Page 39 of A Break in Communications

I slipped a hand to the small of her back, pulling her tighter against me, and she let out this hungry growl against my lips, kissing me harder. I reeled, felt like I could see stars, and I felt heat flushing through my body.

She did want me… it was a distant hum of realization in the back of my mind, the biggest question in the world suddenly a random parenthetical right now. She wanted me and she thought about me, thought about kissing me like this. Every time she got embarrassed, it was her wanting this. Taken aback by me kissing her. How far could I go? The question was impossible to see past all of a sudden, burning heat between us despite the cold all around.

I slipped a hand inside her coat, looping my arm around her back, and I ran my finger over the band of her pants, and I got rewarded with Lucy growling again, deeper this time, and when she slung a leg across mine and shifted her weight to mylap, pressing against me, I whimpered, my whole body united in needing this, needing… more. Of this, of her. I didn’t care. I justwanted.Like I didn’t know I could. I parted my lips, and she took my lower lip between hers, tugging, sucking lightly on me, and I melted, body on fire, trembling with my hands gripping her so tightly it was like I’d drift away without her.

She pulled back, breaking the connection, and desperately, achingly, I wanted to lean in and kiss her again, touch her again. She smiled, her face flushed, a gleam in her eyes, and she spoke in a low voice to say, “Not bad, Preston.”

“I…” I couldn’t figure out what to say. My head spun… what was this thick, inky haze in my head? She was beautiful, I just…

She trailed her fingertips down my jawline, a glint in her eyes. “You look pretty like this.”

“What?” The words slipped out in a dreamy haze, and she smiled wider.

“Like you’re having a good time. That smile on your face… the cute little blush.” She stood up, moving slowly, moving… sensually. The lithe form she got up with, how she moved, the… curves as she stood up… “I’m going to get back to the others so I don’t get carried away with you in front of everyone.”

Carried away… was she talking about doing more? Kissing and touching and… was she talking about having sex?

That was horrible. It should have been. I felt my heart beat faster, and I blushed more, somehow, ducking my head.

“I, um…”

She cupped my chin, and she tilted me back up to meet her gaze again, bending down and pressing a kiss to my lips. “See you again soon, Anna.”

“Lucy,” I said, quietly, her name just slipping out, and she paused, a smile playing on her lips.

“Yes, darling?”

I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to say it. I just couldn’t help… I swallowed. “What are you after?”

She smiled wider, and she bit her lip, eyes flicking down my body and back up to me again. It burned over every inch of me—body tingling with awareness, the thought of Lucythinkingabout it, and just… wanting… her to want me. Wanting her. What? Wanted Lucy Masters to rip my clothes off and take me—

“We’ll find out,” she said, running her fingers along my jaw. “Later.”

She kissed me again, and I ached, body thrumming with awareness watching her turn and walk away, drawing her coat tighter around herself. Slowly, shakily, I stood up, just… needing… to be inside, away from all of this, away from everyone. Where nobody could see me thinking about Lucy Masters making love to my body.

Jesus Christ. I needed to fix myself. Sort myself out. Had to find some way to get rid of this, how to make myself not… I just didn’t know how. And I didn’t really want to figure out.

Chapter 11

Anna

I didn’t recover the whole day, not that Lucy gave me a lot of opportunities to. We sat next to each other at the gatherings, and she’d put a hand on my thigh—nothing overt, nothing explicit, but it would make my mind take off into that place where I couldn’t pull it back—or she’d corner me in the hall between events in the family schedule, where it was just the two of us, and when I’d try to give her a smart comment, she’d laugh and pin me against the wall and kiss me, and I’d break instantly, kissing her back and going with all of it and missing it when she pulled away again.

So when the sun set and we finished a dinner where Lucy’s hand sat on my thigh for most of it—fingertips teasing lightly along the inside of my thigh and making it impossible to focus on my meal—and she crept her hand higher all through dessert, until I was nursing an espresso staring down into the dark surface of it trying not to show any reactions as Lucy’s hand was fully up my dress and her fingertips danced along the line between my thigh and my hip—when Mom looked around and told us with so many tired faces here we needed to get to bed, and she looked at me and told me my old bedroom was all set up for me and Lucy, I felt like my heart would burst just thinking about it.

“I can help clean up,” I managed to say, and Lucy took her hand off my thigh, and just when I’d thought maybe I hadit together, she took one finger that had just been inches away from my underwear and used it to swipe up a bit of whipped cream from her dessert plate, sucking it off her fingertip. Not even looking at me—effortlessly casual—but it turned my mind to static. Oblivious to the whole scene, Mom waved me off.

“No, Veronica, please. You’re always working. Your girlfriend too. I just want you both to get rest.”

I was so distracted with Lucy that I didn’t even notice she’d called me the wrong name until Veronica stood up and said, “Oh, sweet, I’m out then?”

“What?” Mom looked at her, but I didn’t get the chance to follow the rest, because Lucy stood up, slipping her hand into mine and meeting my gaze.

“C’mon, baby girl. You do need some rest.”

I swallowed, but I tried my best to put on my serious, unbothered face. “Fine,” I said. “Thanks, Mom.”

We were the first ones to get upstairs, and up to the door to my old bedroom, where I’d barely gotten inside before Lucy wrapped her arms around me from behind again, kicking the door shut. I’d hoped maybe I’d be able to say something likewhat do you want here, what are you after,or maybe just something to put her down likestay off of me, I don’t want that,but all of that faded away and I couldn’t make myself lie—I wanted Lucy’s hands all over me, and I was too heated in the wild flush of the moment to be embarrassed by it right now. I turned my neck to meet her, and she caught me with no hesitation, pressing her lips to mine and kissing hot and deep straightaway, giving me exactly what I needed.

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