Page 7 of March

“With blogging? There’s money inthat?”

Bryce laughed and said, “Therecanbe. But my guess is you know that, and you were teasing me.”

“Yes,” Sophie said. “And you do it full-time now?”

“I do. It started on the side, but it took off, so now, I do it full-time, which is awesome. I have a pretty big local following, but there are a lot of people interested in it nationally, too. It’s mostly just me writing about the great food I eat. I have some recipes out there that I like to cook, but that part of the blog is pretty new. People like my takes on restaurants. I sometimesjust pack up my car and drive for as long as I can stand and stop off at the first restaurant I see, which could be a dive, a barbeque joint attached to a gas station, or the fanciest place in town. Then, I go home, and I write about it. I make enough to get by, but I’m not at the A-list level of food bloggers or anything.”

“So, no sugar mama for me, either?”

Bryce laughed and said, “No, but my goal would be to get that kind of visibility on the blog and have a comfortable life. I don’t care if I get rich or anything; just comfortable is fine with me.”

“Me too,” Sophie said softly.

The music coming from the speakers got louder, and there was a deep bass beat from the song permeating their near-quiet space. It was slow enough that it felt sexy somehow. Like, if Bryce were to ask Sophie to dance right now, they’d be pressed up close together, and she’d be able to touch her everywhere. She wanted to ask her. She wanted to take Sophie back downstairs and walk her out onto the dance floor, taking full advantage of the song playing at that moment, getting her lips on Sophie’s neck to whisper something only Sophie could hear into her ear while she stood behind her, holding her and swaying to the beat with her. Bryce wanted to take this woman back to her hotel and slide on top of her, pressing their naked bodies together while she kissed Sophie everywhere.

There were two problems with that, of course. If they went downstairs to dance, they would lose this out-of-the-way comfortable sofa, and if she tried to take Sophie back to her hotel, she’d encounter Sean and Megan, who would be in their room because the four of them had decided to save money and get one room, sharing the two beds between them. They’d come to New Orleans to have fun, but none of them had planned on hooking up with anyone, and if they did, there was always the other person’s hotel room or apartment.

“I want to dance with you,” Bryce shared, deciding to be honest. “But I don’t want to lose this seat.”

“I’m not really a good dancer,” Sophie replied. “Especially to a song like this.”

“It’s just holding on to the other person and moving to the music,” Bryce said. “I’d lead.”

Sophie seemed to swallow before she replied, “Maybe another time. I don’t want to lose this seat, either.” She looked away for a second and then added, “And I’m worried that if you see me dance, you’d leave me on the dance floor for someone else.”

Bryce smiled when Sophie reconnected their eyes and said, “I don’t think that would happen.”

CHAPTER 3

“You don’t think you’d watch meattemptto move hips that don’t like to move and see another woman on the dance floor and at leastthinkabout dancing with her instead?” she asked.

“No,” Bryce said as she shook her head, looking like she meant it. “I don’t.”

“Well, you’re right: we could do that, but we’d be giving up this amazing sofa seat I found for us. These are hard to come by here.”

“Could you part with it, and we just find another seat?” Bryce asked before she stood up, placed her glass on the small table on her side of the sofa, and held out her hand for Sophie to take. “Or, we could just dance right here, in front of the couch, blocking other people from taking it from us. I’ll even threaten them with… something if they attempt to take it from us, if I have to.”

“The song’s almost over, Bryce. I–”

“Take a chance, Sophie,” Bryce interrupted.

Sophie looked around. No one seemed to be paying any attention to them. In fact, most people were still in the front section of the upstairs and possibly hadn’t even noticed this part of the bar. She took a deep breath and handed her beer bottle to Bryce, who set it next to her own drink and held her hand outagain for Sophie to take. Sophie did and stood up, with Bryce moving into her.

“This okay?” Bryce asked her.

Sophie could only nod in response because Bryce was now standing only inches away, and they were joined at the hand. She hadn’t ever felt whatever this was before, but it was as if she was supposed to be standing in this bar at this moment with this woman, and as Bryce took Sophie’s hips with her hands and began to slowly sway them back and forth, Sophie found herself trying to keep up because she wanted to give Bryce zero reasons to stop.

“You can put your arms around my neck,” Bryce said with a small smile.

Sophie realized then that her arms were at her sides, just hanging there like purposeless noodles, so she moved them around Bryce’s neck, remembering how arms worked now. Bryce’s were around her lower back as she continued to lead them in their sway more than a dance.

“I’m going to turn you around,” Bryce said after what felt like only a few seconds.

Sophie didn’t reply because she didn’t know what to say. When Bryce turned her around in her arms, she pressed her front to Sophie’s back, and her head went to Sophie’s shoulder as they began to sway again. Bryce’s arms were around her middle, but not for long before Bryce placed her hands on top of Sophie’s and brought Sophie’s arms around her own neck, bringing them even closer together.

“Your hips seem to move just fine to me,” she whispered into Sophie’s ear.

“I thinkyou’re doing most of the moving,” Sophie replied.

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