WHAT: Power outage in the general area forces Alex to share her space with Lena - cue "there was only one bed" and snuggling for warmth, plus just a lot of flirting and kissing WHERE: Serendipity Inn WHEN: Friday night WARNINGS: Cold? STATUS: Complete
Alex sighed as she slipped inside the Serendipity Inn through the back door. The outage in the area had crammed the inn full of cold townspeople, and just as she’d suspected, the backup generator behind the building was down for the count. It had been on the fritz since late in the summer, during their last outage; it had been near the end of its life for ages, and the mechanic she’d called in had told her it was best to order a new one. Unfortunately, that new one had been on backorder for the last six months, and now they were all screwed.
But the electricity here was holding for now, and she’d gone around making sure each room’s fireplace was up and burning. When the power inevitably gave out, the inn would still be warm enough. She wouldn’t be quite as lucky; the innkeeper’s room in the basement was a new remodel, no fireplace in sight. She would have to make do with bundling up in layers of clothes and blankets, but she could handle that.
Her eyes swept over the crowd of familiar faces while she peeled off her gloves with her teeth before landing on the newcomer amongst them. Lena was exactly where she’d been when Alex had stepped out, sitting across from a little girl no more than ten years old with a Chinese checkers set laid out on the small table between them. In three days, Alex hadn’t once seen her look so calm, comfortable, and normal. It was pretty nice to see.
Definitely better than the sight she’d come across yesterday when Lena, apparently having never used a vacuum in her life, had somehow managed to blow the damn thing up. Dust had exploded across the room’s every surface and turned Lena into a walking dust bunny herself. It would have been cute, maybe a little endearing, if it hadn’t been so frustrating and ridiculous. She should have known better than to trust someone who had never lifted a finger for herself would be able to operate even a simple machine like a vacuum without disaster ensuing.
(That had led to Alex bringing Lena with her to Walmart to pick up another and introduce her to the whole concept of a hypermarket. Her wide-eyed awe at setting foot inside a store that didn’t sell high-end jewelry or clothing for the first time in her life — that was a little endearing. Maybe cuter than she wanted to admit, too.)
She had to give her credit for trying, though. Just over the past day, she’d really been trying to step up and make herself useful. Maybe it was just her way of making up for the vacuum incident — which Alex hadn’t reacted well to, admittedly — but she’d take it. Now more than ever, having an extra hand around here couldn’t hurt.
She shoved her gloves into one of her coat pockets and smiled at one of the locals as she murmured an ‘excuse me’ to get into the front room. They really were going to be full up tonight. Lena had already given up her room to one of the families that had come in, and there would be at least seven or eight people scattered across the couches and faux fur rug on the floor near the fireplace here.
“Hey, how’s everyone holding up here?” She smiled at the little girl Lena was playing against, reaching out to snag up the cup of hot cocoa she’d left behind before she’d stepped out for the generator check.
“I won!” exclaimed the little girl with enthusiasm that burned a thousand times brighter than the sun and therefore should melt all the snow that existed outside, but - alas. Nothing would. Outside, the storm raged on and Lena could have sworn they were living in a third-world country because how did this inn not have a working backup generator? They couldn’t be that expensive, could they?
(Oh, but they were, and fixing them was just as much.)
It was nice to see how everyone came together, though - which genuinely surprised her, but she was beginning to learn that her world was flush with selfish pricks concerned with only themselves and that, perhaps, she had been one of them too. Absorbed in only herself, spoiled, naive to a world that existed beyond a bottomless pit of a bank account. Her father insisted that she learned a lesson or two before taking reins of the family company, and she had been learning quite a bit.
Like how to use a vacuum cleaner. But she didn’t want to get into that - she was still recovering from that trauma, thank you.
“Don’t be modest - you beat me twice in a row,” Lena chuckled, winking. Mostly at Alex because clearly she let this small human being win to spare her feelings, as she was capable of shoving her pride to the side if it meant making a kid in a shitty situation smile. “You’ll have to teach me some of your tricks.”
