Page 28 of Unfinished Desire
Barra chewed slowly like she was processing a spiritual awakening. “Oh. My. Fuck. That’s good. Are they dark chocolatechips?” Then she’d swallowed, brushed the crumbs from her chest, and pointed to the two other cookies in Tamsyn’s other hand. “Fine, I’ll convince Dominique that aligning with the two of you is in our best interest,” she’d said. “But I need another cookie for her.”
And thus, the Girl Scout alliance had been formed.
Isla pressed a quick kiss to the corner of Tamsyn’s mouth. “Do you think the Girl Scout alliance will make it further than the Red Gum Rebels?” she asked. “I know we’ve got Kendall and Frankie on our side, but I feel like we can’t fully trust Barra. She’s too easily bribed.”
“Shh,” Tamsyn said. She didn’t want to talk strategy anymore. Which was a big surprise. A week before she’d reported for the show, she’d spent at least three of her ninth-grade classes talking strategy.
“Never be the loudest,” Roxanne had said, drawing a circle on the blackboard with the titlePOSSIBLE PERSONALITIESwritten within it. Beneath the circle was a chaotic sprawl of arrows and bullet points. “That’s how you get voted out first.”
“But don’t be invisible either,” Jai had argued, swiveling on his swivel chair. “If no one remembers you, you won’t have any chance of winning.”
“I think you should just float, Miss,” Archibald had piped.
Jai shook his head. “Floaters get picked off. You should get a shield.”
Her neat diagram of the nitrogen cycle had been swallowed by a mess of circles and possible archetypes:loud leader, quiet floater, strategic mum, social butterfly, challenge beast, and villain. Cathy had added a mysterious wildcard with three question marks beside it. Tamsyn should’ve been teaching nitrogen fixation but had instead been taking notes. Even Mikey, her cousin, had stopped coming over for their Wednesdayevening rerun ofAmerica’s Top Modelbecause apparently, Tamsyn had forgotten a world existed outside ofOutlast Her.
“I just want to enjoy this moment,” she said, nibbling lightly at Isla’s jaw before she pressed her forehead to hers. They stayed like that for a few quiet seconds, breathing in the same warm air, embracing the silence of the mountains in the distance and the faint call of the bush stone-curlew and the hooting of an owl somewhere close.
Then, Isla inched her mouth toward Tamsyn, and before she knew it, they were kissing again. Teeth. Tongue. Lips. Isla’s hand slid up to cradle the back of Tamsyn’s neck, and Tamsyn’s fingers curled into the fabric of Isla’s shirt, pulling her closer. Everything happened so slowly that it was as if they were moving through water. Every movement left a lazy ripple behind.
Then Isla did something unexpected.
She spun Tamsyn around until Tamsyn was facing the tree and Isla was behind her.
Before Tamsyn could react, Isla pressed her front to Tamsyn’s back and slid her hands down between Tamsyn’s thighs. It didn’t even matter that Tamsyn was wearing shorts because she could feel the heat of Isla’s palm like it was a hot plate.
“This will be the first time I ever finger someone under a gum tree,” Isla said, kissing the back of Tamsyn’s neck until every hair, long and short, stood up on her body. “In fact, it’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.”
“Not me. I have sex outside all the time,” Tamsyn said.
“Really?” Isla asked, sounding adorably aghast.
“Of course not,” Tamsyn said, half chuckling, half out of breath because Isla’s hand was between her legs. “I’ve always had a fear of being bitten on the ass by a spider.” Then she glanced back over her shoulder and winked.
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” She spanked Tamsyn’s ass in what shouldn’t be sexy but somehow was, and Tamsyn was just about to say just that when Isla’s hand slid back up the inside of her legs only to dip beneath Tamsyn’s shorts. Then her bikini bottoms.
“Fuck!” Tamsyn swore under her breath.
Isla’s fingers went straight for Tamsyn’s clit. Then she rubbed it, keeping the pressure light. Tamsyn hung her head low and staggered a little.
But no matter. Isla was there to support her. She wrapped her other arm around Tamsyn’s waist, holding her up, while her fingers grazed Tamsyn’s clit like a feather.
But Tamsyn didn’t want light. She didn’t want the foreplay.
She grabbed Isla’s wrist and pushed her hand even harder against her center. “Harder,” she muttered, spreading her legs just a little wider.
And Isla did.
She pressed her fingers down on Tamsyn’s clit and rubbed against that delicious bud of nerves like the world was going to end and everything rested on the pressure of her hand.
Moan after moan rippled out of Tamsyn’s throat. The bark of the red gum was rough beneath Tamsyn’s palms, but she didn’t even feel it. The moon was brighter than ever, but she didn’t even see it. Not with Isla moving over her like that, not with Tamsyn circling her hips to maximize the contact. Then, before Tamsyn could even consider the possibility that things could get better than this, Isla’s mouth came to the back of her neck. Her tongue slid a line along Tamsyn’s bare shoulder. Then, to make things even hotter, Isla slipped her other hand beneath Tamsyn’s top and began fondling her breast. Her thumb swiped, then flicked, then—
“Oh, fuck!” Tamsyn muttered again. She could barely breathe as Isla pinched her nipples in a way that was both gentle andfiery. Perfect jolts of pleasure swooped right down to her center. Pleasure intensified tenfold right in the spot where Isla’s fingers were already doing all kinds of unspeakable things.
Then Isla wasn’t rubbing anymore. Instead, she was dipping her fingers in and out of Tamsyn’s entrance. She was kissing her neck. She was squeezing her breasts. She was pressing her fingers harder against Tamsyn’s center while Tamsyn rolled her hips over and over again.
Then, out of nowhere, her orgasm ripped through her.
