If I'm Honest - Picture Perfect Ch. 01

The cab pulled up, headlights illuminating us, and the driver paused expectantly as we both waited for the other to reach for the door. It was only then that I realised I was still holding her, one hand gently resting on her upper arm, and the smile and blush she gave me set my gaydar screaming.

"You take it," I tried to insist, letting her go and already taking several steps backwards. "There'll be another one in a minute."

I got several paces further when she called back at me. "Which way are you going?"

"Out towards North York, I'll be fine."

She opened the cab door, and I was about to keep walking until she leaned in and said, "we'll share," to the driver loud enough to make sure I could hear. The snow was coming down more heavily now, large wet flakes in my hair, and it was hard to argue when she pointed out, "I don't want you freezing on my conscience."

"I don't want you going out of your way for me," I tried politeness one final time, but felt circumstances continuing to lurch hard enough that getting into this car with this woman seemed like surrendering to the inevitable.

"Who says I am? You're heading in the same direction. Now get in."

I relented, easing myself and my camera bag into the back seat alongside her. She'd already opened her coat, an elegant black blouse waiting underneath, although several of the top buttons remained undone, leaving her cleavage to plunge provocatively at the corner of my eyeline. She caught me looking, and smiled again, flicking her head in the direction of the driver to signal that I should probably let him know where we were headed. As I obliged, her hand slid onto my thigh, and I had to stop myself from mumbling the last few syllables of my address like an idiot.

"So, do you have a name or am I just going to have to call you The Fuckable Girl With Blue Hair?" Fuck she was forward. I've always leaned towards assertive women, and despite being half a foot taller than her I found myself blathering the answer as if she was towering over me, her energy making my heart skip.

"Riley, I'm Riley."

"I like it, you look like a Riley," she said, eye contact intense and more than a little hungry. Her hand moved from my leg, and she instead offered it to shake, along with her own name. "Dani."

"That suits you too?" I'm not so sure it did, she was more of a Grace or a Sophia to my mind, but she had me off balance and I grasped at the first reply that came to my mind, taking inanity over silence as I shook her hand. I've never claimed to be especially smooth.

It got a chuckle from her at least. "No date for the evening then? Or were you working?"

"Sort of? I'm a photographer," I said, patting my camera bag. "My friend's apartment has an amazing view of downtown so I might have used her party as an excuse to get pictures. It's...starting to feel like a bit of a weird night honestly."

"Weird can be good. Do you mind if I see?"

"Before I've had a chance to edit them? Hell no." I'm a bit precious about my process and hate anyone judging my work until I've had a chance to get the images into Lightroom. It might not make a difference to most people looking at them, but it matters to me. I need to know every detail and value is flawless. I caught myself in how abrupt that sounded, and back pedalled. "Sorry, the curse of being a perfectionist. I can show you some of what's on my Insta instead?"

I took out my phone and Dani used it as an excuse to lean in, pressing up against me on the back seat to look. Her hand wandered back to my thigh, rubbing inwards unambiguously, as if testing whether I would make her stop. It wasn't entirely like me to let her but something kept me from wanting to say no, and I was almost as aware of the sudden warmth of the bracelet on my wrist as I was her touch.

I managed to inelegantly show her several of my favourite images for the next few blocks without ever quite managing to compose myself under her attention. Silk Road Samarkand, Suzhou's canals, Mexico City, the skyscrapers in Dubai, some of my best work, all stumbled through as her hand slowly worked itself closer to my crotch.

"You must really love your job," Dani practically whispered, making me aware of just how close to my ear her mouth had become. I went to answer, but lost the chance as she kissed at my neck, the barest trace of teeth nipping me. I bit my own lip rather than make a noise and draw the driver's attention, only to gasp anyway as her hand finally cupped firmly between my legs, pressing at my cunt through my jeans.

"Yeah...I really do..."

"And you must meet some interesting people," she smirked, enjoying my strained response.

"A few."

I did. Getting to meet people and see their worlds was a big appeal of the job to me, but interesting felt relative right now. Gorgeous strangers appearing to practically finger me in the back of a taxi minutes after meeting them was definitely a new sort of encounter for me. It was almost unnatural, rushed, an odd sort of compulsion carrying us towards the outcome, but as she kissed me in earnest I didn't want more than to be swept along. It felt like a mistake waiting to happen, but when it came to love I was good at those.

We made out, and Dani got as far as slipping her hand up my top by the time we reached North York. My chest is what you could generously describe as slight for my frame, pert little mounds that struggle to fill a b-cup, but I've always adored having my nipples played with. Deftly she plucked and teased, and I cursed inwardly as we arrived outside my apartment. Not seeming to care about how much of a show the driver received, Dani rolled one of the nubs firmly between her fingers, pinching slightly to punctuate the question she then asked.

"Are you going to invite me up?"

Of course I fucking was.

The trip between the cab and apartment remains a bit of a blur. I remember Dani's tongue in my mouth as we rode the elevator. And I know that my belt was already half undone as I tried to find my door key, struggling with the lock even as her hand groped at my ass.

