Page 71 of Hot Tea & Bird Calls

“I take it you like the present,” Celene murmured before shoving her tongue in deeper, sautéing what remained of Skye’s brain.

Her instincts, though, weren’t too cooked to read beyond a sarcastic comment. Skye clasped hands into Celene’s hair, on both sides of her head. “They’re mind-blowing, heart-blowing.”

Celene grinned. “You’re worth it.”

“The couch. Let’s go to the couch.”

Damningly proactive, Celene wrapped Skye’s legs around her hips, carrying her to the under-loft couch. Skye’s weight sank into it as Celene hovered, softly panting, bereft of sound.

They wouldn’t have sex. Not with her mourning grandmother rooms away, watching TV. However, Skye couldn’t believe she’d done one hundred percent of their moans. One day, she’d hear Celene’s. Skye stroked at the lips above her, the point of Celene’s chin, angling to her cheekbone. “The sugilite pendant, these beautiful bowls. I’m not used to being spoiled. You mustreallymiss me.”

As she’d wanted, Celene laughed. She dropped her head for a second, then eyed her. “Am I doing too much?”

Skye lipped ‘No,’ tugging Celene to drape on top of her. Their kiss went slower, not any less exceptional. She mewled as Celene ran her hands over her hair. Over and over, tenderly, like she’d been holding back forever. Skye squirmed through a deep pass of a tongue she now adored. “Will you stay long?”

“I won’t.” Celene licked her own lips, and Skye’s stomach fluttered, despite the disappointment. “Work obligations will take up my morning. I’m driving home after this.”

Skye pushed herself to her elbows. A warmer rush startled her, as she didn’t recognize this one. “You won’t stay at the house with your brother’s family?”

“They don’t know I’m here. Nobody knows.”

Nobody but her. But Skye.

She made room for Celene to lie on her side, too. “You drove three hours at night, aware of your early schedule in the city, just to hand deliver a gift to me?”

For the first time Skye could recall, Celene hid her face. Behind a single hand that Skye pulled down between them. Staring like she’d succumbed to an inescapable force, Celene said, “I parked in an empty lot a few houses away and walked here. I only wanted to see you.”

Celene missed her. Badly.

And she was so,soromantic.

Skye smiled gently, intent not to embarrass Celene further. Asking a second time, “What are we doing?”

“Hell if I know,” Celene muttered under her breath.

“I have cold brew in the fridge. I’ll grab you some for your trip home.”

“Thank you.”

And the effects of her thank you reverberated through Celene’s kiss that followed, in swells of tongue and teeth and the pressure of curves against her own.

One could debate if anything with that much heat and body-pinning could be filed under romantic, yet Celene made it so. Skye let her lead them into something that threatened to revive that fire to a point of no return. Once Skye staggered to the kitchen, her legs were no longer her own.

Well after Skye handed her a thermos of iced coffee and got rewarded with a shiver-inducing kiss that’d traveled to her neck, her phone buzzed. Skye hadn’t stopped replaying it all, wondering what it meant for them as friends. As faux partners.

Celene – 11:57 pm

I want more of you.

Skye placed a hand over her chest, failing to regulate her breath. The things she’d do with Celene. What she’d let Celene dotoher.

Skye – 12:01 am

I do, too.

Less talking. Eyes on the road, okay?

Celene – 12:06 am