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CHAPTER44
Lauren steppedout of the shower, her wet hair and body wrapped in matching blue towels. She dragged herself across the modest master bedroom and plopped down next to a naked Sylvie splayed on the bed. Smelling of the same shea butter body wash, and wearing similar farmer’s tans, they were both completely exhausted.
“I can’t believe how many people showed up today,” Sylvie said, as if partially frozen while she stared up at the popcorn on Lauren’s bedroom ceiling.
“You’re a freaking rockstar,” Lauren decided, reaching her sore arm across the bed to take Sylvie’s limp hand in hers. “You should start an event planning business.”
“No way.” Sylvie’s chuckle was as weak as Lauren felt. “It brings out the even more high-strung part of my nature. I don’t think either of us could survive that.”
Lauren laughed as she rolled over onto her side. Moving a strand of clean, damp hair out of Sylvie’s sun-kissed face, her smile lingered. “You know, what you did for me today was amazing. You are amazing. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have you on my side.” Emotion turned her voice into thin glass blooming with spider cracks. “What you did. . . Believing in me. . . It means everything.”
Sylvie averted her gaze, but she didn’t dismiss the tender moment with a joke or playful barb.
Lauren ran her fingertips over the curve of Sylvie’s jaw. Over the swell of her cheek bone. Over the rounded corner of her lips.
Following the unspoken instruction, Sylvie returned her attention to Lauren’s waiting gaze.
The words she’d been holding onto for so long slipped out of where she’d been hiding them for safekeeping. Instead of feeling nervous like she’d been fearing, she was liberated as the admission floated up her chest and broke free from her lips.
“I love you,” Lauren confessed so quietly, she wasn’t sure whether she’d spoken aloud.
Sylvie’s eyes widened, searching Lauren’s face as if hunting for signs of deception. She looked like she was about to ask whether Lauren was messing with her, but she turned on her side to face her instead.
“Syl, it’s okay if you don’t—”
Sylvie’s hand flew like a gunshot to cradle the base of Lauren’s neck. With her fingers tangled in her wet hair, Sylvie plunged them into a devastating kiss.
The intensity of Sylvie’s hunger knocked Lauren onto her back. With warm lips and a soft tongue, she wordlessly reciprocated Lauren’s declaration.
In the all-consuming way she did everything, Sylvie wrapped her nude body around Lauren. Straddling her hips, she pressed herself flush against her, leaving no room for light or doubt.
“I love you too,” she groaned as if the words caused painful ecstasy.
Heat rushed over Lauren’s skin. Every synapse in her brain fired. Her chest and ribs expanded, just barely able to accommodate her filling heart.
In a rush of uncontainable excitement, Lauren rolled Sylvie onto her back and landed on top of her. The towel she’d been wearing remained in a wet heap on the bed.
Using her fingers, Sylvie combed Lauren’s wet hair to get it out of her face. In the last month, Lauren had noticed all the small ways Sylvie showed her affection. How thoughtful and caring she was.
“You’re amazing, you know that?” Lauren held herself up, hovering above Sylvie’s lips.
Sylvie smirked, but Lauren didn’t miss the flush scurrying up her chest and over her neck. “It’s about time you see it.”
Laughing, Lauren dipped down and kissed her again. She would be happy to spend her life in that moment. Bone-tired after a day of hard, satisfying work and tangled in Sylvie as a reward.
With her head nestled in the curve of Sylvie’s neck, Lauren took a deep, steady breath. She hadn’t felt so much peace since the first time she’d finally figured out how to mediate.
Sylvie ran the tips of her fingers lightly across Lauren’s bare back. “How mad would you be if I told you I wanted to order pizza instead of eating any of the leftovers we packed into the fridge?”
Lauren’s smile caused her lips to graze Sylvie’s collarbone. “I would tell you that if I so much as smell another pastelito today I may have to find a new career.”
Sylvie’s chest bounced, her laugh vibrating against Lauren’s body and invading her senses.
“Does that include those goat cheese and guava things you made? Because even though they were notpastelitos—”
Popping up like a meerkat, Lauren furrowed her brow. “Not pastelitos, huh? I saw you eat at least six of them.”
“If you’d let me finish,” she snapped. “I was going to say they were freaking delicious!”