I've never been so careless setting aside my camera gear as I was then, tossing it in the direction of the couch even as the door slammed behind us and we headed for the bedroom. Half our clothes didn't make it that far, my jacket and jeans joining her blouse on the floor long before she pushed me backwards onto the sheets. Any rational part of my mind should have been asking what was going on, why a woman I knew nothing about was throwing herself at me like this, but any rational part of my mind was drowning in a desperation for contact that hadn't been scratched since long before the pandemic. And definitely never like this.

The pace only slowed when Dani climbed onto the bed with me, an almost predatory glint in her eye as she peeled away her bra. I would become used to catching glimpses of her chest in the months to follow but never delighted in it any less than I did that first time. Their heft was perfect, ample swells just slightly too big for one palm crowned with broad pink areolas, and I swore at the sight of her.

Taking my hand in hers, she guided it to her mouth and seductively slipped two of my fingers between her lips, running her tongue across them until they turned slick. Satisfied, she guided them down her body, trailing damp between her tits and across the soft curve of her stomach. Then down further still inside her panties. We kissed again and she caught my breath with a throaty moan as I curled inside into the wet heat of her pussy.

We fucked with Dani on top of me, our fingers still buried inside each other. Her body pressed against mine intimately warm against me in the slight chill of my apartment. The feeling of someone else against me after so long was incredible, and I pushed against her, wanting more of the feeling. Our mouths found each other's flesh. It was clear she wanted this as much as I did, and she was outright possessive in the way that she strummed at my clit, wonderfully sensitive to her touch leaving me wonderfully sensitive to her touch. She drew cries from me, never one to keep my voice down when the sex feels as good as she made me. Each sound only encouraged her, turned her on more, and as much as I wanted to make her feel the same, I quickly found myself helpless to do anything more than ride her fingers. I came loudly, gushing across her hand.

We fucked with me propped up against the pillows. The taste of my cum licked from sticky digits only seemed to leave her wanting more, and she went to the source. I clutched at the headboard and Dani's firm hands held my thighs apart as her head sank between my legs. She took her time as she explored the shaved swell of my mons, and lingered at the neat pink of my folds. She eased her tongue inside me and I heaved my chest, doing my best not to scream. Every lick, suckle and tease felt like she knew what I wanted before I did. My dry spell was long enough and my need large enough, even after cumming once, that it wouldn't have taken much skill to get me there again. But Dani definitely was, and she didn't play around, every little touch in service of chasing my pleasure as fast and hard as possible.

We fucked with our cunts pressed together. I'd previously found tribbing to be a little underwhelming, but by that point Dani could do whatever she wanted with me. She slipped her own legs across my own and let me feel how amazingly hot and ready her cunt was for me as it ground against my own. I pawed at my own chest, my eyes pressed shut as she set the pace. It was little more than I could do to splay across the sheets, clumsily bucking my hips to grind against her. She toyed with herself, left me anxious that I was making her feel as good as I hoped, as she deserved, and I was relieved when she climaxed hard, slumping against me.

Eventually I fell back, eyes cast towards the ceiling as I caught my breath, and tried to force everything to slow down and make sense again.

I ran a hand through my hair, and as I did so Alice's silver bracelet once again felt conspicuous against my skin. It was an odd observation then, and doesn't make that much more sense now, but it almost seemed satisfied. It was a simple piece of jewellery, but I was as convinced of that feeling as I would have been looking at the expression plain upon someone's face.

Dani shifted and made herself comfortable alongside me. There was a final kiss to my neck before she spoke the first words either of us had said to the other since entering my apartment. "If I'm honest, I'll stay until morning, but I don't think I'm what you want. I've just come out of something long term and couldn't stand being in an empty bed tonight. I'd like to stay in touch, but I've got too many of my own issues to be patient enough with any of yours."

There was a small shift as she finished speaking. Whatever spell had held us in its grasp loosened and it felt as if the air rushed back into the room all at once and the rest of the world came into focus. Although if Dani appreciated any of that she did so languidly. I blinked at her, confused at exactly where a statement like that had come from, even more so by the fact the first words out her mouth were exactly the same ones Alice had used earlier. 'If I'm Honest.'

"Excuse me," I managed to ask without sounding too blunt.

The other woman gave a small shrug, easing against me, her hair now far from pristine and looking even more appealing with it. "I don't really know where that came from, it just felt right to say." She paused, suddenly self conscious, and gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry. I can go if you'd rather?"

"No," I said hurriedly, even in light of what she'd said. It's not like I even thought I needed someone to fix me then. "I enjoyed that, can we not spoil it?"

Dani nodded gratefully and her pleasing curves rolled out of bed. "Which way is the bathroom?"

"Second left, just past the picture of Mount Fuji."

"Nice choice. I spent a year reporting out there you know," she noted idly as she disappeared from sight, the statement prompting me to realise suddenly where I recognised her from. CTV, the local broadcaster, any time I was awake early enough to catch the morning bulletins. Although I was pretty sure she went by Danielle on tv. And I was definitely sure she wasn't out. I had a bunch of rules for myself when it came to dating but there were two I hated breaking more than any others; no rebounds, and no-one still in the closet. Neither ever ended well. Apparently it was the sort of night where I was ignoring both.

I rolled over and groaned into the pillow, wondering what the hell had gotten into me. It would take me a little longer to figure that one out, although my first clue came the next morning when I finally bothered to google the latin inscribed on the bracelet.

'SOLAM VERITATEM' - Only The Truth