Which is a short, choked laugh, followed by, “Believe me, you don’t have to fill a special request.” She pauses for a beat, before she confesses, “I wanted to kiss you so badly when I picked Abbie up today.”

Caroline’s heart kicks up, skipping a beat, even as she thinks back to what a total mess she’d been by the time Hannah had arrived to pick Abbie up. “Yeah? Covered in flour and all?”

Hannah shifts where she is in bed and hums her agreement. Caroline would give anything to be able to see her and have a better read on her, but in case Hannah has any embarrassment in sharing, Caroline decides to contribute. “I always want to kiss you. No matter what you’re wearing.”

She gives it a few seconds, wondering where the line is. If she’s crossed it. Hannah doesn’t say anything, though, beyond a faint, “Oh?”

And Caroline takes it as all the encouragement that she needs.

“I want you when you’re in your work uniform. I’d like to toss the visor away and press you into the counter right there, feeling your mouth on mine. I want to kiss you when you pick Abbie up after you get out of class, with your eyes tired but alive. I want to kiss you whenever we sit on the couch together. To press you into the cushions and feel the way your mouth opens against mine.”

She closes her eyes, thinking about their single actual kiss. It was only a couple of weeks ago, but Caroline feels like it was simultaneously eons ago and yesterday.

“I want to kiss you when you laugh and feel your lips smiling against mine. I want to kiss you when you look at me like you’re trying to figure me out, to read my mind. When you roll your eyes at me when you’re exasperated.”

A strangled sigh sounds in her ear, her words breathless, “It sounds like you think about kissing me a lot.”

“I do.” She’s had months to think about it. “And more.”

It comes out before she can even think to stop it and she wonders if that was it. If she actually went too far –

“I think about it, too.” Hannah’s voice is a low rasp and the sound of it and the meaning behind her words makes Caroline groan, the thrum of arousal working through her body.

Okay, Caroline would give anything not just to see Hannah in this moment, but to be there with her. She wants more than anything to act on these feelings. To have a moment truly alone with Hannah for the first time in weeks so she can kiss her again.

“We… should go to bed.” Hannah whispers.

And Caroline blows out a low breath, knowing she damn sure isn’t about to be able to sleep any time soon. Maybe after she touches herself, she thinks wryly.