Four

Sully

I've been standing in the hall for almost half an hour now, listening to her side of a phone call to her mother. Wynnie called her immediately, and she stayed on the line while her mother called Alessia on three-way. Having received the funds transfer, Alessia was more than happy to play the role of conniving mistress, claiming Declan was occupied at the moment and not able to come to the phone, giggling maliciously and hanging up.

Mother and daughter then rant for a while, taking turns coming up with new and creative insults for a man that, while probably deserving, is just trying to protect these women from something far worse than a simple affair.

Upon hearing their muffled goodbyes, I knock gently before entering. Wynne looks up at me, eyes rimmed red and puffy from crying, hair disheveled from sleep and trying to work her hands through her curls in distress. How anyone could look as beautiful as her, even after heavy crying, is beyond me. I am always taken back with how gorgeous this woman is.

I sit next to her on the bed and wrap an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side and kissing the top of her head.

"Wanna talk about it, love?"

"Not really," she mumbles. "I kind of want to kill him right now, but we don't even know where he is. I should go to his office and have his secretary pull her employee file for her address."

"Oh, Ladybug. You can't do that. I don't have bail money," I say into her hair.

A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth, disappearing quickly.

"My mom would pay," she comes back. "Hell, she'd probably go with me and then bail us both out."

"There's our girl," I smile at her.

"We don't have to talk about this if you don't want. We can talk about other things," I say, raising my eyebrows suggestively. "Like you walking in on Zeph creaming his own cannoli?"

She giggles, her face doing its adorable ladybug thing.

"Oh my gosh, Sully. It was so embarrassing! I didn't even see anything, but you could tell what was going on under that sheet. How am I going to get that image out of my head?"

"I can think of a few ways," I suggest, playfully kissing her neck and tickling her sides.

She squeals and tries to wiggle away from me, only to fall to her side on the bed, dragging me with her. I continue my assault, pressing quick kisses to her cheeks as I tickle her ribs and stomach while she tosses her head to avoid my mouth and tries to wrench her body from beneath my torturing fingers.

Somehow, one of my kisses lands directly on her mouth in the chaos. We both inhale deeply, lips connected, hands and bodies suddenly frozen in place as if some magical force has turned us to stone.

After either a second or an eternity, I'm not sure which, she releases her breath and threads her hands into my hair. She pulls my face tighter to hers, turning a playful peck between friends into something so much more. She captures my bottom lip between both of hers, pulling away gently to coax my mouth open. I don't even think, giving into her demand. She devours my mouth, swiping her tongue inside and exploring me curiously, then boldly, her hands making their way to the back of my head to keep me in place.

A moan escapes me, swallowed up in the fervor of her kiss. My hands have wrapped around her sides to her back, tucked between her and the mattress and pulling her into me so that we are now chest-to-chest. I can feel her tightened nipples through both of our shirts, pressing against my chest with each breath she takes.

My brain has gone completely quiet, only able to focus on Wynnie and this dance our mouths are doing. They are completely in sync, both of us seeming to know what the other wants and working for it together.

Suddenly, her hands unwrap from my neck and push at my chest. Our kiss is broken, and I'm shoved back roughly.

"Oh, god. Sully! I'm so sorry," she says. Her face has tightened up from the relaxed bliss it wore a second before. "I don't know why I did that. I'm an idiot. I'm just freaking out and here you are trying to be nice and make me laugh and I have to be a dumbass and kiss you like that? What is wrong with me? We're friends and – "

"Hey, stop it!" I interrupt her rambling, rolling and laying next to her on the bed, taking her hand with me and clasping it in my own. "We all do stupid shit when our minds are clouded," I offer. I'm trying to not let the feeling of rejection bleed into my tone. "I'm pretty sure Stupid Shit is my Confirmation name, so this is fine."

"But – "she starts.

"No, Ladybug. No buts," I interrupt her again. "Things happen. We're friends. It's fine," I reassure her, my thumb caressing her hand in a comforting manner.

"Besides, you're good at it. Even if you do slobber a bit," I tease, using my other hand to swipe at my face dramatically.

"I do not slobber!" She screeches. "Take it back."

"Oh, you slobber, Wynnie Girl," I insist, "I could probably swab my face and get a DNA sample from you if I wanted to right now."

"Oh yeah?" she retorts. "Well slobber on this," she declares, hitting me in the face with one of her throw pillows.

"Now leave," she demands. "I have to get ready for wound care and physical therapy."

"You sure you don't need me to help you shower? Or are you counting that kiss as your bath?"

I duck behind the door as she throws the pillow in my direction, my smile slipping into nothing as the door closes. I've kissed a lot of women in my life, but no kiss has ever made me come alive like kissing Wynnie. While it hurts to hear her say she didn't mean it, my heart just knows that she is wrong. My heart knows Wynne Greenwood will be the last woman I ever kiss.