I wanted to get to know you. Meanwhile,” she winked at Mika, “turns out you just like my D-cups. Which is awesome, because if I’d had to be as sophisticated as you, I’d have gotten nowhere.”