FIC: The Penny and the Feather (Rizzoli & Isles)
Title: The Penny and the Feather
Pairing: Rizzoli/Isles
Rating: NC-17
Notes: Follows my other two pieces, linked below. But can be read as a stand alone with relative ease. Jane visits Maura at home after an evening apart.
A Little Cold
Fair Ball
and the latest:
Being alone was never a problem for Maura Isles.
The half-empty decanter of red wine clanked against the granite countertop, as pleasing a sound as Maura had ever heard. In the living room, the television was on mute, fifty-five inches of ancient Rome silently staring back at her as she padded barefoot towards the couch.
She curled her legs to one side, resettled the book in her lap, and took a long sip of the velvety Bordeaux. The 1999 Lafite-Rothschild had been in the cellar for quite some time, while Maura scrupulously waited and waited for the right moment to drink it. Fine wine demanded patience, which people like Maura had in abundance, but also required a bit of spontaneity when it finally came to enjoying it, which... well, Maura preferred to plan her spontaneity quite carefully.
But something had gotten into her lately. She was bright enough to know what it was. Or, rather, who it was.
Jane Rizzoli had Maura buying baseball tickets and draining the wine cellar and going panty-less to work. That last one, Maura hoped, was her still little secret, but for the most part, she was quite obviously not herself these days. People she’d seen but never spoken to at work suddenly warmed to her, and she to them. The Starbucks barista even laughed at her joke the other day.
No one ever gets my jokes.
Maura couldn’t help the small smile that spread across her face as she thought over the past few weeks. Jane. Jane’s hair, a beautiful mess. Jane’s long, lean arms that draped so neatly around Maura’s waist. Jane’s lips. Not just Jane’s lips. Kissing Jane’s lips.
Finally feeling something that, for once, she couldn’t instantly break down by physiologic chain reaction. Maura sipped the wine again, and closed her eyes. She tried not to wonder if Jane felt it too, but her mind would only stay at bay for so long, only allow her so many wild indulgences.
The doorbell would’ve startled her if she hadn’t been secretly waiting for it all night long. Sure, she loved nights in, alone, reading, just her and Bass. But from the moment Jane told her she’d be spending Saturday night at her parents’ monthly poker night, Maura hoped the detective would come by before all was said and done.
“Jane,” Maura breathed as she opened the door. She tried sounding surprised but it kind of came out sounding like she was just plain confused. Not exactly what she was going for.
For her part, the detective looked a little rumpled, a little worse for the wear.
"It's not too late, is it?"
Maura smiled. "Not at all. Come on in."
She felt Jane's eyes on her as she slid past, examining her from head to toe. Closing and locking the front door behind them, Maura took a self-conscious look at herself. She suddenly wished she'd have left her silk blouse on from before, instead of her pajamas. Only Maura Isles would feel underdressed in her own home.
"Don't do that," Jane's voice was low but only halfway serious. "You look good. Besides," she smirked as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "Look at me."
Maura retaliated with a wry grin of her own. "Oh Jane, if I merely tried to best you every morning, I'd end up going to work dressed like a vagrant. You don't make it very difficult."
Jane reached out and swatted Maura on the arm, her fingers grazing the skin there. Maura's face went flush.
"Would you like some wine? It has this lovely subtle licorice--"
There were those fingers again. Brushing against her wrist as Jane stepped behind her. She could feel the detective's breath on her neck. "I've had... a bunch of beers. Should probably stick with that."
Maura snuck around to face her. The granite pressed into the small of her back, space between them at a premium.
"Are you drunk, Jane?"
With a balled fist, Jane rubbed at her eye. "Buzzed."
Maura feigned disapproval.
"What? I took a cab." Jane added, as though that explained something. "What about you, wino? I see a little color in those cheeks."
"I've had a few glasses," Maura offered demurely.
There was a long silence between them as they stood there, thighs touching ever so slightly, Maura's breasts invading the long expanse of Jane's torso, their breath mingling.
"Did you win?"
"Win what?"
Maura didn't want to get ahead of herself. It was most likely the alcohol confusing Jane, not the growing heat of their close proximity.
Lean in a little more.
"The poker game." Maura followed her own advice, and used her palms to press off against the counter, closer to the other woman. "Did you win?"
Gotcha. She caught Jane looking straight down her shirt, her eyes tracing the v-neck all the way to its dangerously low conclusion.
"Oh. Uh... no."
Jane looked embarrassed, but again, Maura didn't want to assume. Jane was a frustratingly proud woman. She was probably pissed she lost the game to a bunch of old men.
"That's too bad. Better luck next time." She shifted again, subtly aligning the lower halves of their bodies. Jane's thigh, Maura's thigh. Jane's thigh, Maura's thigh. The smile that followed wasn't meant to be seductive but she suspected that didn't matter. Jane issued a guilty sound.
"What?"
Jane moved against her uncomfortably. "You know what."
"Guessing isn't really my forte."
The detective pulled her focus away from Maura quickly, looking up and taking in the scene around her. Maura could see the light from the television reflecting in her eyes.
She squinted. "I could stay."
