The First Dawn We Spent Together

The light seeped through the slats of the blinds and bathed the room in a warm gold, as if morning had tiptoed in so as not to disturb them. The sheets still held the night’s warmth. Outside, the city was only just beginning to stir.

Mariana was the first to open her eyes. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was, and not because of the place, but because of the calm she felt in her chest. It took her another second to realize that Daniela was still holding her.

For years she had woken with the feeling that something was missing, that the world turned too fast and she was always half a step behind. That morning, for the first time in a long while, nothing was missing.

Daniela slept with a serenity that was disarming. Her breathing was slow, warm against Mariana’s side, and every exhale brushed the skin of her neck like an involuntary caress.

Mariana didn’t move. She didn’t want to break that instant. Not today, she thought. Today I just want to stay.

She carefully rested her forehead on Daniela’s tousled hair, inhaled her scent, and closed her eyes for one more second. Maybe, just maybe, she had finally found something worth not letting go of.

What Mariana didn’t know was that Daniela was already awake. She had been like that for a few minutes, pretending to sleep, wanting to memorize every detail: the weight of the arm around her waist, the smell of cotton, the slow heartbeat against her back, the tingling of having her so close.

And suddenly she understood it with a clarity that almost hurt. Yes. This is love.

It wasn’t admiration. It wasn’t the clumsy excitement of a passing crush or a fantasy built in solitude. It was love, simple and present, and it was there, inside that bed. She didn’t know how long she had been carrying it, but now it was rising to the surface without asking permission, like the sun between the blinds.

The minutes kept passing. Daniela tried to move without waking her, but a warm kiss on her shoulder betrayed her. Soft, half asleep, almost a reflex, followed by a murmur.

—Good morning —Mariana said against her skin.

Daniela smiled. She turned just enough to look at her, with a tenderness she herself hadn’t known she possessed.

—Good morning —she replied.

They both smiled like accomplices in something sacred. With their eyes still heavy with sleep, they tried to decipher each other, to read one another in silence. Daniela would have liked to stay like that, lost in Mariana’s gaze and wrapped in her arms.

But the clock did not share that wish. It was punctual, indifferent, a cruel reminder that the world outside kept turning without pause. And worse still: the memory of her shift at the hospital came back like a light slap.

—I have to go —Daniela said with a sigh—. Today I’m covering pediatrics.

—So early?

—Not exactly early, but yes. My boss was very “generous” giving me permission for the trip, and now he’s making me pay the bill with extra shifts. He almost always schedules me when he’s on duty, and that’s… —she stopped, searching for the word—, well, uncomfortable. I get the feeling he’s watching me.

Mariana frowned. She didn’t say anything, but something hardened in her eyes, a flash of something like jealousy that she herself couldn’t name.

—Then let me make you something quick —she said, already sitting up in bed—. You’re not leaving here without breakfast.

Daniela nodded, still hugging the pillow that held the other woman’s scent.

Mariana got up unhurriedly, put on an old T-shirt, and tied her hair back in an improvised ponytail before going to the kitchen. Daniela watched her disappear through the door and stayed still for a moment, letting herself feel that new and unfamiliar thing the whole room seemed to be breathing: home.

***

She got up, took a towel from the back of the chair, and went into the bathroom. The warm water cleared the sleep from her head, but not the thoughts. She was thinking about her. About her adorable awkwardness. About the obvious effort she made not to run away. About that strange calm that being by her side gave her, even when they did or said nothing.

She came out wrapped in the towel, drying her hair with a smaller one. She was heading toward the chair where she had left her clothes when she heard Mariana’s voice from the half-open door.

—Dani, breakfast is alrea… —She stopped.

Daniela turned on instinct at the sound of her voice, not realizing the towel had loosened. In a fraction of a second, it fell to the floor.

The silence was complete.

Daniela’s eyes flew wide open and she felt her face burn at once, heat rushing up from her neck to her ears. Mariana froze. Only for a second.

But it was enough.

The image was imprinted in her mind with almost cruel precision, like a photograph taken without permission: Daniela’s breasts full and firm, her nipples peaked from the cold, her flat belly leading down to that shaved pussy, the pink lips glossy with moisture; the curve of her hip, the skin still wet. Mariana felt her mouth go dry and, beneath the old T-shirt, her own nipples harden at once.

