Aubrey woke early and went for her morning jog. To her disappointment, she didn’t spot Selina out on the porch, probably because she wasn’t a lunatic who woke up at six in the morning on vacation.
By the time she returned, showered, and headed down for breakfast, the house was still cemetery quiet. She wandered through the hallway and noticed Kyle’s bedroom door was open. Well, damn, the woman must not have come home last night. She shot a text to Ky with a winky face and a thumbs up. It was about time Kyle indulged in a fling after all the years she spent feeling like a reject. Aubs wandered toward the room Mia and Sky shared, but before she lifted her fist to knock, she heard the telltale moan of morning sex.
In a rare twist of irony, it looked like everyone was getting laid but her. She’d come home last night and spent some quality time with her dildo, needing to burn off some of the tension that built up every time she was around Selina. The explosive orgasm that followed was part buildup and part imagining those lush lips locked with hers and Selina’s fingers pumping inside her with all that coiled grace and control.
Aubrey knew Selina wasn’t like her—she didn’t sleep around, didn’t do the one-night stand thing, and the moment Aubrey made the suggestion this fragile thing between them would shatter.
Yet for the first time in a long while, she didn’t regret a thing. Certainly not the time she’d spent with Selina last night sitting and talking in front of the nightclub, then dancing close when they went back in. She hadn’t gotten to know anyone that intimately in years. Not since Mom first got diagnosed.
Aubrey strode downstairs, her stomach rumbling. She needed food and coffee, but she didn’t feel like cooking this morning. Still no word from Chels either, which could be good or bad.
She took a seat at one of the stools at the breakfast nook and whipped out her phone. Aubrey managed to get one phone number last night—the only one she wanted.
You up?
She tapped her foot on the base of the stool as she waited for a response. If she didn’t hear anything, she’d roam on her own. A second later, her phone buzzed.
When I gave you my number, it was for contacting me at reasonable hours.
A wide grin spread on Aubrey’s face before she could help herself. Selina always had snark to deliver, morning, noon, or night.
Want to grab coffee at the Silver Mug? I’m starving and under-caffeinated and might die.
The response came back immediately.
Drama queen. Give me five minutes.
Aubrey’s heart sped up. Damnit. Selina wasn’t the type to fuck around, and Aubrey wasn’t the type to commit, but with Mom’s hospital stay weighing over her, Aubrey couldn’t help but fall for any comfort she could find. Once upon a time, she’d adored the distraction, the way those hookups quieted her racing mind, but recently, all they did was stir her thoughts into a frenzy.
Just coffee. They were getting coffee—that was it. Why Selina indulged her at all this week was a mystery, because until now, she’d avoided Aubrey as much as possible.
Another moan sounded, loud enough that she could hear it in the kitchen. Well, apparently Sky or Mia just came. Aubrey grabbed her keys and her purse before she left the rental.
By the time she jogged up the steps to Selina’s place, the front door was opening.
Selina stepped through the door, the sunlight bringing out violet notes in her relaxed pixie cut. The white tee she wore was cut off right above her belly button, a mess of red scrawled words over the fabric. Her ripped jeans and chunky black belt accented those full hips, and as she stepped closer, Aubrey got a view of the perfect ass that had sent her temperature spiking sky-high when they ground against each other last night.
“How’d you get ready so fast?” Aubrey asked, scratching her nape.
Selina’s lips quirked. “Did you think I was lying around in bed? None of my housemates are up right now either, so I’ll gladly get some breakfast.” She cast a cursory scan over her from head to toe, and a flush crept through Aubrey. “Sidenote, you don’t look like you’re about to die.”
“You don’t understand my need for caffeine then,” Aubrey said, shifting back and forth on her feet. At any point she could step into motion, needing to burn off the energy that zapped between them any time they were in proximity. They could probably fuel the country of Spain with this electric current. Selina’s presence in any room just upped the voltage, whether from the witty comments that’d be incoming or the seductive way she moved. Fuck, Aubs was obsessed.
