Three Weeks Later

"F lowers?"

"It's a date, right?" Rosie asked.

"You didn't have to get me flowers."

"But this is a date, right? We said date ."

"Yes, it's a date, Rosie," Felicity replied with a wide smile on her face.

"Okay. Then, dates bring flowers." Rosie held out the dozen red roses wrapped in plastic. "So, these are for you."

"I didn't get you flowers. Should I have?" Felicity took the roses from her.

"I think, of the two of us, I'm the one who owes the flowers."

"You don't owe me anything," Felicity replied.

"Maybe I just owe it to myself to do everything I can to make this night perfect."

"That's a whole lot of pressure for a first date," Felicity offered. "Come in, by the way."

Rosie walked inside then, and Felicity closed the door behind her.

"When you told me you moved to the coast, you didn't tell me you'd moved to an island off the coast," Rosie noted.

"There's a bridge, and it's only a ten-minute drive."

"Still. I would've rented something here instead of on the actual coast."

"Let me just get these in some water. The kitchen is this way."

"I tried to find a place to make a reservation here, but there's nothing," Rosie shared.

"The island is mostly residential, and it's the off-season now, so it's pretty shut down."

"I found a restaurant close to the house I rented that looked okay."

"We can just eat here, Rosie," Felicity said as they made their way into the kitchen. "I actually thought we would since it's such a chore to get here."

"You–" Rosie looked at the kitchen island, where she saw two platters laid out.

One was with cheese, crackers, and some vegetables, and the other one had oysters on ice. There was also a bottle of wine next to that. It was uncorked, and there were two waiting glasses.

"Yeah. Can you cancel your reservation?"

"No problem," she replied.

Rosie reached for her phone, pulled up the app she'd used to make the reservation, and quickly canceled it.

"It's a nice night, so I've got some fish I was thinking about grilling, there's a salad, and I bought a dessert because I can cook, but I'm useless at baking."

"You did all this?"

"You came all this way."

That statement seemed to Rosie to not be just about the three-hour drive to the rented house and the ten-minute drive over the bridge but more about the several years it had taken her to get here to this moment where they were on their very first date.

"What can I help with?" she asked.

"Nothing right now. I thought we could sit outside and eat this stuff before we cook. The fish doesn't take long at all. I can preheat the grill while we eat this, if you want, but we can also just sit outside, stare at the water, and, I don't know, just… be."

Rosie took a deep breath and smiled at her.

"Yes, that's what I want."

"Okay. Well, water for these first." Felicity held up the flowers. "You sit there and snack while I do this." She pointed to a stool.

"You got bossier, huh?" Rosie laughed.

"I couldn't exactly boss you around before, when you were my boss, could I?"

"Mentor. I feel like it's important to stress that here."

"It's been a long time since that's been the case, Rosie. I think we can date now."

Rosie smiled as she watched Felicity cut the ends off the rose stems and place them into a clear vase that she pulled from a cabinet beneath the island.

"They're beautiful, by the way," Felicity said and smiled over at her. "Thank you."

" You 're beautiful," Rosie replied. "I don't think I've ever told you that before."

Felicity blushed a little and said, "Well, I got all dressed up for our date."

"Not just tonight," Rosie added. "You were beautiful on the ship in your expedition jacket and khakis. "

"Come on… No one is beautiful in khakis." Felicity laughed.

" You were," Rosie argued. "You always are."

"Is this part of your make-this-date-perfect plan? Compliment me a bunch?"

"I feel like I've had these compliments for you rolling around in my brain for years now, and they're coming out all at once. Too much?"

"No, it's nice, actually," Felicity revealed. "And you're beautiful, too. You always have been to me."

Rosie smiled back at her, and they stared at each other for a moment that wasn't awkward at all because it felt like it was about time that they got to stare at one another just like this.

"You're on the other side of this counter," Rosie noted.

"What?" Felicity looked down. "Oh, yeah. We should probably…"

"Get closer together at some point tonight, huh?"

Felicity laughed and suggested, "Outside? I bought nice patio furniture."

"Yeah, let's check it out."

They carried the food and the wine outside, where Rosie found several torches that had probably been lit to keep the bugs away, as well as a couple of chaises lounges in one part of the deck with a six-seater table on the other half.

"The patio isn't huge, so I couldn't fit much, but I like what I did with it so far."

"It's beautiful out here." Rosie stared out at the water just beyond Felicity's small yard of tall grass and sand.

"I love it here, yeah."

There was a small table beside one of the chaises lounges, where they placed the food and the wine that Felicity poured for them, and they sat down next to one another.

"Toast?" Felicity held up her glass.

"Sure."

"To us," Felicity said.

Rosie gave her a nod with a smile, and they clanked their glasses together, took a sip, and set them back down. Rosie decided to take a chance then.

"Can you stand up for a second?" she asked.

"Yeah. Everything okay?" Felicity stood and turned to face her.

Rosie turned herself until she was lying back on the chaise and spread her legs .

"Can you sit here?"

Felicity smiled a little before she nodded in response, and Rosie waited for her to move to sit in front of her. She waited further for Felicity to lean back into her before her body relaxed for what felt like the first time in forever. Then, she wrapped her arms around Felicity's middle and held on to her.