“I totally will,” the girl beamed, standing up to begin waddling over across the room, decked out in winter wear that made her look like a walking marshmallow. “I’m gonna tell my dad! Dad! DAD! Hey, Dad!”
Lena watched her leave for a second, then looked over to Alex with a little concern etched on her face. “How’s everything going? Do you need help?”
Alex had been soft for kids ever since her family had taken in her little sister well over a decade ago. There was something about the innocent sweetness that just got to her, and seeing that little girl’s delight at being quite clearly handed victory by Lena made her soften a bit more. She’d already been softening around Lena, not that she’d readily admit that, but this was starting to tip the scales a bit further.
“There’s not really much we can do but hope it holds on,” she admitted with a sigh. As much as she’d like to let Lena have a go at the generator, there was no sense in wasting her energy. It was dead, and there was no coming back from it. Tomorrow, when she stood a chance of getting through the snow and finding an open store, she’d tow a new one home herself.
“We should probably just make sure everyone’s settled and get some warm sleep while we can.” She gave Lena’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and flashed her a small smile. “That was sweet of you, giving up your room for that family. Sure you don’t mind bunking with me?”
Any other time Lena wouldn’t fathom giving up her space to others, goodness. There had been many opportunities throughout her lifetime to express some gesture of generosity, all of them missed. Most of it had to do with disinterest and a cruel not my problem attitude, and it wasn’t until she was almost three decades into her life that she finally had the self-awareness to realize how callous she’d been.
Cruel, even. And when that family had begged, begged for a place to stay despite the lack of space - it was a test to see if she really was this ice princess she’d been labeled throughout her upbringing.
“That depends on how badly you snore,” Lena retorted, raising an immaculately manicured eyebrow at her. “But you do know I’m capable of taking the floor, right? I may complain about my back for a few days, request worker’s comp…”
Yes, she was joking.
“Tempting,” Alex scoffed, amusement still plain in the quirk of her lips. She knew a joke when she saw one and that eyebrow made it quite clear. “But I’d rather avoid the inevitable complaints, princess. Tiny town inns can’t generally afford worker's comp for a maid who doesn’t know how to operate a vacuum. My back’s sturdier, it’s fine.”
She had slept in worse environments, and as much as Lena had tried her patience the past couple of days, she wasn’t actively trying to make her suffer. Had she thrown her a few curveballs? Sure, yeah. Did she regret any of it? No, not with that attitude she’d come in with. There were some evil, rich bitches around here that Alex couldn’t stand, but she couldn’t do anything about that. With Lena, she could prompt a little change. But she also knew when she was hitting the overkill threshold.
“Big selling point to sharing a room with me, though - no snoring at all. I sleep like the dead.” She could be woken with some determination, but she’d always been a heavy sleeper. Even the floor couldn’t deter her from getting a good six to eight hours a night.
Alex really could have just - thrown her into the lobby, made her get cozy there. Not that Lena had many options with how strapped for cash she was, and she was sure that the situation outside warranted to at least be labeled some kind of mini-natural disaster if it had caused a power outage that couldn’t be resolved until the heavy winds ceased and at least some frost thawed. Lena wasn’t oblivious to her attitude - Alex had not liked her at first, and the feeling had been mutual.
Things changed, though. And she - oddly - quite liked her company. The way she viewed things. The unapologetic bluntness, always grounding Lena in a way she didn’t realize was sorely necessary. There was a kindness she showed her beneath all that grump and it was why she felt guilty intruding into her room the way she was.
Lena stood up, rubbing her hands together for some heat friction - she was a bit delicate when it came to the cold, even with the fire running. “If you insist, Danvers,” she rolled her eyes. “Mind leading the way?”
The folks out here were starting to settle, some of the bigger groups she’d squeezed into rooms starting to clear out of the lobby for bed. She easily could have left Lena here with the other stragglers, a few childless couples, and a few singles, but maybe she was getting soft. She couldn’t bring herself to shove her in with a bunch of strangers when she had a perfectly comfortable bed waiting downstairs. The joke about her inevitable complaints was half-true, but seeing how willingly she’d given up her room, without a second thought, had a lot to do with it, too.
