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L inden’s tongue was inside Asher’s mouth. She thought about that for a moment… Her tongue was inside her best friend’s mouth, and neither of them was drunk. Completely sober and well aware of feelings between them now, there would be no excuse or way out of this if Asher decided when the kiss ended that she didn’t want to kiss Linden ever again. Linden had assumed the point of no return with them would be sharing her feelings with Asher, but it was really this. This kiss was the point of no return.

Asher moaned. That meant she liked it, right? Linden slid a hand up her back, under the T-shirt Asher had stolen from her, and she felt Asher’s soft, warm skin. No, it wasn’t just warm. It was hot.

Linden had long ago abandoned the dance they’d only just started, and she moved closer to Asher, sucking on her bottom lip now. When she had woken up that morning, she thought only of the fact that Asher was moving soon and that they had no time to have a conversation like the one they’d had at their accidental date. Now, she was kissing Asher and feeling like she was finally kissing someone who mattered. The last thing she wanted to do was to stop the kiss, but she could hear the sounds of oil popping behind her, reminding her that they were supposed to be making beignets right now.

Asher must have heard it, too, because she slowly pulled back, opened her eyes, and told her softly, “I don’t want us to burn the place down.”

“We can skip the donuts and keep doing this,” Linden suggested. “I just need to turn off the burner.”

“You promised me beignets,” Asher said with her arms still around Linden’s neck.

“Act like you’re going to eat them,” she teased. “But I promised, so I shall deliver,” she added before she leaned forward and pressed her lips quickly to Asher’s once more.

She wanted to make sure that Asher knew that this was what she wanted. Linden wanted the promise of more kisses with her and that they’d have them as soon as they could.

Then, she turned back to the stove and looked around, reorienting herself to the task at hand because her brain hadn’t been able to process any thoughts during that kiss, and her libido was trying to convince her to press Asher up against the wall and claim her. It was a little caveman for her taste, but now that Linden had kissed her, she knew Asher was the only woman she wanted to kiss from now on. Linden pushed the nagging thought about Dallas out of her mind and went about making some damn donuts.

“Here,” Asher said minutes later as the beignets were bouncing in the oil, browned and ready to be taken out.

She had pulled out a pair of tongs from a drawer and moved in front of the pot of oil. Linden stood next to her and watched her pull the beignets out one by one, placing each on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. They’d only made six of them, knowing Asher wouldn’t eat all that many anyway, and they were best right out of the oil, hot and coated in powdered sugar.

“Now what?” Asher asked after she turned the burner off and set down the tongs.

“Now, we get messy,” Linden replied.

◆◆◆

She rolled over, expecting to see Asher there because, more nights than not recently, she had been, but then Linden remembered that she’d gone home last night. After they’d made beignets, they’d eaten them on the sofa and hadn’t talked about anything happening between them. They’d watched a movie during and after, and for the first time in their ten-year relationship, Linden had wrapped an arm around Asher in a way that told her she wanted to cuddle with her date, not just sit next to her friend comfortably. Asher had settled against her side, and her head had gone to Linden’s shoulder. It hadn’t taken long for Asher’s arm to rest over Linden’s stomach and for Linden to feel this built-up tension, that had maybe been there her entire life, fall away all at once.

After the movie, she had thought about asking to stay, but there was something about this being a first date that had her telling Asher that she should go. Their second kiss had occurred at Asher’s front door, after Linden had ordered a car. Linden had left her to-go meal in the fridge and her date clothes in the guest room because she knew she would be back, and not just as a friend, but as Asher’s date.

“Good night,” she’d said after pulling away from the soft and perfect kiss.

“Good night,” Asher had replied. “Text me when–”

“I get home. I know,” she said and pressed her lips to Asher’s once more. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”

And she’d left. Now, she was waking up alone, regretting that she’d left at all. She could’ve woken up with Asher and held her close, kissed her good morning for the first time, and made her breakfast again, but as more than a friend this time. Instead, Linden tried to be chivalrous because kissing Asher made her want to do more with her, and she knew they shouldn’t do that without first figuring out what they were doing about this new thing between them.

