“You’re welcome.” Rosa took the trash from Alice’s hands. It was the least she could do. “Thank you for not getting spooked. Or disgusted.”
“Why would I be? It wasn’t your fault. All you did was speak your mind.”
Rosa shrugged. She didn’t want to say, I was terrified to make you too afraid to be a part of my life. What did that mean, anyway? Alice almost certainly realized that associating with her for a few days at camp barely constituted a risk. Nothing more than this long weekend was on the table. They were camp friends who might potentially enjoy a casual fling, if Rosa got lucky. That was all. Which meant she should be able to relax, now that her secret was out and Alice had accepted the sordid circumstances of her life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple in her head. Before she could stop herself, Rosa said, “My ex-boyfriend dumped me almost as soon as it happened. He couldn’t handle it…and that was before the photos and video were posted. He couldn’t stand the pressure or my emotional response to what was happening.”
“He didn’t deserve you.”
“You’re right, he didn’t.” A jolt of self-loathing hit her in the gut, familiar by now, yet always painful. Nobody deserves what life with me would bring them. “I couldn’t blame him. It was bad. I probably would have left me, too.”
“If he’d really loved you, he would have weathered that storm with you. That’s the whole point of a relationship, isn’t it?”
Rosa’s chest ached. She couldn’t fathom ever finding someone who loved her that much. “Maybe.”
“I think it is.” Alice went quiet. Then she said, “But things are better for you now?”
“Much. I still get threats, but not every day. And I honestly think it’s just a handful of obsessives at this point. My lawyer succeeded in having the photos and videos removed from Google. They’re still out there, of course…you can never completely get rid of something like that online. But they’re harder to find, and I don’t see them posted nearly as many places these days…” Rosa tried to look happier than she felt, summoning a brave face designed to entice Alice into sticking around for the rest of the weekend. “Honestly, it’s only recently that I’ve been able to start rebuilding my life. Coming here is a big part of that. This is supposed to be my chance to escape, maybe even a new beginning.”
She happened to look over just in time to see Alice bite her lip to suppress a tiny—and possibly optimistic?—grin. “That’s something we have in common, then. The desire for a new beginning and the theory that Camp Rewind might be the place to find it.”
“Hear, hear.” Rosa straightened, arching her back in a much-needed stretch. Then she exhaled in a rush and sagged with relief. “I’m so glad that didn’t scare you away.”
“Must seem pretty amazing after how I reacted to waking up in your bed.”
Relieved laughter bubbled up in Rosa’s chest, boosting her mood. “A little, maybe.”
“I’m pretty embarrassed about that.” Alice folded her hands in her lap, almost as though she wasn’t sure what to do with them. “And maybe also slightly…confused.”
Rosa assumed she was referring to her sexuality. Since this was only a weekend fling, she had no problem being a straight woman’s experiment. “That’s all right.”
“No, I mean…” Alice played with her fingernails while studiously avoiding Rosa’s gaze. “I know you liked…what happened last night. What I…what I did in the cabin.”
“The kiss?” Rosa held back laughter when Alice flinched at her directness. For someone so shy, she showed remarkable courage by even raising the topic. Yet she exuded a unique innocence that set Rosa aflame. “I liked it very much.”
Alice couldn’t hide her pleasure. She nodded for a few seconds before uttering, “Me, too.”
“Good.” Rosa waited to see if she would say more, but her patience expired almost immediately. “Want to do it again?”
Alice’s eyelashes fluttered as her pulse visibly quickened, the creamy, kissable spot at the base of her throat thrumming under Rosa’s admiring gaze. “Yes, but…”
She held herself back from edging closer. “But?”
“I guess I was just wondering…not that it matters, really, but…” Alice gripped her knees until her knuckles turned white. “I mean, it sounded like you’d been with women in the past, but you’ve only mentioned ex-boyfriends. So have you…” She stopped talking, took a steadying breath, then exhaled deliberately, making Rosa wonder whether she was witnessing a therapeutic technique in action. “Have you been with a woman before? Or is this…is this a first for you, too?”
