Page 79 of The Kidnapped

“I know,” Hollis said.

“And I look at you, and I just see all the possibilities, Hollis,” Raleigh added. “I haven’t allowed myself to see any possibilities for–”

“I know,” Hollis repeated, pulling Raleigh’s shirt until Raleigh lifted her arms up over her head, and the shirt fell to the side. “Allow for possibilities tonight?”

Raleigh nodded, and Hollis looked at the bare breasts that were now on display in front of her. She moved her hands just below them and waited. When Raleigh didn’t protest, she moved to cup them and felt their weight in her hands.

Were they really going to do this? Hollis hadn’t come over to talk to Raleigh tonight expecting this. She did a quick mental check, wondering when she’d last shaved her legs. It hadn’t been all that long ago. Her mom had been asleep on the sofa, and Hollis had gone to take a shower, deciding to take a few extra minutes in the hot water. She’d shaved for the first time in forever, worried about all that hair collecting in the drain, and then decided to do something else while she was under the spray. It hadn’t felt nearly as good as when someone else touched her, but it was what her body had needed. Her own hand had been the only one to touch her in so long; she worried she wouldn’t even know what got her there anymore when someone else was involved.

Back in the present moment, Hollis sat up, still holding and massaging Raleigh’s breasts with her hands, and looked up at her. Raleigh’s eyes were closed now, like she was taking it all in, and Hollis just stared at her, marveling at how beautiful this woman was and thinking about how someone could ever let her go. Millie had been an idiot, she decided, just when Raleigh opened her eyes, and they were smiling down at Hollis. Raleigh’s hands then moved to cup Hollis’s cheeks, and she pulled Hollis closer and hovered her lips centimeters away until Hollis moved them the rest of the way to connect their lips. The kiss was slow. It said that this was a first kiss that didn’t have to go anywhere unless they wanted it to. Raleigh’s mouth was warm and moved in time with her own, making Hollis wonder what it would feel like elsewhere on her body.

That was it. Just that thought was enough for Hollis to lower her hands from Raleigh’s breasts and pull her body against her own. The kiss moved faster. Raleigh moaned. Hollis grasped Raleigh’s back and worried she might scratch her because now that this had started, she needed more. Raleigh pulled out of the kiss for a second, which was the last thing Hollis wanted, and Hollis’s shirt ended up next to her on the bed. She had a moment where she genuinely had no idea how it had ended up there, but Raleigh must have just pulled it off.

Then, with a little shove, Hollis was on her back again. Raleigh’s breasts were immediately pressed to her own, and Raleigh kissed her with the passion Hollis hadn’t ever been kissed with before. Within minutes, Raleigh’s lips were on Hollis’s neck, and Hollis’s hands were inside Raleigh’s sleep shorts, over her underwear, cupping and squeezing, trying not to tear them off because she wanted this so much, but she didn’t want to rush through it their first time.

“Are you okay?” Raleigh asked into her ear before she nibbled on the earlobe.

“Yes,” she breathed out.

“You stopped what you were doing,” Raleigh noted. “Do you want to slow down? We don’t have to–”

Hollis hadn’t even realized her hands on Raleigh’s ass had stopped massaging. She moved them out of the shorts and onto Raleigh’s back again.

“No, I want this,” she said. “I kind of can’t believe it’s happening, though.”

Raleigh lifted up to look at her and said, “Too many thoughts in that beautiful head of yours tonight?”

“Yeah.” Hollis chuckled.

“Will you let me try to fix that?”

“You can fix it?”

Raleigh pressed their lips together again, and when her tongue slipped inside, Hollis knew that, indeed, she could fix that because Hollis couldn’t even think of anything other than what Raleigh’s tongue was doing inside her mouth. It stroked and licked, played with Hollis’s tongue, and slipped out to glide against Hollis’s lips, one after the other. When Raleigh moved back to Hollis’s neck, the thoughts nearly snuck in, but then, Raleigh’s hand began massaging Hollis’s breast while playing with her nipple, and they disappeared again. Raleigh lowered her lips to Hollis’s chest, and when they sucked on her other nipple, Hollis’s thoughts were all gone. Raleigh’s mouth was on her nipple. Hollis was watching her suck. Raleigh’s head moved up and down first, and then side to side, and Hollis never wanted anything else ever.

That feeling didn’t last long, though, because the pulse she’d gone a long time without feeling between her legs was all but roaring in her ears now, begging to be addressed by something other than Hollis’s own hand. Raleigh’s hand slid down and inside Hollis’s borrowed pajama pants and inside her underwear.

“Oh, Jesus,” she let out as Raleigh continued to suck on her nipple.

Raleigh didn’t say anything. She just started stroking. It was as if she’d just known that Hollis needed this first one to quiet her worried and tired mind. Hollis, somehow, also knew that this wouldn’t be it; that she could allow herself to come quickly now because it wouldn’t be the last time she’d come tonight, and the next time would be slower. She had no idea how she’d pieced this together, but as her hips rose in time with Raleigh’s strokes, she said Raleigh’s name into the safe space of her bedroom and came hard.

CHAPTER 25

Raleigh had always been more of a receiver in the bedroom. She also didn’t have a lot of experience. As much as she’d joked about getting all those phone numbers, she hadn’t had sex with a lot of different women. The majority of her adult life had been with Millie. So, she didn’t have much to go on, but with Millie, at least, she’d been content to receive since Millie loved giving and didn’t always want reciprocation. Raleigh had gotten used to Millie touching her in the mornings before work and taking a shower right after. While Raleigh wasn’t complaining, at the same time, she’d always wanted to give more. On those rare occasions when she had climbed into the shower with Millie and had attempted to reciprocate, Millie hadn’t been interested. That hadn’t been a problem in their relationship, necessarily; it just left Raleigh wanting at times.

Now, she was on top of Hollis, beautiful and kind Hollis, who had already come once for her, and Raleigh was stroking her slowly this time. They were both naked now, no longer a pair of borrowed pajamas or sleep shorts between them. Raleigh’s center was over Hollis’s thigh, and she was rocking it slowly into Hollis, loving the delicious friction but not wanting to focus on coming herself. She wanted to make Hollis come again for her. She’d known it the moment she’d first woken up in Hollis’s arms that she wanted her, and now, she didn’t want to wait any longer. Just being wrapped around this woman had turned Raleigh on in ways she’d never been turned on before, but she also hadn’t thought about pursuing it tonight. Hollis had been tired and needed rest, but once Raleigh was on top of her, staring down at her and seeing Hollis in her own clothes, Raleigh worried she wouldn’t be able to wait much longer. She’d already waited so long for her. That was how Raleigh thought about it when she slid two fingers inside Hollis for the first time: she’d waited so long for her.

“Oh, God,” Hollis let out before Raleigh kissed her hard.

“I love how you’re wrapping around me,” Raleigh said.

“Your fingers, or are you talking… about… how my leg… is wrapped… around–”

“Yes,” Raleigh said to all of that, kissing Hollis’s neck as she pressed her thumb to Hollis’s clit and rubbed in tiny circles.

“Raleigh, I’m–”

“It’s okay,” Raleigh whispered into her ear. “You can let go, baby.”

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