Joanna laughed wildly. And with one hand still inside Greene, she could only place the other against her cheek.
“Which time?” she asked.
“Every time. I am crazy in love with you.”
“That might have something to do with it.” Joanna smiled up at Greene and slid her hand out of the woman’s body, placing it on her hip instead.
“You’re my first, Jo.”
“I think you’ve said that backwards: you’re my first.” Joanna gave her a light laugh.
“No, I meant what I said.” Greene pressed her forehead to Joanna’s. “I told you before that I’ve never been in love. I’ve never been with someone I’ve loved. Now, I have.”
“You also told me it never seemed right. You’ve never felt that thing… that you thought you’d know. Do–”
“Yes,” Greene interrupted, because she knew the question. “That’s why I teared up before.”
She had hoped Joanna wouldn’t notice that she’d cried as she came the first time by Joanna’s touch. They were happy tears. They were tears she couldn’t prevent or hold back, because they’d been waiting to come out for years, hoping she’d find someone she loved as much as she loved Joanna Martin. Touching Jo had nearly made them emerge: being inside her like that for the first time, being the first person to taste Joanna on her lips and touch her in that way had almost brought Greene to tears. But she’d needed to be focused on Jo and making her feel everything she could. When Jo’s mouth covered her, though, she felt them beginning to fill her eyes. And when Jo made her come with her mouth, that was it: she was no longer able to hold them back. Then, Jo had kissed them away and used her fingers to make her come again. She’d known then that Jo wasn’t going to run away.
“You had me worried for a minute, when I saw the tears.” Joanna moved Greene’s hair behind her ears. “Lie down next to me, please.”
“But I want to touch you.” Greene lifted up to check Joanna’s face.
“And I want that, too.” Joanna kissed her lips gently. “I just also need food.” She smiled at her. “I woke you up because I want you to be able to sleep tonight. And it’s after eleven; I’m starving. I’m sure you are, too.”
“I slept for, like, five hours?” Greene lifted to straddle Joanna’s hips.
“You did.”
“Did you nap with me?”
“No. I wasn’t on a plane all night, babe.”
“So, you just stayed here?”
“I watched you sleep,” Joanna confessed, and Greene noticed the blush on her cheeks. “And held you.”
“You didn’t have to do that. You could have gone to work or something.”
“Macon, everything about today has been perfect; from the moment you showed up and surprised me, to this moment right now – it’s been perfect. I loved watching you sleep and being able to do it, because you’re here now, and I can. I loved holding you. You were so cute; you reached for me. I love you. I will happily lie here and watch you sleep any chance I get.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“But, now – instead of sex – you want food?”
“I couldn’t resist waking you up like that; I just had to touch you.”
“And I just have to touch you now. Why do you get your way, but I have to wait?” She gave Joanna her famous puppy-dog face.
“Girlfriend guilt-trip?”
“Yes,” Greene admitted.
Joanna leaned up on her elbows and looked up and down Greene’s body. Her eyes fell to Greene’s breasts; her hand lifted to touch just between them before she slid her fingertips over a nipple, and then her other hand joined in on the other breast.
“I can always order a pizza, and then we can continue,” Joanna offered, with her eyes seemingly hypnotized by Greene’s breasts.
“Alexa?” Greene uttered in the direction of the Amazon AI device that she’d purchased as a gift for Joanna on her last birthday. “Order my pizza,” she gave the command.
“I’ll order your pizza,” Alexa replied.
She heard Joanna’s laugh as she was lowered back onto the bed and Greene kissed her neck.
◆◆◆
“We should go out for dinner,” Macon suggested after their most recent round of passionate sex – this time in the kitchen, as they’d been grabbing a late afternoon snack and Macon had come up behind her.
They hadn’t had that snack. Instead, they’d climbed into the shower and agreed ahead of time that it was strictly to clean themselves. They’d both managed to behave, but they’d snuck in a few leisurely touches here and there before they climbed out and dressed for comfort, with Macon throwing a load of laundry into the washer to make sure she had clean clothes. She was there to do laundry after all. In the meantime, though, she’d thrown on the jeans she’d arrived in and a shirt of Joanna’s. They now stood in the bedroom, apart from one another, with smiles on their faces. The reason they stood apart from one another was that they knew if they touched right now, next to this bed, they wouldn’t be going out for dinner.
“If you plan on eating tonight, that’s probably a good idea.” Macon’s eyes raked over her body.
“I had planned on taking you to Italian after I picked you up, but we had pizza for lunch.”
“You actually thought I’d want to go out to dinner before I got a chance to get you alone?” Macon asked.
Joanna watched as she gripped the edge of the dresser behind her.
“Don’t do that.” Joanna pointed to the white knuckles of Macon’s hands.
“Why not?”
“Because I know what you’re thinking about.”
“And?”
“And we have to get out of this apartment.”
“We can get delivery.”
“Why did we get dressed if we were just going to have food delivered?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Jo. This was your idea,” Macon answered seriously; her knuckles didn’t loosen. “I want you again.”
“You just had me ten minutes ago.”
“And I want you again.” Macon took a step forward, releasing her hands.
