Mark My Words

59 | Care About Her

"Just... make myself undesirable to them," she said. When Rosalie shrugged, Joanna scoffed, still smiling. "That's delusional," she said, and the way she said it made Rosalie realize that Joanna had thought about it before. It justified her reason for wanting to follow in the Lieutenant's footsteps.

"They can't force you to make money, either," Rosalie insisted. Joanna went back to sipping her coffee. The tension had vanished from her brow, though, so Rosalie sat back on the bench, more relaxed. "I think you can do this. You won't be facing Arden alone this time."

Joanna smiled a little, just enough to show her white teeth before she smothered her grin behind the rim of her coffee mug. She then masked it with a deep scowl, pinning Rosalie with fake contempt.

"Watch yourself, Killer, or else I might think you actually care about me," she said.

"I do care about you," Rosalie said.

Joanna scoffed, rolling her eyes. Rosalie focused on Joanna's smile lines, and Joanna's pointed canines. Joanna set her coffee off to the side and said, "Ever heard of a joke, Ros—"

Rosalie set her coffee aside and lifted her hand from the steaming mug. Her warm fingers came to rest on Joanna's jawline. Her name dropped off of Joanna's lips. Joanna followed Rosalie's lead without hesitation, without surprise.

 In the second that passed, Rosalie's heart throbbed with the anticipation of every expectation and apprehension disappearing in the next moment. 

When Rosalie pushed her lips to Joanna's, the noise beyond them dissipated. In the still silence, she could hear Joanna's deep inhale, and the slow, wonderful exhale of breath against Rosalie's shaking lips. Her soft lips tasted earthy from the espresso, sweet from Rosalie's sugary coffee. She felt every nerve in her being vibrate with the tremor struck by Joanna's fingers on her arm, her nails clutching into the fabric of her sweatshirt.

Her chest swelled against Joanna's, her breathing ceased for the moment it took to open her eyes and wait for Joanna to do the same. When they parted, Joanna's eyelids were closed, her dark eyelashes colored with second-day mascara. Her eyeshadow from the night before had gathered on her lower lashes, dusting over the tender pockets of shadows under her eyes. Rosalie's fingers felt clammy on Joanna's skin, and as she reached up to push back Joanna's curls, she realized that she had never felt Joanna's hair between her own fingers.

Joanna moved her hand up from Rosalie's arm. The insistence from the pressure she put on Rosalie's shoulder moved her forward, and they were kissing again. Joanna met her lips with insistent force, her tongue licking between Rosalie's lips.

She never felt anything like it, and the realization that her mouth was opening didn't come to her until she felt Joanna's tongue against her own, reminding her that she was anything but an expert at this sort of thing. Her confidence faltered, but with it came an exciting thrill from unknown territory that Joanna was willing to show her.

She held on to Joanna's hair, clutching at her neck as she lulled in the motion of Joanna's open mouth against her own. The crisp, cold touch of Joanna's lip piercing warmed in seconds to their hot breath catching between their lips. Rosalie's chest ached as they parted, but amazement prevented her from lamenting her lost breath.

"Fuck," Joanna cursed before she laid a long, closed-mouth kiss to Rosalie's lips.

Rosalie hummed sweetly, her lips pulling into a smile as a gust of wind buffeted Joanna's hair against her own. Joanna leant away and brushed it back, cursing again, and Rosalie turned with a laugh. She threw her head back, giggling as Joanna said, "If I knew you were planning on kissing me, I woulda tied my hair back."