Homegrown - Chapter 6

Light flooded in, but it was all wrong. Ella frowned as she slowly opened her eyes. She smacked her lips before running the back of her hand over them. Where the hell am I? The thought only lasted the time it took for her to realize the room itself was familiar. She had seen it in phone calls and in person a couple times prior.

“Oh,” she breathed out before carefully turning over so she didn’t jostle her bedmate into waking. Sam was still asleep, eyes closed and expression softened. She looked ethereal in the warm light of a new morning. The curls Ella had spent so much time curling around her fingers last night were hidden from view inside a light pink bonnet that matched the one on Ella’s own head. She sighed in relief that she had managed to remember that even as she marveled in having a rare moment to just observe.

Last night had been a dream. She hadn’t intended to come back to Sam’s and dive face-first between her friend’s legs, but she couldn’t deny that there were zero regrets in the light of a new day. On the contrary, she wanted a replay. Sam always seemed so calm and put together on the day to day that seeing her like that, head flung back as she fell apart, was intoxicating. Was it possible to get drunk on someone else’s pleasure? If so, Ella was a believer.

Before she could second-guess herself, she reached out, brushing the backs of her fingers over Sam’s bare cheek. The skin there was softer than velvet, and she bit her lip at the need to press harder, as if she could fuse inside Sam’s skin. Has this hunger always been there? Even as she thought the question, she knew the answer. Of course it had. Sam was always one of the first people she thought of whenever anything in her life happened, good or bad. Sam was the one she wanted to call on to celebrate or commiserate. That had been true in the past, and it was even more true now.

“Hmm,” Sam hummed as she shifted. Her eyes fluttered open a couple times before they focused on Ella. “Good morning.”

Ella couldn’t help but smile at the roughness of Sam’s voice. “Good morning to you, too. How do you feel?”

Sam groaned as she turned onto her back. When Ella moved to pull her hand away, she reached out, stopping the motion. “Like I just got slutted out.” She turned her head, kissing Ella’s fingers. “That wasn’t what I was expecting.”

Ella swallowed hard. “But was it okay?”

“Maybe,” Sam replied, making Ella’s heart sink. Her light brown eyes watched Ella, whatever emotion in them muted as she continued. “That depends on a few things.”

“Like?”

“Like if you were drunk and if you want to do it again.” Sam’s words had her pulse rabbiting, but Ella knew they needed to talk more about this.

“Of course I wasn’t,” she began, making sure to clear that up. “I wouldn’t have driven if I had more than a sip. And as to whether or not I want to do it again, that depends as well.”

Sam nodded before pressing another kiss to Ella’s fingers. Ella’s breath hitched when she took the tip of her middle finger between her lips. Sam had to know what she was doing, but she just continued like she wasn’t making Ella wet between her thighs.

“Oh? What does it depend on?” Her eyes closed halfway as she gazed at Ella. “What is it you want? I’ll probably give it to you.”

Pushing her luck, Ella decided to go for broke. She was tired of not speaking up about what she wanted. Going along with what everyone expected hadn’t done her any favors and instead had just served to make her miserable. She was done living someone else’s dream instead of her own.

Ella leaned closer, shaking her hand from Sam’s hold and shifting to brush her thumb across Sam’s lips. “I want you.”

Sam’s eyes widened slightly. “You’ve always had that.” She cupped a hand around Ella’s and nuzzled into her palm. “You’ve always had me.”

Ella watched in awe as Sam stretched like a big cat before turning and curling into her. Under the blankets, the warmth should have been uncomfortable, but Ella found herself moving into it, wanting to capture more of it for her own. Sam’s scent was light and floral, even after a night of more orgasms than words. The skin between Ella’s thighs was slick and tacky with spit, but she didn’t hesitate to push farther into Sam’s space.

“Not like this,” she said finally. “I always wanted, but I wasn’t sure if you did.”

Sam hid her face against Ella’s neck and shook her head. “I’ve wanted this since I knew it was a thing. I always regretted not telling you, and then you left for college and didn’t come back. I didn’t want to hold you back.”