It seemed out of context, yet made so much sense at that moment.
"Jo?" Maura wondered fleetingly about Jane's dog.
"I stopped home after my parents' and let her out."
Maura looked down between them, finding the buckle of Jane's leather belt.
Jane noticed her gaze drop. "I mean, I wasn't assuming... I just thought--"
She cut Jane off with a brisk shake of her head. "No, I... I don't take umbrage with your assumption, Jane. In fact," she looked up into those big brown eyes. "I like it. Coming from you."
She desperately hoped Jane knew what she meant.
Jane let out a sharp breath, almost a laugh. "Then I assume I'll find another beer in your fridge?"
Ugh. Jane. Leave it to her to brush aside a fairly big statement with a joke.
Maura grabbed Jane's hips and pushed her aside. "Yes..." She moved to the refrigerator, suddenly desperate for the cold air and a little separation. "And this time, please don't use the edge of the counter as a bottle opener."
A broad smile swept across Jane's face. "Already trying to change me."
***
Maura's couch was really comfortable. Really, really comfortable. Maybe it had something to do with the empty bottles strewn on the coffee table.
Each with its own coaster, of course. Doctor's orders.
The woman next to her may have had something to do with it as well. Maura Isles would deny it, but Jane knew better. Maura was feeling her several hundred dollar bottle of grape juice, and the ease of slight intoxication suited her.
"Does this television ever leave the Discovery Channel? History? Do you even get ESPN?" Jane toyed with the remote, blinking at the buttons like she'd never seen them before.
Before she could sort it out, Maura ripped the remote from her hands. "No. And I don't recall you asking if you could change the channel."
"Damn," Jane whistled. "And you call me bossy."
Maura narrowed her eyes and rose in mock disgust. “I’m opening another bottle of wine.”
“Oh no you’re not,” Jane tugged at her hand, the movement and Maura’s suddenly loose limbs combining to bring her down in a heap into Jane’s lap. The detective held her there with her arms ringed around the other woman’s waist. “You smell good.”
She felt good too. Jane pretended to watch whatever was going on on the TV while letting one hand graze the top of Maura’s thigh. The boxer shorts Jane presumed were Maura’s pajamas rode up, revealing more of Maura’s legs than she had ever seen before. Her skin felt smooth-- impeccably smooth-- probably the result of ridiculously priced skincare products and Maura’s no doubt meticulous routine. At the moment, even to a woman as practical as Jane, it felt very, very worth it.
Resting her cheek against Maura’s shoulder, she could smell the freshly-laundered white v-neck tee. The light floral scent of her shampoo. Even the faint bite of the red wine she’d been drinking. The caress of her leg was obviously getting to Maura. She fidgeted in Jane’s arms.
“I’m probably crushing you.”
Jane laughed. “Uh, no.”
The other woman moved to get up again. Jane held fast. Maura sighed, resigned.
“You’re not watching this.” She tried to sound aggrieved but Jane knew Maura wasn’t watching it either. So when the room went dark, Jane stayed stock still, contemplating what the next move should be, and just who should make it.
Finally Maura slid off her lap, settling in next to her instead. Jane could still see her in silhouette, the streetlights outside slipping in through the blinds here and there. Her apartment was silent. She felt Maura shrug, expectant.
“Now what?” The beer had given Jane’s voice a hoarse, gravelly timbre. Well, more so than usual, anyway.
Maura sat back on her knees and took Jane’s face in her hands, leaned in, and kissed her.
They’d kissed before. Tons, in fact. They’d kissed after the baseball game, and it snowballed from there. Kisses hello, kisses goodbye. In private at least. A stolen kiss in the movie theater that night Jane dragged Maura to see ‘The Expendables.’ She hadn’t planned on kissing her, but it was the only way to stop Maura from debunking every single piece of the entire movie.
They’d kissed in the car after yoga class, both of them sweaty and slick. They’d had their first kiss when the Red Sox won the first game of the wild card. They’d even kissed the night the Sox lost the ALCS to the Yankees. That one was more of a consolation kiss than anything else, a distraction Maura tried so desperately to provide for an inconsolable Jane.
But this one was different. This one meant something more. There were no cell phones ringing, no coworkers they had to stay alert for. No where else to go, no excuses about ending the night early. It both exhilarated and terrified Jane Rizzoli.
Not that she had much time to dwell on her emotions, good or bad. Maura Isles was wreaking havoc on her brain and body. For the briefest of moments, she imagined all the jibberish Maura was always spouting about neurotransmitters and hormones and synapses firing. Jane didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on in there, but she knew she didn’t want it to end.
She tried to concentrate on one thing at a time. Maura’s mouth on hers, soft, wet, eager but not demanding. The taste of the wine mixed with just a touch of lip gloss, headier than any cocktail she’d ever had. There was more, a lot more, but Jane wasn’t sure she trusted herself to even process it.
