Those Who Wait

by Haley Cass

“I don’t believe I would like to take you up on your offer to stay with this man, darling.” She groaned. “Charlotte! Hi. Um. I thought you were Alex.”

“Sutton, darling, you are gorgeous and you have a lot to

offer. Those women would be fools not to be interested.”

She foolishly didn’t even think about the way Charlotte’s eyes would follow her gesture, raking down her body and taking in what she was wearing in a gaze so heavy it felt like it could be a caress. She felt herself shudder and her breath caught in her throat, and despite the fact that she was feeling a little lightheaded from the way everything was weighing on her, that was enough to propel her forward.

“I was thinking, if you were open to it . . . I could sleep with you.”

She was by no means a saint. Especially not when it came to having women in her bed and making them come so hard they forgot their names.

There it was. Charlotte had never had any qualms about being someone’s first woman. She didn’t care if she was a woman’s first woman or her only woman or, really, what happened in the other woman’s personal life after their encounter. But this wasn’t just any woman, it was Sutton.

“If we’re doing this, we’re doing it properly,” she murmured, because she was getting this one night, and she was not going to miss the opportunity to see the way that red hair contrasted with the stark white of her pillows. She

wanted to see the way Sutton’s long, lean body spread over her bed. She wanted Sutton to clutch her sheets as Charlotte made her come. Repeatedly. She was going to fuck Sutton the way she’d wanted to since the first time she’d seen her message on that app. Anticipation rushed through her, pulsing into her core as she led the way down the hallway toward her bedroom.

Just in time to see Caleb’s kid-on-Christmas-morning smile – damn him – and the wide-eyed surprise on Dean’s face.

And, well, it would have hurt. But Sutton didn’t think it would be as humiliating as realizing that the woman who had given you the best orgasms of your life didn’t want you back.

Her confession was met with silence, until she willed her eyes open and Regan stared at her wide-eyed. Then she shouted, “You had sex with Charlotte Thompson? Stunning Charlotte?!”

“And . . . did she hurt you?” Regan asked, her forehead scrunching up, before her features shifted. “That’s it. You know what? I’m going to have a talk with so-called Stunning Charlotte, and –”

“You’re a surprisingly hard woman to track down on a Saturday afternoon,” Charlotte’s

Surprised, Sutton’s mouth fell open. Hurt her? Only her pride. Did Charlotte not remember anything about her crying out for more?

All Charlotte had to do was tilt her head and give Sutton a look – the same one that Sutton imagined she used at work in order to get answers from people.

“I wanted to surprise visit you so you couldn’t avoid me even longer. And I’m glad I did, even if I might have to stay at the office a little later.”

Charlotte pointed in the direction of her laptop, “Remember? You and I had . . . dinner plans, and you rushed out? A deal’s a deal, Sutton. Don’t make me a liar to your mother.”

She’d been so distracted this morning, despite being so in her element, because she hadn’t known exactly how much her friendship with Sutton meant to her until she was worried about losing it.

Charlotte couldn’t help but smile, shaking her head slightly. Because she would take this awkward-rambling Sutton over an avoidant Sutton any day. Every day.

“I just want you to know that those who have mistreated Sutton in the past have experienced suffering at my hands. I might not look scary, but I have wrath,” she threatened.

Last night, Sutton had been sexy – like, mouth-wateringly, stomach tied in knots hot – and that had truly worked for her, too. Clearly.

Sutton’s eyes rolled, as she looked down at Charlotte, shuffling slightly on her feet. “Yeah. Just… I don’t know, for being shy and because of who my dad was. It was only ever by a few people, like Matt. Regan came out of nowhere and shoved him. He tripped and when he fell, he slammed his face into the ground and broke his nose. We’ve been best friends ever since,” she finished, an affectionate grin on her face. Charlotte’s appreciation for Regan grew. “I guess she wasn’t kidding when she said that she had wrath for people who mistreated you.”

“Oh!” Sutton’s face lit up, “I made kind of a spread? It’s all Indian food, because, um, well because it’s your favorite. And you’ve had such a long day, which was super important to you. Plus you came to see me during your lunch break, so I thought you’d be really hungry,” she cut her ramble off, gazing at Charlotte as she bit her lip.

