Pure Connections

Chapter 9

      "Watch your step." Lisa wrapped one arm around Jennie's lower back as she guided her up the stairs in the loft.

      Their night had turned out to be everything Lisa had hoped and then some. She'd have dinner with Rosie and Jisoo again in a heartbeat, and Blake, despite a few expected slips, had followed through on his promise to be on his best behavior. Not that she'd missed the look he'd given her outside Castille when they'd all climbed into her Jeep to head home. She didn't mind having to be the designated driver—she'd had one virgin piña colada all night. She didn't mind having to make the rounds from Justin and Blake's place to Rosie's before getting to hers. She didn't even mind having to take care of Jennie now, but a part of her wondered if Blake had had ulterior motives in his encouragement of Jennie drinking as much as she had. If Jennie had to get hammered, or even tipsy, to be with Lisa, then Lisa couldn't be with her. Blake knew that all too well.

      Then again, Jennie was her own person, and at the very least Lisa should've been next to her more, instead of letting herself get caught up in the scene—Allie, the DJ stand, dancing with that woman whose name she still didn't know... Maybe then she and Jennie would've spent the night getting to know each other better, and the memories of Jennie's body against hers, the searing kiss still looping in her mind wouldn't feel so... Tainted?

      She led Jennie to the bed and flicked on the bedside lamp, casting the room in a soft golden glow.

      Jennie sat on the edge of the bed, her hair curtained around her face. Lisa kneeled in front of her and reached for one heel, but Jennie's hand landed on hers. "Lis, stop." She raked her hair back from her face, and Lisa hated the way her stomach dipped, that she had any reaction to how Jennie was still so unfairly beautiful. But why wouldn't she be? Her fingers tentatively wrapped around Lisa's, and she glanced skyward. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't need you to take care of me right now. I was sober the second you walked away back at the club."

      It didn't work like that—not in Lisa's experience. She nodded anyway. "Okay."

      "Can we rewind for a second? Before the dancing, before I kissed you—"

      "It's not that you kissed me, Jen. Of course I wanted you to kiss me."

      "I wasn't drunk."

      Lisa winced. The memory flashed in her mind—Jennie's hands in her hair, lips and tongue slick and hot against hers. She tasted, smelled, felt like Jennie, but with the hint of tequila, she also didn't. Maybe Lisa was projecting—of course, she was projecting. It still didn't feel like the moment to explain the reasons why. "We shouldn't talk about this now."

      Silence stood between them for a few breaths, Jennie's eyes searching for something Lisa wasn't sure she was ready for her to see. Then Jennie nodded. "Okay."

      Lisa's gaze fell to Jennie's nude, sequined dress, and she considered that maybe Jennie would need help getting ready for bed. But she had to take Jennie at her word that she didn't need to be taken care of that way. In fact, she was certain that once the fog of her own experiences began to clear, she would remember that Jennie had never struck her as a person who needed anyone to take care of her. With a gentle squeeze of Jennie's hand, she got to her feet. "I'll be downstairs. Let me know if you need anything?"

      "Just one." Something about Jennie peering up at her—seated on the edge of the bed, Lisa standing at her full five feet, seven inches—held a vulnerability that took her by surprise.

      "Anything."

      "Tell me this doesn't change things between us. Tell me tonight didn't end how either of us wanted, but nothing has changed, because...Because for a second, back at Gia with our friends getting along and us forgetting they exist, the way you looked at me, the way my heart races every time you do, said we were on the verge of something really fucking incredible, Lis, and I'd hate to think it's over before it even really began."