Her Pretend Christmas Date: A Lesbian Christmas Romance

“No, no, I’m sure whoever it is will finally take the hint.”

The phone rang. And rang. And rang.

“Jesus!” Laney flung back the sheet she’d draped half over herself and jumped nimbly from the bed. She found the phone in the pocket of her jeans, which were discarded at the entrance to the bedroom. Just as she picked it up, it rang again. “Oh,” she exclaimed when she studied the screen. “It’s my mom. The incessant calls make sense now. She’s probably worried that I’m dead in a ditch somewhere because I didn’t call her the very second I got home.”

“You should probably answer it. You know, since she’s worried.”

“Okay.” Laney put her finger to her lips before she answered and put the phone to her ear.

It took Morgun a full, stunned minute to realize that Laney was telling her to be quiet. Morgun sat up a little straighter and pulled the sheet over herself, as if someone else had just walked into the room. It was probably just her imagination, but she suddenly felt chilled. The chill must have been internal because there were no raised hairs on the back of her skin, no goosebumps in sight.

Laney went through the usual greetings with her mom. Morgun could hear her mom’s voice drifting over the other end even though the phone wasn’t on speaker.

“Why didn’t you call? Your plane landed two and a half hours ago! I thought you’d at least text your poor mother.”

“Mom! I travel just about every single week. You’d think if you didn’t hear from me because I’m exhausted and jet lagged and just wanted to get in the shower and enjoy a cup of tea or whatever, that you wouldn’t wonder if I’d been murdered.”

“I didn’t think you were murdered. Although, I knew you were in New York, and anything could happen there.”

“Mom!”

“Your plane could have crashed.”

“Mom, come on! I think you would have heard about that on the news, hmm? Plus, I know you were probably following it online and you saw that it landed perfectly fine.”

“I might have…” Laney’s mom changed tactics. “How’s that nice girl from the wedding? Are you still seeing her?”

“Mom! Okay, goodbye! Have a good night! I’ll talk to you again soon, okay? Love you.” Laney hung up and tossed the phone to the foot of the bed. She walked around the bed, put her hands over her face and flopped back against the pillow.

“I’m not a secret, am I?” Morgun’s tone was light and joking, but inside, she felt slightly sick at the thought that Laney wasn’t telling her family about her because she thought there was nothing to tell. They weren’t dating officially, but Morgun felt like sometimes you didn’t need a term or a title to give something meaning.

Just because they hadn’t talked about a relationship didn’t mean that what they had wasn’t a relationship. And it certainly wasn’t meaningless. Not to her, and she wasn’t willing to believe that it didn’t mean anything to Laney. Of course it meant something to her. Morgun knew that, so she hated the pinpricks of doubt that much more.

“No.” Laney stroked her finger over Morgun’s cheek and Morgun felt the knots in her neck and shoulder muscles untighten. “No, you’re definitely not a secret, but you don’t know what my mom is like. I didn’t want to be on the phone with her for an hour, answering all her questions. The more answers she gets, I swear the more questions she has. If she found out that I was here, she would have wanted to talk to you and you probably would have been here until my phone died, or hers. Mine has a full charge. I’m willing to bet hers does too. I was thinking of you.”

“She’s your mom though!”

“I know! I love her, I really do. I swear it, but I thought I’d keep this time for us and not for an inquisition.” Laney traced Morgun’s bottom lip with the pad of her thumb and Morgun sighed.

Laney was right. She did want to have this time with her alone, just the two of them. She’d been waiting for it all day. Laney’s mom wasn’t the only one tracking her flight—Morgun knew the second it landed.

“Is it alright that I want to keep you for myself? Just for this night?” Laney whispered. She leaned in and licked the path along Morgun’s lip that she’d just traced with her finger before kissing her, suckling her lip into her mouth and grazing it with her teeth. “And maybe a few others too?”

Morgun’s entire body liquefied. “I…yes…” A whole night. In bed. With Laney. Definitely.

This was what Morgun had been waiting for. Every moment of the day felt like it was a thousand years long. She was so wound up by the time that Laney walked in her door, her whole body felt like it was just a giant pile of desire. So maybe she didn’t want to talk to Laney’s mom at the moment. Maybe she could understand where Laney was coming from. And maybe that sick feeling in her stomach had turned liquid and dark and smouldering.

“I have an idea,” she rasped out between kisses.

“Yes?” Laney tucked another strand of errant hair behind Morgun’s ear. She pulled back and waited.

“It’s an idea for a photoshoot. Something different. You know how other photographers do artsy photos? Fantasy? With really cool hair and makeup and costumes?”

“And a massive emphasis on having really good editing skills and backgrounds and pre-sets and all that?”

“I guess so. But anyway. I’ve wanted to give one a try forever. If we could find somewhere remote, would you be willing to do it with me? Just us? Photographing each other?”

Laney only hesitated for a second. Maybe she just needed that second to think about it before she wrapped her arms around Morgun’s neck and pulled her in for a wild, sensuous kiss.