3. Chapter 3

Carina arrives at the station with the Tupperware in hand. She goes in and spot a man behind the front desk and goes over to him.

“How can I help you?” His voice is cold. He isn’t very enthusiastic sounding about helping people.

“I’m here to see Captain Bishop.” Carina smiles brightly.

“Did you have an appointment with her?” He narrows his eyes at her. It’s late in the day for appointments.

“I do not.” She puts the Tupperware on the desktop. “I just brought her something to eat.” Carina tries to keep it simple.

His eyes shift over to Maya’s office. “She’s in her office.” He grunts somewhat rudely.

Carina raises an eyebrow at him. “Thank you.” She turns to go into the office.

‘The lasagna smells almost as good as you.’

‘Does it?’

Maya nods into the next kiss. She’s not sure that she likes Carina just showing up at the station though. A warning would have been nice. She’s about to say something about it when her stomach growls. She chuckles nervously. “I haven’t had anything to eat since this morning.”

Carina turns to grab the lasagna. “Then let’s go heat this up.”

Maya groans. She steps away from Carina. “Can’t we just hide out in my office all evening?” She goes and sits at her desk. “I don’t want to run into anyone upstairs.”

“Are you avoiding them?” Carina comes to sit on the edge of Maya’s desk, right next to her desk chair.

“I think they would be avoiding me. They don’t want to be around me.” Maya looks down at her hands in her lap.

“What happened today?” Carina only knows that it was a hard day. Ben didn’t fill her in on any details. But from Maya’s mood and the man at the front desk she would guess that it was something bad. “That guy out there wasn’t too chipper to see me when I walked in.”

Maya hums. “Jack. No.”

“Jack.” Carina rolls the name over her tongue.

“He might be on desk duty for a while. I suppose he doesn’t want to be around any of the crew right now either.”

Carina nods. Maya isn’t giving her much to go off of. “When I saw Ben-“

“What did he tell you?” Maya is short with her words. “Cuz I don’t need anybody else going around bad mouthing me today.” She runs her hands up and down her thighs, anxiety clawing at her.

“He just said it was a rough day for the station. Who was bad mouthing you?”

“Nobody.” Maya jumps up from her chair. “Nevermind. Forget I said anything.” She walks over to the office door. “Are you coming?”

Carina raises her eyebrows but follows Maya out of the room, container with lasagna in hand.

“We’ll be up in the beanery.” Maya mumbles to Jack.

He nods his head but doesn’t say anything. He watches as Maya takes the stairs two at a time, followed by the tall, lean woman behind her taking them slower, one at a time. Jack wonders who she is as his eyes linger on her backside.

“This is the beanery. It’s where we eat and prepared food.” Maya pushes the button on the microwave to open it. “Here.” She holds her hand out for the container of lasagna.

“You can’t heat this up in there.”

“Why not?” Maya stares at Carina like she just said the silliest thing in the world.

“Because it will lose its integrity.”

Maya snorts out a laugh. “Integrity? I don’t care about its integrity. I just want it hot so I can it eat. And I want to do it fast. We don’t have time to reheat leftovers in the oven here. This is the quickest way.”

Carina hands over the lasagna. “If you insist.”

They go back to Maya’s office with the hot lasagna. They sit opposite each other and Carina watches Maya eat. Maya doesn’t like the eyes on her this time. She’s enjoyed Carina’s eyes on her in their pervious encounters but now she feels like she is being watched, judged. Just another person judging her for her choices.

“Are you going to lecture me?” Maya asks around a mouthful of food.

Carina simply shakes her head.

“So, you’re just going to watch me eat?”

“I can do something else, if you’d like.” Carina stands up and goes to look out the window.

Maya frowns at that. It’s not really any better with her eating and Carina standing there looking out the window.

“Did you really come all the way down here just because Warren said we had a bad day?”

“Si.” Carina says to the window. “I had some lasagna leftover and I thought it would be a nice thing to do.”

“A nice thing to do?” Maya mumbles mostly to herself and ponders what that means. At first, she was mad that Carina had just showed up here out of the blue. But then the lasagna smelled good, and she was hungry. Maya was just going to hide away from everyone in her office the whole night, unless they got a call. Even if that meant starving.

“Did you make this?” Maya asks as she takes the last bite.

