On the same page, p.12
On the Same Page, page 12
“Deal. And, you should probably get back to that,” she teased, gesturing at Gianna’s phone that she’d placed down on the counter, Cora’s voice coming out of the speaker still. “Might be missing something important.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Gianna winked, before she grabbed her phone with one hand and used the other to make a shooing motion at Riley. “Go. And relax!” She called after her as Riley left the room.
“Relax,” she repeated to herself, turning and heading up the stairs to Gianna’s bedroom.
It was strange, not heading right to their usual spot on the couch on a night like this.
Those butterflies that faded somewhat in Gianna’s presence came right back as she turned the light on.
It wasn’t like she’d never been in Gianna’s bedroom, before. Their shared dorm in college for two years, plus when Gianna had a much smaller apartment, they hung out in her bedroom relatively frequently. Here, in this house, they usually stayed in the living room or laundry room or kitchen, and she usually slept in the guest room if she was spending the night. She’d been in Gianna’s bed for a movie night once or twice, laid on it when discussing Gianna’s outfits as Gianna worked her way through her adjacent walk-in closet.
Not like this, though.
She drew in a deep breath and poured herself a glass of wine. She looked over the room, moving slowly, trying to settle. From the artwork on the walls – mainly textured landscapes, as Gianna found them both beautiful and soothing – to the king-size four poster bed, unmade – typical Gianna – with gray sheets that Riley knew for a fact were ridiculously soft, before her gaze landed on the framed photos on Gianna’s dresser.
Most of the photos featured her with Gianna – them skiing in Aspen, hiking in Yellowstone, lounging on the beach in the Bahamas.
It was just Gianna. It was just sex.
Two things she greatly enjoyed; it shouldn’t be difficult to put them together. She nodded to herself, downing her glass of wine. All right.
If Riley was doing this, she was going to do it.
She had everything prepared, the nerves lining in her stomach, also riddled with anticipation, as she surveyed her handiwork five minutes later.
A glass of wine for Gianna on the nightstand, next to the massage oil Gianna had in with her toiletries, she’d found a stash of Gianna’s candles and set them up around the room, shutting off the actual light. No, this wasn’t a romance or even, necessarily, sex born of sheer desire. But it didn’t have to be nothing.
And treating this like she would treat any other hookup, gave Riley a sense of control that she appreciated.
“Riley?” Gianna called out from what sounded like downstairs. “Where are you?”
“I’m up here,” she shouted back, before she closed her eyes.
And made her final move – Gianna suggested they start tonight with a massage? Riley was certainly not going to object – she reached down and took her shirt off, tossing it onto the dresser, her jeans following it. She hesitated minutely when she was down to her bra… but Gianna had seen her without it before countless times. Sure, it was generally when they were changing, but if tonight continued the way it was supposed to, she’d be doing a lot more than seeing.
She took a deep breath through her nose, trying to dispel these lingering nerves as she put her bra down on top of her sweater, and climbed onto Gianna’s bed in her underwear – that was a first. She settled on her stomach, just as Gianna pushed the door open.
“Are you in my bedroom? You–” Gianna’s tone was questioning but entertained, and cut off quickly when Riley could hear her footsteps finally cross the threshold.
“I know we don’t usually hang out in here, but I just assumed if we were going to do a whole massage, plus–” everything else, though Riley was anxious to see what that everything would end up being, died as Gianna interrupted.
“Yeah, right! Obviously,” her voice was a notch higher than it had been before, then she cleared her throat. “No, it makes perfect sense. And… um, you – you took your clothing off.” The words were barely audible, as if they were breathed out.
“Should I have waited?” Was that some sort of a faux-pas? If Riley was being honest, that kind of straight-forward decision making was very common for her during sex. But maybe –
“No! No. I’m the one who brought up the massage, obviously,” Gianna spoke quickly, and judging from the lack of movement, she was still standing in the doorway. “Massage. Massage time. I should just grab… oh. You grabbed the oil! And you got the candles going… love the ambiance.”
