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“I don’t want to get in over my head,” Arianna softly said. “I don’t want to think this is something that it’s not.”

“What might it not be?”

Arianna slightly cocked her head in confusion. “If you mean what I worry about… I guess I’m trying to stay smart about this. If I sleep with you on top of having sex with you, then it means I like you. If I like you, I might get hurt. There might be consequences.”

“We’re past the point of facing consequences.”

“I know. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Aria.” Elle sat up, resting her chin atop Arianna’s shoulder. God, she smells like a queen. The sweat of her skin. The perfume from a bottle. She was the best of both womanly worlds. “No being afraid in here. We’re two grown adults. We’ve decided to be together tonight. So, let’s stay together. What happens after tomorrow… that’s for the future versions of us to contemplate. What do you want?”

“Huh?”

“From tonight. If you could have anything, what would it be?” Elle grinned against the terrycloth bathrobe. “Conversation? Cuddling? More sex?”

A soft laugh of acknowledgment made Arianna relax. “I don’t know. Nothing is waiting for me in my room. The same thing I always do. Watch movies and fight jet lag so I can sleep.”

“I’ve got jet lag too. Let’s stay up and get to know each other even more.”

“Do you mean learn about each other’s childhoods? Or bodies?”

“Honestly, I’d love to do both.”

She laughed. “You’re easy to be around. I’m not used to wanting to hang out after I’m done… you know… with someone. Usually, it gets awkward, or we’ve got what we needed.”

Elle untied the front of Arianna’s robe, enticing the white fabric to fall from her shoulder, where Elle traced the prominent line of her lover’s shoulder blade. “I think that’s my problem. I haven’t gotten what I need from you yet.”

“Which is?”

Despite Arianna’s best efforts to keep her robe on her body, Elle pulled it down farther, blowing air against the curve of that beautiful spine. “Companionship. I’m a lonely woman, too, Aria. It’s been a long time since I cuddled someone all night.” She tried to banish the memory of Pamela from her mind. That relationship was over. She had grieved. She honored its place in her romantic history. But it was over. “I’d love for you to be the woman who makes me remember what it’s like to have someone.”

She traced her finger back up Arianna’s neck and into her bun. Before she could release that curtain of silky black hair, though, Arianna snatched Elle’s hand away, stiffening.

“No…” she said.

“I’m sorry. You need to go, huh?”

“No, I mean… not the hair. It’s such a pain to put back up.”

“Here I was about to ask you to take a shower with me.”

Arianna pursed her lips. “I’m very adept at showering with my hair up.”

“Is that so?” Arianna did not resist when Elle finished pulling down her robe, feeling that warm and feminine body that had beguiled her for the past hour. “I’m pretty good at washing another woman’s body if I’m being honest.”

The tiniest gasp escaped Arianna’s mouth. “I bet you are.”

Elle held on, afraid to let her go. “I can make you feel as good in the shower as I do in this bed.” Her hand was soon between Arianna’s legs again, ready to prove it.

Arianna leaned back in Elle’s hold, head against her shoulder. “I have a feeling we’re not making it to the shower.”

“Oh, we will. I might have to take you for another spin in the bed first. That’s all.”

Elle placed a well-timed kiss on those receptive lips. As her arms squeezed and her hands grabbed whatever was beneath them, she swore she felt all of the fear, the trepidation dissipate from Arianna’s body.

“Okay,” Arianna whispered in Mandarin. “Wo xiang yào.”

As it so happened, Elle also wanted more.