Carina looks over her shoulder and nods.

“It’s really good.” Maya smiles. “Like, really really good.”

“Grazie.” Carina bounces a little before turning and coming back over to the desk. She takes the chair opposite Maya again. “Soooo, do you want to talk about today or not?”

Maya sighs. She leans back in her chair, her hands gripping the armrest.

“I screwed up. I shouldn’t have let Jack and Rigo work together today. But they said they could and so I let them. I should have known better. I should have known that two men with big egos who were at odds with each other needed more time, more space. They shouldn’t have worked together. And that’s on me. And now Vasquez is in the hospital in, God knows, what condition.” Maya shakes her head. She doesn’t want to talk about this. She doesn’t want to talk about her feelings and failures.

But she continues. “He could die. And that’s on me. That’s my fault. They are my responsibility. Everything is. I’m the captain. Andy yelled at me.”

“Oh?” Carina raises an eyebrow.

“I yelled back.” Maya scoffs. “She told me that everything falls on me. Everything is my responsibility. Every decision I make. Every call. Good or bad. I take the blame. And Gibson and Vasquez got into it and got themselves blown up and that’s on me.”

Carina looks over her shoulder out into the hall at Jack sitting at the reception desk. Things are starting to make sense now. His mood. Maya’s mood.

“Vasquez took the brunt of it but still. I could have gotten them all killed. And Hughes. Her too. I have no idea what I’m doing.” Maya sighs and rests her elbows on her desk, her hands go on the top of her head. “If he dies, there’ll be a death investigation. I’m sure they’ll ax me right then and there. The shortest-lived captain in fire station history.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Carina offers. She’s not sure what to say really.

Maya scoffs and looks up and over at her. “It is. And everyone hates me. I told them to get in line or transfer stations if they didn’t like me. I didn’t see any takers, but I doubt they would admit they are transferring to my face.”

Maya smacks her palm against her desktop. “They hate me and don’t respect me.”

“Who has an ego problem now?” Carina tries to tease.

“I don’t have-“ Maya scowls at her. “Is that how I come across to you?”

Carina sighs. She gets up from her seat and rounds the desk. “No.” She takes Maya’s right hand in both her hers, rubbing and massaging her palm. “You do seem to want praise and respect though. But I think that it needs to come with time. You need to earn it, no?”

Maya nods. She knows Carina is right.

“It sounds like it was a difficult day for everyone. Not just you. Or Jack. Or Andy. All of you. Some time and space is probably good. We can hide out in here if you want. I will do that with you. I kind of wanted a tour of the whole station though.”

Maya smiles softly. Here is this incredible woman. She didn’t ask her to come. She didn’t ask her to be here. Carina just showed up. With food just for her. She appreciates it, she realizes. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m just-“ she shrugs.

“Going through a difficult time.” Carina finishes for Maya.

Maya nods. “Yeah.”

Carina leans against the edge of the desk and watches Maya for a moment. A soft smile on her face. Their eyes linked.

“Thank you.” Maya whispers. She says it so quietly, but the emotion shines brightly through her eyes and smile.

“You are very welcome, bella. Anytime.” Carina tells the captain. They’ve only known each other a short time but Carina feels like she would and could do just about anything to help Maya and make her feel better.

They are quiet for a little bit. Just sharing smiles every now and then. Maya mostly just watches her own hand in Carina’s as the Italian caresses it.

The alarm goes off for a call. Maya’s eyes go wide, her heart rate picks up.

“You’ll do amazing.” Carina encourages her.

“I have to go.” Maya stands and pulls he hand out of Carina’s.

Carina nods. “Go.”

Maya hesitates for a brief second. She takes one step and then stops. She leans in and presses a kiss to the corner of Carina’s mouth. It’s quick and then she’s gone, running off to the fire engine.

Carina stays in Maya’s office for a moment for she hears the engine roll out of the garage with its sirens on. A small smile on her lips. She looks around and finds a notepad. It’s on a clipboard on the corner of Maya’s desk. The top sheet is blank, so she reaches for it and gets a pen. She scratches out a quick note before she leaves. She waves at Jack at the front desk as she exits.

Maya comes back into her office after the call. Nothing terrible happened so she’s going to consider it a success even though there are things she could have improved now that she thinks about it. Maya ponders over the call for a few minutes before something catches her eye.