Rosa half-smiled, hoping that the answer wouldn’t disappoint Alice. “To be honest, I’m not sure I have very many firsts left at this point. No, I’ve been with women and men. On one occasion, at the same time.” She cursed her candor as soon as she made the disclosure. If this was to be Alice’s first encounter with a woman, would she really feel at ease with someone as extensively experienced as she was presenting herself? Still, Alice deserved the truth. “If I had to label myself, I would say I’m pansexual, which basically means that I’m potentially attracted to any human. The ex-boyfriend to whom I sent those dirty pictures and that…video…well, he was assigned female at birth. I had a serious girlfriend in college. My only one. She broke my heart.” Apparently unable to stop the deep dive into her varied history, she decided to conclude with a full accounting. “But I’ve slept with six women total. I can honestly say that the best sex I’ve ever had was with other women.”
Alice’s eyelashes fluttered again. She quickly returned to her study of her fingernails. “Oh, that’s…good.”
Strange as it seemed, Rosa detected sincerity in Alice’s words. “Really?”
“Yes. At least one of us isn’t a fumbling amateur.”
Rosa laughed out loud, a sunny, buoyant expulsion that lifted her spirits considerably. Careful not to move too fast, she picked up the apple-juice bottle from between them and set it on the trunk at her other side. Then she wrapped her arm around Alice’s waist, tugging gently while allowing her plenty of space to refuse. “So you’re not revolted by my slutty ways?”
Alice scooted closer until her body pressed tightly against Rosa’s side. “No. Intimidated again, maybe.” Her rapid heartbeat echoed through Rosa’s rib cage, confirmation that Alice was indeed nervous, if not aroused. “And…intrigued, to be honest.”
“There’s no reason to feel intimidated. Really. Truly. You’re the catch here.”
Alice shocked her silly by releasing a loud guffaw. She clapped her hand over her mouth and stared at Rosa with an expression of abject humiliation. “Sorry.”
Rosa gave Alice’s hip a playful pinch. “You are. And don’t be so embarrassed. You’re adorable when you laugh.”
Alice lowered her hand to reveal a bashful smile. “I still don’t understand why you’re interested in me.”
“Superficially, because I think you’re gorgeous and very, very sexy. On a deeper level, because I had fun with you last night, and I like you a lot, and I think we have more in common than either of us might have guessed at first sight. Whatever the reason, I want to spend the next few days hanging out with you. I want us to survive Camp Rewind together.”
Alice rewarded Rosa with the tentative brush of her warm lips across her temple. “You’re so sweet—and fun, and gorgeous, too.”
Rosa shivered, tingling from head to toe from that one simple physical gesture. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this turned on by something so innocent. “I actually haven’t been with anyone in a year and a half, so…it’s not like I have any recent experience.” With a shrug, she leaned closer to subtly inhale the scent of Alice’s freshly shampooed hair. “For a while I just wasn’t in the mood. Lately, it’s been difficult to work up enough trust to meet someone. So maybe I’m not terribly intimidating, after all.”
Alice trembled against her. “I’ve got you beat. It’s been nearly two years for me.”
“I thought you said
your husband filed for divorce last year?”
“He did.” Alice smiled without humor. “But our marriage had been over for a while.”
“Oh.” The nature of their conversation emboldened Rosa to take Alice’s hand between her own. “Was there anyone before him?”
Alice shook her head. “He was the first. The only.”
Staggered by her genuine lack of experience, Rosa wasn’t sure if she was ecstatic or petrified by the thought of being only the second person to ever touch Alice intimately. “Oh. Wow.”
Alice stiffened almost imperceptibly. “Yes. I’m not only inexperienced with women but also, essentially, with men as well.” She searched Rosa’s eyes, worry etched across her delicate features. “Hence my feeling intimidated.”
“Well, now I feel the same way.” Rosa rolled her shoulders as the weight of her responsibility toward Alice bore down on her. “Listen, I don’t want to pressure you into anything. What I really want is a friend here at camp. If you’re also interested in some no-strings-attached fun on the side, all the better. But even if all that happens between us this weekend is a kiss or two, maybe a little hand-holding, please believe that I’ll be perfectly happy with that. Even the most innocent camp romance would provide me with enough sweet, wonderful memories to sustain me for the rest of my life.”
