Page 32 of Flogging Faith

“What would you like to do?” asked Bex back. “Food’ll be here in half an hour.”

“Hmmm… cuddles until then, and then we pick a film to watch after?”

“Perfect,” said Bex, discarding her towel and going in for cuddles.

Faith squealed. “I didn’t mean naked cuddles!”

“Oh, you didn’t?” Bex made as if she were going to put her towel back on.

“No no no!” Faith grabbed it and threw it across the room. “Much better.”

She smiled at Bex and Bex couldn’t help herself, she leaned in and kissed her with all the care and devotion she could muster. It had been forty-eight hours by now. Forty-eight short hours that they’d known each other, and Bex was falling fast. She wouldn’t be surprised if she were head over heels in love by the time they left Rawhide Ranch tomorrow afternoon.

Faith kissed her back.

It was a precious thing, Faith’s trust. Bex got the feeling she didn’t give it easily, but she’d given it eagerly over the last few days. And each time she kissed Bex, it was as if she were handing her a tiny fragile butterfly, its wings fluttering in the palm of Bex’s hands.

Faith felt as delicate as Bex did, and Bex wanted to be as careful with both of their emotions as she possibly could. But it didn’t stop her from giving of her own trust so completely.

Having Faith between her legs, kissing and licking and sucking had been such a complete headfuck. It had changed everything Bex had thought about being a Dominant. It wasn’t about having power or being in control—although that was, of course, part of it—it was about gifting the other person with whatever experience they needed. About guiding them through difficult moments, about bringing them pleasure, about letting them be able to let go of everything that worried them and allow them to be truly in the moment.

And being able to do that for someone was in itself, a gift.

“I—” she began, and then cut off. How could she say that she loved Faith? It was something she felt, true, but to say it this early? That was ridiculous. So, she softened the sentiment. “I feel like I’m falling for you.” That sounded better, more reasonable, and it had the added bonus of being true.

Faith sat up and looked at her. “That feels like a big thing to say.”

Bex felt a kick of panic, but she took a breath and concentrated on keeping her breathing even, as if that would prevent her from spiraling. “I guess so, yeah.”

“I feel the same way,” Faith said. “Which is scary because we haven’t known each other very long.”

“Right?” Thank goodness Faith was having the same feelings, and the same doubts Bex was. “I’m not suggesting that we U-Haul or anything, but I don’t want the end of this weekend to be the end of us.”

“It won’t be,” said Faith with absolute certainty. “I mean, we even live in the same city. The universe is yelling at us pretty loudly; we’d be fools if we tried to ignore it.”

Bex didn’t know about the universe yelling at them or anything, but if she thought about it, cosmic interference might be the best way to explain how she felt like she’d been hit by a thunderbolt. Like some god of love had notched an arrow in his bow and aimed it straight at her heart.

There was a knock at the door and Faith, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was the answer to all of Bex’s hopes and dreams, bounced off the bed, grabbed a robe and opened the door.

Luckily, the bed was round the corner and out of sight, because Bex was laid out, completely bowled over by the fact that she might actually be in some kind of relationship.

CHAPTER 21

The mac and cheese was heaven, especially when paired with the most garlicky of garlic breads. And it was focaccia, which made everything better. Tender and crispy, it had pockets of flavor that made Faith moan with every bite.

Bex was very quiet as they ate.

Faith kept sneaking looks at her, but each time Bex caught her looking, Bex was the one to blush and duck her head. What on earth…?

“Bex, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

Faith put her spoon down—which was difficult because this mac and cheese was absolutely heavenly—and looked sternly at her. “Bex,” she said, putting a significant amount of emphasis on the other woman’s name. “What is going on?”

“I need a bit more of an idea about what ‘this won’t be the end us’ means.”

Faith almost laughed but didn’t when she saw Bex’s face. It was the most neurospicy thing that she’d ever heard a neurotypical say. “That’s fair. Do you want me to explain what it means to me, or would you like to say what it means to you?”