Spicy Sapphic Christmas

36. Jo

THIRTY-SIX

jo

The roar of the crowd buoyed Jo off the stage, down the stairs, and right into Piper’s open arms. Piper laughed as she swung Jo around.

“That was amazing,” Jo squealed as Piper put her back on her feet.

Piper’s hands were still warm and present on Jo’s hips, and it took everything in her to resist placing her own hands over the top of Piper’s. She met Piper’s eyes, and the electric energy that crackled beneath her skin from the charity event multiplied by hundreds.

“You’re incredible.” Piper smiled as one hand lifted from Jo’s hips and brushed an escaped curl behind Jo’s ear.

“You too.” Jo’s voice croaked out.

Time froze for a moment until noise behind them interrupted.

“Brilliant show.” Allegra was beautiful, and the personification of poise and class. Jo wished they could get to know each other better, but she wasn’t sure if she was prepared for that.

Allegra’s words meant little when Jo could still feel the heat radiating from Piper. So close but suddenly entirely unreachable. They had touched so many times, and it had never been an issue. And now that the world still believed they were officially engaged, why would they pull apart at having someone closer to them?

“Thanks, Allegra.” Piper stepped forward and offered Allegra a hand. “I hope it was a success on your end.”

“Oh, it was. I don’t have the final numbers, but it looks like we matched our last fundraiser.”

Jo watched, in awe of Piper’s ease and grace. She was everything Jo could ever dream of in a partner. Brilliant. Strong. Empathetic. Energetic. Joyful. Kind. Compassionate.

“Have a fantastic evening. Merry Christmas.” Allegra shook Jo’s hand as well. They exchanged similar pleasantries and well wishes.

Jo watched as Allegra moved to where Bea and Bunny stood, close and warm in each other’s embrace.

“Want to get changed and see if we can’t convince the two lovebirds to come dancing and drinking with us?” Piper asked as she turned her entire body away from Allegra’s moving form.

“Okay.” Energy buzzed through her body, but beneath it a sadness settled behind her ribs.

This was it. The show was over, and while it was a brilliant event—easily one of the highlights of Jo’s career thus far—there was no reason to see Piper every day anymore. There was no excuse to talk and text.

“Besides, I think we need to talk about a few things.”

“Oh?” Jo started that same old panic she hated to feel.

They clicked so well, and Jo had never felt such ease with anyone before in her entire life. And she knew they would try to stay in touch, but life would get in the way. Who knew how long it would be before they stopped chatting on the phone, or catching up when they were both in the same city? Or when one of them found someone else to date, to get engaged to for real.

The sadness behind her ribs turned into a pressure of pain.

“Are you coming?” Piper asked, the smile evident in her voice, though Jo noticed how her eyes didn’t quite settle onto her own.

Had Piper just worked out the same thing?

Jo forced the thrill of the event back into the forefront of her mind. Focus on that and maybe she could avoid the pain she was facing as soon as she left tonight.

“Of course.” She bounded after Piper, and together they walked back to the bus, arm in arm. “What did you need to talk to me about?”

“Two things really. The first is that I put your phone on silent because Mandy was here, and I didn’t want her to upset you.”

Jo stilled. She furrowed her brow and looked up into Piper’s eyes. Her chest was tight, but not because she was afraid. She was in awe. “Mandy was here?”

Piper nodded. “She tried to sneak onto the bus when you were meeting with Bea.”

“Oh.” Jo pursed her lips and shook her head. “She was probably upset.”

“Why would she be upset?” It was Piper’s turn to frown.

“Because I blocked her number, and the second number she had. She couldn’t have gotten ahold of me if she wanted to.”

“What?”

Jo shrugged. “I want nothing to do with her again, and it’s time I put my foot down about that. I don’t want her disrupting my life anymore.”

She hadn’t realized how quickly she’d come to trust Piper with everything, and just how easy it was to talk to Piper about all the dirty details of her life. The idea of it ending left a shard of glass in her heart.

“After you.” Piper swept her hand out in front of the bus stairs and waited, and Jo bounced up the stairs. Once they were inside, Piper stopped and shook her head. “I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Jo grinned broadly. “Was that the only thing you wanted to tell me?”

“No.”

“Then what?” Jo faced Piper fully, staring with wide eyes as Piper pulled her dress off.

She stood with her back to Jo standing in a pair of panties and nothing else. Goosebumps covered Piper’s bare back. Jo wanted to warm that skin, put hot-breathed kisses over each bump and smooth away the cold. She shivered despite still being entirely dressed in the warm clothes they’d planned for the outdoor event.

When Piper didn’t answer her question, Jo hesitated to ask it again. This felt like by far the more serious topic. She rummaged through her own suitcase, turning her back on Piper. By the time she found the perfect pair of pants and the long sleeve blouse to wear beneath her jacket, she turned back to Piper, intent on just snatching one more quick glance. “Do you think we’ll actually be able to convince Bunny and Bea to come out tonight?

