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That thought made Megan happy, being into sci-fi herself.

And, of course, the most important thing about the barista: Megan’s gaydar was pinging like there was a Russian sub dead ahead. Ping! Ping! Ping!

Then, surprisingly, the barista had invited her to stay!

Ping!

Megan raised an expectant eyebrow at the other woman as she waited for the answer to her invitation to hang out on the sofa.

The barista swallowed.

“What about your drawing?”

Megan pshawed.

“I got all night to do that. I’ll work on it when I get home later.”

“Okay, then; yeah, I’ll join you. Just give me a sec.”

“Excellent,” Megan said, feeling like that silly schoolgirl again. It was as if the cheerleading captain had agreed to sit with her in the cafeteria. Alone. So cliché, Megan knew, but, well, cheerleaders...

She went over to the indicated sofa in its own little niche and sat down. Her Americano smelled fabulous. Reaching up to her face, a sudden thought struck her.

“Damn!” she exclaimed.

It caught the attention of the barista across the room. “Is something wrong?”

Megan looked over at her.

“I just realized that I’ll have to remove my mask to drink my coffee and then that made me realize you might be uncomfortable about it, me being a perfect stranger and all.”

The barista looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

“Are you perfect?” she asked.

Megan’s mouth dropped open and she blushed.

“You know what I meant,” she replied with a laugh. Were they flirting?

“Well, have you been careful?”

“Totally,” Megan said. “I’ve been working from home since March and I’m something of a hermit anyway so my house has been like my Fortress of Solitude.” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, wait! There was that time I snuck into Wuhan and licked all the doorknobs! Shoot! I forgot about that!”

Laughing, the other woman started walking over, carrying her own cup of coffee. Megan’s eyes automatically locked onto the movement of her hips. When she reached the sofa, she sat two cushions away from Megan and then raised her coffee mug.

“Looks like I’ll have to take my mask off too,” she said with a grin. “So we’ll be sharing the risk. On three?”

“Cool,” Megan said. She was digging this barista and her fun attitude. And she was digging those biceps, too. They were the perfect combination of strength and femininity and Megan could imagine how amazing it would be to feel enclosed by them in an embrace. Safe and…turned on.

“One...two...three!”

Simultaneously, both masks were pulled off. Megan’s breath hitched as the barista’s face was fully revealed showing a pert nose and full lips that were glossed with a purplish color. She was gorgeous. Like cover girl gorgeous. It took a moment before Megan realized that she had now spent several seconds staring at the barista’s lips. She wrenched her eyes upwards only to discover that the barista was also staring at Megan’s lips.

Megan had to cross her legs.

“I’m Megan, by the way,” she said to get her mind off some rapidly developing lascivious ideas.

“Vanessa.” The introduction was accompanied by a megawatt smile.