The items on her desk are out of order. The clipboard with the notebook on the corner of her desk has been moved and now sits dead center. She sees the words there. For a second, she gets irritated that someone used her notepad to write on but then she actually reads what the note says.

Captain,

Thank you for letting me stick around your office tonight. I know it was unexpected. I just wanted to do a nice thing. Remember that. I want to do nice things for you. I want to do lots of nice things for you, if you’ll let me. I hope you enjoyed the lasagna. I can make you some more sometime if you want. (winky face) I hope you have a good rest of your shift.

Carina.

Maya can’t help but smile at the little note. She thinks it’s cute. She reads it a second time before ripping the paper from the notepad and slipping it into her bottom desk drawer, so no one sees it and maybe for safe keeping.

Maya grabs her phone. She checks the time. It’s late but that doesn’t stop her. She types out a text message. I got your note. Thank you. Maya ponders on what else to say but doesn’t know. She hits send and sighs.

She has a strange feeling in her chest. Maya thinks maybe that it’s gratitude. She’s grateful that Carina is a kind enough person to want to check in on her after she’s had a bad day. Appreciation, maybe. Those are similar feelings, though.

The problem isn’t what the feeling is. The problem is that Maya is feeling it. She doesn’t do feelings. That’s the whole part of a one night stand or a short fling, to not have feelings. To not get caught up in something. To not let feelings get in the way and make things messy. She’s got a job to do and she needs to focus on that. If anything, that should be the top priority right now. She’s on the edge of this whole captain thing. She needs to focus on that and figure it out.

But there’s just something about Carina that Maya can’t let go of. It’s something that she doesn’t have a name for. It’s something that maybe doesn’t have a name. But it’s there and its tangible and Maya can feel it and it makes her nervous and hesitant.

Remember that thing about focusing on her job. Yeah, that’s already out the window as Maya leaves the station in the morning.

She’s got her phone to her ear and is listening as it rings.

“Hello.”

“Hi, this is Maya Bishop.”

Carina laughs. “I know who you are. I have your contact saved in my phone.”

“Oh.” Maya stops on the sidewalk. “Right.” She looks left and then right before deciding to cross the road. She’s not at an intersection and she knows she shouldn’t do this but Maya crosses anyway. The fire captain jaywalking isn’t exactly model behavior

“I just wanted to say thank you for the lasagna and last- yesterday. Did you want to- I don’t know if you’ve had breakfast yet. I just got off shift.”

“I would love to have breakfast with you.” Carina completes for her.

Maya sighs. She feels like Carina already knows her so well. It’s a scary thought. “I’ll send you the address.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be there. Waiting for you.” Maya groans internally as she hears herself say the words. She has no idea where smooth, confident Maya went but she never seems to be around when Maya is talking to Carina.

“See you in a bit.” Carina says cheerily.

She waves Carina over to the table that she is sitting at.

“Did you order yet?”

“No, I said I would wait for you. Just a coffee.” She lifts her mug with both hands.

“Do you come here often?”

“No.” Maya shakes her head. She likes the waffles and pancakes that they have at this restaurant though. She doesn’t come here often but has been here enough times to know about the waffles and pancakes.

The waiter comes over and takes their orders.

“I’ll have two eggs over easy. Three Belgian waffles. Hash browns and two strips of bacon.”

“Someone’s hungry.” Carina comments.

Maya rolls her eyes.

“Just two pieces of French toast, please. Oh, and coffee.” Carina smiles at the waiter.

“I’ll get that into the kitchen and they’ll get started on it.”

“Thank you.” Maya and Carina say at the same time.

“So, how was the rest of your shift?”

“Ah, that’s why I’m so hungry.” Maya narrows her eyes at Carina for calling her out in front of the waiter.

Carina grins. “I was just teasing.”

“The last thing I had to eat was your lasagna.”

Carina hums.

“And I just finished a 24 hour shift.”

Carina hums again.

“And we had three calls between the time you were there last night and now. So, we were busy. Nothing terrible happened. No one got blown up or died or was taken to the hospital. Well, patients but no one from my team.”

“Proof that everything isn’t as terrible as it might seem. Look on the bright side. Now you get to have breakfast with me.” Carina is busy rearranging the sugar packets in their little bowl. “And it sounds like you were busy but that everything went well. Maya, you can do this. You’re the captain. And yes, that’s a lot of responsibility but I know you can handle it.”

