Page 4 of Kiss Me Softly

“Yes. I grew up here and after college, I didn’t want to live anywhere else.”

“Listen,” she said. “I’m not flying back to St. Louis until the morning. Any chance we can have dinner and catch up after I finish here? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to these last five years.”

I glanced at my watch, although it was just for show. I didn’t need to be anywhere.

“Sure. That would be nice.”

Aurora looked like I’d just given her the winning lottery numbers. “How about I meet you at five thirty?”

“That works. There’s a bar up the street called O’Malley’s, we can meet there. Just turn right when you go out the front door, it’s about a block away.”

“Great. See you soon.”

I spent the next hour wandering around the rest of the tables before heading over to O’Malley’s to meet Aurora. She got there about two minutes after I did. The place was crowded with happy hour patrons, but after a short wait we were able to get a table in the restaurant. We sat on either side of a small table in the corner, then ordered drinks while we perused the menu. I noticed that Aurora had changed into jeans and a scoop neck sweater. It made her look softer.

We plowed our way through a couple of appetizers while we caught up on the last five years like we were old friends instead of two people who kept randomly running into each other and hanging out together during our last semester of college. Hell, I’d never even gotten her phone number back then. Not that I needed it…

After a while our conversation turned to our lives now. I was surprised how easily we were able to talk.

“Are you still with Sam?”

I finally asked the question that had been on my mind since she’d hugged me in the convention center.

“Who?” Aurora paused. “Oh, you mean Sam, that guy I was dating senior year of college? Oh God no, I dumped his ass right before graduation.”

My eyes dropped to her left hand, and she noticed. She gave me a flirty smile and I realized that I was just as attracted to her now as I’d been back in college, maybe more. Then she said something that changed everything.

“I broke up with Sam right after I realized that I’m bisexual.”

Aurora

Iwatched Frankie’s face carefully. She looked surprised, but also somehow not surprised. I wondered if she’d suspected my bisexuality before I did. If so, she’d never said anything. Then again, why would she? We weren’t close enough for those kinds of conversations. Plus, it was my journey.

I wondered if she had any idea that it was meeting her that first made me consider that I wasn’t as straight as I’d always assumed that I was. If I was going to see her again, I probably would ask her what she thought back then, but I was only in Chicago for one night, and I had a more important question.

“Do you want to come back to my hotel room and fool around?”

Frankie choked on her beer. “Um. What? Did I space out and miss something here?”

“Sorry, I guess that was a bit of an awkward segway,” I agreed, leaning forward across the table. The position displayed my cleavage to its best advantage. I was a big fan of working with my strengths.

She stared at me in shock.

I’d never been shy about voicing what I wanted, and Frankie was someone that I’d wanted for a long time. Ever since I pulled Frankie into a hug earlier today I’d been vibrating with excitement. I’d had countless fantasies about her over the years and seeing her in person only made it all come rushing back for me.

And unless I was totally misreading her, she wanted me too.

I studied Frankie as I waited for her to respond. She’d always been a thinker, unlike me who rushed into things and thought about it later.

Her hair was a little longer now, but she had the same heart shaped face, pale skin, and large brown eyes. In a nod to the conference she was wearing dressy black pants, a white button up, and a black and gray blazer. It was the least sexy outfit ever, but she’d always been a little bit of a tomboy.

To my surprise Frankie was wearing a touch of pink on her lips, some kind of a glossy lip stain that stayed in place even though she’d been eating and drinking. I’d never seen her wear any makeup before. I was dying to know how many times I’d have to kiss her to bring out her natural lip color.

When I couldn’t take the suspense anymore, I spoke again.

“So here’s the thing,” I started.

Frankie’s eyes lifted to my face.

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