Page 104 of Hot Tea & Bird Calls
Nadine, silently weeping from pain, held up her thumb. Celene grasped her hand for the remainder of her tattoo. Her excitement grew each minute, further magnified when she chose from three sketches Taz jotted down on the fly.
Typically, Celene took weeks on permanent decisions like those, but that sliver of spontaneity turned out to be a good one. It encouraged her to keep an open mind for more of those moments in the future.
Present-day Celene woke up around 6 a.m., more wired than she’d expected. Making use of her time, she brushed her teeth, showered, dried off, and fell asleep reading a mystery. She hummed awake for Skye tracing the smooth aster rendering with her fingertips, sparking a shiver outside the sexual. A direct line to the pit of Celene’s chest, to something that could make her cry as hard as Nadine did in Taz’s chair.
So, Celene deflected. Getting out of bed, presenting clothes and unused toiletries in her bathroom before retreating to start a pot of tea.
She enjoyed romance and wouldn’t hide the fact, butthat—whatever that touching stirred inside Celene—stripped her a little too bare.
With cucumber and mint-infused tea cooling in the refrigerator, Celene took out the house’s prettiest plate—Elise’s purchase at a vintage store, no less—and arranged Edna’s sweets in a round formation.
Besides her tried-and-true vegetable dishes and the basics, Celene wasn’t into cooking. She thinly sliced four different fruits on a separate plate, hoping the aesthetics matched their ripe flavors. All this would absolutely do for a tasteful, uncomplicated breakfast.
After storing their fruit plate in the fridge, she checked her fuchsia’s leaves for any droop, proud of keeping it alive. Wiping her cleaned hands dry, Celene returned to the primary suite and knocked on the bathroom door. Skye responded from the shower, “Still here.”
“Well, yeah,” Celene murmured, pleased to have the house to themselves today. She eased the door slightly open and spoke into the steam. “Our tea’s cooling off. Mind if I sit and chat?”
Was this neediness? Nobody would’ve considered her remotely needy, but they weren’t here to judge.
A moment passed before Skye’s soft, musical laugh sounded. “I’d love that. Come sit.”
Bathroom privacy came with boundaries—a difference lay between nudity for sex and nudity for the essentials. Therefore, Celene didn’t peek or tease Skye from the other side of the opaque shower curtain. She kept the conversation simple: on Thalia taking over Skye’s shift. On when Bearnard finally left. On how to make the most of their day.
“You have a routine, right?” Skye asked under the spa-quality showerhead, Celene’s replacement for the one her dad apparently liked so much. “I shouldn’t disrupt it…”
“I don’t care about that,” Celene answered as sincerely as she could. Finding the fogged-up mirror useless, she fluffed her hair as she would any day, intent on looking nice for Skye shutting the water off. “The weather’s nice. Should we do something outside?”
Celene handed her a thick towel. Skye emerged and thanked her, stepping out in the towel and a shower cap Nadine reminded Celene to buy, just in case. Doing the shy robin movements, Skye said, “We can walk to Lake Harrier.”
The local, manmade lake and the community’s namesake. “Sounds perfect.”
Celene’s thoughts evaporated as well as the steam when she wedged open the frosted window. Her self-control extended easily to bathing. But Skye, loosely gripping that towel, freeing her hair from the cap, stoked different levels of temptation. Celene angled herself out of the way of the sink counter, but notby much. Enough to breathe in Skye’s dewy skin and the scent of verbena body wash.
“I prepared breakfast. Something light.” A conscience choice, as they’d ordered pizza around 1 a.m. from one of the only places open at that hour. Much-needed fuel. “Fruit and bolinhos de chuva—they’re these round, fried beignet-like pastries rolled in cinnamon sugar.”
“Mmm, a homemade snack. I can’t wait.”
Edna brought the treats to Celene’s apartment yesterday morning, double the recipe for the “new lady” in her life. What a strange feeling, to be simultaneously touched and a little perturbed, since she wouldn’t give something like that to only Celene outside of a holiday.
Skye cupped Celene’s face, bringing her back to the bathroom, to wide, dark eyes full of questions. “What was that? Are you okay?”
Celene studied the counter, where Skye’s freshly used toothbrush stood in a cup next to her electric brush. She could play off this irritation. It wouldn’t hurt. Though who would that serve? “My family’s more considerate when I’m in a relationship.”
Skye would understand, thinking back on the fake dating’s origin to satisfy Luce. She nodded, smoothing her thumb across Celene’s cheek. Unspeaking, only touch and eyes that didn’t shutter with pity.
It wheedled a smile out of Celene. God, that natural peacefulness.
And when Skye brought Celene in for a kiss, the peace remained.
Celene was safe, secure. No other Vales for miles.
Not long after, hands played along with their kisses, beginning with Skye charting across her shoulder blades, up to massage Celene’s shoulders, journeying to soft arms tensing forwhat would come next. Celene knew Skye’s fingers would linger on her tricep, onto the smooth aster tattoo. Those delicately drawn lines bound Celene to Yielding as much as they did Skye.
Thirsty for more, Celene licked across Skye’s neck, fancying every droplet her tongue reached. Her stomach spun pleasantly, an echo to her deep moan against her skin. Then, she moaned more when she pinched at Skye’s nape, shivering in mutual arousal. Everything about Skye’s pleasure reverberated to her; it tapped into a privilege she’d long forgotten.
Skye gripped the corners of the countertop, shivering. Whether from dampness or the heightening of this tension was anyone’s guess. “Celene.”
Celene pulled away, engrossed in residual steam billowing ghostly forms around them, streaked with sunlight. Simply stellar. “You make me so high.”
