Amelia stood slowly, her robe draped across the bed behind her. She reached for it and wrapped it around herself, tying it loosely at the waist. It didn’t help, though. Itbarelydulled the image already seared into Jo’s memory.
“Would you like a drink?” Amelia asked as she stepped closer. “You’ve gone very quiet.”
Jo nodded, still trying to find words she could confidently say out loud. “Sure. Yeah.”
“This way.” Amelia brushed past her, barefoot, as she led them towards one of the small booths near the back of the lounge. A low table, plush seating, and a little more privacy.
Jo followed her like a woman sleepwalking through a dream.
As they sat down, Amelia called a server over and ordered for both of them before turning back to Jo with that softness in her eyes. “You don’t have to stay, you know.”
Jo knew she didn’t, but there wasn’t a chance she was leaving. “I don’t want to leave.”
“Even after seeing me like that?”
Jo looked away, laughing quietly to herself. “Especiallyafter seeing you like that.”
“I didn’t mean to shock you.” Amelia smiled, but it was laced with sadness. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t.”
“I think I did, but you forget this place is part of my life, too.”
“I don’t forget.” Jo turned to her, their knees almost touching under the table. “I just never imagined…”
“What?”
“That you’d look so at home in it.” Jo shook her head. “O-or that I’d want to crawl across the bed and drag you into the nearest private room.” She scrubbed a hand down her face when Amelia gazed back at her, quite clearly shocked. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s okay. I think we’re past the point of pretending, aren’t we?”
Jo’s heart ached. God, she would give anything to be sitting here with Amelia under different circumstances. Shewantedto be Amelia’s. “It’s just…you look incredible, and I didn’t expect to react like that.”
“Jo—”
“And now I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing here. Because I told myself I was fine with friendship. But then you looked at me like that, while dressed in…very little, and I don’t feel fine anymore.”
The server arrived with two drinks, placed them down, and left again. Part of Jo wished she’d stayed, even if only to give Jo a moment to compose herself, but no…she was all on her own with this one. She picked up her glass and stared down into it. If she didn’t, she would find herself salivating over Amelia’s cleavage.
“Maybe we’re not meant to feel fine.”
Jo looked up and frowned.
“Maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’ssupposedto feel like this. Scary, uncertain, maybe even messy.”
Jo’s fingers curled around her glass. “It alreadyismessy.”
“Perhaps it is.” Amelia nodded. “But it’s also real.”
Jo swallowed. “I don’t want to lose you, Amelia.”
“You won’t.”
As Amelia slid her hand over Jo’s and squeezed, she gazed into those dark eyes and sighed. “I almost didn’t come tonight.”
“But you did.”
Jo felt something shift inside her. It felt as though a line had been drawn and immediately crossed. Amelia had wrapped herself in silk, lace, and confidence, but beneath it all, she was still the same woman who had held Jo when she couldn’t stop crying. The same woman who texted little kisses. The same woman who saidI’ll be hereand meant it.