“How do you know that?” Maya crosses her arms over her chest.

Carina shrugs. “I just do.” She looks up and smiles over at Maya.

Maya can’t help but chuckle a little. “I got your note.”

“I know you sent me a text in the middle of the night.” Carina smirks.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s always good to hear from you.” Carina finishes with the sugar packets. “What do you have planned for the day?”

“Sleep.”

Carina nods.

“What about you?” Maya asks.

Carina raises an eyebrow. “Work.”

“Right. Sometimes I forget what day of the week it is or that not everyone works on a firefighter’s schedule. Sorry.”

Carina leans forward and reaches across the table. She puts a hand on top of Maya’s arm. She slips her hand down to Maya’s hand and pry’s it away from her body so she can give it a squeeze. “Don’t apologize.”

Maya nods and looks down at her lap. She lets her hands fall to the sides, on the booth cushion. “I don’t know what else to talk about other than my job. Or running. But I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that.”

“You can talk about whatever you want. Anything. And I’ll listen.” She lets Maya know that no topic is off limits. Maya nods but continues to look down at her lap. “I’ll start. Do you have a favorite place in Seattle?”

Maya looks up at that. “Yeah. There’s this park that looks over the water. I go running there sometimes. It’s so peaceful early in the morning. There’s birds squawking, but other than that it quiet and the trees are beautiful.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“We could go sometime.” Maya offers.

Carina raises a surprised eyebrow at that.

“Not running.” Maya second guesses herself. “Unless you wanted to go running.”

“I do not.” Carina tries to hold back a smile. She has no interest in running or running with Maya.

“Okay. But I meant to the park. Early in the morning. Or we could go some other time, but I think I’ve only been there early in the morning.”

Carina giggles at that. “Where else?

“I don’t know. I used to love the fire station but now it feels tainted or something. I always enjoyed going to work. I enjoyed being there with everyone. We were a family. A station is a family. They are my second family but now everyone is at odds.” Maya sighs. This is only making her feel worse.

“I get off at six today. Let’s go to that park. Watch the sunset.” Carina wants to put Maya in a better mood.

“I don’t know. I’m not very good company right now. I just want to sleep and stay at home today, I think.” Maya mumbles.

The food arrives, interrupting their conversation. The waiter leaves and Maya starts eating. Carina is a little slower and takes her time pouring syrup on her French toast before cutting it up. She clears her throat and takes the first bite. As she does so she looks over at Maya. But that’s not the only things she does.

With her right foot, she reaches out under the table and finds the inside of Maya’s left ankle before running her foot up the inside of her leg.

Maya jumps and looks across at Carina with wide eyes. Carina has a shit eating grin on her face. “What are you doing?” Maya asks incredulously.

“Trying to get a rise out of you.” Carina chuckles. “And it worked.”

“You’re a little shit.” Maya accuses.

Carina just shrugs. “Agree to come to the park tonight and I’ll behave myself for the remainder of our meal.”

“Fine. I’ll meet you there at 6:30. By the front entrance.” Maya isn’t exactly thrilled about going to the park tonight but if it’ll get Carina off her back, then she’ll do it. “What kind of things do you have going on at work today?”

“It’s strangely quiet. Like I don’t have a lot of expecting mother’s right now. Ones that are close to giving birth, at least. I have a scheduled C-section first thing this morning but after that just a few appointments and anything that might pop up.”

“Is that good or bad? It being quiet.”

“Bad.” Carina pops a piece of French toast into her mouth. “This is really good.”

“I’ve never had the French toast here, but they have the best pancakes and waffles though.” Maya tells her.

“And French toast. Here.” Carina stabs a piece of French toast with her fork and holds it across the table to Maya.

Maya raises an eyebrow but leans forward to pull the piece from the fork into her mouth. She chews and swallows.

“Well?”

“You’re right.”

“Though, it’s not as good as the French toast that I make.”

Maya hums thinking she wants to try Carina’s French toast now. She doesn’t mention it though. She knows it will be good, though, if it is anything like the lasagna. Maya thinks anything that Carina makes probably tastes good. Better than good. It’s all probably great or amazing. Maya thinks Carina probably even has a special recipe or twist on regular toast or mundane things like that to spice them up.