Alice smiled, but Rosa could detect mild disappointment behind her eyes. “At the moment, kissing and holding hands sound unbelievably exciting, albeit a bit nerve-wracking. While I’m not sure I’m ready for more than that right now, I hope we can keep…other stuff on the table. If I do decide I want more, I mean.” She paused, as though wrestling with whether to continue. Finally, she exhaled. “At the risk of sounding blunt, meeting you presents an opportunity I’m not likely to find often, or easily, to explore something I’ve been curious about for years. That said, if I promise I won’t let you pressure me into anything, will you promise to respect whatever decision I make about how far I want to go with you this weekend?”
Translation: if she could work up the nerve, Alice wanted to get laid. Rosa placed a finger under Alice’s chin, tilting her head to get better access to her full lips. “All right.” She marveled at the dilation of Alice’s pupils, the quickening of her breath, as she anticipated Rosa’s next move. “May I kiss you now? I’m dying to even the score after last night.”
Alice chuckled, and Rosa had to forcibly keep her from lowering her face in a show of modesty. “Yes.”
Rosa closed the distance between their mouths inch by inch, releasing Alice’s chin at the last second so she could pull away if she wanted. But Alice didn’t. Instead, the softness of her lips drew Rosa in, encouraging her to trace the tip of her tongue over the upper, then the lower, in a silent plea for entry. Alice opened her mouth to allow Rosa inside, where her tongue met Rosa’s in a playful dance that hinted at none of the anxiety Alice professed to feel. The kiss was perfect. Even better than their first, which had already attained a kind of mythical status in Rosa’s admittedly hazy memory. Moaning at the surge of her long-forgotten hormones, Rosa tightened her arm around Alice’s waist as she let her other hand drift up to caress the delicate line of her clavicle where it peeked out over the V-neck T-shirt.
Alice inhaled swiftly, her breath hastening. Concerned she’d moved too fast, Rosa returned her hand to her side. Moments later, Alice ended the kiss and left them both panting. She caught her breath first. “Why’d you stop touching me?”
Feeling silly, Rosa lifted one shoulder in a lopsided shrug. “I thought I might be going too fast, so I tapped the brakes.” Alice used her thumb and index finger to flick Rosa on the bicep. More surprised than hurt, Rosa yelped. “Ow! What was that for?”
“You just said you’d respect my decisions about how far I want to go.”
“Touché.” Rosa rubbed the spot Alice had targeted, more to generate sympathy than alleviate any pain. “You made a noise. I got concerned that you were worried I was about to put my hand on your breast.”
Alice licked her lips. Her nostrils flared. “Were you?”
“Well, I…” No point in being dishonest, was there? “No. I mean, I don’t think so. I figured we would stick with basic making out. I’m in no hurry to get past first base.”
This time there was no doubt that her caution had caused Alice displeasure. Appearing despondent, she lamented, “I shouldn’t have told you I’d slept only with my husband.”
Rosa shook her head and held Alice’s hands in her own. “Please don’t say that. I want you to be honest with me. I’m not trying to punish you for your candor, I swear. I just…don’t want to overstep.” Thinking back to Alice’s disappearance into the woods that morning, she admitted, “I don’t want to frighten you away.”
Alice’s eyes grew shiny. She grabbed a fistful of Rosa’s T-shirt collar, pulling her in so that their faces were only inches apart. “You won’t, and I’m so sorry about this morning. I won’t run from you again. Even if I’m scared.” She blinked as her tears threatened to spill over. “Please trust me. I know it’s my fault you don’t, but…please. I really do want this. I’ll stop you if you go too far.”
Unable to withstand her sorrowful, imploring tone, Rosa kissed Alice again. Hard. To her astonishment, Alice matched her intensity without hesitation, kissing back with a passion that seemed to erupt from deep within. Emboldened by the response, Rosa once again placed her hand at the base of Alice’s throat, then dropped slightly lower to stroke her collarbones. When Alice whimpered this time, Rosa stayed the course. She traced her blunt fingernails along the defined ridge of bone mere inches above the slope of Alice’s breast, wondering how it would feel when she finally gave in to the urge to cradle one with her palm.
