It's Always Been You

8 months later

Laura was pulling into the two-car garage, eyeing up that beautiful cherry red Camero that was already home. It's amazing how things can change in such a short time. It was in the heart of autumn now and Laura was happiest she could remember ever being. The beginning of the year didn't start out quite as nice...

Now, professionally speaking, Laura couldn't have been doing better, but personally, she had been in love with her best friend Sara for nearly 4 years, her best friend that just happened to be completely and utterly straight. It wasn't until one crazy string of a few days that had Laura putting her heart on the line and winding up in the arms of Sara that her entire life changed. The rest, as they call it, is history.

Laura and Sara moved fairly slowly in their relationship even though Laura knew she was the one. Sara still had to get used to the adjustment of being in love with another woman. It was only last month that Sara agreed to move in with Laura. It didn't hurt that Laura waited until Sara was in complete post-coital bliss to ask.

Laura didn't think that life could get much better than this. As she entered her now shared home, she could tell that Sara had been cooking - all the scents of dinner filling the house. Laura closed in on the kitchen and leaned against the doorway. She didn't want to interrupt, watching Sara sway her gorgeous hips to the sounds of some upbeat, Latin tunes. She could hear something sizzling in a skillet and Sara chopping away at an onion.

How did I get this lucky?, thought Laura. Caught up in the moment, she dropped her laptop bag and watched as Sara jumped out of her skin.

"Holy shit, babe, you just about made me chop off my finger!" laughed Sara as she held a hand over her heart.

"Well we wouldn't want that now...those fingers are pretty valuable to you AND me, if I do say so myself. I'm sorry though, I didn't mean to scare you. Just got lost staring at you while you cooked."

"Like what you see, huh?" Sara said coyly.

"Like you don't already know how crazy you make me," Laura said softly as she wrapped her arms around Sara's waist and pulled her in for a sweet kiss. "Mmm, I've been waiting all day to do that."

Sara pulled back, looking at Laura's beautiful features, "I guess you didn't get much work accomplished today, then, if you were thinking about me all day."...Sara began nibbling along Laura's jaw line, closing in on her right ear... "I know, because I was getting so turned on thinking about what I wanted to do you tonight to celebrate our 8-month anniversary that I had to leave early," she said as she nipped at Laura's earlobe.

"Sara, you've got to stop that or we'll never get to eat dinner," Laura said weakly, as she tilted her head to give Sara better access.

Sara continued teasing Laura, her hands now into the game, as they slipped underneath Laura's shirt, tracing small circles along her sides. After spending the last 4 years learning everything she thought there was to know about Laura, Sara learned more than she could have ever imagined in the past 8 months. And not just sexually, although there was plenty to learn there, but it was as if once they became lovers, Laura opened herself up to an entirely new level that Sara didn't know existed until now.

Sara pulled away finally, appeasing her appetite for the time being. "I'm glad you're home, babe. Tonight is going to be the best you've ever had."

"Even better than last month?" asked Laura.

"You have no idea." said Sara, with a sly smile.

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"Sooooo....what did you and Sara do last night? And I want details, woman."

Laura blushed 6 shades of red, as her friend and co-worker, Jamie, began to grill her about last night's anniversary with Sara.

"Come on, pleeassseeee! You know I live vicariously through you and your perfect relationship," continued Jamie, clearly not beginning to give up after Laura acted as if she didn't hear her.

Laura looked up, with a questioning look. "Vicariously through me and Sara? Jamie, you're straight!"

"Well, doesn't mean I don't like hearing about all of your naughty escapades with your sexy assed girlfriend."

"First off, stop noticing my girlfriend's attributes. And second, I'm not telling you about my night last night."

"You are seriously no fun, Laura! What good is it to have a lesbian friend if I can't even learn about your inside world? ...so not even a good strap-on story?"

"JAMIE!", those 6 shades of red on Laura now doubled.

"A-ha! So you and Sara have used a strap-on before then. I'll bet that was so hot." Jamie smiled, feeling somewhat successful for gaining an inadvertent confession. "Now try not to think about that for the rest of the day."

As Jamie walked away, giggling, Laura couldn't help but smile a little, even though she was embarrassed as hell. She knew Jamie was just trying to rattle her and they always had a fun time bantering back and forth. If Laura was honest, before her and Sara officially got together, Laura considered seeing if maybe she could convince Jamie to share a few nights with her.