“You stay over there.” Joanna laughed and took a step away from her.
“Why? Worried you might give in?” Macon teased.
“Yes,” she exclaimed in laughter, and then her phone rang.
“Saved by the bell.” Macon laughed. “And if that’s one of our friends, I’m going to murder them.”
Joanna moved to the kitchen where she’d left her phone. Macon followed closely behind but resisted touching her.
“I’m pretty sure they’re considering murdering you, given the fact that you abandoned them for close to two months without a word.” Joanna reached for the phone. “It’s Keira.”
“I’m not here,” Macon said from behind her.
Joanna turned around to roll her eyes at her girlfriend.
“Macon, stop.” She answered the phone. “Hey, Keira.”
“Hey. What time is her flight coming in again?”
“Her flight? What time?” Joanna looked at Macon.
“Late. Tell her very late,” she whispered.
“One sec; let me look it up,” Joanna lied and put the phone on mute and on speaker at the same time.
“Look it up?” Keira questioned. “You don’t know?”
“They want to see you,” Joanna said to Macon, ignoring Keira for the moment.
“I want to see them, too, Jo. But I just got back. I want to see you and only you tonight.” She placed her hands on Joanna’s waist. Then, she grabbed the phone, clicked the buttons to unmute and put it off speaker, and put it to her ear. “Hey, Keira.”
◆◆◆
“Greene?”
“Yeah, I got in a little earlier than expected,” she replied.
“Oh. And you’re at Jo’s already?”
“Yeah, I came straight here.”
“Of course, you did,” Keira teased.
“I’m sorry I kind of just abandoned you gu
ys. It’s a long story, but I had to work through some things, and it was intense on the road.”
“I get it. I just wished you would have checked in,” Keira said back. “I’m glad you at least had Joanna to talk to, though.”
“Me too.” She smiled at Jo, who looked at her in confusion. “She’s pretty amazing,” she added with a wink. “And I would love to see you guys, I would–”
“But you want tonight with your girlfriend; I understand. Honestly, Emma and I just wanted to do something nice for you guys. We were going to have food delivered for you from Antonio’s. We figured you’d be exhausted after your trip; and Jo isn’t exactly a cook.”
“No, she’s not.” She laughed and placed a hand on the back of Joanna’s neck, pulling her toward herself and allowing Jo’s arms to wrap around her waist. “We were actually just about to go out, though.”
“You’re leaving the house? So, not just going to fall into bed together then?”
“We’re going out to dinner.” Greene avoided the question.
“Wait… She’s right there,” Keira surmised. “And you don’t want to kiss and tell, do you?”
“Keira, I’ll call you tomorrow, and we’ll figure out when we can meet up.”
“You two totally had sex!” she exclaimed. “Em, they did it.”
“Keira,” Greene said as Joanna pulled back to check what was going on. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Fine.” She laughed, and Greene heard Emma say something.
“They did?”
“Yes, Emma,” Greene confirmed more to get them off the phone than anything. “And I’ll talk to you both tomorrow.” She hung up the phone.
“They guessed it, didn’t they?” Joanna asked.
“They know, yeah.” Greene placed the phone on the counter behind Joanna. “Now, before we go out for dinner, since I have you here…” She leaned in and brought her mouth to Joanna’s.
“Dinner’s going to have to wait, isn’t it?” Joanna’s hands tugged at Macon’s shirt.
“Yes, it is.”
CHAPTER 23
“Okay, how many times?” Keira asked Joanna the moment Macon had headed to the bathroom and was out of earshot. “And how good was it?”
“Keira,” Joanna objected.
They sat in her apartment the following evening after Keira and Emma had both gotten off work. The two had brought over dinner for the four of them. They’d all enjoyed it in the living room while Macon had regaled them with stories from the road. She’d sat on the floor between Joanna’s legs. Joanna sat on the sofa. Emma and Keira were doing the same thing but with the chair.
Joanna felt entirely comfortable in this new pair of couples. She’d run her hands through Macon’s hair and massaged her shoulders. Macon had leaned her head against Joanna’s thigh as she talked. The four of them had laughed and caught up. It felt strangely normal, despite the fact that it was the first time it had happened. That only confirmed what the two of them had suspected: it had been like this all along. They’d always been on a double-date with these two when they’d hung out before; they just hadn’t realized it.
“What? Come on. You guys finally did it after all this time. We’re just curious.”
“I don’t know how many times.” Joanna stood and carried her empty wine glass to the kitchen to refill.
“That many, huh?” Emma egged her on.
“You two are perfect for each other,” Joanna retorted, grabbing another beer for Macon from the fridge.
“And how good was it?”
Joanna rolled her eyes as she refilled her glass and popped the top on the beer before moving back into the living room and sitting on the sofa.
“I’m kind of hoping you two leave soon so we can get back to what we were doing before you got here. So, what does that tell you?” She joked.
“Damn! That good?” Emma said.
“What’s that good?” Macon returned from the bathroom and headed into the living room.
“The wine. I was just saying that I love the wine,” Emma lied.
Macon sat next to Joanna on the sofa and took the beer she handed her.
