Page 18 of Kiss Me Softly

A flash of relief crossed her face, as if she was worried that it wasn’t as good for me as it was for her. Silly woman. I wasn’t a good enough actress to fake that. Nobody was. Although I had wondered a time or two if I’d built it up in my memory to be more than it was.

I leaned closer and as if we were connected by a magnet, Aurora moved too. We met in the middle of the space between us, our faces only a few inches apart. Then by some unspoken agreement we closed the distance between us, moving together.

I pressed my lips against hers, holding still for a few beats, waiting to see if she’d push me away. When she didn’t, I licked along the seam of her lips, sliding my tongue inside her mouth and sliding it against hers. Aurora groaned softly, her hands grasping my shoulders, eliminating more of the space between our bodies.

My entire body felt electrified, as if I’d been in hibernation and someone brought me back to awareness with a jolt. We pulled apart, both of us breathing heavily, and without thinking about it, I threw my leg over Aurora and straddled her lap.

Then our mouths met again in a frantic mash of teeth and lips that left me feeling hot and needy.

“Fuck, Aurora.”

I ran my lips down her neck, nipping softly at her skin while her hands ran up and down my back. I lowered my hands, cupping her breasts and giving them a squeeze that made Aurora gasp. Her breasts were full and heavy, and I couldn’t get enough of them. I plucked her nipples through her shirt, feeling them hardening into sharp points that I couldn’t wait to get into my mouth.

But then Aurora pulled back.

“Frankie,” she panted. “We need to stop.”

It was like someone had thrown ice water over my head. I leaned back to stare at her.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

“You’ve had a traumatic day,” she reminded me. “You’re hurting right now. I don’t want to do anything that you’ll regret later.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say I’d only regret it if we stopped now, then I remembered that over the last couple of months Aurora had become my best friend. She was my person now. I’d listed her as my emergency contact when I went to the doctor last week.

If we did something now and it didn’t work out, I’d lose her. We wouldn’t be popping up and down to each other’s apartments every day. We wouldn’t be exchanging memes or joking around on text when we were on a break from work.

Losing a girlfriend was one thing. Losing a best friend was something completely different.

“Your friendship is the best thing in my life now,” she continued, echoing my thoughts. “I don’t want to lose you if things go badly.”

I sighed, moving back to my side of the couch, immediately missing the warmth of her curvy body.

“You’re right,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” she said firmly. “We were both involved. Obviously there’s still a strong attraction between us.”

That was the understatement of the year.

We sat in silence for several minutes before she said, “Do you want to watch another episode ofModern Family?”

I shook my head, feeling suddenly exhausted from the wild swings of emotion I’d experienced the last few hours.

“I’d better go home and go to bed,” I said regretfully. “Today’s been… a lot. Do you want the rest of the pizza?”

“Let’s share it.”

Aurora took a few pieces of pizza for herself for later, then gave me the box with the rest of the pie and walked me to the door. She wrapped her fingers around my biceps, giving me a squeeze.

“Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Where are those Oreos?” I asked. “I’ll definitely need those.”

As I headed back down to my apartment I couldn’t decide if I was relieved or sad that she’d stopped us. Then I wondered how long either of us could hold out before we gave in again.

Aurora

“So how did you two meet?”

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