17. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

When Rosalie awoke it was early morning, a small hint of light filtering in through the heavy curtains. For a second she felt disorientated, but she knew exactly whose arms she was in. The air in the room was cold but the bed was warm; Kinsey silky soft and smelling like sex. Rosalie wanted to kiss her skin until she awoke, sleepy and beautiful, so they could press back into each other's bodies all over again.

It was mid-winter though, so for there to be light coming in it wasn't really early morning anymore. If she was going to sneak back to her own room without anyone seeing her, the time was now. Reluctantly she gently disentangled herself, Kinsey making a small murmur of protest that almost stopped her, until she realized the other woman was still asleep. She found her robe in the dim room, and, with a throb of desire, the tie that held it, then crept down the corridor. She fought the urge to giggle out loud at herself as she did; it had been a while since she'd snuck home in the early hours with her underwear in her hand.

She stood under the shower, shuddering with desire as she washed her body, remembering and reliving Kinsey's touch. Last night had been beyond words; the best sex of her life. She couldn't stop thinking about it. She'd already known what explosive chemistry they had, but now, the knowledge of how complementary their desires were… Rosalie found herself whimpering, alone in her shower, just remembering.

What was this? It was only the third time they'd slept together and yet Kinsey seemed to have her worked out to the letter, undoing her with such ease it was like she held the roadmap to every one of Rosalie's secret desires. And Kinsey, too, felt so deliciously easy to unravel; she was so turned on by Rosalie that her every move felt right. Making Kinsey come undone, over and over again felt like a drug. Suddenly the day ahead seemed like something to get through so that night could return, counting the hours until they could be together again.

When she made it down to breakfast she was showered and neatly dressed with plain sensible underwear under her jeans. Still, she felt marked somehow, as if last night's sex had changed her and anyone who looked at her would be able to tell what she'd done. No one paid her any more attention though, especially not Kinsey when she finally walked into the dining room.

She looked so good Rosalie couldn't stand it, her mind instantly comparing the poised woman in front of her with the one who'd tied her to the bed, her fingers furiously touching herself as she stared at Rosalie's bound body. Rosalie swallowed another whimper. Kinsey, though, gave her no more than a faintly friendly flicker of eye contact as she greeted the whole room, then proceeded to chat casually with Cassidy as if Rosalie didn't exist.

Rosalie had no idea whether Kinsey was just an expert at compartmentalizing or if she had the best poker face she'd ever seen, but it made her feel slightly crazy. She knew she'd asked her to keep it all on the down low, but it seemed beyond wild that last night they'd been so desperate for each other and this morning Kinsey was calmly pouring an orange juice with not even a hint in her eyes that she'd ever thought twice of Rosalie. Rosalie was not sure that she was going to pull off that level of cool.

When Kinsey left the breakfast table, Rosalie followed. She knew she was about to lose Kinsey to songwriting and she didn't think she could make it until nightfall without something more than coolness from her, not after last night. Kinsey turned slightly on the stairs when she realized she wasn't alone, but her step didn't falter.

Rosalie checked there was no one else in sight as they hit the top stair together and then she grabbed Kinsey's hand and tugged her through the first open door she found. It was the library; a perfectly innocent place for the two of them to happen to be found, except that Rosalie pulled the door shut behind them. Kinsey stared at her, clearly startled, and Rosalie kissed her. Within seconds Kinsey was gasping into her mouth, kissing her back. Rosalie's hands slipped under her shirt to mold around her bare hips, dying for warm skin and the heat of her kiss.

It was only seconds though, before Kinsey pulled back.

"Rosalie," she said with a sharp breath. "What are you doing?"

"I didn't get to kiss you goodbye this morning," Rosalie said, "and I couldn't let you go all day without kissing you first.".

"You can't do this to me," Kinsey said softly, her tone accusing. "It's hard enough that I have to pretend to barely know you without you pulling me away to make out with you during the day as well."

Rosalie looked down. She was being selfish and she knew it.

