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“Mommy,” a little curly redhead whined, “I can’t sleep!”
A mature version of that little girl appeared on the door, annoyed.
“Bunny, that’s why ice cream before bed was a bad idea.”
She shook her head walking to the little girl’s bedside. Their eyes were both as bright as the stars in the sky outside, looking down on their home.
“But you gave me ice cream. Bad mommy,” she mumbled grumpily and slouched with a frown. Her mom brushed the expression off her face, cupping it with her warm freckled hand.
“And now you'll never ask for sweets before bed again; you learned your lesson.”
Rose smiled triumphantly at her daughter. She was a mother of her own kind. Her parenting skills were more get-burned-once-never-get-burned-again than don't-get-too-close-to-the-flames. Rose herself found it genius; her wife, however, didn’t always approve of it.
This time was no exception.
A yawning woman joined them, sitting down on her daughter's bed and pulling her wife with her. She looked at them both, silent. With a sigh, she rubbed her eyes and groaned.
“What did you do now, Ro?”
“Nothing,” she lied her guts off, “everything’s fine, go back to bed. I'll join you in a minute.”
The redhead winked at Luisa and gave her a nudge.
Luisa rolled her eyes and turned to their daughter. Smiling, tired, she asked in her sweetest voice, “Honey, why aren’t you asleep?”
“Because my eyes are open!” the girl beamed.
“And why is that?”
Zoey, their tiny redheaded miracle, flicked her eyes from one mom to another, and then confessed, “Mommy gave me ice cream before bed!”
Luisa’s glare burned into her wife, but Rose didn’t even flinch. Luisa’s adorable tantrums were, as she said, adorable rather than scary.
Luisa would have picked a fight right there with Rose hadn’t it been for their strict don’t-argue-in-front-of-Zoey rule. Instead, she calmed herself – after flashing Rose a this-is-not-over face – and smiled warmly at her daughter.
“Would a bedtime story make it all better?”
Zoey straightened up, her eyes sparkling and clapped excitedly. Luisa took it as a yes.
Rose didn’t say anything. She lay on the bed, waiting for her wife to forget about that minor disagreement, so she could take her hand. They always held each other's hands while telling stories to Zoey. It was one of these moments they felt as one, a family of three. Four, to be exact.
As on cue, a furry four-legged family member ran into Zoey's room, jumped in the bed to join them.
“Choco!” Zoey chimed. The dog brushed over the little girl’s face with her wet tongue, giving her a big goodnight kiss. Choco was a brown crossbreed Luisa had adopted years ago. The pup's fur was a good indicator of all those years they'd spent together. What had used to be chocolate brown (hence the name), was now highlighted with light gray stripes.
Rose smiled as she looked at their pet. Hadn’t it been for Choco, she and Luisa might have never met.
“Okay, now that Choco is here, too, are you ready for your story, bunny?”
Luisa brushed a stray curl from her daughter’s face, earning a beaming grin and an eager nod from the girl.
“So, once upon a time, lived a beautiful princess. All around the land, she was known as the fairest, most elegant, nicest, and most warm-hearted girl. But she had no prince. Her parents were worried about their daughter, the princess, not finding her true love,” Luisa told the story. She was talking like it was her own.
“Mama, what’s true love?” Zoey looked at her with those big eyes.
“True love is what I have for you, sweetheart,” she kissed the girl on her forehead, “and, as unbelievable as it is, true love is something I cannot not feel for your mommy.”
Rose let her guard down a bit and slowly reached for Luisa’s hand, intertwining their fingers. Luisa could be mad at her, but that warm fuzzy feeling inside her chest, that never-ending beating her heart practiced, that giddy glow in her stomach, reminded her that she'd always have nothing but love for that fool of hers.
“So, the girl set out to see the land, to travel the world until she found whom she was meant to find. On the road accompanied her her greatest friend, Lucy. They saw people, so many people. They saw tall people, short people,” Luisa took a pause to tickle her own shorty, “and they saw bad people and good people. But no one seemed to be the princess' true love. What she only learned while on the road, was how much she loved Lucy. When their trip was coming to an end, and they stopped on the last mountain peak before the kingdom's gates would appear, princess Rosita halted her horse and got off. She stood there, facing the newborn evening sky, it’s orange, pink, and red paint strokes smiling at her as if the whole world was hers.
