“Forgive me,” Bette said as she sat in Tina’s lap.

“Forgive me,” she said in her best craggy voice as she moved her hands up under Tina’s blond hair and held her head. Tina let out a long sigh and tilted her head back and parted her lips slightly.

Bette leaned in and met Tina’s lips with her own.

“Forgiven,” she thought.

~~~~

Bette kissed Tina lightly, sweetly as if testing the waters. She expected Tina to move their kissing to the next level, to let it get deeper, to let her passion push them beyond where the afternoon and evening had taken them, but Tina returned each graze of Bette’s lips, each advance of her tongue with an equal response. Bette continued to hold Tina’s head and then pulled away.

Bette stared at Tina, afraid to confirm that she was indeed forgiven.

Tina read the insecurity in Bette’s face. “Did you want to be forgiven, baby?” Tina asked, teasing, well aware that she had the upper hand.

Bette tilted her head to the left, her eyes begging Tina to let her anger go.

Tina sighed and rested her head on the back of the couch. “Okay, you’re forgiven,” she said, her tone serious and parental. She lifted her head. “But Bette, I’m not going to forget this and you better not forget either.”

“You’re right T. I won’t ever forget. God, I’m sorry,” Bette said, finally feeling a little relief.

“What do you want, Bette?” Tina asked, continuing her parental tone.

Bette sat on Tina’s lap, aware that her charm that had always worked to sway Tina from her anger hadn’t moved her as far as she had hoped. She felt that Tina was not budging beyond this incremental reconciliation until Bette could give her something that Tina could deposit in some kind of emotional escrow account. Bette sighed, closed her eyes and bowed her head.

Tina watched Bette, aware that she was struggling to come up from under water with a satisfactory answer. Tina thought about how conflicted she felt, wanting so much to let Bette’s migration into her lap continue into what she had hoped for earlier that afternoon. But she also felt that Bette’s charm could not be her consolation prize for Bette’s behavior.

Bette thought about Tina as if she were an underestimated opponent. She scrambled to come up with a strategy to reach the Tina she knew how to convince. Tina’s miscarriage flashed through Bette’s mind and her heart immediately felt heavy. Bette had circled the loss of their child in her mind, but had never allowed herself to feel the full weight and magnitude of that loss. Her feelings now clouded her ability to think about what to say to Tina. She looked up at Tina and exhaled hard.

“Oh my God, Tina,” Bette cried, a wave of emotion surged up from her heart, looking for exit points. Bette covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably, her chest heaving, her ears burned. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, baby.”

Tina sat shocked. As Bette repeated her apology, Tina pulled Bette into her chest and held her tight, her tears staining Tina’s T-shirt. “Baby, I forgive you. Come on. You’re forgiven. It’s okay,” Tina said, rubbing Bette’s back.

Bette pulled her head away from Tina’s chest, her face streaked with tears. She shook her head no. “T, I’m sorry about the baby. I’m so sorry for what you must be going through and how I haven’t been there for you. God, T, I’m sorry we lost him.” She eked out between sobs.

Tina felt her own sorrow rise up, yet it was met with a feeling of utter longing for Bette who had cracked open in front of her to reveal the most exquisite vulnerability she had ever seen. Tina pulled Bette back to her chest, allowing her to continue crying, Tina’s own tears beginning to fall. “Oh, baby, I know,” she said, rocking Bette and rubbing her back.

Tina held Bette until her sobs subsided. The two sat wrapped in each others arms listening to the other breathe for some time before Bette lifted her head and looked at Tina. Tina was surprised at how appealing Bette looked with red, puffy eyes.

Tina smiled at Bette. “How are you doing, baby?”

“Sorry T,” Bette said, a little embarrassed.

“Do you know how beautiful you are right now?”

“Right,” Bette huffed and looked down.

Tina put her forefinger under Bette’s chin to lift her face. “No, really. You are unbelievably beautiful.”

A faint smile started to creep across Bette’s face. “I want to answer your question, T,” Bette said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

Tina smiled at Bette with her eyes. “Hum? What do you want, baby?”

“I want to never take you for granted and lose sight of how lucky I am to have you in my life. Everything else comes second.”

“Do you want to know what I want?” Tina asked, a slight smirk on her face.

“What do you want, T?”

“I want you in our bed. Are you willing?”

Bette laughed, “God, that’s not what I thought you were going to say.”

“Um, well are you? Willing?”

Bette smiled at Tina and bent to place her answer on Tina’s lips. Tina opened her mouth to ensure Bette knew what she was looking for. She circled her tongue around and over Bette’s as if performing a rhythmic dance they had practiced many times. Bette sighed and a moan moved from her throat into her mouth. Tina smiled and pulled her head away from Bette’s mouth.

“So what did you think I was going to say?” Tina asked.

“I thought you were going to say that you wanted a baby.”

“Not today. Only you,” Tina said. “Go on in, I’ll be right there,” she said, tapping her hand on Bette’s thigh.

Bette climbed out of Tina’s lap and picked up the Pellegrino bottle. She drank long and hard before offering the bottle to Tina who took a sip and then smacked Bette on the rear end. “Go on.”

Bette left Tina sitting on the couch and walked slowly toward the bedroom. Her head felt heavy with fatigue, but she too wanted to continue where she had left off with Tina earlier that afternoon. Bette stopped in the bathroom and splashed warm water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. “What a ***** mess you are,” she thought. She sighed and reached for a bath towel to dry her face before heading for the bedroom.

Tina sat where Bette had left her, listening to the water running in the bathroom. She rubbed the back of her neck with her right hand as a gurgling sounded from her stomach followed by a hunger pang. “What time did we eat?” she thought. Tina got up from the couch, stretched her arms high over her head and walked to the kitchen.