They eat in silence for a little bit. It’s a comfortable silence though. Maya doesn’t feel like she has to fill it. They just eat and share glances every now and then.

“I’ll walk you out.” Maya says when they are finished. “Thanks for meeting me this morning. I just wanted to say thank you again for the lasagna last night and stopping by the station and the note.”

“E stato un piacere.” Carina grins.

Maya raises an eyebrow but doesn’t ask for a translation.

They get outside and Carina turns to her. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Maya nods. “I’ll set an alarm to make sure I’m awake.”

“Okay, don’t forget. Cuz I don’t want to get there and be waiting and have people looking at me like a got stood up.” Carina teases.

“I would never stand up a date.” The words slip out of Maya’s mouth before she’s realized she’s said them. Her cheeks heat up.

Carina grins at her.

“Is that what this is?” Maya wonders aloud.

“It doesn’t have to be. It can just be two people hanging out. You said you didn’t want a girlfriend so it can just be us hanging out as friends. I can do that.” Carina says the words, but she isn’t sure if she can just stick to being Maya’s friend. She knows she can’t, actually.

Maya nods. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

Carina puts a hand on Maya’s elbow and presses a kiss to her cheek. “Ciao.”

“Ciao.” Maya mumbles. She watches as Carina walks away from her. She realizes something know that she is looking at her walking away. “You look great, by the way.” Maya yells after her.

Carina turns around. Maya gestures to her own outfit. “You look great, today.” Carina has looked great every day that Maya has seen her really, but she realizes that she didn’t tell her today when she sat down to eat.

“Thank you, Maya.” Carina winks and turns back around to walk to work.

Maya takes a deep breath. She needs sleep, so she heads for home. She thinks about Carina the entire way home. It’s hard not to. She thinks about the park tonight and what it means. But Carina said it didn’t have to mean anything. Maya knows she’s grumpy and lousy company right now. That’s why she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to bring Carina’s day down with her mood. She’s just got a lot going on and she doesn’t want Carina to have to deal with it.

Carina gets to the park at 6:25. She had expected to see Maya there already but there is no sign of the fire captain. She hopes something didn’t happen at work. Or with work, because she knows Maya wasn’t working today. But that doesn’t mean something couldn’t have happened at the station or with a call or something.

Maya did say the firefighters were a family.

She sits by the entrance. There is a stone wall there that she perches against and watches the people the mill about. Lots of them leaving now that it’s the end of the day.

A car comes flying into the parking lot and Carina smiles knowing that it’s Maya.

All frantic and running through the parking lot Maya stops at her feet. “Sorry, I’m late.” She huffs a little out of breath. Carina raises an eyebrow waiting for a reason as to why Maya was late, but Maya never gives one. “Shall we go in?”

Carina nods.

They walk side by side into the park. Maya leads the way down the path. Soon the woods break into a bluff that overlooks the water. “Wow.”

“It really is a great view.” Maya comments. “I’ve never seen it at this time of the day though.” She goes to have a seat at the edge of the cliff.

“What are you doing?” Carina says in a panic.

“Sitting.” Maya looks up at her. She pats the spot next to her.

“Is it safe?”

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” Maya smiles.

Carina rolls her eyes. “I know you will but I just meant-“

“You’ll be fine. Come on.” She holds her hand out for Carina to take. Carina puts her hand in Maya’s and sits down gently. Maya lets go of her hand as soon as Carina is seated next to her.

The sun is dipping low in the sky. Just a little bit above the edge of the water. There are a few low clouds in the distance but nothing to obscure the view.

“It is beautiful here. You were right.”

Maya just nods. Her eyes are focused on the horizon, the sunset. She’s trying to not look at Carina. Because she knows if she does, she’ll be distracted and miss the sunset. Because if the sunset is beautiful then the sunset reflected on Carina is going to be one hundred times more beautiful.

There aren’t very many people around. A few couples sitting like they are. Not that they are a couple. Maya reminds herself that they are just two people who are enjoying the sunset together. Enjoying a romantic sunset together. Maya groans.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She lies.

Carina hums. She reaches over and slips her hand inside Maya’s arm, wrapping her palm around her bicep. “Thanks for telling me about this place.”

