For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Matty stood there, bare under the low lamplight, her skin hot, her pulse beating wildly.
Sloan didn’t rush her, observing her with that same steady focus, like she had all the time in the world and expected to be obeyed properly.
Then Sloan lifted her chin towards the bathroom. “Shower,” she said softly. “And don’t keep me waiting too long.”
Matty let out a breath that was almost a laugh, almost a groan, and reached for the doorframe to steady herself before turning away. “Joining me?”
“No. You can wait a moment longer for my touch.”
“Cruel,” Matty muttered.
Sloan’s mouth curved at the gentle accusation as she blinked the tiredness away. “Yes.”
***
Matty all but flew through the shower.
She barely paid attention to the temperature, or to anything beyond getting clean and getting back to Sloan. Her whole body still felt coiled, humming with the promise of what was waiting on the other side of the bathroom door.
Sloan’s voice. Sloan’s eyes on her. Sloan telling her what to do in that low, steady tone that made her feel hot all over.
Hadn’t she already imagined how this would play out, her fantasies taking over whenever she allowed them to? Images of spreading herself over Sloan’s face, her waiting mouth, eager to taste more of her, riding it out until she could hold back no longer.
And somewhere in the middle of all that want was something else.
She liked her.
Not just the chemistry. Not just the thrill of being looked at like Sloan had at her, or the ache Sloan seemed able to summon with a glance and a few quiet words. She liked Sloan—the intensity of her, the control, the rare little cracks in her armour that allowed Matty to see her. And she liked the fact that underneath all that polish and authority was someone so emotionally available.
Her pulse kicked back up as she opened the bathroom door, already fantasising. Minutes. Hours. However long it took for Sloan's hands and mouth to take her apart completely.
Matty crossed the hall and pushed the bedroom door open with a small, anticipatory smile still on her face.
“Quick enough?”
She stopped cold.
Sloan was asleep.
Not pretending, not lying there waiting to catch Matty out, but properly asleep, still on her side, with one arm tucked beneath the pillow, and the bedside lamp casting a soft pool of light over the bed. Her face looked different like this—younger, almost. Less guarded.
Matty just stood there for a second, staring.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispered.
The words came with no real heat behind them, more disbelief than annoyance. Her body, however, had not yet caught up. It still throbbed with all the expectation she’d carried out of the shower, and for one ridiculous moment, she could only stand there, naked and feeling thoroughly betrayed by the universe.
She huffed out a breath and crossed to the bed.
“Hey,” she said softly, climbing on the edge of the mattress. “Sloan.”
Nothing.
Matty leaned over and carefully touched her shoulder, not wanting to startle her. “Come on. You can’t order me about like that and then fall asleep before I get back.”
Sloan made a small sound, somewhere between a breath and a murmur, but didn’t open her eyes.