“Morning.”

Linden looked up from her desk and saw Kyle standing there in her doorway.

“Hey. Did we have an appointment?” she asked, surprised to see her.

“No. Mel said she’d left her sweater here, so I thought I’d stop by and pick it up, if that’s okay.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s still on the chair,” Linden replied.

Kyle walked in, spotted the forgotten item, went to grab it, and asked, “So, did you have a good night?”

“Yeah. You?” she asked, keeping things vague.

“Yeah. We did some wedding planning and…” Kyle shrugged.

“Got it,” Linden said, chuckling. “Is wedding planning a turn-on in your house?”

“Apparently,” Kyle replied as she sat down in the chair. “I never thought I’d get married, you know? My life hasn’t ever been easy, so I assumed meeting the woman for me was going to take forever or maybe wouldn’t happen at all. Jolie is a lot more well-adjusted than me, so I never worried about her, but my mom was a piece of work and still is. She’s working on it now, though, but nothing has ever been easy in my life. Then, I met Melinda, and it just clicked. We fit, and we fell in love, but I still almost can’t believe that we’re getting married.”

“I’m really happy for you two. I only know a little of your story, but I’d say you deserve something happening a little easier for once.”

“What about you?” Kyle asked.

“What about me?”

Kyle cleared her throat and said, “Just… What about… How did… Are you happy?”

Linden leaned back in her chair and squinted at Kyle.

“They sent you in here to get details on my date, didn’t they?” she asked. “Did Mel leave that sweater on purpose?”

“What? No, I–”

“Hey, Linden?” Asher said, appearing in her doorway and interrupting Kyle. “Oh, hi.”

“Hi, Asher,” Kyle said.

“Kyle stopped by to get a sweater that Melinda didn’t leave here on purpose,” Linden said with a smirk.

“Don’t shoot the messenger,” Kyle replied, holding up her hands in supplication.

“Sophie just called me,” Asher shared, walking into the room. “She said she was just calling to see if I wanted to hang out, but then she tossed in a question about last night and asked how I was.” Asher shook her head.

“Are the four of you in on this?” Linden asked Kyle.

“It was Bryce’s idea. Sophie is going along with it, like me. Mel asked me to come in because you knew she’d been part of setting you two up, and it would be easier to get intel if it was me.”

“Intel?” Asher laughed.

“Everyone wants to know how it went last night,” Kyle said.

“Everyone?” Linden asked.

“Yeah, everyone. Bridgette and Monica want to know, too, but they’re busy with work and letting us handle it.”

“Oh, my God,” Asher said, laughing a little.

“Take your fiancée’s sweater and go,” Linden told her, shaking her head at Kyle.

“You’re not going to give me anything?”

“No way,” Linden said, still laughing.

“I think this is going to be fun,” Asher noted.

“If you two are joking around like this, it has to be good news, right?” Kyle asked as she stood.

“ Goodbye , Kyle,” Asher added.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Kyle said, laughing a little as she walked out of the room.

Linden stared at Asher, who was watching Kyle leave before she turned around and met Linden’s eyes.

“Good morning.”

“You were on a call when I got here. I didn’t want to interrupt,” Linden said.

“Apartment-hunting. I tried to make an appointment to see a place online, but it wouldn’t save my appointment, so I had to call their office,” Asher replied.

Linden’s smile dropped from her face.

“Hey, what are you doing for lunch?” Asher changed the subject.

“Nothing. Why?”

“Want a date?”

“A lunch date with my friend, Asher, or a lunch date with Asher, the woman I’m maybe dating?”

“The second one.” Asher winked at her. “And it’s not maybe.”

Linden nodded and said, “Yeah? I’d love a lunch date with you, then.”

Two hours later, she was sitting at a booth at Mac’s, with Asher across from her, and it felt familiar but new at the same time. They’d shared lunch hundreds of times before, but this time was different.

“I haven’t kissed you today yet,” Linden said as they waited for their food to be dropped off.

“That sounds so weird,” Asher noted with a laugh.

