MOONLIGHT SHADOW

Chapter 1

"I'm in love with you", Joey professed , unsure how Charlie would react.

"I think", Charlie hesitated, "I'm in love with you too".

Joey felt a rush of excitement running through her body. At last, the woman she loved had confessed her true feelings for her. She felt herself blushing, and she took her gaze away from Charlie for a moment so that she could compose herself to speak - but she couldn't stop smiling.

"Well ... what are we gonna do about it?" she asked, still smiling nervously and hoping that Charlie would be brave enough not to run away this time.

Charlie looked away, not sure what to say. Deep down she knew she wanted to be with Joey, but she was afraid of so many things. She was afraid of what might happen to her, and her career, if she were to give into her heart as she had been longing to do. How would people look at her? And what about Ruby?

"Do you wanna be with me", Joey asked, hoping that the bravery of asking such a direct question might finally reveal what Charlie really wanted from her.

Charlie nodded, it was all she could manage to do, her emotions were running so high. She felt Joey's hand gently stroke her hair, cupping her cheek. The feel of Joey's soft skin against hers made her tremble and she could feel her heart melting. She turned her head and gazed into Joey's eyes, resting against Joey's hand and allowing Joey to caress her cheek. Reaching over, she took Joey's hand in hers and admitted, "Yes ... I wanna be with you".

Joey felt she had waited a lifetime to hear those words, and she could barely believe her ears, although deep down she knew exactly how Charlie felt about her. Joey's eyes traced the delicate features of the woman she loved in the moonlight. 'She is so beautiful', she thought to herself. The two women felt their senses tingling, a raging mixture of emotions – happiness, excitement, passion – love.

Their lips drew closer together until they met in the most tender kiss either had ever had. Charlie felt her head spinning. She had never known this kind of passion before, or love. She wanted it to last forever. She pulled Joey closer to her, kissing her more passionately, their tongues softly exploring each other, their eyes closed in bliss. Joey let go of Charlie's hand. She needed to touch her. She lay her hand on Charlie's cheek, caressing it with her fingertips. Their kiss deepened further, becoming even more passionate. Slowly and gently she ran her fingers down Charlie's neck, across her shoulder, along her arm, brushing gently against Charlie's breast, intentionally. Charlie moaned softly at Joey's tender touch. She didn't mean to. It just came out and she couldn't help it. Suddenly she pulled away. Joey froze in fear. Was Charlie going to run away again? Was this all too much for her – too soon? She opened her eyes and saw that Charlie, eyes still closed, was breathing heavily; but she needn't have worried. "Can we go somewhere?" breathed Charlie, barely able to contain the passion rising within her.

"There's a hotel close by", Joey whispered. She smiled, relieved that Charlie was not planning to flee again. The opposite was true, in fact – she wanted more! Joey begun to realise that her body was shaking with nervous excitement. She wished they were in the hotel room already. She didn't want the intimacy to stop. She pulled Charlie towards her, their lips meeting for one final, passionate kiss before they both scrambled to put on their seat belts. Charlie glanced across at Joey as she turned the key in the ignition. She had never seen Joey look so beautiful as she did at that moment - in the moonlight. A rush of nerves ran through her as she realised she was soon going to be making love to another woman. Thoughts of worry began to cloud her head. 'Will I be able to do this? Will I know what to do?' She tried to reassure herself that everything would be okay. After all, it was Joey. Her Joey. And then she realised that there was no place in the world she would rather be at that moment than with the woman she loved. What was there to be afraid of? Everything! The wheels of the car began to turn as Charlie tried her best to push the conflicting thoughts out of her mind.

To be continued...