At Your Most Beautiful by Harper Bliss (best free ereader .TXT) 📗

She might be claiming to not want to seduce Maya again but with those words, that was precisely what she was doing.

“Why not?” Maya had no choice but to play along.

“What if I cause you another ten years of guilt?” She sounded much more serious all of a sudden.

“What if you don’t?” Maya quipped.

“That’s not up to me, though.”

Maya had a choice. She was still sane enough, still sober enough, to decide between taking a deep breath and walking away or, as Quinn would say it, to live her life. To live the life she wanted to live which, right now, could only mean one thing: bridge the distance between them and kiss Quinn on the lips.

“You’re right,” Maya said. “That’s entirely up to me.” She gazed into Quinn’s eyes again, into those soft oceans of blue—the same color as the water in Maya’s former pool. “And so is this.” Maya closed her eyes then and, not caring one iota that they were in a bar close to her place of work, leaned toward Quinn, and kissed her.

The instant their lips touched, it felt like someone had flipped on the electricity in a long-vacated building. The kiss was soft and short, but powerful enough to leave Maya wanting so much more—to choose anything but the darkness she’d been plunged into for far too long.

Quinn flicked her tongue over her lower lip before she shot Maya a smile. She didn’t say a word but her gaze was full of meaning.

“Do you want to come back to my place for some, um, dinner?” Maya asked, even though it wasn’t food she was hungry for.

Quinn nodded. “I still owe you a dinner, by the way.”

Maya took a few quick sips of her manhattan. “You don’t owe me a single damn thing, Quinn.”

Chapter 22

Quinn had wanted this more than anything, she realized as she stood in the elevator with Maya, but this was not her doing, which made it all the more enthralling. She had flirted and had initiated a first, very tentative move, but she certainly hadn’t expected Maya to kiss her in the bar.

Upon arrival at Maya’s, first the door of the cab had been opened for her, followed by the front door of the building. This was a swankiness Quinn wasn’t used to. Her friends didn’t live in buildings with doormen who pressed the elevator button for you. She and Griff lived in a fourth-floor walk-up that left them breathless every time they climbed the stairs.

“Are you hungry?” Maya flicked on the lights.

Quinn whistled through her teeth. “How much was that dance school of yours worth?” she blurted out at the sight of Maya’s apartment.

“Enough,” Maya said. “It’s not as big as it looks and certainly a whole lot smaller than my house in Milbury.”

“Remind me to never invite you to my place.” Quinn followed Maya into the kitchen.

Maya opened the fridge. “I have leftover quiche from last night.”

“Maya.” Quinn could look at Maya, in her elegant suit, sauntering through her kitchen all night long, but there was something else she wanted more. “I’m not hungry.”

“We had those cocktails. We should eat something.” Maya kept staring into the fridge, as though she was afraid to turn around and face Quinn now that they were in the privacy of her home. Now that their options to do certain things had multiplied.

“Maya,” Quinn repeated. “Will you look at me?”

Quinn watched Maya’s shoulders go up and down as she took a deep breath. She closed the fridge and turned around.

“I don’t know what it is about you.” Maya put her hands on the edge of the kitchen island. “It was never my intention to kiss you. To invite you over.”

“Do you want me to leave?” A knot formed in Quinn’s stomach.

“Fuck no.” Maya held out her hands. “I want you to come here.”

Quinn walked over to her but kept a small distance between them. She pulled the side of her blouse out of her jeans and hiked it up. “Read this.” She pointed at the tattoo that ran along the side of her torso.

“Life is for living,” Maya said as she read. “You actually have that tattooed on your body?”

“I do.”

“Does it make a difference?” Maya reached out her hand and ran a finger over Quinn’s side. “In your life?”

“I’m here with you now, so what do you think?” Goose bumps popped under Maya’s finger.

“Fair enough.” Maya chuckled. “Do you have any others?”

Quinn nodded. “I told you they were in a more intimate spot.”

“You did.” Maya pulled her finger away. “Look, Quinn… I don’t really know what to say. Frankly, I’m not so sure how we ended up here, but—”

“We’re here because we want to be.” She took a step closer, leaving barely an inch of space between them. “Isn’t that more than enough?”

“You…” Maya took hold of Quinn’s hand. “What am I going to do about you?” She locked her gaze on Quinn’s.

“I’m not an issue you have to deal with,” Quinn whispered as she leaned in. “But you could start by kissing me again.” She didn’t wait for Maya to bridge the final gap this time, but pressed her lips against Maya’s.

As soon as their lips touched, Maya placed her hands on Quinn’s cheeks, pulling her closer.

As though she’d been starved of another woman’s touch for much longer than the four months since Morgan had left her, Quinn latched on to Maya. She remembered how uncharacteristically nervous she’d been when she’d entered the bar and seen Maya sitting there all done up and glamorous with that air of unattainability to her that drove Quinn crazy. Quinn was no longer the girl who believed, without much doubt, that she could get anything or anyone she wanted. Life might be for living, but living taught you some harsh lessons along the way. That she stood here in Maya’s kitchen, losing herself in kiss after scorching kiss, was nothing short of a miracle.

“Come,” Maya whispered when they broke from their kiss, and took