Ella wrapped her arms around Sam’s shoulders, hugging her even closer. She reveled in the strength of Sam’s arms as she wrapped them around her waist. They were pressed together from forehead to toe, and it was everything Ella had ever imagined and more.

“I thought I was too much or too loud for you to want,” Ella confessed. When Sam looked up at her in confusion, she smiled softly. “Remember your last girlfriend—what was her name? Brooklyn?”

Sam nodded slowly. “Yeah. She was nice, but a lot to be around sometimes.”

“So am I.”

“Not like that, though,” Sam contested. “She was pushy a lot. I know she just wanted to help, but she didn’t always listen to what I wanted and thought she knew what was best for me. You’ve never done that.”

Ella’s lips parted as Sam spoke. How had she been so wrong?

Sam gazed up at her. “You always encouraged me, even when it meant me staying here.”

“I would have stayed for you,” Ella replied, enjoying the way Sam’s eyes widened. It all seemed so simple in retrospect. “I still would have gone to law school and interned, but I would have come back for you. If you really wanted me to.”

“I didn’t want you to resent me asking you to stay,” Sam explained. “I was okay with you going off and discovering the world as long as I still got to be in your life somehow. Even if it was just sending you boxes from the farm to remind you, we were here and you had our support—my support.”

Ella nodded in understanding. She still felt so guilty about the life they could have been living, but she couldn’t regret everything. Not when it had still led them to this point. “And now?” she asked, needing to know if Sam would just let her go without a word. “Are you okay with me leaving again? Even if I don’t know when I’ll be back?”

Sam stared at her, lips parted, sucking in huffs of air. They were poised on the edge of something that would make or break them. “The farm is part of me, and I can’t see myself leaving it. I can’t make you stay. I know it would be selfish of me to try.” Disappointment lanced through Ella until Sam reached up and cupped her cheek. “But I can’t let you go. I don’t want to live with regrets anymore, and I’ve regretted every day not telling you how I felt.”

“I’ve loved you since we were kids,” Ella breathed out. She leaned down, resting her forehead against Sam’s. “I tried with Tasha and countless others to get over you. But at the end of the day, they knew my heart was spoken for and had been for a long time.”

Sam closed her eyes and took a shaky breath in. When she opened them again, Ella was nearly bowled over by the emotion in those brown depths. Some people thought Sam didn’t feel as strongly as everyone else. She was always so calm and collected, but that’s because they couldn’t see how deeply she felt everything. Ella nearly swallowed her breath as the need to kiss her overwhelmed her senses.

“I’ve never loved anyone but you.”

Those words ripped through her, leaving Ella bathed in pure emotion. She was always praised for her optimism and her warmth, but that was nothing compared to the bubble of happiness that burst through her at Sam’s words. Nothing, not passing the bar nor winning her first case, could compare to the knowledge that she was loved by Sam. Her eyes burned as she leaned forward, pressing a kiss into Sam’s lips. She could have lived in that kiss forever, but the door slamming open yanked her out of those feelings. She clutched at Sam before they both looked toward the doorway.

“It’s about fucking time you two got your shit together,” Peter shouted as he pointed at them.

Sam sputtered for a moment before she yelled back, “Get the fuck out. What is wrong with you?”

Peter smirked and crossed his arms. “Just making sure you two know we’re all happy for you before you get all hot and heavy again.” He stepped backward and grabbed the door. “Also, you owe us a new fucking couch, you degenerate. Really, who the hell has sex on a couch they share with their poor single brother?”

Ella felt a bubble of laughter building at Peter’s antics. When she heard Sam growling under her breath, the bubble burst and she had to bury her laughter in Sam’s bonnet.

“I will castrate you if you don’t get the hell out,” Sam shouted before reaching for a free pillow. She chucked it at the door, but Peter ducked away, slamming the door behind him before the pillow hit it. Ella could hear his hysterical laughter fade away, followed by the muffled sound of the front door slamming shut.

“You know he’s going to tell your whole family about this, right?” Ella asked. Even with the interruption, she still felt lighter than she had in a long time.

Sam snorted softly before leaning up for a sweet kiss. “Let him. I have more important things to do right now.”

Ella giggled when Sam surged up, covering her with her body. When they kissed again, she sighed at how much their kisses felt like home.