“Lucy came to stand by her side and took her hand. Whenever the princess was feeling blue, Lucy’s hand in hers would take her worries away.
“You seem sad, my princess,” she said, “don’t worry, your true love will come one day. And until then, and even after that, I will love you truly.”
The princess looked at her friend. Suddenly, she realized she’d been chasing something, someone, who'd been by her side this whole time. Why did she need a prince to be her true love? Why couldn’t she love Lucy like that? Because she really did. And with those thoughts, she gave Lucy a true love's kiss under the warm evening sky. The sun took them into her embrace before it would set. And after the sun was gone, they were still sharing that magical true love's kiss. The moon wrapped them into his cool hug, and who knows, maybe they’re still there on that mountain. But my guess is, that they lived happily ever after,” she brushed over her close to asleep daughter's eyelids, making them fall shut completely. For just a minute, they sat there in silence, listening to Zoey’s peaceful breaths.
“I always knew you thought I was a princess you rescued,” Rose hummed as they walked down the corridor. Luisa clung to her arm, laughing.
“And you don’t think so?”
Their gazes hooked in that moment as they halted before their bedroom door. Luisa’s soft brown eyes challenging Rose’s icy blue to flinch.
She could feel Rose’s heart beat faster with each second, and it was all she needed as evidence, that actually Rose thought it had been the other way around. Truth be told, she knew it, too.
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” Rose whispered, sneaking her hand around Luisa’s middle. She pulled her close, cupping Luisa’s face with tenderness only appropriate for true love.
Luisa hummed into their kiss, bringing back so many memories. Good and bad both. But mostly good.
“You remember when we met, princess?” she mumbled into Rose’s lips. Rose uh-uh-d, stealing a few more kisses before she pulled away.
“You were being too reckless and ignorant of icy park pathways.”
Luisa glared at her playfully. She lowered her hand to Rose's ass and pinched softly.
“Ah! Oh, you’re going to pay for that!” and the next thing Luisa knew, Rose had pulled her up over her shoulder and hurried inti their room. Her giggles filled the room, making Rose especially proud of her doings.
She landed her wife on the bed and came to hover above her herself.
Luisa smirked, giving Rose a taste of it as she pulled her face to her own.
“Speak for yourself. I was as graceful as ever.”
“I think you need someone to tell you our story again, babe,” Rose laughed. Her hand kept brushing Luisa’s hair to the side as she spoke, it was a subconscious move.
Luisa’s eyes lit up. “Story time!”
Rose chuckled. Luisa was exactly like their daughter, even if they didn’t share any DNA.
She rolled off Luisa, and pulled her into her embrace. It was a long story, so she thought she’d make it a good one for her.
“So, one morning, as I was heading for work, I was walking through the snowy park. It was a quiet morning,” she took a moment to grin. “Except for this voice calling out for someone…”
<< 8 years ago >>
“Choco? Come on, dude! It’s not polite to run from mama like this.”
The uncommon frost bite of an early November New York morning pinched the tips of Luisa’s ears. She pulled her hat lower to cover the worryingly red-growing ears of hers, and kept roughing it through high snow piles. To think that her 12-hour shift would follow such a morning, seemed unimaginable right now. Her residency was halfway through, and she couldn’t be happier for its approaching end. Obviously, it was so much more engaging and rewarding (and better paying) than being an intern straight out of med school. But still, Luisa came from a family of fortune, meaning both physically and mentally demanding work was new ground to her.
“Choco, mommy’s cold. I’m never taking your collar off again, girl.”
She took a step on the icy park road, but underestimated the iciness of it. One step too confident and a silvery shriek later, Luisa landed on her back. Frowning, she cursed.
“Ouch.”
Someone’s hurried footsteps crunched in the snow, and suddenly, a big tongue licked Luisa’s forehead.
“Okay, Choco. You’re going to pay for my medical bills. And get me new scrubs cause I can’t go to work like this,” she laughed and brushed over her wet work clothes. “I’m going to be so late.”
With these words, she pulled her gray woolen hat over her head and prepared her frozen limbs for getting up with a groan.
“Woah-woah-woah. Don’t move. That was a bad fall there,” a high firm voice commanded. Luisa scrunched her eyes. There was a humming pain in the back of her head that kept her from fully seeing.
