She didn’t regret this, though. She should’ve, but she didn’t. Her entire body was loose and relaxed. How was she supposed to regret that?
“I get it if you don’t want to do that again,” Cassie said. “But I think we should.”
Okay. Well. Clearly they were going to have to do that again. Yes, it was irresponsible and wrong and everything Erin had already worried about, but she was not going to say no to sex that good.
“How are we ever going to do it in a bed if we don’t do it again?”
Cassie grinned.
“But we need to lay out some ground rules,” Erin said.
That was the way to handle this.
Cassie smirked. “Like I promise not to fall in love with you?”
Erin didn’t acknowledge the comment. “Like no sex while Parker is in the house.”
“Reasonable.”
She started towel drying her hair. “No hickeys.”
“What if they’re somewhere no one can see?”
Her cheeks heated, and she hid them, bending to flip her hair forward and scrub it with the towel. “Okay.”
When Erin finished with her hair, Cassie was standing behind her, close enough to touch. In the mirror, Erin could see her own blush extend all the way to the towel wrapped around her. Cassie held on to Erin’s hips and kissed her neck.
“Are those all the rules?”
Erin tilted her head to give Cassie more access.
“One more,” she said before she got too distracted by Cassie’s mouth. “This ends when your visit ends.”
Cassie nuzzled under Erin’s ear. “I already promised not to fall in love with you, sweetheart,” she murmured. “Now can we get on to the leaving-hickeys-where-no-one-can-see part?”
Eleven
CASSIE
The next morning Cassie brushed her teeth before going downstairs. Erin met her in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a soft smile.
Cassie kissed her gently before taking the coffee.
The kitchen seemed like its own world. Snow fell so lightly outside the window it looked like it was in slow motion. The coffee mug was warm in Cassie’s hand, but Erin’s smile made her warmer, spreading through her body like molasses, slow and thick and sweet. It felt like they were breaking rules just by looking at each other, like they were getting away with something.
Cassie set her coffee on the counter so she could get her hands on Erin’s face. Erin opened her mouth for Cassie when she kissed her, clutched at Cassie’s shoulders.
“We agreed not when Parker is home,” she whispered when they pulled apart.
“We agreed no sex when Parker is home,” Cassie said, nosing at Erin’s chin and kissing below her jaw. “We said nothing about making out in the kitchen while she’s asleep upstairs.”
Fifteen minutes went by before Erin protested again. She slipped out of Cassie’s arms and ran the back of her hand over her kiss-swollen lips.
“You’re trouble,” she said.
Cassie gave her best innocent face. Erin leaned toward her, just slightly, before shaking her head and reaching for her coffee. She took a sip and grimaced.
Cassie laughed. “Gone cold?”
Erin pretended she didn’t think it was funny, but Cassie could see a smile as she dumped both their cups down the sink and poured them fresh coffee.
Once Parker was up and she and Cassie were fed, they got ready to go sledding. Cassie ended up in an old pair of Erin’s snow pants and a hat with a ball of fluff on top.
“You look ridiculous,” Erin said, biting at her bottom lip like she was trying to hold back laughter.
“They’re your snow pants, Mom,” Parker said. “So it’s your fault she looks like this.”
“Excuse the both of you,” Cassie said. She pulled a pose. “I look great.”
“Keep telling yourself that, babe,” Parker said.
Cassie jutted one hip out and put her hand on it, pouting her lips. “Maybe winter isn’t so terrible if I get to look this good.”
Erin failed at holding back her laughter, then, and Cassie couldn’t keep a straight face.
Sledding included Caleb and Lila, plus some kids Cassie hadn’t met—Scout and Haylee and Madison.
“Ever get sick of hanging out with a bunch of girls?” Cassie asked Caleb.
“Not really, no,” he said. “And Madison’s genderqueer.”
“Sorry, Madison,” Cassie said.
“I literally couldn’t give a fuck,” Madison said.
Cassie grinned. She really liked Parker’s friends.