Hands. Her hands, Maura’s hands. Light, feathery touches on her cheek, her jawline, the back of her neck. Until she, Jane Rizzoli, grabbed Maura-- another woman-- by the hem of her shorts and thrust her over and onto her. To straddle her. Then those touches went somewhere else entirely. Up the back of her shirt, where Maura plucked at the skin there so hard it almost hurt. Maybe it would hurt, if all the blood in her body wasn’t rushing to someplace decidedly south. And Jane’s hands-- the source of so much that was unspeakable-- pushed against Maura’s ass roughly, until Maura cried out into her mouth.
“You okay?” Jane was panting.
“Yeah,” Maura breathed. “Yes. Just... your gun is pressing against my kneecap.”
Jane looked down at her right side and saw her firearm and Maura’s knee wedged between her and the arm of the couch.
Smooth move, Rico Suave.
“Ah, sorry. Let me...” Jane fumbled around for a few seconds, unclipping the well-worn holster from her belt and placing it carefully on the side table. Maura situated herself again, and let her hands drop to her sides.
The frantic rush had subsided. And now each of them was keenly aware of the precipice they were on. Jane felt like she was ten years old again, staring down Niagara Falls.
But Maura must’ve caught Jane stealing another glance at her breasts, because she was working her way out of her t-shirt before Jane could stop her.
It made no sense at this point to keep denying that Jane had been intrigued by-- no, fixated on-- Maura’s breasts since pretty much the day they met. Sure, it wasn’t until much later that she even remotely began to understand what that meant, but even then the denial continued. It was easier to say to herself, ’Wow, that blouse looks great on Doctor Isles,’ and not, ‘Her tits are about to fall out of that top and I hope I’m here to witness it.’
Not anymore. The thin fabric of her bra didn’t leave much to the imagination. It was cut low, so low the curves of her breasts threatened at its edges. Jane hoped she remembered to breathe.
“Jane,” Maura whispered. “Touch me.”
It was somewhere between a question and a command. Tentative. Maura was nervous too. Jane wanted to assuage some of that anxiety, but wasn’t quite sure how.
“You’re so beautiful.”
The words came out staggered, choked, even. Not at all how Jane wanted them to sound. But Maura smiled in the darkness, and brushed a wayward strand of hair behind Jane’s ear.
“Here,” Maura shifted slightly and reached around to unfasten her bra. It fell away, banished to the floor somewhere. “Better?”
Jane’s hands moved slowly up the hourglass shape of Maura’s waist, past her ribcage, and stopped just beneath her breasts, cradling her. She looked into the eyes of the woman she, up until just a short time ago, considered her best friend, paused, and then dragged her thumbs agonizingly across Maura’s nipples. Squeezed the fullest part of her. Felt the weight of her breasts and the watched the effect it had on the other woman.
“I’m... uh... touching another woman’s tits,” Jane said matter-of-factly, nodding as if in congratulations.
Maura dropped her head and smiled again. “Yes, Jane. You are.”
“Wow. Okay.”
“Okay,” Maura repeated, then sighed. “Just okay?”
“No, no,” Jane hurried. “No. The ‘wow’ part was for you. The ‘okay’ part was for me.”
Jane realized she just needed to stop talking. Wasn’t this normally Maura’s problem, not hers?
“C’mere,” Jane sat up straighter, and pulled Maura against her. She kissed her on the mouth, sucking at Maura’s lower lip, eliciting a moan from the other woman. Then she moved to her neck, drawing in just enough of Maura’s skin to make it completely clear to her: Jane wanted her. Sexually. Immediately, if not sooner.
Maura was quiet except for the occasional breath or moan, but Jane could feel her approval in other ways. The way she rocked her hips against Jane’s thighs. The gentle pull at the roots of her hair as Jane made her way across Maura’s collarbone and down. And the full body tremble when Jane let her mouth hover over her nipple.
She couldn’t deny her. Maura was open to her, vulnerable. Exposed. And Jane wanted her. She closed her mouth around the firm flesh there and pulled Maura into her, crushing their bodies together.
The tugging at Jane’s shirt became insistent the longer Jane stroked and teased. Finally, she leaned back and relented, sliding her shirt off until it got caught awkwardly over her head.
“Little help,” Jane mumbled beneath the fabric.
She could hear Maura laugh softly. Sure hands helped extricate her, and once she was free, Jane shot her an impish grin.
“I’m usually better at this, I swear.”
“And I usually play harder to get,” Maura shrugged, and then hooked her thumbs underneath the straps of Jane’s bra. “Sit up. Please.”
Jane smirked as she felt Maura’s arms around her. And then there was nothing between them there. The feeling of Maura’s breasts against her own, coupled with the lazy circles Maura was making on the sensitive skin of Jane’s upper back, drove her crazy. She growled.
“Good?”
“Mmm,” was the only reply she could muster.
“And this?” Maura nipped at her neck, sucked at her vein.
Another growl.
“I don’t suppose you want me to tell you why that feels so good, do you?” Maura whispered into her ear before taking Jane’s earlobe into her mouth and flicking it with her tongue.
Jane let out a throaty laugh. “No, not really. Just keep doing it.”
Never one to be told what to do, Maura changed her focus, setting her skillful fingers to work on the muscles of Jane’s neck and shoulders. Not that Jane minded.
