Chapter 64

"...and then she resigned! So of course I had to say something..." Kathryn grinned and sipped her wine, glancing sideways at me as if daring me to challenge her story.

I smiled at her. "But she couldn't face just, you know, saying something."

"Well, no, not at first... but I got there eventually!"

"Tell her about the tent."

Joyce raised her eyebrows. "The tent?"

"Oh God, no, I don't think that's necessary, really..."

"No, no, I want to hear this. You pitched a tent, Kathryn?" Joyce directed at her with a smirk.

Kathryn relented, telling the embarrassing (but endearing) story of her setup with the tent, and Joyce ribbed her, though it was more fond than anything else. I could tell she had something of a 'thing' for Kathryn, though she was nothing if not warm and polite to me.

"Well, it looks as though the corny gesture worked if nothing else," she said when Kathryn was done.

"Or maybe it was telling the truth," came the reply as Kathryn slipped her hand into mine and gave it a squeeze, and I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.

"Or maybe a combination of the two," I said with a slight smile.

"Maybe so." After that the conversation diverted to 'work' topics, but Kathryn never let go of my hand except to get up to get us fresh drinks. Joyce watched her go, then turned to me with an intent expression on her face.

"So, you and Kathryn. I like it. You're good together."

"Um, yeah..." I said, my smile sticking although her intensity gave me slight pause.

"And what does her ex think of everything? And her son?" she asked, cutting right to the chase.

"They're both... fine," I said, still unable to prevent myself from feeling a little surprised as I said. "Even Jonas, surprisingly."

"Well, teenagers are quite resilient, aren't they? Still, I'm glad. And well done, by the way," she added, smirking. "I'm assuming you got your toaster by now?"

"What? Oh! Hah." I made a face. "I haven't really thought about... that stuff. To be honest. You know?"

"Of course not. This is real life. Still, you never wonder?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"About what?"

"Oh... nevermind," Joyce said, spotting Kathryn making her way through the crowd with two glasses of white wine in hand. "It's not important. As long as you two are happy."

Okay, now I was curious. "Hey, no, wonder what?" I pressed, glancing over at Kathryn, who seemed to be about to be waylaid anyway.

"Oh, just that you're the first woman she's ever been with. It's not an easy mantle to wear sometimes," the lawyer said, obviously unbothered about talking about this if I was.

"Surely it's easier," I said with a slight smile. "No one to compare me to."

"True, but if she doesn't know how good she's got it then she'll always wonder..."

I frowned a little. "I don't think she thinks that way." She didn't, did she?

"Of course not. Like I said, it's not important." Joyce smiled. "Just idle musings of an old butch dyke. Don't mind me."

"Right," I murmured, nodding slowly. Great. Now I'm going to worry about that all night.

Kathryn returned soon after with our drinks, and we chatted with Joyce for a bit longer before she excused herself to chat up some other likely-looking member of the teaching staff. I knew I shouldn't have let her words get to me, but by now they had wormed their way into my head and I could think of little else.

Remembering the promise we'd made to each other that first day in my flat, I didn't leave it long before saying something. "Kat..." I murmured quietly, leaning a little closer as the professor to whom Kathryn had been speaking milled off somewhere else. "Do you ever think about the fact that... you've never been with another woman. I mean, other than me."

"Pardon?" This obviously hadn't been an expected question. "Alex, sweetheart, what brought this on?"

Glancing around guiltily I eventually settled on lifting my glass a little. "Bubbles?"

"Well, no more of those in the future for you," she chuckled, though I could tell she was a bit worried. "Of course I don't think about that, Alex. Why would I?"

"I dunno. I mean, you're only human..."

"And? Alex, the only woman I've ever wondered about being with is you. And now I am, so... Why would I want anything else?"

"I know, I know, sorry," I said, making a face. "Sorry, it was just a stupid question."

"Have I done something wrong?" Kathryn pressed. "Tell me if I have, love, please."

"Oh, no, no," I said, turning a little toward her and placing a hand on her arm. "Not even slightly. No, it was just something Joyce said, she asked if I'd ever wondered... and, well, I hadn't. But I suppose I am now."

Kathryn made a face. "Joyce is a troublemaker. To be honest, I've had my whole life to 'wonder' about that sort of thing. But now that I have you, why waste the time?"