“Oh, I’m sure we can talk them into it.” Piper chuckled, pulling down her shirt to cover the last of her bare skin. The pants she wore flowed around her legs and from a distance might even be confused for a skirt.

Taking a deep breath, Jo turned back to her own task at hand and smiled as she noticed the shift of weather outside the small high window.

“Even with it snowing again?” Jo asked as she slipped out of her own dress, letting it fall to her feet in a pile of rainbow colors. She stared out the small window, leaning closer to see the tiny flakes sticking to the outside of the glass as she unhooked the bra from her back.

“It’s snowing?” Piper was beside her, leaning against Jo’s bare arm as she reached her delicate fingers toward the window, as if to caress the snowflakes on the other side.

Jo turned her head, and Piper followed the action until they were face to face and eye to eye.

“Hey.” Piper smiled, reaching up and gently cupping Jo’s cheek in her palm.

“You’re all dressed,” Jo said, as though Piper couldn’t possibly be aware of the clothes she had pulled on, or like Jo hadn’t tried to sneak just one more peek at the perfection beneath.

“And you’re not.” Piper’s voice was rough and low.

“Um. No, not yet. I got a little distracted.” Jo’s cheeks heated, and she half hoped Piper knew the distraction had nothing to do with the snow. “I’ll just—”

“Jo.” Piper stopped her with the lightest of touches along her arm.

Jo’s skin tingled under Piper’s fingers. But this reaction had absolutely nothing to do with the chill in the air. “Yeah?”

Piper stepped in to Jo’s space, her arms slowly wrapping around Jo’s hips, giving Jo the opportunity to back out of the embrace or to tell her to stop. Jo wasn’t going to tell Piper to stop. She would take every last second she could get.

“Damn it.” Piper wasn’t one who normally stumbled on her words. She threw her head back and huffed her breath up to the low roof.

“What’s wrong?” Jo reached up a hand and eased Piper’s chin down as she cupped Piper’s cheek.

“What if it didn’t end?” Piper’s words rushed out.

“What if what didn’t end?” Jo’s heart beat a little harder and faster. Had she heard that right? Why had she repeated it if she wasn’t sure? But the energy in the air crackled, and even if she had heard wrong, she knew Piper wouldn’t make her feel stupid or ridiculous for the question.

Piper spoke after a deep breath that seemed to help calm her. “When I proposed, I said a lot of things.”

“They were beautiful things. Pity it wasn’t real.” Jo remembered the words and being swept up so easily in the moment. In the beauty of the wind that kissed her cheeks and gave Piper’s words the perfect background beat. But she didn’t want Piper to be held accountable for words that had been fake for the whole get Bunny and Bea out of their own heads idea.

“They weren’t just words.” Piper swallowed audibly, and Jo felt the tug at the corner of her lips. Could Piper really be saying this? Was it really what Jo was hoping to hear?

“They weren’t?” Jo encouraged, not holding any of her smile back.

“No, they weren’t.” Piper’s face lit up with joy. “They were how I feel. About you, Jo. What… What if none of it was fake? What if you really said yes to my proposal?”

“You really want to be engaged to me? For real?” Jo was almost certain that was exactly what Piper was saying, but she had to hear it. She had to have the clarification. She didn’t want to let all this joy inside of her swell larger if she was hearing only what she wanted and not what Piper was actually saying.

“Yes,” Piper whispered as she stepped a little closer, her arms snugging Jo a little tighter.

“Yes,” Jo replied, her breath ruffling the now loose hair that hung around Piper’s face.

“Yes?” Piper’s eyes were alive with a mix of emotions, and Jo couldn’t wait to dive into every one of them.

“Yes.” Jo closed the gap, pressing her lips against Piper’s. When she pulled back, Piper groaned in frustration. “Yes, I want to be engaged to you for real. I want you, Piper.”

“I love you,” Piper said the words as she stared directly into Jo’s eyes.

Jo caught her breath, the emotions welling up inside her chest and bursting in blurry vision before she could stop it. The tears spilled over her cheeks, even as she laughed.

“I love you, too.”

“Happy tears?” Piper’s face scrunched a little, worry marring her joy.

“Of course happy tears.” Jo pulled Piper in for another kiss. “I’m marrying my best friend. What else could they be?”

Piper pulled Jo closer, lifting her slightly off her feet as she twirled around in the small space. Back on her feet, Jo grabbed Piper’s hips and pulled them closer to her body. Piper didn’t need any more encouragement than that. She pulled Jo’s body even tighter into her own and leaned down to kiss Jo’s lips.

At first, the kiss was filled with joy and love, but after a moment the joy and love were joined by hungry arousal.

Jo moaned, opening her mouth, willing and eager at the light touch of Piper’s tongue on her lips.

“Are you still cold?” Piper asked, catching her breath,

“Not so much, all of a sudden,” Jo mumbled against Piper’s lips.

Piper laughed and spun Jo around before pulling her ass back into her crotch.

“Oh God,” Jo groaned as Piper ground hard and firm against Jo’s ass. She could feel Piper’s heat against her.

“Fuck yes.” Jo leaned her head back on Piper’s shoulder and was rewarded with a half upside down kiss.

