Chapter Twenty-Seven Clover

Chapter Twenty-Seven Clover

Sunday morning, December 24, 2023

Clover lay still wrapped in Beth’s sheets, her head resting on her folded arms. Kisses trailed along the column of her spine,

starting from her waist to the back of her neck. They felt like heaven against her skin. She could feel the rise and fall

of Beth’s breath as her breasts followed the trail, and Clover delighted in their warmth, in the weight of Beth’s body still

pressed against her.

“You feel good,” Clover said.

“Mm.” Beth kept kissing her. “You do too.”

“I’m leaving soon.”

Beth stopped, but her breath remained hot against Clover’s skin. “I know,” she said finally. She let the silence press on

for a few minutes more, then shifted, lying beside Clover so she could look into her eyes. “What do you want to do?”

Clover reached over and brushed away a strand of hair that had gotten caught in Beth’s eyelashes. “I want to stay with you,” she said. “I mean, I miss my dad, and the farm, and... but I don’t want to leave you.”

“I can come visit,” Beth said.

“Don’t you run a fancy business?”

“Don’t you run a fancy farm?” Beth touched Clover’s cheek. “I can make the time. Can you?”

“I’m willing to try,” Clover said. She shifted, framing Beth with her arms so that she lay on top of her, and covered her

mouth with another slow and gentle kiss. In all her years, and in all her fantasies, she could never have imagined she would

feel this way. So free, and whole, and... right. When they finally pulled away, Beth’s eyes searched her with a lightness

and clarity that took Clover’s breath away.

“What?” Clover asked.

“Do you want to come home with me?”

Clover looked around playfully. “I think that is where we are right now.”

Beth chuckled softly. “I mean to my parents’ home. I want them to meet you.”

“I thought you’d never brought a girl home before.”

“I haven’t. They’ve never wanted me to.” She shifted so that Clover lay beside her, and she propped herself up on one arm.

“But Bee left, and it brought you to me. It had me thinking—maybe I should try things her way sometimes. Be a little bit more

selfish.”

Clover brushed her fingers against Beth’s lips. “I think you mean honest.”

Beth kissed her fingers. “That too.” She bit her lip. “So, what do you think? Do you want to come over and meet the folks?”

Clover thought about it. It was one thing to meet Bee’s friends and colleagues, another to meet her family, especially when

she knew it was tonight.

“My dad doesn’t know about me,” Clover said. “And it wouldn’t sit right for me to bring my authentic self to your parents’

table when I haven’t even been able to do that at my own.”

Beth looked down, trying to hide her disappointment, but she nodded in understanding. “Makes sense.” Then she reached forward

and pressed a soft but firm kiss to Clover’s mouth. “Honestly, it makes me like you even more.”

“Well, if I can’t celebrate Christmas Eve dinner with you, then the least I can do is make you Christmas Eve brunch. Are you

hungry?”

“Yes,” Beth said, a mischievous look on her face. She made no move to leave the bed. Clover grinned.

“Good,” she said, and the two slipped back beneath the sheets, a feeling far too close to love thrumming rapidly through Clover’s

veins.