Chapter 14
Friday morning came and Carla and Lisa headed out onto the streets of Paris.
Lisa’s still feeling nervous as she plays back the words in her head just before Carla fell asleep.
Forfeit tomorrow.
She has no idea what the brunette has planned for her, but she does trust Carla, she knows that for sure.
Carla flags down a cab further down the street from the hotel.
They both climb in.
“River Seine Si Vous Plait” Carla asked.
Lisa looks at Carla.
Carla smiles.
“Breakfast…cruise.” Carla says innocently.
“Breakfast cruise?” Lisa raises her eyebrow.
“Yes”
Carla leans in. “But don’t think I haven’t forgot about your forfeit.” She whispers in Lisa’s ear.
Lisa swallows hard.
“Are you nervous?” Carla asks.
“No.” Lisa replies a little too sharply.
“DS Swain does not get nervous.” Lisa’s voice softens the second time.
“What about Lisa?” Carla quirked her eyebrow.
“No.”
“You sure?” Carla teases.
“No.” Lisa sighs.
“Want me to put you out of your misery?”
“No-“
“I mean yes.” Lisa stumbles on her words.
“You said no. First answer only.” Carla teases again.
“Carla…”
“It’s not bad, I promise. Do you trust me?” Carla’s voice soft.
Lisa doesn’t think Carla’s ever asked her if she trusts her before, but of course she does.
How could she not trust this woman after all the moments they have shared together so far?
Carla looked Lisa in the eyes.
“Of course I do.” Lisa smiled, her heart full.
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Carla kissed her on the lips, but she still saw the nerves etched in Lisa’s face.
For a detective, she’s not very coy. Carla chuckled to herself.
“Okay I’ll put you out of your misery.”
Carla leaned in and whispered in the blonde’s ear.
“I’d like you to think of three of your deepest fantasies you’d like to play out, preferably with me and whisper them to me at any point, during today, publicly or privately.” Carla’s voice was laced with a sexy, seductive tone.
Lisa squeezed her things together as she tried to hide the excitement throbbing between her legs.
“No catch?”
“No catch.” Carla confirmed.
Carla pays the cab driver as they arrive along the Seine, just in time to board the cruise ship.
—
As they board the cruise ship, Lisa’s mind was whirring.
She wanted to have fun with this forfeit, to suggest things that could come into play in their relationship but to also make Carla squirm while she had the chance.
There was definitely a playful glint in her eye forming.
The breakfast buffet was beautiful. The long, flowing buffet table that extended from one end of the ship, to the other.
There was everything you could quite possibly imagine from pastries, artisan breads, cheese and continental meats to fruits, yoghurts, desserts and tarts. Even egg dishes and traditional English Breakfast lines such as sausages, bacon, chopped tomatoes and fried bread.
As they queued at the breakfast buffet, Lisa placed a hand on the small of Carla’s back.
Standing behind her, a little shorter than Carla, Carla could feel the heat of Lisa’s breath on the back of her neck.
She grabbed the buffet table in front of her for a moment, as her legs began to tremble slightly at the hot sensation.
Lisa noticed immediately and revelled in how she made the other woman feel.
As she stood on her tiptoes, she kissed Carla’s ear who remained rooted to the spot.
“Number one…” Lisa paused.
“I’d like to attend a masquerade ball. We’d arrive separately, in masks. We have to find each other, but then when we meet, we act like strangers as if we’ve never seen each other before, never met before. Oh, and wear something the other wouldn’t expect.” Lisa tried to match her tone to the sexy, seductive one Carla had used with her earlier.
Lisa’s breath still hot on Carla’s neck, but she felt it cool as the shorter woman stepped back down, removing her hand from the small of Carla’s back and much to the delight of those behind them, selected some items from the breakfast buffet and headed back over to a table.
Carla swallowed. Her racy thoughts interrupted by someone in the queue gently placing an arm on her shoulder.
“Are you okay, Miss?”
Carla cleared her throat.
