Threading the Needle Ch. 01

"Maybe," Liz said. The way she said it made it clear that she thought it unlikely. "At least you are going to be in the training. This is cool, Rikki! We will see more of each other now!" Although they talked frequently, it was hard to get together with their schedules.

"I'm looking forward to it! Seeing you, rafting, it's all going to be fun," Marika said.

"I'm still looking for a few more people to fill out the class. We have a number of guides who aren't coming back, so they should get lots of trips. If anyone is interested, try to recruit them," Liz said.

"Okay, I will," Marika replied. In the background of the call, it seems like she was starting to hear a little more noise. "Oh God, is that a moan?" she suddenly thought. Was it Liz or the woman she was with, Marika wondered for a split second before deciding she really didn't want to know. "I've got to go, Elizabeth. I'm.... uhhh.... late for a meeting," she said in a rush. "Talk to you later." She hung up before Liz could say anything.

Shaking her head, Marika thought about her friend. She had been like this for years, and Liz showed no signs of settling down. It was not the first time she had forgotten there were others around. Once at a party Marika threw a short time after her wedding, she walked in on Liz going down on one of her neighbors, one of her married neighbors. Her neighbor's eyes were closed in ecstasy and didn't notice her, but Liz was more observant. Once she realized that Marika was watching, it seemed like she became even more enthusiastic. The moans that her neighbor made seemed to bear that out as well. As soon as she recovered from her surprise, Marika backed out and left them to finish.

When Liz tried to talk to her about it, Marika just told her not to bother. "Just try to be discrete, Elizabeth. It's none of my business what you do, but I have to live here. I don't need the drama." As far as she knew, that was the only time it happened. Marika had to admit though, that maybe Liz was just more careful. She sighed and went back to work.

In the apartment of the woman she was finger fucking, Liz put the cell phone down. She wasn't sure if she had really offended Marika, but deep down she hoped hearing that turned Marika on a little and made her a tad envious. Turning to the woman in her bed, she gave her all of her attention. Liz already had one finger inside her pussy, slowly sliding it in and out. Rolling towards her, Liz put her hand behind the woman's head and pulled her into a deep kiss. As she slid her tongue between her parted lips, Liz heard her make another low moan. Her tongue swirled around and explored, finding each spot that provoked her to moan or whimper. She could feel the thrusts down onto her finger getting stronger.

Pulling back from the kiss made the woman open her eyes to look at Liz. "Do you like that, Shelly? Do you like me fucking your pussy?" Liz asked.

"Oh God, yes! Fuck me!" Shelly cried out.

"Do you want more fingers in you?" Liz asked as she slowed the pace of her finger.

"Fuck, don't stop. Please don't stop," the pretty, black-haired woman cried out. "Yes, yes! Give me more!"

With a predatory smile, Liz gave her what she wanted. Her whole hand was covered in Shelly's flowing juices, which made it easy for her to add two more fingers. Shelly gasped and then immediately began to rock her hips harder. She was impaling her pussy on Liz's fingers and obviously loving it. Liz matched her in force and speed. From the cries that Shelly was making, she was getting closer to a massive orgasm.

Bending her head down, Liz sucked a long nipple into her mouth. It was hard which made it easy to grasp with her teeth. She gently sawed her teeth from side to side, rasping them along the sensitive nub. After doing that for a moment, she switched to the other side.

"Oh God! Oh God!" Shelly cried out. She couldn't believe how good Liz was at getting her off. She knew how to play every string on her body. The three times she had cum last night were amazing but this felt like it was going to be the biggest one yet. Part of it was being fucked while Liz was still on the phone with her friend. It felt so illicit and exciting. The more Shelly tried to be quiet, the more turned on she got. Now that she had Liz's attention, it just built from there. Shelly could feel the tingles in her pussy starting to spread out. It was coming. Ramming her pussy down onto Liz's fingers, she couldn't help crying aloud. If her neighbors were home, they could surely hear her. Shelly didn't care. She had to let it out.

Suddenly her body froze as Shelly hit the crest. She let out a long scream and then began to shake uncontrollably as she came. Her hips were jerking down onto Liz's fingers but there was no more rhythm. They were spastic jerks of raw desire. It didn't matter. Liz had the rhythm and was fucking her hard. Shelly's brain shut down as wave after wave of pleasure shot through her body. She was completely unaware of how she was scratching Liz's back as she clawed her in passion.

