Page 55 of Late Bloomer
She clears her throat, sucks in a deep breath. “This is what I was trying to tell you about,” she says. “My idea.”
I blink at her.
“I know things are kind of… tense… between us,” she says.
I snort. Iwishthis was as simple as tension. This isn’t tension. Tension is a sore spot, a defined point of stress that can be untangled. Worked through. This is a tornado, and I’m getting whiplash from the spectrum of feelings living with Opal is putting me through.
“But maybe they don’t, uh, have to be?” she says, scrunching up her face as she says it.
More blinking. I’ve never pretended to be a particularly good conversationalist.
Opal huffs, squaring her shoulders. “Listen, our living situation isn’t ideal. We don’t really get along personality-wise, but, to be quite blunt about it, I’m really attracted to you and I think you might be attracted to me and I think we should—” She waves a hand between us. There’s a long moment of silence as I dangle on her unfinished thought. “Jesus, throw me a lifeline here, Pepper.”
“We should what?” I say, voice hoarse.
She groans, throwing her arms out. “Bang it out!”
My mind, my entire body, goes blank. I can see the words hanging there, but I can’t process what she means by them, so I continue to gape at her.
“This silence is, quite possibly, the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Including the time a stranger on the bus licked my neck,” Opal says after a minute, eyes frantic and color still high.
I shake my head, trying to clear the pink fog of lust. “You mean… have sex?” I whisper.
Opal nods.
“With each other?” I don’t recognize my own voice. It’s low and breathy and dripping with want.
“I didn’t start this conversation just to tell you I masturbate, Pepper,” Opal says, throwing her head back. “Yes, sex with each other.”
“Would that involve…” My eyes are stuck on her exposed neck. The soft, delicate skin. I have the alarming urge to sink my teeth into it.
Opal sighs, closing her eyes. “It can involve whatever you want. We both want. A mutually beneficial arrangement to blow off some steam and have some fun.”
She looks at me again, and her face is so earnest and open and filled with a hunger that mirrors my own. I’m not sure I’ll survive this.
“What about…feelings?” The last word comes out like a curse. I’m not sure how Opal can find anything funny while so much heat floods my body I’m scared my brain is going to melt, but she laughs.
“The less, the better,” she says, biting her bottom lip and tugging at her snowy hair. “I’m not interested in a relationship or anything and I know you barely tolerate me…”
A silly chamber of my heart squeezes, and I want to cut her off. Laugh at the absurdity of that statement. Tolerate her? I can’t stop thinking about the damn woman. And it scares the hell out of me.
But what she’s offering… Well, maybe it’s just what I need to stop obsessing. She’s right, we’re fundamental opposites. Any…feelingsare purely motivated by lust, and lust alone.
And what better cure to totally platonic lust than—
“Just sex?” I say at last. Opal’s eyes are so fiercely fixed on me, my skin prickles.
“Might as well get something out of this forced living situation,” she says, a devilish smile curving those full lips.“Frequent, emotion-free orgasms doesn’t seem like the worst compromise, right?”
Right. Yes. Absolutely. An orgasm sounds great right about now.
Opal laughs again, and I realize I said all that out loud. My face fries with embarrassment.
“Easy, kitten, we should probably come up with some ground rules,” she says, slinking toward me. She isn’t touching me, but every cell in my body stands on alert, desperate and aching for the pressure of her that I already know feels so good.
“That’s smart,” I say. Rough. Low. Staring at her mouth. Rules would be very good right about now. “You start.”
“Um.” She bites that lip again, and I suck in a breath. “Well, we already established no feelings.”