Gianna’s typical, light tone finally returned, just the slightest bit off, making the tension Riley could feel moving through her loosen again. “Gi, you know that I don’t really do this, so if you had something else in mind–”
“No, no, no. Just, you stay where you are. This is fine. This is good. This is optimal for relaxation.”
Riley pursed her lips and blew out a breath, pushing her face against Gianna’s sheets as she nodded. In a way, Gianna’s sort of off-tone comforted her more than anything else. So, she was finally feeling that this wasn’t their usual, either. Knowing that she was on the same page as Gianna, that they were both likely feeling the exact same things, that did more for making her relax than anything else might have.
Finally, Riley could hear Gianna move around the room. She heard her walk to the side of the bed with the glass of wine and the oil on the side table, and Riley turned her head to the side to peer at Gianna. Who had taken the wine and was gulping it much the same Riley had drunk her own, her hoodie riding up her stomach as she tipped her head back with the glass.
A small smile played at her lips as she turned back to press her face against the bed. Yep, definitely on the same page.
She wondered if Gianna was also feeling this anticipatory electricity, too. The one that Riley usually felt when she caught wind of a story to pursue at the station – the wonder of where will this lead? It was definitely buzzing through her right now.
The bed dipped and she felt Gianna move toward her, feeling a little shiver move through her. It was just like that feeling. Would the lead turn into nothing? A dud story? Or would it lead to something exciting and worthwhile?
After a pause, she felt Gianna swing her leg over her, so she was straddling Riley’s butt, hovering just a bit as she stayed up on her knees. Something she’d done before, whenever they’d done massages – in fairness, full-back massages like this weren’t a super common occurrence, Riley didn’t ever strip preemptively for them, and they weren’t ever done in Gianna’s bed with any mood setting.
She could hear Gianna rubbing the massage oil into her hands to warm it, before she placed her hands on Riley’s mid-lower back, her palms together at her spine, long fingers curling just around her waist.
“Think of relaxing things,” Gianna’s voice dipped into a low octave, full of her joking tone. “Waves crashing on the shore. Your anchors listening to the things you tell them. The smell of a freshly baked cookie. Looking at your shoe collection and knowing you have a pair to match every outfit. Me, giving you a massage–”
Riley chuckled with it. “We’re getting very meta with this.”
Gianna slid her hands up Riley’s back in a fluid, firm motion. “All right, well, I ran out of other relaxing things off the top of my head.”
She worked the tips of her fingers, using the perfect pressure that Riley liked, down either side of her spine, before pushing them back up, and out toward her shoulder blades, where she dug in her thumbs. She used a lot of pressure, but then again, Riley liked it that way.
Gianna really did have wonderfully magical hands; Riley thought so every time Gianna gave her a massage. Right now, though, she was trying to stay in-tune with her body. With her body’s reaction to Gianna.
And, it felt… normal. It felt like Gianna, her best friend, was giving her a massage. A wonderful massage that was already doing some lovely work on her muscles, but still.
“Okay, I don’t want you in your own head,” Gianna spoke softly as she continued working at Riley’s shoulders. “Tell me… about what you were up cleaning last night while stressing over your life.”
Riley shook her head, brushing her forehead on the sheets. “How do you know I cleaned?” She countered, arching involuntarily up into Gianna’s hands. God, that was so good.
Gianna’s answering laugh was low, seeming to float through the room. “Gee, if only I knew you well enough to know that if you were up at two in the morning, you were power-cleaning something. Some news in the background. A little MSNBC? Maybe some CNN?”
“... CNN,” she admitted.
“Man, I am good,” Gianna laughed again, dragging her fingers down, high-pressure, all the way down to Riley’s lower-back. “Now tell me what you were working on at the station earlier? Anything juicy?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “I was just writing up–”
Riley cut herself off as Gianna slid her hands out from where they were, using a heavy – perfect – pressure, as she slid all the way down Riley’s ribcage. She used her thumbs to rub in circles as her fingertips brushed over the sides of Riley’s breasts, and a heat sparked through her, settling in her stomach.