Laura was so caught up in her work later that day, that she didn't even realize that Jamie was back at her office again, only this time she wasn't alone.

When Jamie saw that Laura had noticed them there, she jumped right in to the introductions. "Laura, I wanted to personally introduce you to the newest member of the team. This is Rachel Castranzo..she's joining the purchasing department as a junior buyer."

Laura stood, reaching her hand out, "Rachel, it's nice to meet you finally. I've heard a lot about the work you've done with Ralph Lauren in the past. We're excited to have you join our team. Looks like you and I will be working pretty closely together as we develop the new winter line coming up."

"It's so nice to meet you, Laura. I've heard a lot about you as well. Looking forward to spending a lot more time with you." said Rachel as she continued holding onto Laura's hand.

"Well, now that I've introduced the two of you, I guess I'll just let you get to it," Jamie stated, as she was already beginning to walk away.

The rest of the day flew by, with Rachel and Laura falling into a comfortable flow, brainstorming ideas and building up a plan for the new lines. By the end of it, Laura couldn't wait to get home and tell Sara all about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few weeks for Laura didn't quite go as smoothly as that first day working with Rachel. Rachel had great ideas, but her style ventured away from what Laura was accustomed to with previous buyers. As purchasing manager, it was imperative that Laura build a solid working relationship with each member of her team in order to make sure that the company was set for each season.

This caused Laura to turn lots of days into lots of working evenings and then into even more working nights, side by side with Rachel, learning her system and style. Sara wasn't too happy with the situation, to say the least. It didn't help that Laura came home that first night gushing about how excited she was about having Rachel on her team. Commenting on the talent she was bringing to the table and her raw intelligence.

Then, when Sara stopped by Laura's office one day and ran into Rachel, all five foot, eight inches of 26-year old beauty, she was especially not too pleased with Laura's current working arrangement.

That incident led to their first major argument as a couple.

"I just don't understand why YOU have to be there every night. You have 6 other people on your staff. Why can't one of them put in these long hours and give you a few nights off every now and then?"

"Baby, we're getting ready to launch the winter line. You know how it gets right before the new season. Once we get everything going, I'll be working from home most of the week again." Laura tried to reason.

"It's just that I never get to see you anymore. You're never home and when you are, all you're thinking about is what you need to finish the next day at work."

"Look, once I get Rachel trained completely and she learns the ropes, I'll take some vacation time. We can spend some quality time together," Laura said as she started to reach out for Sara and pull her a little closer, thinking the worst was over.

"Hold on...Rachel's there with you when you're putting in all of these late nights?" Sara asked incredulously.

Laura paused, "Umm....well, yeah. She's new and doesn't underst..."

"She doesn't understand?!" Sara cut Laura off. "Well no kidding she doesn't understand. She spends all of her time staring at you when she should be working."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you talking about? Where is this coming from?"

"It's coming from the fact that every time I've been to your office since she started, she's constantly near you, watching your every move. Come on, Laura, like you can't see that she's completely infatuated with you."

Laura took a deep breath, letting Sara's thoughts sink in. When she spoke, she was calm, quiet, "Sara, sweetheart...what are you afraid of? That she's going to try to make a move on me? That I'm going to cheat on you?" Laura put her hand over Sara's then, as they sat next to each other on their couch. Laura continued,

"Even if what you're saying is true, which I don't think is the case, but regardless, even if it is...you know that nothing would ever happen. Do you not believe me when I tell you that I'm in love with you? That I'm completely yours?"

Sara closed her eyes, still upset, but starting to rationalize, "It's not that. I know that you love me. It's just that sometimes, I don't know if it's enough for you to stay."

Laura stared hard at Sara, confused. "Sara, I know you don't believe that. I've never given you a single reason to think that I'm not prepared to be with you forever. What are you really afraid of here?"

Sara pulled her hand away from Laura's and placed her forehead in her hands, looking down at the floor now. "I love you so much, Laura. More than I ever thought was possible. But no matter how much we love each other, there's still the fact that you're the only woman I've ever been with. Until you, I thought I would end up with a man. And sometimes I question if I'm actually a lesbian, or I just fell in love with one."

