Sheltering from the Storm

The first drops began falling just as Katrin called for the third setup of the morning. What had started as a perfect June day in Provence... clear skies, golden light filtering through the olive groves... was rapidly darkening as storm clouds gathered over the hills surrounding the Rousseau estate.

"We can get one more shot," Katrin said, casting her eye over the sky with her years of experience in chasing the perfect light. "The dramatic sky might actually work in our favour."

Luisa adjusted the flowing white dress that she was wearing for the shoot, feeling the first cool breeze that preceded the storm. She'd been modelling for long enough by now to work well under pressure, but something about the approaching weather felt ominous... it felt like a cataclysmic storm on the way, the atmosphere charged.

Celine stood beside the camera setup, her usually immaculate dark bob slightly dishevelled by the wind that was picking up strength. Over the past week of shooting, Luisa had grown used to Celine's presence on set... always professional, always prepared, but with an intensity of focus that suggested personal investment beyond pure business concerns. What had happened between them in Santa Monica and New York lay unspoken, and Luisa wasn't entirely sure whether she wanted it to stay that way or not.

"The light's changing too quickly," Katrin's assistant called out, checking his meter. "We're losing it fast."

As if summoned by his words, the heavens opened. Not the gentle rain of a summer shower, but the sudden, torrential downpour that could turn Provençal roads into rivers within minutes. The crew scrambled to protect equipment, everyone running for the covered areas around the renovated farmhouse complex that served as their base.

Luisa found herself pressed against Celine as they huddled under the narrow stone archway that led to an outbuilding, both of them breathing hard from the sprint across the courtyard. The rain fell in sheets now, obscuring the lavender fields and creating an almost otherworldly atmosphere, the rest of the crew barely visible sheltering in the main farmhouse building.

"So much for the weather forecast," Celine said, pushing wet hair back from her face. Her white shirt had become nearly transparent in the rain, and Luisa tried not to stare.

"How long do these storms usually last?" Luisa asked, though she was finding it difficult to care about the shooting schedule with Celine's body so close to hers, both of them still catching their breath.

"It depends. Could be an hour, could be the rest of the day." Celine's eyes met hers, and something passed between them... an acknowledgment of the intimacy of their situation, pressed together in the shelter while rain drummed on stone around them. "You feeling brave?" she asked with an impish smile. "Fifty-fifty whether the door over there is unlocked..." she continued, nodding with her head towards the outbuilding, a few rain-drenched metres of open year away from the arch.

Luisa grinned. "Always..." She took Celine's hand and they ran, bundling through the thankfully unlocked door, soaked through even from that brief few moments out of shelter. It was as if they'd stood under a power shower, the rain was so intense.

The outbuilding was larger than it looked from the outside, the door opening on to what could have been a study or library, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, comfortable leather furniture, and a large stone fireplace, laid but not lit. Two doors were at the far end of the room, with large windows on either wall showing the storm raging outside, the occasional flash of lightning and rumble of thunder adding to the atmosphere.

"This is... impressive," Luisa said, turning to look at Celine. Growing up in her small Mexican town she wouldn't have known there were even this many books in the world, let alone all those books lined up in what felt like a half-forgotten building on an old farm.

Celine smiled. "My grandmother converted it to her library years ago. This was her favourite room, she did a lot of work from here. I use it now. One minute..." She disappeared through one of the doors and came back with a heap of towels. "We're in luck, the bathroom sometimes gets used as a linen store. It's overflowing with towels. Here."

Luisa gratefully took a couple of towels for herself and started to dry her wet hair with one, wrapping the other around her shoulders. She saw that Celine was doing the same, but looked away quickly when she saw that Celine had noticed her looking... although not before she saw Celine's shy smile that she instinctively returned.

Calm down, Luisa told herself. Whatever had happened between them in the past, there was no guarantee of it happening again. This wasn't another model on a photoshoot that she could randomly hook up with without consequence, this was the woman in charge of the company that Luisa had been made the face of. Blurring the professional and personal boundary again would be complicated, regardless of whether she wanted to or not.

Celine walked over to the fire and brought out a box of matches. "It feels wrong in June, but never mind... this will help us get warm." She lit the fire and, while it took, she went over to a cabinet and got out a bottle and two small glasses. Looking at Luisa, she said, "I know it's early for a drink, but I think the weather calls for something warming."

Armagnac apparently, although Luisa had never tasted it before. She took too big a gulp to start with and nearly choked, drawing a reassuring grin from Celine to match the flush in Luisa's cheeks, a mix of a touch of embarrassment and, without a doubt, something more under Celine's gaze.

Celine grabbed a few more towels and lay them on a couple of leather seats near the fire. "Come, let's sit." Luisa sat, conscious that her damp white dress was clinging to her, Luisa's tanned skin visible beneath.

"This is a beautiful room," Luisa said, looking around at the books, the family photographs, the personal touches that made it clear this was Celine's private space rather than a formal sitting room.

