Maia Miranda stared at her ceiling. There were no tears to cry, but there was also no energy to get off the floor and lay on her bed. She knew the day was coming. She should have never thought she could actually have a relationship with Bailey Clark. She'd been in love with the girl her whole life, but Bailey had hated her until that should-have-been-fateful day that they came out of the closet to each other then talked for three hours instead of going to class after lunch. She had apologized for being horrible in elementary school, telling her she still acted out because she was in the closet, and Bailey admitting the same. Three hours of talking ended with arranging their first date. That should have been their perfect moment. Instead, it was the beginning of the end of a twelve-year chase.
But she should have known. Bailey never wanted to do anything more than kiss, not even over the shirt stuff, not even once they were both eighteen. She practically disappeared after she moved. Bailey was never for her. She was too perfect to be contained by any one woman. The time was now for Maia to give up.
Unless there was a way. College applications were already open. There might be a way.
* * *
Krista's eyes flared and the post-orgasm high was gone. "What did you just say?" she asked.
"Did I ruin the mood?" Caroline still had the dreamy speech of someone who just had amazing sex.
"I mean, kind of. I mean, you just told me to take my daughter's virginity."
"I had to throw it out there. She's attracted to you and won't have sex with me, the best reason I can come up with is she wants her first time to be with her mom."
"So she didn't actually say that."
"I mean, no, but she talks about you even more than that hot piece of ass we have for an English teacher." Caroline rolled over and the two women looked up as they continued to talk.
"Sexually?"
"I mean, she'll say you're hot here and there, and you're way hotter than Emma-T, but mostly normal."
Krista rolled onto her side to look at Caroline. The girl's beautiful face and fading lipstick were almost too much, she almost forgot the conversation and jumped her. But she held herself together and said, "Caroline, Bailey doesn't want to have sex because she's not ready. She's not. She's an adult but she doesn't act like one. She whines and stresses and is really still a teenager."
"That's because she doesn't know how to treat you like a woman instead of a mom. She's mature in pretty much every way except how she talks to you and how she obsesses over homework for that teacher she won't admit she likes."
"You're awful jealous for someone who just fucked her girlfriend's mom."
"She's the one who won't admit it. She says she wants me to get sex and she knows I think you're hot."
"But not that we're fucking?"
A big smile came over Caroline's face. "Present tense? I haven't ruined everything?"
"I can't pretend. I'm sitting here looking at you, and the only urge stronger than to start fucking you right now is the instinct to defend my daughter."
"So what are you doing around 3:09 tomorrow?"
"3:09?"
"I figure that's how fast I can get to your house if I run to my car and run all the lights."
"I'm extremely busy if you don't tell me whether my daughter knows about us."
"I haven't told her."
"3:15. Don't hurt yourself, and tell my daughter."
"God, you are hot. Kiss before you leave?"
"You're not going to treat me like a lady and walk me down?" Krista asked as she started to get up.
"I told you, I don't know how booty calls work," Caroline answered as she sat up to watch Krista get dressed.
"Well get that hot naked body out from under those covers and walk me down."
Caroline smiled and pulled herself out of bed, then grabbed a robe from behind her closet door. "Pink?" Krista asked.
"I aim to surprise."
"Well if you were to greet me in a robe that short, I might just fuck you on the stone of your foyer," Krista said as they left the room.
"I love how now that I've taken you to bed, you can't stop saying 'fuck.'"
"What can I say, I liked when you talked dirty to me."
"Yeah you did," Caroline said, slipping her hand into Krista's as they walked down the last few steps.
"Almost as much as I like seeing you in that short and slinky robe."
"Almost?"