“It’s okay, I'm fine. I have to get up, I am completely-“
She fought loose from the stranger’s hand holding her against the ground. As she sat up, she had to fight a sigh. Her words froze in her throat as the stranger’s icicle-like eyes met hers. Snow in the morning light didn’t seem so bright anymore as the woman smiled, her teeth so perfect, so pearl-white. Luisa’s mouth hung open, fell open even further when she noticed the frost induced blush on the woman’s cheeks. So many freckles.
“…fine,” Luisa concluded her sentence. The woman shook her head incredulously.
“Okay, so that ice broke your fall?”
“I have to get to work, my dog… my shift, uhm, I, uhm…”
“Your dog brought me this,” the stranger raised a stick, the stick, to Luisa’s eyes. “I’m guessing, it belongs to you.”
Luisa winced at the chewed up tree branch, feeling Choco's wet tongue on her face again.
“It’s okay, you can keep it. We have to go anyway,” she started getting up, not even noticing the other woman supporting her the whole way. Until Luisa felt kind of dizzy and the brightly smiling stranger caught her as Luisa was about to fall.
“You’re not going anywhere. That was a pretty bad fall you had. You need a moment. Come on, let’s sit down,” the woman led her on a bench, holding Luisa up until they sat down, Luisa slumping right against the woman’s cashmere coat. Luisa kept seeing stars and as she met the stranger’s eyes, she was sure of it.
“Okay, maybe I really should wait for the headache to pass,” she admitted after a while. The woman chuckled.
“That’s a good idea.”
Luisa smiled with pain still ringing in her head. She had an hour until her shift would start, but she wouldn’t be a lot of use anyway.
“I'm Luisa, by the way,” she mumbled into the stranger’s coat. “Luisa Alver.”
The woman shifted under Luisa, and said, “Okay, Luisa Alver, rest.”
Reluctantly, but eventually, Luisa let her eyes shut and did the same with her mouth. The woman took out her phone, started texting.
“Hey, Luisa Alver, where do you work?”
Luisa lifted her head. “Excuse me?”
“You can’t go to work like this,” she laughed. “Where and who can I call?”
Luisa huffed. “I don’t think you can get me out of work, I'm a third-year resident at Mercy-North.”
“Ah, Mercy-North, huh? No problem,” was all she said before she dialed a number. “Hello, Stacy? I’m good. I’m between things currently. Yes, can you put him on, please? Thank you.”
She waited. “Roger, hi! How are you? Uh-uh? Yeah, good, so, listen, I'm going to need to cash in one of these favors you owe me. There’s a resident working in your hospital.”
Luisa gasped, mouthing are-you-talking-to-the-freaking-chief. The woman hushed her and kept on talking.
“Luisa Alver. Sorry, doctor Luisa Alver,” she winked, “Uh-uh. How come? Alright, I understand. Thank you, Roger. Yeah, maybe we will see at the club. Bye.”
She shoved her phone in the pocket and looked at Luisa.
“Turns out you’re the only OB-GYN resident available today, so there’s not much more to do than for you to go to work,” the woman frowned, “but he said a few hour delay wouldn’t kill them if you make it up some other day.”
Luisa rolled her eyes.
“I’d rather do it today. Thank you, though, for getting me an extra long shift! I would offer to make it up to you in some way, but I don’t know you or your name, so I'd better get going,” she winced but persevered as she got up. Choco had so patiently been lying on the woman’s foot, Luisa was really impressed. If there was something Choco, her overly active puppy, wasn’t, it was patient.
She nicked her tongue, inviting Choco along, and walked off.
“It’s Rose,” the woman yelled after. Luisa turned on her heels. She shook her hair – her flaming red hair – loose from under her hat. Oh.
“Rose Ruvelle.”
Rose smiled.
Luisa looked at her for a second and grinned. “Okay.”
“Had a good one?” one of the night nurses swiped her card right after Luisa. The day shift, Luisa’s shift, had been exhausted to its every minute. And frankly, Luisa just wanted to go home to Choco. Poor little girl had been alone all day. Luisa’s brother had promised to help her with Choco – he was the reason Luisa had rescued her from the shelter in the first place – but responsibilities for Rafael were secondary. So, Luisa figured, Choco longed for some company other than her chew toys.
Luisa shrugged, yawning. “I guess. I've had a headache throughout the whole day.”
The nurse stroked her arm, telling Luisa to go home and sleep it off. Groggily, Luisa grabbed her bag and took off. The nurse was right, whatever her name was. Luisa had made the effort of memorizing everyone’s names her first year, but after excruciatingly long shifts, her memory had found better purchase for her medical responsibilities.