Alice apparently wondered the same and decided to find out by moving the hand that had been tangled in Rosa’s hair to rest lightly against her left breast. Rosa groaned loudly, shocked and thrilled and tickled beyond reason to have found such an excellent way to spend her time at camp. She placed her fingers over Alice’s, urging her to squeeze, to feel, to explore. Seemingly unable to concentrate on two tasks at once, Alice broke the kiss and stared at their joined hands.
Rosa removed hers to allow Alice an unimpeded view. Mouth slightly ajar, Alice watched her slim fingers fondle the plump breast, clearly entranced by the sight. “That feels good,” Rosa murmured. And it did, even if Alice’s current mindset was geared more toward exploration than offering pleasure. “Do you like it?”
Alice’s cheeks bloomed rosy pink. “Yes.” She pulled back slightly, but rather than withdraw, she captured Rosa’s shirt-and-bra-covered nipple between her fingertips and pinched. “Do you?”
A rush of wetness stained Rosa’s panties. She shifted, trying to be subtle about the depth and intensity of her arousal. All at once, she was ready to fuck. “Very much.”
Exhaling harshly, Alice removed her hand and bent at the waist. She took a few deep breaths, no doubt in an attempt to regain her absolutely impressive composure. “That was kind of amazing.”
Rosa glanced down at her own chest and grinned. Had anyone ever found the simple act of touching her clothed breast amazing before? She didn’t think so. She’d lost her virginity in high school by going all the way with her college-aged boyfriend the very first time they’d gotten physical. He’d been with enough girls before she slept with him to have not considered her naked tits much of a novelty at all. Deeply affected by Alice’s visceral reaction to that one semi-innocent, breathtakingly intimate touch, Rosa once again wound her arm around Alice’s middle to give her a sideways hug. “Yeah, it was.”
Alice’s heartbeat fluttered against Rosa’s side. “After all my bravado, I think I need a little break. To catch my breath.”
“Me, too.” Rosa kissed Alice’s temple as she swelled with affection for the woman in her arms. “Why don’t we take a walk? We could go back to camp to check out one of the activities, or else venture farther down this trail.”
Alice chuckled. “I’
m not sure I was asking for that much of a break.” As Rosa watched, her expression became determined, like she’d made a decision. “But maybe we should check out what’s happening back at camp. For a few minutes, at least.”
“If it’s lame, we’ll come back here.” Rosa sensed that Alice wanted to take advantage of some of the camp-sponsored extracurricular options, if only to tell her therapist she had. “Or find somewhere else to be alone.”
Alice wrung her hands together, the dark cloud of her anxiety creeping back overhead as Rosa watched. “Should we check out the arts-and-crafts building?”
“Sounds like fun.” Rosa pushed herself off the fallen tree before taking Alice by the hips and helping her down as well. “If you want to leave, tell me. I won’t be upset.” She took hold of Alice’s hand. “Having you all to myself is hardly a punishment.”
Alice beamed so hard she actually showed her teeth. “You’re a very nice woman.”
“I assure you, my intentions are anything but pure.”
“Promise?” Alice adjusted her grip, threading their fingers together with an easy air that Rosa found downright heartening.
Maybe Camp Rewind really will help both of us learn to trust. “Promise.”
Chapter Seven
Hand in hand with the sexiest woman she’d ever worked up the courage to talk to, let alone touch, Alice felt minimal anxiety about their foray into Camp Rewind’s daily hustle and bustle. At least, up until the moment they encountered a small group of men walking toward them as they approached the archery range. The tallest of the three, a muscled blond, stared at their entangled fingers with all the subtlety of a five-alarm blaze at a fireworks factory. His eyes lit up as if their affection was the best thing he’d seen all day. One of his companions mirrored his lascivious look, but the other simply waved at them with a bland, friendly smile.
“Morning, ladies,” said the personable one.
“Very good morning,” his tall friend added, like a dope.
Camp Rewind Page 8
