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Lydia smiled at Aspen’s gallant attempt to draw Kit’s attention away from them, and hooked her finger around Zann’s pinky as she tried to take advantage of the out they’d been offered. “She did. We had a lovely chat.”

Kit smirked. “Uh huh, I’m sure you—”

“Let’s walk and talk, guys,” Aspen interrupted loudly. “Alder will be pissed if we’re late.”

“It’s your wedding week,” Kit pointed out as she nevertheless allowed herself to be herded toward the sidewalk that led to the main building down by the beach. She arched a brow at Aspen over her shoulder. “And you know that panicked look on your face isn’t helping their cause, right?”

“What cause?” Aspen deflected as she and Jack started after Kit.

Lydia tugged on Zann’s little finger to hold her back. “How do you want to handle this?” she asked, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn’t overhear. “Kit is going to be like a dog with a bone until she gets an answer she considers satisfactory.”

“Yeah. I know all about her glaring lack of a filter…” Zann sighed and looked down at their hands. “I don’t care about being teased and whatever. I’m more than used to their bullshit. I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

Lydia’s heart squeezed at the care Zann was showing her. “Yes, well, in the interest of full transparency, Kit and I blew off some steam together for a few days at the shitshow of a gala two years ago where Aspen and Eve met.”

To Zann’s credit, she looked more amused at the revelation than anything else. “Oh? You and Kit, huh?”

Lydia hummed as she lifted Zann’s hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. “None of us were exaggerating back there. The gala is always a hellish weekend, and she was a willing distraction. It wasn’t anything serious. Hell, at one point we had a bet going to see which of us could seduce Eve’s ex’s girlfriend first—Kit won that one, by the way—but yeah. I know exactly what we’re getting into if we clue them all in.”

“But do you want to? Because we don’t have to,” Zann offered, her voice warm and earnest.

Lydia’s chest squeezed at the care Zann was showing her. She hummed and played with Zann’s fingers as she murmured, “In a perfect world, I’d keep this private. Not because I’m ashamed but…” She sighed. “It feels…” Precious. She swallowed thickly as the weight of just how true that thought was lodged in her throat. “I know the odds of this being anything more than a fling aren’t exactly in our favor.” She blinked up at Zann, and a shy smile tipped her lips as she confessed, “But you fascinate me, Zann Silva. And I’d rather not spend what time we do have together this week pretending that I don’t feel so incredibly drawn to you.”

She held her breath as she waited for Zann to respond to her essentially pouring her heart out after knowing each other for less than a day. It was a lot, but she had always prided herself on being honest with her partners, and it felt especially important to do so now.

A slow, almost tender smile bowed Zann’s lips as she wrapped her free hand around her waist and drew her in close. “You fascinate me, too. And I don’t want to waste a single moment pretending otherwise.”

Lydia exhaled. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Zann echoed, her eyes crinkling as her smile grew into a beaming grin.

It was then, of course, because, love her or hate her, Kit had always had impeccable timing, that they were interrupted by her bellowing, “Yo! Are you guys coming, or what?”

There was definitely a joke there, but Lydia knew better than to make it. She arched a brow at Zann. “Well, are we…?”

Zann’s puff of laughter told her that her thoughts had drifted down the same path, and she pursed her lips as she cast a fleeting glance in Kit’s direction. “No hiding?”

“No hiding,” Lydia confirmed. She smiled when Zann sidled closer, and her eyes fluttered when Zann’s lips settled ever so gently against her own. It was a sweet, chaste kiss that confirmed Kit’s suspicions while maintaining their dignity, but it still stole the breath from her lungs. She whimpered when Zann hummed and started to pull away, and let go of Zann’s hand that was still cradled between them so she could loop her arms around her neck and pull her back in.

She wasn’t even remotely done kissing her yet.

“More,” she whispered as she pressed up onto her toes to deepen the kiss, and her eyes rolled back in her head when Zann melted into her with a moan of pure surrender.

The world tipped beneath her at the first probing brush of Zann’s tongue against hers, and as she surrendered to the heavenly warmth licking its way over her skin, a tiny voice in the back of her head wondered if there would ever come a day when she didn’t want to kiss this bewitching woman absolutely breathless.

Today certainly wasn’t that day, but a sharp wolf-whistle and boisterous catcalls did well to dampen the desire that flared between them, and she smiled sheepishly as she pulled back just enough to murmur, “Sorry.”

“Fuck, I’m not.” Zann nuzzled her lips as she rubbed her hips reassuringly. “You can kiss me like that whenever you want.”

Another wolf whistle rent the air, and Lydia rolled her eyes. “But not now.”

“Unfortunately, I’m afraid that now probably isn’t the best time, no,” Zann agreed, her voice thick with regret as she pulled away.

“Oh my god!” Kit hollered. “Come on, you horndogs!”

Lydia laughed when Zann rolled her eyes and held out her hand invitingly. For a moment, she worried it was too intimate, but those fears were assuaged when Zann didn’t hesitate to take her hand and lace their fingers together.

“Later,” Lydia promised. With the sun on her face and Zann’s hand snug and warm in her own, she felt positively buoyant, and she rolled her eyes at the absolutely shit-eating grin Kit gave them as they joined her. “Shut up.”