“That feels good,” Kim says against her mouth.
Danika lets her hand remain there, but there’s a battle in her head. Not one about touching a woman in this way. But because it’sKim, and this and the secret she’s keeping, is too much.
She moves her hand lower, curves it around Kim’s ribs. Breaks the kiss and rests her head back down on Kim’s shoulder.
Kim stays silent, but although she encloses Danika in her embrace, the feel of it is different. It’s gone from sensual to comfort—and nothing more.
“I’m sorry,” Danika says into Kim’s chest.
“Don’t be.”
“I need… I must…” She sighs. “I have to get something straight in my head before we do this again. If we do. It feels wrong otherwise.”
“I’d say I understand, but I don’t. But that’s okay. I trust you to tell me when you’re ready.”
A small laugh. “I will. I’m enjoying this too much.”
“Me too. Danika, is it because I’m a woman? Because I was Chris’s partner?”
Danika doesn’t have to think about that too hard. “Not because you’re a woman. I’ve never been with a woman before, but that’s not it. Because you were Chris’s partner? Well, that’s mixed in with it, but probably not in the way you think. I’m sorry. I sound very cryptic. Please, can you trust me on this for now?”
“Of course.” Kim’s answer comes sure and fast.
“Thank you.” For a moment longer, Danika lies there, secure in Kim’s loose embrace. Warm. Cared for. As if she’s with someone who has her back, no matter what. “Will you sleep? Orare there now enough unanswered questions to keep your mind buzzing until the early hours?”
“A bit of that, for sure,” Kim says. “But I’ll sleep.” She presses another kiss to the top of Danika’s head. “And I hope you will too.”
Danika’s mind is already spiralling down, slower and slower. She’s so comfortable. So secure. The buzz of arousal has dampened, and that’s a good thing.
For now.
But, she hopes, not for long.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kim
The weekend is a success. Of course it is. Bella and Cami fish for tiddlers in the river, start an ambitious and obviously doomed project to dam the river to make a swimming hole, ride their hobby horses along the bank and construct a cross-country jumping course in the trees using downed sticks.
Lily sports a brand new sparkly browband—the one Bella got at the St Kilda market—and Cami says it’s the best thing ever. They hire kayaks and go paddling. And of course, they cook dinner on the campfire again.
The second night in the tent, Kim again follows Danika’s lead, and although she yearns to kiss Danika again, wants to taste her, feel Danika’s fingers on her breasts, and learn what Danika’s breasts and more are like, she waits.
She pushes Danika’s secret from her mind. There’s no sense worrying about it, whatever it is, and she figures Danika will tell her when the time is right.
The girls again sleep in the back of the car on the return journey to Melbourne. Kim concentrates on driving in the steady stream of Sunday night traffic. They make slow progress, and of course there’re roadworks, and a holdup of twenty minutes inYarra Glen. But eventually, they pull up outside Danika’s neat house with the blue door.
Cami wakes and rubs her eyes. “Are we home?”
“Yes, sweetie, we’re home,” Danika says.
Bella wakes too. “Can we go in?”
“If you want,” Danika says. “Would you like coffee, or water or anything? I was going to order Thai noodles for dinner if you want to stay.”
“Can we?” Bella asks.
“We have to get home,” Kim says. “We have to unpack the car, and I have a job tomorrow morning—and you have school. You’ll see Cami soon.”
