Page 81 of Flirting Lessons

Taylor woke up the nextmorning in Avery’s bed.

She was snug under Avery’s linen sheets and fluffy comforter. A gentle breeze blew in from the open window. A soft, herbal scent was in the air. Avery’s arm was draped over her hip, with Avery’s hand resting at the top of her thigh. Taylor sighed softly and let her eyes flutter closed.

They snapped open again. She’d woken up in Avery’s bed. Again. After sleeping with Avery. Again.

She hadn’t meant to. They’d painted pottery, for the love of God! Nothing against pottery or painting it—she was sure there were plenty of sexy potters out there—but she had not expected anything remotely sexy or flirtatious to happen at Let’s Paint! A store with a built-in exclamation point didn’t seem like it would be a hotbed of sexual tension.

And yet she’d ended up in Avery’s bed anyway.

Taylor had been so proud as she’d listened to Avery almost effortlessly chat up the pink-haired lovelorn Cat, who responded toit like she was a flower and Avery was the sun. Taylor hadn’t been jealous as she’d listened to Avery’s very Avery way of flirting. She was perfectly happy to sit next to Avery all night, to listen to their conversation so she could give Avery tips later, all the while remembering how Avery’s skin felt, how pink her bottom lip got after Taylor kissed her, how hard her nipples were between Taylor’s fingers, how soft and sweet and surprised her sighs and moans were. As she’d listened to Avery talk to Cat, she was impressed with how far Avery had come and, fine, a little smug that while Cat looked at Avery like she wanted to eat her up, Taylor already had.

But damn, had she felt triumphant when Avery left withher, and not Cat.

Avery sighed softly in her sleep. Taylor really had only meant to come back here last night to help Avery paint. Seriously. But then Avery had changed into a thin old tank top and shorts to paint—while making yet another joke about clothes to get dirty in—and she had looked so fucking hot in them. And after they’d painted the test patches in the bedroom, she’d cocked her head in the cutest way to look at the different shades of pale green, and Taylor hadn’t been able to help herself. She’d kissed her. She had to.

If Avery had stopped her then, or said,Are you sure?orI thought we decided…maybe that would have been it.

But Avery had responded to her without hesitation. She’d kissed her back, this time with the knowledge and self-assurance of recognition, of familiarity. They’d moved quickly from kissing standing up with their clothes on, to kissing standing up with their clothes off, to kissing on the bed with their clothes off, to fucking for hours.

Now it was morning, and here she was curled up in Avery’sbed, where she’d never intended to be again. And she wanted to stay right where she was.

And you know what? Nothing was stopping her from doing exactly that.

She felt a stirring next to her, then Avery’s hand moved from its perfect spot on her thigh and slid backward. Taylor put her hand on it to stop it from moving to Avery’s side of the bed.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Avery said. “I was trying not to wake you up.”

Taylor turned over to face her. This time, Avery hadn’t done her middle-of-the-night washing of her face and moving their clothes into neat piles. She had taken out her contacts and put her hair up in a bun, but that had been after round one last night. Taylor liked her like this, a little squinty, with creases in her cheek from the pillow, not quite put together, but still Avery. But then, Taylor was discovering she liked Avery most ways.

“Good morning,” Taylor said. She moved her hand up to rest on Avery’s bare hip.

“Good morning,” Avery said, a sleepy smile on her lips.

“We find ourselves here again,” Taylor said.

“We do,” Avery said. “I hope this doesn’t mean you have to plan another baby shower.”

Taylor laughed.

“No, thank goodness. Just the one.”

Avery didn’t make any move to get up, and neither did Taylor. They just lay there, looking at each other, Taylor’s hand caressing Avery’s skin.

“What are we going to do about this?” Avery finally asked.

“I have an idea,” Taylor said, moving her hand up along Avery’s torso. “What if we…kept doing this?”

“What?” Avery started to sit up, but Taylor pulled her back down.

“Hey, I’m comfortable here,” Taylor said.

Avery laughed.

“So am I. Sorry, I was just surprised. That’s not what I expected you to say. So…what, you’re saying you want to be friends with benefits, or something? Because I—”

Taylor shook her head.

“I don’t believe in friends with benefits. Either you like each other and you’re fucking, which means you’re dating, or you don’t like each other and you’re fucking, which means you’re just fucking. If you try to pretend there’s a middle ground, it all goes to shit. I’m saying I like you, and I want to keep hanging out with you, and I definitely want to keep fucking you.” Her hand moved up to the side of Avery’s soft, pillowy breast.

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