Lou raised her head and swallowed nervously. “I’ve…I’ve never…at my place,” she confessed, her cheeks tinged pink in the low light.

“Hey, it’s okay. I just assumed you’d be more comfortable there,” said Stephanie, softly. “We can go to my place if you like?” Deep inside Stephanie’s mind, she wondered just who the heck she was to be so bold; she was loving this new version of herself.

Lou shut her eyes for a moment, then exhaled. As she opened her eyes again, she smiled widely. With that, Stephanie knew they’d just crossed a big hurdle. They were going to be all right.

“I’d love it if you came back to mine,” said Lou, kissing her softly. “Please?”

Stephanie kissed her deeply in response and then pulled away and reached for Lou’s hand. “Lead on,” she whispered, her body trembling with a delicious mix of nerves and excitement.

* * *

Mandy watched in quiet amusement as the nervous blonde virgin who’d only arrived about thirty minutes ago walked out of Green with that gorgeous dark-haired regular, Lou. It had taken her months to get Lou to respond to her friendly overtures, to find out her name, to share more than a quick smile when Lou appeared each Friday.

They retrieved their coats from the locker room, and there was something a little different in the way they looked at each other and interacted with each other. They had a familiarity about them that they wouldn’t get from less than thirty minutes of acquaintance, and Mandy suddenly twigged they must know each other from elsewhere. Oh, how cute—had they stumbled across each other here and realised they wanted to explore something more than a quickie in the club? She smiled, laughing at her repressed romantic self. Looking at the adoring looks these two were giving each other, she sincerely hoped that was exactly what was going on here.

Rebecca would laugh, dig her in the ribs, and call her a big softie. Mandy chuckled as Lou shyly took the blonde’s hand and then, in true chivalrous fashion, opened the door for her. She chuckled some more when the blonde blushed slightly but looked at Lou with nothing short of reverence as they stepped out onto the dark street together.

Damn, those two were seriously cute. And something told Mandy she’d just lost a regular punter.

She turned back to the office as the front door shut. Dee was grinning.

“Did our gorgeous virgin just pull in record time?”

Mandy nodded, matching Dee’s grin. “But there’s more going on there, I think. Anyway, just going for a stroll,” she said.

Dee smiled and waved her off.

Mandy entered Green and walked over to the bar. Cassie was serving a curvy little redhead in a short skirt, pouring her a glass of white wine. Mandy waited, taking in the atmosphere in the room. It was reasonably busy, and it looked as though nearly everyone was paired up. Good. She hated seeing too many women unoccupied whenever she did her strolls, as she called them.