Yet, Lou led the charge. She brought her hands to Mia’s pale neck, and savored the moment her skin made contact with Mia’s, relished the tiny shock running up her spine, the shiver rippling from her fingers to her sex. She slanted her head, eyes wide open, and pressed her lips to Mia’s. The sky didn’t come falling down, nor were their pasts erased because of the magic of their lip-lock, but it felt so damn good to kiss Mia, that Lou pulled her near, opened her lips to Mia, and let her in as much as she could.

Mia had her hands in Lou’s hair and they both pushed themselves closer toward each other, even though their lips had reached the pinnacle of closeness already. Mia moaned into Lou’s mouth, indicating that she wanted more too. That this kiss meant the same to her. That she needed it as much as Lou did.

Was Lou really going to take Mia Miller up to her room? She had changed the decor, but it was the same room she had slept in as a teenager, the very same room she had cried bitter tears in because of the woman she was kissing now. The thought didn’t stop her. On the contrary.

“Let’s go upstairs,” she said.

Mia didn’t say anything, just gave Lou a prolonged stare, as if to ask, are you sure? But of course Lou was sure. Even though she had no idea where this would end, what it would do to her, or if it would survive one night together at all, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted to take Mia to bed.

She tugged at Mia’s hand and guided her up the stairs, down the landing, to her bedroom, where a bunch of unopened boxes still remained stacked in the corner, because she hadn’t had the nerve to fully face up to the failure that leaving Brisbane represented. But Brisbane or Angie or any of those words that had rolled out of her mouth during dinner were no longer of importance. When it mattered, Lou could be completely in the moment. She could pay no attention to the past and stop thinking a dozen steps ahead, and just be in the here and now. And that here and now was Mia Miller in her arms in her room.

Mia didn’t glance around; she only had eyes for Lou. Eyes that seemed to devour Lou, as if she’d already taken off her clothes. The top Lou had worn to impress because it accentuated her shoulders. Her jeans that clung hotly to her thighs.