38. Every Almost Leads to You #3
Reyna finally nodded, quickly, erratically. She couldn't speak. The bloom moved under Charlie's hand and she felt it in her chest, in her throat, in all the places she had spent so long keeping quiet that they'd forgotten they were allowed to answer.
Charlie kept going, along her collarbone, up the curve of her neck, in no hurry at all. She was intent on every change beneath Charlie's fingers, the brightening color, the uneven breath, the small betrayals Reyna could no longer call back.
But there was still a piece.
And then Reyna saw Charlie’s expression shift.
She knew Charlie had seen the flicker of the last place Reyna still braced.
Even now, with the rose open beneath Charlie’s hand and all their words and confessions already laid bare, some old part of her remained immovable around the full measure of what she felt.
Reyna felt Charlie's fingers move to trace the rose down the side of her neck, tracing the light where Reyna felt it most. She took a deep, staggering breath that hitched in her chest, closing her eyes against the sensation that was building so rapidly.
Then suddenly, Charlie's mouth was against Reyna's ear, her lips grazing across her skin, and the sudden want that raged through her was devastating. Then, the softest, lowest voice Reyna had ever heard Charlie use rippled across her flesh.
"I said stop holding it, Rey."
And Charlie's voice took that last wall, the one even the bloom hadn't reached, and broke it apart under her words.
Charlie pulled back to look at her, and her eyes were flooded with a fire Reyna had never seen before. The expression before her told Reyna I want all of you, you don't have to protect me from a single thing you feel.
But even more so, that Charlie wanted more.
And Reyna wanted to give her everything.
So, Reyna let go.
CHARLIE
Charlie felt Reyna let go before she understood entirely what she was seeing.
Reyna’s breath broke against her, and the rose spilled across her skin in a rush down her throat, over her collarbone, beneath Charlie’s hand.
The color no longer moved in careful increments, instead opening everywhere at once, bright and unguarded, as though it had spent a lifetime waiting for Reyna to stop calling it back.
The sight of it stole Charlie’s breath. Her hand stayed against Reyna's neck as she leaned forward to kiss her. Reyna answered without restraint. Every place she’d held still before moved toward Charlie now, from her mouth, to her hands, the full press of her body until Charlie could feel the force of everything Reyna had stopped containing.
When they finally parted, Charlie kept her close.
She looked at the rose beneath her fingers, then at Reyna’s face, and understood that wanting her wasn’t enough.
Charlie wanted every answer Reyna's body gave her. Every place the light changed. Every sound Reyna tried and failed to keep inside.
Her hands settled against Reyna’s lower back, her question coming out softer than the wanting behind it.
REYNA
"Tell me what... works," Charlie said tentatively.
Reyna understood without explanation.
"We're practically the same, remember?" Reyna stated, a coy smile spreading across her lips.
"Right, right," Charlie said. "The only differences being the ears, the markings, and the age thing." Charlie's fingers brushed light against Reyna's skin of her neck as her other hand moved up against Reyna's sides.
"That's all of it," Reyna confirmed breathlessly.
"Really?" Charlie said, hope in her tone.
"Kess says so," she replied, her fingers playing against the nape of Charlie's neck.
Charlie went quiet, and then looked at her.
"So," she began, her voice low. "If I kiss you here."
She kissed the base of Reyna's throat, a whimper slipping from Reyna's mouth as she stretched her head back to give Charlie more room.
"That feels good?"
Reyna looked back at Charlie. "Yes," she whispered.
"And, if I kiss you here?"
Charlie kissed lower, further down her chest, just against her heart. This time, Reyna moaned, and she heard Charlie's sharp intake of a breath.
"That feels good, too?" Charlie asked quietly.
"Charlie…" Reyna pressed.
Then Charlie's mouth lifted to hers, and the kiss was hungry, wanting. It wasn't careful anymore.
"And if I touch you here?" Charlie said against Reyna’s skin, her voice thick.
Charlie's fingers found one of the rose markings, and stroked her fingertip against it. Reyna whimpered against Charlie, her whole constellation pulsing as her breath hitched, pressing her forehead against Charlie's.
"Does that feel good, too?"
Reyna responded by kissing Charlie fervently.
"Charlie," Reyna said, breaking the kiss but only staying a breath away from Charlie's lips. "If it's you that's touching me, anywhere, it will always feel good."
Charlie's fingers stilled. "Always?"
Reyna pulled back to look at Charlie intently. "Always."
Reyna caught Charlie's hand against her markings and pulled her fingertips against her lips, kissing them one by one.
"Because of three reasons."
Then she let a kiss linger against Charlie's lips.
