DISCLAIMER: Nikki & Nora are the property of Nancylee Myatt and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ann - thanks for the brilliant beta. Tristianmakhai - my muse decided to play, so thanks for the prompt.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Dot, Dot, Dot
By AJ3
The artist was ready. She moved slowly around the bedroom; her tousled hair falling in waves over her shoulders, lightly brushing against a short, silky robe that was loosely tied at her waist. As she walked, it occasionally gaped open, flashing an inordinately indecent amount of cleavage and leg, but the artist didn't notice, focussed as she was on the task ahead.
Her materials: whipped cream, strawberries, pitted black cherries, chocolate body paint – both milk and white, maple syrup, ice cubes, and several different types of liquor, stood ready and waiting for inspiration to strike.
The bedroom was ready and the mood had been set; a throw covered the clean linens on the bed, soft music was playing, the bedside lamps had been turned to their lowest setting, and dozens of scented candles flickered around the bedroom, casting dancing shadows on the surroundings as well as the participants of the evening's artistic endeavour.
However the artist's human canvas, who wore nothing but a pout, was anything but ready.
"Tell me again," Nora grumbled, "why am I doing this?"
Nikki, who had been preoccupied double-checking the food and drink awaiting her at the foot of the bed, looked up sharply. Hmmm, Nikki thought, as she took in Nora's mutinous expression, tightly crossed arms and scrunched up position on the side of their bed. Granted Nora wasn't the exhibitionist that she was, but even so the position that the blonde had adopted was uncharacteristically reserved. Nikki considered her options and decided to try and tease her lover out of her funk.
"Because you love me madly," she replied flippantly.
That got her a fiery glance from underneath lowered eyebrows.
'Okay then... perhaps not.' Nikki thought. 'Let's try the direct approach instead then.'
She tried again, "Honey, you know why, it's because you lost the bet."
"Humph." Nora huffed ungraciously. "Well, who knew you could go for an entire month without buying any shoes. I'm sure your father would be completely astounded if I told him."
"Nora," said Nikki, her eyebrow arching in disbelief, "are you really suggesting that you want to tell my Daddy about this?" She waved her hand around, indicating their bedroom and their current state of undress.
Nikki couldn't believe it, Nora actually appeared to be contemplating her suggestion.
"It might almost be worth dying from embarrassment to be able to see his astonishment," she eventually said, with a slight smirk.
Nikki could see that the banter had allowed Nora to relax slightly, although not enough to allow her to uncurl her arms from around her waist. So she re-covered the food and made her way around the bed to sit at Nora's side. She gently tugged at the arm closest to her, linking their fingers together and used her other hand to tilt Nora's head towards her. She then waited patiently until Nora's eyes met hers and was both surprised and worried to see the nervousness, tinged with embarrassment, that dwelt there.
Nikki berated herself, how could she not have realised that Nora's moodiness was a smokescreen to cover her apprehension?
"Okay," Nikki said evenly, trying to get her suddenly agitated emotions under control, "just to remind you of the terms of the bet that you set. You said that you'd bet 'anything I wanted' if I was able to go a whole month without buying or trying on any footwear of any kind. You lost the bet and then demanded that I immediately come up with a forfeit to settle the wager. I'd thought that this," she gestured towards the food at the foot of the bed, "was something that we'd both enjoy, but if you're really unhappy, Sweetheart, then obviously I can come up with something else."
Nora tore her eyes away from Nikki's perceptive gaze and fixed them instead on the erratic pulse that beat at the base of her lover's throat. She tried to get a hold of her emotions, which were all over the place, and explain to Nikki why she felt so out of control.
"I don't know," Nora sighed heavily "I know you would never do anything that would… it's just, well… just…. Argh! I don't know how I'm feeling." Irritated with her inability to express herself, Nora turned away from Nikki, thrusting her hands roughly through her hair in frustration.
"Whoa, Baby. Calm down," Nikki said swiftly, rubbing Nora's back gently.
Suddenly, she had the realization that perhaps the problem was that it was all too cold, too calculated. She stripped off her robe and snuggled up against Nora's side, wrapping both arms around her lover and hugging her close. Almost immediately, she could feel the tension in Nora's body start to dissipate as her uneasiness abated. Nora's hands joined Nikki's around her waist and she linked their fingers together again.
"Don't fret about it, Honey." Nikki whispered in Nora's ear, "Just listen to me. Instead of analysing all of this, focus instead on what you'll be feeling as I use my fingers," she stopped and ran a finger gently along the sensitive edge of Nora's ear, "and if you're a very, very good girl, other bits of my body as well." She did a slight shimmy against Nora's side and continued with her play-by-play description of what she hoped was to come, "To cover bits of your body..." Trailing her fingers slowly and suggestively down Nora's shoulder and arm, she eased them up her lover's back to finally tangle in the hair at the nape of her neck. "In… ooh say, chocolate… and cream… and other delicious things." Nikki punctuated her list of ingredients with hot kisses along Nora's neck, ignoring the small whimper that arose from Nora's lips as she broke off to continue her explanation, "And then… then, I'm going to take my own sweet time to kiss, lick, suck and nibble it all off, until you're clean again." And as a finale to her seduction, she demonstrated her nibbling technique on Nora's conveniently placed earlobe.
With Nikki's naked body pressed against her and Nikki doing such wonderful things to her body, Nora realised that it was a miracle that she could make sense of any of the words that her lover was saying, but she not only heard them, she heard the love behind Nikki's words, and the remainder of her unease vanished like morning mist on a sunny day.
'What an idiot I am,' she thought, smiling as she turned to look at the beautiful woman she adored, and that smile turned into laughter as she threw herself flat on her back, pulling a startled Nikki on top of her so that she could give her a steamy kiss.
When they finally broke for air, Nora said, "Okay Babe, have at it." She waved her hand, indicating her very relaxed body. "I'm completely willing to settle my debt. After all, never let it be said that a Delaney welshed on a deal. Yep, a bet's a bet." She stopped and smiled, looking deep into Nikki's eyes, eyes that were filled with love and passion for her, and reached up to run her hand down the side of her lover's face "And you're right, I do love you…" she paused and tapped Nikki lightly on the nose, "…madly."
Blinking back the tears that were welling up, as her heart and soul recognised the gift of love and trust that she had been given, Nikki ducked her head to kiss Nora once again.
Eventually she sat up and gathered herself; it was time to focus on the task in hand, after all her canvas was ready and waiting. She unhurriedly trailed her hand down Nora's body, watching avidly as it reacted to her touch, and leaned over to reach for the first ingredient, which she then preceded to drizzle carefully onto Nora's skin.
Dot, dot, dot….
The End