“And I have paid for mine,” Vic shouted, her voice full of the emotion and strength it lacked before. “I paid for it over and over and over, with my name, with my body, my privacy, with my past and my future. I am well aware of my privilege, but what’s unearned was also unchosen. I didn’t get to pick my job, my studies, my own partner. Things the people who work in our kitchens or landscape our gardens take for granted are denied to me.”

Sophia made a show of looking bored, but she wondered if her considerable training managed to come through her voice as she fought to remain neutral in the face of such a stunning outburst. “Do you want my sympathy?”

Vic’s shoulders fell. “I’d never even dare to wish for that.”

“What then?”

Vic shrugged.

“No, don’t do that.” Sophia stood and pushed into Vic’s space, desperate now not to let her extinguish the fire. “Don’t go on another one of your little rants about what you can’t have and then refuse to say what you want.”

Victoria bit her lower lip, and her gaze became hazy.

“If you don’t want sympathy, what do you want?”

“I want . . .” She shook her head as if trying to dislodge a thought she couldn’t shake free.

Sophia’s chest tightened in anticipation of the words Victoria didn’t seem able to say. Had it been so long that this woman didn’t even know her own desires, or did she merely need the right motivation to overcome years of self-imposed restraint? She leaned close, so close she felt the heat radiating off Vic as she whispered, “Say it.”

“I don’t want to disappoint anyone,” Vic said softly.

“That’s still making what you want about what someone else wants.”

“I don’t want to be alone,” Vic whispered.

“That’s what you don’t want,” Sophia pushed. “It’s not the same thing as what you do.”

“I want . . .” Vic’s eyes flicked lower, as if unable to focus on anything but Sophia’s lips until she closed her eyes. “I want to be irresponsible.”

“Hmm.” Sophia hummed at the hint of pleasure the phrase sent up her spine. “Better. Keep going.”

“I want to act on my impulses.”

“Tell me about them,” she whispered directly in her ear.

Vic bit her lip a so hard the deep red went white.

“They aren’t impulses if you have to think that hard about them,” Sophia goaded.

Vic opened her eyes and turned her head only slightly, so close. “I want to kiss you.”

••••