Page 76 of Infamous

‘I would hardly know where to begin,’ said Eddie. A strangely tense silence followed this. Eddie wished she could see the expression on Rose’s face, but lifting her head to look was out of the question. ‘You can ask Isabella Cliffe. I’m sure she knows.’

Rose let out a tiny breath and shook her head.

‘Eddie, I am not going to ask Isabella Cliffe anything of the sort.’

‘But you are going to write to her? And see her again?’

‘I am sure we will be reacquainted at some point when she is next in town.’

Eddie frowned. This didn’t seem right.

‘But .?.?. Don’t you .?.?.? I thought you might be making plans to fall in love with her?’

Rose made an indignant, huffing sort of noise and then pushed Eddie away so that she could look at her properly. Eddie had been right to try to avoid this at all costs – it was far too intimate, to be scowled at by Rose at such close range.

‘Yes. You are right, of course. I came with you to a haunted house in the middle of nowhere, almost drowned, kissed you to the point of madness and am now lying here holding you in the dark because I loveIsabella Cliffe.’

‘Oh,’ said Eddie. She was starting to suspect that her stupidity knew no bounds. ‘I thought .?.?.’

It didn’t really seem to matter what she’d thought, at the present. Rose was just staring at her. Her hair was coming free from its plaits, falling forwards, obscuring her face. Eddie lifted a hand to push it aside half-heartedly, and then froze when Rose’s breath caught. She didn’t allow herself to think before speaking again, the words slipping out almost by accident.

‘I suppose .?.?. we could try kissing. Again.Notfor practice.’

Rose laughed disbelievingly, her voice coming out in a strained whisper.

‘My God, you are such an idiot sometimes. What on earth is the difference?’

‘The difference is .?.?.’ Eddie said, easing herself up. Rose’s hand slipped to her waist, seeming reluctant to part with her. ‘This time, we shall know that it’s real.’

‘Semantics, then, is it?’ Rose murmured, blinking up at her.

Their faces were already so close that it required almost no forethought to kiss her; Eddie just shifted her weight very slightly and Rose was beneath her, her lips parting to meet her.

Any doubt that Eddie may have been harbouring about her inclinations evaporated in an instant. She wanted all of it: Rose’s fingers pressing desperately into her waist as Eddie deepened the kiss; the roll of Rose’s hips; the heat of her breath, broken by small gasps. She felt as if she were pleasantly aflame, her every nerve rewarded, her responsiveness to the friction of their bodies answering the question that she now felt foolish to have asked at all.

Of course she liked girls. Or, one girl.Thisgirl. She put a hand to Rose’s face, thumbing along her jawline and holding her there, and Rose responded with an abrupt and urgent repositioning of her leg, so that they were completely entwined. Eddie realised she was pressing Rose into the mattress; she pulled back and tried to be gentle, her tongue ghosting across Rose’s lower lip, but the utterly debauchedsighthis pulled out of her proved too much, and Eddie was crowding on top of her again, gathering her up by her hair and the back of her neck, wanting more of her but having no idea where to start.

‘Ed,’ Rose said when Eddie next pulled away, her voice ragged. ‘Itisreal, isn’t it?’

‘Mmmm?’

Eddie had taken the opportunity to kiss down her collarbone, and was feeling rather preoccupied with it, and with Rose’s little shudders; the way she kept arching her back to provide further access to Eddie’s mouth.

‘It’s not .?.?.ah .?.?.educational, any more?’

‘I am certainly finding this educational,’ Eddie said, uncovering a little more of Rose’s skin so that she could run her teeth over it. How had she been friends with Rose for so long and never even considered the fact that her bones were clearly in need of some gentle biting? It beggared belief.

‘Eddie .?.?.God.?.?. Stop that a moment,’ Rose said, pushing her away. ‘You know what I mean.’

Eddie let her head fall onto Rose’s stomach as she considered.

‘I feel as if I want to eat you alive,’ she said. ‘What do you suppose that means?’

‘That you are deeply unhinged?’ Rose said, her fingers slipping gently into Eddie’s hair. ‘And .?.?. and potentially lacking in key minerals, due to your terrible diet?’

‘Well, yes, there is that,’ Eddie said, closing her eyes as Rose smoothed the hair away from her face. ‘Actually, I’m frightened.’

‘Frightened? Of what?’