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“I suppose,” Athena murmured, her brain struggling to catch up.

“You don’t think you hide away in your house?”

“My house is safe,” Athena answered honestly.

“Sometimes it’s necessary to take risks.” Monti kissed Athena’s knuckles.

Would Monti start the same path back up to her neck again? Athena would love that. The kiss against her wrist brought back the memories from moments before. A flush washed through her, and Athena smiled.

“What risk are you taking?”

“Many.” Monti winked and kissed Athena’s forearm, over the cloth of her jacket again. So they were playing this game. The real question was whether or not Athena could wait for the inevitable or if she wanted to skip straight to the good parts. “Did you know that Monti isn’t my real name?”

“What?” Athena blinked hard, suddenly tossed straight back into reality.

“Fallon’s always called me that, ever since our parents died. Dad named me after his mother. No one wanted to be reminded of who we were related to. So they started calling me Monti after Mom. Her maiden name was Montgomery.” Monti kissed Athena’s shoulder and then her neck.

“So are you avoiding or are they avoiding for you?”

“Astute question, young grasshopper.” Monti’s tongue dashed across Athena’s neck, flicking against her skin.

Athena gasped, curling her fingers into Monti’s hand and tightening her grasp sharply. Moving in, Athena kissed her quickly before pulling back and remembering the clearing of the throat from before. She didn’t want to experience that again. “Monti…”

“Five hundred and one ways to say my name. What does that one mean?” Monti scraped her teeth across Athena’s skin.

Athena bit back the groan, closing her eyes as her underwear was nearly soaked through already. If Monti continued this, she’d have yet another orgasm without being touched. And fuck, she wanted Monti to touch her this time. There was no doubt in her mind about it now.

“It’s a warning,” Athena answered, meaning her tone to be sharp and commanding. Instead it came out breathy, and she barely held back a second groan.

“A warning or a siren’s call?”

“Damn it, Monti,” Athena muttered and kissed her quickly. “We still have to get to Florida.”

“I thought the vacation had already started.” Monti’s grin was outright cocky. “No one here knows who we are. Why are you so concerned about what they think?”

Why was she? All Athena had done her entire life was try to live up to the expectations that were placed on her. Since the moment she was born, people expected her to be someone, and she’d lived those prescribed roles with every breath she had.

But Monti had none.

No, that wasn’t true.

Monti expected her to be no one but herself. Free. Authentic. Pure. Honest. Staring into Monti’s eyes now, all she saw reflected back at her was curiosity and gentleness. Athena had gone to school, she’d gotten married, she’d had a child—everything she had done was to fulfill someone else’s expectations.

But what expectations did she have?

What did she want?

In that moment, she could only come up with one answer. Pulling Monti forward by the back of the neck, Athena kissed her hard. All doubt had left her. Their lips moved over each other, teasing and pleasuring. Athena hummed as her eyes fluttered closed, and then she pulled away.

She smiled, and she knew it was cocky.

Athena pecked Monti’s lips, her grin broadening.

Without a word, Athena undid the buckle on her belt and slid out of the seat. She couldn’t stop smiling. Why had it taken her so long to figure this out? Why had it taken twenty years of a self-made prison for her to understand that she didn’t have to live up to anyone else but herself. She grinned at Monti as she walked down the thin aisle of the airplane toward the bathroom.

This was it.

This was what she wanted.