“My place is on the far side of the park,” Ren said. “I usually walk home past the duck pond. It’s still light enough out if you want to go that way.”
“Sure.” Dani slowed a little. “One thing before we get there. No expectations. I just wanted to say that.”
Ren glanced at Dani. “You mean you have no expectations. I might possibly have all kinds of expectations.” She grinned. “No pressure, though.”
Dani looked startled, then amused. Then something else passed over her face. Something that looked a lot like hunger. “Ren, I’m trying to think slow. But you don’t make it easy.”
Ren smiled inwardly. Dani had said she was good at seduction, but she was pretty sure Dani was teasing. She was very certain she didn’t know the slightest thing about seduction. She didn’t have any experience at all with what she thought they would be doing. If not tonight, soon, if they kept seeing each other. And she hoped they would. Reading people was another of her undeveloped skills, but Dani—unlike anyone else she’d ever met—was open and undisguised with her feelings.
Ren might be inexperienced, but she wasn’t naive, and she recognized what she saw in Dani’s eyes. And she knew what she felt in her body. Dani looked at her and thought about sex. And when she looked back, she felt it too, a reflection of that desire. A tingling deep inside that was at once warm and exciting. An ache that worried at her concentration and made her forget about all the things that always seemed so important. She hadn’t thought about the lab or her career or what she needed to do to be competitive for the best fellowship in the country in hours. Those things were always on her mind. Those were her goals. Those were the things that defined her. She should be worried that she’d lost sight of those things. But at this moment?
Dani’s kiss had consumed her awareness, an instant so light and fleeting that if she didn’t still feel it in the featherlight vibration in her lips, she could almost believe she’d imagined it. But she hadn’t. The heat left behind still haunted her.
Her breath, when she drew it, shuddered into her depths to some place just coming to life, opening with equal parts joy and ferocity. Oh, she had much more than expectations—she trembled with urges that defied anything so simple.
“I agree. We should abandon expectations. I think we’ll do better,” Ren said, “if we don’t have any.”
“I’m not sure if I should be disappointed or optimistic,” Dani said.
Ren reached for Dani’s hand as they turned into the park and traveled toward the duck pond down a gravel path between patches of oak and evergreens. Taking Dani’s hand would have been unfathomable a week before. She had not known then how intriguing the sensation of another’s touch—the subtle texture of skin, the strength of bone and flesh—could be when intimately pressed to hers. Dani’s hand was a thing of wonder. How that hand would feel moving over her body in other ways, in other places, was still a mystery, but one she wanted—yearned—to discover. “I was thinking that without expectations, anything could happen. No automatic stops.”
“That definitely leans in the optimistic direction.”
Ren squeezed Dani’s hand. “Maybe that’s not the direction you were going, though.”
“Remember I said I was working on the idea of slow? That’s my head talking.” She laughed a bit hoarsely. “I can’t say the rest of me is totally on board with that concept. But pulling out the stops—metaphorically—could be risky. Some things take on a life of their own, and a pace of their own. I’m not saying I wouldn’t stop the minute you said to. You don’t have to worry about that. But if you don’t, I might not.”
“Let’s agree that we’ll both be responsible for what we do, and then you don’t have to worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Dani said quickly.
“Aren’t you? Because I get the sense you think you might need to protect me from something I don’t understand. I like that you think about that and care about my feelings, but you’re not responsible for my comfort or my safety.” Ren shook Dani’s hand playfully and brought it to her lips, kissing the knuckles where Dani’s fingers curled over hers. Dani gasped, and an entirely foreign and sharply exciting thrill coursed through her. “I’m inexperienced, but I’m not uninformed. I haven’t been living in a bubble my whole life. I know what sex is about. I even know what sex feels like, under some circumstances.”
Dani closed her eyes and emitted a soft groan. “Okay. That’s it. I’m dying now.”
Ren laughed, the sound cut short when Dani released her hand and unexpectedly swung an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. The move was so assured, and so possessive, and so completely natural for all its newness, all Ren could do was go with it. And enjoy it. Dani’s body was warm and firm, and this close, she smelled even more wonderful than Ren remembered. She’d seen couples walk this way, of course, but never stopped to wonder why. What message they were sending through the simple act of walking that they couldn’t communicate some other way. Now she knew. A visceral sensation of being claimed, even as she claimed. An awareness of belonging, of fitting, that was at once amazing and effortless. The fluttering in her midsection grew heavy, and a thousand butterflies settled down into the pit of her stomach, leaving an ache at once sweet and insistent.
“This feels nice.”
“Yeah.” Dani kissed her temple and breathed in softly. “You smell like…lilacs?”
Ren laughed softly. “Close enough.”