Her head popped up from where she’d laid it, her heart starting to pound a little harder as she stared blindly at the headboard. “Do that again?”
“What? This?” Gianna repeated the motion, this time moving so her thumbs came all the way down to the sides of Riley’s breasts, rubbing there, as her fingers slid just under Riley. They pressed against the bottom of her breasts, circling over her ribcage, gripping there with a perfect pressure. “Here?”
“Yes. There,” Riley breathed, swallowing thickly.
“Strange place for you to feel tension, but who am I to argue?” Gianna murmured, using that same grip, her hands so warm and so soft as she slid them down from Riley’s breasts, all the way down to her lower hips. Her fingers were under Riley’s belly button, settling just over the top of her underwear.
Black, lacy boyshorts – to match her bra – did very little to disguise the warmth of Gianna’s fingers on her skin.
Her breath shuddered out, because… well, Gianna had never touched her there. Not in a deliberate, lingering touch like this, and she felt it. Heat built in her stomach, not dissipating as Gianna moved her hands back to Riley’s back.
And even as she continued the massage as normal, it didn’t feel anything close to normal, now. She felt… aware.
Aware of how Gianna knew the perfect way to touch her. Aware of just how long her fingers were. Aware of every sliding movement, as she pressed down, all the way down to just above Riley’s ass.
She gasped at the sensation, at the way Gianna’s touch sent that spark right through her core.
Then she whimpered so softly, as Gianna slid her hands inward from there, along the top of Riley’s underwear, fingertips just skimming over the material but not dipping under at all. When she got to Riley’s sides, she arched her hips up, wanting to feel Gianna’s touch, lower. Wanting to know.
It was the feeling of chasing down a lead on a story and just getting the first hint of confirmation that something really good was going to come of it. It was a high Riley chased at work, but in physical form.
Her breath left her on a sharp exhale when her arched hips pushed her ass up enough to come into contact with Gianna’s center. Hot, even through her leggings, and knowing that? Feeling it, made the lust pulse through her veins, clouding over her thoughts.
Gianna coughed, pushing up higher on her knees to disconnect them as she slid her hands up Riley’s back again. “I…”
“Why did you move?” She asked, breathlessly demanding.
She didn’t want that. With the thick, hot truth of her desire for Gianna settling in, she wanted more than anything the knowledge that it was the same for Gianna, too.
“I didn’t…” Gianna trailed off again.
“Don’t,” Riley told her, positive that the need building inside of her was clear in that single word. She arched her hips up again, wordlessly giving Gianna permission to press herself against her.
She waited, her blood thrumming in hungry anticipation for more, as Gianna slowly settled down on her knees. Truly straddling Riley’s ass, pushing herself into her. And through the admittedly sheer underwear she was wearing and Gianna’s leggings, she felt it again.
So much heat, and she could hear the low breath Gianna hissed out, and it made Riley’s heart race. She was starting to feel nearly delirious with it, and she arched herself up again, this time very much voluntarily.
She’d been worried about this all day. Stressed and anxious and worried that they would be in this position and that she wouldn’t feel like this. That no matter how much she found Gianna attractive, no matter how much she wanted to have sex, that it – it wouldn’t click.
She did nothing to stop herself from holding back the groan that escaped from the back of her throat as Gianna rested her hands, palm-down, spanning the width of Riley’s back, just pressing down for a long moment as she wiggled her hips in a small movement.
Yeah, it was really clicking. She laughed, softly, at the wonder of it.
“Something funny, carina?” Gianna asked, the Italian endearment slipping off her tongue.
Gianna loved to refer to people, mostly Riley, with little sweet terms. Babe and honey most often, but if Riley was honest, she enjoyed when Gianna slipped into Italian, the cadence of her bella or carina always sounding inherently… sweeter.
Right now, with the throaty sound of her voice and how it sounded like she was fighting to regain her own breath, it wasn’t sweet.