How unprofessional.

She bit her cheek; what, was this woman trying to get Sutton drunk?! She’d been right. Vulture. “Why did she stop you?”

Obviously a stalker.

Sutton frowned thoughtfully, and it was ridiculously cute.

How could Sutton even think that Charlotte didn’t want her?

Fuck. It was all she could think about, now. The fact that Sutton had only left the night before because she thought Charlotte didn’t want her. She had no idea how aroused she’d been, how close she’d been to sliding off her shorts and having Sutton touch her – or touching herself right there next to her.

How could they have been on such different pages? She couldn’t even understand it; she couldn’t understand how Sutton could have felt Charlotte’s mouth on her own like this, felt the way she sucked on her bottom lip, the way her hands came to brush up her sides lightly, and think that she had no desire for her?

Charlotte shook her head slightly, baffled. “I should be asking you that! Why would you possibly think I don’t want you?” She slid her hands over Sutton’s thighs, only taking a moment to appreciate the length and warmth of them, before she shook her head from a mixture of sexual frustration – if only she’d known that last night – and bewilderment. “God, I answered the first ever message I got from you – despite the fact that it was from Regan – about hooking up.” It just made no sense to her. “We had sex!”

Jesus. Charlotte took back everything she’d thought about her self-control in the last day. Because she so wanted to take Sutton again right here and now, just so she could feel how much she wanted her back. The thought that it was all reciprocal – that Sutton wanted to touch her in return – was enough to bring back almost exactly how turned on she’d been the night before.

“That is – we are friends. And we will continue to be,” she clarified, “But, just so you know: you have nothing to apologize for about last night. You didn’t put me into any sort of situation that I didn’t want to be in. That kiss was so that you know that I find you incredibly attractive.”

Well, normal for Charlotte now meaning that she knew that Sutton Spencer wanted to touch her and wanted Charlotte to teach her how to make a woman come. Fuck.

Sutton rolled her eyes. “Even though I’ve never done it, I know what friends with benefits is.”

And it felt surprisingly shitty to have Sutton avoiding her.

“I mean. It could work well, right? Because I could, I mean, you could teach me about sex with women, while at the same time, you could get some stress relief.”

“You already knew,” she mumbled, unable to stop herself. The grin that was on her mom’s face grew a bit, as she shrugged lightly. “I suspected. But even so.” Her expression grew more serious, though, as she seemed to try to search Sutton’s face through the webcam, “You know that this doesn’t change the way I love you. Or the way your father loves you. You’re still our Sutton, no matter who you love.”

Her mom continued, “Hon, you should know that the most important thing to me about anyone you date isn’t about what gender they are, but about how they treat you.”

“When did that happen? We don’t see each other for a few days, and I miss the big moments,” Charlotte lightly teased, but her tone was sincere, “Is everything all right?”

“I want you,” she whispered,

She felt Charlotte’s tongue sweep across her bottom lip, and she responded, letting her in, as her hands came up to tentatively land on Charlotte’s hips. When Charlotte whimpered softly into her mouth, pressing her body closer to Sutton’s, it was as though all of the sparks that had been growing between them, in every change of tone and every small touch, turned into flame.

One of Charlotte’s hands slid into her hair, her thumb rubbing behind Sutton’s ear, while the other landed on her back, and scratched down. It tore a groan that she didn’t even realize was coming from her own throat out of her, arching her back as the feeling shot desire through her body to land between her legs.

Then back down, hesitating for only a moment before she slid down to cup a firmly muscled butt over her yoga pants. Her explorative touch made Charlotte sigh into her mouth, and she pulled back slowly.

It was only when Charlotte licked her now swollen lips, eyes dipping, that Sutton even realized Charlotte had somehow unbuttoned her shirt without her even noticing. When her gaze flew back to Charlotte’s, wondering, “When…?”

“But just so you know,

you don’t need to wear anything special when we do this.”

“Because it’s just going to end up on my floor.”

“I want to touch you, this time. I mean – first. I want to touch you, first,” she got out, taking in the way her eyes widened and Charlotte licked her lips.