Page 18 of Home for the Holidays

“Just imagine if I had you sprawled out in front of me. I’d never stop fucking you.” Iris bit down lightly on Heidi’s earlobe. “Maybe we can do that one night?”

“Oh, yes, we will absolutely be doing that before you have to leave.” Heidi pulled Iris’s hand from her panties and slowly brought it up to her mouth. She placed Iris’s middle and ring fingers in her mouth and sucked on them. Iris almost fell to the floor. “You think you can escape your family obligations for one night?”

“Jesus Christ. After that? I will do whatever you want me to.” Iris let out a laugh as she leaned forward and kissed Heidi again. She tasted like hope and happiness. Her lips, her tongue, everything about her was everything Iris had been searching for but never knew she could actually have. It was almost as if meeting Heidi was an awakening. Not in the obvious sense—Iris had never really questioned her sexuality—but in the way a soul feels when it meets its other half. Even thinking that thought made her want to laugh. How was any of that even possible?

She decided not to think anymore. Her lips branded Heidi’s. “I don’t want to stop kissing you.”

“I know.” Heidi gave her one last passionate kiss. “But I have to get back to work. And you have, well, family obligations.”

“You’re right.” Iris started to button her pants, as did Heidi. She handed Heidi her apron, which somehow managed to land on the countertop. “There’s a countertop in here? You’re telling me I could have had you sit on that and got my mouth on you?”

Heidi laughed as she grabbed Iris’s face. She kissed her again, a searing kiss that made Iris’s knees weak. “You’ll get your chance. I promise.”

“I’d better.”

“Don’t worry. I want to get my mouth on you, too, y’know.” Heidi winked as she secured her apron. “How’s my hair?”

“Freshly fucked.”

She playfully smacked Iris on the arm. “Stop, seriously.”

“You look beautiful,” Iris said as she stared at Heidi. “Breathtaking, in fact.”

“You need your eyes checked.” Heidi smiled, and it broke Iris’s heart. She had no idea how stunning she was. Heidi straightened her shirt, pulled a lip gloss from her apron pocket and applied it, rolled her lips together, and then looked at Iris in the mirror’s reflection. “Wait, you need this.” She pulled a pen from her pocket, took Iris’s hand in hers, and wrote on her palm. “It’s my number. I wrote it on your lifeline.” She shrugged shyly, a small smile on her spectacularly kissable lips. “Please call. Or text.”

Iris nodded, but before she could get another word out, Heidi turned, opened the door, and left, leaving Iris standing there with the biggest smile on—as well as the world’s wettest and most uncomfortable panties.

CHAPTEREIGHT

“Where have you been?” Charity asked as Heidi rushed up to the registers.

“I had an emergency. I’m sorry. It couldn’t wait. What do you need?”

“I had another person want to use a check, but she was very impatient, so I told her she could have her pastries for free. She said she’d be back.”

“That’s fine.”

“That’sfine? I gave an entire catering order away. She won’t be back.”

Heidi laughed. “I promise, it’s okay. We have her information. We’ll get paid eventually. I’ll teach you how to do—”

Just then, Iris exited from the bathroom hallway, furtively popping the collar of her coat to hide her face.

“Hey,” Charity observed, “that’s the chick from earlier—oh my god.” She turned slowly, her mouth hanging open, and stared at Heidi.

“What?” Heidi feigned ignorance.

“Wassheyour emergency?”

“Charity, stop, please.” Heidi couldn’t contain her smile, though. “At the very least, you’ll be happy to know you were right.” She shrugged. “She was definitely interested.”

“In thebathroom, Heidi? You have an entire office with a door and a lock, and you did it in the bathroom?” She huffed. “I have to give you a lesson or two about clandestine relationships.”

Heidi arched an eyebrow. “Oh? And why’s that?”

“Because the whole point is to actually beclandestine.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” Heidi glanced around the café while taking a deep and very satisfied breath. She felt like a million dollars. “I’m going to head home. If you’re okay with that, that is?”

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