Veritas (21 page)

The quiet affection in Lauren’s kiss made Grey’s heart flutter up into her throat, and she melted into it, meeting each languid swipe of Lauren’s tongue with one of her own. She undressed Lauren with little thought as to what she was doing as her fingers slid over warm, soft skin, drawing little gasps and soft groans from Lauren’s lips, and she sighed when she was eventually rewarded with the soft press of Lauren’s body against her own. “Lauren…”

“Let me,” Lauren whispered, dragging the tip of her nose over Grey’s cheek
as she stared into Grey’s eyes.

The gentle warmth burning in Lauren’s gaze took Grey’s breath away. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” Lauren pressed a soft kiss to the left corner of Grey’s lips, and then the right, before claiming them again completely.

Grey wrapped her hands around Lauren’s hips as they kissed slowly, each lingering connection bleeding into the next until it became impossible to identify where one kiss ended and the next began. She held Lauren to her, delighting in the soft, electric pulse that would shoot through her
body every time their nipples grazed together. Her breath caught in her throat at the feeling of Lauren’s fingers dragging lightly down her arms, and she moaned softly when Lauren’s hands wrapped lightly around her wrists and guided her arms up over her head.

“Okay?” Lauren asked softly as she threaded their fingers together, pinning Grey’s hands to the sheets beside her head.

“God, yes.” Grey squeezed Lauren’s hands and nodded, surprising herself at how badly she wanted to give up the control she usually held in an iron fist. She sank into the bed as their kisses grew impossibly slower, their bodies settling into a gentle rocking motion that began and ended with a gentle squeeze of their joined hands.

Fiery kisses blazed a lazy trail down her throat, and Grey let out a shuddering breath when Lauren’s fingers slipped from her own to drag lightly down her arms as Lauren languorously mapped the plane of her chest with her mouth. The feeling of Lauren’s lips covering her breasts with the same reverent attention made Grey’s eyes roll back in her head, and her heart stopped beating for an infinite second when a lingering kiss was pressed to the valley between her breasts, shattering what was left of her heart and somehow managing to fit those broken pieces back together at the same time. “Lauren…”

The desperation in Grey’s voice made Lauren freeze, and she picked up her head to really look at her. Grey’s lips were pressed tight together and turned down at the corners, and Lauren’s stomach twisted as she thought that she had done something wrong. Grey had such a good heart, even broken as it was, that she just… God, what had she been thinking? Of course it was too much. She rocked back up so that she could look Grey in the eye. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Grey whispered, shaking her head. “I just…I need you closer.”

Lauren nodded and settled onto the bed so that she was draped over Grey’s right side. “Better?”

“Much.” Grey laid her right hand into her left above her head, leaving herself open for Lauren’s touch. Her heart beat a disjointed rhythm as Lauren hesitated for a moment, but it settled once again when Lauren relaxed against her. “Please don’t stop.”

The openness in Grey’s gaze assured Lauren that she truly did want to continue, and she licked her lips as she leaned in to kiss her again.

Grey sighed as Lauren’s right hand began to slide over her body, touching, teasing, caressing. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the feeling of Lauren’s fingers spiraling slowly around her breasts in swooping circles and lazy figure-eights, every touch so achingly tender and unhurried, like the bounds of time and the universe had no bearing on them in this moment. It was both liberating and terrifying how free Grey felt under Lauren’s hand, and she sighed against Lauren’s lips as that blissful touch eventually dipped lower, ghosting over her stomach and down over her hips
to dance along her inner thigh. “Lauren…”

“I’m here.” Lauren brushed a gentle kiss over Grey’s lips. She watched Grey’s face intently as she slid her hand higher, dipping her fingers into the slick warmth that waited for her, and her
throat grew tight at the way Grey smiled and whimpered at the touch. Lauren kept her touch light as her fingers skated through swollen folds, stroking and rubbing, up and down and back again, over and over, every pass as unhurried and gentle as the one before.

