"Um, well, maybe we could find out?" I looked up into her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t laugh at me, and that she was being serious and not trying to goad me into doing something, then laugh at me. I didn’t think this was the case, though.

Blue eyes fell to my mouth, then looked into my eyes again. There was something there that I couldn’t quite read, but if I had seen that look in my dreams, I would have taken it for desire.

"Okay." She said quietly, still looking at me. Was she worried about the same thing I was? Did she worry I’d be cruel? Before I could ponder that question any further, I saw her leaning in a bit closer, her arm reaching across me to balance her self on her hand, placed near my shoulder. My body was vibrating, for so many reasons. I was nervous, could not believe what was about to happen, and oh yeah, I really wanted this.

Soon there was barely any space between us at all, the tip of her nose teasing mine, then teasing my cheek as she got even closer. I could feel her breath, so hot on my face, her body heat immense. I felt just the barest touch of her breast against mine as she adjusted her body, not fully laying on mine, but resting against it, her arm still taking the biggest brunt of her weight, her other hand playing with the hair that laid around my head on the carpet. My arms stayed glued to my body, my hands clasped on my stomach.

Soft, almost tickling me, her lips teased, almost shy in their advance. I tried holding my breath so I wouldn’t all out pant. I didn’t dare want her to guess my excitement level, or my nervousness.

"You can breathe, Andi," she whispered against my mouth. It sent shivers through my body, and I exhaled in a small, quick puff of air. The lips came again, softer than I ever imagined they’d be, almost stroking mine, her bottom lip pushing against mine. My fingers began to dig into themselves, craving the feel of her skin, her hair, anything.

Both lips were on mine now, pushing, yet gentle, tentatively seeking the best place to rest. I didn’t know what to do, should I move my lips to kiss back? Should I just lie still? The lips pulled away a bit, and my mind screamed out in protest, my lips trying to hold on to what they craved, but the softness quickly returned, bringing with it a little more pressure.

One of my hands found its way out from between our bodies, and rested on Haley’s shoulder, warm and soft next to the scratchy material of the cheerleading outfit. My fingertips barely touched the skin, rubbing, just brushing. I felt a shiver run through Haley’s body, and I smiled inside with satisfaction. This gave me a bit of confidence, and I pushed back with my mouth, opening my lips just a bit, just enough to capture her bottom lip between mine.

Haley lowered her body a bit, lowering her weight to rest on her elbow now. I could feel her breasts against mine completely. My god, they were so soft. I had no idea. She moved her head a bit to the side allowing more room for exploration, her lips following mine, opening to capture more inside, and to allow the softest, warmest, most sensual feeling of her tongue, barely touching my top lip, tasting. At the sensation, my fingers dug into her shoulder a bit, messaging the skin, and moving up, along the cheerleading shell, and then the warmth of her neck, so soft and smooth.

No wonder men loved women so much.

Finally my fingers found themselves in her hair, brushing it from its dark halo around us, pushing it behind her shoulder, running my fingers down its long length.

This seemed to get Haley going as I felt that tentative tongue from before finding its way into my mouth, searching, soft, gentle caresses. To my surprise, and arousal, Haley moaned, long and unbelievably sexy. God, I wanted to moan, too, but didn’t dare. My tongue met hers, and they slid against each other, Haley’s breathing coming faster with each caress.

"Hang on, man. I gotta get my stuff."

I froze, my heart stuck in my chest when I heard my brother’s voice downstairs. Haley must have heard it to, as she stopped, lifted herself and listened.

"Shit. Chris is home," I whispered. She pushed to her feet, pulling the shell over her head, and pushing the skirt down her legs as she scrambled to get her clothes on. I ran over to the closet, and put the uniform on its hanger, stuffing it into the closet, then grabbing Haley’s hand as we ran for my bedroom. I heard Chris’ footsteps on the stairs just as I closed my bedroom door, leaning against it.

I heard him barge into his room, rummaging around for God only knows what. I looked at Haley who stood by my dresser, staring at the wall that connected Chris’ and my room. I wondered what she was thinking. All I knew was that my body was still thrumming.

There was a knock at the door. I stepped away from it, and opened it to see my brother standing there with a bag over his shoulder.

"Tell mom I’m staying at Brian’s again tonight."

"Sure. You guys be careful. How did you get home?" He shrugged.

"Just walked. Plows haven’t been out yet, but they probably will be by tomorrow."

"Cool. See you later."

"Later." I closed the door again, and listened as he hurried down the stairs, and the front door slammed.

"Well, at least he got the door to open." I turned to see Haley grinning.

"Yeah. No kidding." She walked toward me, and I could feel my pulse begin to race all over again.

"Feel like a movie?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yeah. That sounds great."

The basement was warm as I had forgotten to turn the fireplace off, so I turned all the lights off, and unhooked the Play Station game.

"Do you have anything particular in mind?" I asked as I flipped through the channels.

"Oh hey, it’s Meg Ryan." Haley said, pulling her feet under her on the couch.

"You a fan?"

"Who isn’t?" She grinned at me.

"Good point. I like this one, ‘You’ve Got Mail’."

"Me, too." The movie was nearly half over, and Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters were beginning to like each other and hang out. "I hope I find a love like that someday." Haley sighed, sounding wistful.

"Yeah. I want to get comfortable. Come on." I tugged at her shirt as I stood and walked over to a closet, grabbing two beanbag chairs, and dropping them on the floor in front of the fireplace. "Stay warm, and watch the movie."

