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“Reg, this is my girlfriend, Rowen. Rowen, this is an old friend, Reggie. She owns the bar you picked me up from.” Janet still sounds tense, but the word girlfriend makes my hear flutter.
“Nice to meet you Rowen. You’re either new in town or just visiting because I would remember you.” Reggie eyes me, gaze dipping down to my cleavage and back up.
“New.” I offer my hand to shake.
“Ah.” Reggie keeps talking, but I’m not paying a damn bit of attention. Janet loves me and introduced me as her girlfriend. I can die a slow, happy death here in front of her ex now, because there is no way Janet and Reggie didn’t sleep together. This has to betheex. The one who broke her heart. You only have that kind of tension from an ugly break up. Reggie finally leaves, gently brushing my shoulder as she goes and giving Janet a flirty wave. As soon as she’s gone, Janet’s shoulders relax, her eyes go to the food on the table, and I reach for her hand.
“Tell me you slept with her without telling me you slept with her.” I mean for it to be teasing, but my tone is a little harsh.
Janet arches a brow at me. “Row.”
“Janet.” We stare at each other for a few seconds and it’s clear that there’s still some tension hanging out round us. “I love you too.” I say it softly. “And don’t think it’s gone unnoticed that you called me your girlfriend. I didn’t mean to make this whole night awkward. This place is so nice and you look amazing, and you called me your girlfriend.” An idea hits me and while I watch the tension leave her face, a smile replacing the pressed line of her lips, it falls out of my mouth. “Move in with me.” I pull my hand from hers and cover my mouth. Her lips curve into a sassy smirk. “Oh my gosh. Is this what you felt like when you told me you love me? This is the scariest feeling ever. What is wrong with me? I didn’t mean to say that.” I cover my mouth again and Janet starts laughing. It’s not a quiet chuckle that I normally get from her, but a full-on loud laugh. Her face flushes, her eyes sparkle, and she laughs like I said the funniest thing in the whole world to her.
“We’re idiots. Are you asking me to move in because you’re insecure about Reggie?” she asks in disbelief.
Ouch.
But she’s a little right.
“No. I’m asking you to move in because sometime tonight or in the morning, you’re going to leave, go to your house to your bed and I won’t be there. And also because Reggie makes me a little possessive. Not jealous or insecure. Those are different.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“Lots of revelations tonight,” Janet muses, picking up a tiny skewer and stabbing a piece of food with it. She rests it against the edge of her plate and it goes uneaten. I stay quiet. “Are you ready for moving in? Don’t feel pressured to do things because other people think it’s time.” Is she trying to talk me out of this? The look on my face must say it all. “No. I just mean, I’m happy. This is good, we’re good. If you’re not ready, it’s fine.” Janet nibbles her lip and I watch with fascination.
“I’ve never met someone I’ve clicked with so fast. Yeah, this is good. Great even, but I want more if you’re willing to give it. This is stupid, I’ve never had this conversation before and it’s the worst. I’ve never looked at another human and thought I could spend a really long time with this person and still like them. I even need space from Shelby sometimes and I’d die for her, but you’re different. This is different.” I’m bad about going on anxiety fueled rants, but this little verbal overflow is a new level of gushing that I’m not comfortable with.
“Okay.” Janet offers me a bite from her fork, and I take it.
“Okay?” I talk around the bite in my mouth. “You’ll move in with me? You’ll be my person? You’re okay with giving this a shot?”
“All of it.” Janet offers me another bite and I take it, chewing and staring at this amazing woman across from me in disbelief. “Reggie cheated on me by the way. We got a place together. I practically begged her to move in with me after three dates like a real lesbian cliche. She agreed. We talked about a future, until it got back to me that she was hooking up with every woman at the bar. A lot of them were drunk or married. Everyone knew but me and she crushed me. I haven’t been serious about anyone since. So, there’s that story.” My heart hurts for her because I know that pain all too well. “I’ve had weird commitment issues since.”
“I’ve only been with one other woman. She thought I was a great plaything and left me for one of the girls on her softball team. If you can call what we had enough to leave me over. It was barely a relationship. I’ve mostly dated men, and then I met you.” I let the story leave me in a whoosh. Janet pulls a piece of rye bread from the cheese dip and eats it, listening intently.
“I’m sorry you went through that,” she finally answers and takes my hand again as the server switches out the appetizer for our meal.
“Dessert is the third course.” Janet changes the subject and pops a piece of shrimp into the boiling water for it to cook. I do the same with a piece of steak. “Then I think we should go home and really celebrate.” Her smile turns wicked and desire hums through me. I like this way more than the stress of the date so far.
“Celebrate what?”
“Our news. I have a girlfriend and she likes me enough to move me into her really cool house.” She feeds me a piece of shrimp.
“That sounds amazing.”
“The fact that we made it past date one without shacking up is super impressive. That’s a stereotype for a reason.” Janet winks at me and my heart melts a little more.
We hurry through the rest of our delicious meal, eyes meeting across the table as we both try to savor the food, but clearly, we’re both focused on one thing. Getting home. Once the chocolate pot is taken away from dessert, Janet pays the bill, and we walk out into the night hand in hand. Janet walks me to the passenger door but doesn’t open it. She turns me to face her and leans in for a slow kiss under the streetlamp. I grip her bicep, eyes fluttering closed to savor the taste of dessert still on her lips. The kiss escalates quickly. Her hands slide up my skirt, mouth on mine, shoving my panties to the side to slip two fingers inside me. She pushes me back into the car, her hand working magic on me, her body blocking the sight from any people walking by. If anyone were to pass, we’d look like a couple who had a few too many, which I did, and couldn’t wait to get home for a lengthy make out session. I moan when she hits the perfect rhythm, my body tightening, legs trembling. I throw my head back into the car, biting my lip to stay quiet while her lips move down my neck to my chest and her fingers pushing me past the point of reason. Heat floods me, battling the cold around us, and there’s nothing in the world but Janet and me and this moment. I grab the sides of her face, bringing her lips back to mine and kissing her hard, teeth clashing, and tongues dancing as another wave of heat floods me.
“Let’s go home.” Her words are deep and thick against my lips and process like honey into my brain. Home. It’s our home now and we’re going to make so many amazing memories in it.
EPILOGUE
JANET
I’ve listenedto Wyatt tell me for so long now that he and Nora were meant to be. I truly had no idea what that meant until I opened a car door and stepped into Rowen Madison’s car. I’ve never believed in fate, compatibility, kismet, whatever… until now.
“See, Shelby is a Gemini, which means she’s low key crazy, but we’re compatible because I’m all about balance, we fit. We kind of speak the same language.” Rowen looks up from her phone at where I’m staring lovingly at her and rubbing her feet. “And with us, we’re both Libras, which for other signs can be an issue, but not for us because we’re different types of Libras. We balance each other, which is the biggest common denominators among the sign.”
I stop rubbing her foot and slide my hand up her long, smooth leg to where her shorts meet her flesh. “Are you rambling for any particular reason?” I slip my fingertips under the hem of her shorts, and she sucks in a breath.