I nodded. "I know. I do know. Really, don't think about it. I didn't mean to be a pain..."

"You're never a pain." Kathryn glanced around for a moment and then grinned, taking my hand and tugging me to my feet. "Come with me."

"What? Where?" I followed along as Kathryn pulled me across the floor without a word of explanation. I knew that expression though, and it made my stomach dip a little in anticipation.

We were on a floor of the main university library which had been converted into conference and meeting space, meaning the restrooms had been refitted along with them and were now nigh-on palatial, and it was in here that I was now being dragged. Kathryn pulled me into one of lacquered wood stalls and shut the door, pushing me up against it with a clatter of the lock.

"There is one woman I fantasize about, quite a bit," she murmured then, pressing close to me and sliding a hand under my shirt. "Can't seem to keep my thoughts off her, actually..."

I smirked a little. "Oh yes? Should I be jealous?"

"I don't know, are you the jealous type? Because if so..." Kathryn chuckled and leaned in, nipping at my earlobe as her fingers slid deftly over my stomach, causing a ripple of excitement to run through me. If I hadn't been turned on already I certainly would have been now.

Her fingers continued their upward path, sliding over the fabric of my bra and then tugging first one cup and then the other down insistently, flicking over my already-erect nipples. Her mouth moved to cover mine and she kissed me deeply, pressing my whole body back against the stall door as her nimble fingers continued to trace and tease my breasts.

I hummed with pleasure, squirming both due to her touch and to help her hand slide beneath my waistband, but she seemed to have other ideas, both hands going to work my fly loose, sliding my trousers down over my hips. "Hey," I hissed, "you can't-"

"Well if you won't wear a skirt," she chuckled, hooking her fingers in my boy-cut briefs and tugging them down as well.

"You'll mess up your make-up..." I warned, sucking in a breath as her teeth caught my nipple through my thin shirt.

With another glance up at me Kathryn grinned and then knelt, taking hold of my hips as her lips moved lower, over my stomach and then to my thighs. I bit back a cry as I heard the bathroom door open; Kathryn's hands tightened and she continued to tease me with her lips and tongue as whoever it was outside the stall turned on the taps and began their ablutions.

Her hand caught my ankle, lifted my foot to rest it on the toilet lid, and I almost lost my balance as her mouth moved between my legs, clamping my own hand over my mouth, the other flattening against the cubicle wall. Kathryn's tongue worked enthusiastically, pulsing against me, and when she slipped one of her fingers inside me I thought I would cry out loudly enough for the whole gathering to hear me, much less whoever was in the bathroom with us, but I managed to keep it down to a low moan, an echoing growl of Kathryn's that reverberated through my pelvis.

The tap suddenly shut off and I could hear the clack of heels on the tile and the sweep of the door opening and closing. Kathryn took this as encouragement to renew her efforts, and it wasn't long before I came, hard, my legs almost buckling beneath me, and Kathryn stood, quickly, wrapping her arms around me tightly, kissing me deeply and then burying her face in my neck.

"Definitely worth some smudged lipstick, don't you think?" she murmured with a chuckle. My first answer was to turn my head to catch her lips with mine again.

"I love you so much," I murmured, licking my lips and tasting myself there. "You're unbelievable."

She grinned against my mouth. "I believe that was you..."

"Mm, I don't think so," I said as we pulled apart, smiling. "I wonder who that was..." I mused, casting my eyes to the cubicle door.

"Whoever it was, I hope they were thoroughly scandalized. You should've been louder," Kathryn said with a smirk, kneeling once again to help me with my trousers.

"I think I was probably quite loud enough. I can't believe you..."

She placed a kiss on my bare thigh, then stood, pulling my trousers over my hips and playing with the fly. "Believe me when I say that I have never wanted any other woman the way I want you, and if I have to shag you in every bathroom in the university to prove it, then by God I will."

"Oh, sweetheart, I never meant to..."

"Sh, it's okay. I know. It's okay to worry sometimes - as long as you tell me, yeah?"

Winding my fingers through Kathryn's hair, I nodded. "I always will. I promise."

"Good. Now let's get back to the party and see who refuses to meet our eyes."

 

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