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“What’s on your mind, beautiful?” I decided to say. I wasn’t above using extra flattery to convince her to keep doing…whatever it was we were doing.

A long, heavy sigh sounded on the other end before Jacqueline grumbled something to herself that I couldn’t make out.

“What was that?”

“I told my therapist about you,” she blurted out, “About us.”

I raised my eyebrows, accidentally making eye contact with Taylor a few feet away as I replied, “And…how did that go?”

Taylor raised a dark eyebrow at me in question as they took a drink from their water bottle.

I shrugged because I had no idea what the fuck was going on.

“Good. Fine. Splendid.”

“Splendid,” I chuckled, dropping my gaze to my boots and unlacing them a bit, “Have you ever used that word before?”

“No,” Jacqueline laughed, and my cheeks hurt from the smile I made at the sound, “I’m just nervous. I’m bad at this.”

“At what, exactly?”

Please, please don’t end this.

“At communicating my feelings,” Jacqueline sighed again, “I talked to her about how I couldn’t, um, finish…the last time we hung out.”

I widened my eyes, scraping a hand down my face.

“Okay,” I turned to see Taylor plopping themselves down next to me, their dark blue gaze flicking over me in curiosity, “…in the same conversation you told her about me?”

“No, no, she’s known about you since day one.”

I smirked a little, hopeful that this was a good thing and not a bad thing, “Really? And what does your therapist think about our situation?”

Taylor’s brows raised while they shifted to face me directly, not bothering to pretend they weren’t eavesdropping. I grinned at them but kept the cell to my ear.

“She said I need to talk to you about how embarrassed I am over what happened. How I reacted. I don’t know. So I guess I’m calling to see if you want to come over tonight or tomorrow to do that. And like…justdo that.”

“Ah,” I scraped my thumb across my bottom lip, both of my arms resting on my knees as Taylor and I sat on the grass, “I’m just finishing rugby and smell awful, I’m afraid. I’d love to stop by tomorrow, though. I want to know what your therapist has to say.”

“Okay—It’s all good stuff, by the way—” Jacqueline’s words made me drop my head in relief, “I mean, it’s awkward and weird and I’ll probably fumble the conversation. But my therapist likes you. For me, that is. Well, she likes how I have talked about you in our sessions. She doesn’tknowyou, and my perspective is completely biased because you made me an orgasming queen—”

I choked a laugh, covering my mouth with my free hand, “Queen, you say? Do I need to bow to you?”

Jacqueline snorted, “Okay, so. Tomorrow. We’ll talk. No P’s in V’s. Just…talking.”

“Just talking.” I agreed, feeling a bit of relief from Jacqueline’s words. She wouldn’t lead me on. She was a straightforward and to-the-point kind of woman. If she said things were good, I believed her.

“…Maybe some kissing.”

“Definitely some kissing.”

“But none of your magic dick.”

“What the fu—” I clapped my hand over my eyes as I laughed, “I’m glad you think my dick is magical.” Taylor choked on the water they had just taken a sip of, cupping their hand under their chin in an attempt to prevent the water from spilling all over their shirt.

“Alright, I need to go so I can spiral in embarrassment over how this entire call went,” Jacqueline rushed the words out of her mouth, making me laugh again at how adorable she was, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a good night, love.”