Note: Okay, I was amazed by the response to the first chapter of this story. Thank you so much for the feedback – it was both positive and constructive. I'm pretty new at this and learning as I go so your comments and emails are truly helpful. This is the second chapter of 4 or maybe 5. All characters are fictional, and everyone's over 18. Chapter 3 is on the way in maybe a week or so.
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Amara
Kelsey pushed Amara up against the kitchen counter and yanked the older woman's skirt up over her waist.
"Not wearing underwear?" the HR assistant said, her lips curling in a wicked smile. Amara could only shake her head, enthralled by Kelsey's brilliant green eyes that gleamed like gemstones in the early-morning sunlight.
The younger woman's fingers slid easily between Amara's wet folds, stroking back and forth to collect the slick moisture, then finding her engorged clit with practiced skill.
"Feels like someone is eager for fun," Kelsey said, the fingers stroking faster, bringing Amara closer and closer to paradise. With every stroke and every hot, ragged breath, Amara yearned for...
For...
...No. It wasn't working.
Amara sighed and opened her eyes, dispelling the fantasy, allowing the sights and sounds of the nearly-deserted office to assert themselves upon her awareness again.
She felt nothing. Her assistant Kelsey was young, gorgeous, witty, graceful, and had truly lovely green eyes, but she didn't generate any kind of sexual interest or response from Amara. She was one of the prettiest, smartest women in the office, but she didn't evoke anything resembling lust. There was simply no attraction there.
But replace Kelsey's brilliant green eyes with Dani's pale blue-gray ones, Kelsey's grace and wit with Dani's straightforward manner and self-assurance, and Kelsey's killer curves with Dani's lithe body, and everything changed. Thinking of her young housekeeper brought an immediate rush of warmth and the unmistakable stirrings of arousal.
And that was the puzzle that confounded her. Amara wasn't attracted to women. Never had been, not one time in forty years. Boy-crazy in high school, boy-crazy in college, hungry for her husband's touch right up until the bastard left her for a younger woman. It was silly to think that in middle age she would feel the first awakenings of same-sex attraction. Wasn't it? Weren't these preferences established in the womb? Had she been in denial for the first four decades of her life? Repressing it? Had the feelings always existed but lain dormant, waiting for the right woman to activate them?
Was there something about Dani specifically? If so, what? She wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, not elegant and charming, not refined or cultured. She was kind and reliable and hard-working but surely Amara had met plenty of women like that during her journey through the professional world. None of them made her knees weak and heart pound the way Dani did.
The thought of the younger woman reminded Amara that she was on a schedule now; she only had half an hour left to finish her work. She found it incredible and a little unnerving how easily she'd capitulated to Dani, agreeing to allow her housekeeper dictate her schedule. How had that happened? How had the woman she'd hired three weeks ago to do the laundry managed to rise to a position of authority in her life?
And why did the idea of Dani being in charge feel so comfortable, so soothing?
Amara shook her head and returned to her work. She'd beaten these questions to death all day and was no closer to having any answers.
With her splinted left hand she clicked awkwardly through her Inbox, slowly working through the massive email backlog that had build up over the course of weeks. With her time limited, she'd have to prioritize, devote herself to the most important work. It remained to be seen whether her presence in the office could keep any of her projects from dying a slow death, but it made her feel better to be there. The captain always went down with the ship, after all.
It was half an hour later that Amara pushed through the double doors out into the parking lot. Her eyes immediately fell on her Lexus IS idling in the pick up area. Dani jumped out of the driver's side, grabbed the bulging laptop bag from Amara and set it gently in the trunk, then helped her into the back seat. Maneuvering into the car was a challenge with no hands.
"Mommy!" An excited voice greeted her; Anne was strapped into the car seat. Amara's spirits lifted immediately.
"Baby! What a lovely surprise!"
"Picked her up from daycare on the way here. Figured that would be a regular thing – you two could spend some quality time on the way home?" Dani said, making eye contact in the rear-view mirror.
"Thank you. That was so thoughtful."
"Hey, an extra half-hour per day with your kid. Every bit counts."
Dani pulled the car into traffic and started them on the drive home. Anne was eager to tell her mother about her day; finger-painting, the boy who spilled her apple juice, how she found an acorn outside during playtime. Simple, priceless stories Amara would usually have missed while working until eight or nine at night. Another gift her housekeeper had given her. She revised her earlier assessment; she hadn't met anyone quite as kind as Dani on her voyage through the working world.
Nor anyone quite as efficient – when they got home there was beef stew in the slow-cooker and crusty bread waiting on a cutting board to be sliced. Anne ran to the bathroom to wash her hands without being told.
"I chopped everything small. Easy for you to eat with just one hand," Dani said in her usual matter-of-fact tone. She was already spooning some stew into a small bowl for Anne.