“This way, Your Highness.” She left her coffee behind, pulling her gloves out of her pocket and putting them on again. It was chilly up here, even with the fireplace roaring, but it was going to be even colder downstairs. She’d already dragged out a bunch of spare sheets and blankets, pulled out freshly laundered clothes to pull over on top of the sweats she was currently wearing. She’d have plenty to spare for Lena, too.
The basement space that served as the innkeeper’s room was the most modern part of Serendipity Inn. It had served mainly as storage until her father had taken it upon himself to remodel it for occasions such as these when the management’s presence on-site was necessary. They seemed to go through periods like this every few years; sudden bursts of bad weather became more common, for unknown reasons. It wasn’t technically meant to serve as permanent housing, but it had gotten Alex out of her parents’ house.
Right now, with the electricity still holding on, the room was tolerable, if not the most comfortable. No sooner had they stepped into the bedroom proper than she turned to grab an oversized University hoodie off the top of the laundry basket on the bureau. “You’ll want this soon,” she told Lena, handing it over. “Help yourself to whatever else you want, you’ll need it tonight.”
“So you do have the best room in the house,” Lena smirked, surveying the digs because they weren’t too terrible. At least compared to the other rooms that, ah, had a bit of an outdated appearance but considering she was at the moment a beggar, she could definitely not be a chooser.
There were worse situations, though.
The hoodie was… charming, she’d give her that. Looked warm, which she figured was the point in that. She held it against her chest, tracking Alex’s movements across the bedroom while she remained rooted by the door. While she appreciated the hospitality, Lena still felt a little…
Tense, about all this? She didn’t know if tense was even the correct word but that was what she was going with. “Thank you - for this,” she said, awkwardly clearing her throat. “And for everything else, too. I know I haven’t been the easiest guest. Or employee, for that matter.”
“No, you haven’t,” Alex snarked back at once. Lena was the opposite of easy. She had come in on her high horse, entitled in that way she’d only ever seen from people who were intolerably rich and privileged. She had been annoyed from minute one, and it had taken her some time to reel back and give Lena a chance without judgment. Admittedly, there had been some attraction swaying that decision, too.
Lena truly had been doing better, though, coming through in ways that surprised Alex but were inarguably good. She wasn’t without humanity or empathy and seemed to be able to put aside her self-absorption when she wasn’t as concerned with image. It was probably hard to be too concerned about image after one had been covered head to toe in what was easily multiple days worth of dust.
“But,” she continued, tone softening as she turned to look at Lena with a few pieces of clothing strewn across her arms. “You’re trying. I appreciate that. I’m not going to let you sleep on the floor with a bunch of strangers just because you were insufferable for a while.”
Ballsy. Not many people spoke to Lena in a way that called her out on her shit - typically she was always in the position to fire them, if that was the case. Or they’d be too afraid to say anything that would be in disagreement with her so they’d stay in her good graces. Alex didn’t care. It was refreshing in a way that also annoyed her all at once.
The light bulbs around them buzzed, then flickered on and off for a few taunting seconds. A sign that their time with power was limited.
“Are all of those clothes really necessary?” she asked, pulling on the hoodie and for a piece of generic clothing that looked like it’d make her arms itchy - it was actually quite soft. Smelled nice, too. Not that she was sniffing them or anything. Not intentionally, at least. Maybe. “That seems a little overkill, don’t you think?”
Yep, that flickering was an omen if Alex had ever seen one. They might have just enough time to get settled before the electric breathed its last, but she wasn’t counting on it. But she was prepared. She had placed a bunch of battery-powered lanterns around the room and took this moment to go around and turn them all on. At least they’d have something to see by when they were plunged into darkness and cold.
“Have you ever been in freezing temperatures without central heating to keep you warm?” she retorted, raising a challenging eyebrow at Lena. She could act like a know-it-all in any other aspect, but this wasn’t Alex’s first rodeo in situations like these. She’d been somewhat outdoorsy as a kid, too; she wasn’t a stranger to camping in the cold, when even a fire wasn’t always enough to keep from feeling frostbitten.
