Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
“Stop?” Hope pulled her hand from between Angelica’s legs, her fingers damp. “What’s wrong? What did I do?”
“Nothing. I just…” Angelica breathed slowly and cupped Hope’s cheek, pulling her closer. “I need to get off my feet.”
“Oh.” Hope laughed lightly, the fear that had rushed through her instantly vanishing. She kissed Angelica hard and then stepped back to give her the space she needed to move and get settled.
Angelica didn’t wait. She instantly plopped onto the edge of the bed and sighed in relief as she angled her foot so there was no longer any weight on it.
Hope sat next to her, putting an ankle over her knee as she pulled at the laces of her nonslip tennis shoes.
Her heart was ready to burst. Everything Angelica had said in the last five minutes had been exactly what Hope wanted to hear.
She pulled off one shoe and then the other while Angelica just lay on her back, hand over her face and breathing slowly.
“You okay there, boss?” Hope asked before she pulled off any more of her clothes.
“Yeah.” Angelica nodded but other than that she barely moved. “Yeah, I am.”
“Do you still want—”
Angelica moved then. Their eyes locked, and Hope’s breath was stolen. “I don’t ever say anything that I don’t mean.”
“No, you just won’t speak if you don’t want to say something.”
“True.” Angelica’s lips quirked slightly. “I meant what I said.”
“That you want me to finger fuck you?”
Angelica groaned in answer.
“That you want me to…” Hope’s voice grew husky, “eat you?” The coil of arousal that had been there before tightened back up again.
Hope clung onto that feeling. She scooted in closer, tracing her hand up from Angelica’s hip to over her breast to her chin.
She held Angelica’s face lightly, making sure that they were looking directly at each other when she said the next thing. “That you love me.”
“Yes,” Angelica answered, breathily. “Yes, I love you.”
Elation burst in Hope’s chest. She bent down, kissing Angelica.
She loved hearing those words from her. She hadn’t realized before just how hard it was not to know, to be left in the dark.
That love hadn’t died in San Diego, despite both of their best efforts to move on.
Hope kissed her again briefly before she sat up and pulled at Angelica’s shirt.
Angelica moved slightly as Hope divested her of the material.
Instead of taking Angelica’s bra off, Hope immediately bent down and pressed kisses along the top of her chest. Her heart was ready to burst. A year ago, she’d told Angelica that she thought she was falling in love with her, but she was already there.
The old adage about U-Haul lesbians was so true.
One “date” and she was ready to jump in with both feet.
She trailed her tongue along Angelica’s collarbone.
With a kiss to the top of Angelica’s breast, Hope shifted her weight and slid off the edge of the bed.
She pressed her knees into the old wood flooring and pulled the zipper against Angelica’s hip down.
While her fingers had been warm pressed inside Angelica, she wanted Angelica bare in front of her this time.
“I can’t stay the night,” Hope said as she pulled the skirt down Angelica’s legs and neatly avoided the black cast.
“W-what?” Angelica cupped her breasts and squeezed them before lifting up and looking down at Hope. “What are you talking about?”
“I have Eva this week. I can’t stay the night.” Hope bit her lip, staying on the floor where she was.
“But you can stay for this, right?”
“Oh yes. I’m not leaving any time soon.” Hope pressed a kiss to the top of Angelica’s thigh. “Unless you want me to.”
“No.” Angelica reached behind her back. Her bra loosened and fell away. “I want you right where you are.”
“Good.” Hope hooked her thumbs under the elastic of Angelica’s thong and dragged the material down her legs. She had to stop and focus when she reached the cast this time, cursing under her breath when it got stuck on one of the Velcro straps.
Angelica laughed lightly. When Hope glanced back up, Angelica had her fingers between her legs, teasing herself, and she was pulling at her nipple with her other one.
Now, that just wouldn’t do. Hope watched carefully for a few more seconds before she took her opportunity and shooed Angelica’s hand away.
“That’s mine.” The possessive growl that came out with the words surprised her.
But Angelica’s hum of pleasure spurred her on even more.
Hope bent down, pressing her face immediately against her.
She closed her eyes, using scent and taste and touch to guide her as she moved.
Angelica left her bad leg hanging off the edge of the bed, but she lifted her good one and pressed her heel into the back of Hope’s shoulder, dragging her in even closer.
