I gasp and grip the bedsheets, my body alighting in rushingtingles at the contact. I want her inside me, as soon as possible. She lifts off me long enough to pull my panties down, then her hands skim over my calves, along my thighs, my hips, and back to my waist. Those piercing blue eyes of hers are almost black with lust as she takes me in, like she’s beholding a wonder of the world.
“Perfect,” she murmurs. And then her mouth is on me. My entire world coalesces into the pressure and slide of her mouth against my most sensitive areas. She doesn’t have to ask what I need; she doesn’t have to question what feels good. She’s so in tune with my body—listening for my sounds, noting any slight changes to my muscles contracting, feeling how I react to her movements—it’s like she’s inside my mind, and one step ahead. I lose myself to her. I become pleasure. I am my rushing tingles of nerve endings, the warmth flooding my abdomen, the tightening of my core.
As incredible as she is at this, I don’t want her down there. I want her up here, with me. I stroke the side of her face and draw her attention back up. Lex rests her cheek against my thigh as she regards me, her eyes big and round and a dazed smile gracing her lips, like she’d got wondrously lost in the act and never wanted it to end.
Just as she got down there, Lex makes her way back up, kissing my body in places that I’d never considered erotic until now.
“You. Naked. Now,” I say, tugging at her bra strap.
Lex laughs, then does as she’s told, stripping without any flair as I tug the blankets down. I welcome her under the sheets and the two of us nestle beneath them, notching our legs together, pressing our bodies close, and exchanging soft, sweet kisses as we rock in unison.
“After everything I’ve done, everything we’ve been through,” I whisper between kisses, “I can’t believe I get to keep you.”
“Letting yourself be loved by someone else is the highest formof self-love there is,” Lex murmurs against my lips. “Will you let me love you, Aubrey? All of you... even the scary parts.”
My skin tingles with her words, warmth flushing over me. “I will,” I say, my words barely more than a whisper.
“Good.” Lex hums in her throat. “You deserve to be happy.”
I manage to nod.
“Say it,” she coaxes.
I shudder an exhale as my chest tightens. “I... I deserve to be happy.”
She rewards me with a kiss. “You deserve to be fulfilled.”
“I deserve to be fulfilled,” I repeat.
Lex kisses me again. “You deserve to be loved.”
A tear slips down my cheek as my throat tightens. This one feels so much harder to say. Lex pulls me tighter, sensing my discomfort, and repeats it again, and again, until my words join hers, and I’m saying it, too. “I deserve to be loved.”
“Keep saying those words, baby girl,” she urges, rocking her hips against mine, the slide of us together better than anything I could have dreamt.
I do as I’m told, repeating the mantra, “I deserve to be happy. I deserve to be fulfilled. I deserve to be loved,” over and over and over, between heated kisses, soft gasps, and quiet moans against each other’s lips. Never before have I made love like this. I’ve never felt closer to another person. I bared my soul to Lex, split myself open and showed her all the dark ugliness that lies beneath, all the things I’ve tried to hide, to bury, to move past—and all she did was tell me I deserve to be happy, I deserve to be fulfilled, I deserve to be loved. And, with every repeat of those words, I start to believe it.
Through letting her love me, I begin to love myself, too.
Lex and I climb our orgasm together; the newly established trust between us, the vulnerability of opening myself up to her, the friction of her body against mine, paired with her breathylittle moans in my ear, culminate in the most beautiful experience of my life.
My body tenses and quickens. Lex is right there with me, her breaths laboured, her movements frantic, the pressure so intense I feel like I might... Oh god, Imight...
“Come for me, baby girl,” Lex moans, unable to stop herself from tipping over the edge. I feel her release against me, and that’s enough to send me careening over, too. I cry out as the intensity of my orgasm shakes me to my core, our voices meeting in harmony, our bodies perfectly aligned and in tune, our spirits tied together.
It’s so intense I start trembling, then shaking, and—wait. That’s not me shaking, or Lex. It’s the house! The lights flicker. Car alarms go off. Dogs howl. Then, the power goes out.
Lex lifts off me, her face cast in shadows from the evening light emanating through her window. “What the hell was that?”
My eyes widen. “The curse... do you think it’s broken?”
“You know what,” Lex says, dimples on full display as she tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I might start believing in magic becausedamn, that was amazing.” She kisses me again.
The sound of the front door opening jars us out of paradise as several people enter the house, along with a little voice shouting, “Mom! Mom! Did you feel that earthquake?”
Before we can do anything about our compromising situation, footfalls pound up the stairs and the bedroom door bursts open. Gabe’s elated smile drops to confusion. “Mom, why are you naked with Aubrey?” he announces to the entire house.
I look at Lex. She looks at me. And we both burst out laughing. Because of course this would happen to us. Maybe the curse is broken. Maybe it isn’t. It doesn’t matter anymore. No matter what, Lex and I will love each other through it all.