“No problem.” Maya sighs. Even though she is wearing a long sleeve shirt she can feel goosebumps on her arm where Carina is holding on to her. Because that’s what Carina is doing. Carina’s other hand wraps on top of the first so that her hands are wrapped around Maya’s bicep.

Carina leans into Maya as the sun starts to dip below the horizon. There is an orange glow to it, basking the entire area in a dim orange light. “Maya?”

Maya hums.

“Can you look at me?”

Maya sighs and turns her head to look at Carina. She tries to smile but she knows it looks strained. “What’s up?”

“Is this about what I said this morning?” Carina can definitely feel a strange energy coming from Maya this evening.

“What did you say this morning?” Maya tries to play dumb.

“About this being a date.” Carina mumbles.

“Well, actually I was the one who said that.” Maya sighs.

“But I implied it.” Carina admits.

Maya looks away from her, back out at the sunset. “Look.” She whispers.

Carina turns and looks. She gasps. “It’s beautiful.” Maya nods at her side and she can feel it. They stay like that for a long time staring out at the water as the sun disappears. Even after it is gone, they stay sitting like that. Everyone else leaves as it starts to get dark.

“It freaked me out a little.” Maya whispers after a long time.

“Okay.” Carina sighs.

“But not because of you.” Maya turns to look at her. “You are amazing. It’s just not something I do. Or have done. Date. Or go on dates.”

“Okay.”

“I almost didn’t come here because of it.” Her apprehension is palpable.

“Oh.” Carina sounds disappointed.

“But not because of you.” Maya tries to get that point across again. “I like you.”

“I like you too, Maya.”

“You’re easy to talk to. A good friend. Good in bed.” Maya shrugs. She doesn’t know where she is going with this.

“Thanks, I think.”

Maya chuckles. “I guess what I’m saying is I feel like dating puts a certain pressure on this.” She motions between the two of them. “And I don’t want that pressure. I’ve got enough going on. So, can we not call it that? Can we not call it anything? I just want to be able to hang out and talk and maybe have some sex sometimes.”

“Okay.” Carina says simply. “But only if you stop talking and kiss me.”

Maya rolls her eyes. “Just tell me to shut up. I know I talk too much.”

“You’re talking to an Italian. The kings and queens of never shutting up.” Carina jokes.

Maya sighs. She reaches up and cradles Carina’s face gently in her hands. She places a soft kiss on her lips. “Better?”

“No.” Carina reaches up and grabs Maya’s collar deepening the kiss. They kiss for a little while. Carina tries to shuffle forward.

“Woah.” Maya’s hands go to her waist. “Remember we are on the side of a bluff. And I’m not working today. And I don’t want to have to be working today. I especially don’t want to have to organize a rescue mission for you.” Maya helps Carina to her feet. “Let’s walk back.” She gets them away from the edge.

Carina nods. All she can think about is how caring Maya is. Maya will probably say it’s just the firefighter in her, but Carina knows it’s more than that. She knows Maya didn’t want her to fall. She wraps her arm around Maya’s lower back. She squeezes the blondes opposite hip. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Coming here today. For showing me the sunset. For saving me from certain death.” Carina jokes about that last one.

“No problem.” Maya puffs her chest out.

Carina swats at her arm. “Don’t get cocky now.”

“Who said anything about being cocky? I’m just taking credit for saving you from certain death.”

They reach Maya’s car. “Well?”

“Well?” Carina replies.

“Would you like to sit in my car?”

“Is that some kind of euphemism that I don’t understand?” Maya shakes her head. “Okay.” Maya gets the door for Carina and allows her to sit before shutting the door and going around to the other side to get in.

“How was your day?” Carina asks. “Did you sleep?”

“I did. I didn’t do much else. Cleaned the apartment a little. It’s so weird to live by myself now.” Maya is still adjusting to it. “How was your day?”

“Boring.” Carina chuckles. “I think this was the best part of my day.”

Maya smiles. “This was the best part of my day too.” She leans over at kisses Carina.

One short little soft kiss turns into more. Then there are hands in hair and roaming over chests and shoulders and then Maya is climbing over the center console. She reaches down between the seat and the door and reclines Carina’s seat. There is a little squeal from Carina and the seat flops back all the way.

“We can’t do this here.” Carina mumbles as Maya’s lips work their way down her neck. She cranes her neck to give Maya better across.