"This escalated quickly," Felicity noted, leaning back farther into Rosie's body.

"Did it? I feel like it's been about ten or so years in the making," she replied as she breathed in Felicity's scent.

It mixed with the salt from the water that moved in with the breeze, and Rosie was in heaven. If there was an actual heaven, this was it, and it was here, with Felicity in her arms, in this house on the edge of the water they both loved.

"Yeah? You feel that way, too?" Felicity placed her arms over Rosie's.

"Definitely," she said. "And I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For making us wait this long to have it."

"You don't have to apologize for that," Felicity said as Rosie's chin went to the woman's shoulder and rested there. "Maybe we weren't ready for this back then," she suggested. "I thought I was, but you weren't."

Rosie wasn't sure how to tell her that maybe she was, but she'd taken the wrong path because some device she'd found in the ocean had given her a vision that had scared her into going backward and not forward.

"Maybe," she said instead. "But I'm here now. Is that okay?"

"Of course, it's okay. Do you know why none of the relationships I had these past few years ever worked out?"

"No."

"I was still in love with you ," Felicity revealed. "I knew you were with Ami – I'd lost you to her myself – but I still couldn't push you out of my mind. Whenever I was on a date with someone else, I'd remember sitting in your house, just talking about work and getting all excited because you understood that part of me. I'd think about us sitting in your den, both of us reading silently. We didn't even have to talk, and I still felt so connected to you. I knew I couldn't have you, but I wasn't ready to give myself to anyone else the way I had so completely given myself to you. I loved you. "

"Do you still?" she chanced.

"Yes," Felicity said. "And I don't know."

"What does that mean?"

"That I loved the you I knew back then, and I think she's in there still, but we haven't spent that much time together. Despite being trapped in one room on a ship together, things kind of got in the way there. I kept my distance because you were married, and I knew if I spent too much time with you, I'd be right back where I started."

"So, can we, I don't know, start over?"

"I don't think we can ever just start over," Felicity suggested. "We can start from here, though. How long are you here for before you need to go back to check on the house?"

"Until it sells," she answered. "I have someone coming in and cleaning it once a week. The realtor is working on an open house, but my stuff is out of there already. She has staging furniture in there now. Most of what I had, I sold or donated, and the stuff I wanted to keep is in storage, so I'm basically a nomad right now."

"You're a nomad?" Felicity asked.

"I have that rental. It's a one-bedroom with this cute little nook that has a desk. I plan to finish the first draft of my book there, and if you'll have me, I'd like to spend as much time with you as possible. I rented that place for two weeks, but the owner said I could always extend since it's the off-season and they don't have another booking yet."

"So, you could be here… indefinitely?"

"Until my first ship, which doesn't leave until May." Rosie hovered her lips over Felicity's bare neck. "And it's twenty days. Then, I'm back for a month before the next one, which will be about the same."

"Really?" Felicity laughed.

"Yeah. Why? What's funny about that?"

"Where are you going?"

"Italy and Spain. Why?"

"I was planning on going to Greece and then Portugal. Same schedule." Felicity laughed again. "We'll be right next to each other at around the same time."

"Just on different ships."

"But with probably a decent internet connection with us both being in the same waters. And we could spend the in-between time together."

"Together, huh?" she asked, running a hand under the light sweater Felicity had on. "That's months away."

"I know," Felicity replied. "And will you finally kiss me there, please? I can feel your lips, and you're killing me."

Rosie smiled and placed her lips on Felicity's neck.

"Better?"

"Yes. But more, please."

Rosie repeated the kiss and moved her lips to the spot just behind Felicity's earlobe.

"I could stay out here all night, just holding you like this and talking to you." She kissed that spot again. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too. God, you have no idea. I hated Portugal in the beginning because I was there, you were here, and I knew–"

"That I was with her," she said, finishing for Felicity.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry I can't go back."

"Don't be. Like I said, we don't know what would've happened. And we're here now. We are here now, right? You and me?"

"You and me, yes. Us," Rosie replied. "And I'd like to stay here tonight, if that's okay with you."

"Stay?"

"Please don't make me go back over that bridge tonight. I'll know you're here, so close, and it'll kill me, being over there and unable to touch you." She slid her hand up a little higher and left it between Felicity's breasts. "I know we have a lot to discover about one another still, but I can't help it, Felicity – I love you. I know that it's real and that I'll love you even more while and when we get to know one another again."

Felicity shifted then, and Rosie had had to move her hand, too. She immediately missed the contact and the feel of Felicity's heart beating against her hand, and she worried that she'd gone too far when she'd only had a few minutes with Felicity on their first date. Felicity turned around to her, though, and she bit her lower lip as her eyes met Rosie's.

"I don't want to get my heart broken."

"Oh, baby… I don't plan on ever breaking your heart." She cupped Felicity's cheek like the other Rosie had done all those years ago. "I know this is scary. We have a history, and we don't at the same time, but I want this. I want you. Only you."

Felicity smiled and said, "You called me ‘baby.'"