“Though.” Selina cast her a sidelong glance as they set off down the sidewalk in the direction of the Silver Mug. “Now that you have my number, we’ll have to discuss appropriate times. Daytime, sure. Three in the morning because your booty call left and you’re lonely—that’s a hell no. I’ll be catching some well-deserved rest.”
Aubs’s chest twisted, like Selina was somehow able to peer into far too many nights Aubrey had returned to bed by her lonesome and wrapped herself in the cold sheets, the sweat drying on her skin like paste. Even with the remnants of the exertion, the soreness of her pussy, her swollen lips from the hookup, she had ached inside, still empty after those encounters. It wasn’t like she could just switch gears though. The idea of committing again, of diving so deep in with someone only for them to ditch her at her worst—fuck, she couldn’t survive dropping that low again.
“Hey, that’s far too intense for pre-coffee discussion,” Aubrey said, slashing her hands out.
Selina’s brows lifted an inch, but she nodded. “Right, so about the gorgeous blue sky. Clearly, it’s up to something conniving.”
Aubrey snorted. “Very menacing puffy clouds up there. Dammit, Beckett, keep with that wit at all the best times, and I may have to call off this enemies thing we’ve got going on.”
“I doubt enemies drag each other out for morning coffee,” Selina responded, her tone cracker dry. Aubrey had come to relish the woman’s brand of sarcasm and dry wit, so different from the doe eyes she was used to getting from women at the bar, at the gym, or even out at random restaurants. She’d always been drawn to challenges though, and Selina was the exact sort of catnip she didn’t need right now.
The sign for the Silver Mug came into view, beaten iron scraps framing the black lettering, and the door swung open and shut with the steady stream of traffic, even this early. The closer they got to the door, the more Aubrey caught the murmurs of chatter inside and the scent of roasted coffee drifting her way.
Her stomach rumbled. “I need eggs and bacon, stat.”
“Part of your training regimen?” Selina asked, the usual mocking grin departing for a soft curiosity.
“A lot of protein—yeah. Being a kickboxer requires burning a lot of calories, and you’re expected to stay in a certain shape if you’re an instructor. That’s the reason I’m hauling ass at early hours even on vacation to go on runs. If I start slipping, it takes a lot of work to pack on the amount of muscle I need to kickbox.”
“Thank God I just run a bar,” Selina responded with a feline grin. “That sounds exhausting.”
Aubrey reached the door first and held it open for her. Selina bobbed her head in a nod and entered, striding up to the hostess stand and asking for a table for two. A slight blush reached Aubrey’s cheeks as she scanned over the other two-seaters in the room filled with couples. Because this was a coupley sort of thing she never indulged in. Maybe she’d grab a shake with a client or have a business meeting at a coffee shop, but morning brunch?
Off-limits.
Just like the woman slinking before her.
Aubs tugged on the end of her ponytail, wishing she wasn’t such a damaged head case. Maybe then she’d be able to go on a date with a woman without feeling this crushing pressure, without those memories of Lila creeping in with the suffocating reminder. Was this a date? She’d hit up Selina for brunch, and the looks that kept scorching between them felt pretty damn date-like.
Even with the air conditioning on, a nice balmy breeze swept through the Silver Mug from the open windows. Selina skimmed her hand through her hair as she followed the hostess over to the two-seater stationed right under a hefty bushel of sunbeams. Aubrey settled into the seat opposite Selina, unable to help but soak in the vision of the woman before her. Christ, she’d encountered many, many gorgeous women, but none of them affected her like this.
With Selina, she didn’t just get turned on—because hell, she left most of their interactions with her panties soaked—there was also this comfort around her she hadn’t experienced in years. Like she could just… be. Like no one wanted anything from her, whether it was a good time in bed, loud, sassy entertainment, fitness tips, or the dozens of other things she got bombarded for on a daily basis.
“What are you going to eat?” Aubs asked, looking up from the menu.
