wanted to make sure.”
June kissed her hard. “I’m sure.” She couldn’t miss another flicker of
doubt in Arabella’s eyes as she pulled away. She left it for a moment, but
when she turned around, Arabella’s voice was soft and quiet again.
“I should…maybe should I go?”
June was near the bathroom door, but she whirled around, her mouth
dropping open. “Uh, no! Not unless you want to. Or you have to.”
Arabella twisted the end of the towel under her armpit again as it came
undone. She studied that terry cloth twist she’d made instead of looking at
June. “It’s just that we haven’t exactly decided on…well, it’s getting kind of
late, isn’t it?”
“Oh, so you’re asking how I feel about you staying the night? Or are you
asking if I’m ready for more? Because I already stayed at your place, so it
makes perfect sense that you’d stay here now, don’t you think? Unless
you’re not ready to…”
“I’m ready, June,” she said in a rush. “God, I’m so ready.”
June rushed forward and took Arabella’s hand. She smoothed her fingers
over Arabella’s palm before she twisted their fingers together. “I know this
is new and there are probably going to be so many awkward moments, but I
hope we can laugh about them and get through them and just talk about
them if we need to. I’d like you to stay the night. Very much. If you want to.
If you’re not ready, that’s okay. I can drive you back to your car.”
Arabella hesitated. “What if someone notices my car was parked there
overnight? I also don’t have a change of clothes.”
“You’re right. That makes sense. Not the car. No one is going to be the
car police, but the clothing thing. And it would be an early morning before
work. I didn’t plan this ahead of time. Sorry, I wasn’t trying to outrug you.”
“What’s outrugging?” Arabella asked, smiling now even if it was a little
reluctantly.
“Pulling the rug out from under you?”