But still, the rush that Brynn felt was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. For the first time in her life, she felt desired. Truly desired.
Letting that guide her, she plucked the coffee cup from Hallie’s hands, placing both mugs down on the coffee table. Then, she looked at Hallie with a wolfish smile, sitting up on her knees. “What are the rules on pre-work makeouts?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hallie looked down at her watch. In just a few minutes, she and Brynn were going to be picked up by Sydney and Reese, their engagement duties in full swing.
Tonight, they were going to do… something. Maybe tour an engagement party venue? Sample desserts? Hallie wasn’t sure. She also hadn’t asked many clarifying questions.
Because it had been six whole days since the night that had changed everything. The best six days of her life, frankly.
She and Brynn had been spending every possible waking second together, not that they’d formally discussed what was and wasn’t the appropriate amount of time to be wrapped up in one another. They were usually together in the evenings, after she’d finished any maintenance requests on top of her desk shifts.
Hallie, shockingly, couldn’t find a single thing to complain about. She wanted to spend their sleeping hours together, too, but she didn’t trust herself.
Which she had a very good reason for. Last night, things had… escalated when Brynn had gotten back from visiting her parents.
Unfortunately, the rule that, for very good reason, had to be implemented on day two—no beds—hadn’t accounted for the fact that pretty much any surface could suit their needs. Like really, really well.
They’d been watching a movie, cuddled against one another with a blanket draped over them. Should have been simple, right? It would have been a very normal thing that two homebodies who werespending time together—which was the vague definition they’d agreed upon to categorize what they were doing—would do.
Honestly, it wasn’t all that different from what they’d done together before they’d addressed their feelings.
Sitting close, Hallie had been adapting to the constant exhilaration and butterflies and awareness of the electricity crackling between them she got whenever their thighs or arms had brushed.
But there had also been something else.
A gnawing, clawing need had just settled deep in her belly when Brynn looked over at her. She’d stared at Hallie with this awed, focused attention, and Hallie’s heart had jumped into her throat.
In an instant, that look had obliterated Hallie’s loosely tethered self-control. Brynn was watching her with the same fascination she’d likely give to something as important as discovering a new planet.
Brynn had this ability to both bask in an experience that she found incredible and to look at it like she was analyzing all the sides, building a full picture.
Usually, Hallie would have cowered under that type of scrutiny and examination, but when it came from Brynn, she reveled in it.
And that was so fucking dangerous, as she’d been watching Brynn watch her, trying to understand that look on her face.
Then, it had hit her.
Brynn was marveling at her. Marveling, like Hallie was the most fascinating thing she’d ever laid eyes on. Hallie had barely ever been noticed by anyone in her life, except if it was to ask what time breakfast was available until.
She’d never felt so seen. So wanted. So understood.
All rational thought had left her mind as she’d wrapped her arm around Brynn’s neck and pulled her close, their lips almost touching but not quite.
“You’re driving me crazy,” Hallie had managed to say, needing to live in the moment for as long as she could.
And, not that she’d ever admit it, to escalate it further.
Brynn had let out a fluttery exhale that tickled Hallie’s lips. So she’d licked them, which drew Brynn’s eyes downward.
Hallie had started it, sure, but it was Brynn who’d pounced on her, suddenly pushing Hallie back against the cushions and straddling her thighs.
They hadn’t done this before, with Brynn on top of her, pressing down against Hallie. Fueling a need that was eroding her willpower by the second.
Hallie could have managed to keep a lid on her want. Maybe. But then, Brynn had rolled her hips down, against the friction that was already building in Hallie’s center. Which caused Hallie to let out a shuddering moan that Brynn had captured with her lips.
She’d had intense makeouts before, but they all paled in comparison to what was happening now. Still, Hallie was a fully functional adult, who wasn’t led around on a leash by her arousal. At least, that’s what she’d been telling herself… until she’d felt Brynn’s fingertips against her joggers, pressing just deep enough to make her body hungry with the possibility of her touch. Heat flared from her center as her own hips canted upward to chase the friction.
