“Do you like seeing yourself?” Addie’s free hand curled around Toni’s low back, as if she was afraid Toni would step away.
“I like seeing you touching me,” Toni said. “Your expressions.”
“I love the feel of you right here,” Addie said guilelessly as her fingers glided over Toni’s slick flesh. “And knowing you’re so wet from… touching me, I like that, too.”
“From licking you,” Toni correctly. “Tasting you.”
“Teach me.” Addie stared at her. “Teach me how to make you feel like that.”
“Like what?” Toni prompted, wanting to hear the words Addie would use to describe her first time having oral sex.
“Desperate.” Addie’s fingers moved faster. “Like I would do anything for you, for that feeling. Like there are stars exploding inside me.” She leaned closer. The hand on Toni’s back slipped down to cup Toni’s ass. “Like I will die if you stop. Like my own touch will never be this good. No one else will ever compare. Just you.”
Addie’s fingers slowed down.
“Don’t stop,” Toni urged.
The smile Addie gave her was feminine power personified. “Why?”
And Toni almost whimpered. “Because I need…”
“What? Ask me,” Addie insisted. Her voice trembled slightly, but she still said the words. “What do you want from me, Toni?”
“Touch me, Addie. Harder. Faster.Now.Please?” Toni turned her head and kissed her softly, and when she pulled back, she whispered, “I needyou.Not someone else.You.”
Addie smiled and gave Toni what she desperately needed in that moment, fingers flying faster and faster until Toni reached a level of bliss she’d rarely found.
Toni buried her face against Addie’s throat.
“You destroy me, love,” Toni whispered, hoping that Addie didn’t realize exactly how true those words were. She was in too far, interested in Addie far too seriously, and as Toni stood there in her sodden underwear, she couldn’t fathom how she’d let Addie go after this weekend.
Or ever.
“I missed you,” Addie murmured. “I wanted to tell you about filming every day, but Icouldn’t…”
“I didn’t call or keep emailing because I thought you didn’t want to hear from me,” Toni confessed. “Even when I sent flowers, you said nothing, so…” She shrugged awkwardly, as she had her arms around Addie, who was making no move to put distance between them. “I would’ve loved to hear how things were going out there.”
“Or to talk to me about how the book is going?” Addie said in an obviously insecure voice.
Toni pulled back, so she could stare at her. “Yes. Maybe we can talk on the phone or video chat after the weekend.”
Addie blinked like she was going to cry. “I thought you left without a word because you were disappointed or didn’t enjoy—”
Her words were lost as Toni covered her mouth in a kiss. When she pulled back again, Toni said, “Not at all. I overslept because some lovely creature kept me up all night, and I had to get through several stock signings before my flight home.”
“Oh. What’s a stock signing?”
“I stop at a store, sign the copies ofThe Whitechapel Widowthat they have in stock, meet the booksellers. Repeat at the next store.” Toni gave Addie a look. “My agent had to buy me perfume because I went to the lobby smelling like your delicious—”
Addie clapped a hand over her mouth to end Toni’s words. “Oh. My. Goodness. She must think I’m awful.”
Toni licked Addie’s palm, making Addie let out a yelp that resulted in one of those deep belly laughs that Toni so rarely had. “Yep. I smelled like overpriced perfume all day because I didn’t want toturn on the shower and risk disturbing the beautiful woman who grumbled at me in her sleep.”
When Toni stepped back, she felt the loss of Addie’s presence instantly. Without thinking, she reached out and twined her fingers around Addie’s. “Emily was thrilled, actually. Not about my being late, but I am apparently worse than an angry bear when I’m celibate.”
Toni briefly debated telling Addie that Emily sent the first bouquet of flowers, or telling her Emily was so grateful to her that she spent her own money to send them to Addie, but Toni was fairly sure that would sound rude, so she said, “Did you like either of the bouquets?”
“Obviously!” Addie said. “I was so hurt the first time, though…” She glanced away. “And the housekeeping staff woke me that morning, and I just felt—”
