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A hand turned in hers, and fingers interlocked immediately now that they could. Teddy offered her a little squeeze for good measure, grateful for the connection. Her eyebrows rose for the teasing tone given, feeling how it overlook her own approach.
"That depends on who you're trying to please." She replied. Teddy had no objection to her company at work. There were a number of ways to deflect the negative way Olivia felt; Teddy was glad she didn't have to go into too much detail about why her co-worker had felt a type of way about the whole thing.
There was comfort in having her fingers intertwined with hers; a squeeze drew a little breath out of the trainer as she offered one in return. Because although Teddy's response wasn't direct, it offered a security in knowing that at the very least, she didn't want her to stop over this. There was difficulty in knowing that a very particular set of eyes would inevitably be on her in any future visits, but it let her mind linger on the woman who would ultimately be judging her over it.
Though Teddy didn't know where they had landed on the idea of her still visiting, she didn't think to ask about it yet. She'd much rather give her grief later of she never came back. A different point was drawn entirely, and that topic filtered away with apparent ease.
Again, she thought to ask for clarity. Natalie had learned that she was good at answering a direct line of questioning.
"That depends on how you mean that. But generally speaking, no." Because she was still a lawyer. A great majority of them held the same traits. Really, talking about Olivia with her wasn't something she actively wanted to do with her free time, but Natalie deserved to have a part in this conversation.
Despite the fact that Natalie wasn't bothered by the idea of Teddy seeing other people - especially considering their own undefined relationship was still relatively fresh - she was particularly curious about the other person that had taken up her interest. Her eyebrows quirked upward in response, because she had honestly expected a different answer. Something to explain.
The cold nose pressing into her leg offered a little bit of a push. "I'm really okay with you seeing other people." The need to make that as clear as possible felt important, given the reason why Teddy had explained herself in the first place. "I just think it's... interesting that you'd be seeing another lawyer after what you said the first night we met."
Clarity about dating was long gone, but even Teddy had to be glad it briefly popped up again. She chose not to respond to it, because the gears were clearly turning in her mind at the second part of her statement.
It became clear then that she was going to stay for longer than she'd managed to while with Olivia. She eased her hand out of the one she held, drawing herself out of her seat to drag her long coat from her shoulders to share the overpriced, form-fitting dress she chose to wear to work that day. Heels clicked across the floor as she crossed the room to hang her coat up properly.
"Remind me, please." She said, happy to have her back to her for now.
It wasn't entirely her place to pry, and briefly she believed that Teddy wouldn't have any of it when she lost her hand. It immediately brought the corner of Natalie's mouth downward to lose the connection, but as the lawyer stood she realized that she was settling to stay for a while. It was a welcomed turn of events, having had no idea how long she had planned for. Fortunately, her own night was open, and she was all too willing to give her time to the lawyer.
When a jacket slipped off her form, it was hard not to look. Not to stare, especially when she had lost Teddy's eyes. She sucked in a slow breath. "You described two people in a field as your own as potentially tempestuous." She said finally, knowing well she took a few seconds too many to answer at all.
Silence fell between them, and it had Teddy smirking privately. She knew if she looked back now those eyes wouldn't be planted on her face, and she knew Natalie recalled the words she'd used just as well as she herself did.
Turning on a heel, she stepped back towards her. Rather than taking her seat again, she positioned herself directly behind her. Hands crossed her shoulders, down her form slowly despite the comfortable clothes she'd chosen for that night. She leaned in, lips brushing against her cheek idly.
"Well of course." She agreed, hands crossing along her arms, "People who are ego driven and incredibly desperate for power without balance are bound to struggle to fit, don't you think? Someone has to win."
When Teddy turned, it took a moment for the trainer to force her eyes up, and even then she barely had gotten them before she was moving out of sight. Familiar hands found their way to her shoulders, and Natalie let out a little sigh at the contact. Attention was welcome, and as the lawyer would have put it - Teddy was being a difficult distraction. It was effective in stalling her thoughts.
Dark eyes drew shut when she felt lips against her cheek, and she instinctively turned her head, hoping to catch them against her own, if even for a moment. The contact wanted to make her talk about anything but the other woman her counterpart was seeing, but stubbornness got the better of her. "Is that the case with her?"
Contact from one set of lips to another was next to non-existent. Barely a brush without any pressure behind it, Teddy drew herself out of range. She wouldn't dare poison that mouth with a dedicated kiss knowing she was having an in depth discussion with her about another woman. It didn't seem fair, let alone respectful.
