Page 128 of Semantics

“Tomorrow morning? You’re staying over.”

“No problem,” Stella replied and kissed her on the neck.

Violet then turned to face her and slid them both down on the bed until she was on top of Stella. They kissed for long moments before Violet moved her hand between her legs, and Stella spread them, welcoming her inside. Violet stroked her gently at first while they kissed, and it was reminiscent of the previous night when they’d done the same thing, going slow and not focusing solely on the orgasm, but on everything else, too. Finally, Stella felt her muscles clench around Violet’s fingers, and she released, kissing Violet hard and messily as she went over the edge.

“If you want, you can join our Saturday morning meeting,” Violet said as she kissed down Stella’s body. “We don’t always have them, but when we’re close to a deadline, we meet for an hour or two before we all go our separate ways to work on whatever. We usually start at nine.”

“So, I’d have to get there early?” she asked and brushed hair out of Violet’s face.

“You won’t have to get anywhere because you’ll stay over Friday night.”

“Oh, I will, huh?” she teased, laughing a little, but then, Violet licked her hard, shutting her up.

CHAPTER 35

“I think we would’ve had more fun at the club,” Arlowe said when she pushed open the door to the house.

“You mean you would’ve had more luck getting laid if we’d gone to the club,” Sarai noted, walking in behind her.

“You still could’ve gotten laid tonight. That bartender was interested,” Enya added, following both of them.

“It’s not too late for us to go to your place instead, if you want,” Violet suggested as she turned to Stella, wrapping her arms around her neck. “You don’t have any roommates. I can just grab some clothes and stuff, and we can go. I only had one drink two hours ago, so I’ll drive.”

Stella laughed and patted Violet on the ass.

“Babe, your roommates are great. I like your friends.”

“I do, too, but you don’t have any roommates, and that means we can do whatever we want.”

“But the meeting is here tomorrow. You really want to pack stuff, drive to my place, sleep, and have to come back here early tomorrow morning? You know they’ll expect us to bring coffee and donuts, too.”

“We’re more of a bagel crowd,” Arlowe noted, leaning back outside. “And are you coming in or what? You’re letting the bugs in.”

“Come on. It’s fine.” Stella took Violet’s hand, and they walked inside. “I already have my stuff here.”

“Yeah, you left your bag on the floor by the couch. Enya stepped on it,” Sarai said. “You didn’t have anything fragile in there, did you?”

“Um… Yeah, my laptop.”

“She’s kidding. I didn’t step on it,” Enya said while she looked down at her phone. “Also, are we doing anything, or can I go to bed?”

“You’re an adult, Enya. You can go to bed whenever you want to,” Violet reminded her and closed the door behind them.

They’d ended up saving their celebration drinks for Friday night since Enya hadn’t felt well the night they’d originally planned to go out, and Violet had stayed at Stella’s every night since their first date. She had to admit that she’d loved it, and it had only partly been about having the whole house to themselves and not having to hear doors open and close at all hours of the night. Arlowe was the primary culprit, of course. Sarai and Enya were guilty of that, too, at times, but because she was the one with the biggest room in the house, with a private bathroom inside it, which meant that she didn’t have to share the shower with the others and didn’t have to go into the hallway just to pee in the middle of the night, Violet had never complained to them about that.

Mostly, though, it had been about being with Stella to her. They’d shared all their nights in after their attempted dinner in the restaurant where they had run into Jen and Haley, they’d cooked together, done the dishes together, watched episodes of their shared favorite TV show together, and Violet had been feeling less tense, less worried, and a lot calmer in general. It had helped that Stella’s house had been quiet compared to the one she shared with her friends, which was often anything but quiet, but it had also been because of Stella. She made Violet want to relax, grab some popcorn, cuddle up on the sofa, and just be in the moment instead of worrying about what was coming next.

She’d wanted that for tonight, too, but they’d gone to the bar on karaoke night, which had been a mistake. Violet was not a fan of karaoke. People drank too much, got a little too confident, and ruined good songs. On top of that, she could usually sit there with her friends and have a drink of her own to drown it all out, but tonight, Arlowe and Sarai had decided to perform several duets, and they had even convinced Enya to get up there for their awful rendition of Single Ladies that would’ve made Beyoncé unplug the sound system had she walked into the bar.

The best part of the night was that Stella had been there with her. If her arm hadn’t been around Violet’s shoulders, it had been on her thigh or holding Violet’s hand, and they’d shared a few kisses; one a little longer than the others since they’d been in line for the bathroom at the time, where her friends couldn’t make fun of them. It had been the first time that Violet had brought a date out with her friends in a very long time, and it had been the only time she’d wanted to do it.

“Are you two going to bed?” Sarai asked, flopping down on one of the sofas.

“I don’t know. Are we?” Stella asked.

“We’re up to season two,” Violet said, leaning into her.

“You two are big nerds,” Sarai noted with a laugh.