The Motivated Employee Pt. 17

Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback! i read each and every comment.

Everyone had eaten when Kayla and Dani returned from the hike but some dinner had been saved and set aside for them. It began to rain so everyone went to bed early, though they were exhausted from the hike alone to warrant reason enough. Dani and Kayla lay on their blown-up mattress, listening to the pitter patter, Dani thinking about what had happened earlier.

Then Kayla reached for her hand, fingers finding Dani's in the quiet. She traced the lines of her palm, slow and absent, like she was reading it. Her thumb moved in lazy circles over the center. Next her hand slipped up Dani's forearm and onto onto her stomach. Her shirt lifted slightly as Kayla's fingers spread, thumb brushing the curve of her side. Kayla's hand slid further and paused beneath Dani's chest, feeling the beat of her heart. Her fingers then brushed the underside of Dani's breast, pausing, and cupping. Her thumb moved again, brushing lightly over Dani's nipple, which caused her a deeper breath. Kayla kept circling for a while, as they lazily listened to the rain.

Dani rolled to face her, like the tide to the moon, knee brushing Kayla's as she moved closer, hand finding Kayla's hip. Her fingertips slipped beneath the hem of her t-shirt to the warmth of bare skin. She felt the curve of her waist, the quiet rise and fall of breath. Dani's palm fell open as she followed the line up Kayla's ribcage, the gentle definition of muscle and bone, pausing just under her arm. Then she moved again, hand drifting across her chest, over the soft cotton of her crop top, mirroring Kayla's touch.

Kayla's eyes searched Dani's face, then her hand slipped downward, to the soft plane of her stomach, then lower still. Her touch hovered just above the waistband of Dani's shorts, then dipped beneath, gently pressing the top of Dani's underpants.

Even in the dark, the faint moonlight filtering through the tent window which had been left open for air, caught Kayla's eyes. Her pupils were huge, almost devouring her irises, locked on Dani like she didn't know whether to run or stay and burn. So Dani put her hand on top of Kayla's to steady her, feel more of the warm pressure, and began to grind into it.

Kayla peeled Dani's shorts off, and Dani pushed herself upright to tug Kayla's off in turn. She pulled them down to her mid-thighs and eased herself over Kayla's hips until she was straddling her. Her thighs framed Kayla's, her hands braced lightly on either side of her ribcage. Kayla looked up at her, eyes dark and open, lips parted like she was about to speak but couldn't find the words.

Dani didn't wait for them. Instead, she leaned down, hair brushing Kayla's cheek, and kissed her for the second time - softly and deeply. She rose back up and rolled her hips once, testing, a slow press that made Kayla's fingers clutch at her waist. She did it again, and Kayla gazed at her like she was seeing stars. The next time she did it, Kayla's head tipped back against the pillow, throat exposed, eyes fluttering. She shifted again, grinding down a little harder.

A flicker of worry passed through her - was this going to make noise? The others were only a few feet away in their own tents. But then she remembered: the mattress was self-inflating, thin, almost silent. And the rain was steady, relentless, drumming hard enough on the tent roof to drown out anything but the rush of blood in her ears.

Still, for a second, she held her breath - listening. Nothing.

She smiled to herself, almost shyly, and rolled her hips again, this time continuously, dragging friction between them. Kayla and pulled her closer, fingers curling under Dani's shirt. As she ground against her, Dani felt it - Kayla's hair, soft and wild, brushing against her through the thin cotton of her underwear, against her own.

She leaned down and kissed her once more - just a press of mouths - and then drew back just enough to speak.

"Can I..." Her voice was barely a breath, almost lost beneath the rain. She swallowed, kissed her again, softer. "Can I go down on you?"

Kayla blinked up at her, eyes glassy, lips parted like she was still catching up to the question. She nodded - once, slow.

"Yeah," she whispered, voice rough with want. "Yeah. Please."

She kissed her again, and then began to move downward, kissing as she went - her throat, the base of her neck. Kayla's shirt had ridden up, and Dani pushed it higher, baring the lean stretch of her abdomen. She kissed her collarbone, the soft slope between her breasts. Her hands slid down over her ribs, slow and reverent, as if she were mapping something sacred.

She kissed along her stomach, the muscles beneath firm. The way Kayla tensed, breathed in sharply when touched. The way she watched with eyes wide, like she couldn't quite believe it was happening.

When Dani reached the waistband of her underwear, she paused, glancing up.

