Page 32 of The Next Chapters

Finally, they were here. In the student lounge they’d spent so much time in.

This lounge, now, was somewhat dated. Even with the lights off now, she could see that the couches were the same style they’d had back when they’d attended university. The layout of the room was precisely the same.

The newer main lounge had been updated in a different building, where Gianna believed the majority of college kids spent their time these days. She always got the updates in her alumni emails, given that she was a fairly large donor to their alma mater.

This was the institution that had led her to Riley, after all. The least she could do was give back financially.

She continued to lead Riley along through some of the bookshelves toward the back of the room. Toward the area they’d often met up in back in the day.

“You know you have literally no one on earth to be jealous of, right?” Riley asked, all traces of confusion and teasing gone. Now, she was left with a beautiful sincerity as she stroked her thumb along Gianna’s.

“I’m not jealous now,” Gianna responded, finally stopping them precisely where she’d aimed to be. Right in front of the couch they’d congregated on. Sitting here during afternoons of homework or late nights after going out dancing and partying, gathering their snacks here as it was the halfway point between some of their most popular haunts and their dorm.

She spun Riley to face her before not-so-gently pushing on Riley’s shoulders, so her knees hit the cushion, and she fell with a slight yelp onto the couch.

Gianna wasted no time in straddling her, hitching up her dress without a second thought as she braced her hands on Riley’s shoulders. “I was jealous then. So, so jealous.”

She descended her lips to Riley’s, eager, wanting, and hungry.

Riley met her beat-for-beat, her hands coming to land on the backs of Gianna’s knees before slowly, sensually, sliding up the backs of her thighs.

She keened into Riley’s mouth at her touch, arching into her as she slid her tongue against Riley’s.

That was the heart of it. She’d felt the hit of jealousy tonight, as seeing Ashton. Especially at seeing how keenly he’d eyed Riley. As if he truly thought they could talk in private. As if a part of him – any part of him – thought they could somehow reunite.

This may be a reunion, but it wasn’t that kind of reunion.

But this jealousy rearing up inside her wasn’t rooted in the present.

In the present, she knew she had no one to be jealous of. She knew how deeply Riley loved her, wanted her, desired her. How dedicated she was to their family.

No, this jealousy that ate her up from the inside out, that had her hands streaking into Riley’s hair and taking fistfuls of it just to possess it, to be able to feel her fingernails scratching against the back of Riley’s neck, was entirely rooted in the past.

This was a bone-deep jealousy College Gianna had been forced to endure. And even though it had long faded, it clearly had never fully been forgotten.

With that in mind, she used the grip she had on Riley’s hair to tug her head back, exposing her throat. Riley willingly moved with her, giving Gianna access to everything she wanted.

She nipped her teeth into the base of Riley’s throat, right where her collarbone met the hollow, relishing in the quiet keen Riley let out.

“I couldn’t have cared less about who the people I’ve let share my bed fantasized about. About who they’d been in love with, who they yearned for. In fact,” she corrected, dipping her tongue into the hollow of Riley’s throat, feeling her groan. “I was glad every time they didn’t want me like that. I was the opposite of jealous.”

She used the tip of her tongue to lick up the column of Riley’s throat, feeling her swallow so hard. “It made things easier for me. Because as long as they didn’t want me for anything more, I didn’t have to ever feel guilty that I would never want them.”

It had been so simple to never be jealous of her lovers over the years because of that simple fact.

She kept her fist in Riley’s hair tight as she lifted her gaze and stared at her for several seconds. Until her wife’s hazel eyes blinked open, dark and needy, up at her.

“You are mine, Riley Jane Beckett. Mine. And we’re here tonight to give that fulfillment to College Gianna. God knows she needed it.”

With that, she scratched her nails down Riley’s neck and leaned back down, sucking Riley’s plush bottom lip between her own.

Riley was hers. Just as she was Riley’s. The last time they’d sat in this very lounge, sixteen years ago, she’d been Riley’s, and didn’t imagine this was a whisper of a possibility for her future.

She moaned, long and loud, into Riley’s mouth when Riley slid her hands up and cupped her ass. Then she whimpered as Riley dug her nails in, just enough to make Gianna feel the bite of it.

Exactly what Gianna fucking loved.

Her hips started rocking into Riley’s, searching –

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