Chapter 14
Casey kept her fingers laced through Stephanie’s longer than she needed to.
The contact sent a low current up her arm that settled somewhere behind her ribs and refused to leave.
She told herself it was only the rum, only the humid press of bodies in Lola’s, only the way the Edison bulbs turned everything soft and golden.
None of it helped.
Her own palm felt too warm against Stephanie’s, too aware of the faint tremor still running through the other woman’s hand. She should let go.
Straight women did not hold hands like this. Straight women did not look at her the way Stephanie had looked at Ash a moment ago, caught between terror and something brighter she clearly did not want to name.
She unthreaded their fingers under the bar, slow enough that it might pass for casual. The absence of Stephanie’s touch left her skin cold.
Casey picked up her own drink instead, the glass slick with condensation, and took a long swallow that did nothing to settle the ache blooming low in her stomach.
“Sorry about that,” she said, voice steadier than she felt. “Ash isn’t exactly subtle.”
Stephanie’s laugh came quiet, almost shy, brushing warm against Casey’s shoulder.
“It’s flattering. I can’t remember the last time someone approached me like that.
” She took a sip from the fresh Painkiller, lips closing around the straw in a way that made Casey’s throat tighten.
“So there’s nothing to apologize for. I don’t know if you noticed, but I kind of froze.
I don’t know what I would have said to her. ”
Casey’s mouth curved before she could stop it.
The image of Stephanie standing there speechless, eyes wide, sent a helpless rush of fondness through her chest that felt far too dangerous.
She kept her gaze on the mirrored backbar instead of the real woman beside her.
Stephanie’s dark waves had loosened in the humidity, one strand clinging to the side of her neck where a faint sheen of sweat had gathered.
Casey wanted to brush it back. She wanted a lot of things she had no right to want.
“That you’re straight and not interested?” Casey guessed, forcing lightness into her tone even as the words tasted sour. “But it’s more fun for Ash to think we’re together.”
“Who broke up with who?”
Casey exhaled. “I broke up with her. I found out she was cheating.”
Stephanie’s eyebrows lifted, surprise flickering across her face in the low light.
Casey’s stomach did a slow flip that had nothing to do with the alcohol.
She hated how quickly her body responded, how every small reaction from this woman pulled at her like tide.
The ache settled deeper, warm and insistent behind her ribs, pressing against the walls she had built so carefully after Melissa.
After Ash. After every woman who had kissed her in private and left her in the daylight.
She wanted to lean closer. She wanted to slide her hand back over Stephanie’s and feel that pulse jump again.
Instead she gripped her glass tighter until the cold bit into her fingers, grounding herself in the sting.
Stephanie was straight. Straight and only here for six weeks.
The facts lined up like warning signs, yet Casey’s eyes kept drifting to the way the green fabric moved across Stephanie’s collarbones every time she breathed.
Stephanie’s mouth parted, the straw slipping from her lips as she turned on the stool. “She cheated on you?”
The incredulity in her voice landed warm against Casey’s sternum. She gave a small nod, keeping her expression neutral even as something tender and unexpected pressed up behind her ribs.
“That’s incredibly hard to understand.” Stephanie set her glass down with more force than necessary, the base clacking against the wood. “Who would do that? You’re…” She gestured, the motion wide and slightly unsteady, taking in all of Casey with a sweep of her hand. “You’re the whole package.”
Heat climbed Casey’s throat. She ducked her head, letting her sun-streaked hair fall forward to hide the flush she could not quite suppress.
The compliment sat in her chest like something alive, warm and slightly dangerous.
She wanted to brush it off, make a joke about how Ash clearly had not agreed, but Stephanie was still talking, the words tumbling out faster now.
“I mean it. You’re smart and you’re kind and you’ve got this whole…
” Stephanie waved her hand again, searching for the word, hazel eyes bright with the effort.
“This thing. Where you make people feel like they matter. Like they’re the only person in the room.
Gary never made me feel like that. Not once. ”
Casey’s throat tightened. The honesty in Stephanie’s voice was too much, too unguarded.
The rum had stripped away every filter she usually kept so carefully in place.
Casey knew she should steer the conversation somewhere safer, make a self-deprecating comment, remind them both that Stephanie was only saying these things because the cocktails had loosened her tongue.
Instead she sat very still, letting the words wash over her, trying not to want them too much.
“Stephanie,” she said, voice quieter than she intended. “You’re very sweet. And also drunk.”
“Tipsy,” Stephanie corrected, pointing a finger that wavered only a little. “There’s a difference. Tipsy means I’m still telling the truth. Drunk means I’d regret it in the morning.”
“All right.” Casey kept her voice light, the way she might soothe a nervous diver on the boat. “Tipsy and telling the truth. I’ll take it.”
“You should. You should take it. I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
The certainty in her voice landed somewhere tender.
Casey felt it press against the hollow of her throat, right where her pulse beat too fast. She wanted to believe every word.
She wanted to lean into the warmth of Stephanie’s shoulder and let herself feel what she had been feeling since the moment this woman had appeared on the neighboring porch with coffee and careful composure.
But tipsy was not the same as interested.
Tipsy wasn’t the same as available.
None of it meant what Casey wished it meant.
She took another swallow of her drink, the pineapple and rum sliding sweet and heavy down her throat, and tried to ignore the way her body was already leaning slightly toward Stephanie’s without her permission.
The rule sat heavy in her chest: no more unavailable women. She had made it for a reason. She’d made it after too many mornings of waking up alone.
And still, Casey couldn’t seem to keep her eyes from lingering on Stephanie.