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Isabel shivered with desire. The things Mira could do to her just with words, sitting across the table… “Do you memorize every poem that you study?”

“I don’t go out of my way to do it. But the poems I’ve read and studied and taught for years stay with me.”

“And you never thought you might like women yourself?”

Mira laughed—a bright, pealing sound. “You know, for a long time, I was averse to any kind of personal identification with my work. I got tired of people assuming that I must study gender or South Asia or something. But all this time, I could have just been learning from Sappho herself.”

Her leg pressed against Isabel’s again. No, that was Mira’s foot, deliberately running up and down Isabel’s calf, insistent and warm through Isabel’s slacks.

For a second, Isabel entirely forgot what they were talking about. “Let’s get the check.”

The walkhome from the park had never been so torturously long. By the time they stumbled through the front door, holding hands and giggling like loons, Isabel could barely think. She slammed the door shut and pulled Mira into a kiss. They warmed up fast from the cold, and Mira whimpered urgently as her lipstick slid against Isabel’s mouth. Isabel wanted to get lost in kissing this woman senseless forever.

Then Mira stumbled and yelped, and Isabel rushed and caught her before she fell. “These heels,” Mira muttered. She kicked them across the floor. Then she yanked Isabel down to her height for another kiss.

Isabel had to slow down before she got swept away—she had to make this last. She broke off their kiss. “Mira, sweetheart,” she said, their faces an inch apart. Mira looked startled. Isabel had let the word slip out. “Let’s take your coat off.”

Mira fumbled with her buttons, clearly impatient. Isabel leaned forward, cupped Mira’s face, and kissed her on the cheek again. “Take your time. We have all night, okay?”

Mira nodded. When she was turned on, she was unbelievably, adorably sexy, all pleading doe eyes and flushed skin and the sweetest needy sounds. Isabel was going to keep her promise from last week. She was going to give Mira the best night she’d ever had.

Mira finished unbuttoning her coat, and Isabel slipped it off her shoulders and hung it up. She did the same with her own coat and turned back to Mira, already mildly debauched with her hair tousled and her lipstick a little smudged. Not so waterproof after all.

It was hard to be patient. Isabel wanted to mess her up thoroughly, to unzip her out of that dress and tug those tights off… But she had to focus. She indulged herself in one more kiss. This time, Mira tugged at her suit lapels, and Isabel went weak in the knees.

“I’ve wanted to do that ever since I saw you in this suit,” Mira said, when they came up for air.

Isabel shivered. This was going to be the end of her. “Mira.” She ran a thumb along Mira’s jaw and took in the way her eyes widened. “Let’s get to my bed before I do all the things I want to do to you right in this hallway.”

Mira squirmed against her. “You could.”

Isabel grinned. “Don’t tempt me. Here, hold on.” In one swift motion, she crouched and scooped up Mira like a bride. Mira shrieked and laughed and held on tight. Isabel would never have anything more precious in her arms. “Let’s go.”

24

Mira nestledher head against Isabel’s shoulder as she was carried across the threshold. This was where she belonged, safe in Isabel’s arms, warm and melty and so, so turned on. “Turn the light on for me,” Isabel said, her voice velvety and low.

Mira reached out and flipped the light switch. She had only been in Isabel’s bedroom while showing strangers the apartment, looking around the room with a longing she couldn’t name. Now she knew what she wanted, and she was exactly where she wanted to be.

Isabel set her down with exquisite carefulness on top of the covers. Mira stretched out on the flannel bedspread, which was thick, rugged, and surprisingly soft against her bare skin. Not unlike Isabel herself. Mira reveled in the intimacy of it. Isabel slept in this bed every night, and soon she was going to fuck Mira in it.

Isabel shut the door, which made Mira smile as she shivered in anticipation. They had this cozy apartment all to themselves, and it wasn’t as though anyone else would bother them. Isabel turned the bedside lamp on and the overhead light off, casting the room in a soothing glow.

“Can I unzip you?” Isabel asked.

“Yes, please. Let me take my earrings off, too.” Mira sat up in the center of the bed, kneeled with her back to Isabel, and slipped the hooks out of her earlobes. She had thrifted her dress earlier in the week, wanting to wear something Isabel would be the first to unzip her out of—and now she was vibrating with impatience, squeezing her thighs together, struggling to keep still. The bed dipped behind her, and she put her earrings and bangles onto Isabel’s outstretched palm.

Her necklace could stay on. Isabel would probably like her in that and nothing else.

Isabel parted her hair down the center and pushed it to either side of her neck. “I love your hair,” she murmured. She undid the clasp at the top of Mira’s dress, undoing what she’d done earlier, her fingertips tickling Mira’s bare skin.

Isabel pulled the zipper down very, very slowly. Then her breath was on the newly exposed part of Mira’s back, between her shoulder blades, and then came a teasing kiss that left Mira tingling.

“I’ve been thinking about this ever since you asked me to zip you up.” Isabel’s breath was warm against Mira’s skin. Then came another kiss, open-mouthed this time, wet and white-hot against her spine. If Mira weren’t already kneeling, her legs would have buckled. It was both frustrating and wonderful to be slowly teased like this—to be handled with care, as though she were precious, by someone who knew exactly what she was doing. “I thought about unzipping you instead and having you right there in the living room. I almost couldn’t wait.”

She pressed more kisses all the way down Mira’s back, and once the dress was fully unzipped, she coaxed it off Mira’s shoulders. Mira couldn’t wait any longer, and she got her arms free and twisted around. Isabel’s eyes were blazing with desire, and Mira tangled her fingers in Isabel’s thick hair and kissedher. They tumbled onto the bed, Isabel on top, kissing like they needed each other more than air.

They only broke apart to get Mira’s dress off her hips and peel her tights off. “God, Mira, you’re so fucking gorgeous,” Isabel said, panting, both of them fumbling with her clothes. They finally came off, and then Mira was down to her lacy lingerie, her prettiest, skimpiest matching set.