"I'm sorry," she said, tucking a lock of Kinsey's hair behind her ear, making her blink at the soft touch. "You're right. I'll stop. Just," she reached out again, this time running her thumb over her hipbone, "last night was… "

Rosalie ran out of words as she met Kinsey's eyes, her need reflected there, and swallowed.

"Yeah, it was," Kinsey said quietly. Silence echoed between them. Kinsey sighed. "Rosalie," she bit her lip. "If you want us to keep doing this, you're going to have to give me a little space here. I can do no strings, but not if you start blurring the lines on me."

"You're right," Rosalie said again. "I'm sorry."

Kinsey kissed her. A quick, soft brush of her lips.

"Get the fuck out of here," she said, her voice light again. "And don't touch me or even look at me until it's night and we're in a bedroom together."

Rosalie smiled.

"I'll respect that. You should know though," she paused, "that all you have to do right now is walk in the room and it makes me wet." Kinsey's eyes went dark and her lips parted. Rosalie pulled open the door and threw a quick smirk over her shoulder. "Have a great day."

"So," said Savannah as she and Rosalie went out on their morning walk together. "Exactly how much sex are you having with our young guest right now?"

Rosalie groaned.

" So much," she admitted and Savannah smiled widely. "Why do you always know?"

"Because I know you," Savannah said, smirking as they trudged their way through the snowy forest path. "And because you look approximately eight years younger this morning and I presume it's not from all the sleep you're getting."

"It's really not," she winced. "God, I don't know what I'm doing. I can't seem to make sensible decisions around her."

"Or maybe you're finally making healthy decisions for a change?" Savannah raised her eyebrows. Rosalie looked sideways at her.

"I'm sorry?"

"Honey, you've been isolating long enough, don't you think?"

"It's not isolating," Rosalie said. "It's personal space. It suits me."

"Does it? You haven't been properly happy in a long time."

"Things have been stressful lately," Rosalie reminded her. "That's not the same as being unhappy."

"I'm talking years."

Roslaie frowned. "That's… not accurate."

"Remember what you always told me?"

"What?"

"You can lie to yourself, but not to your best friend." Savannah gave her a small smile. Rosalie huffed.

They walked on in semi-comfortable silence for a while and eventually Savannah broke it. "So the sex…?"

Rosalie couldn't help her smile. She tipped her head up and looked at the snowy tree canopy above them.

"Oh my god ," she said. "I don't have the words."

"You're not even going to try?" Savannah nudged. Rosalie shook her head. "Well your face says it all," Savannah told her with a smirk. "Are you going to keep seeing her when you're back in Nashville?"

Rosalie sighed, shaking her head.

"I think we both know it's better being kept as a vacation fling."

Savannah stopped still. "Why?"

"Why?" Rosalie raised her eyebrows. She lifted her hand and counted on her fingers. "She's eleven years younger than me. She's literally this hot young rock star. You said it yourself, she'll have women falling around her like flies. She's Lane and Cassidy's close friend, like what, are we going to double-date? How fucking awkward would that be? Honestly, what other reasons do you need?"

"You are so full of shit." Savannah put her hands on her hips. "None of those reasons are worth anything."

"They are to me." Rosalie shot her a glare and started walking again. Savannah kept pace with her.

"It's literally just your commitment phobia all over again," she said, shortly.

"That's a really judgemental way of looking at it. It's a perfectly valid choice to want to be single."

"Sure. If that's what you actually want, and it's not just a fancy way of saying you've given up fighting for your own damn needs."

"Come on-"

"No, you come on." Savannah stepped in front of Rosalie, making her reel back to keep from running into her friend's steely eyes. "How many times have I listened to you tell me that you would be happy having a relationship if all the parameters were different? And I was like sure Rosalie, domesticity isn't for everyone, there's lots of ways to be in love. Yet here you are, faced with a stupidly hot woman who's very much into you, and wants her independence and literally all the same things you want, so you're like oh well let me quickly find a loophole that says it's not going to work."