"Only three?" Charlie's mouth curved against hers.
"For now," she answered teasingly.
Charlie moaned and kissed her more intently, and Reyna let her before drawing back to speak. Charlie moved forward, seeking her again, but Reyna pulled out of reach.
"Let me tell you the three reasons, Wickett."
Charlie groaned in a way that made Reyna want to forget about the reasons entirely. "Fine," Charlie conceded, evident that it cost her.
"You don't want to hear them?"
Reyna's hand snaked down the length of Charlie's ribcage as she said it, slow. Charlie's breath hitched.
"Oh, I do."
Reyna hummed.
"Reason number one."
She bent and kissed Charlie's neck.
"If it's you touching me, it'll be perfect. Guaranteed."
"Perfect? That's a lot to live up to for me."
"I think you'll manage."
She moved to the other side of Charlie's neck, kissed her there, and felt her shiver.
"Reason number two."
She pulled back. She wanted Charlie's eyes for this one.
"The color you saw tonight. It only happens for one person, once, if it happens at all." She held Charlie's gaze. "It happened with you, Charlie. It was always going to be you."
Charlie took a staggering breath.
"Really?"
Reyna kept her eyes on Charlie, never looking away.
"Really."
She captured Charlie's lips again, and this time she didn't let it stay gentle. She talked through the kissing.
"And… reason three…" Another heated kiss stolen against Charlie's lips. "…is if it's you touching me…"
She pulled back again and pulled Charlie's hand away from her own waist. She brought it up to her lips, kissing Charlie's palm gently. Then she led Charlie's hand down, pressing it against her breast.
“I will never be able to control myself…” she whispered.
Charlie’s hand stayed where Reyna had put it.
For one long second, she didn’t move at all. Her eyes dropped to the place where her palm rested against Reyna, then rose again, and Reyna watched the full meaning of what she’d said settle across her face.
“Then don't,” Charlie said.
And then she kissed her.
Reyna had thought there was nothing left in her to give that kiss. She’d already confessed, already let the rose spread beneath Charlie’s hands, already shown more of herself in the last hour than she had in her memory.
She’d been wrong.
When Charlie kissed her, the wanting rose again, whole and immediate, as though it had only been waiting for Reyna to stop standing in its own way.
Reyna desperately pulled Charlie closer.
Charlie’s hand pressed into her, the other caught at the front of Reyna’s coat, fingers searching blindly for the first button while their mouths moved together.
She missed it.
“Hold on,” Charlie breathed against her lips.
“No.”
Charlie gave a helpless sound that might’ve been a laugh if Reyna hadn’t kissed it out of her.
Her fingers found the button on the second try, opening between them.
Charlie kissed her again before moving to the next. Her knuckles brushed Reyna’s skin where the coat had parted, and the rose brightened beneath the touch.
The second button came free.
Then the third.
Each one let Charlie closer, and that was all Reyna could think about. Every fastening opened another inch between Charlie’s hands and her body, and every inch made the rest of the coat feel suddenly and completely intolerable.
Charlie’s mouth left hers long enough to follow the line of Reyna’s jaw. Reyna tipped her head back as Charlie's lips blazed a scorching trail across her skin.
“Charlie...”
“I know.”
Her breath was warm against Reyna’s neck, her fingers still working down the coat with less success now that Reyna’s hands had found the skin beneath the back of Charlie's shirt.
Charlie shivered.
Reyna did it again.
“That’s cheating,” Charlie murmured.
“You didn’t establish rules.”
“I’m beginning to see the flaw in that.”
Reyna laughed softly before scraping her nails gently across the skin this time.
"You're not being fair..." Charlie whispered.
"You're right, I'm not."
Reyna did it again.
The last button slipped open.
Charlie pushed the coat apart, and her palms moved beneath it, sliding over Reyna’s sides through the thin fabric of her tank.
Reyna’s breath caught.
Charlie stopped, her eyes searching Reyna’s face.
“Still good?”
Charlie was making sure Reyna was still with her, that they were still here together, moving at the same pace.
“Always,” Reyna answered.
Charlie’s expression broke open.
She shoved the coat from Reyna’s shoulders. It fell somewhere behind her.
Reyna didn’t hear it land.
Charlie’s hands returned immediately, as though the brief loss of contact had cost her everything. They ran up Reyna’s sides, over the shape of her waist, stopping just beneath the rose burning through her tank.
Her gaze followed.
Reyna watched Charlie take her in, the pale fabric stretched across her body, the rose beneath it. It was the look on Charlie's face, the realization of what Charlie would see when the next layer was gone. It was enough to make Charlie whimper softly.