She traced a hand over Grace’s hip as Grace rocked against her mouth, and Alix let out a low moan of approval, licking and sucking, then sliding one, two fingers into Grace, curling her fingers in time with her tongue.
No frantic pace, no defense mechanisms. Just warmth, gravity, and the slow rhythm of two people finally exhaling.
When Alix’s name left Grace’s lips, it sounded like a promise. And when she arched forward, crying out in climax and clenching around Alix’s fingers and mouth, Alix worked her through it until she relaxed, sliding forward until Alix caught her, the both of them landing in a spent puddle on the floor.
Later — minutes, hours, she couldn’t tell — they lay tangled together in Alix’s sheets under the dim light, skin damp, air still humming with heat. Grace’s head rested on Alix’s chest, her hand drawing idle patterns along her ribs.
Alix stared at the ceiling, half-dazed, her mind looping on the same impossible thought: that she could finally stop running. That she didn’t want to run anymore.
Outside, fireworks cracked, faint and far away. Grace murmured something she couldn’t quite catch, but Alix understood anyway. She turned her head, kissed the crown of Grace’s hair, and whispered into the quiet, “Happy New Year.”
Grace smiled against her skin. “Happy New Year. This is gonna be the best one yet, I can tell.”
Alix let her eyes fall shut. For the first time in years, she didn’t brace for the crash after the spark. She believed — quietly, fiercely, somewhere deep within her soul — that something good had finally decided to stay. And with that steadiness, they could find their way through any obstacle. Together.
Chapter Thirty-Three
GRACE
Gripping Alix’s headboard,Grace rolled her hips slowly. Her quads burned with the effort of straddling Alix’s mouth. Pale morning light glowed faintly around the closed curtains, revealing that the new year had well and truly arrived.
Alix moaned into Grace, one hand buried between her own thighs while the other slid up Grace’s hip, fingers digging into her. Grace rode Alix’s tongue, her steady rhythm finally rewarded by Alix’s sexy, albeit muffled, orgasm.
When Alix was satisfied, at least temporarily, Grace slid off and reached for the water on the nightstand. Alix refused it, like she didn’t want to wash Grace away with something as silly as hydration.
“Do you think Phyllis left to avoid hearing us having sex?” Grace asked with Alix’s nude form draped over hers, slick with perspiration and warm from a morning greeted by Grace’s body.
It wasn’t the question Grace wanted to ask, but she didn’t know how to pose the real one without sounding pathetic. Alix peppered Grace’s neck with lazy kisses.
She chuckled, distracted fingers skimming the curve of Grace’s hip. “I doubt it. She sleeps in a sound deprivation chamber. Though I’ve never been sure if it’s to keep noise out or in.”
“May she and my Tia Sylvia never meet,” Grace joked, annoyed with herself that an indirect question had gotten the wrong response.
“It can only end in world domination. I’m just not sure if it’s for good or evil.” Alix played along, increasing the anxiety that had started to churn in Grace’s empty stomach.
Welp. Pathetic it is.
“So she can’t hear when you have other women over?”
“Not that she’s ever mentioned, but I’m not usually into porn star screaming.”
Grace shifted. She hated feeling stupid for needing explicit clarification about their relationship status, but that didn’t dampen her need to know.
Closing her eyes tight enough to see thousands of points of silvery light, Grace grabbed the metaphorical bandage with both hands and tore it clean off.
“Do you intend to continue sleeping with other women?” Grace hated the way she’d asked it immediately. She should have gone to shower, or refill the water glass, or anything that bought her a few minutes alone to craft her question.
Alix popped up, brow furrowed. “What?”
“I’m not pushing you for anything,” Grace replied, words flying out of her like an out-of-control treadmill. “I just want to set my expectations accordingly.” She tried to cloak herself in dispassionate logic, even if the idea of someone else in Alix’s bed made her chest and stomach burn.
Alix’s furrowed brow gave way to smirk. “Babe, you think I’ve so much as looked at anyone else in months?”
“I don’t know. You don’t owe me?—”
Alix cut her off with a kiss, unexpectedly deep, as if to chase away the fears pressing in on their peace. She shifted her weight to get on top of Grace. It was unfair how perfectly her hips fit between Grace’s thighs. How wrong Grace’s body felt without Alix’s weight keeping her grounded.
“I didn’t hallucinate dropping that enormous L-bomb, did I?” Alix held Grace’s gaze as if she could never look anywhere else.