"That's not what I'm doing-"

"It's trauma, Rosalie, we all fucking have it-"

"I know what trauma is!" Rosalie crossed her arms across her chest. "God, why do you have to be such a know-it-all, all the time?"

"Because I know you! And I fucking love you, you stupid asshole."

They glared at each other until Rosalie cracked into a small smile.

"Well I hate you," she lied.

"You hate me because I'm right," Savannah gave her doe eyes.

"Oh please… stop it okay?"

"Fine." They walked on, their boots crunching in the snow. "Just one last thing-"

Rosalie shoved her lightly. "You can't help yourself!"

"Shut up and listen to me. Just… observe the facts." Savannah lifted her own hand and started counting on her fingers. "Kinsey's hot. She apparently makes you come so hard you look like a commercial for expensive skin cream this morning." Savannah smirked at Rosalie's scandalized expression. She kept counting. "She's ambitious, independent, smart, funny, secure - I'm running out of fingers here - and she's a grown fucking adult with great boundaries. She clearly respects you, but she also seems wild about you already, so she obviously has great taste. Cassidy and Lane both have extremely well-honed bullshit monitors and they love her too."

"I get it, okay?" Rosalie swallowed. "She seems amazing. I haven't not noticed that."

"I mean, I'd say she's wife material, except that I know you'd either break out in hives or pass out in a snow drift-"

"Oh my god , stop talking!" Rosalie held up her hand, her voice getting high. "We've known each other for less than thirty seconds, could you sound any gayer right now?"

"Well, look at you with your bisexual erasure," Savannah sassed her. "Look, just promise me you won't do with her what you always do?"

"What's that?"

"Run."

"Savannah, I love you. But I'm not promising you shit."

—-

The day was long and dinner excruciating. Rosalie tried not to look at Kinsey. She also tried not to look at Savannah. After dinner, to her immense, irrational annoyance, Brynn - who was sober for god's sake - suggested drinks around the fireplace and everyone filed out to join her, lazing on the big comfy couches and chatting warmly and easily, like they could be there for hours. Rosalie, barely sipped two mouthfuls of Pinot Noir, before she said she had a headache and wished everyone a good night.

"Hope you feel so much better in the morning," Savannah said, her face excessively sympathetic and Rosalie managed not to throw a tasteful throw pillow at her head.

She took her time, knowing Kinsey was stuck socializing, so when the knock on the door came shortly after, she looked up in surprise, and a small amount of alarm. She was fresh out of the shower in her robe - the big pink fuzzy one, not the slinky one - but she also knew she couldn't risk Kinsey hanging outside her room in the corridor either. She opened the door and Kinsey stepped in.

"You made it early," Rosalie said, trying to hide how flustered she suddenly felt.

"That headache is so contagious," Kinsey said, "Savannah threatened to test us all for covid." She looked at Rosalie and a smile spread across her mouth. "Change of pace tonight?"

She reached out and stroked Rosalie's fluffy shoulder. Rosalie scoffed, ducking away and Kinsey smiled wider. She stepped closer, and her hands moved down to the tie around the robe. "I could still make this work if you wanted me to, you know." She smirked, her eyes going wicked as she held the fleecy tie.

"Stop it." Rosalie tried valiantly to glare at her.

"You look fucking adorable." Kinsey pulled her in close and kissed her, her mouth warm and soft. "Besides," she murmured against her lips, "you know I'm just going to take whatever you're wearing off you in about thirty seconds time."

Rosalie hummed into the kiss she'd been craving all day as Kinsey cupped the back of her neck and deepened it.

"So the lingerie was wasted on you, huh?" Rosalie asked her, already knowing the answer. Kinsey paused.

"I would definitely not say that," she corrected her. Rosalie's eyes went to the bed and Kinsey's followed. She bit her lip when she saw the small selection of silk and lace laid out that Rosalie had been just about to put on. She stepped back, "I mean, please don't let me stop you," she raised her eyebrows, "if that's what you feel you need to do."

