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She pulled back, embarrassed and ashamed, but Helen tightened her grip. “It’s okay,” she whispered, tucking her face into the muscle between Annie’s neck and bony shoulder. She heard Helen suck in her breath, felt her fingers play with the ends of Annie’s hair, tugging it gently. She lifted her head, nuzzling Annie’s neck.
For a moment, Annie wondered if she was drunker than she originally thought. She felt a little giddy, reckless and impulsive. She put her hand on Helen’s thigh. It was warm through her sweats. Digging her fingers in, she heard Helen gasp.
Annie didn’t know who started the kiss.
* * *
Annie heard footsteps on the stairs. Kelly must have come home. Both doors to the bathroom were open, and the little lamp on the nightstand glowed cheerfully.
“Shh,” Annie breathed, yanking her hand out of Helen’s shirt and reaching across her to snap off the lamp. Kelly’s light came on just as theirs shut off. “Shh,” Annie breathed again. Helen nodded against the pillow. Annie pulled the covers up over them.
Kelly dropped something on the floor in her room. Her humming was interrupted by an “oh, shit,” and they heard her step through the narrow bathroom door and pull it closed.
Annie breathed out, giggling nervously. They’d been lazy about the whole encounter, actually. Long, slow kisses. Fingers creeping under clothes.
She didn’t really know what they were doing, and she didn’t want to do anything Helen didn’t like. She was nervous and turned on and anxious. She wanted to pick up where they left off, but Helen sighed. “It’s very late.”
“Yeah,” Annie said, disappointed.
“We should sleep.”
Just as Annie was about to roll over and fret the rest of the night away, Helen surprised her by reaching for her hand in the bed and pulling it back to her breast.
Annie turned back and kissed her again enthusiastically, relieved. Helen hooked her long leg over Annie’s hip, pulled her mouth away, and said, “I need…I…Annie, I want…”
She couldn’t manage more than that.
“Shh,” Annie said one more time. “You’ll have to be quiet.”
Helen nodded against her in the dark. “I promise.”
Annie had only slept with men since returning from Minsk. It wasn’t a conscious decision. It was just easier. Certainly faster and less emotional, like scratching an itch. Like taking aspirin for a headache.
She already knew whatever this was with Helen wasn’t that. She stroked Helen’s breast, slid her hand down her soft belly. The sweats were loose, easy to infiltrate. Helen held her breath, finally exhaling in little bursts. Sucked in air again as Anniecupped her mound, then pushed inside her panties to test the waters.
Helen moved her hot mouth against Annie’s skin, against her neck, against her shoulder where the T-shirt had been pulled aside, then her cheek, her mouth. As much as Annie wanted to drag this out, knowing Lori’s little sister was next door made her nervous, so she pressed her fingers into the damp fabric between Helen’s legs before moving it aside and coating them with lubrication while Helen gasped into Annie’s mouth. Annie moved her fingers up until she had to swallow Helen’s moan.
Helen grasped Annie’s other hand and held onto it hard before dragging it down between Annie’s legs.
“Come with me,” Helen whispered.
She made it seem so easy. So natural to rhythmically move both hands, to focus on herself while she focused on Helen, to feel the heat on both sets of fingers—heat so intense, it should burn.
Annie tipped first, used to her own touch, but it was close. Helen gasped and hummed, satisfied.
Annie pulled her hand out of her pants and then tried to gracefully remove her hand from Helen’s. She wiped both hands on the sheets, too afraid that Kelly might hear to even think about getting up and washing them.
Helen kissed her one more time and tucked herself against Annie’s side.
She listened to Helen’s heavy breathing taper out into sleep and then, with some difficulty, drifted off herself.
* * *
Annie woke up alone, sprawled across the bed. She usually liked sleeping alone, liked stretching out her limbs. But finding herself alone this morning was not a good sign.
She could tell from the amount of light streaming in through the window that she’d overslept. At least the shower was free, and she wasted no time. She stepped carefully into the old clawfoot tub, feeling unsteady, and drew the white curtain around. She stood under the hot spray for several minutes before realizing she didn’t have any of her own toiletry items with her, so she used the Head and Shoulders 2in1 and hoped for the best. Then she lathered up a washcloth and ran it over her body, gently washing between her legs where it still felt a little swollen.
She slipped on the brown corduroy dress she’d brought to wear today. She’d packed it because she thought it made her look her age, but then she plaited her hair down both sides of her head to stave off dry, frizzy waves. The braids contradicted the effort to look more mature.