The stew was hot and delicious and Amara savoured the first few ungraceful, left-handed fork-fulls.
"Where did you learn to cook like this?" she asked. It was hard to believe that someone who ran away at thirteen would have had the chance to develop such culinary skill.
"I used to do short-order stuff at Randy Max's. You know – downtown? I can cook a lot of the stuff they offer."
Amara couldn't wait to sample the rest of the menu. How had she managed to find such a multi-talented woman? Surely the greatest hire of her seventeen-year HR career!
It was nearly seven by the time Dani cleared away the dishes and began the washing up.
"I'm thinking an eight o'clock bed time for Anne. Sound okay with you?" the younger woman asked. Clearly, Dani had taken it upon herself to map out her daughter's schedule, too. Maybe that was for the best – Amara's efforts had left Anne with too many late nights and too many early mornings. A healthier sleep schedule could only benefit her baby.
"I like it."
"Good. Go enjoy mommy-daughter time. I'll finish up and get some towels in the wash."
And enjoy it she did! They played Snakes and Ladders, drew with Crayons and read picture books. When eight rolled around it was Amara gingerly helping with the tooth-brushing, tucking in her child, singing to her quietly and planting a kiss on her forehead as she drifted off. She couldn't remember a more emotionally satisfying evening.
In the living room she found Dani watering the plants.
"Don't you ever take a break?" Amara asked.
"Hey, you're paying top dollar, right?"
"Come and sit down. Let's chat."
"Something wrong?" Dani said, frowning as though trying to figure out what the problem might be.
For all the evenings they'd spent together over the last three weeks, she didn't know much about her young housekeeper. She knew Dani's character, but not much of her life and not much of her plans. Part of it was that housework kept her always on the move, but part of it was Dani's naturally reticent manner; she seemed to prefer silence to conversation.
Amara wanted to dig a little deeper into Dani's personality. Maybe she'd discover something that would explain the puzzling attraction she felt to the younger woman. Something subtle, maybe even subconscious that was drawing her interest and keying up her arousal.
"Nothing's wrong. In fact, I have to admit you were right. Getting off work earlier will make me a better mom."
Dani gave her a pleased half-smile and put down the watering can. She joined Amara on the couch.
"I'm glad you didn't fight me too hard."
"Me too," Amara said. "Of course, if I didn't have you to handle the house..."
Dani shrugged. "We're a good team."
Amara smiled. That's how she viewed it, too. They were a team, and Amara could count on the younger woman to support her.
There was silence then, as Dani held her attentively in her blue-gray eyes but didn't say anything.
"So, what do you like to do? In your spare time, I mean," Amara said. She realized she'd probably have to prod the conversation forward at intervals.
"You mean like when I'm here during the day?"
"No, just generally. What are your hobbies?"
"Well...bowling, I guess. I sometimes score near two-hundred. One time I bowled two-twenty-five, but that was a once-in a lifetime thing."
Bowling? Amara scoured her brain to come up with something interesting to say on the topic, but came up empty. She must have taken too long because Dani flashed her another half-grin.
"Not your thing, I guess."
Amara smiled sheepishly. Busted. "I'm not sure I've ever been bowling. Do you like other sports?"
"I used to be okay at darts. Me and some buddies used to hang out at O'Sullivan's downtown. I wasn't much of a drinker but I liked the darts. They had a pool table too but I never got the hang of it. The cue just did whatever it wanted."
Darts. Pool. Irish pubs. It was like Dani was intentionally picking topics that Amara knew nothing about. If she'd said 'I love drinking' at least there would be some common ground!
"You don't drink?"
"I kind of scared myself off it when I was younger. Got drunk and woke up someplace I didn't want to be. Figured I should tone it down after that," Dani said.
Drinking stories – finally was a topic Amara could relate to.
"When I was in college me and some girlfriends went to a campus bar and I had way too many shooters. I woke up in a strange bed with two naked guys I'd never met before," Amara said, smiling and blushing at the memory. "I couldn't remember what had happened the previous night...or whether we'd...you know..."
Dani grinned. "TWO guys? How could you forget something like that?"
"Too much alcohol and too little common sense."
"So what happened?" Dani asked, leaning closer.
"I couldn't find my clothes anyplace so I had to just lie there until they woke up. Turns out they were equally surprised to see me there, and not in a good way. The guys were lovers – I'd somehow ended up in their dorm room."
"You dodged a bullet there!"
"Two bullets, you might say."
Dani laughed for the first time Amara could remember. It was a carefree laugh, gleeful, unrestrained and totally incongruous with her restrained personality. It delighted Amara and made her determined to hear it more often.
"So what else do you like?" Amara said. The mood had changed; Dani looked more relaxed and unguarded, and she felt the same way. Thank God for drinking stories.
