Rowan set the papers on the table and canted her head as she looked back at Juniper. “Are you okay? You seem nervous.”
“This…” Juniper paused. “You…” Her breath quivered. “How forward can I be right now?”
“I hope very forward?”
Juniper swallowed. “Everything about you is making everything in me want to scream at you to fuck me right now.”
Rowan’s little grin curled up on the side. “I hope to spend a lot of time making you scream.”
“Rowan!” Juniper’s laugh burst forward.
Rowan’s grin turned devious, and she shrugged. “But maybe now’s not the time to get even more worked up. Sorry, let’s focus on the next couple hours.” She slid her pinky into Juniper’s. “Do you remember how we used to do this?”
Juniper looked down at their linked pinkies and smiled at the tenderness as she begged her clit to stop throbbing.
Rowan brought their joined hands to her lap and used her free hand to trace lines over Juniper’s fingers. “I loved doing this so much.”
“You did?”
“I always loved feeling connected to you. Even like this.”
Overwhelming feelings rioted, ricocheted, and burst inside Juniper’s chest. There was no way she was already in love with this woman again, right? In the subsequent years after Rowan left, Juniper felt adrift. Disconnected. Lost. But this? Now? She was alive again.
“I know it got so complicated, and I haven’t done a great job explaining why I did what I did.”
Juniper silenced any lingering confessions as she pressed her lips softly into Rowan’s. Maybe it was impulsive, but shedidn’t want to ruin the moment. She let go of constantly trying to tame herself to fit into anyone’s else’s expectations of her and allowed herself to feel exactly what she wanted to feel without hesitation. And that feeling did actually feel a lot like love.
Rowan stopped tracing lines over Juniper’s hand and instead reached over to possessively pull Juniper’s chair flush against hers. Their knees bumped and spread around each other and Rowan’s hands tangled themselves in Juniper’s hair to pull her even closer.
Juniper rested her forehead against Rowan’s and tried to steady her breathing. “I thought you said we shouldn’t get worked up.”
“Don’t listen to me. I’m an idiot. I take it back.”
“Let’s get a full vote of yeses and then we celebrate.”
“You’re an evil woman.”
“You started it.” Juniper stood up and skittered backwards to the door.
“How did I start it?” Rowan stood with her, gathered her papers, and followed behind.
“You’re the one who wore the fuck me glasses and fuck me suit.”
Rowan crossed towards her as Juniper edged open the door and slid herself into the crack. Rowan stopped her from escaping by gliding her hand down Juniper’s rounded ass.
“Says the woman who wore the fuck me against a desk secretary skirt.”
“You want to fuck me against a desk?”
“Iwillfuck you against a desk.”
Juniper’s heart hammered against her rib cage at the idea of Rowan pulling her skirt above her ass and pushing her against a desk. She licked her lips at the way she imagined Rowan’s fingers would feel curling into the edges of her panties to yank them down her legs.
“Be professional, Birdsong. What’s gotten into you?”
“Hopefully you, soon.” Rowan nudged her the rest of theway out the door and closed it behind them. “We should go. Be professional, Junie.”
On their way across the building to the Tribal Council chambers, they managed to review their plan for who would field which questions. Juniper would focus on the gardens and plans for food distribution and Rowan would focus on the land expansion and construction. Even though they were trying to keep it professional, they couldn’t help stealing sidelong glances at each other.
