Page 99

Frances’s focus settled on her again, their eyes locking as she closed the gap between them and finally kissed her. With the passion of her warm lips, and her eager tongue in her mouth, Lucie felt like she was going unravel on the spot. She struggled not to. She wanted to enjoy this sensation for as long as possible but was just desperate for Frances to tip her over the edge. It wasn’t going to take long, but she desperately wanted one thing.

“I want... to see you,” she begged. “All of you. Now.”

Frances’s fingers slowed and then slipped out. “I suppose that would be acceptable.” She fiddled with the back of her dress and then, tucking one arm around, drew the zipper down and pulled the dress over her head. Large breasts with rosy-pink, erect nipples revealed themselves against her pale, goose-pimpled body.

Lucie was gobsmacked. She’d been braless the entire night. She reached up and grasped Frances’s breasts, making her lover moan as she gently caressed them. Needing more than the measured pace Frances seemed determined to keep, she reached around her back and pulled her closer.

“Now, where was I?” Frances asked, as she slid her fingers back inside her. “Here, perhaps?”

“Yes,” Lucie gasped, widening her legs, needing her deeper. Frances obliged, and Lucie let out a small whimper of delight as her fingers hit the right spot.

The restraint in Frances broke and she leaned forward, kissing her faster, harder, deeper. Lucie felt so close to coming her face must have shown it. Frances slid her fingers back out again.

“Not yet. I need to taste you first,” Frances said, shuffling down the bed.

Was any of this real?

The warm sensation that hit her between her legs told her it was. She watched as Frances lapped, her eager tongue lighting every nerve ending. She wanted, no, needed to remember this moment. She would be recalling it many times in the future.

Her body bucked against the fingers that had found their way back inside, and there was no holding herself back any longer. As her hips rocked, out of her control, she clenched the bed sheets with one hand and Frances’s head with the other. Waves of ecstasy crashed through her.

As they slowed, she gasped for breath and opened her eyes. She looked down towards Frances, and their eyes locked as she kissed her way up her belly and back to her mouth.

There was no mistake; she was going to remember this forever.

Frances gazed down at Lucie on the bed beneath her. Her hair was messy against the pillow, her breathing ragged even as she fought to control it with slow inhales. She let her fingers trace the shape of her, pausing on her nipples.

“It’s my turn to play,” Lucie panted, smugness filling her face as she wriggled out from beneath her. “Lie down.”

It was only fair, and Frances couldn’t wait to be played with. Lifting herself to allow her out, she noticed Lucie smiling as she took a look between her legs.

As she lay back on the bed, a welcome heat pressed into her back from where Lucie’s body had just been. Lucie hovered above her, a hunger in her eyes as she leaned over her and kissed her. Her body brushed the hair between Frances’s legs as she gently moved. She parted them for her, and Lucie let out a soft groan before deepening their kiss.

Frances clung to her, nails digging into Lucie’s back and making her inhale.

“Oh, Frances. You make me feel so much.”

The words fired a surge of arousal through her.

Lucie scrambled down the bed, forcing Frances’s legs open even wider. Her warm lips and tongue drew a sharp, involuntary response. Frances arched, pushing back hard against Lucie’s mouth, every nerve alive to the sensation.

Heat built slowly until it felt impossible to contain, each touch sending her spiralling further. Pressing her fists into the mattress, she fought the instinct to give in completely, but as the tension coiled tighter and tighter inside her, it finally released and swallowed her whole.

For a moment, she lay there, breath unsteady, the sensation ebbing slowly through her. Lucie shifted, moving back up the bed and settling beside her.

“Can we stay like this forever?” she asked, tucking herself in close.

“Tempting, isn’t it?” Frances whispered between pants.

Even as they had grown closer, closer than they probably should have, the distance between them had already begun to take hold. And perhaps that was why she held on just a little tighter, letting the moment linger, knowing that as it deepened, it was already slipping from her grasp.

CHAPTER 20

When Lucie woke the next morning, it took her a moment to work out where she was. As her eyes adjusted to the light streaming in through the tall windows, the elaborate cornicing and ceiling rose brought it back to her. She was in Frances’s bedroom, tucked beside her beneath a floral duvet, her bare breasts inches from Lucie’s face.

It had been the best night of her life, without a doubt. The sense of closeness she felt with Frances, it was deeper and more profound than anything she had ever experienced.

Desperate for the loo, she eased herself out of the bed, hoping Frances wasn’t a light sleeper. She slipped into a dressing gown hanging from the back of the door and glanced back. Frances’s red dress lay crumpled on the floor. Her lips tightened at the evidence that they’d finally given into their feelings. It quickly faded as she recalled Frances’s words: It can’t be anything more.