Mariana turned away immediately, clumsy, as if the floor were burning under her feet, forcing herself not to look while something unfamiliar —or perhaps too familiar— rose through her chest and sank, without permission, all the way to her lower belly.

—Sorry, sorry! I… I didn’t mean to —she stammered, backing into the hallway—. I just came to tell you. I didn’t see… I swear I didn’t…

She couldn’t finish the sentence, because deep down she knew she had wanted to. That she had wanted to all morning. That she was dying to stick her tongue between those thighs and suck her cunt until she screamed her name.

Daniela grabbed the towel in a hurry, red as she had never been before. But she wasn’t angry. Nor was she ashamed in the bad sense. Just surprised. And, deep down, grateful, because with her she didn’t feel fear, and that flustered reaction stirred a tenderness in her that was hard to explain. She even liked knowing that Mariana had seen her completely; she liked imagining what she had been thinking in that endless second.

From the doorway, Mariana kept mumbling apologies, her gaze fixed on the floor.

—Mari —Daniela said, now with the towel firmly around her body and a barely contained smile—. It’s okay. It was an accident.

—Yes, sure, but still… I shouldn’t have come in like that.

Daniela approached the door slowly and looked at her with tenderness.

—If this had to happen to me with anyone in the world —she said softly—, I’m glad it was you.

Mariana lifted her gaze. She didn’t say anything. She just swallowed.

But in her mind the image was still alive: hard nipples, the tiny patch of hair above the mound, the wet shine between the lips of her cunt. Not out of lust, nor from some immediate, crude desire, but because of how beautiful —and yes, also how brutally hot— it was to have so close what she had once believed unattainable. She pressed her thighs together discreetly when she noticed her panties were getting wet.

***

Daniela finished dressing in the comfortable clothes Mariana had lent her. She had offered her as many options as she had, just so she would feel at home inside that space that was still unfamiliar to her.

They ate breakfast in silence, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Quite the opposite. Daniela, her cheeks still warm, poured the coffee with charming clumsiness, spilling a drop onto the saucer and wiping it with her finger. Mariana didn’t say anything. She only watched her, leaning against the counter, cup in hand.

That fixed gaze caused a tremor in Daniela’s lips, even though she was fully dressed. A tremor that slid down her neck, over the nipples showing beneath the borrowed T-shirt, and ended up squeezed between her thighs.

The desire was not new. But it had never been so obvious.

Mariana stood and stretched her neck with a lazy gesture.

—I’m going to take a quick shower. I won’t be long. Then I’ll take you to your apartment and from there to the hospital.

What she really wanted was for the cold water to bring her temperature down a little, the one that rose every time she looked at Daniela for too long. She needed to touch herself, slip her fingers in, and get that heat out of her before she did something crazy.

—Don’t bother. I can call a cab from here.

—Absolutely not. I brought you, and I’m taking you —she said in a voice that was half command, half play.

Daniela nodded and stayed seated, finishing her coffee, while Mariana disappeared toward the bathroom like lightning.

Alone in the kitchen, Daniela could no longer contain what she felt. Seeing that penetrating look sweep over her in that fraction of a second had stirred something inside her, something that had been asleep for too long. She wondered what would have happened if the roles had been reversed, if she had been the one to walk in by mistake, the one to see Mariana naked in the morning light. She pictured her: smaller breasts than hers but firm, dark nipples, a narrow cunt between tightly pressed thighs. She felt the borrowed panties growing wet.

You shouldn’t let your thoughts control you, she told herself. But it was already too late: without realizing it, she had pressed the edge of the seat between her legs, and the friction against her clit sent a jolt through her that made her inhale deeply.

She waited a few seconds. Counted to ten. And it was impossible to hold it back.

She got up without thinking too much about it. She no longer wanted to run from desire. Not with her.

***

She approached the bathroom. The door was half open and steam was already seeping through the crack, drawing warm swirls in the hallway air. She tapped softly with her knuckles.

—Mari?

—Yeah? —Mariana answered from inside, her voice muffled by the sound of water.

