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Nathalie laughed and pushed past her into the apartment. “Yeah, that’s kind of the point. It’s a tease. A preview of what she’s about to unwrap. Brinley will love it.”

“You don’t even know Brinley.”

“I know her type.”

“And what type would that be?”

“ Human . Anyone would love you in this outfit. Hell, I might be tempted to lick you after seeing you in it.”

“You’re so crass,” Annalise said as she grabbed the clothes from Nathalie.

“I’m not crass. I’m just honest. I say the things everyone is thinking but too uptight to say.”

“I’ve never once thought about—” Annalise shook her head and held up the clothes. “I don’t have time to fight. I’ll give this a try.”

She slipped into her bedroom and stripped out of her current outfit—the pantsuit she had worn to work.

“You know, if you don’t like the outfit I picked out, that actually looks pretty sexy hitting the floor.”

Annalise jumped at the sound of Nathalie’s voice. “For God’s sake, Nat, why did you follow me?”

Nathalie shrugged and threw herself onto Annalise’s bed. “Like I said, we’ve seen each other naked.” She did a circular motion with her hand in the direction of Annalise’s body. “There’s nothing there I haven’t seen before.”

When Annalise pulled on the skirt, Nathalie whistled. “But that is a sight I haven’t seen.”

She ignored her best friend as she pulled on her tank top as well, but when she looked in the full-length mirror hanging on her closet door, she realized Nathalie was right. She looked hot as hell, and she couldn’t wait to see Brinley’s reaction to seeing her in this.

“Told you you’d love it,” Nathalie said smugly.

“It’s fine, I guess.” Except Annalise couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. She was a mix of excitement and nerves. Butterflies fluttered through her stomach while her heart raced in her chest. It was honestly like nothing she had ever experienced before.

“Mhm. Sure.” Nathalie stood from the bed and gave Annalise a kiss on the cheek while squeezing her into a tight hug. “My work here is done. Have so much fun tonight.”

She was almost back at the open bedroom door when she turned back around and closed the space between them once again. Before Annalise could comprehend what was happening, Nathalie licked her right where she had placed the kiss just a few seconds ago. “Told you,” she said before winking and walking out for good this time.

Annalise spent a few more minutes in front of the mirror fixing her hair and makeup. Once she was satisfied, she grabbed her keys and headed out the door. Since she was doing it weekly now, the forty-five-minute drive into the city felt like nothing at this point.

She parked on the street then tried her best to slip through the bar unnoticed. The female bartender that Annalise often saw with Brinley always kept a close eye on her whenever she was there, and she didn’t want any extra eyes on her tonight. Luckily, she didn’t see that bartender, and no one else seemed to give her a second look. Or, if they had, she was moving too quickly to notice. She walked up the steps and knocked on the door at the top.

When Brinley opened the door, her eyes just about popped out of her head. “Shit. Annalise. What’s the occasion? You look… I mean, you always… but, damn, girl.”

“Yeah?” Thank you, Nathalie.

“Um, yeah. What the hell did I do to deserve this? I’m racking my brain, but honestly, I can barely form a logical thought right now, so it’s not going too well.”

Annalise stepped past Brinley into her apartment then ran a hand over her tattooed arm. “Our lessons have been going so well, I think I’m ready. For… lesson six.”

“Receiving.” Brinley cleared her throat and ran her eyes up and down Annalise’s body once again. “I am more than happy to move on to that.” She pointed down toward her crotch. “My vagina would like you to know that it is very excited as well.”

“Even though…” The last thing Annalise wanted was to give Brinley the wrong idea of how fast she wanted to move, but she also couldn’t form words with the way Brinley was looking at her.

“My vagina isn’t technically getting attention yet?” Brinley laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m fully aware of the breakdown of my syllabus. I wrote it, after all. I get just as much from giving as I do from receiving.” Brinley pointed toward her kitchen. “Do you need a drink?”

Normally, Annalise would be all about loosening up with a few drinks, but not tonight. She wanted to be completely present for this, with nothing at all clouding her judgment or memories. “Believe it or not, no.”

“In that case, what do you say we start on the couch for a review of our previous lessons, then when you’re ready, we’ll make our way to the bedroom?”

Annalise never knew patience and care could be such a turn-on, but with Brinley it definitely was. Which was exactly why she lost all control of herself when Brinley spoke sweetly like this. But then again, she also lost control when Brinley spoke dirty. Maybe Brinley just turned her on all around. Don’t overthink. Don’t overthink.