She started off gentle, as usual. And as usual, Vivian’s face and body heated up against her own. Jules felt a shiver chase up and down Vivian’s spine. And when she’d finished the first kiss, she gave Vivian another one. And then another. And another. Then she lost track and just thought about Vivian’s unbelievably soft mouth and the way it kissed her back so hungrily tonight.

Suddenly, Vivian pulled back, panting, her face bright red. Jules’s heart fell, but Vivian didn’t retreat or push her away. Instead she said, “Please.”

Please what? Jules didn’t know, but she didn’t stop to think about it. She couldn’t think at all as she bent and kissed the angles of Vivian’s chin, nipping at the place where the jaw met her throat.

Vivian gasped in her ear.

With a sigh, Jules moved downward, mouthing and kissing at her throat.

Digging her nails into Jules’s shoulders, Vivian stiffened and arched. “God,” she whispered.

“Good?” Jules breathed deeply, her head spinning from Vivian’s perfume and beneath it the smell of her skin.

“D-don’t stop.”

She didn’t. Given permission to drown, she did, and nuzzled at Vivian’s skin as if she were in a dream. Vivian’s pulse beat fast and hard near her mouth. She slid her hands up and down, pressing Vivian even closer to her.

“Oh.” Vivian moved one of her own hands up to dig into Jules’s hair. She gave a sudden, rueful laugh. “Y-you win.”

“I do?” Before Vivian could reply, she kissed her again, a long kiss now.

By the end of it, Vivian was practically squirming. “You’re driving me crazy,” she whimpered when Jules let up. “My hormones are—and you, you’ve been t-teasing me for—”

“I never teased you.” Jules let indignation take over her arousal for a moment. “You’re the one who—and I told you I’d do whatever you wanted.”

At those words, Vivian’s eyes glazed over.

Jules’s irritation vanished without a trace. She kissed her again as lightly as she had that first night and whispered, “So what do you want?”

“I don’t know,” Vivian panted. “I can’t think.” Her eyes slid shut. “Please, just…”

The raw need in her voice went straight between Jules’s legs. Jules couldn’t get past the blush in Vivian’s cheeks or the smell of her or the tremble in her mouth or how soft her hair was when Jules slid her fingers into it and pulled her closer for another kiss. And this time, she nibbled and kissed until Vivian parted her lips and let her in.

Drowning.

When they parted at last, Vivian moaned.