Eve’s heart had never felt so full as it did watching Aspen casually shrug off her suit jacket as she strolled past the bed and drape it over the back of one of the chairs in the sitting area on her way to turn on the fireplace. This was the first year she’d stayed until the end of the gala without counting down the minutes until she’d be allowed to leave. The first time she’d danced until her feet hurt and smiled so much her cheeks ached from the effort. The first time she’d ended the night energized and alive andhappy.
As if sensing her thoughts, Aspen glanced over her shoulder at her with a soft smile as the gas-powered flames flickered to life. “Did you have fun tonight?”
Eve nodded and leaned against the side of the chair with Aspen’s jacket. “I did.” She lifted her right shoulder in a wry shrug and rolled her eyes as she added, “I mean, yeah, there were parts that were a little more dramatic than I’d have preferred, but the rest of the night was like a dream.”
An unmistakable tenderness gentled Aspen’s expression as she stood. “Yeah,” she said softly as she joined Eve. The firelight cast a warm glow over her skin as her fingertips ghosted over Eve’s palm, and affection smoldered in her eyes as she lifted Eve’s hand to brush a kiss over her knuckles. “Me too. I especially loved dancing with you,” Aspen confessed in a hushedvoice, her smile as bright as the stars overhead as she pulled Eve into her arms.
“I loved that, too,” Eve whispered as she melted into Aspen’s embrace. The little voice in the back of her head that was used to being disappointed shouted at her that this happiness she’d found with Aspen was too perfect to be anything more than temporary, but she wanted it to be true and real and lasting.
She wanted it like she’d never wanted anything in her life.
Her stomach fluttered at the feeling of Aspen’s hands sliding around her waist to hold her close, and she sighed as she lifted her chin to kiss her softly. “You…”
When she didn’t finish the thought, Aspen murmured, “Yes, beautiful?”
Eve’s hands trembled as she lifted them to cradle Aspen’s face. Her pulse kicked into a sprint as she teased the corners of Aspen’s lips with her thumbs, and her voice when she found it was soft and shaking with vulnerability. “I know the weekend is basically over, but I don’t want this to end.” She caressed the curve of Aspen’s cheeks with her thumbs. “I want to keep you. I don’t know how it’ll work, or if—”
“I want to keep you, too.” Aspen’s arms tightened around Eve’s waist, and her voice was thick with emotion as she confessed, “I don’t want to ever let you go.”
There was no silencing hitched whimper of joy and relief that escaped her as she pulled Aspen’s mouth towards hers. “Please don’t,” she whispered against her lips before kissing her softly.
Of all the kisses over the last few days, none were sweeter than this one that was so exquisitely slow and deep and overflowing with promises that it brought tears to her eyes. She looped her arms around Aspen’s neck as she melted into the kiss, tension she hadn’t even been aware of carrying melting from her limbs at the realization that Aspen wanted her for more than this weekend, too.
She played with Aspen’s hair as that first, perfect kiss melted into an endless string of others that somehow outshone the last and left her feeling like she was flying. A golden warmth of joy unlike anything she’d ever felt rose in her chest with every languid press of Aspen’s lips, every hot, ragged breath stolen between kisses, every swirl of Aspen’s tongue against her own.
Hers.
Aspen was hers.
Hours could have passed for all she knew as they kissed in the glow of the fire while snowflakes danced gracefully past the windows outside, but she was only aware of the heat of Aspen’s mouth. The softness of her kiss. The firm press of her body and the strength of the hands cradling her waist as if she were the most precious thing in the world.
“My beautiful girl,” Aspen whispered reverently as she nuzzled Eve’s cheek. Her left hand dipped to caress Eve’s behind as she slid her right up Eve’s spine to press between her shoulder blades. “My beautiful, beautiful girl.”
Eve’s heart swelled at the wonderment that textured Aspen’s voice. “Yours,” she exhaled against Aspen’s lips. She angled her head and chased after Aspen’s lips as she pressed closer, wanting, needing Aspen to understand that she meant it. “I’m yours.”
She shivered as Aspen dragged a smile of a kiss across her cheek, and her knees turned to water when Aspen kissed her ear and murmured, “And I’m yours, Eve.”
Eve’s stomach tightened as Aspen’s softly spoken vow settled in her heart and made its home there, and Aspen’s name fell from her lips on a sigh as she buried her face in the crook of her neck. It was too much. Too good to be real.
She’d had to fight for everything her entire life and here Aspen was, giving her everything she never thought she’d find as if it were her birthright.
Eve nuzzled the soft hollow beneath Aspen’s jaw. “Mine.”
“All yours,” Aspen vowed.
A strangled sound caught in Eve’s throat as she blindly sought Aspen’s lips again, needing that contact, that closeness to assure her that this was real.
That Aspen was hers.
Fueled by the weight of their promises, their kisses quickly turned needy and desperate as their hands began to wander over curves and valleys that were only recently discovered but felt like home.
Eve dragged her right hand over Aspen’s shoulder to toy with the knot of her tie as strong hands glided over her behind, lightly caressing, causing the soft fabric of her dress to catch and drag against her skin. She sucked in a sharp breath when Aspen’s fingers splayed across her cheeks and squeezed, light at first and then harder and harder until she was lifted onto her toes, and she tightened her hold on Aspen’s tie as she panted a strangled, desperate, “Please,” against her lips.
Aspen hummed and relaxed her grip to reach lower and caress the backs of Eve’s thighs. “What do you need, beautiful girl?”
Eve pressed herself against Aspen. “You.”
“Like this?” Aspen reached lower and pushed Eve’s dress up over her ass.