"Would it work better for you than the fluffy robe?" Rosalie asked teasingly, still slightly embarrassed.

"I don't know." Kinsey's gaze was frank. "I'm pretty sure you'd still look hot in a potato sack."

"That's literally the other outfit I considered actually."

Rosalie stepped away and scooped up her underwear, taking it to the bathroom to get changed. She left the door cracked and heard Kinsey's laughter.

"You understand I've seen you naked, right? Like…right up close."

"Leave me alone." Rosalie couldn't help her smile as she slipped into her panties.

"Not that I'm complaining," Kinsey said from the bedroom, "but do you normally pack sexy lingerie for a vacation in the middle of nowhere with friends?"

Rosalie laughed.

"Savannah and I had a… disagreement about whether I was coming here or not. She kind of packed for me."

"And she thought these might come in handy?"

"I suspect she just literally emptied my entire underwear drawer into the suitcase," Rosalie said "Though honestly, at this point in Savannah's life she probably thinks this is what normal everyday underwear looks like for everyone." There was a silence from the next room and Rosalie's head jerked up as she dropped her robe. "Are you literally picturing my best friend in sexy lingerie right now?"

" Hell yes," Kinsey said and Rosalie's jaw dropped. "You have to understand, those early Twice Struck music videos were really… formative experiences for me." Her voice was teasing but somehow she didn't think Kinsey was joking.

"You literally do not deserve to see me in this underwear, Kinsey," she warned her as she did up her bra.

"Oh… wait, now I'm picturing both of you in your lingerie," Kinsey said dreamily. "God. What a time to be alive."

Rosalie stepped out of the bathroom, her eyebrows sky high and Kinsey's face went from teasing to extremely serious in less than a second.

"And how about now?" Rosalie asked her, coming closer in the lamplight.

Kinsey bit her lip. Her eyes softened, desire flaring.

"Savannah Grace could walk in here naked and all I'd see was you."

"That's more like it."

She stepped in close, feeling oddly vulnerable, between the completely reasonable pushback Kinsey had given her this morning and the being caught looking goofy rather than sexy just now, but Kinsey's heated expression was more than reassuring.

"You're so fucking beautiful," she said. "I can hardly stand it."

Rosalie found her lashes dropping as she smiled at the compliment. She slid her hands around Kinsey's hips, still in her tight jeans, straight from dinner. It was the first time she'd gotten the chance to fully undress her, Kinsey having been clothed for bed the other nights. She looked up at Kinsey, finding her dark eyes focussed intently on her and without dropping her gaze she slipped open the top button of her jeans. Kinsey bit her lip, watching, as she slid down the zipper.

"How much foreplay are you going to need?" Rosalie asked her, wetting her lip with her tongue. Kinsey's breath caught.

"This," she ran one finger lazily over Rosalie's breasts, her abdomen, her panties, "is enough."

"Mm," Rosalie left Kinsey's jeans where they were, but slipped her hand into her underwear, "it seems like it is." She found slippery wet heat under her fingertips and heard Kinsey hiss at the sensation. There was just enough room to move her fingers.

"Oh god," Kinsey whispered, her hips jolting slightly at her touch. "How do you keep doing this to me?"

Without stopping her fingers, Rosalie walked her slowly backwards to the bed. She pushed Kinsey down to sit on the edge. She tugged off the tight jeans, then her panties, then knelt in front of her.

"Is this what you want?" Rosalie gazed up at Kinsey, lips parted. "A woman in lingerie on her knees for you?"

Kinsey rested back on her elbows, her eyes dark.

"As long as she's hot as fuck and it's you," she said, "then yeah, that's exactly what I want."

"Well," Rosalie tried to ignore the heart palpitations that gave her, "it seems like it might be your lucky day. Now take the rest of your clothes off so I can look at you when you come."

