Dungeons and Dalliances

"An exception?" Natalie asked, her lips curling up into a satisfied grin. "Anybody I know?"

"I think you know the answer to that," Alaina breathed, struggling to keep her composure. She bit her lip and blushed. "I blame you, really," she huffed. "For answering the door in that state. You put all sorts of things into my head that I can't get rid of."

Oh, dear. Had she said that out loud? So bluntly?

"Things?" Natalie asked. "Like what?"

Not intentionally, Alaina's eyes flicked down toward Natalie's skirt.

"Ah," Natalie said, catching the glance. "You saw that too, then."

"Saw … and was interested," Alaina forced herself to say—throwing the words out there, to see how Natalie would receive them.

By the growing excitement in her eyes, the interest was mutual. Despite all the hints being there—the constant flirting not just today, but days previous—and that it shouldn't be a surprise, Alaina's heart fluttered. So it was reciprocated.

Natalie opened her mouth, and Alaina hung on her next words.

But then Natalie hesitated and pulled back, grimacing.

"W-What?" Alaina asked. She could read that reaction easily enough, Natalie reining herself in. But everything had been going so well, and apparently, she was a person more than up for some, um, casual interactions.

So what had happened?

"I can't," Natalie said, looking away and breaking that smoldering eye contact that had been mixing up Alaina's insides.

"Can't?" Alaina repeated. "Why not?"

She didn't need to ask what she couldn't do. That much was obvious.

Her.

Natalie wrinkled her nose, struggling to phrase it.

"I told my teammates I wouldn't," she said.

"O-Oh?" That took her aback. "You're taken?" She had been getting the feeling that the five girls were more involved than just delving partners, but she'd assumed it was an open relationship. At least by how shamelessly Natalie had been flirting in front of them.

"Taken? Oh, no, it's nothing like that." She grimaced. "It's … you."

"Me?" Alaina asked, alarmed.

"Er, sorry," Natalie hastily corrected. "You're wonderful. I mean, it's your dad."

"My father?" Understanding slammed home. A frown tugged on her lips. "What does he have to do with this?" She waved between them.

Natalie shifted awkwardly. She made a sheepish expression, a sort of 'you know what I mean,' but Alaina crossed her arms and made her finish the statement.

"It's unprofessional," Natalie sighed. "That's what my teammates keep telling me, at least. So I promised them."

"Promised them what?" Alaina asked, glaring.

Natalie spread her hands helplessly.

"Promised them what!"

"That I wouldn't get involved with you, okay?" Natalie said. "In that way. And yeah, it's bullshit, but it's also the situation we're in. Right?"

Alaina blinked.

That 'right?' wasn't Natalie asking Alaina to understand or to be sympathetic with her plight. It was the opposite.

'Convince me I should ignore them,' her pleading eyes said.

Though hilariously, Alaina didn't think it was an expression given intentionally. Just her subconscious sending out a request for help.

Her brain churned away as she formulated a plan of attack. This, she was pretty good at. Spinning an argument, or turning words around in the right way. Sure, she might not mingle in the high courts of Aradon, but a baron wasn't a man with no position, and she was his daughter. She was more than skilled with words.

But should she try to convince Natalie? She was right. It would be scandalous.

Unfortunately, Alaina was much, much more interested in getting into Natalie's skirts than she was worried about a bit of a scandal.

Maybe a bit of scandal was why she found herself so excited in the first place.

"Well," Alaina said in her most reasonable voice. "I don't see what my father has to do with us at all. So that's an unfair reason to reject me, don't you think?"

"Tenet makes it clear we're agents of them when we're out on a quest," Natalie disagreed. "It's probably implied we shouldn't involve ourselves with anyone, much less the point-of-contact's daughter."

Alaina changed tact. "It's not like we'd be caught," she argued. "Everyone's at the celebration. We could do it right here, in the grass, out in the open, and no one would be the wiser."

That idea had Natalie's face rapidly turning red, but while it had her shifting around as if something was suddenly straining inside her skirt—which, Alaina thought faintly, was exactly what was happening—it didn't do much to convince her.

"I told my teammates I wouldn't, though," Natalie said. "It's not about being caught."

She was loyal then. Or at least halfway; a flimsy 'we wouldn't be caught' wasn't enough to convince her. It was more about the promise itself than the possibility of her teammates finding out.

Alaina pursed her lips, racking her brain.

"You told them you wouldn't … do me?" she asked.

Natalie nodded cautiously.

"Well. Okay. Then what if it's me that does you?"

Natalie blinked.

"Uh?" she said.

Alaina seized the opening. Before Natalie knew what was happening, Alaina had climbed onto her lap. That was nearly as compromising for her as it was her target, because Natalie's body responded. Alaina could feel it through her skirt—the half-hard bulge that swiftly swelled up, pushing into her ass. She settled down against it, straddling Natalie's thighs.

"After all, you can't be blamed for what I do, right?" Alaina murmured. "Only what you do. And you can just lay there and let it happen, no involvement of your own. No need to fuck me—I'll fuck you."

With wide eyes, Natalie looked at her. Then, inevitably, her gaze dropped down to Alaina's breasts, which, with Alaina sitting on her lap and leaning over, gave a magnificent view into her cleavage. She'd picked this outfit for a reason.

"You are your own person," Natalie murmured, drinking in the sight. "I can't be blamed for what you do. If Jay or Sofia disagreed, that'd be completely unreasonable of them."

Alaina pressed the advantage, though it wasn't some strategic decision, but rather her excitement getting the better of her. She leaned forward and kissed Natalie.

It sent a thrill through her how quickly Natalie reciprocated. Hungry and needy, she pressed her lips back against Alaina's—then pushed further, adding her tongue, drinking her in. Alaina clutched the side of Natalie's head, fingers tangling into silky red hair, holding her there as she melted into the kiss.

Gods, she was a good kisser. Her stomach churned, heart pounding as Natalie's mouth claimed her own, hot and intense. Her hands dropped to grab Alaina's thighs and roamed up into her skirt, across bare skin.

And all the while, her cock had grown firmer against Alaina's ass. With every roll of her hips—with every little thrust she gave against Natalie's bulge—it had grown stiffer, until it was as hard as stone. She could feel it throbbing through Natalie's skirt.

Alaina moaned into the kiss.

The sound seemed to startle Natalie back into awareness. She froze, and her eyes shot open. She pulled away.

"We, uh—" she said after a swallow. "We are in public, though, Alaina?"

Alaina blinked several times as her brain caught up to reality. Right. She had been seconds from sliding down Natalie and throwing up her skirt. But they were out in the park. In a panic, she looked around. There was no one—they hadn't been spotted. And they'd only been kissing, anyway.

But that was still too much. For all it miffed her that Natalie had reservations about doing anything with her because of her father, she did have reason to be wary. As jovial as he presented himself, Father would not respond well to Alaina ... dallying ... with the Tenet delvers.

She swallowed thickly and rolled off Natalie's lap. She sat to the side, breathing hard.

"Alright," Alaina said. "Then how about we go find somewhere private?"