“Thank you.”
“We were talking about sex,” Joanna told her. “Specifically, our sex.”
“Joanna!” Keira exclaimed.
“What? I don’t lie to her.” She motioned with her thumb in Macon’s direction.
“And it was good?” Macon asked her with a smirk. “I was going for way better than good.”
“Oh, it was way better than good.” Joanna winked at her and then rested her head on Macon’s shoulder to turn and see the reaction of their friends.
“Should we go?” Emma laughed.
“Yes,” Macon said and was probably only half-joking.
“You leave for close to two months without a word to your best friends, and we get like an hour and a half before you’re kicking us out? It’s Joanna’s apartment, right?”
“It’s basically her apartment; kind of has been since we met.” Joanna lifted her head and turned to Macon. “It has, hasn’t it?”
“I guess. My place has kind of always been your place, too, huh?”
“Lord.” Keira stood. Emma joined her. “We’ll leave you two alone to figure out who’s moving in with whom tomorrow and get home ourselves. But, Greene, Hill wants to see you, too. Kellan’s in town this weekend. She’s getting in tomorrow and wants to hang out with us.”
“Is she bringing Reese?” Macon asked.
“Yeah, we’ll all finally get to meet the girlfriend in person.”
Emma chuckled at her and said, “Have a good night, guys.”
“We will.” Macon walked them toward the door.
Joanna stayed back to pick up the empty glasses and waved them off.
“Tomorrow night,” Keira pointed at Greene. “You both better be there,” she added.
“We will,” Joanna said for them.
“Night.” Macon smiled at their friends and closed the door behind them.
“Hey, we stayed here last night. Do you want to stay at your place tonight?”
“Why? It’s like nine. I’m already here.” Macon moved to help Joanna carry the glasses into the kitchen.
“Babe, you haven’t even been home yet. You came straight here. We’ve left once to grab takeout, and we came back here to eat it.”
“And?” Macon moved behind her and wrapped her arms around Joanna’s waist, kissing her neck.
“You love that apartment.”
“I do, yes.” Macon kissed her again.
“You don’t even want to see it?”
“Not tonight.” Macon kissed her just behind her earlobe. “Jo?”
“Yes?”
“Tonight, I want to stay here with you. I missed you so much. Tomorrow, I’ll go home, okay?”
When Joanna realized Macon’s confusion, she turned around to face her, wrapping her arms around Macon’s neck.
“Did you think I was trying to send you away? Macon, I meant that we should go to your place tonight. I wasn’t trying to send you there alone.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” Joanna laughed. “Honey, I just got you back. You’re stuck with me now. I want to spend every night with you, if you let me.”
“Sorry, I guess I misunderstood.” Macon pressed her lips to Joanna’s.
“Hey, let’s go to your place tonight.”
“We don’t have to, Jo. We’re here. It’s late. We can go tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure, we can stay. But I don’t mind, Make.”
“I know. I’m tired, though. I think I’d rather stay here. Tomorrow night, after hanging out with everyone, we’ll go back to my place.”
“Okay.” Joanna kissed her girlfriend gently. “Dishes tomorrow?”
“Dishes tomorrow.”
“Are you too tired for a movie before bed?” Joanna asked.
“No, I can watch a movie with you.” Macon kissed her cheek. “You want to pick it out?”
> “No, I trust you. I’ll run to the bathroom and be right back.”
Macon kissed her cheek again and headed into the living room to find a movie. Joanna went to the bathroom and returned to find her girlfriend lying on the sofa against its back, patting the spot in front of herself for Joanna to lie down. Joanna smiled and moved in front of her, lying down. Macon’s arm went around her waist.
“So, romantic comedy, action, horror?”
“That’s the movie we watched last time.” Joanna stared at the screen where the menu presented some of the most recently viewed movies.
“Yes, it is.” Macon chuckled into her neck and pulled her tighter.
“Can we watch it?”
“You want to watch it again?”
“Yeah.” Joanna placed her hand on top of Macon’s on her stomach. “Is that weird? It’s like I watched it before you and I got together; and I kind of want to watch it now that we are together.”
“We can watch it again. I will admit to having watched it a couple of times while I was on tour, though.” She kissed Joanna’s shoulder.
“You did?” Joanna turned her head slightly.
“It reminded me of you. It was the last movie we watched together.”
“You are such a sap, Macon Greene. If only all of our friends knew what an adorable sap you are.”
“And let’s start the movie.” Macon pressed play.
“We can watch something else. You’ve seen it a few times now.”
“No, it’s good. I’d like to watch it with you again.”
Joanna snuggled back into Macon as the movie began. She regretted not grabbing a drink before lying down, because she didn’t want to get up. But she took a drink of Macon’s beer about twenty minutes in, then passed it to her, and they returned to their position. Joanna found herself continuing to smile at how natural this all felt to her. They’d gone from friends to lovers. She’d worried when Macon was away how it would all come together once she’d returned. And, so far, it had all worked out on its own. Macon was off work until Monday, to give her time to recuperate from the extended trip. She’d report to the orchestra then and would return to her teaching the week after that.
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