Page 83 of February

“Do you like me?”

“Yes. You know I do,” Monica admitted.

Bridgette ran her thumb over Monica’s bottom lip and asked, “Then, why can’t we see what happens? I know the obstacles. I get that you’re leaving soon and that I’m not. I know you’re older than me, and I couldn’t care less about that. Yes, we come from totally different worlds, and I have never even been to yours, but you’re in mine now, and it seems like you like it.”

“I do,” Monica confirmed.

“Do you want me to kiss you right now? Pretend you aren’t leaving.”

Monica nodded and said, “But Iamleaving.”

“Not tomorrow, though,” she replied as she leaned in and pressed her lips to Monica’s.

It took a second, but when Monica kissed her back, Bridgette thought if that first kiss was perfect, this was somewhere beyond that, if that were even possible. This time, they both knew the taste of the other; they understood how their lips felt pressed to lips and how to move them to elicit that moan from the other person. Bridgette moved her hand into Monica’s hair, which was down, and her other hand went to her waist, pulling Monica against her again. She’d loved how good Monica had felt pressed to her the previous night during their first kiss. Monica’s own arms were around Bridgette’s neck now, pulling Bridgette in, too, and they stood there for several minutes, slowly enjoying how good this felt, before Monica was the one to take a step backward toward the bed.

Bridgette’s heart was racing as she stepped with her. She moved her lips to Monica’s neck. If they were moving this to the bed, she was going to start on Monica’s neck, indicating that, yes, she did want this.

When the back of Monica’s legs hit the bed, she fell back slightly, disconnecting their lips, and for a moment, she just sat there, staring up at Bridgette, who looked down at beautiful blue eyes and somewhat swollen lips.

“Not tonight, okay?” Monica requested, placing a hand over Bridgette’s sweater on her stomach.

“What’s not tonight?’

“Sex,” Monica said.

“Oh,” Bridgette replied.

Monica chuckled and said, “Your face… You look so disappointed.”

“You did the walking backward thing.” She pointed to the bed. “That indicates something, Monica.”

“It indicates that I was having trouble standing while you were kissing me like that.” She placed both hands under Bridgette’s shirt over her abdomen. “Can we just talk?”

“No more kissing?”

“I didn’t say that. I really like kissing you.”

“I really like kissingyou,” Bridgette shared back.

“Do you want to stay?”

“Stay the night?”

“Yes,” Monica said. “I have to take Aaron to the airport tomorrow morning.”

“So, I’d have to make the walk of shame before that?” she asked.

Monica smiled up at her and said, “Something like that.”

“But I can stay? We can talk and sleep?”

“Yes,” Monica confirmed. “I have clothes you can sleep in, and this is a hotel, so you can get whatever else you need brought up.”

Bridgette’s hands went into Monica’s hair and rubbed the back of her head. Monica’s eyes closed, and her head went forward, resting against Bridgette’s stomach.

“Can you lie down for me?” Bridgette requested.

When Monica complied without words and lay against the pillow, Bridgette looked down at her with a smile and moved until she was straddling Monica’s hips.

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