Chapter 20
Casey woke to the unfamiliar weight of an arm draped across her middle.
The pressure pinned the thin sheet against her ribs so every inhale had to push a little harder.
Her black halter top had twisted during the night, the fabric now bunched under one breast and damp with sweat where it clung to her skin.
The tan flowing pants felt sticky against her thighs.
She should have been uncomfortable. She wasn’t.
Sunlight filtered through the side-yard window, soft and yellow, carrying the faint scent of frangipani from the tree outside. Stephanie’s breath brushed warm and even against the back of her neck. This was real. Casey’s pulse kicked up, a steady thump that echoed in her throat.
Last night flooded back in pieces that refused to stay orderly. Stephanie joining her out by the pool at two in the morning, eyes glistening with tears, confessing she couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The confession about the window on that very first night, the way Stephanie’s voice had cracked describing the heat that had rolled through her while she watched Casey kiss Melissa in the pool.
The kiss that followed, Stephanie’s mouth tentative then suddenly certain. The walk from the loungers to the kitchen where Stephanie had backed her against the wall like she had been holding that want inside for years. The bedroom. Stephanie asking to be kissed again and meaning it.
Casey turned her head on the pillow just enough to see Stephanie there beside her. Her dark hair was loose, a few strands clinging to her cheekbone and her temple, and she had no makeup on at all. She wore gray pajama shorts and a simple black tank top, both soft-looking and rumpled from sleep.
Happy felt too simple. This was surreal, the kind of morning she had stopped letting herself picture.
She lay there, enjoying this moment. Her rule sat somewhere at the edge of her mind, whispering that Stephanie still had a little over a month before her rental ended.
The thought tried to sour the warmth pooled low in her belly but couldn’t quite manage it.
Not with Stephanie’s arm wrapped around her like this.
Stephanie stirred. Her fingers flexed against Casey’s stomach, then stilled. A soft inhale, the kind someone makes when waking up in a strange place and remembering all at once where they are. Casey stayed perfectly still, afraid any movement might break whatever this was.
Stephanie’s voice came out rough with sleep, close against her shoulder. “I was afraid I’d dreamed it.”
The words slid straight into Casey’s ribs and settled there.
She rolled onto her back, careful not to dislodge the arm still resting across her.
Stephanie’s face filled her vision, eyes half-lidded but bright, mouth curved in a small uncertain smile that made Casey want to kiss her before either of them said another word.
“You didn’t,” Casey said, voice low. She reached up and brushed a strand of dark hair off Stephanie’s forehead, letting her fingers linger against warm skin.
The touch felt dangerous in its gentleness.
“I keep thinking the same thing. That I’d open my eyes and you’d be back next door with your coffee and your book, and last night would just be something I made up. ”
Stephanie shifted closer, her knee sliding between Casey’s legs without seeming to mean to. The contact sent a slow spark through Casey’s center that had nothing to do with urgency and everything to do with wonder.
Casey had tried to slow them down in this very bed.
She had suggested they wait because everything felt too fast, too bright.
Stephanie had agreed even though disappointment had flickered across her face like heat lightning.
They had fallen asleep kissing instead, mouths lazy and sweet, hands learning the shapes of each other through their clothes.
“I’m happy you’re here,” Casey said simply. The words felt inadequate but true. Her hand found Stephanie’s waist, palm flattening over the soft cotton of the tank top. She could feel the subtle give of flesh beneath, the way Stephanie’s breathing changed at the contact.
Stephanie held her gaze. “I meant what I said. About all of it. I’m not going to pretend I understand any of this, or why it took me so long to realize it, but I don’t want to take it back.”
Casey’s throat tightened. She believed her. That was the dangerous part. Stephanie’s eyes held no evasion this morning, only a kind of dazed wonder that mirrored the feeling expanding in Casey’s own chest.
The doubt crept in though, curling at the edges of the happiness. In a little over a month, Stephanie would go back to her life. Casey pushed the thought down before it could take root. Not now. Not with Stephanie looking at her like this.
“I was going to make us breakfast,” Casey offered, voice deliberately light. She let her thumb stroke along the dip of Stephanie’s waist, feeling the way the other woman’s breath caught.
Stephanie propped herself up on one elbow.
The movement made the sheet slip down to her hips, revealing the black tank top stretched across her subtle curves.
Casey’s gaze caught there for a second before she dragged it back up.
Stephanie noticed. A faint blush colored her cheeks but she didn’t look away.
“You’ve been the one looking after me,” Stephanie said. “Cooking, taking me out.” Her voice softened. “Let me do something for you. I’ll make breakfast next door. I want to freshen up and change anyway.”
Casey smiled despite the small twist in her gut. “Okay. I’ll come over in half an hour.”
Stephanie leaned in and kissed her quickly. Then she pulled back, eyes bright.
“See you in a few minutes,” she said and climbed out of bed, finding her flip-flops near the door. At the threshold she paused, looking back with an expression Casey couldn’t quite read, and then she was gone.
Casey lay alone, staring at the ceiling fan’s slow rotation. She pressed her face into the pillow where Stephanie had slept and breathed in the scent of her hair. Surreal. That was the only way to describe this. She couldn’t even imagine what Stephanie must be feeling.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, stretching her arms over her head. She went into the bathroom and turned the shower on, letting steam fill the small space while she peeled off yesterday’s clothes.
Her body remembered every touch from last night, the way Stephanie had straddled her on this very bed, the soft sounds she made when Casey’s hands had explored her through thin cotton. Casey stepped under the spray and let the water beat against her shoulders.
The doubt returned stronger now that she stood alone. Stephanie wanted this right now, in the bright morning after, with the taste of their kisses still fresh. But a month from now? When the novelty of Key West wore off and her life back home was waiting for her?
Casey closed her eyes and let water run down her face. She had promised herself no more unavailable women. She had ended things with Melissa for exactly this reason. Yet here she was again, heart already leaning forward, already imagining mornings like this in the future.
She washed quickly. The simple routine grounded her a little. By the time she toweled off and pulled on clean shorts and a faded blue tank top, the doubt had settled into something quieter. Not gone. Just waiting. She couldn’t afford to ignore it completely. Stephanie’s life waited in Charleston.
Still. The memory of Stephanie’s arm around her waist, the sleepy confession that she had been afraid it was all a dream, refused to fade.
Casey smiled at her reflection in the steamed mirror, hair wet, blue eyes brighter than they had any right to be. She was happy. That part was undeniable.
She grabbed her keys and stepped out into the morning heat.
The short walk next door felt different now, charged with the knowledge of what had happened between them.
Her bare feet moved over warm concrete, the low picket fence between their properties suddenly meaningless.
She could still feel the ghost of Stephanie’s fingers on her skin, the way her breath had gone shallow when they kissed in bed.
Casey paused at Stephanie’s door, hand hovering.
The doubt lingered at the edges but so did the happiness.
She knocked. Whatever came in a month, she would face it when it arrived.
For now she just wanted to sit across from the woman who had kissed her like she was starving and see what happened next.