"I spend a lot of time here when I'm at the estate. Reading, thinking, planning." Celine curled into the chair opposite Luisa's, tucking her legs beneath her in a gesture that made her seem younger, less formal, less like the billionaire's-daughter-cum-start-up-CEO that she was. "My father thinks I'm hiding from responsibility. He doesn't understand that sometimes you need solitude to make good decisions."

"What kind of decisions?"

Celine swirled the brandy in her glass, considering. "Business decisions. Personal ones. How much of my life to share with the media, how much to keep private. Whether to expand Aurelia internationally or keep it boutique. Whether..." She trailed off, her eyes meeting Luisa's across the small space between their chairs.

"Whether what?"

"Whether to complicate a professional relationship that's going extremely well by acknowledging that... my mind keeps thinking back to when it was more personal than professional..."

The words hung in the air between them, accompanied by the sound of rain and the crackle of the fire. Luisa felt her pulse quicken, recognizing that they'd arrived at a moment that had been building throughout the week of this shoot... maybe since that first dinner together back in Santa Monica.

"Is that what we're doing?" Luisa asked carefully. "Crossing that boundary again? Complicating things?"

"I don't know. Are we?" Celine's directness, as always, was both surprising and refreshing. "I know what we agreed after Santa Monica and New York. Professional first, personal second. But I feel like professional is going well, so..." She shrugged as her words tailed off, her gaze locked on Luisa.

Luisa put down her glass, needing to do something with her hands. Celine's admission wasn't entirely surprising... she'd felt the shift too, the way as the shoot had progressed that their interactions had become more intimate, more charged with meaning beyond their business arrangement.

"Celine..."

"I'm not asking for promises," Celine said quickly, perhaps misreading Luisa's hesitation. "I know your life is complicated, and mine isn't exactly simple either. But I needed you to know that this is how I feel."

Outside, thunder rolled across the hills, seeming to shake the old stone walls of the outbuilding. But inside the study everything felt suspended, waiting. Luisa stood from her chair and crossed to where Celine sat, kneeling beside her chair and taking her hands.

"For me too," she admitted, and saw relief flood Celine's features. "I've been trying to maintain my usual professional boundaries, and failing completely."

Celine's smile. "Perhaps failing isn't always a bad thing." She paused. "And perhaps it's not a failure..."

Before Luisa could reply, Celine was kissing her, deep and urgent, tasting of brandy and rain and desire. When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Celine rested her forehead against Luisa's.

"I've been thinking about this all shoot," Celine confessed. "Trying to be professional, trying to focus on the campaign, but every time you smiled at me, every time you touched my hand..."

"I know," Luisa said, because she did know. The tension had been building steadily, made more intense by their attempts to ignore it. "Those nights before were supposed to be one-time things."

"One-time thing after one-time thing... and now?"

Luisa considered the question, looking into Celine's eyes, feeling the warmth of her hands, hearing the storm rage outside their private sanctuary. "Now I think we might be about to have another one-time thing."

Celine laughed. "I like one-time things."

They kissed again, slower this time, exploring each other with none of the urgency before. Luisa became aware of the fire warming her back, of Celine's hand on her shoulder, of the way the storm outside made their intimacy feel both stolen and inevitable.

"The crew will be looking for us eventually," Luisa whispered against Celine's lips.

"Let them look," Celine replied, pulling Luisa up from her kneeling position and into her lap. "Storms don't last forever, but some moments are worth getting lost in."

Luisa settled against Celine, feeling the rightness of the way their bodies fit together, as if it was by design. Through the window she could see that the storm showed no signs of abating... if anything, it seemed to be intensifying, turning the afternoon dark as evening. They both jumped at a sudden rumble of thunder overhead, almost as if the building had been struck, then they laughed as their lips met again.

The kiss deepened, and Luisa felt Celine's hands move to the small of her back, pulling her closer. The brandy and the fire and the intimacy of Celine's confession had created something that felt inevitable, as natural as the storm raging outside.

"Are you sure about this?" Celine asked quietly as she started to kiss Luisa's neck. "Here, now?"

"I'm sure about you," Luisa replied, her hands finding the buttons of Celine's shirt. "I'm sure about this feeling, whatever it means."

Celine's gasped as Luisa's fingers undid her shirt, revealing the elegant lines of her collarbone, the swell of her breasts beneath a lace bra that probably cost more than most people's monthly rent. But what struck Luisa wasn't the obvious expense of Celine's lingerie... it was the vulnerability in her eyes, the way she seemed to be offering herself completely, with no ulterior motive. This was lust and attraction, plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing less.

"I worried we'd never do this again," Luisa whispered, her fingers feeling the line of Celine's jaw, then lower, following the path her eyes had taken.

Celine's response was to pull Luisa's face back to hers, kissing her with an urgency that spoke to weeks of restrained desire finally finding release. Her hands moved to the hem of Luisa's dress, sliding beneath the fabric to touch her skin, making Luisa moan softly at the electric feel of her touch.

The storm outside provided a natural soundtrack... thunder masking any sounds they might make, rain ensuring they wouldn't be disturbed. Luisa found herself relaxing in a way that she rarely managed, letting herself be truly present in the moment.

