“Of course I have,” Eden said. “You didn’t think I’d invite you on tour without doing my homework, did you? Besides, I already knew your hits. They’re pretty hard to avoid these days.”
“So you were trying to avoid them ...”
“I can’t help it, babe.” Eden sang the chorus of “Obsessed,” one of Anna’s most popular songs. “You’re everywhere I look, everywhere I turn. One look from you makes me burn.”
“Oh my God.” Anna tackled her, rolling Eden to the bed. “I can’t believe you know my songs and never told me!”
“Where did you get the impression I didn’t know your songs? You know I watch your performance every night.” Eden was staring at Anna’s bare shoulder again. Her heart was beating too fast. She tried to sit up, but Anna moved at the same time. They collided, and somehow Eden wound up sprawled on top of her.
Her lips were on Anna’s, and she didn’t even know how they’d gotten there, who’d made the move, but they were kissing, and Eden was on fire. Anna’s lips were so soft, so warm, and they felt better than anything Eden had ever known. Her pulse thrummed in her ears andbetween her thighs, where an overwhelming ache grew, making her feel frenzied and wild.
“Oh my God,” Anna whispered as her arms came around Eden, drawing her closer.
Eden whimpered, clinging to her as she kissed her with a sort of desperation she’d never felt before. One of her hands was on Anna’s bare shoulder, the other fisted in her shirt. Her knees were straddling Anna’s hips.Holy shit.This ... this need, this pleasure. It was wonderful. It was so wonderful! Why hadn’t she known a kiss could feel like this? Why hadn’t she ...
Her head swam. She felt almost drunk. Out of control. Oh God, what was she doing? She broke the kiss, blinking at Anna in a foggy haze. Her body felt like someone else’s. Every inch of her skin felt hypersensitive. She was gasping for air. Her nipples were tight, andoh, the need throbbing in her core ...
Thiswas the spark she’d been missing her whole life. This was what it was supposed to feel like. She’d had no idea what she was missing, and now ... now her world had tilted off its axis.
Anna stared up at her, her expression equally dazed. Eden had kissed her. Or maybe Anna had kissed her first. Eden wasn’t sure, but she’d kissed a woman, and it had been the hottest kiss of her life, and now nothing made sense, and she didn’t know what to do.
Eden dragged herself backward, sitting on her heels as tears flooded her eyes. She was breathing too fast. Way too fast. Oh God. She’d kissed Anna.
“Whoa, hey, are you okay?” Anna crouched in front of her, eyes crinkled in concern.
Eden shook her head. Tears spilled over her cheeks. She swiped at them, but the next thing she knew, she was full-on sobbing in the middle of Anna’s bed. Anna. Who she’d just kissed. Eden was spinning out of control, and that was the one thing she’d never been able to handle. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just ... I need to go.”
She scooted backward off the bed and ran for the door as Anna called after her. Eden could hardly hear her over the roaring in her ears. She yanked the door open and stumbled into the hall, wiping frantically at her tears. She’d forgotten to call Taylor, and now she was alone in the hall, completely unprotected and looking like an absolute mess.
Desperate, she swept her gaze up and down the hallway, and at least there was no one here to see her like this. She couldn’t risk the elevator, and she couldn’t face Anna, so Eden ran for the stairwell, already breathless as she began the five-flight climb to the safety of her room.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Anna stared at the door Eden had just fled through. She pressed a finger against her lips, which were swollen from Eden’s kisses. Eden had kissed her and blown Anna’s mind in the process. She hadn’t kissed Anna like a straight woman satisfying a curiosity either. She’d kissed like she was drowning and Anna was her only source of air, like she couldn’tnotkiss her.
And then she’d burst into tears and run before Anna could even process what had happened. She turned, staring blankly at the bed. The bed where she and Eden had kissed. The bed where Eden’s phone lay, forgotten in her mad dash from the room, next to the purple hoodie that used to be Anna’s but that she now thought of as Eden’s.
Eden hadn’t called Taylor. She never went anywhere without Taylor, except for that one perfect time when Anna had taken her on the back of her motorcycle.
Eden kissed me.
Anna wanted to shout it from the rooftops. She wanted to dance and sing and celebrate and ... cry, because Eden had run away, distraught. Anna had to go after her. She needed to make sure Eden was okay. She needed to know Eden had made it to her room safely and return her phone, at the very least.
What would she say when she got to Eden’s room? Anna’s head was spinning. Hopefully the right words would come to her once she was there.
Anna picked up Eden’s phone and the hoodie and tucked a room key in her pocket. She drew in a steadying breath and left her room. She was too jumpy to wait for the elevator and also wary of being recognized. When she’d ridden down to the lobby earlier to buy snacks, she’d ended up taking selfies with several people, which had been an awesome feeling at the time, but she wasn’t in the mood for greeting fans now. She had to get to Eden.
Anna turned right and headed for the stairwell. Had Eden taken the elevator? She was so paranoid about being recognized. Anna hoped she hadn’t run into anyone, especially in the state she’d been in when she left Anna’s room. That would have been super traumatic for her. Anna jogged up the first two flights of stairs and walked the remaining three. She was gasping for breath when she exited on the forty-fourth floor.
As she approached Eden’s door, Anna’s breathing grew even more ragged. Why had Eden kissed her? And why had she been so upset afterward? Was she questioning her sexuality?
Only one way to find out. Anna lifted her hand and knocked. Silence greeted her from the other side of the door, but somehow she knew Eden was there, watching her through the peephole. Or maybe Anna just hoped she was.
“I brought your phone,” Anna said, loudly enough for her voice to carry through the door. She didn’t want to say anything else while she was standing in the hall. Who knew who was listening? And she’d thought Eden was the paranoid one.
The door swung open, and Eden gestured for her to come in. Anna stepped through the door, and Eden closed it firmly behind her. They faced each other in loaded silence. Eden’s eyes were puffy but dry. She was still in the tank top and leggings she’d worn when she left Anna’sroom, and her chest was mottled with red patches. Embarrassment? Nerves? Exertion from five sets of stairs?
Anna held out the phone and hoodie. “Eden ...”