“God, I missed your mouth,” Angelica murmured.
Hope wanted to say something quippy back, but she kept it to herself.
Opening her eyes, Hope looked at Angelica as the short hairs that no doubt hadn’t been dealt with because of the car accident tickled and scratched at her nose. Breathing deeply, Hope swished her tongue back and forth. Angelica’s hips raised up and she pressed into Hope’s mouth harder.
“Yes…” Angelica dragged the word out, flinging a hand over her head as she teased her nipple and pulled it.
Hope wrapped one hand under Angelica’s thigh and put her other against the bed so that she wouldn’t accidentally hit Angelica’s broken leg and cause more pain.
Everything about this moment was pure and true.
It was the most vulnerable they’d ever been with each other, and certainly that Angelica had been with her.
Hope had to hold that carefully. She couldn’t damage this.
Not again. Hope watched as Angelica’s breathing picked up, the way her stomach moved rhythmically.
She cried out, her stomach tightening as she curled up slightly.
Slowing her movements, Hope stayed where she was as Angelica eased down.
She teased here and there, but mostly, she kept her mouth against Angelica because it just felt so damn good to be here, to be allowed to give Angelica as much pleasure as possible.
Moving away, she kissed Angelica’s inner thighs and waited for the next set of instructions.
“Get up here and make this easy on me.” Angelica’s voice sounded slow, sated.
Satisfaction raced through Hope because she was the cause.
Standing up, Hope shucked the rest of her clothes and then crawled on the bed after Angelica had moved to the middle.
The queen-sized bed that Angelica had was vastly different from the two fulls that were smashed into Hope’s room.
There was so much more space to move around in here.
She bent down and kissed Angelica again.
She would never get enough of doing that.
“Come on. Climb on top.” Angelica pushed at Hope’s thigh to move her.
Hope bit her lip, shifting her weight as she straddled Angelica, moving higher until she was over her shoulders and her knees were pushed into the pillow. She shifted slightly to move Angelica’s hair out of the way so she wouldn’t pull it accidentally.
Angelica smiled up at her and then turned her cheek slightly to kiss Hope’s leg. “We’ll do this again, I promise.”
“Of course we will,” Hope answered.
“I mean when I have more energy.” Angelica laughed a little before she pressed another kiss to Hope’s thigh. “When we have all night.”
“Angel, this is more than I thought would happen.”
Angelica hummed, kissing her again and pressing the flat of her tongue against Hope’s skin. “It’s not enough.”
Angelica moved closer, breathing in Hope’s scent and humming.
A shiver ran down Hope’s spine. Angelica’s hands against her body guided her into place, and the first touch of Angelica’s mouth against her was pure heaven.
The last time that she’d had sex had been in that closet, fingers pressed deep inside Angelica as she’d brought Angelica to the brink of orgasm in one of the best quickies Hope had ever had.
She never regretted it.
Rocking her hips against Angelica’s mouth, Hope gripped onto the headboard to keep herself steady. She lifted up slightly, but Angelica pulled her right back down. Looking between her thighs, her eyes met Angelica’s, and the pleasure that rushed through her took over her entire body.
She’d never fallen out of love with Angelica. She hadn’t even tried. She’d been so focused on Rex and the dissolution of their marriage and relationship, that she’d completely ignored the fact that she needed to deal with Angelica and the heartbreak that came with their relationship.
Heartbreak that hadn’t ever quite manifested.
Hurt, yes.
Hope breathed slowly, continuing to look deep into Angelica’s eyes that looked so dark in this light.
Angelica slid her hands up and down, over every inch of skin that she could reach.
Hope stayed in this moment, in the way Angelica had told her that she loved her—multiple times.
In the way Angelica had held to her truth, in the way she’d asked for the one thing she wanted.
To be loved.
And wasn’t that what they both wanted? Hope’s nipples hardened as the first wave of pleasure started to build into the rushing inferno that she knew would take control of her shortly.
But she wanted to watch Angelica through the entire thing.
She wanted Angelica to know just how much this meant to her.
“Angel—” her voice broke, the orgasm tearing through her unexpectedly. She cried out loudly, her voice echoing in her own ears. Hope pressed her hand against the headboard to keep herself steady and raised slightly above Angelica so she didn’t suffocate her, but it was so damn hard to concentrate.