Celine lifted Luisa's dress up and off, and when Celine's hand found her breast, when her thumb brushed across the nipple through the thin fabric of her bra, Luisa moaned again. She felt Celine smile against her lips, pleased by the response.

"I've been thinking about touching you like this since the first day of shooting," Celine confessed, her French accent getting stronger as her arousal grew. "Watching you move for the camera, responsive to Katrin's direction... I kept imagining how you might respond to me."

"And?" Luisa managed, her own hands exploring the smooth skin of Celine's back, finding the clasp of her bra and working it open.

"Better than I remembered," Celine breathed, pressing against Luisa as her bra fell away.

Soon both women were naked, pressed up against each other, hands freely roaming, neither letting the other kiss anywhere but their mouths for long. Celine's body was exactly as Luisa had remembered... lean and elegant, with the kind of understated muscle tone that came from expensive personal trainers and exclusive gyms.

Even better though was Celine's touch, exactly as skilled as she'd remembered but barely dared to hope. When Celine's mouth reached her breast, when her tongue circled her hard nipple, Luisa felt a shiver of pleasure roll through her, a soft gasp escaping her lips.

"Tell me what you want," Celine whispered, her hands moving lower, fingertips trailing along Luisa's ribs, her stomach, stopping just short of where Luisa most wanted to be touched.

"You," Luisa replied simply. "What you're going to do to me." She paused. "That's all I ever want."

It was more honest than she'd intended to be, but something about the firelight and the storm and Celine's complete attention made pretence impossible. When Celine's hand finally slipped between her legs, when her fingers found the wetness there, when Luisa couldn't help but moan in pleasure, she felt Celine's own body shudder slightly too.

"You feel incredible," Celine whispered, her fingers moving teasingly slowly through Luisa's arousal. "So ready for me."

Luisa's response was to reach for Celine, her own hand sliding down the smooth plane of her stomach to mirror the touch she was receiving. Celine was equally aroused, equally ready, and the discovery sent a thrill through Luisa... it was intoxicating to realise that someone else was so turned on in anticipation of what you were about to do.

Their hands moved together in the large leather chair, finding a rhythm that worked for both of them, fingers exploring and stroking with increasing confidence. The fire crackled beside them, the storm raged outside, but inside their small circle of intimacy, everything else fell away.

When Celine's thumb found her clitoris, applying exactly the right pressure, Luisa felt herself starting to tip over the edge. "Yes," she gasped, her own movements becoming more focused, more deliberate as she struggled to maintain control. "Don't stop."

"I won't," Celine promised. "I want to watch you cum for me."

The command, said with such confidence and desire, pushed Luisa over the edge. Her orgasm built quickly, intensely, her body tightening around Celine's fingers as waves of pleasure crashed through her, again and again. She was dimly aware of crying out, of her hand stilling momentarily on Celine as sensation overwhelmed thought, of her other hand trying in one moment to push Celine's hand away then straight after pulling her hand back for more touch, more pleasure, just more...

As she came down from the heights, breathing hard, she became aware of Celine watching her, her own need evident in the movement of her hips against Luisa's still hand.

"Your turn," Luisa said, recovering quickly and refocusing her attention on giving Celine the same pleasure she'd just received.

She didn't use her hand though, instead slipping down to her knees on the floor, between Celine's parted legs, and wasting no time in slipping her finger into Celine while her tongue started to gently touch Celine's clitoris. Celine let out a low, ragged moan, both her hands reaching to hold Luisa's head, and Luisa used all her own experience to slowly bring Celine's own pleasure to a crest.

"Oh, mon dieu," Celine called out. "Oh... I'm... I'm..." and then she moaned loudly, her back arching, Luisa holding on to her hips as her tongue did all the work, and the orgasm crashed through Celine, hard, making her body tense again and again until she was finally too sensitive and pushed Luisa away.

Luisa climbed back up to the chair and they stayed intertwined for a while, catching their breath, the storm outside beginning to show signs of abating. Celine's hand traced idle patterns on Luisa's back, her expression thoughtful and satisfied.

"That was..." she began, then laughed softly. "I'm rarely at a loss for words."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Luisa replied, leaning over to kiss her softly.

Through the window, she could see that the rain was lessening, though thunder still rumbled in the distance. Their stolen time was coming to an end, but what they'd discovered in this firelit sanctuary felt like a continuation rather than a conclusion.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, both women began to dress, moving slowly, exchanging little smiles as they struggled to put on their still wet clothes. The fire had burned lower, and the storm outside was clearly nearly passed, though rain still streaked the windows.

"We should get back to the crew," Luisa said quietly, with a shy smile.

"We should..." Celine replied, returning the smile.

There were a long few moments between them where they gazed at each other, then Celine spoke first. "Could I come to your room tonight? After dinner?"

She looked slightly nervous... an expression that was unexpected but suited her, her desire for Luisa, her desire for this to not be the end, all evident in that one look.

"I'd like that."