As she lay with Lou, Mia couldn’t believe that about herself. Because Lou was not the sort of person who would look into Mia’s eyes, drag a finger over her skin the way she was doing now, and forgive her, if she still had the tiniest smidgen of that past evil inside of her. It was the one thing that Mia believed with all her heart and that she hadn’t been able to believe with anyone else before—because they didn’t matter the way Lou did.

Lou’s finger dived deeper, traced a circle around her belly button, then plunged straight between her legs. Did she know that Mia was more than ready for her? That a few strokes of those delicious fingers would most likely be all it took. Because Lou was gorgeous and it had aroused Mia greatly to feast on her earlier, but that was not what this was about. It wasn’t even about quenching the desire that was so visible in Lou’s eyes. It was all about saying yes without words that could fail or hold different meanings and could be misinterpreted. Their bodies were saying what their lips couldn’t. There was so much truth in one body acquiescing to another, no other statement, no other way of granting forgiveness, could ever speak with more clarity.

Mia kept her gaze on Lou’s face and she saw a small smile appear as Lou encountered the wetness between Mia’s legs. Mia spread her legs, lifted one knee up so Lou’s hand had full access. There would be time to experience the pleasure of seeing Lou disappear between her legs, her face leaving Mia’s field of vision as it approached Mia the way Lou’s hands were approaching her now, all candor and lust and the willingness to please. But that was for later, because right now Mia had a more immediate pleasure on her mind.

Lou drew the same kind of circles she had drawn around Mia’s nipple earlier. Wide at first but quickly zoning in, quickly leaving Mia breathless.

Lou’s lips had parted in concentration or perhaps sheer delight and Mia thought it a great privilege that she was allowed to read Lou’s reactions off her face like that, that she was granted access to this part of her as well. By the time they went to sleep, she’d have seen it all. Lou would have given her everything. But before that, Mia had to give back. Because Lou was looking at her face, having diverted her gaze from her chest. She was staring into Mia’s eyes as if she was looking for that one last ounce of truth she may need.