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“No, I know you weren’t. And thanks. I appreciate that.”

She parked right in front of Avery’s building, and as soon as she turned off the car, she pulled her into a kiss. A long, sweet kissthat got a lot more than sweet by the time they both came up for air.

“Let’s go inside now,” she said in Avery’s ear. “Because I’ve been dying to see those hips of yours move again for me, but up close this time.”

Avery flung open her car door and jumped out. Taylor laughed all the way up the stairs.

Sixteen

Avery woke up the morningof the baby shower to Taylor nuzzling into her neck.

“That tickles,” she said, trying not to giggle.

“Mmm, good to know,” Taylor said. She kissed the nape of Avery’s neck, and then ran a hand down her body. “Does that mean you want me to stop?”

Avery kept her eyes closed and smiled to herself. She loved waking up in bed with Taylor.

“I didn’t saythat,” she said.

“Well.” Taylor dropped a kiss on her upper back. “Sometimes people don’t like being tickled, so I wanted to make sure you weren’t one of those people.” Taylor kissed her all along her spine, gentle little kisses that made Avery’s whole body tingle.

“I don’t like being tickled by most people,” Avery said, which was true. Most people didn’t know how to stop, but Taylor did. “But I like everything you do to me.” That was also true, but it was something she probably wouldn’t have said if she’d been fully awake. She didn’t want Taylor to think she was falling too hard.She didn’t want to fall too hard. She wasn’t, actually, falling hard at all. It was just that she was having great sex on a regular basis, so of course she wanted to be around Taylor all the time. But that didn’t mean anything. This thing was going to end, at some point, she didn’t know when, but probably soon, and she knew that. She wasn’t one of those people who were going to get their heart broken by Taylor.

“What a coincidence,” Taylor said as she kissed the small of her back. “Because I like everything you do to me, too.” Taylor dropped a kiss right in the center of first one ass cheek, and then the other, making Avery giggle again. She turned onto her back to find Taylor grinning at her.

“What can I say, I love your ass,” she said. “It’s so soft and round, and it fits into my hands so well.”

Avery couldn’t help but smile as she looked at Taylor. Taylor made her feel so good about her body. So goodinher body. Part of it was absolutely that Taylor clearly liked her body so much and had since the very beginning. She’d given Avery compliments that were so casual and matter-of-fact that after a while, Avery couldn’t help but believe her. But a big part of it was also thatshefound Taylor so attractive that it helped her realize how Taylor—and other people—could be attracted toher. She loved the dimples in Taylor’s thighs; the curve of her belly; her strong, solid arms; and her round, substantial ass. She discovered something new about Taylor’s body almost every day.

“You know,” she said, “there are other parts of my body that are soft and round and fit into your hands well.”

Taylor’s mouth dropped open in mock surprise.

“Are there now?” She moved her hands back up and cupped Avery’s breasts. “Mmm, were you talking about these?”

Avery closed her eyes as Taylor’s fingers moved around theoutsides of her breasts, and then slowly inward, until they circled her nipples.

“I was,” she said. “My God, I love it when you do that.” She sighed as one of Taylor’s hands drifted down to move between her legs. “And Ireallylove it when you do that. How did I get so lucky?”

Taylor chuckled as her mouth followed her fingers.

“We make our own luck, you know.” Taylor pushed Avery’s legs open, and Avery propped herself up on her elbows. As much as she loved it when Taylor went down on her, she loved watching her do it almost as much. The way her hands lingered on her inner thighs; the way she smiled with anticipation every time, like she couldn’t wait to do it; the way she manipulated Avery’s body like she was playing an instrument; that sly little grin on her face when she slid first one finger inside, then a second; how serious she looked when she really got into it, like it was the most important thing in the world.

And then Avery’s vision blurred; she couldn’t hold herself up anymore. She had to give herself over to how her body felt, like nothing could ever feel better than what Taylor was doing right now, but then Taylor went faster, and then faster, and Avery could barely breathe, her whole body tensed up, and then she gasped and dug her fingers into Taylor’s shoulder and arched her back as the waves of pleasure hit her, so good it was almost painful, so good she had no idea what noises she was making and didn’t care, she just wanted to prolong this as much as she could. And then with one final gasp, she collapsed, still holding on to Taylor.

When she could talk again, she turned to Taylor and smiled.

“And that was before you knew anything about the surprise I have for you today,” she said.

Taylor’s eyes opened wide.

“A surprise? That sounds exciting. Is it that I don’t have to goto the shower after all? Is it that there’s going to be one of those dunk contests and I’m going to get to dunk Sloane? Ooh, ooh, or is one of the games going to be a pie-in-the-face game, and I’m going to get to—”

Avery put a finger on Taylor’s lips, but she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Stop it. Sloane isn’t that bad. And you have to go to the shower, you’re hosting it, you lost the bet, remember?”

Taylor sighed, then grinned that devilish grin of hers.