Page 108 of The Snowball Effect

Finally, she re-focused her attention on their actual conversation. “It’s definitely okay to ask.”

Especially because Emma wouldn’t have asked if she hadn’t invested in Regan. Miss Privacy Please wouldneverask… if she didn’t really want to know.

And an electric thrill shot through her at the fact that Emma wanted to know more about her.

“It was just – it was weird,” she mused. “My sister lives in Stamford with her fiancé. And wedon’thave a relationship, not really. Which is why you’ve never heard me talk much about her. But… I don’t know.” She dropped her gaze down to where she realized her hand was still on Emma’s.

Transfixed, she watched her fingers softly stroke the back of Emma’s hand. Then watched in fascination as the hair on Emma’s arms stood up.

“I, uh, I just… I’ve always thought one certain way about my sister. Thought she was very similar to my parents. But it turns out that I might be wrong. She invited me to brunch today just because she wanted to talk. Just us, together.” Regan could still hear her own shock in her voice.

“Did brunch go well?” Emma asked hesitantly. Those crystal-clear eyes stayed trained on Regan’s face, watching for any sign of upset Regan might express.

“It did.” Yeah, she was still shocked. “I think so, anyway. I think maybe we’re both kind of learning about each other.”

“I’m not surprised that your sister might be starting to see you in a different light,” Emma asserted, her tone so confident. “You have a lot of surprising sides to you.”

Oh, no.

Oh, yes.

Regan didn’t know which one to think of properly; all she knew was that she could feel the same feeling as yesterday. The one where Emma said something and made Regan feel so swept up.

“And I’m glad that your brunch sounded like it went well; if you were feeling down, I was about to offer to sing karaoke with you,” Emma informed her, the slightest, cutest smile quirking at her lips.

The mirroring smile that had been sliding onto Regan’s lips froze. Completely froze in place as she stared wide-eyed at Emma. “Really? Can I take it back? It went terribly. Horribly. Awfully.”

Emma scoffed out a laugh. “Yes,really. There were going to be stipulations, of course. It was only going to be karaoke here at home, first of all. I’m not going anywhere in public and singing.”

“Secondly?” Regan pressed eagerly.

God, she felt – enamored? Was this what that feeling was?

This feeling of her stomach swooping low, making her feel impossibly light, at the sight of Emma’s adorable smile. At the fact that Emma was going to offer to sing karaoke with her to cheer her up, something Emma would never typically choose to do?

“Technically, there’s no different second reason; it was a double-down on the first rule.”

Regan’s heart pounded in her chest so hard she could hear it in her ears. The butterflies in her stomach demanded to befelt, growing by the second.

“It may come as a surprise to you, but I know my way around a 3G song,” Emma’s tone was both haughty and playful as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

“I love 3G,” Regan breathed, almost lightheaded with this headiness. “How did you know that?”

Emma’s eyebrows knitted together incredulously. “Regan, you singall of the timearound here. It’s not difficult to pick up on your favorite artists.”

Emma was hardly done speaking when Regan found herself pushing forward, drawn in as if magnetized.

She used the hold she still had on Emma’s hand to balance herself, squeezing it as she brushed her lips against Emma’s.

Regan had never kissed another woman before. It hadn’t ever been something she’d really thought much about. But,god, maybe she should have.

She sighed against Emma’s lips; they were so unbelievably soft. So full. So plush against Regan’s own, she gently slid her mouth against Emma’s, letting herself revel in that feeling.

Her own slight movements made heat spark through her body. A heat that cranked up when she felt Emma move her lips against hers, opening on a sharp, gasping inhale.

Oh, yes. She absolutely should have been doing this before now, Regan dimly registered, rocking forward more firmly, wanting – needing – to get closer. To be able to feel Emma’s body – this body that had taken hold in Regan’s mind as the root of so many fantasies lately – against her own in any way.

She felt Emma’s hand land on her shoulder as she pressed her lips to Emma’s again, deliberately slotting Emma’s bottom lip between her own.

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