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“Are you proposing to me?” Emory squeezed her knee with playful enthusiasm. She was evading.

“Not exactly.”

“How embarrassing.”

“Answer the question and stop stalling. I know your tactics.”

Faced with no other option, Emory pushed herself up on her arm and studied Sarah. “Well, the scenario you just described would change things for me quite a bit. If I’m answering honestly, I think I’d rather be at the Little League game.”

“But are you capable of that? Your whole life seems to be motivated by success and striving to be the best. It was instilled in you from a very young age.” There was doubt etched on Sarah’s face and it stung, because her own self-doubt was almost all she could shoulder.

“And that worries you?” Emory asked, sobering.

“Yes, it does.”

It worried her too. More than she wanted to express to Sarah in that moment. She’d known all along that she could crash and burn if she tried to settle down and play house, but she wasn’t ready to acknowledge that fact fully. Being with Sarah brought too much good into her life for her to ruin it with over analysis. “Maybe that’s not who I want to be anymore. I like who I am when we’re together.” It was the truth.

“So…the Little League game?”

Emory gri

No matter what that meant for her.

She would look out for them.

Sarah smiled and dipped her head so that their lips were just a breath apart and hovered. “I love how much I look forward to kissing you in the briefest second before it’s about to happen,” she murmured quietly. “It’s like my insides do this little backflip in anticipation of your mouth. It’s crazy.”

Emory tilted her head, closing in a tad more. She felt it too. “So that’s why you’re teasing me like this. You like the buildup.”

“Mmhmm. A lot.”

Emory raised her hand and cupped Sarah’s cheek, caressing it softly. Somehow, Sarah always managed to smell of lilac and ci

It was only moments before Emory was flat on her back with a throbbing between her legs. They kissed, groped, and slid together with absolute perfection. She’d never had a woman excite her the way Sarah did. Passion was too common a term for what she felt. Desire too basic. Grasping for some sort of control, Emory rolled them over and pushed Sarah’s shirt up, needing the access desperately as their lips clung. Sarah moaned quietly and alarm bells went off in Emory’s head. She bolted upright, still straddling Sarah’s body. Concerned, Sarah sat up too.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Emory shook her head, her eyes wide. “We can’t do this here. Your daughter is sleeping just down that hall. This is her house. What if she wanted a glass of water?”

Sarah looked at her puzzled, doing her best to suppress the smile she felt forming at the corners of her mouth. “You weren’t worried when she was asleep upstairs at your house.”

“Well, I should have been.” Emory removed her hands from Sarah’s shoulders as if she couldn’t be trusted. “Plus, I’ve spent a lot more time around the two of you since then and I know her better now. I—”

“Care about her?”

Emory stared at the wall and nodded mutely.

Sarah’s heart soared at the admission and she cradled Emory’s face in her hands, pulling it down for a very soft kiss, which Emory was nice enough to begrudge her even in her state of epiphany.

“While I love the Hallmark moment we’re having, I think I need to explain something here, Em. If nothing else, one thing we can count on is that there is always going to be an eight-year-old girl sleeping nearby. She doesn’t ever go away, I can promise you that. That’s just part of being a mom. If you’re afraid to touch me with her in the house, well, then we may be headed for a very polite friendship. Do you think your parents never had sex with you in the house?”

“Yikes, really? You ca

“Think about it.”

“Okay. Not helping.”

Sarah gri

“And if she wakes up?”

“We listen for her and stop. I can always hear when she’s up. It’s like a sixth mommy sense. Though, I should concede that the couch is probably not the best location. Bedrooms have doors and locks we can use…if we wanted to.”

Silence.

Emory raised her gaze. “Do we want to?”

She slipped her hands under the back of Emory’s shirt, moving them up the warm skin of her back while she slowly began to kiss her neck, conveniently at the perfect height for her mouth. “I don’t know, do we?”

“Yes,” Emory breathed. “We really do.”

When they found each other that night, Sarah was more nervous the second time around. She did more thinking this time, wondering if she was doing everything correctly. She felt adventurous but too hesitant to give in to all her impulses. She knew one thing, however. She could never get enough of Emory’s body. It was a wondrous thing. And when Emory touched her in return, all bets were off. She lost track of everything, including her own name. Sex, she decided, was more than deserving of all the attention the world paid to it and then some.

As she awoke, Sarah heard the water in her master shower ru

It was Grace’s last day of summer vacation and Sarah pla

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Emory pulled the shower curtain back. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up.” Standing under the stream of water, Emory’s near perfect body glistened, prompting Sarah to remind herself to play it cool, which was easier said than done. True, Sarah had seen Emory in a state of undress before, but never all at once like this when her head was clear. It was a sight to behold. “Come in here with me? We could save water. It’s important to be conscientious.”

“Um, tempting, very tempting but…”

As Sarah trailed off, Emory tilted her head. “But? Tell me.”

“I don’t know why I’m shy all of a sudden. It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before and then some.”

“And then some,” Emory reemphasized, smiling wickedly at her. “Get in here, so I can show you how amazing you look without clothes on.”

Sarah nodded silently, but still didn’t feel entirely sure of herself. She knew she was decent enough looking. A solid six. Maybe a seven on a good day. Lucy, from the restaurant, now she was a ten. Emory was a seventy-nine.

Sarah gathered her confidence. Time to turn off her overactive brain. She could feel Emory’s eyes on her as she slipped the T-shirt over her head. She stepped into the shower and underneath the stream of hot water, feeling a little bit better once Emory’s arms encircled her waist.