Page 34 of Hairpin Curves

“Yeah.” Scarlett grinned. “So what do you usually do when you’re restless?”

Scarlett would be completely floored if Megan told her the truth, wouldn’t she? She had thought Megan was a virgin like she’d been back in high school, like Megan hadn’t changed at all, like just because she didn’t brag about sex meant she wasn’t a sexual being. And right now, Megan was unsettled and restless and just about out of fucks to give, so she shifted out of Triangle pose and threw Scarlett a thin smile. “I masturbate, usually.”

She was rewarded by Scarlett giving her a slow blink, momentarily speechless, color coming suddenly to Scarlett’s lightly freckled cheekbones. Anything that made Scarlett speechless was worthwhile. “Okay,” Scarlett said after a long pause. “So go for it.”

Megan’s stomach dropped. That was not what she’d expected. “What?”

“Rub one out.” Scarlett’s smile was mischievous. “It wouldn’t bother me.”

“I bet it wouldn’t.” Megan could feel her own face get hot. She forced herself into another yoga pose just to keep from looking as shaken as she felt. The pose was called Warrior pose, but she didn’t feel like a warrior as she did it, Scarlett’s attention still on her body. When she came out of the pose, she looked over and yeah, Scarlett was watching her. “Don’t you have a book to read or something?”

“What’s the matter? Haven’t you ever had a wank in front of one of your boyfriends?” Scarlett’s eyes were sparkling. She was enjoying this, damn it. She was enjoying Megan’s discomfort.

Two could play at that game. “My boyfriends, no, but I have done it in front of some girlfriends.” She raised an eyebrow. Scarlett’s increased flush was gratifying. Knocking her off-balance was a delight.

Scarlett’s embarrassment didn’t last long, though. “Megan Harris.” She folded her arms. “Why didn’t I know you weren’t straight? Why am I finding this out now, in a mountainside motel in North Carolina?”

“Because you’ve been too proud to talk to me for seven years, and because I didn’t know it myself until college. So there.” Megan sat down on the floor and stretched forward, in part so she didn’t have to keep looking at Scarlett’s face. Her words came out muffled. “Now you know.”

Silence fell. Eventually, Megan had to stop stretching. Scarlett had started doing a crossword from the book she’d brought, and she didn’t look up. Apparently the conversation was over, and Megan still wasn’t sure where anything stood. She might as well take a shower and get ready for bed.

By the time she came out, much later, Scarlett had turned off all the lights except the little nightstand one. She was under the covers in her bed, rolled onto her side and facing the door. Maybe she was asleep. Megan got beneath her own covers and flicked off the one remaining light, plunging the room into darkness.

The restlessness in her body would not go away. She flipped from one side to the other, and finally lay on her back, staring up into the darkness, her heart beating too quickly against her ribs, her mind too full of Scarlett.

Quietly, barely loud enough for Megan to hear, Scarlett’s voice came through the darkness. “I really don’t care if you want to get off.”

Megan couldn’t deny she’d been thinking about it. “It doesn’t bother me, but I don’t want it to be weird for you.” There was another part of it, too, that she might as well say out loud. “I don’t want you to think it means anything.”

Scarlett’s quiet, breathy chuckle floated over to her. “It definitely doesn’t have to mean anything. Does that go both ways?”

Megan’s heart was racing, now. “Of course,” she made herself say. Because it didn’t. She’d done this sort of thing in front of partners before, or alongside them. Like other types of sex, mutual masturbation didn’t have to mean anything. But she’d never done it in the same room as someone who she wasn’t actively sleeping with. She’d definitely never done it with Scarlett.

The first soft, hitching breath from the other side of the room brought her whole body to attention at once. Oh, god, Scarlett was touching herself. She wasn’t making a show of it, but if Megan listened—and she did, she strained to listen—she could hear the quicker intake of breath and the muffled soft, wet noises. She might have been rubbing her clit, or dipping her long fingers inside herself...

Megan bit her lip to keep from gasping as she reached down to touch her clit. The spasm of pleasure overtaking her was sharper than usual, less controlled, and she sucked in a ragged breath. Scarlett was going to hear her. She was going to listen, and she was going to hear Megan come. Every touch, she thought of Scarlett, thought of her doing this exact thing only a few feet away. This simple act, this shared intimacy, had never been so erotic. Megan had to fight to keep from groaning aloud. She made herself slow down and savor the moment as near her, Scarlett’s breathing grew faster, her noises less muffled. She wanted so badly to hear Scarlett come, had never wanted anything like she wanted this.

The bed near her went silent for a moment, and then a long, deep exhale, with the barest hint of a moan at the end. Megan couldn’t hold back. She gasped out loud as she came, pleasure overtaking her like a force of nature, and she shuddered her way through an endless, perfect climax.

Afterward, silence filled the room. Megan caught her breath. She had done that. They had done that. Was...was that it? She carefully reached over to the nightstand for some tissues.

“Not so bad, right?”

Scarlett’s voice made Megan freeze for a moment before she forced herself to relax. This was fine; this didn’t have to mean anything, just like sex never had to mean anything. “No big deal,” Megan said, even though her heart was still racing. “I can probably sleep now.”

Scarlett laughed quietly. “Good night.”

She shouldn’t think too deeply about this. Tomorrow, they’d be on the road again, and whatever had happened in the darkness would be just another memory.

Megan did not want to get out of this bed. The crisp air on her face was enough to tell her that outside of this bed, it was cold, but her whole body was toasty-warm under layers of blankets. It was still dark out, or at least the gray pre-dawn twilight that indicated the sun wasn’t quite up yet, and she could easily fall back asleep. But someone was shaking her, and so she resentfully opened her eyes.

Scarlett was looking down at her with a look of pure excitement on her face. “Megan! Come see the snow!”

The events of the previous night came flooding back to Megan all at once, but Scarlett didn’t seem to care in the wake of the apparent snowfall outside. Her excitement was contagious, and so before Megan was fully awake, she had pulled on a bunch of layers and shoes and her glasses and followed Scarlett out into the freezing cold.

It was still snowing, light flakes drifting slowly down onto the parking lot. They hadn’t gotten much snow, but it was enough to cover the ground, and Megan suddenly understood Scarlett’s enthusiasm. The sky was lit just enough to illuminate the snow, which in turn reflected the light, and sunrise would probably dazzle the entire landscape.

“Come back here.” Scarlett took her by the hand and tugged her through a walkway that passed to the back of the motel, where the trails lay, and out into the forest. Megan tangled Scarlett’s cold fingers with her own and laughed as her footsteps crunched on the newly fallen snow. Snow was already dotting Scarlett’s curls and melting into water droplets, and it was surely doing the same on her own hair. Scarlett released her hand, and Megan reached down to try to gather up some of the snow in her numb fingers. The cold seared her skin as she crunched it wetly into a misshapen ball, but oh, she didn’t care. Her face hurt from smiling.