Even as it started to fade and her mind came back a little, Shelly felt Liz continuing to fuck her. Now her thumb was rubbing up against Shelly's swollen clit. She wanted to say no more but her mouth could only make meaningless gibberish. After a few seconds, she no longer wanted to say stop. Liz already had her in the edge of another orgasm.

"Aieeeeee," Shelly cried out. "Yessssssssssss!" As the orgasm broke, her body thrashed around on the bed. She didn't have any control. It was Liz fucking her. She was not able to match Liz's thrusts anymore. Shelly just rode the wave of pleasure that Liz was giving her until finally she collapsed. She just lay there and whimpered. Only then did Liz stop.

Gently taking her fingers out of Shelly's still quivering pussy, Liz lifted them to her mouth and carefully cleaned off all of the tasty pussy juice. The sound of her enthusiastic slurping made Shelly open her eyes. Liz looked so sexy to her.

"God, you are beautiful," Shelly whispered. It was the truth. Her face was triangular with high cheekbones and smooth skin, despite all her time in the outdoors. Her long blonde hair was messy from a night of making love, but just added to how sexy she was. On anyone else, her blue eyes might have looked innocent. For Liz, they always seemed to have a naughty glint as if she was thinking about sex.

As she finished licking off her fingers, Liz leaned forward and kissed Shelly. The taste of her pussy was unmistakable. The kiss didn't last nearly as long as Shelly would have liked, and there was a feeling of finality when it ended. Liz did not stay laying down with her body touching Shelly. Instead, she sat up and swung her feet around to the floor.

"Are you leaving?" Shelly asked in a little voice.

Looking over her shoulder at Shelly, Liz nodded. "Yeah, it's later than I thought and I have some work I need to get done."

"I could make us some lunch before you go," Shelly said in that same voice.

Liz was already pulling on her panties. She stood up so that she could get them up all the way. Turning to face Shelly, she shook her head. "Thanks, but I need to go. I had a great time."

Shelly watched as Liz got dressed. She did not know quite what to say. Well, that wasn't quite true. She knew what she wanted to say, just not how to. Liz got dressed faster than she would have guessed. Finally, she just blurted it out. "Do you want to get together again sometime?"

Finishing pulling on her t-shirt before answering, Liz shook her head to try and fix her hair. It fell almost into place. She looked over at Shelly as she ran her fingers through it. "Sure. That would be great." Liz picked up her cell phone. "Give me your number and I'll call you." She punched them in as Shelly told her. "There, I've got you in there. I'll call you sometime."

Getting back onto the bed, Liz gave Shelly another kiss. This one was just a light brush of their lips. "Thanks. You were great," Liz said. The words flowed off her lips with seeming conviction. She had a lot of practice saying it.

"God, so were you," Shelly replied. She knew how she sounded but couldn't help it. "Call me."

"I will," Liz said as she got up and pulled on her coat. It was her ski coat. "And maybe we will run into each other skiing again."

"I'd like that. Skiing with you was fun too!" Shelly said with a smile. "I'm glad I went yesterday rather than Saturday. I might not have met you."

"Well, see you," Liz said. She turned and went out of the bedroom.

A moment later, Shelly heard the apartment door open and then close. Pulling up the covers, she lay back on the bed. Her body was exhausted from how long the two of them had made love. As good as that had felt, the way Liz left made her feel a little cheap. "Was that all this was, getting picked up at a party for a one-night stand?" she wondered. "God, I hope not." It was all on Liz though. She had Shelly's number, not the other way around. She sighed and closed her eyes. It was not just her body that was tired. Even though it was after noon, she fell back asleep a few minutes later.

Later that day, Marika was at the coffee machine in her office. She was telling some friends about deciding to go through guide training. Her excitement was obvious to everyone.

"Sounds fun," one of the guys said. Marika usually organized a rafting trip every year and Joe went most years. "I love that one trip a year, but I don't think I could do it all the time. And I know Cindy wouldn't let me disappear every weekend. It's nice that Samuel was agreeable."

"Yeah. It wasn't easy to get that agreement, but he did. Finally," Marika said. No one commented. While Marika did not talk a lot about her home life, it was common knowledge that things were not going great and having got to know her husband a bit at company events, few of them liked him.

