Page 13 of Hotter in the Hamptons

Aly had Lola up against the wall.

They had barely made it inside Aly’s house. For the entire car ride, Aly’s hand had gripped Lola’s inner thigh, and at red lights, Aly had grabbed Lola’s face and kissed her for so long that cars behind them started to honk.

The more Lola tasted of Aly, the more she wanted.

Aly’s Double Chocolate Prada loafers had a bit of a platform to them, so when Lola kicked her espadrilles off in the foyer, they were the exact same height. When Aly’s body pressed into hers against the wall, everything lined up. Their hips. Their chests. Their mouths.

Their pussies , Lola thought, blushing.

Hers in particular was feeling very…active. Desperate to join the party. Without thinking, she shifted so that Aly’s leg was between hers and vice versa. Aly ground down into her thigh, just like in her fantasy, and let out a groan into Lola’s mouth.

In response, Lola bit Aly’s lower lip.

After everything that had happened between them—the article, the fallout, the cut on Lola’s foot, the weeks of snarling at each other—she couldn’t believe they were here. Doing this. Not in Lola’s head while she touched herself alone in bed but in real life.

Aly pulled away from her and started kissing her neck.

Trouble , Lola thought.

She had no control once someone went for her neck.

Aly’s hands slowly made their way up Lola’s stomach until she was cupping Lola’s breasts over the soft jersey of her dress. Aly’s fingers found her nipples and grazed them lightly. Lola’s breath caught in her throat, and Aly paused, noting the reaction, relishing it. Aly rolled them between her fingers. And then she clamped down and gave them a tug.

The noise that came out of Lola was unrecognizable to her. Almost a squeal, she realized with embarrassment.

But it made Aly grin.

“Kiss me,” Lola panted, and Aly brought her mouth back to hers. She kept her hands on Lola’s breasts, with Lola’s nipples held tight between her fingers.

Lola wondered if now would be the time for her to touch Aly’s boobs.

She certainly wanted to. But did Aly want her to? What did Aly want from her in general? Could Aly tell that this was her first time with another woman?

Was she judging her?

Was she wishing Lola would do something that wouldn’t even occur to Lola?

What if she was only hooking up with her to be nice?

A pity fuck?

Suddenly, Aly pulled away. “You’re freaking out.”

Lola was out of breath. “I’m not.”

“You are .”

There was nowhere to hide from the panic. It was overtaking her. “I am,” she exhaled, relieved to tell the truth. “I’m sorry.”

“Is it weird for you that I’m a girl?”

To Lola’s surprise, Aly sounded vulnerable, like she was afraid Lola might realize this was all a mistake and then leave. It had not occurred to her that she might have this power over Aly. She had only considered the other way around.

“Are you kidding?” she said, rushing to make Aly feel better. “I’m, like… stoked that you’re a girl.”

“Stoked,” Aly repeated, a small smile twitching across her face, her previous tension relaxing. “Okay.”

“Can we sit down, though?”

Aly guided Lola by the hand to the big couch in the living room.

“I think I am more nervous than I thought I’d be,” Lola admitted.

“So you’ve thought about this?” Aly said, her voice wry. She arched an eyebrow, her whole body angled toward Lola’s.

“You have no idea how much I’ve thought about this,” Lola said. “The problem is I don’t know what I’m doing.” Aly’s confident smirk warmed, and Lola felt the affection radiate toward her.

“You don’t have to do anything,” Aly said, pulling her close. “Allow me.”

“Oh,” Lola said in surprise, but then she couldn’t think any further because as Aly kissed her, her hands dug into Lola’s hair, and she pulled.

Everything ignited again. Unable to find the words to communicate how turned on she was, Lola bit Aly’s lower lip. Aly grinned.

Then Aly’s hands traveled down Lola’s neck. She paused, feeling Lola’s pulse race, and then traced Lola’s collarbone.

Everywhere Aly touched glittered with electric heat.

Her hands moved down Lola’s chest, grazing her nipples again before resting flat on Lola’s stomach. She moved an inch lower, and Lola’s body clenched.

“Can I take your dress off?” Aly asked, tugging her own shirt over her head in a decisive sweep. Lola felt dizzy, the simple act of Aly reaching for her own shirt hem, pulling expensive fabric from her own skin sparking a sharp desire in Lola’s stomach. It was just so… hot.

Lola nodded and raised her arm so that Aly could unzip her, and then they both started laughing as they tried to wrestle Lola from the Khaite gown.

Once it was finally on the ground, they resumed kissing, sitting side by side on the couch, Lola in her matching black lace bra and thong and Aly in a Calvin Klein sports bra and black trousers.

Aly was a really good kisser. Perhaps she was even the best kisser Lola had ever encountered. It was like she could read Lola’s mind. Their mouths melted together effortlessly. It wasn’t too wet or too stiff. Aly didn’t use too much tongue or too much caution in pulling Lola’s hair or adjusting her chin just as she liked. It was the Goldilocks of making out.

