Page 99 of April

“I’m going to go change,” she said. “If we’re cooking with oil and powdered sugar in here, I need to be in sweats.”

“Can you bring my clothes down here for me, too? I’ll change in the guest room after I put the stuff away and get the bowl out to mix.”

“You can come to my room, Linden.”

Linden stopped moving and looked at her.

“To change. I can change in the bathroom until we…” Asher swallowed. “I mean, if we do that, you’d… see me… naked. Until then, we–”

Linden took a few steps toward her, took her hands, and said, “Go change upstairs. I need to get the stuff ready, so I’ll change down here, but only because of that, okay?” She smiled softly at her. “And I hope it’s not anif, Ash, but I’ll wait.” She nodded. “I’m not in any rush with you, okay?”

Asher could only nod rapidly out of nerves before she left Linden in the kitchen because her heart was going crazy, and she needed a moment alone.

“Jesus,” she let out once she was in her bedroom.

She’d just been talking about having sex with her best friend. Asher shook herself out of it and changed into a pairof sweats and Linden’s LSU shirt before she grabbed Linden’s clothes and made her way back down the stairs.

“Okay. Oil is on the burner, so be careful. I’ll change, and we can mix the batter.”

“Is it batter for beignets or dough?” she asked, handing Linden her clothes.

“I have no idea.” Linden laughed and walked off toward the guest room.

Asher watched as the oil started to heat up for a second before she pulled a bottle of already open red wine off her rack and removed the cork. She grabbed two wineglasses and filled them both. They could have wine with beignets, right?

“Okay. I’m ready. Let’s make some beignets,” Linden said.

Asher handed Linden a wineglass and held hers up.

“To us,” she said.

Linden smiled and replied, “To us.”

They clinked the glasses together, and each took a sip before the glasses were placed on the counter out of the way, and the box of the mix was dumped into a bowl, followed by the rest of the ingredients. Linden did most of the work while Asher watched on, and they talked about nothing in particular. Then, Asher walked to her purse, pulled out her phone, and chose a playlist that she thought fit the mood. When she started the music, Linden seemed to be happy with her choice because she started swaying a bit at first. Soon enough, her hips were moving from side to side, and she turned to Asher, taking her hand and pulling her into her as the music played.

“Dance with me?”

“You sure you don’t want to call Jill?” Asher teased.

“Shut up.” Linden chuckled and ran a finger along the shell of Asher’s ear as if moving her hair behind it, but Asher knew no hair had fallen out of place. “Dance with me, Ash.”

Asher nodded, but she didn’t know what to do. She’d never danced with another woman like this, let alone in her kitchen. Linden pulled her in, though, leading so that Asher could follow. Then, Linden moved Asher’s arms around her neck, and Linden’s went around her waist, settling against her lower back. Asher pressed her face against Linden’s neck, needing to be that close to her and not caring if they were no longer dancing. They’d yet to cook a single beignet, but she didn’t care about that, either.

“Ash?” Linden whispered.

“Yeah?”

Linden’s lips grazed her neck, causing Asher to let out a soft gasp at the unexpected touch. When Linden didn’t say anything else but kept moving, Asher understood that she’d been saying her name more to ask permission for what she was about to do, more than anything else. As Linden’s lips moved up to just below Asher’s ear, Asher shifted a bit to give her better access. Linden kissed her more firmly there before moving to Asher’s jaw, and kisses were placed there as well. Asher waited because she knew what was going to happen next. Or, at least, shehopedit would happen next.

They stared at one another for a long moment until Linden moved a hand from Asher’s lower back to her cheek and cupped it. Her thumb grazed Asher’s skin, and Asher’s eyes closed at the gentle touch. That was when she felt Linden’s lips pressed to her own. Her eyes still shut, Asher wasn’t sure what to do, but Linden understood her hesitation and began slowly moving her lips against Asher’s own. Finally, Asher opened her mouth slightly, giving Linden the chance to move her lips between them, and they were kissing.

Asher was kissing her best friend in her kitchen, with music playing and beignets left uncooked.

CHAPTER 26

Linden’s tongue was inside Asher’s mouth. She thought about that for a moment… Her tongue was inside her best friend’s mouth, and neither of them was drunk. Completely sober and well aware of feelings between them now, there would be no excuse or way out of this if Asher decided when the kiss ended that she didn’t want to kiss Linden ever again. Linden had assumed the point of no return with them would be sharing her feelings with Asher, but it was really this. This kiss was the point of no return.

Asher moaned. That meant she liked it, right? Linden slid a hand up her back, under the T-shirt Asher had stolen from her, and she felt Asher’s soft, warm skin. No, it wasn’t just warm. It was hot.

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