Kayla's gaze darted away, her hand half-covering her face. "I - sorry, I just..." She huffed a laugh, nervous. "This part's... I've never -"

"You're perfect," Dani murmured, planting a kiss on the jut of her hip. "You don't have to do anything."

She watched Kayla nod, as she kept her hand over her face, her body visibly rising and falling with each breath. Then Dani peeled her underwear down, her shorts coming all the way down too, revealing the soft, dark brown curl of Kayla's pubic hair. Dani could feel a heat spread through her own chest at the sight.

She gently pushed Kayla's legs apart and settled there. Kayla was trembling. Her mouth watered as she leaned into taste her.

The first press of her tongue was slow. Kayla's flavor unfolded like something elemental, with a faint salt-sweetness like sea air. Beneath it, an earthier note arose: the steam of damp earth at dusk. Dani smiled to herself. Of course Kayla would taste like that.

Dani tasted her again, letting it flood her senses. "It's - oh god - Dani - " Kayla's voice was a trembling whisper, barely more than breath. She bit down on the back of her hand, stifling the sob.

"I'm... crying, I think - " she whispered, choking on the words. "I'm sorry - don't stop- please - "

Something cracked open in Dani at the sound. She flattened her tongue, and let herself get lost in the rhythm of Kayla's building pleasure. It rose fast - faster than Dani expected - but it made sense. Kayla, for all her quiet strength, was raw nerve under skin. All tension and control until the moment she wasn't.

Her legs trembled, hands clutching at the sleeping bag beneath her - and then she came, silent but shuddering, her whole body curling forward. Her thighs clamped tight around Dani's head, and one hand dropped instinctively to Dani's shoulder, pushing. A wordless signal. Too much. Enough.

Dani eased back immediately and looked up. Her chest rose and fell like she'd just surfaced from deep underwater. Kayla turned her face to the side, one arm thrown over her eyes, the other curling loosely over her stomach.

She cried silently. But then a broken sound slipped out, muffled beneath her arm.

Dani crawled up carefully and lay beside her, not saying a word. Just pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

After a long moment, Kayla let out a shaky breath and lowered her arm just enough to speak. Her voice was thick with tears.

"I'm not crying because it was bad. It was good." A faint, wobbly smile. "Even - even a virgin like me knows that."

You're not a virgin anymore, Dani thought, but didn't say it aloud.

"I-I don't know why-," Kayla began, voice cracking.

"You don't need to explain," Dani said softly. "You don't even need to know why you're crying.

She pulled Kayla gently into her arms, one hand brushing through her hair, the other resting over her ribs where her breath still trembled. Kayla pressed in close without a word, tucking her face against Dani's shoulder.

They lay like that in the hush of the night, the sounds of the campground distant - just the faint hum of wind and a branch creaking.

Eventually, Kayla's tears quieted. Her body went still, warm and heavy against Dani's. She let out a final, shuddering breath and drifted into sleep.

The next day, Kayla barely met Dani's eyes the same way someone avoids looking directly at the sun.

Around the others, she was all ease - laughing, kayaking, and complaining about how sore her legs were - even though they weren't and she just wanted to seem like she related. But when it was just her and Dani, she was quiet. Brushing their teeth in the campsite shower block, paddling a little too far ahead of the group in the kayak - she was quiet. Like her edges had softened and she didn't know what to do with the exposed parts.

They'd finished kayaking hours ago. Some of the group were napping, others clustered near the firepit, chatting and making hot chocolate while dinner simmered. Dani spotted Kayla near the edge of the clearing, sitting on a low log that bordered the trailhead, half in the shade. Her crocs were off, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle. She was idly tugging little leaves off a twig, expression distant.

Dani approached quietly and sat beside her, close enough their shoulders brushed. Kayla didn't look over, but she didn't shift away either.

"You good?" Dani asked softly.

Kayla hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah."

Dani didn't say anything. Just let the silence sit for a minute.

Then Kayla sighed, voice low. "Actually... I don't know."

"You've seemed stuck inside your head today."

Kayla pressed her lips together. "I don't want it to be weird between us."

"It's not weird," Dani said.

Kayla let out a shaky breath, then laughed. She threw the now leafless twig. "Yes, it is."

Dani looked at her.

Kayla's hands twisted in her lap. "We're - I mean, we don't - we're never like this. Not like -" She broke off, huffing. "I don't even know how to talk to you right now. I open my mouth and nothing comes out. It's like - like... does this happen everyone their first time?"