The heat that flashed in Selina’s eyes made her realize her choice of wording. She used the menu to fan herself a little, trying to not get overwhelmed by the idea of anything sexual with this woman. Fuuuuck. Mind out of the gutter.
“Probably just a cappuccino. I’m not much of a breakfast person,” Selina responded, her lips curving into a grin, as if she knew the lurid thoughts flashing through Aubrey’s mind right now.
Aubrey pounded the table between them. “Come on now, don’t leave me to eat by myself. At least get toast or something.”
Selina arched an eyebrow. “I suppose I could manage toast.”
The waitress swung over before any more discussion could happen, and Aubrey placed an order for a large, large coffee and a bacon and cheese omelet. She was more than ready to devour some heavy protein. Selina ordered a cinnamon roll and a cappuccino.
Once the waitress walked away, Aubrey couldn’t withhold her snort any longer. “You, a cinnamon roll?”
“Is there something wrong with liking sweet things?” Selina asked, casting her a warning glance.
Aubrey shook her head, even though her grin widened. “Nothing wrong with that—I just didn’t take the Queen of Chill for the cinnamon roll and cappuccino sort. More black coffee and wheat toast.”
“Just like you think I read serial killer novels instead of romance,” Selina responded dryly. “What sort of monster did you fashion me into, sunshine?”
A shiver ran down her spine at the nickname. The moment it first left Selina’s lips, she wanted to remember how that felt, the warmth that flickered through her at something personal from the woman, something belonging to them. She needed to shake some sense into her head before she continued to fuel this fantasy that wasn’t going to happen. No way Selina would trust her after the woman had watched her work her way through her bar for years, picking up women left and right. That was where their antagonism started in the first place.
“I don’t know, a splash of Freddy Krueger, maybe a little bit of Jason thrown in there for all the silence? I mean, we could elevate you to Mike Meyers,” Aubrey responded at last, offering a cheeky grin. If only she didn’t love winding this woman up so much.
Selina lifted a middle finger in response. Before Aubrey could say anything else, the waitress came back with her large mug of coffee and Selina’s cappuccino. Even though steam wafted up from the mug, Aubrey lifted it to her lips and took a scorching sip. Anything to distract herself from the woman who drove her to deliriousness by proximity alone. Her phone buzzed, and she took a moment to check, in case it was Chels. Nope, just Kyle, with a thumbs up.
“Looks like Kyle got laid last night,” Aubs responded, returning her gaze to Selina.
The woman drank from her cappuccino with a fitting elegance. “So what you’re saying is the one person in your household who isn’t getting some is you. I’ve got to say, that’s a rather dramatic twist.”
Aubrey shrugged, a sweep of vulnerability crashing over her. Truth be told, she hadn’t gotten laid once on the vacation, and even with her worries about Mom buzzing in the background, she’d still managed to enjoy herself. All because of Selina Beckett.
“Maybe there’s more to me than diving from one bed to the next,” she said, trying for a joking tone. She wavered, her voice scraping. Right, that failed.
Selina offered a contemplative look as she sipped at her cappuccino. When she placed the porcelain mug back on the wooden table with a soft thump, Aubrey couldn’t pull her attention away if she wanted to. There was something about the woman’s serious demeanor, the gravity of her presence, that anchored her there.
“From what I’ve seen, there’s a whole lot more to you, sunshine,” Selina said, all teasing leeched from her voice. “Maybe you weren’t the only one who made a wrong assumption.”
The flush reached Aubrey’s cheeks this time, and she ducked her head. She’d never gotten this thrown off her axis before. “Stop with all the sweetness before I fucking melt onto the ground. I’m not built for kindness.”
The words just slipped out, but she hadn’t realized how true they were.
Selina’s brows faltered, a flash of sadness skating across her gaze. Sadness for her. Aubrey scrubbed her face and drank another scorching sip of coffee, burning the roof of her mouth in the process.
When she looked up again, Selina’s focus had shifted to someone walking in the door.
“Oh, damn” slipped from Selina’s mouth.