“Bend over the table,” Piper purred into her ear even as she took Jo’s earlobe and sucked gently on it.

Jo groaned as she leaned forward, heat pooling between her thighs. She spread her legs wide as Piper continued to grind in slow circles against her. The change in position made Jo gasp.

“Please,” Jo begged.

“Please?” Piper chuckled, deep and throaty.

The sound sent another wave of arousal heating up Jo’s body.

“Yes, please. Please, please, touch me,” Jo begged, pushing her ass against Piper as hard as she could. Her fingers flinched, tempted to reach down and tease her clit herself.

Piper chuckled and leaned over Jo’s body. The weight of Piper’s body on top of her was delicious.

“All in good time, my love,” Piper purred in Jo’s ear.

Jo felt so close already. The truth of Piper’s feelings made her senses heightened in a way she could barely remember ever happening before. Even with the fun she and Piper had previously had. Because this time she knew it wasn’t just surface level.

The pressure from Piper lifted, and just as Jo was about to complain, wet hot kisses began from the top of her spine down to her panties. Piper eased them slowly down Jo’s legs.

Her legs shuddered, and her body screamed for release. Jo bit down hard on her lower lip, trying to stop herself from begging and pleading again. Except, Jo couldn’t hold back any longer. She shoved her ass backward and into Piper.

“Do you want me?” Piper asked, her voice deeper than normal.

“Yes. Oh God. Please fuck me.”

Piper grabbed Jo’s hips and pulled her hard against her crotch once more.

Jo groaned and ground her ass in hard circles, gasping each time Piper’s surprisingly naked pussy brushed her own.

“Oh.” Jo giggled and heard Piper laughing back.

“You don’t mind?” Piper asked.

“I demand getting to feel you as much as you feel me.” Jo smiled as she rested her elbows on the edge of the table. With all her pushing backward, she was no longer pressed against the wood top.

“Good,” Piper said in a heavy breath.

Jo closed her eyes. When she felt one of Piper’s hands snake around her hip and dance across her stomach, the speed of her hips increased. Piper found Jo’s clit and stroked gently for a moment before speeding up to the same pace as Jo’s furious grinding.

“Yes,” Piper groaned out as she rubbed rapidly on Jo’s clit, pushing into Jo harder with each rotation of their hips.

Jo was panting, unintelligible sounds escaping her mouth. She shuddered, her legs fighting to hold her up. Piper’s other hand moved from Jo’s hips and wrapped around Jo’s stomach, her other fingers still rubbing. With another hard thrust, Piper’s fingers swiping hard over the tip of Jo’s clit, Jo screamed and felt her body stiffen and convulse.

Piper held her close, holding her up as she shuddered through the aftershocks of the orgasm.

“Oh wow.”

Piper laughed in response and helped turn Jo around in her arms.

“I love you.” Piper smiled and kissed the tip of Jo’s nose.

“I love you, too.” Jo knew she had a wicked gleam in her eyes. “But you haven’t finished yet.”

“I’m okay,” Piper said, her pink cheeks growing darker.

“Well then…” Jo gently pushed Piper back until her legs hit the small couch that ran along the side of the bus opposite the table. “I’m not finished yet.”

“What?” For a moment, Piper looked genuinely confused before Jo slid to her knees and gently parted Piper’s knees.

“Oh,” Piper said as Jo began to kiss the inside of her thighs. She started at one knee and worked her way up, stopping just before reaching Piper’s pussy. Piper squirmed as Jo moved away and began the same trail up the other thigh.

“You sure you’re okay?” Jo asked, looking up at Piper through lowered lashes.

“Definitely.” Piper laughed.

“Good.” Jo giggled.

The smell of Piper’s arousal filled her as she thrust her tongue inside Piper’s hot center. Piper’s legs wrapped around Jo’s head, hands tangling in her ruined curls as Jo alternated between thrusting and licking and pressing the flat of her tongue against Piper’s clit.

When Piper screamed out, her thighs shuddering and stiffening against Jo’s head, Jo stilled her movements, enjoying the sensation of Piper’s pussy shuddering around her face.

“Come here.” Piper dropped her legs and motioned for Jo to join her on the narrow seat.

Piper’s legs stretched out across the bus and her chest rose hard and heavy. Jo curled up against Piper and kissed her on the cheek. Piper turned her head, and they kissed, full and hard.

“I love you,” Piper said again.

“I love you, too.” Jo mumbled into Piper’s shoulder as her fingers found Piper’s hardened nipple through her shirt, idly playing with it.

“If we’re ever going to let Bea and Bunny back in here, that’s not helping.” Piper laughed, lifting Jo’s hand and kissing her fingers softly, one at a time.

“All right. But just a few more minutes.” Jo sighed as Piper threaded their fingers together.

“Just a few more minutes then,” Piper whispered.

“Also, random question, I know, but have you two always shared a bus? Or would you be opposed to having your own?” Jo scrunched her nose.

Piper’s full laugh was exactly what she’d been hoping for.