Page 66 of Home for the Holidays

Against her better judgment, Heidi stilled Iris with a touch of her hand. “Sleep next to me. If anyone asks, I’ll say you were sleepwalking.”

Iris chuckled. “Talk about mixed signals.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I just, if this is it, I want to savor every last second.”

As Heidi rolled over to switch off her bedside lamp, Iris pulled her robe off and tossed it onto the end of the bed before sliding in next to her. “Heidi?”

Her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, so she looked over. Iris was staring up at the ceiling. “Hmm?”

“I want to kiss you again.”

An extreme desire pulsed through her body. “I won’t stop you,” she whispered as she reached over and pulled Iris closer to her. Their lips met again, soft, gentle. She took Iris’s hand and guided it so she was touching her side. “You can touch me too.”

“I’m afraid to touch you.”

“Why?”

“Because I won’t want to stop,” Iris explained between kisses.

“I don’twantyou to stop.”

Everything was moving too fast but stopping felt like more of a crime than their forbidden romance. Iris moved her hand to the hem of Heidi’s pajama top, sliding easily under the cotton to press her hand flat against her stomach. As she moved, the path left behind by the warmth of her skin was unreal. Heidi was being marked by this woman for life. She’d never be the same after this, and the fact had her trapped between ecstasy and anguish.

When Iris’s fingers brushed the side of her left breast, Heidi held back her moan. It seemed too soon to be so into what Iris was doing. But then, when Iris pinched her nipple, lightly at first, then harder, Heidi had to break from the kiss to release the moan, because, “Seriously?” Her voice sounded far away, as if she hadn’t been the one to say it.

“Sorry,” Iris whispered against Heidi’s lips. “I’m a boob girl.” She tweaked her nipple again before moving her hand to the right breast, right nipple, where she did the same thing to the now very erect flesh. “And I’ve been thinking about doing this since you leaned over at the bakery and I saw down your white button-down.”

“You have?”

“Jesus,” Iris said, followed by a puff of air. “You have no idea, do you?”

“Tell me.” She’d never normally ask for details she’d have a hard time believing, but for some reason, the idea of Iris telling her what she was thinking when they first met turned her on in a way she didn’t even realize was possible.

“I thought I was in a dream.” Iris kissed her deeply. “I had never seen someone as beautiful as you in my entire life. Your hair, your smile—goddammit, your eyes. I wanted to do so many naughty things to you.”

“Like what?”

She pulled Heidi’s shirt up, then moved down to her breasts where she pressed them together and licked her cleavage. “God, your breasts are fucking phenomenal,” she whispered into her cleavage. “I would’ve had you sit on the edge of the bar top and bury my tongue in your wetness, for one.” She came back to her lips and kissed her, bit down on Heidi’s lip. “Bend you over that bar top and fuck you from behind.” She tweaked Heidi’s right nipple again. “Push my fingers into you until you screamed my name.”

“Holyfuck,” Heidi whispered against Iris’s lips.

“And the way you looked at me? I felt like I’d finally figured out why every other relationship in my life never worked… because they weren’t you.”

“Iris?”

“Yes?”

“I wanted you the second I saw you,” she admitted after she broke from a fresh kiss. “You made me feel alive. You made me feel like this was it. You… you were it.”

“Then why would we not pursue this?” Iris’s voice cracked. “Why?”

“I’m having a hard time talking myself out of it with your hands on my breasts.”

Iris let out an adorable chuckle. “We need to stop, don’t we?”

“Probably,” Heidi said softly as Iris’s hands stilled.

“I know.” Iris rolled away from her and onto her back. “We can’t have sex tonight.”

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