Page 24 of Our Secret Summer

Dylan studied Raffo’s peaceful, sleeping face and the effect was immediately calming. Maybe it was complicated, but it didn’t feel like a mistake. How could it possibly be when it had been so glorious? It certainly wasn’t something that Dylan wanted to undo—if anything, she craved more. The memory of Raffo’s tongue on her rushed back, of how Raffo had pushed Dylan’s arms above her head and, most thrilling of all, how electrifying it had been to have her fingers inside Raffo.

Unable to resist, she softly stroked Raffo’s cheek, her fingers drifting along her neck to her small but scrumptious breasts.

Raffo’s eyelids fluttered open for a second, then fell shut again. Being with Raffo made Dylan feel naughty and she gently rolled Raffo’s nipple between her fingers. Raffo’s lips stretched into a smile before she properly opened her eyes.

“God, you’re insatiable,” she whispered through half-lidded eyes.

“That’s how you make me.” Dylan chuckled at her own lame excuse.

“Aren’t you supposed to have a drop in libido at your age?” Raffo asked.

“Wow. Good morning to you too.” Dylan wasn’t exactly miffed, but the brash reference to her age still shocked her.

“Sorry.” Raffo quickly pressed her lips to Dylan’s cheek. “My brain is in utter disarray.”

“Understandably so.” Dylan leaned into Raffo’s kiss. “Did you get some sleep?”

“I did. You?”

Dylan nodded. She wasn’t used to sharing her bed, yet falling asleep after Raffo was done with her hadn’t been a problem.

“Do you feel bad?” Raffo asked.

“Loaded question.” To distract herself, and perhaps also to make a point, Dylan cupped Raffo’s breast in her hand. Instantly, her clit came to life—not a hint of a drop in libido. “I can’t feel bad because last night was amazing and I’m so incredibly fond of you, but… there’s the elephant in the room, of course.”

“Can we agree not to tell Connor about this?” As usual, Raffo was much more direct about it.

“Most definitely.” In any other circumstance, it was none of her son’s business who Dylan slept with, but this was different. Raffo wasn’t only his friend; she was also his star protégée.

Dylan was hungry and desperately needed a shower, but extricating herself from Raffo’s embrace seemed impossible. And her hand on Raffo’s breast felt like the only natural place for it.

“What happened last night?” Dylan asked. “Why did you come out of your room like that?” In her defense, she’d just been getting a bottle of water.

“I don’t know.” Raffo grinned. “I guess that’s what happens when a hot cougar walks around barely dressed all the time.” She followed with a rich chuckle.

“A hot cougar?” Dylan played along. “Don’t you mean MILF?”

“Oh, no.” Raffo groaned and shook her head. “No, don’t say that.”

Dylan pushed all thoughts of her son to the outskirts of her brain. She’d deal with her guilt later.

“How about some breakfast?” she asked.

“Before the cougar devours me again.” Raffo pulled Dylan close and planted a trail of kisses on her neck, before, finally, letting her get out of bed.

“Here’s the problem,” Raffo said. She hadn’t even glanced at her work in progress—Dylan guessed she had other things on her mind. “I want my hands all over you, but I also feel like I should never touch you again.”

“That is, indeed, a problem.” Dylan felt exactly the same. They’d kept their physical distance since getting out of bed, as though the action of showering—of washing off what they’d done in the darkness of the night—represented a clean slate. But it had still happened. And they were still sharing a house.

Raffo cleared her throat. “Should I, um, prepare to leave?” she asked.

“No,” Dylan said before she could properly process the question, because, when she did think about it, maybe it was the only sane thing to do. To put distance between them and, at the very least, make sure it didn’t happen again.

“What’s the alternative?” Raffo asked, her dark gaze brooding.

“We stay.” Dylan planted her elbows on the kitchen island. “Just because it happened once, doesn’t mean it will happen again. We just had to blow off some steam. And we did. We can go back to, um, normal now.”

“It’s going to happen again,” Raffo said so matter-of-factly, it might as well already have happened. “Let’s not kid ourselves.” Her dark eyes found Dylan’s. “Unless, um, you regret it or… I’m sorry. I can only speak for myself, obviously. I have the hots for you, Dylan. I tried to ignore it and, also, you know, my heart is still in pieces and all that, so I honestly wasn’t thinking about you like that, not consciously, but… I really like you. And I know I shouldn’t, but you’re kind of impossible not to like.” She huffed out a sigh. “And last night was fucking amazing.”

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