Page 106 of Flirting Lessons

“Do you like having sex with me?” Shit, that wasn’t the right way. “I mean, don’t answer that, let me rephrase that. That first time, I said I didn’t really know what I was doing, and then another time you said I’d gotten pretty good at things, but I just want to know…because to me, the sex is really, really good, great even, but I don’t know, I mean, I’m not sure if you feel that way, too, and if not, I want to know what I should do, or—” Oof. This sentence had gone on long enough. “I meant to say all of that much better.”

Taylor turned and glanced at her, a stricken expression on her face, and then pulled over and stopped in what Avery wasn’t sure was a parking spot.

“Have you been unsure of this the whole time?” she asked as soon as the car was in park. Then she held up a hand. “Wait, let me answer you first. Yes, yes, I absolutely like having sex with you. I like it a lot. A lot, a lot.” She put her hand on Avery’s. “A thing that you might not know about me, probably because you’re not like this, is that I don’t stay in situations for very long where I’m not enjoying the hell out of myself. Many people see this as a character flaw, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them, but that’s how I am. And that means that I enjoy the hell out of myself all the time when I’m with you, and that absolutely includes when we’rehaving sex. Yes, sure, you’re not that experienced, but experience isn’t everything. You pay attention, and you listen to me, and you remember what I like, you tell me what you like, and you’re up to try new things. And most of all, you make it clear that you’re enjoying yourself—which I know isn’t easy for you—and that makes me enjoy myself. And that makes having sex with you both exciting and a lot of fun. And my God, Avery, I’m so sorry if I’ve said or done anything to make you feel like I didn’t feel that way, please tell me what I did, and I’ll never do that again.”

Well, damn, now Avery was on the point of tears. No one had ever said anything so kind and blunt and wonderful to her.

“No, no.” She shook her head. “You didn’t, I promise. And I never feel like that when I’m with you. But sometimes I get…anxious that I’m not measuring up, and I didn’t want to say anything because it felt stupid to say something, so it just became a thing I would worry about and then forget about, and the cycle would repeat. I only brought it up today because I said something about it to Beth, and she made me promise to talk to you about it.”

Taylor intertwined her fingers with Avery’s.

“Remind me to thank Beth for that.” She kissed Avery. A long, slow, shimmery kiss. When she pulled away, she traced the outline of Avery’s lips with her fingertip. “I really want to keep doing this, right here, but I’m excited about our plans tonight. Remember where we were later, okay?”

Avery smiled at her.

“I will.”

Taylor put her seat beltback on and drove off, her hand still tightly clasped with Avery’s. Had Avery believed her?She hoped so. Everything she’d said was true, and she and Avery were always honest with each other. But she knew Avery had some trust issues, and it made sense that she was insecure about sex. Taylor should have been better about going out of her way to praise her, but would that have felt condescending? She hoped things were good now.

When they pulled into the community center parking lot, Avery laughed as she looked around.

“Another event here? This is the same place we did the dance class, isn’t it? That was really fun.”

Taylor tried not to smile too hard.

“I thought so, too.”

When they got out of the car, Taylor could tell Avery was looking around at everyone else in the parking lot, trying to figure out who they were and where they all could be going.

“I can’t tell if I’m overdressed or underdressed,” Avery said to her as they walked toward the auditorium.

“You are dressed just right,” Taylor said to her. “I thought I made that pretty clear back at your place?”

Avery’s lips crinkled up in that way they did when she was trying not to smile and failing.

“That’s not what I mean! You aren’t the only judge of how appropriate my outfit is, you know that!”

Taylor grinned as she looked Avery up and down again.

“No,youare the only judge of your outfit, I’m just the happy appreciator of it, that’s all.”

Avery smiled for real this time. Then she looked around, and her eyes widened. Taylor followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the sign outside the auditorium. She turned to Taylor, a slightly confused look on her face.

“Dance class again? I’m not complaining, I loved it the first time, but…”

“But why are we doing another salsa class when we’ve done it already?” Taylor finished that question for her, and Avery nodded. “Because I thought it would be even more fun if we got to dance with each other this time.”

She didn’t say what she felt, didn’t quite have words for that, but when she’d seen the email about this class, she’d remembered how she’d felt at the last class, watching Avery dance with all those people who weren’t her, and how, in retrospect, she realized how much she’d wanted to dance with Avery that night. Now she could, and she didn’t want to pass up that opportunity.

Avery turned to her with a soft, sweet smile on her face.

“You’re absolutely correct,” she said. “That will be even more fun.”

Avery opened the door and waved her inside with a bow.

They went into the auditorium, and everything was the same as their first class—the sign-in was the same, the teachers were the same, their funny patter at the beginning of class was almost the same. But everything between her and Avery felt totally different. Instead of walking around the class, chatting with people she knew, encouraging Avery to chat and flirt and smile with her dance partners, and trying to ignore how much she wanted to dance with her, to hold her in her arms, touch her, she had Avery to herself. She didn’t usually feel that way about people she was dating. She liked to be around them, sure, but she also liked to socialize with a crowd, to mingle and flirt and chat with whoever else was around. But tonight, she was happy to stay right by Avery’s side, with one hand in hers and one arm around her as they danced together.

At first, they stumbled, made the wrong moves, laughed at themselves, and then tried again. As the night went on, they learned each other’s movements, Taylor stood up straighter, Avery relaxed her hips, and their feet moved in unison, Avery moving back as she moved forward, and vice versa.

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