Forbidden Fruit

4.

         Eva could only stare at Lilith. She knew she should just leave. As gorgeous as Lilith was, as interesting and charming as she seemed to be, as talented as she had turned out, Eva couldn't fully believe that this wasn't just a game to the woman. Or worse, that Lilith only ever saw her as a carbon copy of her ex. And yet she had said she wanted to spend time with Eva. She had said her name. Eva was lucky that she had been able to put her foot down about the nature of their outing. If there was even the chance that it could be a date, it would be all over for her. She'd be Lilith's no matter what. It was the only thing that stopped her now. When she had watched the man try to throw his weight around and attempt to hurt Lilith, it had been pure instinct for Eva to try to protect her. And now... all she wanted was to find out what it would feel like to kiss Lilith. To touch her. To be given the chance make the woman know exactly how good she was at pleasing women.
        Instead she just stood there, watching as the woman stared at her with a gaze almost exactly like before. Like every time Lilith looked at her. Like she was on the verge of begging to be Eva's. Or did she want to ask to be Eve's? What was she to Lilith? Such things twisted up her heart and demanded answers before satisfaction. Before she could give in to her desires. Until she found out exactly what the situation was, Eva was going to keep up whatever guard she could. No matter how much she wanted to have them both explore every tattoo they had.
       "Eva..."
       Suddenly she felt like she couldn't breathe. Something about how Lilith said her name seemed to pull her closer. She actually took a step towards Lilith.
       "I—"
       "Shall we go, or would you rather not?"
       Her heart was rushing forward. Lilith's question had sparked a strange panic in her. The idea of refusing to go with Lilith, and then having to leave... it terrified her all of a sudden.
        "Yes, let's go."
        Lilith beamed and Eva felt her entire being go light and wonderfully weightless. Something inside her stirred at the smile. Something warm and fuzzy that she felt the need push it down. It was far too soon for anything. Even if it was lust or simple affection. For now she could only try to learn about this woman and try to become her friend. Everything else would have to wait.
         She watched as Lilith slipped into her jacket and realised that she wasn't wearing anything revealing. In fact, while there was no denying—at least from Eva's opinion—that Lilith was gorgeous, it seemed like the outfit she had on actively fought to hide that. It looked like something one of Janice's exes might wear. Or one of Eva's. It didn't fit the high femme vibe that the woman typically gave off. Which only intrigued Eva more.
         But then Lilith's now gloved hand slid into hers, and Eva's mind went blank. Only for a second. She was filled with so much warmth and want that it felt like her heart and her breathing both stopped in unison. And then she was drowning in every desire she had been trying to not think about. She gazed over to Lilith to find the woman smirking at her.
        "Want to ride with me?"
        "Yes."
        Fuck, she sounded like she was responding to ride me not ride with me. All breathy and eager. But that was what Lilith brought out of her. At her response, Lilith smiled with something that seemed feline and more than a little mischievous and Eva suddenly felt like she truly understood what it meant to look like the cat that caught the canary. It made her go ridged—all her fears raging inside her once more—and she nearly tore her hand away and called everything off just to prove Lilith didn't possess her. Then Lilith shook her head and just lifted the captured hand to her lips. It didn't make any sense whatsoever—especially when she was blissfully aware of the way it felt on her knuckles and how it caused a warm pressure between her thighs—but she was suddenly jealous.
         Eva stared at nothing in the space between them. She was jealous of her own hand, because it received a kiss from the lips that seemed more enticing than candy to her. It was ridiculous. So she laughed. It was as if a damn burst within her. For a moment she couldn't stop laughing. In that laughter was not just the self-deprecation of her ridiculousness, but also her fears about just being a plaything or a surrogate to fit Lilith's whims. She laughed not because she realised that they were unfounded, but because she realised she wasn't going to care if they were true.
         Even if she got her heart broken—because she couldn't imagine a way she didn't eventually fall for this woman—she wouldn't regret the choices she was considering. The laughter was nihilism for her romantic security. She should have felt it as soon as she had caught sight of Lilith sitting alone in the restaurant looking breathtaking with her hair down. She had almost walked up to her then. That had been the moment she should have laughed like this. She just had tried to deny it. It was too late now. Now she just had to deal with getting something to deal with her fears before she just gave in and admitted that she wanted Lilith.
       "Something funny?"
        All laughter died as her breath caught. Lilith was somehow closer than she had been a moment before. It took Eva a moment before she was able even think about how to reply.
       "Men."
       It was a dumb joke. One that had nothing to do with anything going on in her heart and head. One she instantly regretted, but then she saw Lilith's face. The woman was smirking.
       "I hear some are okay, but personally I don't find the appeal."
        Lilith winked, then turned, and led her down to a garage and towards a beautiful monster of a bike. It was too hard not to say anything.
       "Fuck..."
       "You like?"
       Eva did not blush at seeing the teasing smirk Lilith had as the woman watched her. It was clear that Lilith was in love with her bike. And it was clearly a thing of beauty, even if it was like nothing Eva had ever seen before. Was it a custom lowrider? Was it a new type of crotch rocket? Why did it not seem to click in her mind what the base build was, like it always did? There wasn't even the typical tells for the parts.
       "What's the manufacturer?"
       Lilith didn't speak. She purred her answer as though she was talking about favourite child.
       "A couple of friends of mine and I built her. She's completely custom to my specifications."
       This baby is an original you designed?!
       "Damn."
        Eva hadn't been able to keep the awe out of her voice. It sparked up a bright chuckle.
       "Jealous?"
        Finally, Eva felt it was her turn to smirk. Just looking at this bike told her one thing: It was a heavy monstrosity. There was no way it was race worthy. It might be pretty to look at and maybe even handled well for the weight due to the way the rider would be positioned, but there was no way it would be fast.
       "My Ducati custom could probably out pace this behemoth."
        "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this way too much. Hop on, and hold on tight."
         Eva sighed and strapped on her helmet, trying not to let her nerves cause her to make any other dumb jokes. It was getting harder to act like a badass cool biker chick. Lilith was too capable of making her want to fangirl over her amazing life. It was too easy to let her geek wall down when she was bombarded with so much awesome stuff that she already loved. Plus it was Lilith. Gorgeous women were her kryptonite. And Lilith was way more gorgeous than any woman who had ever made Eva act like an utter dork. She just had to grit her teeth and ride it out. But when she got into position behind Lilith, she realised that maybe—maybe—choosing to ride with the woman on the same bike instead of following her on the Ducati was probably the stupidest idea ever.
         The elongated frame of the chassis typically was paired with upright if not fully backed seating to be like a chair or stool. This bike wasn't like that. Even without a passenger, Lilith was nearly laying into position just to operate the bike. Eva was going to basically big spoon Lilith for not just the ride out but the ride back. And she was going to have her arms wrapped around Lilith's waist and pressing into her. Worst of all was that a bike this big would likely require a powerful engine. That didn't mean much for most bikers outside of how it affected the bike itself, but to someone like Eva—especially when she was having to wrap herself around Lilith—this was more like riding a giant vibrator. Eva sighed and resigned herself to being completely frustrated by the time this day was over.