“Ran wild through the bush. Skinny dipped in the waterfall.”
“And then picked leeches off each other, I suppose?”
“There was a bit of that. Quandong is a special place, though. I was happy to move back when Dad left me the land.” Emotion and alcohol swamped her in a wave, and she blinked back unexpected tears.
Sophie set down her fork and moved around the table to stand behind Tarryn. She wrapped her arms around Tarryn’s neck from behind and bent to rest her cheek against her hair. “Are you okay? Please, tell me if you’re not.”
“I’m okay.” She had to push the words past the lump in her throat. Sophie’s arms around her shoulders, her face against her hair, felt…good. More than that. It made her feel wanted in a way her one-night stands seldom did. Sophie made her feel cared for. She raised her hands and rested them on Sophie’s forearms. “Thank you for asking.”
For a few moments, they rocked together. Tarryn exhaled softly, Sophie’s body close to hers, the scent of her surrounding them. Her caring. She turned sideways on the chair, and Sophie moved around so they faced each other. Tarryn rested her head on Sophie’s breast. The steady thud of her heartbeat sounded in her ears. For a minute, they remained like that, breathing in sync.
Tarryn’s moment of self-pity dissipated as if blown away by a breeze. She was aware of Sophie’s breast under her ear, her warm arms holding her close. She latched her own arms around Sophie’s waist, her fingers stroking gently across her lower back.
Sophie’s heartbeat sped up, faster, more erratic. Her arms tightened around Tarryn’s shoulders, and one finger slowly moved back and forth on her upper arm.
Tarryn licked her lips. Thoughts of the afternoon came crashing back in a tsunami of emotion. How nervous she’d been, how her stomach had tilted and buzzed, the knowledge that even though it had been fake, no more real than a plastic doll, the thought that she was selling out all she believed in, all she had adamantly sworn she would never do, had overwhelmed her. Anger had flared, to be overwhelmed by a paralysing panic rendering her unable to say a word. Any words. Especiallythewords, the ones she’d sworn she’d never say:I do.
And Sophie had got her through it.
“Did you mean it?” she asked. “When you said, ‘later’? Have you decided to live for the moment? Can we take this further and see where it leads?”
Sophie shifted her weight, and Tarryn raised her head to look into her eyes. Sophie’s gaze seemed fixed on some far point, as if she were having an internal debate with herself.
Tarryn waited, her arms loosely around Sophie’s waist, for her answer.
Sophie lifted a shoulder, and her smile lifted with it. “We’ll never know if we don’t try. If it’s one night, well, we better make it memorable.”
The fluttery feeling in her belly intensified, spreading outward in a circle of heat. She stood, and Sophie’s arms fell away from her shoulders. “Shall we start with a kiss?”
“I can’t think of anything better.”
Chapter 21
Allie had thought pretending tobe an event planner was a stretch. She stifled a nervous giggle. That was nothing on pretending to be a lesbian. It was one thing to admit to herself she was bisexual; it was another to sleep with a woman for the first time when that woman thought she was experienced. The nerves in her stomach fluttered up to her chest, balancing the heat pooled in her abdomen.
But she was in no doubt this was what she wanted. Her breath caught in her throat. Tarryn stood in front of her, and the open lust scrawled across her face made Allie’s knees shake. She moved closer, enough that their bodies leaned lightly against each other. She slid her palms up Tarryn’s forearms, marvelling at their softness over hard muscle.
She took a breath, doubt creeping in. It wasn’t worry she couldn’t do this…it was the wrongness of not telling Tarryn the truth. Of not telling her who she really was.I’m sorry, Sophie.She took a lungful of air. “I need to tell you something.”
“Are you changing your mind?” Tarryn pulled back to stare into her face.
“No! Not at all, but—”
“Then, Sophie, please…don’t talk now. We’ve got to this point. Please, just kiss me. We’ll talk later, I promise.”
She opened her mouth to insist, to say the words.
“Sophie, whatever it is, if you still want this, then, please, can we talk later? Not now.”
At the naked longing scrawled on Tarryn’s face, the words jammed in her throat. She swallowed them away and tried again. “I still want this.”
Her nipples tingled as she pressed them against Tarryn’s breasts, and then she touched her mouth to Tarryn’s. Lust exploded in her body in a maelstrom of feelings. She wanted to touch Tarryn all over, feel her skin against her own, slide their legs together, and then, finally, learn the secrets between her thighs. She deepened the kiss, urging Tarryn’s mouth open so she could slide her tongue inside and taste her.
Tarryn gripped Allie’s hips, pulling her closer.
A deep throb started between her legs, and she straddled Tarryn’s thigh, pushing against her.
Tarryn cupped her buttocks, and her tongue duelled with Allie’s in a hot, wet, sensual dance.