Aly hummed happily, deepening the kiss as she skirted her hand along Lola’s side, lingering and teasing Lola’s bare skin. It was suddenly hard not to compare Aly to Justin. Justin was a good kisser too, but he’d always been a little forceful, a little too excited to press his tongue into hers. Aly was more controlled than that. More graceful, more giving. And Lola was no longer freaking out since the pressure to please Aly had been lifted. Now she could just enjoy each touch, sink into each kiss and lick and bite.

Aly unhooked Lola’s bra with one hand. It fell to the couch.

Briefly, Aly pulled away and just looked at Lola, her eyes running up and down the length of her, eyes stopping in admiration, hands flexing where they were left against Lola’s waist. Lola blushed, never having felt so bare.

“Damn,” Aly said. “I know you know this already, but you’re gorgeous.”

“It doesn’t hurt to hear it.” Lola smiled.

“Oh, please. You definitely hear it on a daily basis,” Aly teased, inching her hand up to Lola’s collarbone again, stroking the soft skin just below her neck.

Lola shivered. “Not from you, though,” she replied, head spinning from the goose bumps left in Aly’s wake. “I never expected to hear it from you. ”

Aly paused, perhaps mulling over Lola’s confession. “Then allow me to show you.” Aly flattened her palm against Lola’s shoulder, pushing her against the couch to climb on top of her.

Lola liked the feel of Aly’s body on top of hers. She was light enough that it wasn’t suffocating but substantial enough to be comforting. It was like being under a weighted blanket. A very sexy weighted blanket.

Aly’s hair fell around them.

Holding herself up with one arm, Aly reached her other hand down so that it rested atop Lola’s underwear. They locked eyes. Aly took one finger and pressed it right into Lola’s clit, through the lace.

Lola tried to keep her eyes open, but she couldn’t. They rolled back into her head.

Aly laughed. “Do you want more?” she asked.

Lola nodded.

“I need to hear you say it,” Aly commanded.

Lola felt herself gasp, the demand sparking something deep and wanting. “I want more,” she said. “Please. Fuck.”

No one had ever made her beg for it before.

Aly slipped her hand beneath the waistband. Her fingers circled Lola’s clit for a few seconds before landing on it. She began to rub Lola slowly, lightly.

Lola’s heart was pounding so hard, she was pretty sure Aly could hear it. “Oh my god,” she said. “Right there.”

How did Aly know exactly how she wanted to be touched? No—how did she know better than Lola how Lola wanted to be touched? It certainly did not feel like this when Lola did it herself.

Aly started rubbing her harder now. Faster too.

“Let me take my underwear off,” Lola said. Surely it would be easier for Aly to do this without that damn waistband.

“Keep them on,” Aly replied.

“Fuck,” Lola said, the only word she could remember. “Fuck.”

She dug her hands into Aly’s hair and pulled.

Aly made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a groan, her eyes fluttering. “You can do that harder,” she said, and Lola did.

Lola’s back arched. Everything felt warm.

Aly dipped her fingers down into where Lola was wettest, not exactly penetrating her but deep enough to bring some of that wetness back up to her clit.

She craned her neck down and sucked Lola’s nipple.

Game over , Lola thought. She was going to come.

She reached up and gripped a couch pillow above her head, anchoring her, everything pulling taut, every nerve alive. “Don’t stop,” Lola cried.

“I won’t,” Aly promised.

The moment Lola’s pleasure tipped over, Aly slid two curled fingers inside her. Lola’s moans became more like screams. She felt herself tightening around Aly’s hand, as though her body was going to swallow Aly whole. And then everything crashed over her, the pleasure lapping in waves that had Lola writhing, that had Aly chanting her name, telling her, yes, Lola, just like that.

When Lola stopped writhing, Aly slowly pulled her hand away.

Aly kissed Lola on the mouth and then, still on top of her, nestled her head underneath Lola’s chin.

Lola’s muscles felt soft, immovable. Her head was empty. She felt like she had ascended to some sort of higher plane. And with the comfort of Aly’s body tucked around her and the soothing touches of her hand skating across her arm, Lola let herself not think about what just happened between them, what might change now. Instead, she simply closed her eyes and gave in to the feeling of absolute peace.

***

They were still on the couch when Lola woke sometime later. Aly was on top of her, breathing in a way that told Lola she was in a deep sleep.

Lola craned her neck to read the wall clock. It was just after 3:00 a.m. She should go home. She had probably already overstayed her welcome. But there was no way to move without disturbing the surprising and almost terrifyingly sexy person sleeping atop her.

Aly lifted her head, feeling Lola shifting. “Oh shit,” she said and then wiped some drool from her mouth and laughed. “I so did not mean to fall asleep on top of you.”

“I’m so glad you did,” Lola said, a warmth settling in her chest at the sight of the pink press on Aly’s cheek. “But I should probably go home.”

“You’re going?” Aly asked. She sounded disappointed. “Was this too much? You are freaking out, aren’t you?” Aly sat up, pulling away from her. She appeared to be shrinking into the couch.

Surprise hit Lola like a freight train, shaking the last bit of sleep from her thoughts. Cool, calm, collected Aly was worried . About her, about them . About what the two of them together actually meant. Lola grabbed Aly’s hand, relishing the softness. “No, I just didn’t think you’d want me to stay. I’m trying to not be too much.”

