Page 306 of Every Almost

“Five whole minutes,” Charlie repeated softly.

Reyna kissed her and Charlie’s arms came around her.

And then their bare bodies met.

The sound Charlie made was quiet and wrecked and close to Reyna’s ear, Reyna answering with one of her own.

Skin pressed to skin. Chest to chest. Stomach to stomach. Charlie's thighs against Reyna's.

Charlie’s arms locked around her shoulders while Reyna’s hands spread across the warmth of her back, drawing her closer until there wasn’t an inch between them that could’ve been closed.

Reyna felt Charlie’s heartbeat against her.

For several breaths, they didn’t kiss, they just held one another. Not because the need had passed. The truth was, it had never been stronger. But this was the first time they’d been allowed to feel the whole of each other at once, and Reyna couldn’t rush past it. Charlie’s skin was warm everywhere. Her breath moved against Reyna’s neck. Her fingers flexed against Reyna’s back as though she, too, was testing the reality of what she’d been given.

They were finally here.

Charlie kissed Reyna’s shoulder, then again, nearer her neck. Reyna turned her face into Charlie’s hair and held her harder.

“Rey?”

“Yes?”

“I think my legs stopped working.”

Reyna laughed into her neck. Charlie laughed too, the sound moving between their bodies. Then Charlie walked them both backward until the backs of her knees met the bed.

Charlie drew her forward, and Reyna pushed flush against Charlie's body, pressing her lips to hers as Charlie wrapped her arms around Reyna, cradling her. Then, in one gentle movement, Charlie lowered her gently to the bed, their lips never parting. Charlie's kiss was electrifying, in any way Reynawas able to have her. As they lay together against the mattress, Charlie’s arms closed around her waist and pulled her in until their bodies fit together in an entirely new way.

Reyna’s breath broke just as Charlie’s did too.

They stared at each other from inches away.

Charlie touched Reyna’s cheek.

“Hi,” she whispered.

Reyna felt the laugh rise through her, tangled hopelessly with everything else.

“Hi.”

Then Charlie kissed her, slowly at first.

As though they had all the time in the universe, and they’d finally found the place they wanted to spend it.

CHARLIE

Charlie let the kiss stay slow.

And for three breaths, she even managed it.

Until Reyna shifted against her, just enough to settle more fully, just enough for her legs to seek Charlie's and entwine through Charlie's own and her body to press closer in places Charlie had been trying very hard to control.

Reyna Solas was bare in her arms. This is the woman Charlie had watched command a bridge, silence entire rooms, and hold herself steady through things that would’ve broken almost anyone else, and she was wrapped around Charlie as though she’d found the place she belonged and intended to remain there. Her mouth moved against Charlie’s with a patience that kept breaking at the edges. Each kiss began slowly, almost tender enough to hurt, and ended with Reyna’s fingers tightening in Charlie’s hair or Charlie pulling her closer than she’d been a second before.

Charlie held her tighter, one hand spread across Reyna’s back, the other curved around her waist, pulling her close enough that Reyna made a soft sound into the kiss.

Reyna' warm skin, the rise and fall of her breathing, and the quiet movement of muscle beneath Charlie’s palms each time Reyna leaned farther into her, made Charlie feel as though they had all the time in the universe.