"Which side?"

Alicia's rearranging some items on her bedside table. Kalinda stares at the back of her head, confused. "Sorry?"

"Which side do you usually prefer?" Alicia makes a gesture towards the bed. The bed furthest from the door.

Alicia's bed.

Kalinda's heart beats in excitement; her brain tells it to calm the hell down, that this really isn't what it sounds like.

"The right," she says as casually as she can.

Alicia's still fussing with her bedside table. Kalinda waits for a tiny revelation: she sleeps on the left because she's left-handed and it makes it easier to reach the alarm. She sleeps on the right from force of habit.

Finally satisfied with the layout of the table, Alicia gets into bed. The left-hand side of the bed. And then she reaches out and folds down the blankets on the right.

Her brain gives up on the calm signals. There's no ambiguity in the gesture. No room for interpretation. She knows exactly what she's supposed to do; it's what comes after that's the mystery.

But she knows exactly what she's supposed to do first, and it's Alicia asking, or maybe telling, so she obeys. She walks to the right-hand side of the bed and slides carefully between the sheets.

They're silent. The whole building's silent. It really is ridiculously quiet, here; it feels like she can hear her own blood. Alicia turns off the bedside lamp and then it's as dark as it is quiet. She daren't move in case she inadvertently touches her.

"I hope you don't mind sharing. I'm surprised that they didn't have any other spare rooms, but I'm sure we'll manage."

Her heart beats a little harder. That sounds like something a lawyer would say. A trap. They had exactly four spare rooms and apparently Alicia knows it. She stays quiet.

"You don't like lace?"

And she's back to confused. Talking with Alicia is usually so easy (it used to be so easy). Things have changed, though. (Plus – she's not usually in her bed.)

"What?"

"You picked the plain ones. No lace and no silk."

She's in Alicia's bed, talking about her silk underwear. "I..I thought that they were...professional."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Safest." That's not quite the word she was looking for.

"Safest?" There's an new inflection in her voice that she can't quite identify, the tone a little deeper than usual.

"Yeah," she says weakly. She has no idea if it's the right answer or not. (The honest answer – she couldn't touch the lace or the silk without getting aroused. White cotton was all she could cope with, and that was a close-run thing. She was two seconds away from asking Grace to pick them out for her, before she realized how crazy it would look if a full-grown woman couldn't choose a few pairs of underwear.

And bras, of course. She had also brought several of Alicia's bras.)

She takes a deep breath as quietly as she can; exhales slowly. It's going to be a very long night.

"Which drawer did you look in?"

"Uh...the first one. The top one."

"Not the second one?"

"No."

"You didn't explore a little?"

She'd longed to explore. To look for stockings, for lingerie; a discreet vibrator hidden right at the back. Maybe even handcuffs. She's pretty sure she'd have found most of them. She's pretty sure that Alicia's not half as pure as the world thinks.

"Of course not."

"That's a shame."

If you'd asked her 10 minutes ago how turned on she'd be if she was lying in Alicia's bed, she would have underestimated by a long, long way. She shifts uncomfortably.

"Why?"

"You could have brought some other incidentals."

"From the second drawer?"

"Yes."

To distract her from the insistent pulse between her legs she tries to list all the innocent things that Alicia could be talking about. A secret stash of chocolate. Tequila. Cookies.

(There's no way she's talking about cookies.)

"Like what?"

"Kalinda. Why don't you hazard a guess?"

She senses danger. It's up to her now; she's been given the choice. Start talking about hidden cookies and it's done, they'll go to sleep and pretend that nothing happened when they wake. Or Alicia will go to sleep, and she'll lie here, wanting her. But start talking about vibrators...

She takes another deep breath.

"You have a stash of sex toys, Alicia?" Her voice sounds unusually breathy. She hears Alicia move beneath the sheets and senses her shifting closer.

"I do. Are you shocked?"

"No."

"Really?"

There's no doubt about the new tone in her voice, now. It's huskier. Sexier. It's arousal.

"You're not that innocent."

She inhales a quick breath as a hand suddenly appears at the base of her tank top, and then tries to stifle a gasp as it slips underneath the top and starts to caress her stomach.

"You're out of breath."

She can't think of any excuse for that. She stays silent, willing her body to stay still. And then the hand slowly moves lower, cupping her over her underwear, and the gasp escapes.

"And you're wet. I've hardly touched you and you're wet for me."

There's no excuse for that either. Which is lucky, because she's lost the power of speech. She's never this passive during sex, not even close, but she'll explode if Alicia stops now and it definitely feels like she wants to lead. (It feels like she wants to let her, too, but she pushes that thought away.)

"I think you've wanted this for a long time. I think you've been repressing all of these feelings, Kalinda. It's not good for you to do that."

The hand moves into her underwear, stroking her, spreading her wetness, teasing around her clit. She tries to anchor herself by taking hold of the sheet but it just bunches up in her hand.

She tries to clamp down on the quiet sounds of pleasure coming from her throat but they escape whenever Alicia's fingers brush against a particularly sensitive spot. After several more moments she realizes that the hand is learning from her moans, that it's lingering at the places that affect her the most. Already she's not sure how much more of this she can take.

"Take off your shirt for me."

It's so dark in the room that she can't see anything. Alicia's not going to see anything. Which means that she wants to...

She sits up with difficulty, Alicia's teasing, stroking hand following her movements and sending delicious waves of pleasure through her body. The shirt is discarded by the side of the bed and she lies down again, bracing herself for the next move.

Which comes immediately, as Alicia leans her head down and takes a nipple into her mouth, sucking far harder than she was prepared for. A loud cry escapes from her, and another as the rhythm of the hand is brought into sync with the licking of her lips and tongue.

She's going to die, right here in this bed. She's going to actually drop dead.

After a few more aching moments Alicia withdraws slightly, just enough to whisper in her ear. Her voice is insanely sexy.

"You were watching me all that time, longing to touch me, sitting there wet for me. I can feel you watch me when you let your guard down. Do you know how much it turns me on whenever I think about that? All that pent-up desire, all for me?"

She's so close already, after barely five minutes; she might be embarrassed if she could feel anything except ecstasy. She rocks her hips against the hand, reaches up to grab desperately at the headboard.

"Kalinda?"

There's no way she can speak now; they both know it. She just pants.

"I've wanted you too," she whispers.

The thought of Alicia wanting her before tonight is so erotic that she comes and comes hard, clinging onto Alicia's wrist, moaning from deep in her throat. The hand continues to stroke her through her orgasm, gentler now, soothing and tender. She struggles to calm her breathing, to stop her legs from shaking.

"I want to see you. Can I put the light on?"

She knows how she's going to look – flushed, sweating and sated. But she's pretty sure she's already conveyed just how much she enjoyed the past few minutes without the visual proof giving her away.

"Yeah."

A rustle of the sheets and then a soft light in the room. She searches Alicia's eyes for any signs of worry, of panic, but her expression is warm and tender. Her heart skips a beat for her beauty. Gonna die right here tonight.

"OK?"

She nods, still trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry I ambushed you."

She smiles. "No complaints here."

"Hmm. There weren't, were there?"

She's smiling sexily. She's clearly aware of the effect she has on her, of the depth of the erotic power that she has at her command. In most of her fantasies, Alicia's a little nervous the first time, shy. Even submissive. Now she's wondering why.

"I guess we won't be needing the incidentals." The hand has started to stroke her stomach again, her fingers still wet. Kalinda watches them, hypnotized, not surprised in the least to find that she already needs their touch again.

"I guess not."

It's going to be a very long night.