“I want you to stay,” Aly said, her voice taking on a more earnest tone than Lola had ever heard before. “It would be so sad in my bed without you.”

“Then I guess I’m staying,” Lola said. “God forbid you’re sad in bed. And in the Hamptons of all places!”

Aly laughed, straightening again. “Exactly. I could get kicked out for my very sad, decidedly un-Hamptons -like behavior. They’d send me straight back to Brooklyn.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Lola stood from the couch, extending a hand down. She wasn’t ready for Aly to leave the Hamptons. Not yet.

Not without her.

***

Aly’s bedroom was painted the color of the ocean right before a storm. There were stacks of books on every surface. The bed was big and unmade, dark blue linens in an endearing twist. Lola briefly imagined a teenage Aly spending her summers here, brooding and rebellious, lazing on the bed reading Hunter S. Thompson and listening to some riot grrrl band that Lola had never heard of.

“Do you want to borrow clothes to sleep in? A T-shirt or something?” Aly asked.

“No.” Lola grinned at her. “Though I will take some underwear. These are goners.”

Aly laughed and tossed her a pair of Kallmeyer boxer briefs.

Lola went to the bathroom down the hall to change in a surprising rush of modesty given what had transpired between them on the couch. She pulled her thong off and placed it gingerly to the side of the sink, hoping she’d get to it in the morning before Aly noticed it. Then she used some of Aly’s toothpaste on her finger.

She opened the medicine cabinet and surveyed Aly’s products. It was the entire La Prairie line. She whistled under her breath. Okay, Carter. She didn’t know why she should expect anything less than luxury taste at this point.

She washed her face with hand soap, though. It was probably too soon to break into Aly’s prestige skin care.

Too soon . As if there would be a next time. She shouldn’t get her hopes up. She swallowed and tried to remind herself of the very distinct possibility that this might never happen again, that Aly had put her in the hookup box. The one-night-stand box. The it was fun, see you around New York box. Once labeled, Lola knew it was hard to be moved into a different box, to convince someone to change their first opinion. It made her sad already. A weird kind of anticipatory heartbreak.

But when she got into bed with Aly, who was sleepy and warm in a soft tank top, Lola forgot about feeling sad at the thought that all this might be nothing. As soon as she was under the covers, Aly wrapped herself around Lola, becoming the big spoon.

ARC was a cutthroat journalist, an intellectual, a consummate cool girl. But Aly, the girl in bed? She was something else entirely. She was the embodiment of Lola’s most secret fantasies. Dominant in bed but also caring and soft. Eager to please with flashes of vulnerability that made Lola feel understood. Funny, bright, and nonjudgmental, despite what Lola had previously believed. ARC might be a cool girl, but Aly? Aly was just cool. Cool to be around, cool to talk to. Very, very cool to kiss.

Lola fell asleep with a smile on her face.

***

She woke up to Aly kissing the back of her neck. Soft morning light dripped golden through the window.

Aly’s hands were caressing Lola’s stomach, her breasts, her arms. Lola moaned sleepily and pressed her butt into Aly’s crotch. This made Aly grip her harder. Lola turned her head back ,and they kissed.

She forgot to worry about her morning breath.

Before she even knew what was happening, Aly’s hand was down the front of the borrowed boxer briefs. “Is this okay?” Aly whispered into Lola’s ear.

Lola could only nod. She wanted Aly to touch her so badly that she didn’t trust her voice to sound normal. She had always loved morning sex, the quiet intimacy of two bodies pressed together in a cozy fog of sleepiness, none of the pretense or performativity of nighttime hookups with lingerie, dim lighting, and candles.

How lucky that Aly was a fan too.

Aly kept her mouth at Lola’s ear while she fucked her, and listening to the sound of Aly’s breath quickening was almost more than Lola could handle. It told Lola how badly Aly wanted her. It was getting hot under the blankets, and Lola kicked them off. Aly was touching her more intensely now, so attuned with Lola’s body that Lola didn’t even realize she was going to come before she did.

When she could breathe again, she rolled over so they were facing each other.

Aly’s eyelids were a little puffy, her hair a matted mess. She had pillow marks on her cheeks, a little crust around her eyes.

Lola was certain she’d never seen anyone so pretty.

“So,” Lola said, smiling. “You’re really into consent, huh?”

“What’s sexier than consent?” Aly smiled back, but then she faltered. “I mean, you get why, right?”

Lola shook her head. She thought it was just Aly’s thing.

“I’m gay. You’re not. I would be horrified if it turned out I was making you uncomfortable or pressuring you in any way.”

Lola had not considered this angle, and it gave her pause. She tried to see things from Aly’s perspective. It made sense. Aly’s desire for women was never in question. Lola was the wild card.

“Did I seem uncomfortable?”

“No,” Aly said. “But I guess I needed reassurance.”

“Did my dripping wet pussy not reassure you?”

The grin that splashed across Aly’s face was as bright as the morning sun. “Good point,” she said, clearly trying to downplay how thrilled this made her. She kissed Lola and then handed her a T-shirt. “So can I make you breakfast or what?”

***