"You’re so smart," Haley said as she flopped into one of the chairs, moaning.

"I try." I sat next to her, watching the movie with my eyes, but my mind wasn’t into it. I had only one thing on my mind, and Meg Ryan and Tom Hands had nothing to do with it. I wanted so badly to touch Haley. She sat not six inches away from me, but I felt like we were miles apart. God, how to get back what had been stolen when Chris had come home.

My brows drew once I realized the background noise was gone, and the room had gotten darker. I looked to see that Haley had turned the TV off, and when I turned to look at her, to ask why, I saw her eyes boring into me. I swallowed hard. For some reason the old adage ‘watch what you wish for,’ was roaming around in my brain.

She said nothing, just reached her hand out, and I put mine in it. She squeezed my fingers gently, rubbing her thumb over the back of my hand.

"So soft," she said, barely a whisper. I watched our hands, the dancing flames of the fire bouncing shadows around our fingers, throwing a golden hue on everything. My eyes trailed up to Haley’s, not surprised to find I was meeting her gaze. Her eyes were turned nearly transparent in the firelight, the shadows clinging to all the curves of her facial structure, broadening her brow just a bit, turning her hair a deep red color.

She scooted closer to me, wisps of her hair tickling my nose. She smiled as she ran a hand through her hair, pushing it all behind her shoulders. There was a silent communication between us, almost as if our eyes, bodies and senses could say it all. I felt absolutely no need to speak.

Haley’s face came closer, her eyes closing as it did. I followed suit, bringing my hand up to touch the fire-warmed skin of her neck, the underside of her jaw. I felt her lips brush against mine, then trail lightly down the side of my cheek to my ear where she kissed the top, then whispered,

"You’re so soft, Andi. I could touch you all night." I shivered, my eyes closing, mouth opening as I felt her lips finding their way back to mine, tenderly taking my bottom lip between hers, tugging playfully.

I fell back against the beanbag, Haley falling with me until she settled against me, scooting her body even closer until every inch of her touched me. My fingers traced her ear, running a fingertip along the edge of it, feeling the soft, delicate skin, then running along her throat, feeling the texture of her face, and finally finding our mouths that played, teased each other. I took a deep breath as I felt Haley kiss each fingertip individually, then taking my hand and kissing my palm before returning to my mouth.

My hand went on the move again as Haley’s tongue began to trace my lips before dipping inside. I flattened my hand out on her back, the thin material of the tank not able to hide the immense body heat that radiated from her. I felt her spine, the muscles in her back moving as her body settled even closer to me, and further down.

I sucked in a breath as I felt Haley’s hand on the move, too. She ran her fingers through my hair, brushing my hair up and away from my scalp, sending a whole new set of shivers down my spine. She sighed, content, into my mouth, her tongue tracing the bottom of my top teeth, and searching for my own tongue, which eagerly met hers, caressing, rubbing. Her hand slid out of my hair, and found my neck. She began to massage the muscle where my shoulder meets my neck, causing me to moan for the first time.

The hand continued to move, squeezing my arm through the thickness of my sweatshirt. Of all days for me not to wear a tank. I wanted to feel her hands on my skin, craved what I knew the sensation would be.

I reached down, took her hand, and guided it to the hem of my sweatshirt, rubbing my hand up and down her arm to encourage her. She got the point, and her fingers gently dug their way under the heavy material, and I couldn’t help it as I pushed even further into Haley’s body when I felt her fingers touch the bare skin of my side. I slid my hand down her arm, and found my way to the bottom of her tank, the fire within calling to my hands. I swear I heard a sizzle as I touched her skin.

I felt the smooth, flatness of her belly, the muscles underneath moving and seizing with my every touch. I flattened my hand, allowing my palm to feel everything, sliding my hand up a bit, feeling just the bottom edge of Haley’s bra. My hand stopped when I felt soft pressure on my hand from above the tank. My hand lay where it was.

God, never in a million years did I think it would be like this to kiss a woman, have them kiss me and touch me. Never had it been like this with Rick, regardless of how bad an experience it had been. I had still been turned on with him, turned on enough to go through with it. But this, this was a whole new ball game.

My lips left Haley’s as I wanted to taste her skin. I kissed around her face, her eyelids, nose, forehead, and made my way down to her neck, unbelievably warm and soft. I buried my lips in it, opening my mouth and ran my tongue over the softness, tasting the saltiness. She pushed her head back, exposing her long neck to me, giving me permission. I brought up a hand, running my fingers all up and down her skin, trailing my nails down her throat, making her moan, and her breath quicken.

Part of me wanted so much to go on, to see what Haley had to offer, but the more logical part of me, the frightened part of me, knew that this would go no further this night, and I was glad for it. I started to feel real fear for the first time in all this, fear what we were doing, and lack of confidence in my own ability.

With one final kiss to Haley’s neck, I pulled away. Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked at me.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice throaty and deep. I nodded, laying my head down on her chest.

"I think maybe we should get some sleep." I lifted myself up to look in her eyes. "What do you think?" She looked at me for a moment, running her fingers through my hair, then nodded.

"I think so, too." She leaned up, giving me the softest, sweetest kiss on my mouth, then hugged me to her.

We both stood, and I switched off the fireplace. Haley grabbed my hand, and without a word, we made our way through the dark and up the stairs to my room. Quietly we got ready for bed, and I slid between the covers, moving over as far as I could to the edge. I wasn’t sure what to think, and so figured giving Haley her space would be the right thing to do.