Of course, Choco was waiting by the door, sleeping. Her dreams of never-ending stick throwing and all the dog kibble in the world were, however, cut short by her owner unlocking the door.
“Babe! Did you miss mommy?” the puppy came running to her, jumping like crazy, alternating between happily whining and licking Luisa’s face.
She giggled, petting Choco with one hand and grabbing her collar with the other.
“Come on, girl. We’re going out.”
Even though over twelve hours had passed since their morning walk, the weather seemed not to have changed at all. Luisa still felt like her nose was about to fall off as she made her way through the dimly lit late night park. Her cheeks had the needles of the frost bite stinging as snow crunched under her boots.
It was a quiet evening. Even the usually noisy New York traffic seemed to be whispering. Tired oak trees rocked back and forth in the Atlantic wind. Luisa took a whiff of that coldly burning breeze and smiled. It'd been a day.
Choco skipped around in the snow, chasing her own tail like a fool, and barking if Luisa wasn’t paying enough attention to her.
“Okay, if I promise to throw it will you bring it back?” she eyed the branch between Choco's teeth. She'd been waving it under her nose for a while now, but apparently, Luisa was too weak for those puppy eyes.
Unaware of the probability of Choco returning with the stick, Luisa threw it anyway.
Choco shot after the stick, snow flying everywhere under her paws.
Luisa turned her head up to the sky and let her breath paint a fog above her head. She'd lived in the city for her whole life, so stars weren’t that familiar to her. When she was just fifteen, her family had gone on a ski trip in the mountains. That was the only time Luisa had seen stars. Don’t get her wrong, city lights were great, they were indicators of life. But there was nothing like seeing a real, bright, full of life star beaming.
Digging her hands deeper in her coat's pockets, she took a look around her. Of course, Choco wasn’t anywhere to be found.
“Oh, come on let’s not play this again, baby. I don’t want to end up with another contusion tonight.”
She walked around, searching for her pup.
After a while, she came to a bush, all covered in generous layers of fresh snow.
“I blame you for permanent brain injuries, girl,” she mumbled, going around the bush.
“Don’t step on the ice again, then,” an already familiar voice replied.
“Rose?” Luisa gasped. And her knees nearly buckled as the copper-haired woman appeared from behind the snowy trees, hugging overly excited Choco in her embrace.
Despite the lack of light in the evening park, Luisa could so clearly make out everything that made Rose look so alive. Her beautiful hair tumbling on her shoulders like flames in the midst of a snow storm; it seemed impossible to still be blazing, yet there was nothing more beautiful. Her blue eyes cold, but again, so gooey, so soft, like November snow. Her freckles dancing the tarantella on her cheeks, all over her nose. Her perfect teeth shining even without a ray of light.
All of that wrapped into a cashmere winter coat, black leather gloves, slacks too fitting to be true, and long, up to her knees winter boots.
“Hi,” she smiled. Snowflakes were scattered in her hair, staying there for mere seconds before they melted.
It was snowing.
The soft sighs of tree branches bending under the snow filled the silence around them; they were too busy looking at each other to dare to speak.
Their lips curled up into bright smiles around the same time, laughing, Rose’s cheeks even coloring into a slight blush.
“Uhm, do you live in that park or something?” Luisa chuckled, brushing her hair behind her ear. It was a nervous habit. She’d always do that while talking to girls.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Rose grinned, “how’s that head of yours?”
Luisa ran her hand through her hair, releasing it from the ponytail she’d put it up to hours ago.
“It’s good. Better now, actually,” she smiled coyly.
Rose nodded, mumbled a good.
They just looked at each other. Rose looked so incredible, so flawless, Luisa was afraid she herself looked like an used dish rag after her shift.
It wasn’t until Choco started whining in Rose's hands that they snapped out of it, and Rose let Choco down on the ground. The pup came running to Luisa.
“So you did miss me?” Luisa laughed as the dog rubbed against her calf.
She picked the dog up into her arms, knowing fully well how much Choco liked to be carried like the baby she was.
She turned her gaze at Rose again. The redhead was biting her lip like she was holding back words.
“Would you like to get a drink with me?”
“It’s late,” Luisa admitted.
“That’s the point,” Rose smiled.
