I nodded.
Her hand was warm and weighty. My body exploded with heat as she simply rested her hand on me.
She gazed deeply into my eyes. “Since we got back from Greece, even during Greece, I’ve been thinking about you. A lot.”
My breath hitched. My heart still pounded.
Lily swallowed and was starting to blush.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about you, too,” was all I could say.
We stared into each other’s eyes. I got lost for a moment.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t very forthcoming about meeting up again since we got back. I’ve wanted to. But I’ve just been in a weird place.”
“I know it’s been hard for you. I wasn’t expecting us to meet up right away.”
“Oh.” Lily blinked rapidly a few times.
“I mean, I wanted to, too.” I put my hand on the back of hers. “I just didn’t want to pressurise you. You’re going through a lot right now.”
Lily smiled, softly. “I’ve enjoyed our messages. I like talking to you.”
“I like talking to you, too.”
“To be honest, you’re the only person I’ve spoken with regularly these past few weeks. My friends came over recently and I was talking to them. I feel very lucky to have such amazing people in my life.”
“I’m sure they were more than happy to support you and help you through this.”
“I meant you, too. You’re amazing, Rona.”
“Sometimes it can be easier speaking with someone new in your life, and you can see yourself in a different way.”
“I do find it easy to talk to you. Like you just get me, you know? I feel like we have a very strong connection.”
I gazed into her eyes and stroked the back of her hand with my thumb, sending bolts of electricity straight to my core. “I feel it too.”
Lily looked down, then back up at me. “That night we went skinny-dipping meant a lot to me.”
“It meant a lot to me, too.”
I swallowed, wanting so desperately to kiss her, as all the flashbacks came back. The water’s edge. The moon. The silhouette of Lily’s body. Kissing her on the boat. Fucking her silently in her bedroom after everyone had gone to bed.
Lily leant a bit closer.
I loved the smell of her, and it reminded me of that night again in a visceral way.
Lily moved her hand from my thigh to the side of my neck and caressed my skin, causing goosebumps to rise on me.
We locked eyes and the silence stretched out. The air shifted to something else. There was desire and fire and a hunger in her eyes. In some ways, we were struggling to get back to that easy conversational style we had in Greece. Perhaps we’d both got into our heads too much since then.
I still felt like it would come back. At the moment, I needed to feel her again, physically. I’d been lying to myself about how much I’d missed her and how much I wanted her since that night in Greece. It was a whole lot more than I’d let myself realise. Being this close to her again confirmed it.
It was the middle of the day and all I wanted to do was to have sex with her. So much so, it overrode my usually low threshold for the threat of rejection. I wanted her that much. “Lily,” I said, my voice uneven and giving away how nervous I was. I couldn’t believe how much of a risk I was taking.
In the end, no words came out. But I did stroke her hand, wet my lips, and longingly gaze at her mouth.
Instead, Lily leaned further towards me so that her lips were right next to mine.