“But good, right?”

“Yes. Very good,” Asher said. “Well, not the part about how you haven’t kissed me, but the part where it sounds like kissing me is now part of your daily plan.”

“I have a checklist now. Kissing Asher every day is at the top of it. It’s also every other item on the list, too,” Linden said.

“Hey, you two.”

Linden turned, hearing a familiar voice and seeing Jill walking toward them.

“Jill,” Asher said with gritted teeth.

“I’m just grabbing lunch. I didn’t expect to see you here. Can I join? I was going to grab it to-go, but if you’re here, we can all hang.”

Jill sat down next to Linden then, and Linden looked at Asher, who had the funniest expression on her face. Well, it wasn’t exactly funny to Asher, but the adorable jealous look she had right now was priceless to Linden.

“We were just having a working lunch,” Linden offered. “Boring wedding-planning stuff.”

“For Mel and Kyle, or Monica and Bridge?” Jill asked.

“Neither. We have a big client. Lots of details around napkin folding. Very boring stuff,” she said, trying to get Jill to take the hint.

“Napkin folding? People really care about how their napkins are folded at their wedding?” Jill asked.

“Yes, they do,” Asher muttered and looked off toward the counter.

“Ash?” Linden said.

When Asher turned back to her, Linden nodded toward Jill, silently asking if it was okay to tell her. Asher nodded, too, but she nodded to the empty seat next to her. Linden took the hint, exited the booth on her side, and slid into the empty spot next to Asher.

“Will you do that thing we were just talking about?” Asher asked quietly.

“Yeah,” she said, wrapping one arm over the back of the booth and using her other hand to cup Asher’s cheek. “And to be clear, if I do this once, I only get to check it off my list once. I still have it another thirty times or so.”

“So, we’ll need to kiss multiple–”

Linden pressed her lips to Asher’s, cutting her off, and kissed her slowly, not asking for more because she knew where they were and that Jill was sitting across from them, watching this moment between them. When Linden pulled back, she smiled at Asher, trying to convey to her without words that she didn’t want to kiss Jill ever again. She only wanted to kiss her.

“What are you doing?” Asher asked Jill after they’d turned to her.

“Texting everyone,” Jill replied like it was obvious.

“They sent you, didn’t they?” Linden asked.

“Yup.” Jill nodded. “Kyle couldn’t get it out of you, and Sophie, apparently, failed miserably. Mel and Bryce would be too obvious. Bridgette and Monica just said they’d wait for you to tell them, so I was sent in. You two made it really easy on me, though, so thanks for that.”

Asher laughed and asked, “How did you even know we’d be here?”

“I didn’t. I went to the office first. Mel told me to take the afternoon if I had to. We’re all very invested in this now. I tried the pizza place you said you went to sometimes first and then here.”

“My God!” Asher laughed as she lowered her head to Linden’s shoulder.

Linden looked at Jill and smiled at her.

“You two look really happy,” Jill noted. “And now that I’ve confirmed what we’d all hoped, I will leave you two alone to talk about those boring napkin folds.” Jill winked at them and rose, not waiting for a reply.

When she was gone, Asher lifted her head, turned to Linden, and said, “They all know.”

“Is that okay? We didn’t have to–”

“It was either that or keep listening to you try to discuss how boring napkin folding is. I was really interested in what other excuses you were going to come up with to try to get rid of her.”

“Oh, next up would’ve been seating charts. I had a few fake-aunt names to mention in there that the also-fake-bride needed to find seats for. These aunts all hate each other, so they need to be sat far apart, but the logistics of that is a nightmare,” Linden joked.

Asher smiled at her.

“Hey, want to go out with me again?” Linden asked.

“Name the time and place.”

“Tonight. We’ll grab dinner somewhere. I’ll see if Mel can get us a reservation. She owes us.”

“Has Bryce paid you for our dinner last night yet?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Linden replied, but she didn’t want to talk anymore.

She leaned in and kissed Asher again, slowly moving her lips against hers, wanting to only do this for the rest of their lunch.