Daniela pushed the door open. Mariana was standing with her back turned, under the stream, with nothing on. Her skin shone with the steam and the water ran down her back until it vanished in the curve of her waist, continued along the line of her firm ass, and slipped between her cheeks. She hadn’t noticed Daniela was there, watching her through the fogged glass of the shower enclosure.

With her heart racing, Daniela began to take off the borrowed clothes. The T-shirt fell first, then the pants, and finally the soaking panties that peeled away from her cunt with a wet tug. She slid the glass door open and stepped inside. That was when Mariana turned around.

—Everything okay? —she asked in a calm voice that did not match the trembling she felt inside. And with what she saw, that trembling turned into a lash straight to her lower belly: Daniela there, naked again, this time on purpose, her hard nipples pointed at her and her shaved pussy gleaming under the light.

Daniela smiled with mischief, biting her lip just a little.

—Now we’re even.

Mariana looked at her fixedly. This time she didn’t even try to keep her eyes only on her face: she took her in whole, without hiding it, pausing on her breasts, on her belly, on the perfect V opening between her thighs.

The steam enveloped them, thick and warm, blurring the outlines of the world. Water fell between them like a living curtain.

Daniela took one more step. But she stopped when she noticed Mariana retreating slightly, almost by reflex, and right there shame took hold of her again.

—I think I’m going too fast… —she murmured—. Sorry. I don’t want to ruin this.

She turned, embarrassed, ready to leave.

But she didn’t make it.

Mariana came up behind her, soft and firm at once. One arm crossed her waist and pulled her close until their bodies were pressed together. Daniela’s wet skin shivered against hers. She felt Mariana’s hard breasts pressing into her back, the erect nipples scraping her skin like embers.

And when she tried to pull away, Mariana slowly slid her other hand, open-palmed, over her chest. It was an exact connection, millimetric, as if she already knew by heart every inch of that body. She squeezed one breast, rolled the nipple between her fingers until Daniela let out a low moan that was swallowed by the sound of the water.

Daniela closed her eyes. She felt Mariana’s breath at the nape of her neck, the brush of her lips moving up toward her earlobe. Mariana’s other hand slid down her belly, slowly, unhurriedly, and stopped right above her mound. One finger slipped downward, just grazing her swollen clit, and Daniela jerked.

—Stay with me —Mariana whispered, right beside her ear—. Don’t go. I want to eat you whole.

Daniela didn’t resist. She knew perfectly well what would happen if she turned around, but she could no longer hold back that desire, so she did it. She ended up facing her, both of them breathing hard under the water, breasts brushing, thighs searching for each other through the steam.

They looked at each other.

And they kissed.

Not like the other times. Not with the shyness of someone testing unknown ground. This time it was a long, deep kiss, their tongues tangling without shame, biting at each other’s lips, sucking them. Daniela’s hands sought Mariana’s back, traced her shoulders, slid down to grab her ass with both hands and press her against her. Mariana moaned into her mouth.

It was an encounter without haste and yet desperate, full of discoveries. Of sighs that drowned against the skin of the neck. Of skin speaking without needing words. Mariana traced the contour of her hips with her fingers, bent down, and took one breast in her mouth. She sucked it whole, hungrily, tugging the nipple with her teeth until Daniela let out a cry that echoed off the tiles.

—Mari, fuck… —Daniela panted, grabbing her head with both hands, pushing her face deeper against her chest.

Mariana moved to the other breast, licked it slowly, drawing circles around the nipple before sucking it until it was red and throbbing. She slid downward kissing her belly, kneeling under the water that ran down her back, and stopped with her mouth a centimeter from Daniela’s cunt.

—Open your legs —she said, and her voice sounded rough, different, charged with an authority neither of them knew she had.

Daniela obeyed. She braced one hand against the shower wall to keep from falling and parted her thighs. Mariana moved closer still, ran the flat, broad tongue of her through Daniela’s cunt from bottom to top, and finished with a slow kiss over the swollen clit.

—Oh God, Mari, don’t stop… —Daniela panted, pushing her hips forward.