Dani gave her a soft look. "It's different for everyone. But... do you not think getting tongue-tied around someone you're into is a very normal response?"

Kayla's laugh was more of a scoff. "I mean... maybe. If it weren't us. And if you didn't seem so--" she faltered, then exhaled. "Fine with all of this."

Dani smiled faintly. "Do you remember a couple months ago, when you were getting worried about me? 'Cause I wasn't really talking?"

Kayla glanced at her. "Yeah..."

"You got all extra attentive. Kept checking in with me. It was so sweet. But also... sometimes I didn't know how to act normal around you."

Kayla turned a little more toward her, quiet.

"There was one afternoon, remember? When I helped you clean your car?"

Kayla looked out over the lake. "Yeah, we were debriefing about your date with Celina."

"Yeah... well, after we finished, you took your shirt off and hung it on the clothesline to dry. And I didn't know where to look."

Kayla frowned. "We've always done that, though. At the beach, after hikes. We've changed in front of each other a million times."

"I know," Dani said, smiling. "That was the problem. And that time, I had to look away, Kayla. And then... later that night I had the most unholy dream about you."

Kayla's face went red and she smiled. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it.

"Sorry. Is this helping or is this making it worse?" Dani asked.

Kayla nodded, smiling even as she groaned. "Kind of. Maybe."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes. The light breeze rustled the trees overhead, the ruckus from the campsite sounded in the distance - laughter, beer bottles being opened, someone dragging a folding chair across gravel.

"If you want me to leave you alone," Dani said gently, "just say the word."

Kayla's head snapped toward her. "No." The word came fast, urgent. "Please stay with me. I just..."

She trailed off, shaking her head like the words were stuck.

"I just don't know what to say to you," she finally whispered. "I'm terrified of going back to the group with you and... and someone making a joke. About us, again. I feel like I'll crack. Or go bright red forever. And they'll see it all over me. They'll know."

Her voice was starting to tremble now. "I'm the problem here, Dani. Not you. You deserve someone who knows what they're doing. I'm ruining this. I'm ruining everything."

Dani didn't speak right away. She shifted just slightly closer and said, softly but clearly: "You're not ruining anything."

Kayla shook her head, eyes glassy. "My heart is beating out my chest right now."

Dani hesitated. Her voice was softer when she spoke again. "Can I put my arm around you?"

Kayla's looked at her, confused. But she said yes.

Dani gently eased her arm around Kayla's back, slow and careful, like she was handling something breakable. Kayla let herself lean into it. Just a little. But enough.

And Dani remembered.

A couple of years ago, something similar had happened. A camper collapsed hours after a hike--dehydrated, nauseous. Kayla had led the hike, but she'd signed off once they got back. Still, Mark had pulled her aside, asked sharp questions, hinted at negligence.

Kayla had spiraled. "Maybe I should've noticed something. Maybe I missed it."

But Kayla had taken a photo on her phone of the incident report. The camper had an undisclosed medical condition. Kayla had followed protocol. It wasn't on her.

And Dani always suspected Mark was covering his own ass. And after Kayla was in the clear, he didn't bring it up again.

Just like she was doing now.

And then last year, there was that night Kayla came home after a family dinner--quiet, pale, like she'd forgotten how to be in her own body. Dani had asked if she was okay. Kayla had shrugged. "I don't know. My arms feel so heavy."

And then a few minutes later her breaths became short and labored. Dani sat her down on the couch and turned the fan.

Later, when she felt well again, Kayla recounted the night like it was nothing - just background noise. Her parents had been on a tear again: about politics, people being "too sensitive," immigration, gay marriage. Kayla had mentioned it like a list, like none of it stuck harder than the rest. And Dani's parents were the same, but to a lesser degree.

That same look was in her eyes now - not just fear, but shame for feeling too much.

Dani rubbed her thumb lightly along Kayla's shoulder. "You always think you're the one causing the storm," she murmured, "when really, you're just standing in it."

They sat in silence for a few moments, the forest hushed around them. Kayla's breathing slowed, syncing with the rise and fall of Dani's beside her.

Then Dani heard it - someone saying their names in the distance, one of the instructors by the sounds of it. A familiar laugh followed, footsteps crunching closer on the gravel path.

Dani tensed just slightly. Then shifted.

She pulled off her sunglasses and handed them to Kayla, slipping them into her palm. "Here. Put these on."

Kayla blinked at her. "Huh?"

"If they come over and ask why you're quiet," Dani said, her voice low but teasing, "just say, 'that extra hike really took it out of me.'"

