by Jae
Leo’s features softened. She framed Holly’s face with both of her hands. “I love you too, and this conversation helped me as much as it did you.”
Hand in hand, they crawled out of bed. As they descended the stairs, Leo leaned over and whispered, “Try not to look so ridiculously happy, or my mother will think we did the dirty.”
After a few moments of trying to rein in her grin, Holly gave up. She stole a glance at Leo and nudged her with her elbow. “You’re looking pretty happy yourself.”
Leo laughed. “True. Let Mom think whatever she wants.”
Leo opened the door to Johnny’s Bar and Grill with one hand while keeping hold of Holly’s hand with the other.
But before she could step through, Holly pulled her to a stop by their joined hands. “You know they’re going to tease us mercilessly if we walk in like this, right?” She nodded down at their hands.
“I don’t care.” Leo searched her face. “Do you?”
Holly smiled. “No. I just wanted to make sure you know what you’re in for.”
Still standing in the open door, Leo leaned forward to kiss her before stepping inside. “Thanks.”
Just like the first time she had met with her former classmates at the bar, a chorus of shouts erupted from the corner booth.
This time, however, the commotion wasn’t because of her—it was because of them.
Travis wolf-whistled as they walked in hand in hand. “I knew it! I told Jenny I gave it four weeks before the two of you started—”
Jenny put her hand on his mouth, muffling the rest of his words, but Leo had a feeling it wouldn’t have been something G-rated like dating.
“Why are we friends with him, again?” she whispered to Holly.
“Because he’s going to stop with the asshole comments right now and buy us a beer to apologize,” Holly answered, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Right, Travis?”
With his mouth still covered by his wife’s hand, Travis nodded.
Leo stared at Holly for a moment, then a grin broke out on her face. She loved the way Holly didn’t take shit from anyone.
Everyone slid to the left on the horseshoe-shaped booth to make room for them, and they squeezed in next to Zack.
Leo let her gaze drift over her former classmates. Finally, it came to rest on Chris, who sat at the other end of the booth and stared into his beer, a scowl on his face. Oh Christ. She hoped he wouldn’t start behaving like an ass too, just because he had a crush the size of Missouri on Holly.
“Where’s Ash?” Holly asked.
“She said she can’t make it tonight,” Zack said.
She was probably still hurt or angry after Leo had told her off last week. Leo stood by what she had said, but maybe she could have said it a little more calmly. She hadn’t realized how angry she was with Ash until that moment, not only for letting her think her teenage crush had gone unreturned but also for treating Holly like her dirty little secret.
“But look who I talked into joining us.” Zack waved to someone who had just entered the bar.
Leo slid her arm across the back of the booth as she turned, settling it around Holly’s shoulders.
Sasha walked toward them, her height drawing the attention of the people hanging out at the bar. She didn’t seem to notice as she folded her frame into the booth next to Chris.
Holly let out a playful gasp and pressed her hand to her chest. “Be still my heart! Sasha Peterson in a bar!”
“I’d go to plenty of bars if I didn’t have to get up at four every day, unlike the rest of you slackers,” Sasha said.
Everyone laughed.
Leo realized that she’d never had that type of gentle ribbing between friends who knew each other well.
The waitress came over, and they ordered a round of beer and chips and salsa for everyone to share.
Just as Leo had taken the first sip of her Boulevard Wheat, someone stepped up to their table. She looked up.
It was a brunette who looked barely old enough to be in a bar. “I hate to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could get an autograph.” She held out a napkin.
Automatically, Leo slid her pop-star mask into place—a smile that was friendly but also slightly aloof.
Holly tensed next to her and turned as if trying to block Leo from view.
But before either of them could say anything, Chris leaned forward. “Can’t you see that she’s having dinner with friends? There’s a time and a place for autographs. This isn’t it.”
Leo stared at him. He was the last person she had expected to defend her.
The young woman stammered an apology.
“If you’re still here when I leave, I’ll stop by on my way out and give you an autograph, okay?” Leo said.
With an eager nod, the brunette headed back to the bar.
Leo held out her beer bottle. “Thanks, Chris.”
He clinked his bottle against hers without saying anything.
After interruptions like this, it was usually impossible for Leo to relax and go back to being herself, but with Holly’s warmth against her side and the conversation and jokes at the table continuing as if nothing had happened, she managed to slowly shed the layers until she was just Leo again.
Finally, Sasha tucked a bill beneath her empty beer bottle. “I’m outta here, guys.”
“What? You turn into a pumpkin if you’re not in bed by ten?” Travis asked.
“It was the coach that turned into a pumpkin, not Cinderella.” Sasha got up.
Leo exchanged a glance with Holly, who nodded. “We’ll walk you home.”
Towering over all of them, Sasha flashed a grin. “It’s just a few steps to my apartment above the bakery.”
Leo shrugged and slid out of the booth anyway. She wanted some time alone with Holly before the evening ended.
Travis laughed. “Don’t you get it, Sash? ‘Walk you home’ is code for—”
Zack threw his coaster at him. “Shut up, Travis.”