“God, Lauren,” Grey sighed, her eyes rolling back in her head as Lauren’s fingers skated higher to rub broad
, light circles over her clit. Each circuit sent sparks of desire through her, and she reached up with her left hand, blindly seeking
something
to hold onto. She sighed when her fingertips ghosted across Lauren’s, and she tangled their fingers together, using that hold as an anchor as she began to feel like she was floating away. A gentle, reassuring squeeze of her hand made Grey’s heart skip a beat, and she sighed as she threaded the fingers of her right hand through Lauren’s hair, pulling her down and claiming her lips in a kiss that was soft and deep and pure surrender.

Lauren smiled when the kiss broke and rested her forehead against Grey’s. The warmth staring back at her took her breath away, and she bit her lip as she eased her middle finger lower. “You are beautiful.” She pressed firmly against the sensitive ring of muscle, teasing it with a couple feinting thrusts before finally slipping inside. “So beautiful,” she breathed, her pulse jumping at the flash of ecstasy that bolted through Grey’s eyes at her first careful thrust.

“More,” Grey rasped, tugging imploringly at Lauren’s hair.

“Trust me,” Lauren replied softly as she continued to thrust into Grey with just the one finger.

“I do,” Grey whimpered, arching her back off the mattress as she rolled her hips against Lauren’s hand. “Please.”

Unable to resist the blatant need in Grey’s voice, Lauren sighed and nodded, adding a second finger on her next thrust. She watched Grey’s face with unabashed affection as she resumed her languid pace, wanting nothing more than to extend this
moment for as long as possible. When the walls around her fingers began to flutter, she curled her fingers and dragged them over hidden ridges, making Grey’s hips twitch. “Just let go, baby,” she murmured encouragingly, the endearment slipping out so naturally that she did not even notice.

Grey moaned and squeezed her eyes shut, focusing the entirety of her attention on the heat building low in her hips. She clutched Lauren to her as her climax began to crest, and she let out a quiet gasp when it crashed through her in gentle waves.

“I’ve got you,” Lauren promised, the words falling lightly against Grey’s lips as the brunette trembled and shook in her arms. She sighed when Grey’s body went lax beneath her, Grey’s grip on her slackening as her entire body sank back into the bed, and carefully pulled her fingers free.

Grey could feel Lauren’s eyes on her as she drifted, her mind and her body content to savor the blissful afterglow of her release. She stroked her fingers through Lauren’s hair as she kissed her lazily, their tongues dancing together in the space between their parted lips.
Grey held Lauren tighter and kissed her harder whenever she thought that Lauren was going to pull away, afraid that, when the moment ended, the lightness she felt suffusing her body would disappear as well.

Eventually, they did break apart, and Grey held her breath as she looke
d up at Lauren. She looked like an angel, pale skin glowing in the light of the moon that spilled through the windows along the outer hull, and Grey’s breath caught in her throat at the tenderness that she could see lighting Lauren’s eyes.

“You okay?” Lauren asked softly.

Grey nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good.”

Grey yawned widely, the day catching up to her in a rush, and rolled her eyes as she muttered, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Lauren said as she snuggled into Grey’s side. “Sleep. Rest.”

Grey frowned and ran a single finger up Lauren’s spine. “What about you?”

Lauren shook her head. “Later.” She brushed the lightest of kisses over the point of Grey’s cheek, and smiled at the wa
y the furrows in Grey’s forehead deepened. “I promise.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am.” Lauren smiled and nodded reassuringly as she traced the line of Grey’s jaw with her fingertips. She could not resist leaning in to steal one last kiss, and she sighed against Grey’s lips when it eventually broke. “Sweet dreams.”

Grey lifted her chin to kiss Lauren again quickly, and smiled as she pulled away. “You too,” she whispered as she rolled onto her side, her right hand grabbing hold of Lauren’s and pulling it over her stomach. It was not often that she allowed herself to be held like this, but as Lauren’s body pressed up against her back and molded to her own, Grey felt safer than she had in years.