“Yeah, thanks. Umm, I was just heading back to my table. Sorry for the hold up.”
Flushed, crimson cheeks burning, Carla quickly walked back to the table Lisa was seated at, who so happened to be enjoying watching the view.
The smirk on Lisa’s face as Carla sat down with her said it all.
“Stop it.” Carla chastised, playfully.
“What?” Lisa asked innocently.
Carla shot her a look.
“You know what.” Her eyes dark, a smile tugging at one side of her lips.
“I was just playing along with my forfeit.” Lisa shrugged her shoulders.
“Yeah well, I didn’t quite anticipate what kind of effect…it might umm, have.” Carla’s blush fiercer, the redness apparent on her bare neck now too.
“Care to share?” Lisa quipped as she sat pulling apart a croissant as she ate it.
“I think you’ve witnessed enough.”
Lisa smiled mischievously.
“I learnt last night, I like to see you squirm.” Lisa quipped.
“Don’t I know it.”
“Come on, you can share my breakfast. Since you spent all that time up there and still came back with nothing.”
Carla glanced down at her empty plate as they both landed in a fit of giggles.
They sat in companionable silence as they ate, before Carla broke their silence.
“What if…”
“What if we played that fantasy out tonight?” Carla dared to ask.
Lisa raised her eyebrow. Heart racing at the thought that Carla would actually be interested.
Lisa had seen the poster in the hotel about the masquerade ball on Friday night and had thought about suggesting it to Carla, but didn’t want to scupper her plans.
She also thought the other woman wouldn’t be interested in such a silly thing, but Carla continued to surprise her.
“I’m listening.”
“Well, I’m assuming you’re referring to the ball tonight, back at the hotel? And, I have an idea.” Carla paused.
“I was going to be a bit more romantic-“
“A bit more romantic? Carla how can you get any more romantic than you have been already. We are in Paris, on a cruise ship down the River Seine and we’ve seed the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Louvre Museum so far.” Lisa interrupted.
Carla smiled at the other woman.
She continued. “I was going to ask if you’d go to the dance with me. I… I never got the opportunity to go to prom when I was younger and well, I always thought it’d be nice to experience something like that.” Carla becoming increasingly shy the more she opened herself up to Lisa.
“But I was going to bail because I didn’t think you’d be interested. And then when you whispered that to me earlier, I couldn’t think of anything more exhilarating.” Carla admitted.
“Okay. Let’s do it.” Lisa confirmed.
“Really?” Carla’s eyes lit up.
“Really. But on one condition.” Lisa gave nothing away.
Carla looked blankly at her.
“If we’re doing it my way. If you want to play out my fantasy, no matter what happens, I get a least one dance with you. No one can go to a ball and not be asked to dance.” Lisa smiled softly at the other woman.
——
Carla hadn’t quite anticipated how long the cruise down the River Seine would take as they disembarked the cruise ship.
Lisa took hold of Carla’s hand, pulling her in for a sweet, soft kiss.
“Carla Connor, that was almost as beautiful as you.” Lisa smiled at the woman standing before her.
“You enjoyed it? Carla asked, shyly.
“Of course I did.”
Carla’s heart felt full.
“Okay, so…” Carla paused and Lisa waited patiently.
“It’s 3pm now and the ball starts at-“
”Seven.” Lisa finished her sentence, struggling to contain the excitement in her voice.
Carla smiled at the other woman’s eagerness before continuing.
“And the ball starts at seven. And as much as I never wanted to leave your side this weekend, I don’t want you to see me find my outfit, all part of how we’re doing this, right?”
”Yes…” Lisa agreed, intrigued on what was to follow.
“So, we disappear for a couple of hours, find an outfit. Meet back at the hotel room in 2 hours then we’ll change separately and I’ll see you at the ball?”
Lisa didn’t need time to think.
“I can’t wait.” She replied as she pulled Carla in for another sweet, soft but slightly longer kiss this time.
“Although you’re going to have to stop kissing me like that if we’re going to make it on time.” Carla teased.
“Noted.”