August gathered up a bunch of broken-down boxes and headed out of the apartment to the recycling. She was leaning against the back of the elevator when a hand flew out to stop the doors from closing. Piper stepped in with her, lingering by the doors as they shut behind her, leaving them finally alone.
“Hello,” August said, looking her over. Perfect, exertion-flushed, and bright-eyed. Not to mention, looking at August like she’d never seen anything more beautiful in her life.
“How’re you doing?” Piper asked, stepping a little closer, the trash bag she was carrying rustling loudly.
“Better for this moment alone with you.”
Piper smiled. “I know what you mean. Sorry about all the people.”
August waved her off. “They’re really great. Your parents, your friends… Thank you for sharing them with us.”
“Of course,” she replied, beaming. “You’re in now, you know. You and Ford.”
“Oh, believe me, I know.”
Piper shot her a puzzled look. “What does that mean?”
“It means Shea decided to talk to me about our sex life while your parents were in the room, and suggested she wouldn’t say no if Ford wanted to sleep with her.”
“Ah.” She winced. “That’s what that conversation was.”
“Indeed.”
“I’m so sorry. Do you want me to talk to her?”
August laughed. “No. It’s totally fine. And, you know, I’m not ashamed of having slept with you—or getting you to come loud enough for Massima to hear and feel the need to report it to everyone.”
Piper scrunched her face up. “I should have told her not to tell everyone.”
“It’s whatever. But, let’s prioritize having loud sex at my place in the future.”
Piper’s whole expression morphed and she shot August a mind-bendingly sexy look. “Sounds great to me.”
They made it to the ground floor and August couldn’t keep her eyes off Piper as they walked to the dumpsters, got rid oftheir trash, and as she pulled a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer from her back pocket for the both of them.
The elevator was still waiting for them on the ground floor when they got back inside, and their eye contact held as the doors closed, leaving them alone together.
“August,” Piper whispered, dark and seductive, and that was all it took for August to cross the two steps between them and scoop her into a deep, urgent kiss.
Piper met her energy exactly, one hand tangling itself in August’s hair, the other pressing into the small of her back, pulling her closer as she walked herself backwards to the wall.
August was learning that Piper loved being pressed up against a wall, and she was so completely on board with that.
Her hand slipped quickly under the soft, baggy, flannel shirt. Touching Piper’s skin made August’s insides go up in flames, a demanding throbbing starting between her thighs. They weren’t going to do it in an elevator, not really, butoh,how she wanted to.
August had never been reckless in love or lust before. She’d never been so completely overcome by someone the way she was with Piper.
She didn’t mind it at all.
The elevator jolted to a halt and Piper moaned August’s name again, barely more than a whisper, but enough to get August wet.
She laughed and pulled Piper out of the elevator with her, pausing before they went back into the apartment. “It’s so inappropriate for me to be going back in there this wet. Our families are in there.”
Piper breathed a laugh, her eyes lighting up at August’s admission. “You’re so… open with me. I love hearing exactly how you’re feeling.”
There were people who could have said that and made August feel self-conscious. Piper was not one of them. She sounded mesmerized, like she’d finally found something she’d long been searching for. August understood completely. She loved it when Piper did the same thing, the complete lack of ambiguity about how she was feeling was so beautifully reassuring.
Piper glanced down the hallway. “Do you think there are cameras in here?”