Gentle fingers kissed Bo’s cheek, brushed away long strands of dark hair from Bo’s face. The pad of Lauren’s trembling thumb soaked up the quiet tears that rolled down hot, flushed skin, and Bo could feel the slight, subtle sensation of Lauren’s eyelashes fluttering against her own. Slowly, Bo wound her arms around her lover’s waist, pulled her close, relished the familiar warmth of Lauren’s body, the strong lines of her waist and hips. Lauren stiffened, and Bo hesitated, unsure of what she’d done, and would have pulled away if Lauren hadn’t dipped her head then to rest her cheek on Bo’s shoulder. Bo could feel her breath warm her neck, could feel Lauren’s fingers fall from her cheek to her chest, could feel the beating of Lauren’s heart against her own, strong and gentle, warm, close.

It was the comfort of a bed made cozy after a long night of deep, restful sleep. The first breath of fresh air, the sunlight after hours in a dark, confined space, that overwhelming sensation of finally coming home. Bo didn’t want to leave the safety of Lauren’s arms, to abandon her sweet smell, to lose the warmth of her skin or the gentle pulse of her heart beating against her own. But after a long moment, Lauren pulled away. Stubbornly, Bo clung to Lauren’s waist, her arms locked around her back, and pushed her forehead to rest against Lauren’s own and closed her eyes, unwilling to return to the reality that waited downstairs for her, to Kenzi’s pain of a widow not yet married, to the uncertainty that lay outside the circle of her lover’s arms.

“Bo,” Lauren’s whisper tickled her mouth, and Lauren’s fingers caressed her cheeks again, and tilted Bo’s face up so that Bo would look at her. Reluctantly, Bo opened her eyes. Lauren stared at her, her frightened and longing expression a mirror to Bo’s though brighter with intensity. “Do you trust me?”

She wanted to say yes, but couldn’t trust herself to speak. Lauren must have seen the answer ripple across Bo’s features, and pressed a short, impulsive kiss to Bo’s mouth that made Bo’s heart leap and scream in her chest and her breath catch in her throat. And when Lauren pulled away again, far too soon, she looked at Bo, hard, and Bo understood what that kiss was meant to convey, and was breathless, again, for the love of the woman she held so tightly in her arms.

“Then trust me,” Lauren whispered again after a moment, and, extricating herself as gently, as carefully as she could, stepped out of Bo’s possessive grip and away. They both stood for a moment, hugging their arms against themselves, as though suddenly cold and lost in the absence of each other.

But suddenly, Bo understood that it wasn’t only her trust Lauren had come to the clubhouse for.

Lauren trusted her too. Completely. Implicitly.