“I never thought you were naive,” Dani murmured as they began walking again.
“Good. I like how careful and caring you are. But I don’t need to be taken care of.”
“I get that.”
Ren followed Dani’s lead and tightened her arm around Dani’s waist. She’d never been as close to another woman in her life. Every place they touched turned electric. “I love the way your body feels.”
“Do you?” Dani asked, her voice low and husky.
“Yes.” She let her hand slide down Dani’s flank and over the curve of her hip until her fingertips rested on the crest of Dani’s hipbone. “So strong and sleek.”
“You realize when you touch me like that, it turns me on,” Dani said.
“Does it.” Ren repeated the motion. “Is the effect cumulative?”
Dani’s laugh came fast and strong. “Oh, it is. How much farther is it to your house?”
“Just opposite the park. Three minutes.”
“Then maybe you should just keep your hand still until we get there.”
“You know if you tell me not to do something, it’s just going to make me more curious. But all right. I’ll wait.”
They were alone on the short path out of the park, and Dani stopped abruptly, turned Ren toward her, and kissed her again. This kiss went on much longer than the brief one they’d shared on the way to the restaurant. Dani’s arms were around her waist, holding her close to Dani’s body. Dani’s mouth sealed to hers, soft and firm and warm. The tip of Dani’s tongue skirted across the surface of her lower lip, and the churning deep inside her grew heavier, lower, with a pounding ache that was both pleasure and urgency. Ren wrapped her arms around Dani’s shoulders even more tightly against her, fitting her breasts to Dani’s chest. The pressure against her nipples created a sweet aching she’d never imagined. She moaned very softly, and the sound astounded her.
Dani drew her mouth away and rested her forehead against Ren’s. “You’re so sexy. I could kiss you like that all night.”
“I think if you did…” Ren struggled to catch her breath. “I think it might drive me crazy.”
“You want to find out?” Dani asked.
Ren gripped Dani’s shoulders and kissed her back. “Yes.”
* * *
Ren stopped in front of a narrow, three-story, pale yellow Victorian single with green and red scrolls along the roof lines and eaves, that sat behind a wrought-iron fence and a small yard bisected by a flagstone walk. The first floor windows were nearly as tall as a person, and white lace curtains fluttered behind them.
“Nice place,” Dani said, turning to look over her shoulder at the park and the faint glimmer as the setting sun turned the pond to gold. On any other night she might have suggested they sit for a few minutes on the wide stone steps and just breathe air that didn’t carry the ever-present scent of tragedy while they watched the sun set. But not tonight. Not when she’d already accepted she had no way to rein in the need Ren had set off within her.
“I was lucky to get it,” Ren said, pulling keys from her backpack. “A lot of the staff live here. Quinn and Honor are three doors down. Quinn let me know about the opening.”
“You’re friends with them, aren’t you?” Dani asked as she followed Ren across the wide mahogany wood porch to the ornate filigreed doors.
“I know them, through my sister Sax. She and Quinn worked together in Manhattan. But I don’t socialize with them, if that’s what you mean. I don’t really socialize, actually.”
“Why not?”
Ren shrugged. “The usual reasons. No time. And then there’s the other thing. The acceleration problem.”
“I think I’m starting to get that,” Dani said. “Your not being at the same place as everyone else a lot of the time.”
“It was a bigger problem when I was younger.”
Ren’s flat tone suggested she didn’t want to give the topic any more consideration, so Dani let it drop. But she wouldn’t forget it.
Ren pushed the doors wide and held them open. Dani looked past her down the parquet floor to a staircase ascending to the next level and rooms opening off either side.
“This isn’t an apartment.”
“No, it’s a house.”
“The whole house. Wow.”
“It seemed simpler,” Ren said, dropping her backpack on a parson’s bench that sat beneath a tall, ornately framed mirror.
“How do you mean?” Dani asked, placing her backpack next to Ren’s.
“I’m not all that comfortable with roommates,” Ren said. Or them with me. Dani didn’t seem to find that odd, and Ren added quickly, “I bought some beer.”
“I thought you didn’t like it,” Dani said.
“I don’t. The store owner said it was similar to the one you ordered.”
“Thank you. For thinking of that.” Dani cupped Ren’s nape and drew her gently closer so she could kiss her. They were alone in a gorgeous house, and Ren had thought to buy beer for her. Ren had been thinking about her visiting. Just the idea was enough to stoke the fire that had been simmering in her for what felt like days. When Ren threaded her arms around her shoulders, Dani sensed the remnants of her restraint pulling loose and falling free. She tugged Ren closer, edging her thigh between Ren’s, and slid a hand down Ren’s back to the hollow at the base of her spine. Ren made that little sound she’d heard once before, not quite a moan, but close enough to make Dani’s head pound.
