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“Rach, we don’t have to–”

“I want to,” Rachel said.

Then, before Violet knew it, Rachel’s shirt was on the floor, andshe was straddling Violet in her bra and a pair of comfortable jeans.

Violet swallowed hard and said, “Oh, I love you.”

“I love you, too. Please take me to bed, Violet.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, looking up into dark eyes.

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my entire life.”

Violet nodded at her and waited for Rachel to stand up before she stood up, too, leaving the wineglasses on the table to deal with later because she knew Apollo wouldn’t bother them. He was outside in his doghouse and would probably sleep out there. She picked Rachel’s shirt off the floor and took her hand. This was it. Violet knew it now that this was the night that would set them on the course to get to that moment in the future where Rachel was saying goodbye to her. They walked up the stairs, and Violet pushed open the bedroom door, letting Rachel go in first and turning on the light before she closed the door most of the way behind her. Rachel turned around to her, and when her eyes met Violet’s, she smiled.

Violet’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Her heartbeat was so fast; she worried she might need to calm it down somehow, but there would be no calming it down. Just minutes ago, she’d been preparing that heart to listen to Rachel tell her about the woman she was seeing and how they’d taken certain steps. She’d been preparing for her heart to break and to have to spend the rest of the night with Rachel with that new information rolling around in her overactive imagination. Violet had expected to find out that she’d lost her, the woman she’d fallen in love with, but also the woman who, a vision of the future had told her, was meant to be her wife and the mother of her children.

No, her heart wouldn’t even remotely slow down now that she was in her bedroom, staring at Rachel, who hadn’t bothered to put her shirt back on. Violet’s eyes lowered, and she licked her lips. She’d seen Rachel in bathing suits of all varieties, but this was different. This was Rachel in a bra that Violet was able to slowly remove from her body to reveal what she’d been dying to see since they’d met.

“You’re not saying anything. ShouldIbe saying something?” Rachel asked.

“No,” Violet said with a soft smile. “It turns out, I’m just more nervous than I expected I’d be.”

“You’re nervous?”

Violet nodded and walked toward her.

“A few minutes ago, I thought you were going to tell me that you had a girlfriend.”

“And now, that girlfriend is you,” Rachel noted.

Violet lifted an eyebrow at that and said, “Yes, now that girlfriend is me.” She pulled Rachel’s hips to meet her own. “I love you, Rachel Bailey.”

“I love you, too,” Rachel replied.

Violet cupped the back of her neck and leaned in for a kiss. She’d wondered, on that sofa, if she’d ever get to kiss this woman who felt like her present and her future, and now, she was kissing her. She was finally kissing Rachel, and as she walked Rachel backward until the back of her legs hit the bed, Violet allowed herself to believe that the future vision was finally not only possible but probable. Now that she had Rachel, she was never going to let her go.

Rachel moved onto the bed herself, sliding up until her head hit the pillow beneath, and she looked up at Violet with what looked like a mixture of nerves and also maybe a little appreciation. Violet wanted to take her time, but she also wanted them both to be naked when she started her journey to kiss, lick, and touch every inch of Rachel’s body, so she removed her shirt and checked with Rachel, who continued to stare, but a little lower this time.

“Please,” Rachel said.

Violet smiled at her and moved her hands behind her back to unclasp her bra. She tried to push that part of her – the part that knew she was older than Rachel and that her body probably wasn’t as perfect as Rachel’s because Rachel swam all the time and Violet didn’t – out of her mind, and she let the bra fall to the floor. Rachel’s mouth opened, and her beautiful, now-darker eyes raked over Violet’s flesh.

“I’ve dreamed of this,” Violet confessed. “Being with you.”

“You have?”

Violet nodded slowly and said, “Over and over again.” She removed her pants, leaving herself in only her underwear.

“I don’t know that I’ll be any good at it. I’ve never–”

“You have nothing to worry about. I can prove that to you. Can I?”

Rachel nodded this time, and Violet, remaining only in her underwear, moved onto the bed. She straddled Rachel’s jean-clad thighs and took her hand in her own. She kissed the inside of Rachel’s palm before she pressed it to her own stomach, and with both of her hands, she pushed it slowly down until the tips of Rachel’s fingers met the hem of her underwear. Violet stopped then, wanting to check, butRachel’s hand proceeded to move on its own, so Violet let go and let Rachel feel her.

“Oh, God,” Rachel whispered when she encountered Violet’s ample wetness.

“That’s what you do to me,” Violet told her. “Since the moment we met.”