But she did jump a little when Maura started down the front her chest, kneading the muscles and then lightening her touch, until she encircled Jane’s breasts, moaning a little as she did so.
“Look at you,” Maura stopped to observe her, but left her hands where they were. “Strong.”
She raked her fingernails up and down Jane’s abs, letting her breasts bob in Jane’s face as she did so. Jane felt more intoxicated than she had ever before in her entire life. But something told her she needed to get control of the situation, just as Maura began unbuckling Jane’s belt.
“Wait,” Jane held Maura’s wrists gingerly. “I’m not...”
She heard Maura’s breath hitch. She had to think fast. She didn’t want to lose Maura to her own fucking fear of losing control. But she wasn’t ready. She couldn’t be ready.
“No, wait,” Jane begged Maura not to go to that place in her head she knew she would retreat to. She shook her head to try and remove the fog of drinking and arousal. “I want you. I want you so much I can’t stand it. But once we do this, we can’t undo it. And I’m... scared. I’m fucking terrified.”
Maura steadied her breathing. “What are you afraid of?”
Jane clasped her hands around the fullest part of Maura’s hips. Slid her fingers into the waistband of her shorts. Felt that the doctor was not wearing any underwear.
“Everything.”
Maura tilted her head to the side, a bit of an incredulous look on her face.
“Everything when it comes to you, Maura. I’m terrible at this. At relationships. At love. And this is so new. And if I fuck it up, it’s all fucked up, you know? Our relationship, our friendship, our work...”
Maura took Jane’s mouth once again. Sweetly. Innocently.
“I’m falling in love with you Jane. No matter what you do, or don’t do. I can’t stop it. And I won’t run from it. Not the way I ran from every other emotion I’ve ever had since I can remember. I’m done running. I want this. I’m finally ready to feel something. I want... to feel... you.”
Jane swallowed.
“So when you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
Jane had to blink back tears. She was about to speak when Maura pressed her fingers to her lips.
“Don’t. Say it when you’re sure.”
Jane simply nodded, and let Maura fold herself against her. She felt so right there, Jane didn’t know what she was fighting.
“I know how hard that was for you, Maura. To let me in like this... you’re braver than I am.”
Maura sat back and looked into Jane’s eyes, and held her gaze until a tiny smile crept across her lips. “When it comes to you I am.”
Jane held her breath while Maura’s hands slipped from her shoulders, down her arms, until Jane couldn’t feel the heat of her fingertips anymore. No, Maura had withdrawn from her, instead running her hands up and down her own thighs. Jane felt her mouth go dry.
“When it comes to you, I’m all the things I’ve always wanted to be.”
As she spoke Maura’s hands moved up, slowly caressing just above her belly button.
“I’m calm, flexible... downright spontaneous.”
She squeezed at her own breasts, and sighed.
“I’m confident. Sexy.”
Her hips started to rock again, and Jane thought her brain might short circuit.
Was she really going to--
Maura leaned in and hooked her left arm around Jane’s neck. “Let me show you what you have waiting for you, Detective. When you’re ready.”
It was all Jane could do to nod. Maura had moved in close, almost right up against her. Still straddling her but cheek-to-cheek, so Maura could whisper right into her ear. So she could reach herself. And so Jane could watch.
Jane knew how wet Maura was. She could feel it even through her jeans. Hell, she was too. She knew she could give in right now, and fuck Maura in every room of this house. But it wouldn’t be real. She didn’t want that, not anymore, not with Maura. She wanted something better than that. She wanted someone to come home to, if only she could let herself.
And Maura was providing a very powerful incentive. Her blonde hair was everywhere, over her shoulders, over Jane’s shoulder. Jane loved how soft she was, how fluid her movements were. And when her hand slipped inside her boxer shorts, Jane felt that softness go rigid against her.
Maura rocked slightly back and forth, and her breath took uneven stops and starts. She was unraveling right there, and she wanted Jane to watch. And listen.
“I’m so ready for you, Jane.”
The double meaning was not lost on the detective. She tried to swallow, but failed.
“You make brave, Jane. Look what you’ve made me do.”
Jane had to close her eyes. It was too much. The sight of her, the smell of her. The sounds.
Oh god, the sounds.
Maura’s pace was quickening, and Jane’s resolve was melting.
“Can I come for you Jane? Will you let me come for you?”
Jane’s eyes flew open, and she pushed Maura’s face out of the crook of her neck with a nudge of her nose. They were face to face, only Maura’s frenzied breath between them.
“Please. I want you to come for me, Maura.”
Her strangled cry was muffled when Jane took her lips, hard, using both hands behind Maura’s head to drive them together. Jane had never kissed anyone like that in her life. She was literally stealing the breath out of Maura’s mouth as if her own very existence depended on it.
When they finally parted, Jane felt dizzy. Maura slid off of Jane’s lap, and onto the couch.
“Holy shit.”
Maura pulled her head down, a little sheepish now. “Yeah.”
Jane didn’t know what to do. She was throbbing all over, confused, aroused...
Maura moved to stand first.
“I love you, Jane,” she put out her hand in the darkness. “Come to bed.”
She wanted to say it back, but didn’t. Instead, she just followed Maura Isles to the bedroom.
