Page 90 of Couple Goals

‘Congratulations, Choski. I am so proud of you.’

Kira’s face lights up in surprise, then out of nowhere crumples a little.

‘God,’ she laughs, self-deprecatingly, wiping at her tearing eyes. ‘That really hit hard.’

Maeve gets up to hug her, and Kira pulls her onto her lap for them to hug more tightly.

‘We’ll make it work, of course we will,’ Maeve says. ‘And while I’m sidelined with this injury, maybe I’ll even get to come and watch you make your debut.’

Kira laughs, stroking her back. ‘Every time I score a goal, I’ll blow you a kiss from the pitch.’

They kiss then. Kira’s mouth tastes moreish, like wine and olives.

Maeve doesn’t know how long they’ve been doing this, but she could do it forever.

‘Wait,’ says Kira, pulling apart, her cheeks warm. ‘Can you smell burn–’

The fire alarm goes off. Maeve leaps off her, limping to open the kitchen door which spills out steam and smoke. The alarm is easily stopped by Kira hurriedly fanning a teatowel vigorously underneath, but as Maeve opens the oven and pulls out the painstakingly twisted galette she finds that… it’s completely ruined.

‘I swear this pastry is cursed,’ she shakes her head. ‘Urgh!’ She flops onto the kitchen floor completely given up.‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Babe! It’s just pastry!’

‘It’s not just pastry,’ Maeve wails. ‘I’m such an idiot, I’ve ruined everything.’

Kira puts her hands on her hips, sighs affectionately, and then gets right down onto the kitchen floor with her.

Maeve looks over at her, face flushed. Kira’s composed and teasing, and puts an arm around her.

‘Maeve, you didn’t do anything wrong. I cruelly distracted you with my fantastic kissing.’

Maeve sniffs, laughing.

‘It’s not always your fault when something goes wrong,’ Kira says gently. ‘Sometimes shit just happens, okay?’

Maeve feels her shoulders release their tension and she sniffs, nodding into Kira’s shoulder.

‘Thank you,’ she mumbles.

‘You don’t need to thank me for anything,’ Kira says, kissing her cheek. ‘Exceptmaybefor the huge takeaway I’m about to buy us.’

Kira pulls her up from the kitchen floor and helping Maeve into the living room, places her on the sofa, and hands her a topped up glass of wine. Finally, they make their way through the options and place their order.

‘Okay,’ says Kira. ‘Dim sum is going to be here in an hour.’

‘Anhour?’ Maeve sighs dramatically. ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry for being a terrible host, are you going to starve?’

Kira slowly, deliberately, places a kiss on Maeve’s neck.

‘Oh no, I don’t think I’ll get hungry,’ she says, into Maeve’s neck. ‘In fact, I worry an hour isn’t going to be enough time for what I’ve got planned.’

Maeve bites her lip, savouring the sensation of Kira’s mouth on her skin.

They’re kissing then, hungrily. Their tongues dance with each other, and Maeve bites Kira’s bottom lip, knowing it will get the groan she wants to hear from her. Maeve hopes her delicate ankle won’t make things too awkward, but actually, they can just laugh together about it. Maeve at one point wants to straddle Kira but can’t – so Kira slides her legs over to straddle Maeve instead.

Kira grips Maeve’s hip bones, then strokes the soft curves of her cheeks. Maeve tugs Kira’s t-shirt off over her head, then her sports bra, and then Kira does the same for her, so that they can feel each other’s soft chests pressed against each other, tracing their hands over each other’s backs. Maeve loves when Kira’s hair looks wonderfully messy like this, and runs her hands through it to rustle it even more, feeling the velvety sharpness of Kira’s shaved undercut at the back of her neck. Kira copies her, tracing her hands over Maeve’s face and neck to her hair, where she grasps Maeve’s ponytail and tugs, so that Maeve’s neck is pulled back and she gasps.

‘God I love it when you do that,’ Maeve whispers.

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