Kayla huffed a soft laugh despite herself.

Dani nudged her. "Come on, you love pretending to have sore legs after walks. You've literally said, 'I don't want to be left out of the communal moaning.'"

Kayla nearly laughed and shook her head. "Not a good enough excuse to use the word moaning."

"I'm pretty sure I said that the first time you said it."

Before Kayla could reply, a voice rang out through the trees.

"Dani! Kayla!" It was Clem--loud, cheerful, already tipsy from the way her words wobbled at the edges. She was flanked by two others from the crew, all of them holding plastic cups sloshing with something suspiciously pink. "Are you two planning your wedding or something?"

Kayla's eyes went wide. She slid on Dani's sunglasses.

Dani leaned back on her elbows, effortlessly casual. "Obviously. We're arguing over catering."

"I vote tacos," Kayla said, voice low but steady enough.

Clem cackled, and the others laughed too -- their faces flushed and glowing from drinking.

One of the others, Taylor, said, "Wait, have you two just been sitting out here on that log this whole time?"

Kayla lifted her cup in mock salute. "That extra hike really took it out of me."

"No way," Brendan called from behind Tash. "Even Kayla has a limit?"

"And Dani's fine?" Clem asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I carried her," Kayla said, deadpan.

Clem gasped. "Like that Footprints in the Sand painting! You know -- 'It was then that I carried you.'"

Kayla choked on her drink, laughing. "Oh my god."

"Does your mom still have that thing in the hallway?" Clem asked Dani.

"She does," Dani said solemnly. Then, without missing a beat, "And it's not for sale."

That got another burst of laughter, and someone from across the clearing shouted, "Come on, charades is starting!"

As the group drifted back toward the fire pit, Kayla stayed still a second longer, finishing her drink. The sunglasses stayed on, but she seemed softer.

Later that night, after a couple of beers, Kayla was able to talk to Dani again. Everyone had gone to bed after an interesting Tardigrade impersonation during charades.

She was still nervous - but in a different way.

"It's my first time." Kayla whispered, on top of Dani.

"I know."

"How do you know?"

"Because you look like a virgin." Dani smirked.

Kayla wheezed. "Okay, but what if I... did it and just didn't tell you?"

"You would have told me, Kay. And if you have, then I'm offended in retrospect. And I hope she was hot."

Kayla went quiet. Her hands settled awkwardly on Dani's waist, unsure of what to do next. Dani didn't move, didn't rush her. Just let the silence stretch, warm and close.

"You're allowed to be bad at this," Dani whispered softly, hand resting on the sides of Kayla's neck. "Kind of hoping you are, actually. You're good at everything else."

Kayla let out a short, quiet laugh then bent to kiss her again - messier this time, lips slightly off, noses bumping. Dani smiled into it, tilted her head, and helped Kayla find the rhythm.

Kayla kissed her way down slowly, like she was still figuring out if she was allowed. Dani lay back, watching her with soft eyes, one hand brushing through Kayla's hair as it fell forward.

"You okay?" Kayla murmured, her mouth hovering just above the waistband of Dani's shorts, breath warm against her skin.

Dani's voice was already a little uneven. "Yeah. You?"

Kayla nodded, though her hands trembled a little as she eased Dani's shorts down, followed by her underwear. She kissed the inside of Dani's thigh, tentative at first, then again, slower, firmer. Dani let out a quiet sound and closed her eyes.

Dani reached down, her fingers brushing Kayla's cheek, then tangling lightly in her hair. "Slower," she whispered, her voice low, careful.

Kayla nodded, swallowing hard, and leaned in again. Her tongue was soft at first, testing, feeling. Dani gasped quietly, hips giving a small, involuntary lift.

"Yeah... like that. A little higher." Dani's breath hitched as she spoke, her other hand curling in the sheets. "Right there. Just - stay there for a second."

Kayla did, unevenly but earnestly. She was listening, adjusting with every sound Dani made. When she veered off, Dani gently guided her back, "Just a little to the left... yeah, there."

By the time Dani came, Kayla was shaking - from emotion, not effort. And when she rested her cheek against Dani's thigh afterward, eyes closed, lips still parted, Dani reached down and whispered, "That was perfect."

The next morning, the sun was too bright, and everything smelled faintly of campfire and last night's beer. They were stuffing sleeping bags into their respective sacks when Clem wandered over, squinting at them like she was solving a riddle.

"You two fucked last night, didn't you?"

They both froze.