“Are you going to stop me?” Maya asks before sucking at the dip in the center of Carina’s collarbone that is visible where her shirt comes down to make a V.

“It’s dark.” Carina says.

“And there’s no one around.” Maya adds.

“You are taking the blame if we get caught.”

That stops Maya just as she was about to pop the button open on Carina’s dress pants. “I’m the fire captain. I can’t.”

“You’re the fire captain. I’m sure you can talk yourself out of something if you had to.”

Maya laughs. Carina might have a point there. Maya crashes their lips back together as she undoes the dress pants. Her hand slips in and she is met with wet heat. “Oh god.”

There isn’t a lot of room, so Maya awkwardly straddles Carina, arching her back to get a good angle. She slips two fingers into Carina and is rewards with the breathiest most glorious moan right in her ear. Carina holds onto Maya’s shoulders because of their cramped position as Maya rests her forehead against the back of the seat just over Carina’s right shoulder.

“Maya.” Carina begs.

Maya flicks her thumb over her clit, eliciting another moan from the woman beneath her. “Almost.” Carina pants, trying to arch up into Maya, trying to get that sweet release from the fingers that are buried deep inside her. Maya doubles her pace even though her arms is screaming because of the position. “Ma-“ The rest of Maya’s name gets cuts off with a long groan as Carina reaches her peak. Her fingernails dig into Maya’s shoulders, and she knows she’s going to have two sets of four little half-moons imprinted into her shoulders tomorrow. Maya is more than fine with that.

“Dio mio.” Carina sighs as all of her muscles relax.

Maya picks her forehead off of the seat and finds Carina looks back at her blissfully. She presses a quick kiss to her cheek before taking her lips with her own. “My apologies for being late tonight.”

“If that’s going to happen every time you are late than I don’t think I mind.”

Maya laughs. “Well, then.” She pulls her hand from Carina’s dress slacks. She looks around for something to wipe her fingers off on but there’s nothing in her car. It’s completely free of any items at all.

Carina notices what Maya is doing and before Maya can look back to her she reaches for Maya’s hand, bringing it to her face and sucking Maya’s fingers into her mouth.

Maya moans and closes her eyes.

Just then a car pulls into the parking lot. The lights spook Maya who jumps back into her seat. Carina bites her lip and rolls her head to the side, looking lazily over at Maya.

“We should get going.” Maya mumbles. Her heart is pounding in her chest.

“Not yet.” Carina says. She reaches over and takes Maya’s hand. She brings it to her lap where she wraps the other hand over it too. She raises Maya’s hand to her lips with both of her hands and presses a kiss to the back of it. “I don’t think I can walk back to my car yet.”

Maya bites her lips as her eyes rake over Carina’s body as she stays reclined in the seat. “I’ll drive you over.” Maya assumes that the only other car in the parking lot is Carina. That car that came in and flashed their lights on Maya’s car had left right away.

“Or you could just bring me home and we can continue this.”

Maya debates that. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”

Carina sighs. “And you had to just be a joy kill.”

“Killjoy.” Maya grins.

“Sure, that.” Carina licks her lips. “I do, though.” She sighs. “Maya Bishop, you are going to get me in trouble one of these days. I just know it.”

“What can I say? The ladies love me.” She smirks.

“Oh, shut up.” She drops Maya’s hand. “And you better not be seeing any other ladies.”

Maya nods. “I haven’t seen anyone else since that night we met in the bar.”

“Me either.”

They both nod together. On the same page. “So?” Maya mumbles.

“Yeah, I can walk now.” Carina buttons her pants and sits up. She pulls the seat back up too. Maya starts the car and, as promised, drives Carina over near her car.

Carina leans over and plants a strong kiss on Maya. She rests her forehead against Maya’s. “You can text me or call me or whatever.”

“I probably will.” Maya admits. “Even if it’s just to bitch about work.”

“Okay.” Carina licks her lips before kissing Maya again. “I’ll see you.”

“Bye.”

They pull apart and Carina opens the car door. “Ciao.”

“I’ll wait until you pull out and leave behind you.”

Carina smiles and nods. Here Maya is again looking out for her. “Thanks, bella.” She blows her a kiss before shutting the car door.

Maya waits like she said she would as Carina gets into her car, starts it up, and back out of her space before driving off.