"Not a fan of that, I take it? "

"No, I like it. I like it when you call me that."

"Yeah? What are you going to call me?" Rosie asked as she dragged her thumb over Felicity's bottom lip.

"My love," Felicity said before she proceeded to suck that thumb into her mouth.

Rosie swallowed. Then, she leaned in, pulled Felicity's bottom lip down a bit, and finally connected their lips in a kiss. Their lips began to move as if they'd done this a thousand times, and Rosie wondered if, in some other timeline, where she'd chosen Felicity, they had. Her hands were in Felicity's hair, which Felicity had worn down, and it was so soft that it made Rosie moan a little. At that, Felicity's tongue slipped inside her mouth, and Rosie felt something behind her. Her body went backward a moment later, and she looked up at Felicity, who was smiling at her. Felicity's hand returned to Rosie's body, sliding under Rosie's shirt this time.

"Just wanted us to get more comfortable."

Felicity had lowered the top part of the chaise, so they were now lying flat, and she was on top of Rosie, holding herself up with one arm while the other hand searched for someplace to land as she kissed Rosie again.

"Touch me," Rosie requested before she reconnected their lips.

"Where?"

"Anywhere," she said. "Please. I need to feel you."

"We should go inside, then," Felicity suggested.

"Here," Rosie requested. "By the water. Is that okay? We can wait. I just–"

"We've waited long enough," Felicity interjected and kissed Rosie again.

When Felicity's hand moved out from under Rosie's shirt and deftly unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, Rosie thought she'd slip her hand into them and touch her, but she didn't. She sat up, and Rosie watched with anticipation as Felicity removed her light sweater, revealing only a white cotton bra underneath it. Rosie held on to Felicity's hips and waited. Within seconds, the bra was gone and somewhere on the deck, and Rosie stared at Felicity's perfect breasts with nipples already hard either from the cool breeze or being turned on, or maybe even both.

She placed her lips between them, kissed the spot, and whispered, "I promise you that I will protect this." She kissed the spot over Felicity's heart next .

"Make love to me," Felicity said.

"Yes," Rosie replied.

Their clothing landed on the deck piece by piece, and over the next several minutes, Rosie, now on top, moved to settle her hips between Felicity's legs and rolled down into her. They kissed slowly, taking their time, not wanting to go fast. Rosie kissed Felicity's neck and massaged her breast, playing with the hard nipple and wanting to wrap her lips around it. When she finally lowered her lips to it, she earned an instant gasp from the woman below her. She sucked, now playing with the other nipple with her hand, and felt hips begin to lift, begging for friction.

Rosie needed that friction, too, but she didn't want to give Felicity a quick release and for that to be it. She wanted to worship this woman's body, hoping to tell her with that worship just how much she wanted this and how much she'd missed her. When her hand finally slipped between Felicity's legs several minutes later, she gasped herself because Felicity was wet for her. She was so incredibly wet, and Rosie pressed her forehead to Felicity's as she began to stroke.

"Is this all for me?" she whispered.

"Yes. Always," Felicity breathed out.

"I want to be inside you."

"Yes."

Rosie lowered her fingers and pushed inside slowly, making sure Felicity was ready for her. She slid in easily and closed her eyes for a moment before she pushed in deeper. Felicity moaned. Rosie pulled out and pushed back in, finding a rhythm that worked for both of them while she rested her own center over Felicity's thigh.

"Can I touch you? I've wanted to touch you for so long," Felicity said. "Please."

"Yes," she replied; as if she'd ever stop this beautiful woman from touching her.

Felicity's hand moved between Rosie's legs then, and she felt around for a second until her index finger dragged along up to Rosie's clit, and she started stroking.

"Oh, God," Rosie let out and practically crashed down on top of her.

She managed to keep herself up, and when Felicity moved inside her, she sat up a little more, wanting Felicity to always be inside her now as she rocked against her fingers and thrust inside Felicity.

"I'm…" Felicity reached for and grasped Rosie's breast, squeezing it more than massaging it. "God, I'm coming."

Rosie thrust faster inside her, wanting Felicity to explode, and her body rocked harder against Felicity's fingers until she, too, reached her peak and crashed over it. She had a hard time keeping her rhythm, but it didn't matter. Felicity had come and was now pushing inside Rosie, deeper and harder.

"God, yes," she moaned and slowed her hips as she began to come down.

The next thing she remembered was opening her eyes and looking down at the most beautiful woman in the world, who was staring up at her, still flushed and smiling.

"Can we go inside now? There's a lot more room on my bed."

Rosie smiled down at her and said, "Whatever you want. Literally anything. It's yours." She lowered herself on top of Felicity and regretfully pulled out of her, feeling the loss of Felicity's fingers as well as she pressed her head to Felicity's chest.

"Actually, here is fine," Felicity told her. "Yeah, this is good." She wrapped her arms around Rosie's body and held her tightly. "You can keep that rental to write your book, but please spend every night here with me, my love."

"Yes," Rosie said with her eyes closed as the water beat against the shore, mixing with Felicity's heartbeat, providing her with the most amazing soundtrack to the best night of her entire life.