The corner of Sophia’s mouth curled up slightly. Pleasure? Amusement? The hint of a challenge? Vic felt helpless to interpret the expression, and absent enthusiastic consent, she remained rooted in her responsibility and being ripped apart by her own desire. Mercifully, Sophia didn’t seem nearly as frozen or conflicted. Cupping Vic’s cheek in the smooth palm of her hand she asked, “Is that all?”

Vic melted into the touch, so tender, so evocative. “It feels like quite a bit.”

Sophia ran her thumb over Vic’s lower lip. “It’s a start.”

Then she pulled Vic forward and pressed her own mouth to the spot she’d caressed. To say the sparks were immediate would’ve been an egregious understatement. Sophia’s lips were soft yet insistent as they moved against her own. God, how long had it been since she kissed someone? She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember any other kisses or any other someones with Sophia pressed against her.

Parting her lips slightly, she welcomed more contact, but Sophia took her time. Light touches, little brushes, not teasing but drawing her forward, drawing her deeper, she stoked the fire she’d been building all night. The patience and poise were wholly unnecessary now though. Something had broken in Vic the moment she’d given voice to her own desires, as if the speaking of them had been more transgressive than the act itself. With that threshold crossed, she had no reason or restraint left to prevent herself from tipping fully forward into the flames.

She cupped Sophia’s face in one hand and wrapped her other arm around her waist, pulling them steadily closer together. She would know every inch of this woman. She decided it with the same ease and clarity with which one might order an entrée off a menu, but at no point did she forget Sophia was full, complex, and vibrant. She could not be commanded or cowed, and Vic wanted nothing of the sort. She did, however, want to kiss those lips that were so often pressed into a tight line. She wanted to explore the corners with her tongue so the next time they turned up in such a coy smile, she would know them on a deeper level. She wanted to kiss along the strong jaw, to feel the muscle go slack beneath her caress. She wanted to breathe in the summery scent of Sophia’s intoxicating perfume and breathe out a contented sigh next to her ear.

And she did. All that and more. Not an impulse passed through her mind unheeded. Time bent or suspended as hours may have passed in minutes, and yet no amount of stated desires did anything to quench the thirst continuing to build in her. Before long, the kiss that seemed so great a leap felt small compared to the realm of possibility opening between them.