When she angled her head to deepen the kiss, Ren’s tongue flicked out, a little hesitantly at first, then much more assuredly. Surprised and instantly aroused by Ren’s advance, Dani opened for her. Ren must’ve taken that as a sign to keep going, and her kisses took on a more insistent edge.
On unfamiliar but tantalizing ground, Dani surrendered to Ren’s explorations, her head swirling and her skin on fire. She closed her eyes, distantly aware she was swaying slightly, her limbs trembling with urgency.
After a few breathless moments, Ren leaned back and murmured, “Do you still want that beer?”
“Not just now.” Dani gasped a little as she struggled to even her breath.
“Good.” Ren took her hand and tugged gently. “Let’s go upstairs.”
Dani’s instinct was to back off, to ask if Ren was sure, to give Ren time to reconsider. Why, though? Was she as guilty as all those other people in Ren’s life who’d underestimated her or overlooked her? Ren had already told her, hadn’t she?
You have to trust me to know what I want.
Dani nodded. She’d let Ren set the pace and determine exactly how far they journeyed tonight, even if keeping that vow was going to be near impossible. Every nerve and muscle in her body quivered, and the blood rushing between her thighs pounded with a wild demand that made her dizzy. Somehow, she was standing in front of an open doorway, through which she could make out a bed next to a wide tall window. The last rays of the sunlight cast a faint glow over everything.
“All right?” Ren asked.
“Perfect,” Dani rasped.
Ren smiled, an eager, altogether unselfconsciously pleased look that shot straight to Dani’s clit. Oh, she was in trouble.
Ren sat on the edge of the bed, and Dani followed, leaning back on one arm as she turned to Ren to kiss her again. Somewhere in the middle of the kiss they ended up lying half on the bed and half off, her arm around Ren’s waist, Ren’s hand on her chest. Kissing Ren was like time-traveling. She lost herself in the sensations, and when she became aware of her surroundings again, eons had passed. Ren kissed with her whole body, shifting and pressing against her, sweeping her tongue over her lips and teasing along the inner surface. Dani’d always liked kissing, but Ren turned it into an experience so sensuous, so all-over pleasurable, she almost forgot there could be more. Almost didn’t care that there might be.
Until Ren tugged up her T-shirt and slid her hand across her stomach.
“Hell,” Dani blurted.
“Okay?” Ren asked, her breath warm against Dani’s throat where her lips brushed the lower edge of her jaw.
“Good. Really good. Don’t stop.”
Ren laughed softly and somehow knew to draw her fingernails lightly down the center of Dani’s stomach until her thighs clenched and her hips lifted.
“Ren,” Dani said. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”
“Not entirely,” Ren said, her teeth grazing the angle of Dani’s jaw.
Dani quivered.
“But I definitely like it,” Ren said, and the teasing note in her voice was nearly Dani’s undoing. She slapped her hand over Ren’s as Ren’s fingertips edged beneath the waistband of her jeans.
“Wait.”
Ren stilled. “No?”
“That would be the point of no return.” Dani could think of only one way to apply the brakes, at least for a few minutes. She slid her hands to Ren’s waist and twisted, stretching Ren onto her back and sliding on top of her. Her leg fit just as naturally between Ren’s as every other thing they’d done, as if their bodies were built to meld. She braced herself on bent forearms on either side of Ren’s shoulders and smiled down at her. “My turn.”
Ren’s eyes widened, and her mouth, her eminently, deliciously kissable mouth, parted slightly, as if surprised. Dani dove in for a kiss and, as she did, cupped Ren’s breast through her shirt in the palm of her hand.
“Oh.” Ren surged beneath her, back arching as if Dani had pressed her palm between her thighs. Her response was so electric Dani’s clit swelled and pulsed.
“You like that,” Dani said, her voice so husky she could hardly get the words out.
“Yes,” Ren whispered.
Dani fumbled with the buttons on Ren’s shirt until Ren pushed her hands away and unbuttoned the rest of them herself. Her bra was cut low, and Dani swept her hand inside, closing her thumb and fingers around Ren’s nipple. She squeezed gently, and when Ren cried out, Dani’s vision hazed. Blood pounded at the base of her belly.
“Can I—”
“Yes,” Ren said. “Please.”
Dani braced herself on one arm and quickly pushed aside Ren’s shirt, slipping a hand behind her back to open her bra. When she managed to release the clasp, Ren shrugged out of one sleeve of her shirt and shoved her clothes aside. Dani didn’t wait. Couldn’t wait. She needed, craved, to feel the soft fullness in her mouth. Ren’s hand came into her hair when she put her lips to Ren’s breast. The grip was tight, assertive, and Dani let herself be led. She skimmed her mouth over Ren’s nipple, heard a sharp cry, and took her in completely. Ren’s hand twisted in her hair, and the tug of sensation was like a finger on her clit. Her hips surged, her thighs closed around Ren’s leg, and a moan escaped. Urgently, Dani twisted away before the pressure, and the promise of release, took her too far too fast.
