The Art of the Deal

Privacy - that was exactly what Taylor wanted. She and Devine could undoubtedly spend hours getting to know one another better, through both conversation and those...techniques that Devine referred to, but Azuma's apartment did not afford the finest circumstances. Taylor, her body still warmed, longed for the opportunity. And the way Devine presented the proposition - so classy. "That's an excellent idea. We should find a free evening soon." At this point, if Devine offered for this evening, Taylor would change her meager plans to make it happen. Mentioning that might sound a tad eager, however, and Taylor did not make a habit of coming off as eager.

In fact, she normally played hard to get with the men who chased her. She might agree to a date, but only after they had worked for her favor. With Devine...she was not yet sure who was chasing who. Taylor wondered if she hadn't missed her mark spending so much time with the men all these years.

She dropped the oil back onto the table to watch Devine slide back into her clothing (unfortunately). A smirk crossed her features when Devine dropped her phone on the counter. "For sure." Though she opened Devine's contacts list to start typing, her attention remained with the woman in her peripheral, giving those long legs of hers another look while she finished dressing and slipped across the room, apparently having located the money that Azuma owed them. Damn, she might like to be between Devine's legs as much as Devine seemed to like the idea of being between hers.

And that hadn't happened back in Canada, nor with those softcore porn stars with the video companies who thought everyone found them gorgeous.

After a short debate as to whether it would be tacky to stick a heart at the end of her name in Devine's phone, the blonde settled on merely "Taylor P." and slid the phone back to Devine upon her approach with the money. With an elbow against the table, she watched the Tension wrestler divide the money.

...And give her more. With a mockingly disappointed shake of her head, Taylor reeled the pile towards her.
"Alright. But if we grab dinner sometime, I'm paying. No arguments," she "warned," pointing the wad of money at her with a sly smile.

It took some effort, but Taylor pried herself from the counter to return to her pile of clothes by the door and start pulling on her own jeans. "Be sure not to keep me waiting for some contact. I can be an impatient woman."

It only occurred to her after handing off the phone, but Devine probably should’ve opened up her contact list before handing the phone off. She had a lot of numbers on there that Taylor would have to sift through, mostly comprised of all her fellow Valkyries. Tara, Tomiko, Toshiko, Tyene, et cetera. Taylor would be squeezed somewhere in there. Not that she was embarrassed about her affiliations, it was just a weird thing to throw into conversation, and she didn’t want to scare Taylor off. ‘I’m part of an all-female biker gang/wrestling stable’. Not exactly your standard topic.

Hoping Taylor didn’t think too much on it, Devine took the phone back, put her number into the ‘Black Book’ folder and went to slip back into her shoes. She thought she heard Azuma stirring and gave him a sharp gaze, but he seemed to just be having a bad dream. Or a good dream, if it was about what she suspected.

She nodded along at the mention of dinner, though she wasn’t sure what it said about her that she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had an actual date with anyone. Not a booty call, not a meetup that quickly turned into steamy sex, but a real, straight up date. All the sudden she felt woefully underprepared. So much of her wardrobe was steeped in either seduction or biker wear these day. She’d have to go and buy something relatively normal

That was strangely a scary thought.

”No arguments. I eat cheap, anyway.” A total lie, but one she’d happily throw out there. ”As for you being impatient, well…”

Devine’s instincts got the better of her, and she sauntered on over to Taylor with a sway in her hips. She reached out, took the blonde by the chin, and pressed their lips together for a quick kiss. Not long. Just a couple of seconds. Just a little tongue. A tease.

”That should tide you over.” With a frilly wave, she strutted away, grabbed her helmet, and made her way towards the door.

With a haste to her action, as if dressing would somehow bring her faster to the promised next encounter, Taylor shuffled her hips to get her jeans fastened over her thicker hips and started to go for the shirt.

Until Devine appeared beside her and immediately made any lingering regrets about falling for Azuma's trick disappear. The faintest of gasps escaped the back of Taylor's throat with the suddenness of being taken by the chin, the surprise enough for her to keep her eyes open for the brief lip-lock. She enjoyed it - that momentary taste. Their fullness. She wanted more. And yet Devine's quick retreat left the blonde standing in surprise and bliss, unable to come up with the words necessary to respond.

Mostly, she had to fight the urge to yank the dark beauty back in close and let them both enjoy more than this tiny taste. That was the real distraction.

But Taylor let the moment pass with nothing but a smile and a poorly-concealed longing in her blue eyes. Let the woman know she had silenced Taylor - and she was not an individual easily silenced. That silence continued, but she did not stop appreciating Devine until she was out the door, leaving Taylor alone, save for the forgotten man starting to rouse nearby.

The smile never left as she inattentively stepped into her flip-flops and pulled her shirt back over her head. A potential date...with a female. A shapely female. A shapely, foreign, saucy female. Shit, she had forgotten to ask where she was from. She would have to add it to the list of the many things she wanted to ask Devine when they next met.

Including finding out more about her career with AFW.

Nodding to herself, she gathered her bag and headed for the door, leaving Azuma only a memory of what had happened to him.

If he still had it after the knockout. Taylor smirked to herself, and headed back to the stairs.