Page 107 of March

“You sure you can’t stay?” Sophie wrapped her arms around Bryce’s neck.

“I wish I could. I have the stuff for my aunt, though, and I need to get back to my friends. I need to check on Sean, and I don’t want to do that over the phone if I can help it.”

“I get it. We need to get used to this anyway, right?”

“Not forever, Soph.”

“I know,” Sophie said. “It just sucks. I’m really going to hate tomorrow.”

“I’m going to hate it, too. But just remember that when it comes, that’s one less day until I get to see you again.”

“I wish I could look at it that way,” Sophie said. “All I keep thinking about is how tonight, I got to be out with my friends and my girlfriend, but tomorrow night, you’ll be gone, and when we all go out again, it’ll be me sitting next to Jill as Melinda and Kyle cuddle up and Bridgette and Monica talk about getting married.”

“Do you want to FaceTime me when you’re out? You can put your phone on the table. Just lean it against the napkin holder, and my face will be right there with you.”

Sophie laughed softly and said, “You know it won’t be the same.”

“I know,” Bryce replied, pressing her forehead to Sophie’s. “But you’ll visit me soon, right?”

“Yes,” Sophie said with a smile. “Once I know my start date, I’ll book something for the weekend, maybe.”

“I’ll take whatever I can get.”

“Right now, you cangetwhatever you want,” Sophie replied with wiggling eyebrows.

Bryce’s phone chosethatmoment to ding, of course, and she grunted, picking it up to read the screen. Then, she laughed and turned the phone toward Sophie.

Megan Underwood: Did you tell Kelsey to tell me that she wanted me to wrap my thighs around her?

Sophie nearly cackled and said, “I can’t believe Kelsey actually told her that.”

“They’ve always been that kind of close, so it’s not all that surprising to me,” Bryce replied.

“Do you think they’ll make it?” Sophie asked as Bryce put the phone down on the table.

“I think they will, yes,” she said as she looked down at Sophie, hoping to convey exactly what she was talking about.

“Do you want to kiss me right now?” Sophie asked.

“I want to kiss you all the time, but Iwillright now.”

She leaned down and kissed Sophie’s soft lips because Kelsey was right: women had soft lips. In fact, Bryce believed Sophie’s were the softest. She loved how they fit with her own and how Sophie always seemed to match her pace when they kissed, ensuring this sensual rhythm that transformed into a faster one as they continued to kiss.

They stayed like that for a little while longer before Sophie pulled back and shifted her body, giving Bryce the indication that she wanted to get up. When Sophie stood and held out her hand without words, Bryce took it and stood up, too, following Sophie around the living room furniture and into the bedroom, where most of her stuff was packed already and in the corner. She watched Sophie stare at it for a moment before she reachedfor Sophie’s T-shirt and pulled it over her head. They would worry about that packed bag tomorrow, when it was time for her to go. Now, it was time for Bryce to show Sophie that she loved her, even if it was too soon for her to tell her that with words.

CHAPTER 33

Neither of them was saying anything, which actually said a lot when Sophie thought about it. She was driving Bryce to the airport, and Bryce had her hand in her lap. Every few minutes, Bryce would bring it to her lips to kiss the inside or the outside of Sophie’s palm. Then, she would put the hand back down, and the link between their fingers would become tighter.

The previous night, when they made love, Sophie could have sworn that Bryce had been so close to telling her that she loved her at least three different times. The first moment had been right after Bryce had slipped inside her while she stared down into Sophie’s eyes. The second had been after Sophie had made Bryce come after slowly taking her with her mouth and then resting her head on Bryce’s thigh, not wanting to move an inch in that moment. The third had been when they had finally lain spent and on their sides, facing one another. They’d both come before that. They’d taken time to recover, and Bryce had rolled off of her. In that instant, Sophie had thought that they were too far apart as they were no longer touching. Bryce had been about a foot away from her, and something about that had felt wrong. Then, Sophie had remembered that Bryce wouldn’t always be in her bed next to her, so she hadn’t said anything. Her face must have still saidsomething, though, because Bryce hadopened her mouth. It had closed after she’d only gotten out one syllable.

So many times, but Bryce hadn’t said it. Sophie hadn’t, either. The timing was off. Bryce was leaving, and they’d only been together for days, not months. Even though her friends had all fallen in love quickly, something about that actually happening to her felt impossible. She’d watched them all fall fast, but then, they’d had this entire past year to fall slowly as well. Now, one of them was marrying another, and Sophie guessed that given Melinda’s response to Monica finding the ring, she and Kyle would be close behind them.

It would be difficult for Sophie to watch Bridgette tell Monica that, yes, she would marry her, and probably even more difficult for her to sit around a table with everyone after because they would be with their significant others. Sure, Jill would be there, and she was still single, so she would at least have her, but Sophie no longer felt single. Something had transpired during these past several days that made her feel very muchnotsingle. Sophie felt taken in that way that probably should have come after several weeks or months of dating but had hit her the moment she’d met Bryce for the first time.

She knew that Bryce was the one. She was madly in love with her and wanted to spend the rest of her life with her, and this distance was only going to delay that inevitability. That was it. It would onlydelay. Sophie nodded to herself as she drove. It wouldn’tpreventit. She would make sure of that.

Bryce lifted her hand to her mouth again and kissed the tip of Sophie’s index finger, which was new, so Sophie turned to her and gave Bryce what she knew was a weak smile. Bryce returned it with a weak one of her own. It was only then that, despite being the one who was actually driving, Sophie realized that they were just outside of the airport.

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