Luisa looked Rose up and down, showing her she wasn’t as interested as she actually was. She wouldn’t be that easy – Luisa always enjoyed a little chase before giving herself to a girl.
“Hmm,” she hummed, “maybe some other time.”
She turned on her heels and started walking away.
“Can I call you?” Rose yelled after her.
“We’ll see.”
Fast forward three days, and Luisa was working a 24-hour shift at the pit. As an OB-GYN resident, her schedule didn’t include it that much, but from time to time, it was inevitable.
“Okay, what do we have here,” she came to a gurney housing a teenage boy with a bleeding forehead.
“I’m doctor Alver, nice to meet you… Tommy,” she gave him a warm smile and asked to take a look. It wasn’t a bad one, a few stitches and it would be okay.
Luisa was halfway through with the stitching when, somewhere in the background, she could hear people mumbling and arguing.
“Tommy? Are you okay?” a woman stormed to the bed, hugging the boy tight.
“Excuse me, sorry,” Luisa tried to get her attention, “hi. I’m Tommy’s doctor, doctor Alver.”
The woman offered her hand, her emotions obviously all over the place and shook her hand.
“I'm his mother. God, that’s why he should never stay at his dad’s. Honey, are you okay? Oh my god, you’re bleeding!”
“Mrs. Feller,” that voice made Luisa stop stitching completely. She knew that high-pitched voice. She’d turn that voice down a few days ago.
And there she was. Luisa turned around, and like a blazing flame, she walked through the emergency room, looking like a billion bucks. Her mouth, her dark red lips, turned into a grin too indecent as she noticed Luisa.
“Ms. Ruvelle… I can… I can explain,” the woman began, but Luisa could hardly hear her. Rose had just parted her coat's hems, and frankly, the buttoned shirt that showed was something Luisa would have loved to part as well.
“Let’s not get into this again, Mrs. Feller. Mr. Feller has full custody over Tommy, so this is unacceptable. I’m here on his behalf. Tommy knows me. You are free and expected to leave,” her voice was icy as she said these words. Having finished her little speech, she turned to Luisa, completely nailed to the chair and speechless.
“Good to see you again, Luisa,” her name melted like honey on her tongue. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
It was like she was torturing Luisa with these over pronounced words. She wasn’t expecting to see her here, right.
Rose brushed some snow out of her hair and stood there, a perfect marble statue.
“Hi-i,” Luisa mumbled. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here on behalf of Tommy’s father, Tom Feller Senior. I’m his lawyer.”
Still giddy from seeing Rose, Luisa held her hand still as she poured herself coffee in the cafeteria.
“Need a hand?”
Luisa jumped, spilling coffee everywhere. Including that button-up she had dreamt of tearing apart an hour ago.
Rose.
She laughed, but Luisa didn’t. Luisa was scared to death and blushing hard.
“I’m so so sorry, Rose. Here, let me,” she started patting her shirt with napkins, slowing down as she got higher up. When she gave her one last tap with an already soaked napkin, their eyes were fixed on each other, and Luisa’s hand on Rose’s sternum.
“It’s okay,” Rose whispered.
It was one of these moments. One of these moments when you can’t think of anyone else besides the person in front of you. One of these moments when you can only feel that person's breath hit you like a gulp of fresh air. One of these moments that makes you feel dizzy, even though the world around you two has stopped spinning.
“I’m, I, uhm,” Luisa wanted to say something, anything. But she could hardly breathe when Rose’s eyes were that close to her.
Suddenly, Rose smiled and took a step away.
“Don’t worry about it.”
And as Rose walked away, Luisa wasn’t sure whether she’d meant the shirt or that moment.
Luisa ended up signing Tommy in for the night. Head wounds were never predictable.
She herself finished her shift. It had been a while since she'd seen her bed or had a hot shower. And not to forget her dog waiting for her to take her out on one of their late night walks.
“Luisa!” the night nurse caught her. “I need your signatures for Tommy Feller.”
Luisa stifled a yawn, but mumbled an “okay”. Through the fog of sleep she signed the papers, halting on the last one as someone’s breath tickled her ear.
“Working late, doctor?”
Luisa turned around to meet Rose’s shrewd gaze, measuring Luisa up and down, not even trying to hide her curiosity.
“Not that it’s any of your concern,” Luisa grinned, suddenly forgetting all about her hot shower and bed, “but I just finished my shift, yeah.”
