The Pilot

Chapter Nineteen

Bambina? What's going on?

Stefania crouched down in front of the little blonde taking her hands in her own. "Come on Danielle, let's get you inside Bella". She stood up pulling the younger woman to her feet. She opened the door to the bedroom and entered, gently guiding Danielle behind her. She let the door close behind her and pulled Danielle in to a warm hug. "Bella, do you want to talk about what's wrong?" Danielle didn't answer, she just shook her head against Stefania's chest whilst the tears continued to fall. "Ok, we can just stand here then. I'm in no rush to go anywhere." Stefania whispered rubbing her hand up and down Danielle's back. After about 10 minutes just stood there, wrapped in Stefania's embrace, Danielle felt herself begin to relax. Her emotions had finally levelled out but Stefania's hand caressing her back combined with the captivating scent of her perfume, was starting to make Danielle's pulse quicken for other reasons and she had a familiar feeling building deep in her stomach.

"Thank you Stefania" Danielle whispered whilst placing a gentle kiss on Stefania's exposed collarbone. She looked up, blue eyes locked with brown. Suddenly, Danielle pushed Stefania up against the door, crashing their lips together. Their lips moved in sync, both women getting lost in the moment, hands beginning to wander. Danielle tried to deepen the kiss but Stefania was adamant she was going to take charge this time. She pushed off the door and started to walk Danielle backwards towards the bed. Never breaking the kiss, they fell on to the bed with Stefania on top. Eventually air became a necessity and they pulled apart. Neither of them uttered a word but Stefania sat up. She sat there, straddling Danielle's waist exactly as she had been this morning. Only now, Danielle's usually sparkling blue eyes were a little darker. They were dark with lust but still so captivating to the brunette. Danielle leaned up capturing the Italian's lips in hers once more. She held on to Stefania's waist slowly sliding her hands round to grab her ass. Stefania returned the gesture by running her hands through Danielle's hair and gently tugging to pull her head back. She disconnected their lips briefly only to reattach hers to the sweet spot on Danielle's neck. She sucked gently on her pulse point resulting in a moan escaping the blonde's lips.

Once again, Danielle took charge and flipped them over catching Stefania off guard and causing her to let out a small yelp and then a laugh. "You really are determined to be in charge here aren't you Bella." She smirked. Danielle just grinned in response and wiggled her eye brows whilst pinning Stefania down and connecting their lips once again. Tongues fighting for dominance and breathing becoming faster. Yet again they broke apart when oxygen was needed. "You know Danielle, you can try to take the lead here all you want, but I'm still your boss you know" She smirked cheekily and gave a little wink. She pulled Danielle back in, only this time, Danielle didn't kiss her back. Stefania's words had hit her like a sledgehammer to the chest. "Right, yeah of course, you're my boss" Danielle mumbled with Stefania's lips still attached to hers. She pulled back and looked at the beautiful chocolate eyes in front of her. "Yeah, you're my boss" Danielle said with a bit more conviction this time.

"I'm sorry Stefania, I can't do this." She whispered, getting up from the bed. "Danielle, what are you doing? I was only joking. Bambina, please come back here." The brunette pleaded with a slight hint of neediness in her voice. "I'm going to grab a quick shower and then I'll be ready to take you wherever you need to be today" Danielle said, grabbing a towel and a change of clothes and closing the bathroom door behind her. Not two minutes later Stefania heard the water running and she was fairly certain she could hear faint sobs coming from behind the closed door. Stefania didn't know what was going on with the gorgeous blonde but she knew she needed to find out. She picked up her phone and dialled Caterina.

C: "hello?"
SS: "Hi Cat, are you still with the others?"
C: "yes, I am, we all just arrived at Jason and Chandra's room. What's up?"
SS: "You know how I told you about what happened this morning? WELL, THE EXACT SAME THING JUST HAPPENED AGAIN!"
C: "What? How? What happened?"
SS: "well we were, you know... just as we were this morning. Once again, she had me underneath her and I made a stupid joke about her thinking she was in charge but I would still be her boss. You know... JOKING! But you would think I punched her in the face. She got so serious and said "yeah you're right, you're my boss" then she got off me and locked herself in the bathroom for a shower. And... I'm 99% sure I could hear her crying. Oh and she was also sat on the floor outside the room crying in the middle of a mild panic attack when I arrived."
C: "woah ok, so what do you think that's about then?"
SS: "I don't know, but I'm going to try and find out. Which is why I've called you. You know how I said I would take her to lunch? Well, I think I'm going to take her to lunch and then spend the afternoon with her just enjoying getting to know each other."
C: "ok, so what do you need from me."
SS: "I need for you and the rest of the team to decide amongst you, who is going to handle my meeting this afternoon. It should be fairly straight forward. It's just a simple pitch of the planning software to the ferry company."
C: "yes of course, we can sort that. Don't worry. We can call you if anything urgent comes up."
SS: "thank you Caterina, you're the best. Ciao!"

Stefania got to work planning out what the rest of the day would look like. She checked the time - 11am. She booked lunch for 12:30 at an Italian that had all the best reviews. She then decided that she wanted to do some touristy things. Sure Danielle grew up in Seattle and Stefania had spent a lot of time here as Cooper also grew up here but she had never done the typical touristy things. She booked the 3pm, VIP tour of the Space Needle. Then she contacted a supplier of bespoke picnics who will meet you at any given location. She then thought a stroll through the Olympic Sculpture Park would be nice. Finally she booked tickets on the 8pm ferry to Bainbridge Island. Here they would get their picnic which would already be set up for them. Stefania was excited for the afternoon ahead. She just hoped Danielle would be open to it and maybe talk a bit too.

The brunette looked up when she heard the bathroom door opening. Danielle emerged dressed in classic light blue skinny jeans and a white T-shirt. "I just need to grab my shoes and a jacket then we can go." She spoke softly barely looking at Stefania as she walked passed her. Stefania grabbed her hand though and looked up at her. "Bella, can you look at me please?" The blonde looked up but not making eye contact with the older woman. "Ok, good, thank you." She gave Danielle's hand a gentle squeeze. "We're ok, Danielle. Please don't get trapped in your own head about this. There's obviously something between us here and I would love to explore it further. But I completely understand and respect your boundaries." "Thank you" Danielle said squeezing Stefania's hand back in return. "So where are we off to this afternoon then? You only have that one meeting yeah?" Danielle asked.

"Well, the first port of call is lunch. I've booked us a table at Toscana for 12:30. It has rave reviews so it better be good or I'll be severely disappointed" Stefania laughed. "Are you kidding, it's the best Italian in the city" the blonde smiled at her. "And it's actually not that far from here, we could walk if you wanted? Then just walk back here for the car to go to your meeting?" Danielle suggested. "Si Bam.. uh, Danielle, that sounds good." "Ok then, let's get going." The younger woman said throwing on her leather jacket and her favourite Veja sneakers.