***
Pairing: Rizzoli/Isles
Rating: NC-17
Notes: Follows my other two pieces, linked below. But can be read as a stand alone with relative ease. Jane visits Maura at home after an evening apart.
A Little Cold
Fair Ball
and the latest:
Being alone was never a problem for Maura Isles.
The half-empty decanter of red wine clanked against the granite countertop, as pleasing a sound as Maura had ever heard. In the living room, the television was on mute, fifty-five inches of ancient Rome silently staring back at her as she padded barefoot towards the couch.
She curled her legs to one side, resettled the book in her lap, and took a long sip of the velvety Bordeaux. The 1999 Lafite-Rothschild had been in the cellar for quite some time, while Maura scrupulously waited and waited for the right moment to drink it. Fine wine demanded patience, which people like Maura had in abundance, but also required a bit of spontaneity when it finally came to enjoying it, which... well, Maura preferred to plan her spontaneity quite carefully.
But something had gotten into her lately. She was bright enough to know what it was. Or, rather, who it was.
Jane Rizzoli had Maura buying baseball tickets and draining the wine cellar and going panty-less to work. That last one, Maura hoped, was her still little secret, but for the most part, she was quite obviously not herself these days. People she’d seen but never spoken to at work suddenly warmed to her, and she to them. The Starbucks barista even laughed at her joke the other day.
No one ever gets my jokes.
Maura couldn’t help the small smile that spread across her face as she thought over the past few weeks. Jane. Jane’s hair, a beautiful mess. Jane’s long, lean arms that draped so neatly around Maura’s waist. Jane’s lips. Not just Jane’s lips. Kissing Jane’s lips.
Finally feeling something that, for once, she couldn’t instantly break down by physiologic chain reaction. Maura sipped the wine again, and closed her eyes. She tried not to wonder if Jane felt it too, but her mind would only stay at bay for so long, only allow her so many wild indulgences.
The doorbell would’ve startled her if she hadn’t been secretly waiting for it all night long. Sure, she loved nights in, alone, reading, just her and Bass. But from the moment Jane told her she’d be spending Saturday night at her parents’ monthly poker night, Maura hoped the detective would come by before all was said and done.
“Jane,” Maura breathed as she opened the door. She tried sounding surprised but it kind of came out sounding like she was just plain confused. Not exactly what she was going for.
For her part, the detective looked a little rumpled, a little worse for the wear.
"It's not too late, is it?"
Maura smiled. "Not at all. Come on in."
She felt Jane's eyes on her as she slid past, examining her from head to toe. Closing and locking the front door behind them, Maura took a self-conscious look at herself. She suddenly wished she'd have left her silk blouse on from before, instead of her pajamas. Only Maura Isles would feel underdressed in her own home.
"Don't do that," Jane's voice was low but only halfway serious. "You look good. Besides," she smirked as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "Look at me."
Maura retaliated with a wry grin of her own. "Oh Jane, if I merely tried to best you every morning, I'd end up going to work dressed like a vagrant. You don't make it very difficult."
Jane reached out and swatted Maura on the arm, her fingers grazing the skin there. Maura's face went flush.
"Would you like some wine? It has this lovely subtle licorice--"
There were those fingers again. Brushing against her wrist as Jane stepped behind her. She could feel the detective's breath on her neck. "I've had... a bunch of beers. Should probably stick with that."
Maura snuck around to face her. The granite pressed into the small of her back, space between them at a premium.
"Are you drunk, Jane?"
With a balled fist, Jane rubbed at her eye. "Buzzed."
Maura feigned disapproval.
"What? I took a cab." Jane added, as though that explained something. "What about you, wino? I see a little color in those cheeks."
"I've had a few glasses," Maura offered demurely.
There was a long silence between them as they stood there, thighs touching ever so slightly, Maura's breasts invading the long expanse of Jane's torso, their breath mingling.
"Did you win?"
"Win what?"
Maura didn't want to get ahead of herself. It was most likely the alcohol confusing Jane, not the growing heat of their close proximity.
Lean in a little more.
"The poker game." Maura followed her own advice, and used her palms to press off against the counter, closer to the other woman. "Did you win?"
Gotcha. She caught Jane looking straight down her shirt, her eyes tracing the v-neck all the way to its dangerously low conclusion.
"Oh. Uh... no."
Jane looked embarrassed, but again, Maura didn't want to assume. Jane was a frustratingly proud woman. She was probably pissed she lost the game to a bunch of old men.
"That's too bad. Better luck next time." She shifted again, subtly aligning the lower halves of their bodies. Jane's thigh, Maura's thigh. Jane's thigh, Maura's thigh. The smile that followed wasn't meant to be seductive but she suspected that didn't matter. Jane issued a guilty sound.
"What?"
Jane moved against her uncomfortably. "You know what."
"Guessing isn't really my forte."
The detective pulled her focus away from Maura quickly, looking up and taking in the scene around her. Maura could see the light from the television reflecting in her eyes.
She squinted. "I could stay."
It seemed out of context, yet made so much sense at that moment.
"Jo?" Maura wondered fleetingly about Jane's dog.
