Page 50 of Echoes

Rosie thrust faster inside her, wanting Felicity to explode, and her body rocked harder against Felicity’s fingers until she, too, reached her peak and crashed over it. She had a hard time keeping her rhythm, but it didn’t matter. Felicity had come and was now pushing inside Rosie, deeper and harder.

“God, yes,” she moaned and slowed her hips as she began to come down.

The next thing she remembered was opening her eyes and looking down at the most beautiful woman in the world, who was staring up at her, still flushed and smiling.

“Can we go inside now? There’s a lot more room on my bed.”

Rosie smiled down at her and said, “Whatever you want. Literally anything. It’s yours.” She lowered herself on top of Felicity and regretfully pulled out of her, feeling the loss of Felicity’s fingers as well as she pressed her head to Felicity’s chest.

“Actually, here is fine,” Felicity told her. “Yeah, this is good.” She wrapped her arms around Rosie’s body and held her tightly. “You can keep that rental to write your book, but please spend every night here with me, my love.”

“Yes,” Rosie said with her eyes closed as the water beat against the shore, mixing with Felicity’s heartbeat, providing her with the most amazing soundtrack to the best night of her entire life.

Three Months Later

“I’m just glad it finally sold,” Rosie said.

“Me too. This means you’re now a permanent resident of my little part of the world,” Felicity replied and squeezed Rosie’s hand under the table.

“Thank you for coming to this. I know it’s just signing the papers, but I appreciate it.”

“No problem. We’re leaving straight from here to get your stuff from the storage, so it also made sense.”

“True, but it’s more about me wanting you here with me to close this part of my life. I feel like once those keys are handed over, I can finally just be free.”

“Yeah? Free with me?” Felicity smiled over at her.

“Yes, free with you,” Rosie said.

“Okay. Let’s get started,” Rosie’s realtor spoke when she walked into the room. “Your hand is about to hurt from having to sign all of these.” She held up a pile of papers. “But then, you’ll be done, and you can hit the road.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

The woman who’d bought the house walked in behind the realtor and gave Felicity and Rosie a wide smile.

“Thank you for making this quick close work. I know it’s never ideal, but my job started here before I could find a place, so I’ve been in a short-term rental for over a month, and I’m ready to finally be home.”

“It’s been on the market on and off for a while now, so it doesn’t feel quick to me,” Rosie shared. “And I’m glad it’s going to someone who really likes it.”

“Oh, I love it,” the woman replied as she sat down across from Rosie. “I can’t wait to move in.”

They got to work singing the papers, and when the keys were handed over, Rosie felt both sadness and excitement. She’d bought that house after finishing her Ph.D. and getting her first big job. Her parents had helped with the down payment, but she’d long ago paid them back, and quickly, she’d become a rising star in marine archaeology. Now, she had a first draft of a book with a publisher and a request for another one from a textbook company. They wanted herto write a new book on marine archaeology, and while she didn’t want to teach it, writing the book that others could teach with would be fun.

The sadness she was feeling right now, though, wasn’t tied to Ami but to the fact that she’d just sold the first house she’d ever bought. On top of that, it was in that house that she’d spent a lot of time with Felicity. So many days after work and even before, when Felicity had only been there to pick her up in the morning, instead of waiting in the car, Felicity would use her key, and they’d talk or have coffee. Rosie would certainly miss the house, but she was happy, too. She was excited to start this new part of her life. She had a woman she loved, and she finally trusted herself that she was on the right path, even without the help of some mystery device.

Rosie hadn’t bought a new house yet, so she planned to continue to rent the small place she’d found on the other side of the bridge for the next six months or so. She’d already worked out a longer-term agreement with the owner since she’d be in and out over the course of the summer, spending more time away than at home, anyway, but at least her stuff would have a place to stay while she was in Europe. Her off time would be spent with Felicity whenever they could meet up, and when they both returned, it was likely that they’d just move in together.

She really loved Felicity’s house. It was just big enough without being overly large. There was also a bay window off the formal living room that Felicity had set up as a little nook for Rosie to use whenever she wanted to read or work on her book, and it looked out at the water. Sometimes, they spent their evenings out on the deck, holding on to one another, having dinner, and then making love after it got dark and deserted, with only the torches giving off any light. It was almost like a dream to Rosie, but it also wasn’t perfect.

Felicity was a bit of a slob, whereas Rosie was a neat freak. She’d known that before but hadn’t fully realized just how different they were in that department until she’d started spending every night and a lot of days in the house. Felicity was also more of a night owl than Rosie, who preferred to go to sleep rather early, wake up early, too, and have her morning tea in bed with her girlfriend or in her little nook before starting work for the day. Felicity preferred to stay up late, often making love, and sleep in whenever she could or wake up at the last possible minute before having to leave for work.

None of those things were detrimental, but there had been a couple of arguments anyway, and they’d helped prove to Rosie thatthis was real and not a dream. She was in love and happy, but that didn’t mean that she and Felicity would always get along, always like each other, for that matter, or would never face any difficulties. Rosie was okay with that as long as she could wake up next to her whenever possible.

“Hey, do you maybe want to stay in town for the night instead of trying to drive back?” Felicity asked when they walked out of the room.

“We can, if you want.”

“We’ll just be bringing your stuff with us, so the drive will be longer, maybe four hours or so, and by the time we get it all loaded up, we won’t be leaving until after five or six.”

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