Laney had never seen anything or anyone that she thought she couldn’t properly portray with her camera. Often, people were astounded by her artistry. Often, people said they didn’t even look like themselves. They meant that as a compliment.
Morgun was the first. She was the first, and Laney suspected she’d be the last. The only beauty that Laney kept just for herself. The moments they were sharing would be stored away inside Laney, locked away and cherished.
She’d thought to herself that she just needed one time. One time to get Morgun out of her system. One time for both of them and that would be enough. She realized now that it would never be enough. That the yearning she felt wouldn’t be sated by just this one time. She already knew that she’d crave Morgun just as badly when she left here as she did before she arrived.
There would be more. She couldn’t stop at once. She didn’t want to stop at one. She didn’t want to get involved, but she couldn’t help herself. Morgun was different. Morgun was always going to be different, and Laney knew she wouldn’t be able to stay away.
Instead of running, withdrawing, panicking, or crawling inside her shell, she promised herself that she’d enjoy every single minute of being with Morgun until it ended, as she knew it would end, because that’s how everything went for Laney. She’d enjoy it. She’d learn from it. She’d make sure that she worshipped Morgun and that Morgun knew she was treasured beyond a doubt.
Laney knew she couldn’t have a career and a relationship. Her mom was wrong. It just wouldn’t work. The past had proved that to her over and over. But for once she would let her guard down. She’d let it down and she’d enjoy this. She’d enjoy every single second of it. She’d store it away for the time when she wouldn’t have it. She’d capture it with her mind, all those images, just like she did with the camera.
Then Laney would pull it together when it came time for Morgun to tell her that she’d had enough of Laney’s schedule, her work, her drive, her personality, whatever it was. When it was over, Laney told herself she’d be fine. She’d get on with her career because that’s what she wanted, and she’d nurse the wounded parts of herself back to health. She’d make it because she had to make it.
“You look like you’re thinking really hard about something. Overthinking things,” Morgun whispered. “Please don’t bail on me again. Like you did at the wedding. Don’t just check out. We’re doing fine. I promise I’m not going to ask you for something you can’t give. I want the parts of you that I know are there, the parts you’re already giving me. I don’t want more than that. Just be here. Don’t run away from me again.”
Laney shook her head so slowly she could feel every movement in her vertebrae. “No,” she whispered. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay.”
“For a minute? For tonight? Tomorrow?”
Laney chewed on her lower lip until she tasted copper. “For however long we have.” She was surprised to hear that truth slip from her lips, but Morgun didn’t seem surprised. She wasn’t angry. She seemed relieved.
She half sat up, cradled Laney’s face in her hands so very gently, and guided her face to hers.
Chapter 20
Morgun
Morgun might not have known Laney very well in terms of minutes or days or even weeks, but she did know something about how she worked. Laney was scared of commitment and had built up walls around herself. She might have been hurt before, or maybe she feared giving up the life she’d built for herself. People generally felt threatened when their core values were pressed on.
Laney wanted a career. She valued it above all else. She didn’t want a family. She might not even want a relationship because she was probably afraid she couldn’t do both, and maybe people had proved that to her in the past.
But she was staying. She said she would stay. She said for however long they had. Morgun was determined to make that as long as possible.
She’d watched Laney change since that day in the café. She knew all about the walls, the rigid way Laney went through life, the shell she wrapped around herself. She watched it drop right before Laney kissed her. She’d watched it fall away with every second after that.
This was Laney unguarded. The real her. The amazing, raw, wonderful, incredible her. For other people, it might not be much. It might not be enough. For Morgun, it was a start, and she wasn’t going to throw it away. She was going to choose to trust Laney. To take those baby steps. To see where they could go. Not because she wanted just the physical, but because she could see there was so much more to Laney Sterling than most people got to see, and for some reason, Laney was giving her a rare glimpse of that.
She smiled up into Laney’s face and laughed at herself softly. “Now I’m the one thinking too much.”
“That’s okay.” Laney’s face was soft. “I’d really like to make you feel good. If that’s okay with you?”
“It’s definitely okay with me!” Morgun giggled.
Laney bent down and kissed Morgun. Really kissed her. It was the kind of kiss that made her realize that Laney had been holding back before, even if they were the best kisses of Morgun’s life. She kissed her breathless while her hands went to work, caressing and worshipping every bit of Morgun’s body.
Morgun responded, kissing Laney back, but also reaching up to explore her body. Her soft shoulders, the sleek muscles of her arms, her straining nipples, her tight, flat stomach, the soft curve between her ribs and her pelvis. Her fingers brushed over Laney’s smooth skin below her belly. Morgun groaned into Laney’s mouth. Laney obviously invested in waxing. That smoothness could never come from a razor. Morgun knew, because she shaved and even though she was smooth too, she wasn’t that kind of amazingly smooth.
Laney gripped Morgun’s hips and arranged their legs so they could grind against each other, giving each other the friction they both craved. She dropped her head and suckled Morgun’s breast, sending pinpricks of glorious sensation racing through her. Heat gathered between her legs and when her own heat met Laney’s slick wetness, Morgun nearly went out of her mind.
Their legs tangled and their skin glided together. Morgun felt the heat building, the delicious friction sending her skin into a flurry of goosebumps. Laney leaned over and suckled her nipple again, adding to the mix of crazy, swirling heat. She kept rolling her hips, grinding her pelvis into Morgun, and Morgun’s hips did the same, rising and falling on instinct, matching and meeting with Laney’s in a harmony they couldn’t have planned better if they tried. Their fit was nearly perfect. Morgun was afraid to think of absolute perfection, afraid what that would do to her chest and her resolution to take things one day at a time, slowly and carefully.
But regardless, she felt all soft and melty in her chest. And just about everywhere else.
While Laney rolled her tongue over Morgun’s straining nipple, she brought her hand between them. Morgun groaned when she felt Laney’s finger slide through her slick folds to her entrance. She rolled her hips against her hand, but Laney teased her, circling her clit and pressing lightly. Morgun groaned. She tried to rock her hips so that Laney’s finger went to her entrance. She needed her inside her. Filling her.
That thought made Morgun think about toys. She didn’t own a single toy. She’d always wanted to try but was too embarrassed and intimidated before. She’d used them in the past, but she had never purchased her own. What Laney was doing made her think about things she could buy to give them both pleasure. Things they could share together. Private things that only they would know about. It might have started as a random thought, but now that she was thinking it, she felt extra heat coil up tight inside of her and she fairly shook with it.
“Are you okay?” Laney asked when she felt the shiver.