"I stopped home after my parents' and let her out."
Maura looked down between them, finding the buckle of Jane's leather belt.
Jane noticed her gaze drop. "I mean, I wasn't assuming... I just thought--"
She cut Jane off with a brisk shake of her head. "No, I... I don't take umbrage with your assumption, Jane. In fact," she looked up into those big brown eyes. "I like it. Coming from you."
She desperately hoped Jane knew what she meant.
Jane let out a sharp breath, almost a laugh. "Then I assume I'll find another beer in your fridge?"
Ugh. Jane. Leave it to her to brush aside a fairly big statement with a joke.
Maura grabbed Jane's hips and pushed her aside. "Yes..." She moved to the refrigerator, suddenly desperate for the cold air and a little separation. "And this time, please don't use the edge of the counter as a bottle opener."
A broad smile swept across Jane's face. "Already trying to change me."
***
Maura's couch was really comfortable. Really, really comfortable. Maybe it had something to do with the empty bottles strewn on the coffee table.
Each with its own coaster, of course. Doctor's orders.
The woman next to her may have had something to do with it as well. Maura Isles would deny it, but Jane knew better. Maura was feeling her several hundred dollar bottle of grape juice, and the ease of slight intoxication suited her.
"Does this television ever leave the Discovery Channel? History? Do you even get ESPN?" Jane toyed with the remote, blinking at the buttons like she'd never seen them before.
Before she could sort it out, Maura ripped the remote from her hands. "No. And I don't recall you asking if you could change the channel."
"Damn," Jane whistled. "And you call me bossy."
Maura narrowed her eyes and rose in mock disgust. “I’m opening another bottle of wine.”
“Oh no you’re not,” Jane tugged at her hand, the movement and Maura’s suddenly loose limbs combining to bring her down in a heap into Jane’s lap. The detective held her there with her arms ringed around the other woman’s waist. “You smell good.”
She felt good too. Jane pretended to watch whatever was going on on the TV while letting one hand graze the top of Maura’s thigh. The boxer shorts Jane presumed were Maura’s pajamas rode up, revealing more of Maura’s legs than she had ever seen before. Her skin felt smooth-- impeccably smooth-- probably the result of ridiculously priced skincare products and Maura’s no doubt meticulous routine. At the moment, even to a woman as practical as Jane, it felt very, very worth it.
Resting her cheek against Maura’s shoulder, she could smell the freshly-laundered white v-neck tee. The light floral scent of her shampoo. Even the faint bite of the red wine she’d been drinking. The caress of her leg was obviously getting to Maura. She fidgeted in Jane’s arms.
“I’m probably crushing you.”
Jane laughed. “Uh, no.”
The other woman moved to get up again. Jane held fast. Maura sighed, resigned.
“You’re not watching this.” She tried to sound aggrieved but Jane knew Maura wasn’t watching it either. So when the room went dark, Jane stayed stock still, contemplating what the next move should be, and just who should make it.
Finally Maura slid off her lap, settling in next to her instead. Jane could still see her in silhouette, the streetlights outside slipping in through the blinds here and there. Her apartment was silent. She felt Maura shrug, expectant.
“Now what?” The beer had given Jane’s voice a hoarse, gravelly timbre. Well, more so than usual, anyway.
Maura sat back on her knees and took Jane’s face in her hands, leaned in, and kissed her.
They’d kissed before. Tons, in fact. They’d kissed after the baseball game, and it snowballed from there. Kisses hello, kisses goodbye. In private at least. A stolen kiss in the movie theater that night Jane dragged Maura to see ‘The Expendables.’ She hadn’t planned on kissing her, but it was the only way to stop Maura from debunking every single piece of the entire movie.
They’d kissed in the car after yoga class, both of them sweaty and slick. They’d had their first kiss when the Red Sox won the first game of the wild card. They’d even kissed the night the Sox lost the ALCS to the Yankees. That one was more of a consolation kiss than anything else, a distraction Maura tried so desperately to provide for an inconsolable Jane.
But this one was different. This one meant something more. There were no cell phones ringing, no coworkers they had to stay alert for. No where else to go, no excuses about ending the night early. It both exhilarated and terrified Jane Rizzoli.
Not that she had much time to dwell on her emotions, good or bad. Maura Isles was wreaking havoc on her brain and body. For the briefest of moments, she imagined all the jibberish Maura was always spouting about neurotransmitters and hormones and synapses firing. Jane didn’t have a fucking clue what was going on in there, but she knew she didn’t want it to end.
She tried to concentrate on one thing at a time. Maura’s mouth on hers, soft, wet, eager but not demanding. The taste of the wine mixed with just a touch of lip gloss, headier than any cocktail she’d ever had. There was more, a lot more, but Jane wasn’t sure she trusted herself to even process it.
Hands. Her hands, Maura’s hands. Light, feathery touches on her cheek, her jawline, the back of her neck. Until she, Jane Rizzoli, grabbed Maura-- another woman-- by the hem of her shorts and thrust her over and onto her. To straddle her. Then those touches went somewhere else entirely. Up the back of her shirt, where Maura plucked at the skin there so hard it almost hurt. Maybe it would hurt, if all the blood in her body wasn’t rushing to someplace decidedly south. And Jane’s hands-- the source of so much that was unspeakable-- pushed against Maura’s ass roughly, until Maura cried out into her mouth.
