Chapter 16 #3
She tugged at Drea’s waistband. “This.” Before Drea could respond, Cassie closed the gap between them, taking Drea’s mouth in hers.
Drea wrapped her arms around Cassie, pulling her on top, the sensation of their breasts and hot skin together making Cassie wet again.
Drea sucked on her lip and explored her mouth in ways that made Cassie feel like she had never been kissed before this day.
They kissed and ground their bodies against each other until Cassie feared she might come again before exploring the beautiful woman beneath her.
As if reading her mind, Drea slid her hand between them and ran her fingers in slow, luxurious circles around Cassie’s clit until Cassie ripped her mouth from Drea’s and buried it in her neck, fisting the covers on the verge of losing it.
“Stay with me,” Drea whispered.
“I don’t think I can take any more.”
Drea kissed her cheek and urged her forward as she slid lower, Cassie’s breath hitching as she looked down at Drea’s gorgeous face between her hips.
Drea locked eyes with her with one of the sexiest expressions Cassie had ever seen before taking her in her mouth.
Cassie slammed her eyes shut and cried out as the sensation surged through her.
Drea moved slowly and gently at first, taking her time exploring Cassie and watching her react, Cassie’s hips rocking along with her rhythm.
As Drea slid her fingers inside Cassie and reached up to take her breast in her other hand, Cassie slumped for a moment as sensations hit her from every erogenous zone.
Drea’s motions willed her back into a rhythm and Cassie rode her like that, holding her gaze as she rocked against her mouth.
As Drea’s tongue and fingers increased speed, the sensations climbed steeply to a crescendo until Cassie yelled out Drea’s name and collapsed into a puddle.
She sat there for a moment as waves of pleasure continued to roll through her, then slid down and took Drea’s head in her hands, touching her forehead to hers and kissing her cheek as she settled next to her.
She wrapped her arm around Drea’s stomach and nuzzled into her neck. “You’re fucking incredible. You know that, right?”
Drea’s soft laughter was the only response. She put her arm around Cassie and placed a kiss on her forehead.
A while later, Cassie finally got the chance to return the favor, several times, and they rode that wave until light peaked out from behind the darkness.
Cassie woke to soft but sure fingers tracing shapes on her upper back as she lay on her stomach.
She didn’t move as memories from the night and morning returned and the corners of her mouth turned upward into a smile.
Drea’s fingers followed the lines along her back so delicately that she could feel the reverence in her touch.
There was something so intimate in it that a tightness formed in her throat and she had to swallow down the intense sadness that gripped her.
This was Drea. The beautiful, charming, enigmatic woman who never went on a second date with anyone.
Cassie could feel the pain of the realization in her chest as if she had been punched.
She closed her eyes, willing herself to acknowledge the desire for more but accepting the beauty in this moment.
This would be all there was and that would have to be enough. She would make it be enough.
She opened her eyes once more and took in everything.
The morning light streaming into the bedroom, lazily waking the shadows on the bed.
The openness of the loft and the high ceiling above her.
The softness of the pillow against her cheek and the sheets resting haphazardly across one leg, the remains of a frenzied night with the woman who had so easily captured her heart.
And that touch. That light, steady, tantalizing yet torturous finger against her skin tracing the closest approximation to Cassie’s actual heart and soul.
Drea’s finger extended to Cassie’s shoulder and along her upper arm, taking her time exploring the intricacies of the design just as she had taken her time in the hours before.
Honoring her body, her passion, and their time together.
Making it count. Cassie could see why women never got mad at Drea after only one night together.
It wasn’t quick and cheap. It wasn’t a transaction.
There was intimacy and beauty there, and definitely appreciation.
There just wasn’t anything more. It was a one-time thing and expecting anything more than that would only lead to heartache.
Cassie was over heartache. She had experienced enough for two lifetimes as far as she was concerned.
There was no contract for life, of course.
No quota of how much trauma and grief one person had to endure before only good stuff came, but some people seemed to be dealt an unfortunately large share compared to others.
Cassie had done enough soul-searching and personal growth to know she was in charge of her own thoughts.
The choice was hers. And she chose to take this moment for what it was.
Temporary. Expectations were where people got themselves into trouble.
She felt the mattress dip before Drea’s lips were on her earlobe, her breath sending Cassie’s heart racing.
“This is beautiful,” Drea whispered as her finger dragged along the design on Cassie’s skin.
Cassie turned her head to meet Drea’s eyes, seeing the question there.
She wanted to tell her what the tattoo meant, to open that part of herself to Drea, but she also knew this would probably be the only time they’d be like this, together.
Her eyes searched Drea’s, seeing only warmth and compassion, and she decided to take the risk, to stay in the moment and trust that feeling rather than all the others.
“Thanks,” Cassie whispered, afraid to break the magic of the moment.
“When did you get it?”
“In college.” If she was going to do this, she had to go all in, which meant putting herself out there, even knowing it might be futile, and so she did.
“The reality was hitting hard that the ballet dream wasn’t going to work out, but I kept pushing, forcing myself to fit the mold, and making myself sick doing it. ”
Drea’s fingers continued running over the design as she listened, the steady pressure calming Cassie, along with the sincerity in her eyes.
“I eventually hit bottom, becoming someone I never wanted to be.” She paused, remembering the emptiness she had felt during that time in her life.
“It was Janay who picked me up and kept me going. She gave me a home and a family and eventually taught me to love dance again. And after a while, I got back to a good place.” She clasped her hands together and slid them underneath her chin.
“I decided to get that to honor those childhood dreams, and to let them go, to make room for the new me.”
Drea leaned down and kissed her upper back.
As her lips traversed the space, Cassie envisioned the designs she was seeing, from the ballerina below her shoulder blade to where it morphed into a butterfly flying away by her shoulder.
The gentleness of her kiss and the intimacy of the moment brought a tear to Cassie’s eye that she blinked away.