They sat like that for a long moment, hands joined across the table, the kitchen warm and quiet around them. Raven felt raw, exposed, like she'd peeled back every layer of protection she'd spent years building.
But she also felt lighter.
Finally, Annabelle pulled her hand back and stood. "I should go. Let you sleep."
Raven stood too, not wanting the moment to end but not knowing how to say that.
They walked to the door together. Annabelle pulled her dressing gown tighter, preparing to face the cold night air.
"Thank you," she said. "For the tea. And for…everything."
"Yeah," Raven said, because apparently her vocabulary had shrunk to monosyllables.
Annabelle smiled at her, soft and tired and impossibly lovely in the dim light of the hallway.
Then she stepped forward, and Raven moved at the same time, and suddenly they were face to face, barely inches apart.
Raven could see every fleck of color in Annabelle's eyes, could feel the warmth of her breath, could smell her shampoo, floral and sweet.
Neither of them moved.
But then, inexplicably, they were kissing.
Raven didn't know who moved first. Maybe it was her, maybe it was Annabelle, maybe it was both of them drawn together by some force neither of them could name. All she knew was that Annabelle's lips were soft and warm, that her hand had somehow found its way to Raven's waist, that Raven's fingers were tangled in Annabelle's hair.
The kiss was gentle at first, tentative, both of them testing the waters. Then Annabelle made a small sound in the back of her throat and pressed closer, and something in Raven cracked open. She pulled Annabelle flush against her, deepening thekiss, pouring every ounce of longing and fear and desperate need into it.
Annabelle tasted like tea and hope and all the things Raven had convinced herself she didn't deserve. Her hands were in Raven's hair now, fingers threading through the tangled mess of it, and Raven felt like she was drowning and being saved all at once.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Raven couldn't quite believe what had just happened.
Annabelle stared at her, lips kiss-swollen, eyes wide with wonder, like she'd just witnessed something miraculous.
Chapter Nineteen
Annabelle woke to sunlight streaming through her bedroom window and a feeling that could only be described as nausea plus the excitement of a child on Christmas morning. Perhaps with a little ‘first exam of the university term’ thrown in.
She'd kissed Raven.
Raven.
Raven the rockstar.
Last night.
In Raven's cottage.
After Raven had told her about the library, about foster care, about being Rachel Adams.
Annabelle pressed both hands to her face, feeling the smile spread across her lips even as her heart hammered against her ribs.
Did that really happen?
She replayed the moment in excruciating, wonderful detail. The way they'd stood at the door, the charged silence, theway Raven's eyes had darkened before they'd somehow moved together. The softness of Raven's lips, the gentle press of her hand at Annabelle's waist, the way her fingers had tangled in Annabelle's hair.
The kiss had been…perfect. Tentative at first, then deeper, more urgent, like they'd both been holding their breath for weeks and finally remembered how to breathe.
And then it had ended.
