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“I’m impatient.” Athena dropped her hips down, pushing Monti’s hand more firmly against her.

Monti laughed. “If that’s all it is.”

“That’s it.”

“Then will you let me touch you?”

“I told you to already.”

“Testy, are we?” Monti kissed Athena’s neck. “Can I put my fingers in you?”

“That’s probably the least sexy way to say that. Couldn’t think of anything else with your word magic?” Athena dropped her hips again, as if she was trying to grind against Monti’s open palm. And maybe she was. Maybe that was her solution to the fact that Monti was insisting on directions.

“Sometimes clarity isn’t sexy. And it was a nicer way of asking if you don’t mind penetration.” Monti moved up, looking into Athena’s eyes. She couldn’t tell just from her voice if this was an avoidance tactic or simply Athena’s odd way of flirting. Monti waited as Athena’s eyes cleared and her mouth opened.

“Oh. No.” Athena brushed her fingers against Monti’s cheek, then her lips. “That’s exactly what I want.”

“Tell me if you want to stop.”

Their mouths pressed together hard. Monti kept her fingers flat against Athena, bringing them back into the moment and out of the technicalities of sex for the first time with someone new. She deepened the kiss, sliding their tongues together, pressing their bodies tight. When Athena relaxed, when she dropped her hips and moaned, Monti finally made her move.

She dipped her fingers between Athena’s hot and swollen lips, finding her slick and wet. She pressed slowly, backing away on a tease and then pressed again. Athena keened, her arms tightening in a grasp around Monti’s shoulders as she bit Monti’s earlobe and then her neck, sucking hard. Monti swallowed, wetting her thumb.

Slow circles. Teasing circles. Monti counted to ten, then fifteen, then twenty before Athena bit her neck hard.

“Stop teasing already,” Athena said into Monti’s shoulders. “I told you what I want.”

“You did,” Monti answered, biting back her smile. She started with one finger. She pushed slowly inside, past the tight circle, and straight to her second knuckle.

Athena bucked her hips. “Yes.”

Monti kept the motion with her thumb, making sure that she was teasing and distracting in every way she possibly could. This was only the beginning, she knew that, and it was such a glorious way to start.

“More,” Athena demanded. “I need more.”

Monti moved her finger in and out, but Athena clenched her eyes and shook her head back and forth.

“No. Another finger.”

Doing as she was told, Monti slid in a second finger. Athena groaned and pressed their mouths together in a sloppy kiss as if she was drunk off the pleasure. Maybe she was. Maybe Monti had found the last key that Athena needed to unleash everything. Athena dug her nails into Monti’s shoulders as she clutched her back.

Monti stroked Athena’s clit as she slid her fingers in and out. She watched with rapt attention as Athena closed her eyes and bit her lip.

“More.”

She added a third finger, the tight circle of Athena’s body straining under the intrusion and hugging Monti’s fingers. She moved slowly, not wanting to cause any pain or harm. Athena’s hips jerked sharply, only this time Monti had no doubt it was from the pinnacle of pleasure Athena was about to reach.

Athena’s breathing increased, her lips parted, and she was lost. Monti held her here to reality, but that was it. The one thread that could send her away and pull her back. Monti pressed her body in, keeping as tight a hold as she dared. Athena jerked again, then again. She cried out, her chest coming forward as all that pleasure that had been building pulsed through her.

Monti stayed with her. She eased her through everything, pressing kisses against her neck and cheeks and lips as she waited. When Athena opened her eyes, when she looked directly at Monti, she shook her head with a loud laugh, one that was completely free.

“You stopped running,” Athena stated so simply.

“So did you,” Monti answered.

Laughing again, Athena kissed Monti fully on the lips. Monti kept her fingers firmly inside Athena for as long as she could, enjoying the way Athena moved against her, not confined, not weighed down.

“What’s next?” Athena answered, eyes bright with curiosity.