ILLICIT AFFAIRS | WLW

Red

"Stop."

The silence that then followed felt heavy, the faint hum of the nighttime city outside the window te only sound punctuating the stillness. Blair's heart was pounding, the quickened rhythm of it a strange mixture of anticipation and confusion. She pulled away from Catherine instantly, and with a soft exhale, a small frown creasing her brow.

She folded her knees beneath her, tucking her feet into the soft duvet that covered the bed. Both curiosity and concern pulled at her as she glanced down at the older woman. "What's wrong?' She asked softly and with great uncertainty, the words escaping her before she could stop them, laced with a nervousness she couldn't hide. "Is everything okay?"

She wasn't too sure why she had asked – maybe it was the need to know why Catherine's demeanour shifted. It was a haunting thought, that perhaps she had done something wrong. Blair was still new to all of this; she was certainly not as experienced as Catherine. So, perhaps, she was doing it all wrong? She had been pulled away for a reason, after all.

Catherine lifted her gaze slowly to meet Blair's, eyes dark with unspoken thoughts. The look in her eyes was hard to read, but there was something about it that made Blair's heart flutter. Her response was a small nod, a barely perceptible movement of her head that still carried a weight of reassurance.

"I'm fine," she murmured, her voice low and a bit raspier than Blair was accustomed to hearing.

Blair hesitated, still unsure of what had shifted in the air between them. Her heart wasn't slowing down; it only seemed to be gathering speed, thumping louder now in her chest. She watched as Catherine's chest rose and fell, the breathless quality of her movements almost disconcerting. Her gaze traced over the older woman's profile, the faint flush of colour across her cheekbones, the soft curves of her body still just barely visible under the sheets. Blair wanted to reach out again, to close the space between them, but she didn't want to push Catherine.

It was only after a pause that Catherine's lips curled into a faint, knowing smirk, as if she were privy to some private joke Blair could not yet grasp. Her chest heaved once, a slow deliberate breath, before she motioned for Blair to come closer, a silent beckoning that felt as commanding as it was intimate.

"Come," She murmured, her voice low, and smooth like honey. Her fingers curled slightly, inviting the younger woman into her space once again. "Kiss me."

Hesitating for only a mere moment, Blair moved toward her. A flicker of something passed between them—desire, need, or perhaps simply an unspoken yearning for reassurance. Her heart thumped once again against her chest as she leaned forward, drawn to the allure of Catherine's voice; a presence too magnetic to resist.

Her lips, soft and unsure, brushed gently against Catherine's. The kiss was different this time. There was no urgency, no fevered desperation like before. There was a sweetness in this, and Blair let herself sink into it, her body pressing down against Catherine's. She could taste the lingering warmth of Catherine's breath as she felt her lips part, the older woman's tongue slipping delicately along the line of her own bottom lip.

When they finally pulled apart, a nervous expression flickered over Blair's face again, her uncertainty of the situation unwavering. She couldn't help it – her mind raced with a thousand questions. Was Catherine truly okay? What had caused that brief hesitation? The need to stop?

She bit her lip gently, glancing down at her hands for a moment before looking back to Catherine. "Are you sure...nothing's wrong?" she asked, her whisper almost too soft to hear.

Catherine's gaze softened, only just, though it remained unreadable as she considered Blair's question. A quietness stretched between them once more, and Blair searched the woman's eyes for unspoken answers, but Catherine remained silent again.