She signed the last paper and fixed the bag over her shoulder.
“And what has kept you, a badass lawyer, here until this late hour?”
Rose smiled smugly. “You think I’m badass?”
Luisa blushed.
“I’m, uhm,” she mumbled. Rose always seemed to take words out of her mouth. She turned back to one of the documents for a double-check, and also, to avoid Rose's gaze. God knows what else Luisa could say in Rose's presence.
As she dragged her eyes over the words, she felt Rose’s breath come closer.
“Have dinner with me,” she husked.
Luisa couldn’t contain her smile and nodded.
“So, when you’re not stitching wounds of reckless teenagers, what do you like to do?” Rose took a bite of her sub, “this is so not what I had in mind as dinner, though.”
Luisa grinned. Rose had insisted on taking Luisa out somewhere nice but as Luisa had finished a taxing shift, she’d convinced Rose to have Subway instead.
“This is a good dinner, shut up,” she laughed, “and, I don’t do much. I like to hang out with Choco, my dog, and… I haven’t even been dating for a while, to be honest.”
She turned her eyes down, the revelation bringing a slight blush on her cheeks.
Rose put her sandwich down. Slowly, she clapped her hands clean, and slid one on Luisa's.
“We can go as slow as you want to,” she hummed, circling Luisa’s wrist with her thumb. “As slow as you want.”
Luisa looked at their hands together, their eyes nearly two inches from each other.
The park bench was cool underneath her palm, but Rose’s skin against hers made her numb from the cold. Everything about Rose radiated warmth, and Luisa was longing to know if her lips were as melting, too.
“Let’s go slow,” she whispered. Her hand fell on Rose’s cheek. She got closer to her face, but turned to say in her ear, “Really slow.”
The air went thick and the world silenced. Luisa didn’t move, her face was in Rose's hair, warm, away from the frost bite.
Rose’s hand creeped on Luisa’s thigh, loosing patience with every second. Their faces were like different poles of magnets. The pull between them was all that mattered at that moment.
Just one loop in the moment, and their lips met. Rose’s lips were even softer than they had seemed. They kissed under the streetlights, in the snowfall, in the park they’d met.
Luisa had never felt so warm in the snow before.
“Slow, huh?” Rose grinned as she pulled away from the kiss. Luisa only shrugged.
“It’s all subjective.”
Rose laughed, kissing Luisa again.
Their lips kept locking together. Maybe it was the romance of kissing in the dim snowy park. Maybe it was the thrill of finally getting to kiss Rose all over again. Maybe it was the growing lust for Rose, but after centimeters of snow had fallen, Luisa’s hands got past Rose’s coat and pretty close to fulfilling that daydream of hers.
“Do you want to go somewhere warmer?” Rose offered, completely out of breath. She pecked Luisa on the lips one last time and got up, pulling Luisa with her.
“Slow, remember?”
Rose smiled.
“Of course. We don’t have to… I just want to keep you warm.”
This had to be the most adorable thing anyone had ever said to Luisa.
“It wouldn’t hurt if you came over, I guess,” Luisa grinned, “I know Choco would be over the moon.”
The whole way to Luisa’s apartment they kept brushing their hands accidentally together and apart. Even after kissing like they had in the park, holding hands was an affectionate gesture neither of them was sure the other would have appreciated.
Just a block before her apartment, Luisa gathered all her courage and took Rose’s hand in hers.
As they walked up the stairs, their intertwined hands kept swinging back and forth. They didn’t have the pressure, the anxiety that often came with sex. All they knew was the night seemed impossible without each other.
So little time had passed since they'd met and yet, it all felt so familiar.
True to Luisa’s word, Choco couldn’t have been happier for the spontaneous guest. But as Luisa led Rose to her bedroom, the pup was left in front of a big bowl of kibble and a promise to get a long walk tomorrow.
Luisa still needed the shower. Rose waited for her to finish on the bed, going through Luisa’s brief book collection.
“You don’t read a lot, do you?” she asked. Luisa had just shut off the shower, so she could hear Rose again.
“It’s not my favorite, no,” she admitted. Squeezing water from her hair, she stepped into the room, and Rose nearly dropped the book she'd been holding.
Luisa was wearing only her scrub top and a pair of something close to underwear. But Rose’s head was racing with so many thoughts, she wasn’t sure if there was enough fabric for them to be called that.