"I know that sounds terrible and you know I'm not saying that to hurt you. But what if one day, you wake up and realize that you don't want someone who just happened to fall in love with her best friend. I'm still not comfortable explaining what we are to some people and I know that bothers you. I know it hurts you when I can't be completely open about everything."

Laura looked away then, taking everything in that Sara just said. Of course it hurt that Sara couldn't be open about what they were, but it had only been 8 months. Laura truly believed that given time, Sara would become accustomed to it, realize that what they had was stronger than other people's beliefs. She knelt down on the floor in front of Sara, taking her wrists in her hands and pulling them away from her hidden face.

As Sara looked up with tears in her eyes, scared of what Laura's reaction might be, Laura just leaned in closer so that their foreheads were leaning on one another. Laura closed her eyes and tried to make Sara feel how much she loved her, no matter what.

"Sara," Laura whispered, "I've been in love with you since I first saw you standing in that bar. You've been my entire world since then. I know that it scares you and I'm not naïve enough to think that your fears are just going to disappear. But, don't push me away. Don't think that this isn't real."

With that, Laura closed the remaining gap between them and placed her lips on Sara's, so softly and gently, they were barely touching. Laura just breathed in everything that Sara was, placing her hands on either side of Sara's face.

Sara whispered into Laura's mouth, "Make love to me, Laura."

Laura put more pressure into her kiss with those words, letting Sara know how much she affected her. With one hand sliding up Sara's thigh, the other threading her fingers through Sara's hair, Laura planned on showing Sara how strong their love was.

Laura started to rise from the floor slowly, pushing Sara onto her back onto the couch. Laura straddled Sara's thighs, her arousal starting to spread throughout her body. Sara's breath was starting to become labored, as well, and Laura knew she was getting more turned on by the second.

Sara started to unbutton Laura's jeans, but Laura didn't want it to be like that tonight. She wanted to make Sara completely surrender to her, body and mind. She wanted Sara to realize that what they had was beyond explanation. Laura pushed Sara's hands away and when Sara started to protest, Laura silenced her with a slow, sensual, tongue-massaging kiss, while her right hand started to slip just underneath the bottom of Sara's shirt.

She slowly removed Sara's top, still completely in admiration of Sara's body. Laura began moving down Sara's body, each kiss placed deliberately to tease and prepare her body for what was to come. When she got down to Sara's stomach, she spent a little extra time, knowing that it was Sara's weak spot. It drove her crazy when Laura would lightly nibble and suck across the lower part of her stomach, a tempting preview of Laura's excellent mouth.

When Sara couldn't take it any longer, Laura unbuttoned her pants and slid two fingers deep inside of her, feeling her tight walls contract around them. Sara moaned and arched her back, needing Laura to give her an orgasm. Laura bent down to taste Sara, never tiring of her sweet, tangy taste. She pulled her clit in between her lips, gently suckling and spreading her tongue across it in alternating moves, as her fingers continued sliding in and out. She continued this until Sara was right on the edge and then pulled away, not letting Sara reach the finish quite yet.

Before Sara realized what was going on, Laura had moved on top of her, sliding a leg between her thighs and kissing any complaints she might have had away. As Laura continued to kiss Sara, she began to grind her pussy against Sara's, wanting them both to cum together.

Both of them were moaning into each other's mouths, barely able to breathe. Laura pulled back to watch Sara's face in the midst of the pleasure. "Look at me, baby. Don't close your eyes." Laura said, barely loud enough to hear.

As they both continued grinding their hips into one another in perfect rhythm, Sara and Laura locked eyes and watched each other as their orgasms began. As Laura started to come back down from one of the most intense orgasms she had experienced, she watched as Sara collected her thoughts inside of her head, in her attempt to analyze what had just happened between them.

"Sweetheart, just stop. Don't even try to analyze that. Just chalk it up to perfect, beautiful, intensely erotic love-making."

Still catching her breath, Sara's mouth turned up in a half smile, "I'm not analyzing...just thinking about how you could do anything to me and I would still cum harder each time."

"Mmm...we'll put that to the test later." Laura laughed, as she pulled Sara up from the couch and led her to the bedroom. "But for now, I just want to fall asleep with you in my arms."

As Laura began to fall asleep with her body up against Sara's back and one arm wrapped securely around her waist, Sara couldn't help but let her mind wander back to their conversation and the fears that had started to surface.