Freed From Desire

Part 8

Katie

How was I supposed to resist? Between the two of us we'd indulged in quite the amount of shots and cocktails. As always, alcohol would be the one to blame. And Nora was looking ridiculously hot in those pants. Beth had already caught me checking her out but luckily everyone laughed it off as being no better than a man.

So when Nora had said that she was calling it a night and a few others nodded in agreement, I'd followed their example and yawned dramatically. When in reality my mind was absolutely buzzing from all the seemingly random and light touches that had gone on between us. Mostly instigated by me, sure, but she definitely did not seem to mind.

The four of us stepped out into the cold air and it woke me up even more. It was very refreshing, even though others didn't seem to agree. "Okay, I might actually freeze to death before the cab gets here," Leah said, shuddering while wrapping her arms around her body. Lotte jumped in to help and rubbed her hands up and down the blonde's arms in an attempt to heat her up.

"How are you not cold, jesus.." even Nora said next to me, her hands deep in the back pockets of her pants. I couldn't stare too long, but I sure did wish my own hands were there cupping her behind instead. 

"She's Katie McCabe, she doesn't feel the cold, the cold feels her," Leah laughed in a mocking tone.

"Okay, very funny," I rolled my eyes, trying to hold back laughter as well. Karma was on my side because our uber arrived first. I even double checked the plate from the app and then stuck my tongue out at Leah who just scoffed at it.

On our way out it was made clear that Leah and Lotte lived in one general direction and me and Nora lived not too far from each other in the opposite way. Maybe there was a god after all huh, something out there was definitely on my side.

We gave both the girls quick goodbye hugs, relieved to see that their car was arriving too and poor Leah wouldn't actually freeze. I then held the door open for Nora, who smiled softly at me before getting in. Waving at my teammates with the most casual look I could muster, I got in, pulled the door shut after me and immediately put my hands on Nora's waist, pulling her closer.

I expected her to be surprised or to even protest that this was a bad idea. But it was my turn to be shocked when she so easily gave in to my pull and melted into my body, our lips finding each other immediately. 

It felt like all this built up tension from the whole night finally snapped and the feeling was honestly something short of euphoric. Deepening the kiss elicited a soft moan from Nora and I had half a mind not to just take here then and there.

But the driver was already getting quite the show so instead I reluctantly pulled away by a few inches, my eyes searching for Nora's in hopes of seeing what was on her mind.

She blinked a few times before her eyes focused and a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Johnny is a bad influence," Nora laughed softly, referencing the bottle of choice that had led us to this compromising position twice now. 

I was gonna argue that I definitely didn't need alcohol to feel this attracted to the woman. Maybe just for the courage to act on it. But I quite liked this spell we were both under, our own little bubble of passion that I didn't dare burst with too many words.

So I simply captured her lips again.

___

Something or someone moved under my arm, waking me up from my deep slumber. The room was dark and it took me a few seconds to adjust to the blackness before I could make out the shape of Nora's body, lifting from the bed.

I watched for a few seconds as she sat up on the edge of it and rubbed her hands over her face. Was she upset? Regretful? Simply hungover?

When she still didn't move any further, I decided to break the silence. Reaching my hand out blindly, I turned the small light on my bedside table on, smirking a bit when Nora jumped in reaction.

"You okay?" I asked in a sleepy and raspy voice. What time was it anyway?

"Yeah, I just didn't know you were awake," she laughed softly, turning to look at me. I realized only now that we were in very different states of undress - with just the blanket covering my body and a shirt covering hers. My shirt. I enjoyed the view of her in my clothing for a few moments before she seemingly realized what I was looking at and her cheeks flushed.

"Sorry, I couldn't find mine," Nora shrugged and stood up then, walking over to where her pants were on the floor and picking those up.

"What are you doing?" I asked confused. I finally looked at my phone on the nightstand and apparently it was getting close to five in the morning. Way too early for anything. I was pretty sure neither of us was even sober yet.

"I should get going," she shrugged, stepping into the pants. She seemed to be very relaxed and unbothered, but I found it hard to believe that's what she actually felt.

"Can you just.. stop for a second?" I pleaded, getting up from the bed too and pulling the covers with me. Walking over to her naked felt weird in this situation even if it was nothing she hadn't already seen. Twice.

"Katie, everything is fine. I just don't think sleeping over is a good idea. That's not what's going on here," Nora was adamant. She tucked her shirt - my shirt - into her pants and stared me down, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh? And what is going on here?" I asked in return. It's not like we'd laid down any ground rules. None of this was planned, we just kept being drawn to each other. But the way Nora was acting, me telling her to sleep like a normal person was crossing some invisible boundaries.

"Sex. And even that shouldn't have happened, but I really don't have the strength to worry about that right now. What I can do though is stop myself from making any more mistakes so.. I'm going home now," she explained and I found it hard to hide the hurt on my face. Mistakes. That's what this was.

Realistically I understood that us working together made this complicated. Especially with me being fresh out of a relationship and her being a widow and something like a sister to Jonas. There wasn't much that worked in our favor. But I still didn't think anything that felt this good could be deemed a mistake. I guess I was alone in that.

It's as if Nora could read my thoughts from my eyes cause she placed her soft and warm hand on my cheek, making me lock eyes with her. "I'm sorry, I did not mean it like that. We just.. can't get anymore involved than we already have. It's too complicated," she spoke in a softer tone.

"I wasn't asking you to marry me, woman. Just for you to not go wandering around at the crack of dawn while still drunk," I shrugged off the uncomfortable emotions and looked away.

"I'll text you when I've made it safely home," Nora smiled and pressed her lips on my cheek for a brief moment. I wanted to pull her into me and kiss her. But maybe that was too complicated too. So instead I just watched her walk out the room and listened until the soft click of my door signaled her being gone.

Even though I was absolutely exhausted, and definitely still drunk, no question about that anymore, I still waited until my phone chimed eight minutes later. Only then was I able to fall back asleep, still enveloped in the scent of her sweet perfume all over my pillows.