Page 160

Her fingers kept moving over the keys, right up until the end of the song. There she froze, unable to look away from the eyes that had seen straight into her soul.

“Again?” Ali asked, content to wait there and hunger.

Charlotte looked down at the keys, no longer able to decipher them. Her mind was on… other things.

Rising slowly, she let her fingers trail along the edge of the piano. Ali rolled over and sat up, legs dangling, tongue darting out to dampen her lips.

Charlotte tugged her sweats and panties down together, letting them fall somewhere among the scattered tissue paper. She gripped Ali’s knees, spreading them as she slotted herself between them. “I have something else in mind.”

Ali’s voice was husky as she looped her arms around Charlotte’s shoulders.

“Do you know how beautiful you look when you lose yourself to the music?”

“Tell me,” Charlotte’s hands slid up her bare thighs, around her hips, pulling her forward, right to the edge.

“I get what you meant now,” Ali breathed. “Seeing someone at peace in their element... It does things to a person.”

“Does it?”

Ali leaned forward trailing kisses up and down the column of her neck before purring against her ear. “Investigate and see for yourself.”

Without hesitation, Charlotte’s hand slipped between her thighs, fingers finding the evidence of Ali’s arousal. She was soaked.

“I love the effect I have on you.”

Charlotte couldn’t resist teasing her entrance before pressing into her wanting core, burying her fingers to the knuckle. A loud moan ripped from Ali as she arched, head thrown backward.

“Please—”

Ali collapsed against the piano lid, hair fanning out around her.

Charlotte’s free hand slid over her abdomen, up to cup her chest, her touch deliberate, unhurried. No need to rush. They felt the same and Charlotte had all the time in the world to have Ali unraveling.

Such sweet sounds tumbled past Ali’s lips.

“More, please.”

“Greedy girl. But since you asked so nicely.”

Charlotte deepened her touch, curling her fingers and increasing her speed. She watched every tremor, every breath, every shift of expression. Desire burned through her slow and sweet.

Many times, Charlotte tried to find words to describe the sensation of being inside a woman. For the way a woman responded beneath her hands. To feel the grip and shudder of an orgasm and to know she was the cause… there was nothing else like it. To lay between trembling thighs and worship… what bliss. But there between Ali’s thighs, Charlotte decided there was no greater honor than to be right where she was.

Ali’s voice rose with her release, creating a different kind of melody, their own perfect kind of music. Charlotte watched enraptured as she witnessed every shifting facial expression, every clench and twitching muscle. Desire burned just like the finest whiskey, it left her aching, desperate for another sip.

Later, they lay in a tangled heap across the rug, limbs wrapped together, hearts still racing. Charlotte looked deep into her eyes, drinking her in. Grateful they’d finally been honest and gotten to where they were. She brushed a dewy strand away from her face and released a shuddering breath.

“You’re the kindest thing that ever happened to me, Lina.”

A soft hum left Ali, thumb tracing over Charlotte’s lower lip before flitting up again. Swirling pools of sweetest honey shimmered with warm affection.

“You hold me in a state of rapture. I spend my days lost in reveries of you.”

If Charlotte hadn’t already fallen in love with Ali, those words mixed with the warmth of her affection would have done it.

She tipped Ali’s face up and there on the floor of her piano room, surrounded by books and soft lamplight, their lips met.

They weren’t perfect, and neither of them had to pretend they were. The little white lies were gone, replaced by honesty that took root and joy that was as effervescent as it was true. They loved each other in a way that made imperfection irrelevant. Love made room for everything else.