“Seriously, you can’t overkill this.” She grabbed not one but two pairs of thick, fuzzy socks and sat on the edge of the bed to remove her boots and put them on. “Get dressed, then take the bed.” She’d already prepared a makeshift bed of blankets and cushions off to the side of the bed for herself, so as soon as she was dressed, they’d be set.
“Contrary to my pale complexion I prefer warmer climates,” Lena bit out with some shame because - ah, no, of course she’s never been in freezing temperatures without central heating. Cold weather dries out her skin and she’s already low on moisturizer that she couldn’t even afford right now. That was very much a ‘first world problem’ territory thing, and she dared not voice that in front of Alex because she would not hesitate to say something snarky.
Which, in fairness, she might deserve.
So she took the clothes that Alex offered and - uh-oh - set them aside, giving them a pat. “I have this luxurious sweatshirt,” she said, gesturing to the upper half of her body. “My leggings are fleece-lined. That, and the blankets - I’m very sure I’ll be fine, Danvers.”
The lights flickered again as the wind howled. Then - darkness. Lena screamed a little.
Alex wasn’t going to keep pushing. If Lena thought she could get through this with what she was wearing — fancy, sure, but decidedly minimal for the situation they were in — then she wasn’t going to push. Some people had to learn their lessons the hard way, and in the short period of time Alex had known Lena, it was easy to see that she was one of those people. She’d regret her stubbornness once the cold really hit her.
The plunge into darkness was expected but still a little startling. Less so for her than for Lena, and she was glad the lanterns didn’t provide as much coverage of the space as a proper light just did; she was able to roll her eyes without the other woman spotting her and taking offense.
“Take a breath,” she insisted, pulling a pair of flannel pajama pants over the sweatpants she’d already had on. She gave Lena’s knee her best comforting pat. “They’ll have things up and running by morning, earlier if we’re lucky. No freaking out right now, alright?”
“I’m not freaking out,” Lena scoffed. “I was… startled, that’s all.” The dark didn’t scare her and she assumed that if this inn continued to endure years and years of being pounded by freezing storms then it wouldn’t topple over from all this wind that was currently battering it.
But it was a little odd, in this eerie way. Because before the thrum of electricity coursing through the inn was this background noise she was used to, and now it was gone. All she heard was wind and the sound of it billowing outside was aggressive. The signal in the area was kapoot so there was no point in using her phone for mindless internet scouring or Candy Crush.
The only thing to do now was… wait?
Lena scooted up on the bed, resting her back into the headboard and pulling the blankets up. “So we’re just supposed to sleep through this? Seriously? It’s so noisy,” she frowned, then paused because - gods, she was complaining about dumb things again, wasn’t she? “Sorry. I’ll be quiet now.”
Alex sighed. She knew this was all new to Lena and despite her protests to the contrary, there might have been some minor freaking out happening. Or, at the very least, some restlessness and boredom. That was valid. People were so attached to their electronics that being without them took a toll. Even she was like that.
“You don’t have to be quiet or sleep if you don’t want to,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t mind…talking, I guess, if you want to pass the time like that until you’re tired.” They’d gotten through enough conversation that she knew Lena would keep her stimulated. Despite her Rich White Girl Syndrome, she was admittedly interesting when she got her head out of her own ass.
It was difficult to not be restless. The circumstances were ridiculous, and she was away from the familiarity of home in a basement room. Lena was definitely out of her element but she’d survive. “I won’t decline your sweet offer to entertain me,” she chuckled, slipping beneath the covers. Already she could feel the temperature dropping. “But if we’re not sleeping right away then… do you just want to come up into your bed?”
Alex on the floor right now seemed silly. Plus, she still felt like she was intruding and the bed was plenty big to accommodate a pair of gal pals. Right?
“I promise I won’t bite?” Only if you ask me to, which was a thought that came out of the blue and she didn’t need to voice it at all.
Alex hadn’t made her way to the floor just yet, so after a moment’s hesitation, she shrugged. Her bed was a hell of a lot more comfortable than the makeshift attempt she’d made on the floor. If she could get away with a few more minutes up here, her back would be thanking her in the morning.