It was fucking hot, and Riley swore she felt it right in her clit.
She was so wet, and Gianna hadn’t even kissed her yet.
Gianna continued to touch her again, her hands feeling less certain than they did before, as she seemed to struggle with how much to press herself into Riley.
But now, Riley was ready for that kiss.
She wanted it. She wanted Gianna’s mouth on hers, she wanted to satisfy that curiosity now, too. She knew Gianna’s lips were so soft and plush – she’d felt them on her cheeks or in other soft, casual touches, millions of times – but her own lips were tingling from the want to feel them.
She was ready, now.
Riley managed to wiggle – earning a choked whimper from Gianna, that shot through her like lightning – getting just enough leverage to flip herself onto her back, looking up at Gianna. She braced herself on her elbows to prop herself up, biting her lip as she felt Gianna now straddling her hips.
“What–” Gianna cut herself off, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. She darted her eyes down to Riley’s chest, where her nipples were so hard already. She wanted to be touched, everywhere. “What are–”
“I think it was better to start this way,” she stated, feeling her heart pound harder as she looked into Gianna’s eyes, her pupils blown. “You were right.”
She didn’t know how she would have felt had they started more typically, with a kiss. Maybe she would have gotten into it right away? Maybe she would have still been in her own head? Still, it didn’t matter.
“I was…” Gianna still didn’t finish a sentence, as she was staring at Riley, with unwavering wide eyes.
“You are definitely a lot more outgoing, usually,” Riley whispered, and somehow, the dichotomy of that – that this was one of the only times she’d ever seen Gianna so reticent – made this moment somewhat endearing.
“I–”
This time, it was Riley’s fault Gianna couldn’t finish her thought process. She arched up and pressed her lips against Gianna’s for the first time.
Riley was surprised by Gianna’s kiss, at first.
She loved kissing; there was something inherently so… personal about it, that Riley always thought the way someone kissed said a lot about a person. Everyone was unique in the way they kissed – from the way they tasted, to the feeling of their lips, to the sounds they made, the movements they made with their tongue, how they liked to touch and be touched as it progressed.
At first, kissing Gianna was nothing like Riley had expected it would be. Not that she’d put much thought into it before today, but Gianna was fun and flirty and playful and loved being physical. Riley had assumed that would reflect in the way she kissed.
But in the very start of their kiss, from the moment Riley’s lips brushed Gianna’s, her mouth – those sweet, lush lips – were still and firmer than she’d expected. She could taste the wine on Gianna’s lips, as she darted her tongue out to get a better taste, sighing at it.
She tilted her head, wondering… was this always how Gianna kissed? She lightly pulled Gianna’s bottom lip between hers, then brushed her lips over Gianna’s again. It was far less assertive than she’d imagined, she thought, starting to frown as she pulled back.
Only an inch, hazel eyes blinking open, as she braced one hand on Gianna’s bed and brought the other up, scratching down Gianna’s neck. Just a questing, questioning touch against soft skin. “Are–”
That was all she got out, before a moan tore itself from Gianna’s throat, and Gianna surged forward to connect their mouths, again. The sound was deep and guttural and almost helpless, was the best way Riley could characterize it, and it matched the new intensity in Gianna’s kiss.
Riley found herself breathless, literally, as the momentum Gianna had used to push herself forward knocked Riley right off of the hand she’d been using to hold herself up, falling onto her back. She was dimly aware of the sound of Gianna’s hands landing onto the mattress on either side of Riley’s head, but she was mostly aware of the yes.
This was what she’d thought it would be like.
Gianna brushed her lips over Riley’s as if tasting, savoring, twice, before coaxing Riley’s mouth open and dipping in to taste her. Riley met her questing tongue with her own, breathing out a sigh as her lips tingled.
The heat that built between them, that sparked through her, only increased as Gianna’s entire body pressed against her own, and Riley – she’d seen every inch of Gianna’s body before, had cuddled and hugged her, but it didn’t feel like this.
