Page 60 of Going for Two
“Are we going to start baking these cookies?” Olivia called from the kitchen where she was clutching my mother’s recipes. “Because these peanut butter blossoms are calling my name.”
This time I joined Lottie’s laughter as the two of us left our pictures next to each other on her kitchen table and went to begin our Christmas baking. Lottie switched the Christmas music to theElfsoundtrack and the sounds of Christmas cheer filled the little apartment.
Olivia left shortly after the cookies had been packed up to be taken home, leaving me and Lottie alone in her apartment to clean up. As the two of us worked side by side, Lottie continued to steal a few glances at me.
“What?” I asked her.
With a sigh, she set down her cleaning rag and looked at me. “Listen, I’ve been thinking. What if we just did it?”
My eyes widened at her question, which in turn had her backtracking once she realized how that had sounded.
“No, no. That’s not what I meant.” Now a smile was slowly breaking out across my face as I watched her painfully try to correct the error. After another moment she sighed again before trying to start over. “What if we just gave whatever is happening between us a real shot? The season is almost over and I’m not sure I can take much more of this dance with you anymore. I’ve grown tired of fighting it.”
Lottie looked like she was holding her breath as she waited for me to respond. My heart felt like it had stopped beating in my chest as my mouth fell open out of shock. With each passing moment that I didn’t answer, doubt crept over Lottie’s face. I could guess exactly what she was thinking.
Maybe I had changed my mind.
Maybe I thought we were only meant to be friends.
I finally unfroze by pushing a stream of air out of my mouth. “Fucking finally.”
Within seconds, my hand was cradling the back of her head and my lips covered hers. My heart squeezed when I realized how much I loved kissing her. How she melded to me like a perfect puzzle piece and filled all the missing parts of me.
The two of us moved with familiarity as Lottie’s hands shoved me toward her bedroom. “Are you sure you meant that you wanted to date me?” I asked her as I pushed open her bedroom door with my back. My hands caressed her as her lips slanted over mine, matching all the hunger I felt. “Because it really feels like you meant something else.”
I could feel Lottie’s smirk against my lips, and I loved this spunky version of her. It was a glimpse of the desire that had been building inside of her for this very moment. The moment the backs of my legs hit the edge of her bed, I spun us around, so she landed on the bed first. Surprise flashed in her eyes before it was replaced with something I would describe as hunger. I had to push through the shock consuming me that we had even reached this point so I could show her just how much I’d been waiting for the moment that she would bemine.
I trailed a line of kisses from the soft skin just below her belly button up to her mouth where I kissed her hard until she had to pull away, gasping for air.
“You are so beautiful,” I told her. She gazed up at me through her lashes, those blue eyes filled with just as much disbelief as I felt. The odds had never felt in our favor to end up in this very position, literally and figuratively.
“Thank you for today,” she told me when I pulled back from another kiss. “I’m not even sure I have the words to tell you how much today meant for me and Olivia.”
Tears welled at the corners of her eyes, and I reached up to kiss them away. “I loved today just as much as you did. Seeing you two act like little kids was the best Christmas gift I’ve had in years.”
I kissed over her eyelids, then trailed down to her cheeks, then both collarbones with the hope that I would kiss away any doubt that she had that we were right where we needed to be. That this moment was inevitable, and we were always meant to end up in each other’s arms.
Lottie slowly pulled at the hem of the pajama shirt I was wearing and pulled it up and over my head. We shared a chuckle when I had to pull away from her to strip off the overly tight bottoms.
Our very first night together had been fueled slightly by alcohol and I wanted tonight to be fueled solely from how much we cared about each other. The moment Lottie slipped out of her pajamas, the air in the room grew thicker and it felt like all that mattered in the world right then was the two of us as our arms wrapped around each other as we consumed each other completely.
This time, we took our time. Our movements were slow as we explored each other’s bodies. Completely different from the frantic moments in my apartment after the club. We moved together with the twinkling Christmas lights on the house across from Lottie’s apartment shining through her bedroom window.
Skin slid over skin.
Hands threaded in hair.
Moans and whispered breaths of our names filled the room.
Sheets tangled around us.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Lottie asked me with unkempt hair and swollen lips after she’d already worked me near exhaustion. She was insatiable.
With a growl, I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the shower for round two.
And all I could think about was how the axis I’d operated on my entire life felt righted the second I was able to call Lottie mine.
I lay awake far into the late hours of the evening, my thumb swiping across the delicate skin of Lottie’s cheek as she slept on my chest. My heart swelled up to meet where she lay on top of me, wanting her to know that it belonged to her.