Plus, she did have a beautiful woman in her bed, something that made the offer all the more enticing. That wasn’t an everyday occurrence for her. Who was she to protest against her own good fortune, right?
“Just don’t expect me to juggle or anything. My clown skillset isn’t what it used to be,” she deadpanned, slipping into bed opposite Lena. She slid down beneath the blankets and turned to face her, carding a hand through her hair to brush it out of her eyes. “What do rich people do for fun?”
That helped assuage her guilt about practically stealing her bed, even if Alex was chivalrous enough to offer it to her. Lena thought the close proximity of body heat would be beneficial to them, too. In a practical, basic science perspective of things - obviously.
“We drive around peasant neighborhoods,” she replied with a casual shrug, sinking in below the blankets more. “Mocking poor people is the height of our days, don’t you know?” Clearly it was sarcasm and a snap at Alex’s rich people jokes that she tossed her way a lot. Yes, she got it, she lived a sheltered and privileged life. She’d been coming to that realization a lot during her time here. “In all seriousness, I don’t do fun often. I attend a lot of conferences, sift through peer-reviewed articles, examine sponsorship proposals, network until my tongue falls out of my mouth. Occasionally there’s online shopping.”
No doubt she’ll be drowning in work once she gets home. It was funny, though - to have all this money, and yet she still worked herself to the bone like her life depended on it. At least she had ‘nice stuff.’
Alright, that was fair. Alex had been making a lot of snappy jokes at Lena’s expense since she first tried to check in with her lone $100 bill. She knew she wasn’t as bad as all that, and the sarcasm wasn’t lost on her. She had a tendency to get judgey, sometimes undeservedly. It was a thing, but she was working on it. Lena was a good exercise.
“Are you really that much of a spendthrift that your parents had to teach you a lesson? It sounds like you work harder than most people I know.” She had never been cut out for an office job herself, and dealing with that many people seemed like one of her nightmares come true. In Lena’s position, she wouldn’t have made it a week.
Lena made a face. Fine - ‘occasionally online shopping’ was a gross simplification of her spending habits. “I work hard,” she mumbled defensively, shifting beneath the covers to where her leg accidentally grazed hers. “I should be able to purchase things I want, shouldn’t I?”
In theory.
“I may have, um.” Her fingers fiddled with the edges of the blanket with a look of pure shame, emphasized by the dim glow of the lanterns that provided poor lighting throughout the room. It made her features look dramatically hollow. “Gotten ahead of myself when I couldn’t sleep during a conference, binge-watched all of Tiger King, and then tried to buy a tiger sanctuary. My father put his foot down.”
There was no hint about this that would imply she was joking.
“In my defense - I was sleep-deprived?”
At first, Alex didn’t know quite how to respond. She stared at Lena for a moment, both eyebrows raised, hoping she was joking. But the look on her face and that serious-yet-ashamed tone made it clear that she was not. A laugh burst out of her before she could stop it; she instantly lifted her hand to stifle it and get ahold of herself.
“You mean to tell me,” she began, lowering her hand, her laughter just barely contained as she spoke, “that we could have had Lena Luthor, Tiger Queen as the next big Netflix doc? How dare your father deprive us of that! I’m personally offended.”
She was smiling bigger than she had since she and Lena had met, so much so that her cheeks ached. “Tell me you had a safari outfit on order, too, I’m begging you.” Another snicker fell out of her just as one of the inn’s resident cats, a standoffish black beauty named Mermista (yes, really), hopped up onto the bed and made herself comfortable between them.
“Carole Baskins wouldn’t sell me hers so - don’t laugh!” Lena huffed, trying to be upset at this outright mockery except - she couldn’t, not really. Because the whole thing did sound utterly ridiculous talking about it now and she would have hidden under the covers to hide her face but she didn’t. Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to witness Alex smiling the way she was, genuine despite the fact that it was at her expense. “Anyway, that was the final straw. Now here I am. Cleaning your guest rooms.”
It wasn’t as if she was incapable of doing some manual labor. Scrubbing was an arm exercise, okay - and she did clean the rooms well for the most part. The vacuum cleaner incident didn’t need to be brought up. She still claimed it attacked her and would not be taking any more criticism about that, please and thank you.