“Night, guys.”
They made their way to the door, with Leo stopping at the bar to sign an autograph for the young woman, who, apparently, had passed the time by drinking way too much. She let out a happy screech, threw her arms around Leo, and kissed her cheek.
Leo withdrew as quickly as possible. As they stepped out onto the street, she peered over at Holly to see if she would get jealous.
“I think we need to get you a sign or a T-shirt or something,” Holly said with an amused grin. “One that says no kissing.”
“No kissing?” Leo drawled, lowering her voice an octave. “Are you sure about that?”
“Well, the fine print would say unless you’re Holly Drummond.”
“Mmm, I like that fine print.” They stopped beneath a streetlamp to share a kiss.
“Now I know what ‘walk you home’ is code for.” Sasha laughed.
Chapter 22
Content disclaimer
This chapter includes a sex scene.
If you’d rather not read sexually explicit content,
please skip ahead to chapter 23.
With her finger hovering over the track pad of her laptop, Holly glanced over at Leo to see if she was ready. When she caught her smoothing down an errant strand of hair, she giggled and gave her a loving nudge. “Stop preening. Meg is ace too. She doesn’t care how your hair looks.”
“What? Are you saying aces can’t appreciate nice-looking hair?”
“Oh, we can, but Meg really couldn’t care less.”
Leo shrugged. “I just want to make a good impression. I know she’s one of your closest friends.”
Holly wrapped one arm around her waist and kissed her. “Don’t worry. She’ll love you. Not half as much as I do, of course.”
Leo stopped fussing with her hair and returned the kiss.
Holly clicked to accept the call.
Meg’s smiling face appeared on the laptop screen. When she saw herself in the little Skype window, she reached up to adjust her hair.
Leo nudged Holly. “See?” she whispered. “She cares.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Holly nudged her back before turning her attention to the screen. “Hi, Meg.”
“Hi.” Meg waved energetically and then looked at something offscreen. “Come on, Jo. They’re here.”
Jo dropped onto a seat next to her and pressed a mug into her hands. “Hi,” she said in the direction of the webcam.
“Leo, these are my friends Meg and Jo. Guys, this is Leo.” Holly leaned in to Leo until their shoulders touched.
Meg laughed. “I know. I’ve seen her on TV.”
“Oh.” Heat crept up Holly’s neck. Most of the time, she forgot that Leo was a celebrity. To her, she was just Leo. “Of course.”
“Thanks for the card and the autograph,” Meg said before the moment of silence could become awkward. “I really appreciated it.”
“The PS too?” Leo asked with a teasing grin.
“Yeah, well, I’ll forgive you for that.” Meg waved her hand like a queen pardoning a prisoner. “I hear falling in love can cloud your judgment.”
The small window in the corner of the main screen showed Leo arching her eyebrows.
“I didn’t tell her that,” Holly said quickly.
Meg snorted. “Oh please. You’re both head over heels. It’s as obvious as the fact that Yen is way cooler than Triss. That’s why I encouraged you to give it a chance.”
“You did?” Leo asked. “In that case, I forgive you for your lapse in good taste regarding Triss and Yen.”
The two laughed, and Holly beamed along with them. Only now did she realize that she’d been a little nervous about this first meeting too. She wanted her friends and Leo to like each other, and apparently, they were off to a good start.
“So, how did the two of you meet Holly?” Leo asked.
Holly covered her face with both hands. “Oh no. Not that story.”
Meg let out an evil chuckle. “Well, she asked for it, and far be it from me to deny her.”
“Wait, now I remember. Didn’t you say you met on Tumblr?” Leo gave Holly a puzzled look. “How’s that embarrassing?”
“I left a comment on one of her Tumblr posts…and it had a typo that caught Meg’s attention.”
“And that of about a million people all over the Internet,” Meg quipped with a grin.
Leo’s gaze flicked back and forth between Holly and the screen. “Must have been some typo. What was it?”
Meg opened her eyes dramatically wide. “She called me aromatic.”
“It was that damn autocorrect,” Holly grumbled. “I typed in aromantic, and it corrected it to aromatic.”
“Well,” Jo said, speaking up for the first time, “since I’m doing the laundry in this house, I can tell you that you weren’t completely wrong about her being aromatic either. At least not when it comes to her socks. They are—”
Meg covered Jo’s mouth with her hand. “Excuse us for a moment. I have to go beat up my partner here.” But instead, she merely tousled Jo’s hair.
When their call ended about ten minutes later, Holly and Leo leaned back on the couch and grinned at each other.
“That went well,” Holly said.
Leo tilted her head. “You didn’t think it would?”
“No, I thought they would like you. I mean, what’s not to like, right?” She smiled.
“Exactly.”
They chuckled.
“But you never know with Jo.” Holly swung her legs onto the couch and settled them on Leo’s lap. “She’s usually not a people person, but she warmed right up to you.”
“I like them,” Leo said. “Have you made many friends online?”
