Page 41 of To the Moon and Back

“Rightfully so. I apologize. I had a stage management team whoknew how to handle me, though. Kudos to Lauren and Trip. I’m trying to be moreaware of…others.”

“It shows.” He nodded. “Speaking of Lauren, the onstage romancesince recast?”

“Yeah?”

He shook his head as if in disbelief. “There’s such a specificityto it now.” He used his hand to make a mind-blown gesture and then opened thepop-top on his Red Bull with a crack. “I don’t know how we’ve gotten there insuch a short span of time with you two.”

She smiled at the compliment and understood that he likely didn’trealize fully what was happening offstage. She agreed with his sentiment,however. She felt it when they were onstage together. “She gives me so much towork off of. I feel like we have great chemistry.”

“I gotta tell you. It’s never been more apparent than today.” Heshook his head. “I don’t know what you two did differently, but if we couldfind some way to bottle it and save it for our audiences, I’d be elated.There’s a large amount of sexual tension there.”

“You have no idea what you’re asking of me,” Carly said with asardonic chuckle. She knew exactly what they’d done to create thattension—starve themselves of the one thing their bodies craved. Yes, they’ddecided to wait for Lauren’s benefit and peace of mind, but apparently the showwas reaping an unexpected reward. They were dying to rip each other’s clothesoff, and somehow, that bled through to the characters’ relationship.

“What do we think, Ethan?” Sally asked, leading Lauren, wearing asundress, back into the room. “I’m thinking if we cinch it right here”—Sallypulled the fabric a little more to reveal the lines of Lauren’s waist—“we’lleliminate the droop we saw earlier.”

“Looks great,” Ethan said. “Are we set otherwise?”

Sally nodded. “After this last alteration, we should be preparedfor full dress runs.”

Ethan tossed a fist in the air, likely relieved to have one morething squared away. Carly shook her head. She never would have imagined howmany moving parts went into a play. She had severely undervalued theexperience. Never again. In fact, she could imagine herself doing more theaterin the future. How crazy was that?

As Lauren slipped away with Sally, Carly followed her to herdressing room and waited outside for her to change. When the door opened onceagain, she pushed off the wall and stuck her head around the door. “Can I comein?”

“You can.” Lauren looked around. “Anyone can. I’ve spent countlesshours chatting with actresses in this room, and I don’t know that I’ll everwrap my head around the fact that it’s mine. I’m acting, Carly. Weird.”

“All of this is. In the best way.” She fell back onto Lauren’scouch. “Do you know what Ethan just said?”

“What?”

“That our sexual tension is now off the charts.”

Lauren didn’t hesitate. “He’s not a wizard. I could not agreemore. I’m now really regretting”—she glanced at the open door and closed it—“mydecision at my place, because now I just have to stare at you and deal with theeffects. And there areeffects.”She exhaled slowly.

“Door is closed. You can kiss me, you know.” Carly batted hereyelashes innocently. She was aware that the top two buttons of her blouse wereundone. She had a feeling the view wasn’t lost on Lauren. At least, she hopedit wasn’t.

Lauren’s interest seemed piqued. “At work?” A mischievous smilecrept onto her face. “You think…we could?”

“You said it yourself. It’syourdressing room, right? I feel like a person should be allowed to do whateverthey choose behind the closed doors of their private space.”

Lauren’s eyes darkened, and right on cue, her gaze dipped fromCarly’s eyes, to her lips, and lower. The top two buttons were working. “Comehere,” she said and crooked her finger.

Carly closed her eyes at the tingling sensation that quiet commandinspired, but she did as she was asked. She moved into Lauren’s space andallowed her to slip her hands under Carly’s blouse to her waist. Lauren didn’tsay anything before she kissed Carly and the only sound in the room was thequiet gasp of release. Carly was fairly confident it had come from her, aseverything in her body responded to Lauren now. They’d barely gotten pastsecond base, but Lauren controlled so much of what Carly’s body experiencedthroughout their workday. With just the right look or toss of her hair, Carlywas deep-swallowing and forcing herself to focus. She’d never had that happenwith someone before.

“You taste good,” Lauren said between kisses. She ran her tonguealong Carly’s lower lip, which had Carly turned the hell on. Lauren was taller thanher today, with Carly not in heels, and that had her going up on her toes forbetter access to Lauren’s lips, which, damn, she could not get enough of. Sheslid her hands around Lauren’s neck and deepened that kiss, exploring with hertongue and pressing her body as closely to Lauren’s as possible. The warmthbetween them had her breathing a little ragged, and her panties a little wet.

Things were moving very quickly. Hands had destinations. Herslanded on Lauren’s chest, over her shirt. Having Lauren’s breasts in her handstook Carly to another planet of arousal. Entirely new territory. She wanted tolick and suck and lavish them with attention. She imagined what they lookedlike, longed to see for herself. She pushed against them, felt the weight of themin her hands.

“We’re about to take care of that tension,” Lauren said, her headthrown back as Carly massaged her breasts. “Carly,” she whispered, desperationlacing her tone.

“Is that bad?”

“Not for me. God.” She bit her bottom lip.

“You’re incredibly sexy. Do you know that?” Carly asked. Her legswere shaking. That’s how badly she wanted to touch this woman, to be touched inreturn. If Lauren would just touch her, she’d ride herself to release. “Can youimagine if we waited until opening? My God.” She kissed Lauren again, long andgood.

“Should we?” Lauren asked. She cupped Carly’s ass and pulled herhips closer. “No.”

“No,” Carly said matter-of factly. Her intellect was attempting tointrude upon this moment. “Maybe,” she said, still understanding how powerfultheir chemistry onstage currently was. “No,” she said decidedly.

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