"I don't know." She replied, quietly. When it came to defining anything with Olivia, there was great difficulty. She got little by way of words and even less by way of action. Bright eyes felt enthralled by the body beneath her hands. How her eyes had closed to the smallest touch. Control and power rested at the base of her fingertips in whichever way they moved.
Settled at the hem of her shirt, they barely brushed the skin beneath before stopping. This conversation was important, and she didn't want to end it so shortly.
"Are you implying that you want to know if I think you're better for me?"
Those perfect lips were a tease when she couldn't properly catch them. Distance had been created, and there was a definite strain on her attention, pulled in two very different directions. She almost wanted to call the lawyer out for it, were it not for the way her skin burned under her touch. The way she moved to try and gain a little more from her was hardly cunning.
But those dark eyes immediately snapped open at the question, feeling the rise in color in her cheeks. "I wasn't-" Instantly, Natalie was flustered. "I didn't mean to imply that I was." An explanation fumbled forward, and it hardly felt solid. "Not to say that I don't want to be."
Dark eyes sprung open wide, and Teddy caught them with something of a gentle expression in response. She didn't mind if she felt either way.
Regardless of whether or not Teddy was right, she had gained a little insight, and that was worth it's weight when it came to something like this. "I can't answer that. Not yet. I don't make a habit of comparing the two." She replied honestly. That was response that required adequate thought she hadn't been willing to put in yet.
"What I can tell you is that you are like... An obsession." Teddy mused aloud, "The kind you can't help but think of. The kind you want to think of that often. You are beautiful and kind and honest." She laughed to herself then, airy to let it dance across her skin; "You make me want to spend the night here knowing I've got nothing to wear the next day, and I don't care."
It must have been obvious to some extent that Natalie wished she were the favored of the two; it was selfish, and verbalizing the admittance only further deepened the color in her cheeks. Perhaps that was exactly why people often didn't talk about these things. Still, there was relief in knowing she wasn't being compared to the woman Teddy worked with, and before she could say anything on the matter, Teddy offered more.
Her eyes remained wide, though for an entirely different reason now. Complements fell from the lawyer's mouth with such ease. It completely halted any sort of airflow to Natalie's lungs as she just stared her, even as she tried to open her mouth to speak and failed. It was probably best that she did.
A hand left her own lap to rise up and press to the back of Teddy's head, drawing her in for a kiss that had been put off for far too long.
In the end, Natalie had nothing to say to everything Teddy had been putting off giving her. They were potentially heavy thoughts for people in something still defined as new, but in a moment of weakness, it felt right to let it hit the air between them. A dropped had gave her nothing to work with.
She didn't fight the way she was drawn in for a kiss. Truthfully, she thought it had been obvious how much she'd missed it, despite how she had been the one to draw the distance out and play in it at the same time. It felt important. It still did.
When she felt too breathless, she eased back to draw necessary air in. It was only then that she forced herself to stand again, hands lingering against her shoulders. "Okay." Teddy said then, hands finally eased back to press to the line of her dress. Back forced straight, her own shoulders rose and fell with every weakened breath.
"You were saying?" She tried, taking pointed steps away from her to round the couch again. But she didn't sit. Instead, she reached for the wine glass left vacant.
A kiss was enough to keep her silent, because there were fear in the words that could escape her when emotions were this high, and it was only the desperate need for air to break her away from the lawyer, as she stood upright. Natalie watched as she moved around the couch, gaze following the hand that reached for the glass of red she had all but forgotten about. Rising to her own feet, she moved to the kitchen, finding herself a second glass and pouring herself some while her dogs sniffed at expensive heels.
It was only after a sip did she find her voice again. "You could keep some of your clothes here." Natalie let her focus settle on, returning to her counterpart. Though, it felt cheap in comparison to the way Teddy had just opened up. "You're so wonderful, and I selfishly want all the time I can have with you."
In moments like these, having a quick drink was the best way to keep her hands preoccupied. Teddy could feel the way her heart jumped suddenly when she got up, but she didn't reach for the lawyer. She went out of range to pour herself a drink, not to keen on sharing the little glass she had commandeered.
It was hard to focus on the first thing she said when the second was packed with a brand of sweetness she wasn't familiar with. "You need an in depth introduction to my closet. But I could find a thing or two to leave behind." She'd chosen her apartment for the vast closet space to match the overt collection she'd built, but letting a few pieces stray wouldn't kill her.
"You were quoting me." She continued then; "Tempestuous. I think you were trying to find a nice way it pointing out the hypocrisy." But the lighter tones To her words made it clear she actually found it a little funny.
