“Morning, sex addict,” she mumbles into my shoulder, and I can’t help but laugh at how unfiltered she is straight out of sleep.
“Careful,” I tease, brushing a kiss against her hair, “or I’ll make it a full-time job.”I’ll have plenty of time for that soon enough.
She lifts her head, eyes still heavy with sleep but already sparkling.“Then maybe today we should try doing something other than having sex.To see if we also like each other with clothes on.”
“Whatever will we do, though, if we can’t leave the house?”I almost can’t believe how much I want her again.How much I want to use that toy that gave us so much pleasure last night on her.But she’s right.That we’re sexually compatible has already been established.That we have chemistry for days is a given.But all we’ve had is sex—and therapy.We need to know what else is there.
“Did you have plans for today before you rushed over here in a sex-crazed stupor?”Avery really can’t get enough of goading me—and I can’t get enough of her doing it.
“I barely remember what day of the week it is.”
“I’ll take the blame for that as well.”Avery brushes her lips against my cheek.
“If it’s Saturday, I have dinner with my sister tonight.”I huff out some air.
“My agent, you mean?”Avery smirks at me.“Surely you can bring me to such a cozy family dinner.”
Thinking of Leslie drops me straight back into reality.After Derek, she will be the first person I tell.It’s hard to predict how my sister will react, but it will be a good litmus test.
“Not yet,” I dare to say.I might as well now.“What are your plans?”
“Consider all my plans cancelled,” Avery says.
“You don’t have to change your day for me,” I lie, because I want to spend every minute of it getting to know Avery better.
“A hike with Stella before lunch, and tonight Sienna’s doing something for Justine at this Korean restaurant none of us can get enough of.”
“Min-Ji’s?”Even my sister has trouble getting a table there these days.I can only dream of eating there without securing a booking months in advance.
“You know it?”
“It’s definitely no longer Los Angeles’s best-kept secret.”
“Justine is always a guest of honor there.”
I check my watch.“When’s your hike?”It’s a quarter past nine, not a time I would usually still be in bed, but this Saturday is hardly an ordinary one.
“Fuck the hike.”Avery rolls away from me.“The number of times Stella has canceled on me because of Silas.”She reaches for her phone.“She won’t mind me flaking out at the last minute.”
“What are you going to tell her?”
“No need for me to go cougar-spotting in the mountains because I already have one in my bed.”Avery says it with the kind of straight face worthy of ten Oscars.
I laugh heartily and it feels so good.Because the situation might not be ideal, but I’m no longer torn apart by ambivalence.I know what I want.I glance at Avery as she texts Stella, and there’s not a doubt left in my mind.
“You’re too much.”I pretend to gasp.“This cougar hasn’t even seen your new movie yet.Can we watch it?”
“Wouldn’t you rather watchQueer Girl Summeragain?”Avery puts her phone away and turns to me with a big grin on her face.
“I feel like I’m in it,” I joke, because the mood has taken a turn toward the silly.
“Queer Cougar Summer, then,” Avery says.
Not since Lois has laughing with someone felt so effortless.
“That would be a good sequel.Older women need more representation on the screen.”
“Are you volunteering for a part?”Avery shuffles dangerously close again.“I know the director.I can put in a good word for you.”Her lips find my ear.“I will tell her all about your extraordinary skills.”