“But - I have come to accept that it’s…” Lena snuggled up into the blankets more. “Kind of cozy here. You might not have a Starbucks but things could be worse. The company is acceptable.”
The cold was starting to permeate her little basement apartment. There was no way Alex was exiling herself to the floor now. She was comfortable amongst the nest of blankets, sinking deeper into the mattress, with Lena’s body heat pulling her slowly closer with each minute that passed. The cat’s presence helped, too; Mermista might not be one for pets, but it was hard to resist another little purring heat source’s presence.
“Yeah, it’s not so bad here. God knows we’ve got a ton of independent coffee shops to make up for the lack of Starbucks. And I’ve had worse company,” she agreed, daring to reach out and scratch behind the cat’s ears. She made a sound that was eerily like a groan, but Alex was undeterred. “You’ve been doing a good job helping out here. I appreciate how hard you’ve been working.”
With her housekeeper down for the count, she’d have been on her own for a bit before Lena came along. Some might have been kinder, but Alex was more of a fair trade type of person. This was a business, and if Lena couldn’t pay for her indefinite stay, working for it was the next best option. She hadn’t worked her as hard as she could have, anyway.
“Think you’ve learned whatever lesson your dad was trying to teach you?”
“To essentially watch my spending because I could be broke?” Lena shrugged. Maybe the intentions were good, maybe it was a power play - her father and brother did like those quite a lot. “Or something along the line of ‘be thankful for what you have.’ I don’t really know.”
A conversation was due between them when she came back home, which would be - soon, actually. Lena wasn’t a permanent resident here. This was… temporary, and so was Alex. That made her sad, for whatever reason. It hadn’t before. She couldn’t wait to leave and go back to her brand of normal, surrounded by conveniences in her own little world.
Her hand reached out to pet the cat too since she was there, and she needed something to occupy her hands. “I might miss this place when I leave, though.”
Mermista was surprisingly calm when Lena reached out to pet her and made no effort to move away from two different hands on her. Her purrs even rose in volume, and she looked up at Lena with something akin to acceptance. That wasn’t really her norm, but Alex didn’t say anything. Maybe it was some sort of sign. Mermista was a harsher judge of character than she was.
The thought of Lena leaving actually put a bit of a damper on her mood. She knew it was inevitable. Lena had made it clear from day one that she wasn’t here any longer than her father required her to be. She had responsibilities in the city, an entire life that didn’t include Serendipity Hills — or Alex. Still, in the space of a week, she’d made an impact.
“This place might miss you, too,” she murmured, eyes never leaving the cat as she rubbed down her furry neck. “Kinda gotten used to you being here.”
Interesting that ‘place’ was now being strategically used as a metaphor. Lena wasn’t oblivious, though part of her was slightly paranoid that she was being overconfident in making the (bold) assumptions she was making. Snowed in during an awful snowstorm with no electricity would be a terrible time to be completely wrong about them.
“I wouldn’t mind visiting,” she suggested lightly, fingers brushing along Alex’s as they stroked down the cat’s fur. This inn had too many of these running around. She didn’t get the appeal but she supposed some could be… sweet. As long as they didn’t yowl at her. “I know a decent place to stay, and next time I’ll be able to actually afford it. And tip generously.”
Alex’s heart rate may have jumped slightly, but you’d never guess it; she kept her cool. “I think after all the work you’ve put in around here this time, you might be in for a free stay next time,” she replied. She lifted her gaze back to Lena’s, her face illuminated just enough that the playful smirk she wore was visible. “I’ll even make sure we have a functional generator so you don’t have to freeze your ass off in this basement with me.”
“I mean - the situation isn’t ideal,” Lena admitted, and obviously there was an inevitable but to what she was going to say next. “I don’t really mind. You’re warm.”
For emphasis, she did away with the existing dead space between them and found herself cautiously snuggling up. Blankets were fine but body heat proved to be better if you asked her, and if Alex didn’t jolt away in repulsion then she assumed that was a good thing. “You don’t have to sleep on the floor, you know. There’s enough space for the both of us and since I’m not wearing the layers of clothes you insisted I wear…”
Alex would be a better substitute for that.
