They were breathing hard, staring at each other across two feet of charged space. The argument had stripped away their careful professional masks, leaving them raw and exposed. Lena could hear her own pulse in her ears and taste the wine and frustration on her tongue.
Words failed her entirely.
“Screw it,” she said, and she closed the distance between them.
The kiss wasn’t gentle. It was fierce, desperate, and claiming as weeks of tension and professional tiptoeing exploded into this moment. Lena’s hands found Erin’s face, her fingers threading in Erin’s soft hair as she pressed closer, tasting red wine and desire on her lips.
For half a second, Erin froze. Then she was kissing back just as hard, her hands fisting in Lena’s jacket, pulling her closer despite the small table table between them. Every careful boundary they’d maintained shattered all at once.
When they broke apart for air, they stared at each other. Erin’s green eyes were dark, her lips swollen, and her hair mussed where Lena’s fingers had tangled in it. She looked shocked and perfectly undone.
Lena felt equally stunned by her own actions. She’d kissed Erin Vance. In Lavender’s. In front of half the Phoenix Ridge lesbian community.
Movement in her peripheral vision reminded her they weren't alone. Lavender was watching from behind the bar with raised eyebrows and a knowing smile. Other patrons were pretending not to stare while very obviously staring.
"Not here," Erin whispered, apparently reaching the same conclusion.
They stood in wordless agreement, Lena dropping bills on the table without counting them. The walk to the parking lot felt endless and immediate all at once, the cool night air doing nothing to calm the heat still crackling between them.
The moment they reached Lena's car, parked in the shadows at the edge of the lot, Erin turned and pressed her back against the driver's side door. "Lena?—"
Lena kissed her again, slower this time but no less intense. Erin's hands found her waist, then her neck, fingers warm against her skin. The taste of her was intoxicating—wine and something uniquely Erin that made Lena want to memorize every detail.
They broke apart again, breathing hard. Erin's head fell back against the car window, exposing the long line of her throat.
"What are we doing?" Erin asked, voice rough.
"I don't know." Lena's forehead dropped to rest against Erin's. "But I can't stop."
She proved it by kissing Erin again, soft and searching this time, hands braced against the car on either side of Erin'sshoulders. The response was immediate, Erin's arms coming up to circle her neck, pulling her impossibly closer.
When gravel crunched nearby as someone approached their own car, they forced themselves apart. Both breathing hard, both looking at each other like they'd discovered something rare and dangerous.
"This changes everything," Lena said quietly.
"I know." Erin's thumb traced along Lena's collarbone where her shirt had come undone. "Do you regret it?"
Lena considered the question for exactly half a second. "No."
"Good." Erin's smile was soft and real. "Because I was about to do it myself if you hadn't."
The confession sent another wave of heat through Lena's system, but the sound of voices approaching from the café forced them to step apart. Professional boundaries, public places, and tomorrow's inevitable complications crashed back into focus.
"I should go," Erin said, though she made no move toward her own car.
"You should," Lena agreed, not stepping back.
They stared at each other for another long moment before Erin finally pushed away from the car. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah." Lena's voice came out rougher than intended. "Tomorrow."
Erin walked to her car, looking back once before getting in. Lena waited until she'd driven away before sliding into her own driver's seat, hands shaking slightly as she gripped the steering wheel.
She sat there for several minutes, fingers touching her lips where she could still taste the kiss. Tomorrow they'd have to face what this meant for the case, for their professional relationship, and for everything they'd been carefully building. Tomorrow there would be consequences and conversations and complications neither of them were prepared for.
But tonight, driving home with the taste of Erin still on her tongue and the memory of her hands warm against her skin, Lena couldn't bring herself to care about any of it.
The attraction had been there, growing quietly, and now there was no denying it. Whatever complications this created, whatever conversations they'd need to have, that could wait until tomorrow.
