Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

There isn’t any world where you can have her.

Claire couldn’t stop herself from reaching out and caressing

Haley’s hair again. She stirred almost immediately, in a lighter

sleep than Claire thought. Her cerulean eyes stared up at Claire

with so much tenderness, kindness, intimacy, and hope, that

Claire had to choke back a sob.

Haley reached for her, but Claire pulled back. Might as well

rip the bandage off now and start putting distance between

them. She never should have started this. She was older. She

was more experienced. She knew it wouldn’t work. She

shouldn’t have let herself think that just because she’d walked

through most of her life purposely asleep that she’d never

wake up and feel anything.

“Claire?” Haley sat up, hauling the sheets up against her

chest. She flushed as she did it, lowering her eyes down to her

hands, but more so because she was probably going through

every detail of their lovemaking in her mind. “Are you going

to kick me out of bed now

and tell me that we can’t do this

again? Because if you’re going to tell me that, then I don’t

want to hear it. You don’t mean it. You can’t mean it.”

The words were another series of blows, each one landing

and finding its brutal mark. Claire jerked back. She tensed,

gathering her courage, shoring up her armor to go to battle.

She slid out of bed. Naked, she walked over to the dresser and

pulled out a silk robe. She wrapped it around herself. It wasn’t

a very good shield, but at least she wasn’t naked anymore.

“I am going to tell you that, because you’re leaving.”

“Leaving?” Haley shot upright. “Leaving to go where?”

Claire turned her back. She was a coward. She couldn’t