Kinsey immediately did what she was told, and Rosalie settled in, determined to make her utterly come apart.

It was hours before they lay in each other's arms, finally sated. Kinsey propped her head up on her hand beside her ,softly tracing her fingers up and down Rosalie's spine, making her feel like she might melt all the way into the sheets.

"I'm going to go now," she murmured.

"Do you have to?" Rosalie didn't want her to stop touching her like this.

"I do." Her voice was gentle but firm.

"You're just going to ravish me and then leave?" Rosalie said plaintively. She absolutely didn't want Kinsey to go and she didn't know at all what that meant.

"Considering the ravishing was mutual," Kinsey pressed a kiss to her shoulder, a smile in her tone, "you've completely exhausted me. If I don't leave now I'm going to pass out asleep next to you again."

"Is that so horrible?"

"You know it's not," Kinsey said, glancing away. "That's the problem."

"You want to stay."

"Of course I do." Kinsey's fingers trailed her spine again. "But we're not… lovers, Rosalie."

"I mean, I think, technically-"

"You know that's not what I mean. We're having this… hot fling, like a whole series of one night stands, because we both happen to be taking a break from our real lives at the same time. That's what's happening here, right?"

Rosalie wasn't sure anymore. She was sure she wanted Kinsey to stay. She was sure she wanted to know her more every night they spent together. But despite Savannah's exasperation with her, she was also still sure that the two of them actually dating would be a disaster. And so after hesitating for far too long, Rosalie nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "I think that's what's happening."

She felt Kinsey's fingers pause, though whether it was due to her answer or her hesitation, she wasn't sure.

"Okay," Kinsey said after another long minute. "Goodnight then."

She pressed another kiss to Rosalie's shoulder and went to move away. Rosalie stopped her, pulling her in to kiss her, full of longing and confusion. It was almost physically painful to let her leave, as if she was doing the wrong thing.

"Goodnight," she made herself whisper back.

Kinsey looked at her for a beat, then she pressed a quick kiss back and left the bed. Rosalie listened to the sound of her moving around the room, collecting her discarded clothing and getting dressed. Suddenly, clutching the sheet around her body, Rosalie sat bolt upright in the bed. Kinsey's hand was on the door handle.

"Wait," she said. Kinsey turned and paused, looking back at her, her eyes a little wistful. "Please come back."

Kinsey hesitated. Then she let go of the door handle and came back, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Rosalie couldn't take her eyes off her, but she wasn't sure how to say what she wanted to say.

"All this hot sex making you feel a little clingy?" Kinsey asked softly, no real sting in her words despite the clear-eyed assessment of the situation. Rosalie swallowed and nodded.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she confessed. Somehow, she wanted Kinsey to tell her and she knew that wasn't fair either. Shit, Rosalie really was a mess.

Kinsey reached over and toyed with her fingers where they lay in the sheets.

"That sounds confusing," she observed. "And it kinda makes me want to stay so I can hold you." Rosalie looked up, a tiny flicker of hope flaring in her chest. "But it also makes me want to hang tight to all my boundaries, so I can keep myself safe."

Rosalie frowned a little at her words. "I'm not…trying to be a threat."

"Oh, but you are," Kinsey told her. "You're the biggest threat I've ever met. I can't say no to having this time with you," she said, neatly reaching in to tug the sheet down, baring Rosalie's body to her eyes. "But since you don't know what it is you're doing, then we need to keep this on a level we're both comfortable with." Rosalie nodded, tugging the sheet back up to her shoulders with a little huff and Kinsey's mouth quirked. "Which means no more sleepovers."

"It's really very annoying to me how insightful and mature you keep insisting on being," Rosalie complained, slipping down into her sheets and turning on her side to watch Kinsey from under her lashes.

Kinsey smiled.

"If you wanted someone who was going to fall for your bullshit you really should have gone younger." she said lightly and Rosalie gaped but quickly found herself being kissed into the pillows before she could complain. "I'm leaving now. Goodnight, Rosalie."