Ren made a protesting sound and gripped her hips, pulling her back.
“Baby,” Dani muttered, her mouth against Ren’s breast, “give me a break.”
“Why?” Ren asked, hooking her leg around the back of Dani’s calf.
“You make me so hot.”
“I know. Me too.” Ren tugged Dani’s hair until she looked up. Ren’s eyes were huge, her skin flushed. She was gorgeous.
“We’re not stopping,” Ren said. “There’s no reason to.”
“I don’t think I can,” Dani said.
“Take your clothes off,” Ren said, her tone half plea, half demand.
Dani didn’t ask if she was sure. She could see that she was. She could hear it in her voice. Ren wanted her as much as she wanted Ren. She got to her knees and ripped off her shirt. Ren’s hands were on her jeans, opening them, tugging at the zipper, and just watching her do it almost made her come.
“Easy,” Dani gasped. “Take it easy. I’ll lose it before you even get me naked.”
Ren, her hands clenched on either side of Dani’s open fly, grinned up at her. A grin so self-assured and triumphant, Dani’s stomach tightened in that gotta-come-soon way that made her vision haze.
“I’d like that,” Ren said.
Dani pushed Ren’s hands away, laughing. “Would you.”
“Oh yes.”
“Man, you are dangerous.” Dani shoved her pants down over her hips and twisted to get them off along with her sneakers. While she did, Ren shed the rest of her clothes. Turning back, naked, Dani paused to take her in. She was soft in all the places she should be, smooth and delicate in some, firm and strong in others. Her breasts were just full enough, falling gently toward her sides, the soft curves calling for her hands again. Ren watched her looking, her gaze skimming Dani’s body, lingering where Dani’s thighs straddled her hips. Dani sucked in a breath as Ren reached for her, stroked her fingertips along her flank, traced the curve of her hipbone, and brushed across the delta between her legs. Her thighs quivered, and she gritted her teeth.
“Don’t touch me,” Dani gasped. “I really will come all over you.”
“I really want you to,” Ren said, her fingertips oh so very close.
“Just let me have a few more minutes of you,” Dani murmured and lowered herself carefully, slipping one thigh between Ren’s, easing her sex against Ren’s skin, feeling Ren hot and wet against her. Knowing that Ren could feel her the same.
“Oh,” Ren said again, as if making a delicious discovery. She cupped Dani’s ass in her hands and pulled Dani even tighter.
Dani’s head whirled. She had seconds—just seconds—left.
“You’re not gonna let up, are you?” Groaning, she kissed the angle of Ren’s jaw.
“I just want to feel you everywhere. I love the way your body feels all over me.”
“If you keep doing that with your leg between mine, I’m going to come,” Dani whispered.
“I think I figured that out,” Ren whispered and tightened her grip on Dani’s hips.
She wasn’t made strong enough to resist and let herself go, matching her thrusts to the lift of Ren’s hips, long smooth sliding strokes along the length of Ren’s hot, firm thigh. Once, twice, until she lost count, and her entire awareness, all she was, centered on the point between her thighs. She sucked in her breath as the hard center of her pleasure expanded, layer upon layer spreading through her, racing down her thighs and cascading upward, stopping her breath, blinding her. Ren’s cries cut through the currents of euphoria, matching her own, and the recognition of Ren joining her intensified her release. When at last her muscles loosened and she relaxed with a gasp, remembering just in time to ease to the side and give Ren space to breathe, all she could do was gasp, “Holy hell.”
Ren twisted enough to kiss her, then pulled away, her eyes shining, a glint of humor and undeniable triumph on her face. “That was amazing.”
“I could start there,” Dani said, still trying to catch her breath. “A few more superlatives might be in order.”
“How quickly can you recover?” Ren asked.
Dani barked a laugh. “That’s my girl. Right to the point. I might need a little while, but I can go again.”
“Oh, good.”
Dani found the strength to prop her head up on her bent elbow and trace a fingertip around Ren’s nipple, watching it tighten, pleased at the sharp gasp from Ren. “But why wait.” She skimmed the length of Ren’s belly, felt the muscles tremble beneath her fingers, and dipped between Ren’s thighs. She was wet and hot and ready.
She got to her knees and slid her fingers lower, watching Ren’s face. “Unless you’d rather. Wait, I mean.”
Ren’s eyes were dazed. “I’d much rather not.”
Dani kissed her. “Good.”