Page 140 of The Snowball Effect

Her hand flew up to her mouth, covering up her kiss-swollen lips. Much to Regan’s disappointment.

Feeling the same bafflement from the beginning of this interaction all over again, Regan tossed her hands in the air. “Why are you so freaking certain that I was having sex with another person?”

“Because I heard it!” Emma hissed back, her cheeks flushing.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“You heardme,” Regan shot back, unsure if she should be amused or incredulous or mortified, or a combination of all three.

At once, all of Emma’s movements stilled, as she stared wide-eyed at Regan. Slowly, she shook her head. “No. I heard… more than you.”

Fine, in this moment, amusement won out, and Regan breathed an exasperated laugh, repeating, “Why are you so sure?”

“Because! I heardyou, and I have no doubt about that.” Emma’s cheeks turned a dark pink as she spoke. “But there were more… moans.”

Regan could only stare, that amusement giving away – a bit – into embarrassment. “That was me.”

Emma blinked at her, expression morphing from indignant to mystified. “All of it?”

“Well, I was having sex with myself, so… yeah. All of it,” she confirmed, and – wow, yeah. She didn’t know how to feel, right now.

Still exhilarated from their kiss and still turned on, because – apparently – the leg-shaking orgasm she’d gotten from her vibrator wasn’t anything when compared to kissing Emma like that. But she’d never felt so… sheepish, before, about her sex life.

She’d never been scrutinized so closely, as she was now, as Emma’s stare seemed to look right through her.

“That was allyou,” Emma rasped, sounding breathless.

Wordlessly, Regan nodded. Even if shewasembarrassed, it was too late to do anything about it. “I didn’t think you were going to be home,” she defended, before she remembered, “Also, I don’t need to defend myself; I can masturbate in my own room!”

“I know that,” Emma shot back, still sounding like she’d run a marathon. “But I’ve never heard you, before! What, have you not masturbated all summer?”

“I have a very healthy sex life with myself, thank you very much,” Regan smartly confirmed, entirely unashamed about that fact. “At least three or four times a week. More, actually, in the last few weeks.” She couldn’t help it; she dropped her gaze to roam over Emma’s body.

As it was, undeniably, the star in many of her fantasies as of late.

Emma seemed to know very well what she was getting at, as her breath hitched in her throat, and Regan could see how she shuddered.

“I’m just usually a lot quieter, because I’m a good roommate. Normally, when I know you’re home, I just do it while laying on my stomach and bite my pillow, so–”

An aching, deep groan rumbled from Emma, as she held her hand up to cut Regan off. “Oh mygod, Regan, you can’t be telling me this stuff. Please.”

Finding that none of her prior embarrassment was lingering, Regan shrugged up at Emma, unashamed. In fact, based on Emma’s reaction, she felt empowered by it; she wanted to tell her more. To see if Emma would make any more of those hot little sounds. “Why not? Do you not like it?” She challenged. She moved to step toward Emma, only to be stopped as Emma’s hands shot out quickly, landing on her shoulders.

“Stop! The glass.” Worry etched into Emma’s tone, as she glanced down at the floor, carefully walking Regan back a step. “Be careful, please.” Emma turned away, walking to the other end of the kitchen, to grab the broom. “Just, let me take care of this.”

Absurdly touched, Regan stayed still and watched Emma work. She held her tongue for several more minutes, until Emma had swept, vacuumed, and then ran a damp paper towel over the floor for good measure.

When Emma was all done, Regan smiled up at her. “Thank you. Sorry, again, for dropping the glass. I just got so caught up in kissing you that I didn’t even register it was still in my hand.”

Guilelessly, she shrugged.

Immediately, Emma dropped her head back. “Regan, we can’t–”

“If you don’t want this, then why did it clearly bother you so much when you thought I had someone else in my room?” Reganchallenged, feeling re-invigorated by the thought. This time, she did take a step forward, closer to Emma. She felt compelled to do it, drawn to stand so close to her, wanting to be as near as possible.

“If you don’t have feelings for me, then why does it matter to you if I was having sex with someone else? I know you were upset about it, Emma, so please do us both a favor and don’t deny it,” there was an edge of begging in her voice, and she couldn’t control it.

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