Chapter Twenty-one #3
“The best fucking kiss ever. Delivered tonight.” Tess closed those dilated eyes and nodded one last time.
Bree heard herself moan and reminded herself that they’d agreed to this at the barbecue. It would just be a kiss, a kiss that could go no farther than that tonight. Just the best fucking kiss ever shared with this woman she was developing deep feelings for.
It started out as a mixing of breath and brushing of skin.
Then Tess placed her hands at the curve of Bree’s jaw and kissed her eyelids.
Tess’s tongue parted Bree’s lips, and Bree opened up as she welcomed Tess into her mouth.
It became a deep, shared merging, both of them probing and tasting.
It deepened to hungry exploration as they barely allowed themselves a chance to come up for air.
Bree worked her way across Tess’s cheek and burrowed her face in the warm curve where Tess’s neck met her shoulder.
Tess cradled Bree in close and slid her hands between them.
She cupped Bree’s breasts before she rubbed Bree’s aroused nipples through the fabric that covered them.
Bree could feel even more moisture pooling between her legs.
Tess held her steady as they sampled and teased and narrowed each other’s worlds down to this shared moment in a darkened parking lot.
Bree didn’t know what to label it, but it was so much more than simply mutual attraction.
So much more than lust. She was falling for this complex woman, this proud woman who had learned to guard so much of herself but had dared to reveal so much to Bree.
Tess was a woman who had indicated she wanted to try to trust Bree with her heart, and Bree had realized tonight that she was willing to do the same.
Suddenly, someone yelled across the lot, “Hey, get a room.”
They broke apart and burst into laughter.
“Busted, like a couple of teenagers,” Bree finally choked out when she regained control of herself.
“I’m living up to the wild and naughty Flo keeps telling me that I’ve been missing out on.”
“It might be pretty embarrassing if someone took a photo of us. I’d say you’ve paid your chocolate-cake-kiss debt, so shall we head out before we do something we shouldn’t out here in this parking lot?” Bree asked.
Tess nodded and Bree stepped back. Tess opened the passenger door for her. Once they were both belted in, Tess pulled across the lot and headed back to the highway for the twenty-minute drive to Corazon Cove.
“What do you have planned for the rest of the weekend?” Tess asked.
“Not a whole lot. Hank might come by sometime to help me change out a few light bulbs. He’s got a ladder and I don’t.
I don’t know if he’s available tomorrow or not.
” Bree leaned back in her seat and relaxed.
She set her arm on the console, and Tess took her hand again without shifting her attention from the road.
“It must be nice to have a brother like Hank,” Tess replied. Bree could hear a touch of envy in her voice.
“Family—it’s the main reason I accepted the judicial appointment at the Corazon County Superior Court.”
Tess looked straight ahead as she followed the tunnel of illumination the headlights cast in the dark that surrounded them. An occasional car passed, moving in the opposite direction.
Bree considered how much she wanted to finish the day off in one of their beds, but sleeping with Tess before telling her everything—and she couldn’t do that before she talked to Ned because she’d made a promise—just wasn’t her style. But at this moment she wished that it was.
As they neared the edge of town, Tess cleared her throat before asking, “Do you want me to drop you off at your place or…?” She let the question trail off, and Bree could hear the hope in her voice and knew exactly what the or meant. It engulfed her in regret.
The vulnerability in Tess’s tone, the splendid day they’d just spent together, Bree’s epiphany regarding her desire to pursue a future with Tess—suddenly, her inability to be open with Tess was a weight that was crushing Bree.
And with this increasing pressure mounting in her chest and climbing her throat, Bree wished she hadn’t made Ned a promise that she’d tell him before she spoke to Tess.
“Tess, I’d love for you not to drop me off at my place tonight. I want the or as much as I’ve ever wanted anything, but we need to talk.”
As they passed the Welcome to Corazon Cove sign, Tess glanced at her with a quick lift of her brows before she refocused on the road and took the turn that led to Bree’s place. She remained silent, but the sad, puzzled look that now pervaded Tess’s features said it all.
“Please, Tess. We need to discuss this reset mode that we’re so bad at achieving. But first, there are things I need to explain, and I can’t do that tonight…nothing bad, just a little complicated. Will you meet me tomorrow? Please. Let me explain.”
They drove in silence until Tess finally spoke, her manner reserved.
“Thelma has a late afternoon vet appointment tomorrow for a follow-up to a skin issue she had when I got her. I’m not giving it up—it’s a clinic open on Sundays, and I’ve had the appointment for a month.
” After another long pause, she said, “The Steam Stop, tomorrow evening. Seven o’clock.
I’ll drive myself—meet you there.” Her voice was a monotone, lacking the energy that had been there just a few minutes ago.
Shit. Bree wanted to say so much more, but with Tess’s withdrawal, she’d probably said enough until she was able to tell Tess everything. With no evidence to support Ned’s assertion that her silence would increase Tess’s safety, screw the complaint investigation because it could go on without her.
She’d never expected these feelings for Tess, but even in Tahoe, Bree had realized how good they were together.
Her feelings for Tess had only deepened since then.
She needed to tell Tess that she was ready to put her history with Cora behind her.
She needed to tell Tess that she was convinced that Tess would help her make her new life work.
She wanted to see if she and Tess stood a chance at a future.
She knew that she’d hurt Tess. But damn, she didn’t know how to not hurt Tess any farther except to wait until tomorrow night when she could tell Tess everything. And in the meantime, she’d pray that they’d laid enough groundwork to navigate this.