Mariana didn’t stop. She opened Daniela’s cunt lips with her fingers and drove her tongue inside, pulled it out and pushed it back in, curled it around the clit, sucked it like a candy. Saliva mingled with Daniela’s juices and the water falling over both of them. She slid one finger in, then two, and started fucking her while still sucking her clit, feeling the cunt tightening around her with every thrust.

Daniela could no longer hold herself up. She clutched Mariana’s shoulders, her wet hair, the shower bar. She threw her head back against the tiles and bit her lip to contain a sound that escaped anyway, a long, sharp moan that echoed through the wet walls.

—I’m about to come, Mari, I’m about to come —she panted, voice breaking.

Mariana drove her fingers deeper, curling them, pressing the exact spot that made her tremble, and sucked her clit harder. Daniela opened her mouth in a silent cry, her knees buckling, and the orgasm shook her whole body. She felt her cunt throbbing around Mariana’s fingers, her legs trembling uncontrollably, a warm gush of her own juices mixing with the other woman’s saliva and running down the insides of her thighs along with the water.

—Don’t stop —she begged in a thin voice, though she could barely stand anymore.

Mariana held her by the hips as she finished coming, licking her cunt gently, savoring every shiver. When she finally stood up, her mouth was shining and she wore a new smile, one Daniela had never seen before.

—Now it’s your turn to return the favor —Mariana murmured against her mouth, letting Daniela taste her own flavor in a long, dirty kiss.

Daniela didn’t need anything else. She turned her around, pressed her back against the cold tiles, and knelt before her. She spread Mariana’s thighs with her hands and paused for a second to look at her: Mariana’s cunt was narrow, with tight lips and short dark hair above the mound, and it was already shining with wetness that was not just water.

—You’re soaked —Daniela whispered, and buried her face between her legs.

She licked her hungrily, shamelessly, learning as she went. She ran her tongue along the whole slit, curled it over the clit, sucked it until she heard her moan. Mariana gripped her head with both hands and moved her face against her cunt, setting the pace, rubbing herself without shame.

—Like that, Dani, like that, don’t stop —she panted, voice torn—, put your fingers in me, please…

Daniela obeyed. She slid one finger in first, feeling how tight and burning it was, then another. She started fucking her slowly and sucking her clit at the same time, copying what had been done to her. Mariana’s thighs began to tremble. Water fell over both of them, over Daniela’s hair plastered to her forehead, over Mariana’s arched back.

—I’m going to come… ah… Dani, I’m coming, I’m coming —Mariana moaned, pressing Daniela’s face harder against her cunt.

Daniela pushed her fingers deeper and sucked Mariana’s clit with all her strength. Mariana folded forward with a choked cry, her whole body wracked by orgasm, and Daniela felt the walls of the cunt clenching again and again around her fingers, soaking them.

And that shower, which had begun as an escape, became a refuge. There inside, the world did not exist, nor the clock, nor the hospital shift, nor the boss who was watching. Only two bodies and two stories finally meeting, without guilt and without masks.

They kissed again, still trembling, tasting each other in one another’s mouths. And they didn’t stop there. Mariana leaned back against the tiles again, pulled Daniela against her, and they tangled their legs. They rubbed cunt against cunt, swollen clits brushing beneath the water, moving slowly at first and then with desperation. They grabbed each other’s asses, bit each other’s necks, sucked each other’s erect nipples.

—Again, Mari, make me come again —Daniela panted against her ear.

And Mariana pushed harder, bone against bone, cunt against cunt, feeling the other woman’s clit rubbing against her own, their juices mixing between them until they no longer knew which was whose. They came again, almost together, clinging to each other, mouths pressed together to muffle their moans.

The last clothes Daniela still had not taken off —because there were none left— were the ones of restraint. Those fell too, soaked by steam and desire, until nothing remained between them but water, saliva, and a shared tremor. Their breathing steadied, their hands learned new paths, and time, for once, had the decency to look away.

When they finally stopped, forehead to forehead, hearts racing and skin burning beneath the water that was already beginning to cool, neither of them said a word. No need.

Amid the broken breath and the trembling still moving through their lips, they both understood something at the same time.

That dawn had not marked the beginning of the day.

It had marked the beginning of them.