Page 51 of Make Room for Love

The pain in her eyes had returned. Mira didn’t like thinking about leaving, either. But the words reassured her, and they made her want to get closer, knowing she could walk away. Isabel would be good to her through the end.

“Thank you,” Mira said, truly grateful. Something occurred to her. “If I leave, I won’t do it like when I ran away from you tonight. That wasn’t fair to you.”

Isabel looked away. “You don’t owe me anything.”

Mira tugged her hand, urging her to make eye contact again. “I’m going to try to be as good to you as I can, even if it doesn’t work out.” She wished she could promise Isabel more. Not just for Isabel’s sake, but for her own. But it was too easy to be pulledunder, and she had to keep her head above water. “I want this to work.”

Isabel was silent for a few seconds, her face hinting at emotions Mira couldn’t discern. “I do, too,” Isabel said finally. “Can I kiss you again?”

The way she asked for permission was so gentle. She didn’t have to, but Mira liked it. She nodded.

Isabel turned her body toward Mira, and Mira cupped her face, and they kissed again. It was a slow, hot kiss, heating Mira to her center and making her ache for more. When they pulled apart, they were both panting. Mira was as wild as she’d been earlier tonight, seeing Isabel in her leather jacket outside the club again and boiling with desire she finally had a name for.

“I want you so much,” Mira said. Isabel’s breath hitched. She leaned in, their lips brushing together. “I want you—” Mira was muffled by a kiss. “I want you to teach me everything. I want you to do everything to me.” Saying it aloud was making her desperately turned on.

Isabel growled. She pushed Mira against the back of the couch, tipped Mira’s head back, and kissed her neck, swirling her tongue and gently nipping at Mira’s skin. Mira gasped, her body lighting up, her nipples tightening against her lacy bra. She squirmed and squeezed her legs together. Isabel hadn’t even gotten her clothes off, and she was already molten with pleasure.

“I went out tonight to try to take my mind off you, but I couldn’t think about anything else,” Isabel murmured against her sensitive skin. Mira quivered. She needed Isabel to tear her clothes off and put that mouth all over her. “You’re so gorgeous, Mira. I…”

She caught Mira’s mouth in a kiss again, saying whatever she couldn’t say in words. For all her hardness, her mouth was wonderfully soft, and she knew exactly what to do with hertongue. Jolts of electricity raced up Mira’s spine, and the ache between her legs surged.

She ran her hand through Isabel’s luxurious hair, then over the powerful, shifting muscles of her back, then over the hot, exposed strip of skin between her T-shirt and her waistband. Isabel moaned against her mouth—such a gorgeous reaction. Mira’s hand wandered back up, and she gently stroked the underside of one of Isabel’s soft, heavy breasts. Isabel let out a surprisingly high whimper. Then Mira found Isabel’s nipple, hard through her bra, and Isabel made that delicious sound again?—

She pulled away. Mira blinked, hazy with arousal, still thinking about pulling Isabel’s T-shirt off. “Sorry,” she said, after a second.

Isabel’s breathing was ragged. A sweet rosy blush had risen on her cheeks. “It’s fine. It’s just… You said you wanted to take things slow.”

“I guess so.” Mira was flushed, too, and her heartbeat pulsed between her thighs. Self-consciousness came over her. She never acted or talked like this. Had she ever wanted sex so badly in her life?

“I want you so much, Mira.” Isabel’s gaze burned. She leaned in for one more tender kiss, which turned into a few desperate, hot kisses, and then a series of more small kisses when they couldn’t bring themselves to pull away.

“Do we have to stop?” Mira said, her mouth an inch from Isabel’s, their foreheads touching. A line of Catullus drifted into her mind, and she smiled to herself—of course a thousand kisses wouldn’t be enough.

“If you want to go slow, we should wait.” Isabel didn’t look like she wanted to.

“How long?” Truthfully, Mira wasn’t sure if she could wait another five minutes.

“Will you let me take you out to dinner first?”

Mira laughed. Isabel saying she wasn’t honorable had been an absurd lie. “You don’t have to be chivalrous about it. You can do whatever you want to me right now.”

Isabel closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. “Next Friday. I want to have plenty of time for you.”

Six days. Isabel might as well have said six years. “Can we still kiss?”

Isabel grinned. She leaned in and gave Mira a teasing kiss. Then came another, and another…

Isabel pulled away. “You’re not making this easy.” Her lips brushed Mira’s cheek, and Mira shivered. “We should talk about a few more things first. And it’s been a long night.” Another gentle kiss on the cheek. “I promise I’ll make it worth your wait.”

23

Isabel ranher fingers through her hair in front of the mirror. She felt like a teenager again. Giddy and anxious, and trying to project enough butch swagger that her date wouldn’t notice. She adjusted the collar of her button-down shirt, tugged at the cuffs to make sure they showed under the sleeves of her suit jacket, and tweaked her shirt collar again.

She’d gotten the suit made for Alexa’s wedding. Her body had changed after a few more years of hard work, but it still fit. Even if she felt like an entirely different person inside it.

If she waited any longer, she’d be late. She smoothed out her suit jacket one last time, left her room, and found Mira standing just outside. Mira smiled shyly.

Isabel stopped in her tracks. Mira’s makeup brought out her stunning eyes, and she was wearing that wine-colored lipstick Isabel liked so much and wanted all over her shirt collar. Mira’s dress was plum velvet—demure but fitted, the fabric darkly shimmering where her curves caught the light, practically begging Isabel to touch. She had on those sheer black tights that showed off her sinuously long legs. Delicate, bell-shaped golden earrings glittered against her hair.

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