Alex didn’t jolt away, but the cat between them sure did. Mermista made her opinion known with some grumbling and a death stare before padding down the bed to lay down at their feet. But she was the least of Alex’s worries; she had a very hot woman snuggling up to her, and fuck if she didn’t melt right into it, wrapping her arm around Lena’s shoulders to keep her close.
“Okay, I’ll stay,” she murmured. It wasn’t like cuddling up to Lena was anything close to some great burden. She’d already made the decision, anyway, but knowing now she was wanted sparked an intense flash of feelings. “If you’re sure you…want me.”
“I’m always sure of what I want,” Lena replied with this low, provocative edge that only lasted for five seconds because she did feel as if she needed to tack on the next thing. “Except for the tiger sanctuary. That was - that was a phase.”
Ahem, yes, anyway. With that said, she slipped a hand right over Alex’s hipbone and with little hesitance, leaned in to give her a kiss. Soft, slow - chaste, as this was her testing the waters for proper reciprocation but, god, did she want to pour it all into her. Make it deeper, make it more intense, but slow was a wise start.
Alex couldn’t even find it in her to tease Lena about the tiger thing again, not when she took that tone with her. A shiver completely unrelated to the cold zipped up her spine, and it was all she could to keep herself upright when Lena’s lips met hers. There was only a half-second of hesitation before she went for it, deepening the kiss and lifting one hand to cradle that sharp, gorgeous jawline.
“You know,” she breathed, grinning against Lena’s lips, “you really would make an amazing tiger queen.” Okay, so she had to get it in there, but she didn’t let it keep her distracted for long. Before an answer could come, she leaned right back in to initiate another kiss, thumb brushing across her chin.
Lena tried not to look terribly offended in regards to the tiger queen comment, but she also didn’t have the time - Alex’s mouth was on her, and she’d intended to focus on the feel of their lips moving. It was strange, to think that she had wanted this the entire time beneath all the frustration and bouts of impatience they shared. Maybe that’s what made it intense. The tension.
But outside the typical physical attraction, she knew she liked Alex. Bold and unapologetically snarky on top of the biggest heart she’s arguably ever met.
“If all of your snobby guests,” she said once the kiss broke, hands slipping underneath the impressive layers of shirt Alex had on for heat retainment, “get this kind of treatment too, I am leaving the most scathing review on TripAdvisor you’ve ever read.”
There was no denying that Alex had been softening around Lena for a few days now. Despite their rocky start and the flares of temper on both sides, there was something about this girl that she just liked. She couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment, but she knew it had surpassed just attraction a while ago.
It had been a long time since she’d met someone who could keep up with her. She could always get some good verbal sparring out of her sister, but it was all the more enticing with this strange, gorgeous, obnoxious woman who had descended on her inn and flipped everything familiar upside down. Lena had even gotten her blushing quite a few times, and that wasn’t an easy feat.
This was all fast, nothing she’d ever have imagined happening, but it felt right. Denying feelings like that hadn’t ever served her well, so she was making a point of taking the opposite tack and going for it.
“Trust me,” she murmured, spine straightening as Lena’s hand moved against her skin, cooler than she’d expected. “You’re the only one who’s ever gotten this kind of treatment.” Her arm tightened a little more around Lena’s shoulders. “You’re special.”
“You’re smart - those were exactly the right words to say,” Lena smirked, and she was beginning to tell the temperature difference now that some time has passed. But she was cuddled up, soaking up Alex’s body heat and there was nowhere else she wanted to be.
That included places with working electricity and heaters. “And since I’m entitled,” she whispered, mouthing along her neck. “I fully expect you to keep me very warm throughout all of this.”
Alex took a slow, shaky breath, tangled her fingers in Lena’s dark hair, and gave a short nod. Those lips on her neck were distracting, the tingling warmth it left behind pushing her brain closer to short-circuiting. She pulled gently on Lena’s hair, coaxing her back, and said, “I think I can manage that,” before she leaned in to give her another sweet, passionate kiss.