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Arianna gave her the world’s laziest thumbs up. “The rearway is open for business for the next few minutes,” she recited in Mandarin, relying on the prerecorded messages she occasionally heard in small Singaporean shops.

“You are insane. How?”

Arianna grinned, everything mushed against a pillow. “Brain chemicals.”

“Like I said, you are insane.”

“Hey!” The more Elle talked, the more her girlfriend talked back. “You wanna fuck me from behind or not? I can go again!”

“Now?”

“Yeah! Now! You too tired?”

“Like give me a minute!”

“You’ve got four more before the door locks!”

“What does that mean?”

Arianna wiggled her ass in the air. “It means you’ve taken me past the point of no return. I can go all night.”

“What if I can’t?”

That’s a challenge I’m willing to take. “You can.”

It may take Elle a few minutes to agree, but she usually came around to whatever Arianna wanted.

Once the moisture dissipated from the bathroom, Elle closed the shower door and finished combing her wet hair. From the bathroom door to the bedroom was a long line of towels that could have only been from Arianna getting in and out of the shower whenever she pleased. Sounds like a mess to clean up tomorrow. Elle shut off the bathroom light and reentered the bedroom, where Arianna lay naked with her head propped up on a pillow in the center of the bed.

She was breathtaking.

The hardest part about getting old is not having the stamina I used to. To be fair, Elle had gone farther and more beyond what she thought physically possible that night, and she only had Arianna to thank.

“I have something to confess.” Elle stood by the bed, wishing she had the gumption to take off her robe and lie naked with her girlfriend. “I’m afraid that if I don’t say it now, I’ll talk myself out of it tomorrow.”

Arianna perked up, her cheeks flushed from the shower… and from whatever Elle did to her. Yes, I did that. I’ve made her feel this way. Elle was well aware that what Arianna offered her now was something special. She’s shown me a part of her she’s never shown anyone else. Elle knew what that meant.

She had to say it.

“What?” Arianna asked.

Elle sat beside her, searching for Arianna’s hand. As their knuckles brushed together, Elle said, “I love you.”

A slight glint of excitement alighted in Arianna’s eyes. “Huh?”

“I said that I love you. I have for a long time. Since the moment I saw you. I just didn’t know those were the words for what I felt.”

“Really?” Arianna brushed her long hair away from her cheek. “You mean that?”

“I don’t say things that I don’t mean. I hope you know that about me by now.”

“I do.”

“So…” Elle cleared her throat. “I mean it. I love you.”

Arianna curled up against her thigh. “I love you too.”

Even though Elle was fairly certain that would be the response, she was still relieved. “What does this mean now, you think?”