One of the women there had just joined the company. Winnie was a recent graduate from the University of Oklahoma and had just moved to Seattle. She started at the end of January and was still getting to know people. Marika thought she was a sweet girl, though terribly naive. She was pretty and attracted a lot of attention from the men in the office. At the beginning, Marika and some of the other women helped to protect her. Even though it had not been a long time, Marika already was one of Winnie's friends.

Having grown up in Oklahoma, Winnie had no experience with rafting, or any sports involving mountains. Rafting sounded exciting to her. She was a good swimmer, having competed all the way through college. She still swam for an hour several times a week. Most of the other days, she worked out at the gym in other ways. At 5'5", her body was relatively petite but still well-toned. While she was happy with her body, Winnie always wished she was slightly less well endowed. Her C cups were just a little big for her frame and attracted interest that she did not always want. It often seemed that the men she met were mostly interested in her boobs, rather than her.

"I've never rafted, but it sounds like fun. Do you think they would take a total novice?" Winnie asked Marika. It also sounded like a good way to meet a new set of people that a newcomer like her wouldn't normally encounter.

"I don't see why not. Being a passenger is nothing like being the one guiding. They are going to have to teach us all of that. It shouldn't make a difference," Marika replied. She smiled at the blue-eyed blonde. Winnie was fun to be around and she liked the idea of knowing someone other than Liz.

When Liz crossed her mind, Marika wondered if she should say anything about Liz to Winnie. With her body combined with that cute face framed by her straight bob cut hair, it was certain that Liz would at least flirt with her. On the other hand, Liz flirted with almost anyone and she wasn't pushy. Either the woman was interested or she wasn't. If not, Liz just moved on. Plus, the more that she got to know Winnie, the less Marika really thought that she needed much protection. Now that she had been working here for a while, she figured out how to deal with the guys. She knew Winnie well enough to know that she was not meeting many men she liked. That was probably one reason she was interested. "I'll leave well enough alone," she decided in the end. "Although I can warn Liz to go gentle on her!"

They kept talking for a little while as Marika gave Winnie the details that she knew. Winnie wanted to think about it for a day but she was almost certain that she would do it. "They are supposed to send me an email with more information. I'll forward it to you," Marika told Winnie and they both headed back to their desks.

The next couple of weeks were busy for Liz. She was still finishing out the last few lessons of ski school, but at the same time, she had to get ready for the guide training. It did not leave a lot of time for going out. Things started to calm down a few days before the first weekend of training. It was only in the classroom, so it was not as big a deal. When a couple of friends asked her to meet for drinks, she welcomed the chance to unwind.

It turned out that there were a lot of women that Liz knew at the bar that night. She had slept with more than a couple of them so she was fairly certain she would end up going home with someone. It wasn't really a gay bar, but like any bar on Capital Hill, it was a lock that it would have a healthy mix of gays and lesbians. While Seattle was extremely gay-friendly, that part of town still had the heaviest concentration.

Even as she moved from one cluster of friends to the next, Liz still could not get guide training out of her mind. They could really use at least one more person. Her eyes lit up when she saw Rachel talking with a group at the back of the bar. Liz knew her a little from skiing. She was up skiing most weekends, either with friends or on her own. She was certainly outdoorsy. "Maybe she'd be interested," Liz thought as she pushed her way through the crowd.

"Hey Rachel, nice to see you!" Liz said once she got to the group.

"Liz! Wow, what a surprise," Rachel said. She looked pleased to see Liz but somehow she seemed subdued. It wasn't quite the spirited woman that Liz had met on the slopes. "Have you been having a good ski season?"

"Pretty good. I had an advanced class of high school students who pushed me a bit. Season's done for me though. Rafting starts this weekend," Liz said.

Rachel turned her head to look out the window at the rainy night. It followed a rainy day. In fact, the last week had been rainy and cold all week. "Rafting in this weather? Who'd pay to do that?" Rachel asked skeptically.

"Well, we won't get in the river this weekend, so there is another week to hope it gets slightly nicer," Liz replied. At the even more skeptical look, she had to laugh. "I know, but in any case you wear wetsuits and cold weather gear until we move over to the east side of the mountains. It's our guide training."