Lauren knew the moment sleep claimed Grey completely, and she sighed softly as she pressed a gentle kiss to her shoulder.

“What are we doing?” she wondered quietly. Grey shifted in front of her, drawing their joined hands up to rest between
her breasts, and Lauren closed her eyes as she held Grey tighter. Whatever it was they were doing, it was too late for her to even consider stopping now.

Lauren squeezed her eyes shut against the sunlight streaming into the cabin and buried her face in a pillow. Her limbs felt heavy with sleep and her muscles sore as she stretched, pointing her toes and arching her back as she tried to wake up. She groaned as she smoothed a hand over the bed beside her, and was surprised to find it empty. It was then that the sunlight filling the room actually registered with her tired brain, and she frowned as she pushed herself up onto her forearms to look at the clock above the bed.

It was already after eight o’clock.

“Fuck,” she hissed as she slammed her forehead back onto the bed. She had slept through breakfast.

She turned her head to the side and looked at the spot where Grey had laid the night before, idly wondering why in the hell
Grey had not woken her up. Her gaze landed on a folded note sitting proudly on Grey’s pillow, and she smiled as she reached for it. There was a grinning narwhal drawn on the front flap, its pale blue body a perfect complement to its rainbow-colored horn, and Lauren’s smile widened as she opened the note to see what Grey had written on the inside.

Good morning, beautiful. You looked so peaceful sleeping that I just didn’t have the heart to wake you. Don’t worry about breakfast—I took care of it. Cheerios for everybody!

Just kidding… I’m going to make pancakes. There will be a plate keeping warm in the oven for you whenever you’re ready.

~G

Lauren sighed and reread the note, both loving and hating the way her heart fluttered at the words written in Grey’s tidy scrawl. The unease that had settled in her stomach the night before returned as she ran the pad of her index finger over the G at the bottom of the page, and her pulse sped as she remembered the way Grey had looked when she came undone beneath her. Even now, hours later and alone in Grey’s bed, the memory filled her with such affection
for the brunette that she knew her decision to give in to her desire for Grey was the only one she could have possibly made.

Though, she was sure, it would end up to be precisely the wrong one when it was time for her to return to her life in New York.

She rolled out of bed and slipped into her clothes from the night before, making sure to take Grey’s note with her as she ducked across the hall to her cabin to shower and dress for the day. Once she was presentable, Lauren made her way up to the salon. She smiled and waved at the twins, who were sprawled across the couch with their tablets playing Minecraft, and nodded hello to Kim, who was sitting at one of the barstools. Grey was standing beside the sink, leaning against the counter and chatting with Kim, and Lauren’s breath caught in her throat at the smile Grey shot her. “Good morning,” she murmured, a light blush creeping up her neck at the feeling of Kim’s eyes on her.

“Hey sleepyhead,” Grey teased.

Lauren rolled her eyes as she brushed past Grey to get to the coffee machine. “Yeah. I know. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kim said, brushing off the apology with a wave of her hand. “We managed just fine on our own.”

“Grey makes
awesome
chocolate chip pancakes!” Max and Peyton chimed in.

Lauren arched a brow and looked at Grey, who was grinning proudly and giving the boys two thumbs up for their support. “Good to know. Maybe I’ll let her wake up early every morning to cook and I’ll just sleep in.”

“Yeah, nice try,” Grey retorted, her eyes twinkling with amusement as she turned back to Lauren. The urge to take Lauren into her arms and kiss her good morning was nearly overwhelming, and she cleared her throat softly as she jammed her hands into her pockets. “Pancakes are the extent of my culinary prowess when it comes to breakfast food.”

“Damn,” Lauren muttered, just loud enough for Grey and Kim to hear. She laughed along with them as she prepped her coffee, busying her hands with the simple task so that she did not reach for Grey. Beyond the fact that she did not know how the Muellers would react to the idea of her and Grey being together, she found the idea of flaunting it to be entirely unprofessional. But that did not stop her fingers from itching to take Grey’s hands into her own.