“A few. Dana and I got to a point where things were so bad that I spent a lot of time online, asking other aces and their allosexual partners for advice.” A sigh escaped her. “Not that it saved our relationship.” Needing the closeness, she sat up and slid forward, which put her nearly in Leo’s lap.
Leo pulled her more firmly onto her lap and held her securely. She played with the embroidered design on the back of Holly’s jean shorts. Basically, she was almost caressing her butt, and Holly found that she didn’t mind at all. In fact, it was nice, and so was the feeling of skin on skin, since they were both wearing shorts.
“If you ever feel that things between us aren’t going well, promise me that you’ll talk to me instead of people on the Internet, okay?” Leo said.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get to that point. But yeah, I promise.” She ducked her head and rubbed her nose against Leo’s, liking that, for once, she was the taller one. “I’m not squishing you, am I?”
“Not at all. I like you here.” Leo nuzzled her face against Holly’s throat and continued to speak with her lips close to her skin. “You know…I had no idea how complex relationships could be. Meeting you and your friends really opened my mind and made me see nuances that I wasn’t aware of before.”
Speechless, Holly looked down at her. No one had ever made her feel so good about herself. The urge to make Leo feel just as good thrummed through her veins. “Leo?” Her voice trembled a little, but it wasn’t fear, only an overload of emotions. “Do you…do you want to make love?”
Leo went still beneath her. “N-now?”
“Why not? I’ve got the day off tomorrow, and you told your mother you might sleep over at my place, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t have an ulterior motive when I said that. I just thought we might stay up late, playing some games on the Xbox.”
“So you’d rather play video games?” Holly asked with a smile.
“Hell, no! I’d much rather make love to you. But if you want to stop at any time, just say the word. It would really be okay.”
“I know. This is what I want. Will you trust me?”
Leo looked her in the eyes. “Yes.”
Holly climbed off Leo’s lap and held out her hand, palm up.
When Leo reached for it, her fingers were shaking.
Somehow, it was soothing to know she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. They held each other’s hand tightly as Holly led her to the bedroom and pulled back the covers. She flicked on the lamp on the bedside table and turned off the overhead light, leaving a more intimate glow.
For several moments, they stood next to the bed without moving, gazing deeply into each other’s eyes.
Where to start? It had been years since Holly had been with anyone, and back then, she hadn’t known herself and her needs very well, so her partners had always taken the lead. But with Leo, she wanted things to be different. She didn’t want to have to lie back and think of England, as Leo had put it.
Getting both of them naked might be a good first step. “C-can I…?” She pointed at Leo’s T-shirt.
“Whatever you want,” Leo answered.
Holly stepped closer until she could sense Leo’s body heat. Barely breathing, she tugged the T-shirt from the front of Leo’s jean shorts. As she pulled it up, her fingers grazed the warm skin of Leo’s belly.
Leo’s breath hitched, but she willingly lifted her arms and let Holly pull the shirt up over her head.
The soft light of the lamp made her skin glow with a golden shimmer.
Holly couldn’t resist feathering her fingertips along her shoulder and down her arm until she could entwine their fingers.
Leo lifted her hand to her mouth and kissed it. “Yours too?”
In the past, Holly had always preferred undressing herself,
needing that bit of control, but now she nodded.
Leo’s pulse beat visibly in her neck as she reached for the edge of Holly’s shirt. She kept eye contact as she pulled it up, interrupting it only for the moment when she pulled the shirt over her head, then her gaze was back on Holly’s.
The shirt fluttered to the floor.
Leo traced her collarbone with a single finger and then touched her face. “Bras too?”
Holly leaned her cheek into Leo’s palm and nodded.
When they reached around each other, their nearly bare torsos brushed. Leo sucked in an audible breath, and Holly shivered at the intimate feeling. Both fumbled a bit with the clasp of the other’s bra. The cups of Leo’s bra fell away first.
“Hey,” Leo protested with a smile. “I’m supposed to be the one who’s better at this.”
Holly looked into her eyes. “You’re not supposed to be anything. Not with me. No expectations, okay? Just you and me.”
“I’d like that very much,” Leo murmured. She touched her lips to Holly’s in a gentle kiss.
When the kiss ended and they moved back a little, Holly’s bra, which had been trapped between their bodies, dropped to the floor too.
“Shorts next?” Leo asked.
Holly nodded. She couldn’t resist sliding her hands over the soft skin of Leo’s outer thighs as she helped her out of her jean shorts.
Then it was her turn.
Leo’s fingers trembled a little as she opened the button on Holly’s shorts. Slowly, looking into Holly’s eyes, she slid down the zipper and then guided the shorts down her legs.
Cool air flowed over Holly’s nearly bare body as she stood in front of Leo in just her panties. Goose bumps broke out all over her skin.
Leo’s heated gaze roamed over her, lingering on her breasts and her hips. “Wow,” she murmured and then swallowed audibly and lifted her gaze back to Holly’s face. “You’re beautiful.” Her voice was rough and tender at the same time. “Very beautiful.”
Encouraged by those words, Holly slid her panties down her legs.