Maybe now that you know that I haven’t… Maybe I’m not
sexy now because I’m not experienced.”
Adalynn scoffed. “Dear God, you can’t actually believe
that. You have no idea how sexy you are. How beautiful you
are. How perfect. Next to you, I feel like a shriveled up old
boot.”
“A boot?” Cassia’s lips parted, then she laughed, the sound
half disbelief, half outrage, with clear amusement overriding it
and binding it all together. “You could never be an old boot.
Your artistry is inspiring. Your life, your experience. But it’s
you that I want to be with. You, the person that no one ever
gets to see. The one that no one knows. I want that Adalynn.
The Adalynn that I know. The Adalynn who is funny and
quirky, who has a spirit of steel she doesn’t even know about,
the Adalynn who can restore and love old houses, who can
instruct an entire crew, who can make moments come to life in
ways other people couldn’t even imagine. I want you. Just
how you are. Right now. I want you to touch me. I want you to
show me how you like to be touched. I want you to help me
learn that for myself. If you want to.”
“I want to,” Adalynn groaned. “I was just worried you
might not want that. Or that it might be too much. Or that you
might not want me because I’m older than you, because I’m
not so fearless and bold as you are, because I’m not as
physically perfect anymore.”
Cassia scoffed at that and laughed again. Her eyes travelled
down the length of Adalynn’s body. “Physically perfect?
Please. You’re more than perfect. You look like a goddess. The
first time I ever saw you, I actually used the word
otherworldly to describe you to myself. If you could only have