She walked to the mirror, starting to fix something. Soon, Rose couldn’t wait anymore and forgot about slow. Her fingers ghosted over Luisa’s soap-kissed skin and her lips hovered above her neck.
Their eyes met in the reflection. That moment, they both knew there was nowhere else to go from there than what was about to follow.
Rose landed on her back into Luisa’s bed, Luisa crawling on top of her right after.
Kissing Rose, her lips, her neck, her sternum, was like molding soft clay in her hands. Whenever Luisa’s lips landed on Rose's neck, the woman arched into her, gasping so lightly, her voice silver. Whenever their lips met, Rose parted her lips for Luisa to enter with her tongue. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle, Luisa reveled in the feel of belonging.
As the time grew older, Luisa had to fight harder and harder to keep her eyes open.
“Sleep,” Rose whispered, giving her one last kiss. “I’ll be here.”
Luisa cuddled up with her, letting her exhaustion get the better of her.
It was still late – or too early – when Luisa awoke. It was dark, but she could see that Rose was up, too.
Rose's freckles were so easy to make out in the dimly lit room. Luisa started tracing them, drawing constellations across her skin.
It was all platonic until her finger halted by the corner of Rose's lips. A hot puff of air fell out of her mouth before Luisa caught her lips with her own. Her hand fell down Rose’s leg, stopping behind her kneecap to pull Rose’s leg around herself. Rose’s tongue slid across Luisa’s lips in the storm that were their kisses.
This was far from slow.
Luisa’s fingers toyed with the top button of Rose's shirt until Rose begged Luisa to just rip it open. So, Luisa did. Tens of buttons scattered on the floor like snow. Luisa could finally fulfill that daydream, sneaking her hands past the shirt's hems to Rose's back. Swiftly, she unstrapped her bra. God knows she'd done that so many times before.
“Ah,” Rose sighed as Luisa pushed her bra aside, replacing the garment with her hands. “Are you sure about this?”
Luisa pulled back to look Rose in the eyes, nodding.
“I want you,” she lowered her hands to Rose's hips, descending her body. Between her breasts, where hundreds of freckles were scattered, she placed soft kisses, letting each and every one melt into Rose’s skin.
“Make love to me,” Rose sighed as Luisa’s lips found her breasts. She pulled one nipple into her mouth, sucking while circling it with her tongue gently. Rose writhed in her arms, and Luisa hadn’t even gotten past her pants yet.
Luisa continued her trip south of Rose's body, leaving kisses behind like bread crumbs. The difference was, she could find her way back to Rose's lips anytime.
Gently, Luisa took Rose’s underwear between her teeth and pulled it down her thighs, slowly.
“You are so beautiful,” she husked before landing her lips directly on Rose's center. All that kissing hadn’t left Rose unaffected, so Luisa could easily slip her tongue into her lover, alternating between that and leaving soft kisses or potential hickeys on her thighs.
“Ah, Luisa,” Rose’s breath was totally out of sync. “Harder.”
Luisa heard her, drawing inconsistent patterns around her clit.
It was spur of the moment and neither of them wanted to stop.
“I’m close,” Rose panted, gaping her mouth as Luisa sucked harder on her center. “Kiss me.”
Luisa shot up from between her legs and kissed her breath away. She slotted her thigh between Rose's legs, starting to thrust into her. Soon, Rose came with a silent scream and Luisa’s arms around her.
Then, there was nothing but silence and their breaths filling the room.
“You’re amazing,” Luisa’s voice was truly stunned. She landed soft kisses all over Rose’s neck as the woman recovered, her breaths slowing down bit by bit.
“I want to go out with you.”
Rose smiled. “Where do you want to go?”
Luisa took a thoughtful expression and then answered, “Some place nice. Somewhere familiar. A place that wouldn’t be anyone else’s. Somewhere only we know.”
“I knew you’d fall asleep before I got to the end,” Rose whispered as she pulled the blanket over her deeply asleep wife. She’d had a tough day at work, so sleep was all she’d needed. Some things never seemed to change.
Except for one thing – the place, somewhere only they knew, had back then been the park, that bench where Rose had held Luisa when she'd fallen. Now, it was anywhere where they were together. It didn’t matter if it was their home, the line at the check out desk at the grocery store, an empty or overcrowded street. What mattered was that they were there together. Because Rose couldn’t imagine a place without Luisa’s love. Her true love, her princess.