“You okay?” Jane was panting.
“Yeah,” Maura breathed. “Yes. Just... your gun is pressing against my kneecap.”
Jane looked down at her right side and saw her firearm and Maura’s knee wedged between her and the arm of the couch.
Smooth move, Rico Suave.
“Ah, sorry. Let me...” Jane fumbled around for a few seconds, unclipping the well-worn holster from her belt and placing it carefully on the side table. Maura situated herself again, and let her hands drop to her sides.
The frantic rush had subsided. And now each of them was keenly aware of the precipice they were on. Jane felt like she was ten years old again, staring down Niagara Falls.
But Maura must’ve caught Jane stealing another glance at her breasts, because she was working her way out of her t-shirt before Jane could stop her.
It made no sense at this point to keep denying that Jane had been intrigued by-- no, fixated on-- Maura’s breasts since pretty much the day they met. Sure, it wasn’t until much later that she even remotely began to understand what that meant, but even then the denial continued. It was easier to say to herself, ’Wow, that blouse looks great on Doctor Isles,’ and not, ‘Her tits are about to fall out of that top and I hope I’m here to witness it.’
Not anymore. The thin fabric of her bra didn’t leave much to the imagination. It was cut low, so low the curves of her breasts threatened at its edges. Jane hoped she remembered to breathe.
“Jane,” Maura whispered. “Touch me.”
It was somewhere between a question and a command. Tentative. Maura was nervous too. Jane wanted to assuage some of that anxiety, but wasn’t quite sure how.
“You’re so beautiful.”
The words came out staggered, choked, even. Not at all how Jane wanted them to sound. But Maura smiled in the darkness, and brushed a wayward strand of hair behind Jane’s ear.
“Here,” Maura shifted slightly and reached around to unfasten her bra. It fell away, banished to the floor somewhere. “Better?”
Jane’s hands moved slowly up the hourglass shape of Maura’s waist, past her ribcage, and stopped just beneath her breasts, cradling her. She looked into the eyes of the woman she, up until just a short time ago, considered her best friend, paused, and then dragged her thumbs agonizingly across Maura’s nipples. Squeezed the fullest part of her. Felt the weight of her breasts and the watched the effect it had on the other woman.
“I’m... uh... touching another woman’s tits,” Jane said matter-of-factly, nodding as if in congratulations.
Maura dropped her head and smiled again. “Yes, Jane. You are.”
“Wow. Okay.”
“Okay,” Maura repeated, then sighed. “Just okay?”
“No, no,” Jane hurried. “No. The ‘wow’ part was for you. The ‘okay’ part was for me.”
Jane realized she just needed to stop talking. Wasn’t this normally Maura’s problem, not hers?
“C’mere,” Jane sat up straighter, and pulled Maura against her. She kissed her on the mouth, sucking at Maura’s lower lip, eliciting a moan from the other woman. Then she moved to her neck, drawing in just enough of Maura’s skin to make it completely clear to her: Jane wanted her. Sexually. Immediately, if not sooner.
Maura was quiet except for the occasional breath or moan, but Jane could feel her approval in other ways. The way she rocked her hips against Jane’s thighs. The gentle pull at the roots of her hair as Jane made her way across Maura’s collarbone and down. And the full body tremble when Jane let her mouth hover over her nipple.
She couldn’t deny her. Maura was open to her, vulnerable. Exposed. And Jane wanted her. She closed her mouth around the firm flesh there and pulled Maura into her, crushing their bodies together.
The tugging at Jane’s shirt became insistent the longer Jane stroked and teased. Finally, she leaned back and relented, sliding her shirt off until it got caught awkwardly over her head.
“Little help,” Jane mumbled beneath the fabric.
She could hear Maura laugh softly. Sure hands helped extricate her, and once she was free, Jane shot her an impish grin.
“I’m usually better at this, I swear.”
“And I usually play harder to get,” Maura shrugged, and then hooked her thumbs underneath the straps of Jane’s bra. “Sit up. Please.”
Jane smirked as she felt Maura’s arms around her. And then there was nothing between them there. The feeling of Maura’s breasts against her own, coupled with the lazy circles Maura was making on the sensitive skin of Jane’s upper back, drove her crazy. She growled.
“Good?”
“Mmm,” was the only reply she could muster.
“And this?” Maura nipped at her neck, sucked at her vein.
Another growl.
“I don’t suppose you want me to tell you why that feels so good, do you?” Maura whispered into her ear before taking Jane’s earlobe into her mouth and flicking it with her tongue.
Jane let out a throaty laugh. “No, not really. Just keep doing it.”
Never one to be told what to do, Maura changed her focus, setting her skillful fingers to work on the muscles of Jane’s neck and shoulders. Not that Jane minded.
But she did jump a little when Maura started down the front her chest, kneading the muscles and then lightening her touch, until she encircled Jane’s breasts, moaning a little as she did so.
