We Need A DNA Test

Chapter 1: The Morning After

At thirty-one, Lingling had learned how to control most things.

Her voice.

Her temper.

Her schedule.

The woman smiling against her mouth was not one of them.

Orm's back met the bedroom door with a soft thud.

Lingling stopped immediately.

Her hand stayed around Orm's waist.

"Too hard?" Lingling asked.

Orm looked up at her.

At twenty-nine, Orm knew exactly what that question did to Lingling when she answered it the wrong way.

She tilted her head.

"Not even close."

Lingling's eyes darkened.

Orm smiled.

There.

That small break in Lingling's restraint.

The one Orm had spent the entire evening trying to reach.

"You've been provoking me since dinner," Lingling said.

"I asked for dessert."

"You dragged your foot up my leg under the table."

"I was looking for my slipper."

"You were wearing heels."

Orm caught the front of Lingling's shirt.

"Then I must have been looking for something else."

She pulled Lingling closer.

The next kiss erased the rest of the argument.

Lingling's hand moved from Orm's waist to the back of her neck.

Firm.

Familiar.

Orm opened for her without hesitation.

They had been together long enough to know the difference between urgency and care.

Long enough for Lingling to recognize every change in Orm's breathing.

Long enough for Orm to know when Lingling was still holding back.

Orm broke the kiss.

Lingling followed before catching herself.

Orm's smile returned.

"You stopped."

"You needed air," Lingling said.

"I needed you to stop thinking."

"I wasn't thinking."

"Liar."

Lingling kissed the corner of Orm's mouth.

Then her jaw.

Orm's fingers tightened against Lingling's shoulders.

The bedroom was dark except for the city light slipping through the curtains.

It caught the edge of Lingling's face.

Her lowered eyes.

The controlled rise of her chest.

Orm reached between them and loosened the top button of Lingling's shirt.

Lingling caught her wrist.

Orm looked at her.

For one second, neither woman moved.