Page 122 of The Snowball Effect

God, what waswrongwith her?

Actually, she knew very well what was wrong with her.

“You know, little lady, you don’t have to sit with me; I’m not an invalid. You can join your girlfriend.” Gram nudged Emma’s arm with her elbow, exasperatedly laughing.

“What?” Emma asked yet again, ripping her gaze from Regan once again. “Sorry, um…” She screwed up her face, before managing to latch onto her gram’s words. “No, I’m sitting over here because Iwantto sit with you.”

Her gram arched an incredulous look at her. “I might be getting old, but my vision is perfectly fine. You’re staring at Regan like you want to eat her alive.”

Emma could feel the heat burst to life in her cheeks as she immediately shook her head. “No,” she denied. “No, that’s not–”

Gram reached out, gently patting her hand on Emma’s. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” She tilted her head, studying Emma. “To tell you the truth, I think it’s very sweet. I haven’t seen you look at someone so intensely in… well, I’m not sure how long.”

“Yeah. I… uh, you might be right,” she muttered. Because Emma, herself, couldn’t even really think of a comparison of what she was doing right now. The reality was that she’d never felt so compelled to simply stare at Felicity, obsessing over her thoughts the way she was right now.

Still, though, Gram’s statement wasn’t actuallytrue. Not really.

The reality was that Emma was staring because Regan was slowly driving Emma crazy, plugging away at every ounce of her sanity and self-control.

First there’d been that kiss. Which Emma had done a good job at filing away; Emma wasgreatat compartmentalizing. If the kiss was all there was to this growingly complex dynamic with Regan, Emma could be mostly fine.

Then Regan had to go and add in the fact that she thought about Emma’s breasts and thighs and lipsall of the time.

All right – Emma could be… fine with that, too. Mostly. She could work around it.

Because she thought about how attractive Regan was, often, and she was fine – totally great! – being platonic roommate friends with her. Even though Emma was so attracted to Regan that it was distracting, she hadn’t ever had any issues keeping her thoughts PG and keeping her hands to herself.

But when she added in the way she’d woken up yesterday morning, snuggled so closely with Regan on the couch that therewas literallynospace between them… well, that made Emma’s stomach flutter. Uncontrollably.

Emma hadn’t even remembered falling asleep on Friday night – rather, early Saturday morning. All she’d known was that Regan had stayed out later than any other night since they’d lived together, and Emma really had been worried. But she hadn’t wanted to be weirdly clingy and text Reganwhen will you be homeor anything like that, because it wasn’t any of her business! She wasn’t Regan’s keeper or her girlfriend or anything else.

They were roommates and friends. Regan had told her she was going out and would be homelater, which was all the due diligence Emma should expect. She just hadn’t knownlaterwould mean so much later!

And when Regan had arrived home, she’d been so alarmingly and disarmingly charming. Her cheeks were rosy, and her dark eyes were wide, and her smile was so full, and her giggles were so sweet sounding.

It had been a weak moment for Emma. She’d been concerned about Regan for a couple of hours, and on top of that? She’d missed Regan’s company, which had been jarring. When she’d realized that was the first Friday night in nearly two months that she wasn’t spending hanging out with Regan, and not only that, but that shemissedher?! Dear god.

But it was the undeniable truth.

Then, Regan had cuddled up to Emma, fitting against her as if their bodies knew one another far more intimately than they actually did. Emma had been tired and relieved that Regan was home safe, and her body… her body had missed that feeling.

That closeness, that warmth. It was intoxicating. It had been so easy to succumb to it, telling herself it would only be “for a few minutes.”

Before Emma had realized it, she’d woken up and it was Saturday morning. Daylight streamed in from the windows, and she’d sighed in sleepy content. Inhaling a deep breath of Regan’s minty fresh shampoo as she’d rubbed her nose against the crown of her head, then she’d lightly stroked her hand up and down Regan’s back.

Regan’s… bare back?

Emma’s morning drowsiness had dashed away as her mind fully caught up to her body. Her eyes opened widely, heart thundering in her chest, as she’d stared at Regan. Who was now half on her side and half sprawled over Emma.

Blessedly, Regan was still wearing her clothing from the night before. But her crop top had ridden up to the point that it was essentially just a bra, and Emma’s hand was pressed against Regan’s spine, moving with every inhale and exhale Regan let out. Every exhale that made Emma shiver, as warm puffs of breath washed against the sensitive skin of her collarbone.

Not only did she become acutely aware of the sweet-cuddling intimacy of the situation, but she’d also been faced with the reality of the unexpected yet undeniable sexual intimacy.

Because Regan’s hot breath made her shudder, and her hand was resting against the curve of Emma’s waist, her thumb under Emma’s shirt, so close to the bottom of Emma’s breast – too close. Mere centimeters away. Though it wasn’t touching her, the excruciatingly close non-touch almost felt like a tease. Added to both of those things, one of her legs was slid between Emma’s, slotted perfectly between her thighs.

Everything combined to remind Emma that she hadn’t experienced real intimacy of any kind with another person in over two years.

Emma reached up to rub her fingers at her temples, trying to stave off a headache. The lack of sleep she’d gotten last night – alone and in her own bed, but her thoughts tormented bythe night before – in combination with the sunny heat and loud music and squealing children and the way Regan had a little sheen of sweat over her cheeks that somehow looked cute – it was all too much.

---