Page 53 of Like First Love, Again

“We got so drunk so fast.” Mia chuckled, attention on the low res photo in Tori’s hand.

“Remember that crew quarters room we found?” Tori handed Mia the picture and leaned back against the pile of pillows, hand behind her head.

“Oh, shit.” A hazy image sharpened around the edges. “It was so claustrophobic and the bunk beds were so tiny!” She tossed the photo back into the box full of fragmented memories. “How the hell did we end up there?”

Tori chewed her bottom lip, eyes trained on the popcorn ceiling. “I feel like you got into it with somebody. I can’t remember though.” She chuckled. “Pretty sure pounding drinks that were quickly banned by the FDA was not amazing for the brain cells.”

Mia dropped down to Tori’s side, head on her shoulder and arm thrown across her waist. “Even through the boozy haze, I remember it was my idea to get in that top bunk.”

Tori’s stomach tensed when she stopped breathing. Mia imagined she was catapulted back to that night too. Back to Mia carelessly curling herself around Tori. Holding her so close while the extravagant ship drifted and their friends had fun on the top deck.

“I was always doing that, wasn’t I?” Mia skimmed the sliver of skin exposed by Tori’s hiked-up shirt. The narrow swath of soft, tanned abdomen below her navel. “Always taking you away somewhere.”

Tori breathed her amusement, even if it sounded more like a sigh than anything else. “And I was always following too willingly.”

Eyes closed, Mia wondered for the hundredth time what might have happened if Tori had confessed her crush. Or if she’d been as aware of the vibe between them as everyone else had been.

She slid her fingers under Tori’s shirt and craned her neck to look at Tori. At the slight touch, Tori’s eyes were already closed. Her throat already flushing with color.

“What if I had done this when we were crammed together on that little bunk?” Mia pressed her lips to Tori’s jaw. “Would you have kissed me back?”

Tori smirked, prompting Mia to kiss the dimple in her cheek. “I might have passed out before I got the chance.”

Mia ghosted her lips across Tori’s cheek and over her ear. “Does that mean I get to revive you?” She shifted her weight and parted Tori’s legs with her knee.

Hands on Mia’s hips, Tori drew her closer until Mia was on top of her. Until she pressed her thigh between Tori’s legs in a way that made a hungry heat surge in Mia’s body. She pushed her thigh up, hoping Tori felt what Mia felt when Tori did it.

Tori’s moan was a faint rumble that trickled into Mia’s mouth when they kissed. The kiss deepened fast—too fast—but Mia couldn’t care. She was rewriting history with every swipe of her tongue. She was in the bunk, on the roof, in her bed. Kissing Tori for every time she hadn’t. Tongue and teeth and breath, the sharp edges of her want only hastened Mia’s unraveling.

Heat and weight and years ofalmosterupted intonow. Mia rolled her hips, giving Tori more friction to grind against. Her hands were in Tori’s hair, on her ribs, under her shirt. Everywhere and not enough.

Digging her fingers into her lower back, Tori urged Mia to go faster. Every swing of her hips made Tori’s breaths come faster. Made her claw at her harder. Mia didn’t want to stop. She wanted to memorize the shape of this—the sound of Tori’s ragged breathing, the pounding desire roaring at her own core. She tore herself from Tori’s kiss, speaking at the same time she cemented her decision.

“I’m going back early,” Mia panted against Tori’s tempting mouth.

“What?” Tori looked at her with half-lidded eyes, her hips still rocking and her hands still gripping Mia.

“To Philly,” Mia explained, because she was no longer going back home. “I want to go now. So I can get it over with.” She swallowed the doubt she didn’t trust. “So I can come back.”

Clearing her throat, Tori opened her eyes completely. “I’m not sure you should make major, life-altering decisions while you’re high on make-out endorphins.”

Mia raised both her brows in the universal sign fordo-you-think-I’m-a-freaking-dummy.

“Are you serious?” The lust cleared from Tori’s gorgeous face. “Mia, moving across the country, giving up your job, your house. I mean, this really is a huge decision.”

“Is it?” Mia rolled off Tori and sat up. “It doesn’t feel so big. It feels kind of obvious. Eric and I have to sell the house anyway, and I’m pretty sure Miami has a hospital or two for me to work in.” She scrunched up her nose. “Unless you think I shouldn’t?”

Before Mia could panic that she’d overblown what was possible between them, Tori shot up in bed. “Listen, I’ve always prided myself on giving you unbiased advice.” She smirked, brown eyes bright like the sun coming through stained glass. “I feel like I should tell you to think about it. Not to be rash.”

“And what shouldn’t you tell me?” Mia reached out for Tori’s hand, thumb finding the ridge of a prominent vein.

Tori’s face devolved into an expression Mia could only call adorably sheepish. “I shouldn’t tell you I’d count the days until you were back.”

Relief was bone-melting as it trickled into Mia’s tense stomach. There was only one thing she hated. One thing that made her feel like the world’s biggest asshole. “Do you feel like you’re always waiting for me?”

Tori’s expression brightened. “Only since the moment I saw you in homeroom freshman year,” she joked before thinking about it. “It’s not like I evermeantto wait for you,” she said as much to herself as to Mia. “I never realized I was doing that.”

Shifting her weight forward, Mia eased Tori onto her back before she straddled her hips. “I promise,” she dipped her head down and hovered over Tori’s parted lips, “I’ll never make youwait again.” She teased Tori’s full bottom lip. “Just one last time and then you’re not going to be able to get rid of me.”

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