Lou smiled and kissed her tenderly.

“You are amazing, so confident in saying stuff like that,” whispered Lou. “I…I have been feeling the same way, but it would have taken me months to tell you.”

Stephanie snorted. “Trust me, this confidence is surprising me as much as you. I didn’t know I had it in me.”

Lou smiled at her, and Stephanie reached up for another kiss just because she could.

“Lou, why are you so shy?” Stephanie wrapped her arms tighter around Lou’s slender form.

“God, I don’t really know. I just always have been. Never been able to say two words to anyone without blushing or having my throat close up in fear.” She paused. “Family stuff didn’t help. But let’s save that for another time.”

Stephanie cupped Lou’s face and stroked the line of her jaw. She wondered what family drama had played such a big part in Lou’s history. Clearly, it had shaped Lou as much as her own had. A shiver ran through her body. Suddenly, memories of her uncle Terry, and all the anger and bigotry, tumbled through Stephanie’s mind. She forced those thoughts away—nothing like that needed to intrude on what she was sharing with Lou now.

“You okay? Cold?” Lou reached for the duvet and pulled it higher up their entwined bodies.

Stephanie shook her head but snuggled closer to Lou anyway.

“Just…my own stuff.” She kissed Lou’s chest. “Let’s tell each other, one day. I really want to know you, Lou. All of you.”

“I’d like that too,” replied Lou, her smile wide. “I want you to know me, to know all about me. Just the same as I want to know you. In all the talking we’ve done at the office, I’ve found it so easy to be with you.”

She suddenly laughed, and Stephanie looked up at her.

“What?”

Lou blushed. “I was just thinking about work. About being with you there, you know, now that we’ve done this. How am I supposed to keep my hands off you in the office?”

Stephanie grinned. “Oh dear, I hadn’t thought of that. Hm.” She ran a hand down the length of Lou’s warm torso. “Maybe we’ll have to find secret places we could meet. I think the back stairway is hardly ever used.” An image of them flashed into her mind—wrapped up in each other on the stairway, pushed against a wall, knowing someone could interrupt them at any minute but unable to stop, fingers seeking wet heat… She swallowed against the arousal that steamrolled across her body.

Lou shuddered, and goose bumps broke out on her skin underneath Stephanie’s touch.

“You like?” Stephanie’s voice took on a seductive huskiness she didn’t know she possessed.

“Mm, very much.”

Lou placed a hand on Stephanie’s ass and began rubbing slow circles across it. She teased Stephanie, her fingers occasionally dipping down to where her thighs met.