"Guide training?" one of the other women with Rachel asked.

Shaking herself as if she was lost in thought, Rachel apologized. "I should have introduced you to my friends. This is Roxy, Katie, and Lena." The last person she introduced was the woman who spoke. She was a pretty brunette with green eyes. Only about 5'2", she had an enthusiasm that made her seem like a bundle of energy. Her body was perfect for her size with breasts that were nice handfuls, but not too big. She had a light complexion with round cheeks that gave her dimples. As Liz shook hand with each, she was not even aware that her smile got a little more seductive when she touched Lena's hand.

"Yeah, every year we need some more guides. People get tired of it or move, so we run a training before the commercial season starts. It doesn't cost a lot, especially for how much rafting you get, but it also helps with some startup money for the season," Liz said. While most of her focus was on Lena, she also watched Rachel to gauge her interest. She wasn't seeing much. The blonde woman was cute, though not as striking as Lena. Rachel was more flat-chested than Liz really went for. Not that Liz would let that stop her if she liked a woman, but given a choice, she usually went for someone with a little bigger bust.

"I thought you might be interested, Rachel. You are pretty athletic," Liz said. "A lot of guides are skiers or snowboarders in the winter."

"Well, probably not. I'm not ready for skiing to end yet. I'll keep going until they close the areas." Rachel said it with a smile, but still Liz felt like she was holding something back. Mostly because they just ran into each other on the slopes, Liz never hooked up with Rachel but she always enjoyed being around her. Her joie de vivre was usually infectious. It seemed completely gone tonight. It distracted Liz from Lena.

"I understand. I love them both, but rafting wins. Plus it starts just when ski school ends, so it works out money wise." Liz paused for a moment. Finally, she looked at Rachel with a more serious smile than usual. "Everything okay, Rachel?" It bothered her that she seemed so down.

Looking Liz right back in the eyes, Rachel nodded. "I'm fine, but thanks for asking." Her tone made it clear that she did not want to say anything more, but the look her friends exchanged told Liz that there was something more.

"Okay," Liz said, leaving it at that. She hated having to answer personal questions herself. She guessed that was for different reasons than Rachel, but she wasn't going to push.

"So, tell me more about guide training," Lena said. Her long curly dark hair bounced as she leaned towards Liz. She was wearing a tight black t-shirt that showed off her breasts. As she told Lena about training, Liz worked actively at not glancing at them. The more they talked, the more flirtatious Liz became. Mostly it was just her normal self, but Lena definitely fed into it.

It didn't take any time for Liz to figure out that Lena was there with Katie, who clearly did not like all the attention that Liz was giving Lena. After a few minutes, Katie put her arm around Lena's shoulder. With as much playing around as Liz did, jealousy was easy for her to spot. Normally she backed off. There were always other fish in the sea. She usually didn't want trouble.

Tonight, Liz found it hard to back off. There was something about the energy that Lena had that Liz found particularly attractive. While more restrained than she could be, Liz still kept on flirting. Despite her being with Katie, it seemed like Lena was still flirting back. Liz could not help wondering if this was a date or if the two of them were actually a couple. Hopefully the former, she thought.

It took a while to answer all of Lena's questions. Occasionally Rachel or Roxy would ask one too, although Katie never did. Finally, Liz got up from the table.

"Well, I think I need to head out. I need to check out gear tomorrow. Nice meeting you all. Rachel, great seeing you," Liz said. After a moment, she spoke again. "I hope things get better." She still wasn't sure what was wrong, but she liked Rachel.

"They will. One way or another, but thanks," Rachel said, with her slightly sad smile.

"I'm going to hit the can, and then I'm out of here," Liz said with a little wave. She would have liked to have asked for Lena's number, but even she wouldn't do that in front of Katie.

When she came out of the restroom, Liz was surprised to find Lena there alone. The corridor was cramped and Lena was close enough that their bodies brushed against each other.

"Hey," Liz said.

"Hey yourself," Lena said with a smile. It had a touch more sexiness than the smiles she gave Liz back at the table. "I think I want to do guide training. It sounds like a blast!"

"That would be great," Liz said with a big smile of her own. She could have moved back a little, but she didn't. It felt good to be that close to Lena. She noticed that Lena didn't move back either. "I'd love to see you out on the river; or any other place for that matter."