Page 67 of The Lovers

“Feelfeel, like Mystic Maven feel?” I ask, biting my lip as a laugh rumbles up my throat. She shoves at my shoulder and I drag her on top of me.

“You can’t build an empire alone,” she grunts, straightening as she works my arms over my head and pins them to the pillows.“Might be worth gauging her interest in joining forces. Venus in Libra vibes.”

I wrangle free of her grip, twisting her around to the bottom again. Chest to chest, my thigh tucked in between hers, I kiss her full-on, working my tongue into her mouth slowly and feeling around.

Her hand trails open-palmed over my ass until she clenches the bottom of the cheek, getting a fistful before she nudges the curve of my thigh. I feel her warmth and return her nudge with my own. She giggles against my lips.

“This is fun,” she says.

And it really is.

?I never want this game of truth to end, but after another half hour of rolling around in her sheets, making out and telling secrets, the angle of the sun as it hits her face signals just how much time has passed since I first arrived.

“What time is it?” I ask. She can see the clock in the kitchen better than I can from where she’s lying.

“Almost five,” she says.

“Ugh, that’s an hour till the rehearsal,” I say, sitting upright and tugging my bra closed. We didn’t rush to sex, staying mostly in the feeling and kissing stage of foreplay, and the fact that we are taking our time encourages me to believe we don’t expect to run out of it.

She might not run awaythis time.

I stand, buttoning my shirt. “I have to get cleaned up before tonight.” I have a duty to my clients, and unfortunately thatmeans not languishing any longer in her bed. My eyes drop to her, still curled up and cozy, but tugging her tank top down. I can faintly see her nipples through her shirt, and it makes me ache between my legs.

I pop another kiss on her lips and walk over to the table where I left my walkie-talkie when I arrived. I pick it up, clicking it once.

It beeps, a doubleblip blipsound, and goes quiet.

My heart rate shoots up.

I click it again.Blip blip.

“Fuck,” I exhale.

Kit’s up, twisting her hair into a bun as she approaches.

“Fuck, fuck,” I exclaim again. Clicking the button on the walkie-talkie.Blip blip. Blip blip.“It’s dead. Zoe has no idea where I am—and it’s not Homebase, which is where I said I’d be.”

Kit’s eyes go wide. “Okay, don’t freak out. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“I gotta go,” I say. Definitely freaking out. I shove on my tennis shoes and yank open the door.

I can’t believe I did this.

I can’t believe I was away for almost two hours, out of contact, the day of the rehearsal dinner.

I can’t believe I let myself get so lost in the moment.

Her hands grip my waist, holding me in place. She spins me around.

And then as soon as our eyes meet, I can believe it all.

“Look.” She points in the direction of the rehearsal dinner tent, which is barely visible from this vantage. “No fires. No floods. You are allowed to let go a little. Others can pick up the slack when you do.”

I’m panicking, but it doesn’t stop me from planting another kiss on her lips.

“See you tonight.”

I run from the Airstream trailer in the direction of Homebase. Winding through the paths and still stupidly clicking my walkie-talkie as if it’s going to magically have charge from just my sheer will.