Simone softly nuzzled Annabelle’s hair, her warm breath ruffling the wisps on her forehead.  The younger woman groaned sleepily and reached out to stroke Simone’s arm a bit before falling into a deep sleep again.  Smiling gently,  Simone gathered her closer  and shut  her eyes trying and  recapture that sweet moment between sleep and wakefulness where one instant she was dreaming of a warm body pressed along the length of her own nakedness and in the next  instant realizing it was  Annabelle’s thigh that was draped intimately over hers.

Annabelle shifted slightly in her sleep and her lower body pressed subtly into Simone’s thigh.   Simone reacted to the sensuousness of the movement,  amazed that she was instantly aroused again.    She took a deep steadying breath, now fully awake.   The harsh morning light was invasive.  She felt exposed, with no where to hide from her thoughts.    Uncertainty and regret snaked  through her.  Had she really spent the night making love with a student?   Here, in the dorm, less than 20 feet away from where other students slept?  What was she thinking?   She felt a growing horror as she realized the magnitude of what she’d done.     She had placed not only herself in danger but she’d jeopardized the school’s reputation.      She cringed as she imagined what the media would do with this if it got out.      The tabloids would carry dirty snickering headlines about what really went on in an all girls’ school.   She would be fired but that would not be enough.   The families of the students would demand that she be prosecuted.    Enrolment at the school would fall.     And then there was her promise to Mother Immaculata to help the Senator’s daughter.   It was too much.       

She couldn’t do that to Aunt Em, who had worked her whole life building up  St. Teresa’s, who had sheltered Simone from her parent’s cold indifference, and had treated her like her own daughter. 

Annabelle finally stirred and let out a little yawn, pulling Simone’s attention back to the younger woman in her arms.   Oh yes, they  had spent the night loving each other.  Simone could still taste Annabelle, could feel her moving inside her.  She remembered how Annabelle’s mouth felt on her body as they made love all night.     Simone’s heart skipped a beat when she suddenly remembered softly kissing Annabelle’s ear in the early morning hours and whispering   I love you.  She hadn’t meant to say it.        Her throat tightened and she closed her eyes against the unexpected stab she felt.   Was it for Amanada?  Was it shame?   She shut her eyes tightly and wished that she could take back those words.     This can never happen again.  She felt a fist of iron close around her chest, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.   This can never happen again.