might take to abusing the room for their own fun—it’s a haven that’s seldom used by anyone but Cadence and the occasional guests she invites. Right now, she’s using it to sob into an enormous beanbag.
In the doorway, Marlee presses a hand over her chest, pausing to catch her breath.
“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to run in this outfit?” She’s almost hyperventilating. “Or these stupid shoes.” She kicks off her high heels. “It’s a deep expression of my love that I even made it up here.”
“Go away.” Cadence’s voice is muffled against the beanbag.
Marlee won’t do any such thing. She gathers up her skirt and attempts to lower herself gracefully onto the beanbag, failing miserably. Heavier than Cadence, when she loses her balance and tumbles down onto it, Cadence’s side of the beanbag rises up and sends her rolling backwards, their bodies colliding.
“Ooh, that’s better.” Marlee pulls her close, kissing the top of her head.
“Stop it!” Cadence wriggles away from her. “You had sex with Rachel again!”
“No, sweetheart. I didn’t.”
Cadence is behaving like a jealous lover, and although Marlee hates to see her this upset, the fact that she could even get this upset over witnessing a perceived act of infidelity moves her deeply. Too deeply. The thought of having Cadence as a lover is surprisingly, dangerously intoxicating.
“Yes, you did!” Cadence maintains the belief, struggling to get to her feet.
“Darling, don’t go.” Marlee looks up from the beanbag, skirt bunched around her thighs, her long legs exposed all the way up to the top of her stockings. “Stay here with me.”
If Cadence weren’t so upset right now, she’d think Marlee was the most beautiful and alluring creature she’s ever seen. But she is upset, and she feels betrayed.
“I thought”—she chokes for breath—“after last night … you kissed me …” More sniffles. “I thought you wanted me.”
“I do want you.”
Marlee puts so much emotion into those words that the heartfelt confession stuns both of them. Marlee is alarmed by how easily the words roll off her tongue—without any hesitation or reservation—and Cadence is amazed by how they make her feel. As her tears dry up, something very different happens between her legs, her body aching with a desire she can’t quite name.
Meanwhile, Marlee stretches out on the beanbag. She has one arm resting across her stomach, the other above her head, and her back is slightly arched, pushing out her chest.
Cadence watches intently. “Are you flirting with me, Marlee?”
Marlee slightly crooks one of her legs, causing her skirt to ride up an inch or two higher, unveiling a splash of pale thigh. “I think I might be.”
Before Marlee has a chance to change her mind—as if there’s any likelihood of that—Cadence drops back down onto the beanbag, melting into her arms.
“Do you really want me?”
Since actions speak louder than words, and Marlee hasn’t got a clue what to say anyway, she leans forward and runs her tongue over Cadence’s lips, moistening them, teasing them apart. When Cadence is ready to be kissed, Marlee cradles her neck and lays a passionate lip-lock on her.
No encouragement needed.
No coercion.
No trickery.
“Kissing you feels so divine,” she confesses when the kiss breaks, immediately scooping Cadence’s willowy body into an embrace. “I love your mouth.”
They kiss again, all self-restraint lost. They’re a bundle of whimpers and whines, tongues moving this way and that, lips pressed tightly together, and several minutes go by before they stop for a much needed breath of air.
“Ask,” Marlee urges Cadence then. “Don’t let it fester between us.”
Not entirely sure that she really wants to hear the answer, Cadence’s voice is hushed and low. “What were you doing with Rachel?”
“She spends a lot of time in the gardens, and she knows the very best places to pick wild berries. Did
Grace Livingston Hill
Carol Shields
Fern Michaels
Teri Hall
Michael Lister
Shannon K. Butcher
Michael Arnold
Stacy Claflin
Joanne Rawson
Becca Jameson