Touch
Robyn did her best to stretch to her bedside table to pull a stone out of her bowl without jostling the bed. A warm hand slipped around her hip and fanned across her stomach to pull her back into bed.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Grace mumbled.
“I wasn’t even trying.” Robyn glanced at her stone and smiled before placing it in the smaller bowl. She rolled back to Grace.
“What was that all about?” Grace propped herself up on her elbow.
“My morning meditation.” Robyn took her stone’s cue and ran her own palm over Grace’s lovely curves, marveling at the beauty of her in the morning light. “I have stones that have words on them. Today I got Touch,” she said huskily.
“I very much enjoy your touch.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.” Robyn’s hands wandered more freely.
Grace’s muscles fluttered under Robyn’s attention. “How do I know this isn’t some morning-after line you offer all the girls?”
“I never cheat.”
Grace took a deep breath, and Robyn sensed her assessing her as well as the statement. A coy smile on her lips, she straddled Robyn to reach for the stone placed in one of the bowls on the small box next to Robyn’s bed. It gave Robyn the gift of her full nakedness. Grace ran the pad of her thumb across the lettering on the stone. Robyn ran both hands from Grace’s hips across her belly, teasing at the top of Grace’s curls with her thumbs and earning her a soft smack from Grace. “Can I try?”
“Sure. Just don’t get a little one.” Robyn’s hands traveled up Grace’s belly, admiring her core muscles as she bent to take her own stone. Grace’s leaning also afforded Robyn better access to her pale breasts which she brushed with her palms before pushing Grace’s waves of hair past her shoulders. She didn’t care where her hands were as long as they were somewhere on Grace.
“You just said you don’t cheat.”
“It’s not cheating. It’s just that the small ones are Loss and Tears. Or God. I never know what to do when I get God.”
Grace spun the stone to read her meditation. Robyn watched Grace’s expression as she held the stone’s word secret from her. “I think you should stop rigging your selection.” Seductively, she traced the stone from Robyn’s clavicle between her breasts and rested it in Robyn’s belly button.
She felt by the way it nestled perfectly that Grace had picked one she would have passed by. Brow furrowed in question, she peeked at the lettering. Joy.
“Prophetic,” Grace said without any trace of teasing.
Gently, Robyn set Grace’s stone next to her own, trying to remember how long her fear of loss and tears had caused her to avoid joy. The two stones would spend the day together, and she willed Grace to stay too. She pulled Grace into a kiss that made her body hum with the memory of their night of exchanged pleasures. As she rolled Grace back into the mess of sheets and blankets, her phone buzzed.
She glanced at the screen and said to Grace, “Kristine.”
“Answer it.”
Reluctant to interrupt her morning with Grace, she answered nevertheless. “Moshi moshi.” She pursed her lips as Kristine quickly updated her on how the kids slept, adding that it would make her life a hundred times easier if she didn’t have to feed Bean.
“Consider it done.” She smiled apologetically at Grace as she said goodbye.
“What’s moshi moshi? You said that when I called from Kristine’s.”
Robyn ran her hand along the curve of Grace’s hip. “It’s how the Japanese answer their phones. Whenever I called here, my grandmother answered ‘moshi moshi.’”
Grace closed her eyes for a moment. “I like that.” She opened her eyes, exploring Robyn’s face. “Go.”
“You’re sure?” Robyn asked. She hated to leave so abruptly, especially with her body begging to linger with Grace’s all day long.
“It sounds easier than babysitting.” Grace looked at the clock. “And according to Kristine’s schedule, you’re already late.”
Robyn laughed, remembering how she had watched Grace struggle to help her friend at the barn after Eliza was born. “You’re welcome to join me.”
“Oh, no. I don’t see what fun you and Kristine see in the animals. I’m very happy where I am unless you were hoping to sneak me out the back door.”
As Robyn backed down the steep ladder to her room, Grace stretched forward on her arms across the mattress. Robyn paused to kiss her once more. “I’d have to sneak you out via the rooftop if that was the case. Stay as long as you like. I’ll be at least an hour.”
Grace slumped her chin onto her crossed arms watching Robyn on her way down. “In that case, I’ll get up in a few and forage for something to eat if that’s okay.”
“Anything you want.” Robyn descended the rest of the way into her room to dress.
“Anything?” She peeked at Robyn alluringly from the loft.
Her question drove Robyn up the steps again where she stole another kiss. “What did you have in mind?”
“Meeting back here. I have to go to work tomorrow, and I haven’t had nearly enough of you.”
Robyn’s head swam with desire and surprise. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that Grace was thinking exactly what she had imagined her day to be. A slow smile crept across her face.
“I can see what you’re thinking. Go. The faster you go, the faster you’re back.”
“Agreed,” Robyn said, finally wrenching herself away, stumbling as she hastily threw on clothes to get her feeding chores out of the way as soon as possible. She could hear Grace’s laughter trail after her as she hit the stairs, taking them two at a time.