“Look at you,” Maura stopped to observe her, but left her hands where they were. “Strong.”
She raked her fingernails up and down Jane’s abs, letting her breasts bob in Jane’s face as she did so. Jane felt more intoxicated than she had ever before in her entire life. But something told her she needed to get control of the situation, just as Maura began unbuckling Jane’s belt.
“Wait,” Jane held Maura’s wrists gingerly. “I’m not...”
She heard Maura’s breath hitch. She had to think fast. She didn’t want to lose Maura to her own fucking fear of losing control. But she wasn’t ready. She couldn’t be ready.
“No, wait,” Jane begged Maura not to go to that place in her head she knew she would retreat to. She shook her head to try and remove the fog of drinking and arousal. “I want you. I want you so much I can’t stand it. But once we do this, we can’t undo it. And I’m... scared. I’m fucking terrified.”
Maura steadied her breathing. “What are you afraid of?”
Jane clasped her hands around the fullest part of Maura’s hips. Slid her fingers into the waistband of her shorts. Felt that the doctor was not wearing any underwear.
“Everything.”
Maura tilted her head to the side, a bit of an incredulous look on her face.
“Everything when it comes to you, Maura. I’m terrible at this. At relationships. At love. And this is so new. And if I fuck it up, it’s all fucked up, you know? Our relationship, our friendship, our work...”
Maura took Jane’s mouth once again. Sweetly. Innocently.
“I’m falling in love with you Jane. No matter what you do, or don’t do. I can’t stop it. And I won’t run from it. Not the way I ran from every other emotion I’ve ever had since I can remember. I’m done running. I want this. I’m finally ready to feel something. I want... to feel... you.”
Jane swallowed.
“So when you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
Jane had to blink back tears. She was about to speak when Maura pressed her fingers to her lips.
“Don’t. Say it when you’re sure.”
Jane simply nodded, and let Maura fold herself against her. She felt so right there, Jane didn’t know what she was fighting.
“I know how hard that was for you, Maura. To let me in like this... you’re braver than I am.”
Maura sat back and looked into Jane’s eyes, and held her gaze until a tiny smile crept across her lips. “When it comes to you I am.”
Jane held her breath while Maura’s hands slipped from her shoulders, down her arms, until Jane couldn’t feel the heat of her fingertips anymore. No, Maura had withdrawn from her, instead running her hands up and down her own thighs. Jane felt her mouth go dry.
“When it comes to you, I’m all the things I’ve always wanted to be.”
As she spoke Maura’s hands moved up, slowly caressing just above her belly button.
“I’m calm, flexible... downright spontaneous.”
She squeezed at her own breasts, and sighed.
“I’m confident. Sexy.”
Her hips started to rock again, and Jane thought her brain might short circuit.
Was she really going to--
Maura leaned in and hooked her left arm around Jane’s neck. “Let me show you what you have waiting for you, Detective. When you’re ready.”
It was all Jane could do to nod. Maura had moved in close, almost right up against her. Still straddling her but cheek-to-cheek, so Maura could whisper right into her ear. So she could reach herself. And so Jane could watch.
Jane knew how wet Maura was. She could feel it even through her jeans. Hell, she was too. She knew she could give in right now, and fuck Maura in every room of this house. But it wouldn’t be real. She didn’t want that, not anymore, not with Maura. She wanted something better than that. She wanted someone to come home to, if only she could let herself.
And Maura was providing a very powerful incentive. Her blonde hair was everywhere, over her shoulders, over Jane’s shoulder. Jane loved how soft she was, how fluid her movements were. And when her hand slipped inside her boxer shorts, Jane felt that softness go rigid against her.
Maura rocked slightly back and forth, and her breath took uneven stops and starts. She was unraveling right there, and she wanted Jane to watch. And listen.
“I’m so ready for you, Jane.”
The double meaning was not lost on the detective. She tried to swallow, but failed.
“You make brave, Jane. Look what you’ve made me do.”
Jane had to close her eyes. It was too much. The sight of her, the smell of her. The sounds.
Oh god, the sounds.
Maura’s pace was quickening, and Jane’s resolve was melting.
“Can I come for you Jane? Will you let me come for you?”
Jane’s eyes flew open, and she pushed Maura’s face out of the crook of her neck with a nudge of her nose. They were face to face, only Maura’s frenzied breath between them.
“Please. I want you to come for me, Maura.”
Her strangled cry was muffled when Jane took her lips, hard, using both hands behind Maura’s head to drive them together. Jane had never kissed anyone like that in her life. She was literally stealing the breath out of Maura’s mouth as if her own very existence depended on it.
When they finally parted, Jane felt dizzy. Maura slid off of Jane’s lap, and onto the couch.
“Holy shit.”
Maura pulled her head down, a little sheepish now. “Yeah.”
Jane didn’t know what to do. She was throbbing all over, confused, aroused...
Maura moved to stand first.
“I love you, Jane,” she put out her hand in the darkness. “Come to bed.”
She wanted to say it back, but didn’t. Instead, she just followed Maura Isles to the bedroom.
***