Page 79 of The Manor of Dreams

Madeline cleared her throat and reached out. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t pointed, I promise.”

“But you’re right. The house shouldn’t be ours.”

“My grandmother gave it to your mom for a reason, though. Didn’t she?”

Nora exhaled and turned. “And what would that reason be?”

Madeline shrugged. “A footnote in the will would have been nice.”

“A clarification.”

“A sign from beyond, maybe. It would make our lives a lot easier. I’ll even take messages in tea leaves.” Madeline glanced up. “Maybe??will give us a sign right now.”

Nothing shifted, though they both looked around the kitchen warily.

Nora finally laughed. “What are we doing, a séance?”

“Worth a shot.”

“Not that I’m an expert on communing with the deceased, but I’m pretty sure you need more people for this. You can’t do it with someone you barely know.”

“Oh, so we’re strangers?” Madeline smirked.

“Well, what would you call us?” Nora peered at her curiously. “Friends?”

Madeline chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know,” she said. Something like that. “You’re right. Maybe we have to get to know each other better.”

“Hm.” Nora tilted her head.

“Any questions to send through your legal rep?”

“Come on.” Nora laughed. They were standing close now.

Madeline took in Nora’s arched brow, the faint freckles across the bridge of her button nose. “You’re turning red.”

“It’s just the tea,” Nora said faintly. “It’s hot.”

“Too hot?” Madeline said. She was teasing, but it was making Nora blush, and that gave her a thrill. “I thought making a good cup of tea was my only redeeming quality.”

Nora laughed again. Without another thought, Madeline leaned in and kissed her, long and slow. She felt Nora’s fingers brush her waist and heat pool in her chest, then lower, in her stomach. “Let’s go upstairs,” she whispered against Nora’s lips.

Wordlessly they set their mugs in the sink and ascended the stairs and into the hallway. The second Madeline’s door closed behind them, they reached for each other and then Nora was kissing her, urgently. Nora’s fingers found their way under the hem of Madeline’s shirt, ice cold against her flushed skin. Gingerly, she lifted Madeline’s shirt over her head, peeling it away from her wounded arm with care.

Nora reached up and delicately unhooked Madeline’s bra. They stumbled against the dresser, then the bed frame. Nora laughed and Madeline blushed, but it sounded like a conspiratorial laugh. Nora shrugged her shirt off. Madeline leaned forward, her long hair falling around them like a curtain, and kissed Nora again. She finally pushed Nora’s underwear aside, feeling her wetness, teasing her with light touches. Nora let out a soft moan, almost a whimper that lit Madeline’s entire being on fire. Confession and concession, she thought, feeling euphoric.I’ve finally gotten something out of her.

Nora reached up, crushing Madeline’s lips to hers. Madeline let herself be pulled in. They’d spent days in this house slowly circling each other. Madeline wanted to know everything in the world about Nora, and this desire was an extension of that curiosity. There was no other way to express that somehow, in this vast ocean of silence, Nora had become her life raft.

Afterward, Madeline lay her head on Nora’s chest. She could smell the sweet vanilla of Nora’s lotion. She whispered against Nora’s sternum, “Was that okay?”

Nora laughed, and Madeline felt it tremor in her, too. “More than okay, I think.”

There was a long pause. Madeline closed her eyes. Her limbs felt like they were made of softened butter.

“Is this weird?” Nora finally asked.

Madeline looked up. “Why? Do you regret it?”

Nora met her gaze. God, she looked so hot with that slow smile, with those sleepy, half-lidded eyes. “No,” she said. “I don’t.”

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