Page 305 of Every Almost

Reyna’s hands kept returning to Charlie as though each layer removed had revealed some place that needed to be touched immediately. Charlie did the same to her, palms moving over Reyna’s sides, her back, her waist. And she would stop often to just look. That was what made it unbearable. Charlie kept looking. Each time she uncovered something new, she stopped as if she needed time to comprehend every reveal of Reyna's body.

Reyna saw her eyes widen, saw the sharp pull of her breath, saw her lips move around words that were never revealed.

And for Reyna, the wanting kept growing, not easing with access, but multiplying. Every part of Charlie she was permitted to see made her need the rest. Every place Charlie touched left the skin beside it begging.

The distance between them had become a living thing, however little of it remained.

At last, there was nothing else to remove.

They stood facing each other.

Close, not touching, the room going impossibly quiet.

Reyna looked at Charlie, and this time there was no fabric for imagination to complete. No stolen glimpse to preserve or need to look away before someone noticed.

Charlie was simply there, all of her, and Reyna let herself see.

She saw the body of the woman she loved. The body that carried Charlie through every impossible thing she asked of it. The hands that could rebuild an engine and trembled now at hersides. The heart beneath the skin that had chosen Reyna without ever once making her earn it.

It was too much, but not in a way that made her want less of her, but instead in a way that made her wonder how one body was supposed to contain loving another person this badly.

Charlie’s gaze traveled over her in return, slowly enough that Reyna felt it.

The rose brightened wherever Charlie looked, answering her attention with shameless precision. Reyna wanted Charlie to know, wanted her to see that every inch of Reyna understood exactly who was standing in front of her.

Then stop holding it.

Charlie's gaze reached Reyna’s face again.

Her eyes were wet.

Reyna lifted a hand to her cheek. “Hey.”

Charlie let out a small laugh, but it broke halfway through. “I’m okay.”

“I know.” Reyna’s thumb brushed gently beneath her eye. “You don’t have to be anything else right now.”

Charlie leaned into her palm. “I think that’s the problem.”

She turned her face and pressed a kiss to the center of Reyna’s hand.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” she said.

Reyna’s chest tightened.

“I know now.”

Charlie looked at her, something open and unguarded passing across her face.

Reyna shook her head. “No. That’s not enough of an answer.”

“No,” Charlie said softly. “It really isn’t.”

“I’ve wanted you longer.”

Charlie gave a watery laugh. “Yes, I remember.”

“Five whole minutes.”