“She must have felt really bad,” Tina thought, as she looked at the pasta bowls in the drying rack. Some cold penne noodles were stuck together in the colander still sitting on the counter. She picked up a handful of noodles and stuffed them into her mouth. The pasta tasted bland and starchy. Tina opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bowl of red grapes. She could hear Bette talking on the phone as she popped several grapes into her mouth. “Umm,” she said as she chewed the sweet grapes while carrying the bowl down the hall.

Tina found Bette standing in front of the dresser, their eyes meeting in the mirror. She placed the bowl on the dresser, and wrapped her arms around Bette, continuing to watch her. She nuzzled her nose into Bette’s hair, inhaling the faint scent of shampoo and Bette’s essence. Tina let her lips linger in a kiss on Bette’s neck before turning her around, taking a grape from the bowl and holding it up.

“Hungry?” Tina asked and then sucked the grape inside her mouth.

“Is that one mine?” Bette asked, gently pushing Tina toward the bed.

Tina fell on her back, her legs hanging down the side of the bed. She held the grape between her front teeth. “Um-huh.”

A sly grin stretched across Bette’s face as she straddled Tina’s legs. She dropped to the bed and rested on her elbows, her face hovering over Tina’s. “I’m starving,” she said, bending to grab the grape from Tina’s teeth with her lips, but Tina let the grape drop inside her mouth. Tina squinted her eyes, casting a playfully challenged toward Bette.

“Okay, I see how you want to play it,” Bette said, opening Tina’s mouth with her tongue and then moved inside searching for the grape. Tina let Bette’s tongue scavenge around before she pushed the grape into Bette’s mouth. Bette pulled away and sunk her teeth through the grape’s skin, releasing its cool juice.

“Umm those are sweet,” Bette said, pushing herself up to grab the bowl from the dresser. She placed the bowl next to Tina, sat on the edge of the bed and held grape after grape to Tina’s mouth who sucked Bette’s offerings between her lips, each time making a popping sound. Bette watched Tina chew and swallow, and thought about how she missed their playfulness that often lead to long weekend afternoons. An inkling of sadness began to creep into Bette’s mood, but she refused to let her sadness highjack her intent.

“You better have a few more. You’re going to need your strength,” Bette said before leaning down to peck Tina on the lips.

“I am?”

“Yeah, you are,” she said, lifting Tina’s T-Shirt and twisting a grape into her bellybutton.

The cold grape sent a surge down Tina’s spine. “Ah, baby, aren’t you going to eat it?” Tina said and then giggled.

“Uh-huh,” Bette said, unsnapping Tina’s jeans and then slowly pulling the zipper down, watching Tina watch her. She reached up under Tina’s rear end and tugged at her jeans and panties. Tina lifted slightly off of the bed so that her pants could easily be pulled off. Bette tossed the jeans to the floor and then in one motion pulled her own T-shirt over her head.

Bette’s partially clothed body was one of Tina’s favorite aphrodisiacs. Her eyes lingered on Bette’s bare ***** before moving down her torso past her bellybutton to the drawstrings of her pants. Her heart quickened at the thought of pulling the drawstrings to loosen Bette’s cotton pants and watching them fall around her ankles.

Bette reached in the bowl and plucked a grape from the bunch and then stepped between Tina’s bare legs. Tina threw her hands over her head, watching Bette turn the grape over between her thumb and forefinger.

Bette held Tina’s gaze as she slowly ran the grape over her parted lips and then circled her tongue against its red skin. She traced the grape along her neck and made a meandering S down her chest to her left breast and nipple.

“Ahhh,” Bette sighed, before sliding the grape between her cleavage and across to her right breast. Bette made concentric circles around her breast, each time moving closer to her nipple. She rubbed the grape back and forth across her nipple, watching Tina, feeling her body respond to the cold grape and Tina’s attention.

“Oh, I guess I got it a little warm,” Bette said in a playful pout, before tossing the grape into her mouth.

“God, come here,” Tina said, starting to sit up, unable to lie still any longer.

“Ah, ah. Don’t drop it,” Bette said pointing to Tina’s bellybutton.

Tina huffed and lifted her back enough to keep the grape securely in her bellybutton while she crossed her arms and yanked her T-shirt off. She pushed herself back on the bed a bit and bent her knees. “I’m wearing a grape,” she said, her monotone contrasting sharply with her nakedness and her desire to feel Bette’s skin against her own.

“And it looks good on you, baby,” Bette said with a wink.

Tina’s eyes broadcast what she wanted from Bette who smiled and nodded her head slightly as she moved her hands in unison up from Tina’s feet, across her shins, over her knees and down the inside of her thighs, meeting at Tina’s center. Bette grazed Tina’s ***** with her right thumb as her hands moved over her soft mound and across her belly. Bette gently rubbed Tina’s belly and began to feel herself slip back into the sorrow she thought she had left in the living room.

Bette looked at Tina, her eyes pleading for help. Tina took Bette’s hands as if pulling her out of a rip current and edged her on top of her body. Bette fought back her tears as she focused on Tina’s brown eyes that seemed to be calling her to fall in. Tina kissed Bette’s lips lightly, waiting to see what direction they were headed next. Bette returned Tina’s kiss and resolved to let the desire she felt for Tina in that moment transcend her sorrow.

Bette ran her hands around Tina’s temples and along her jaw. “I love you, T,” she said sweetly before sitting up on her knees.

“I love you too, babe,” Tina said, relieved that Bette seemed to still want the same thing that she did. Tina reached up and grasped one of the drawstrings on Bette’s cotton pants and gave it a little tug. Bette’s pants tumbled around her knees exposing her sculpted belly and dark curly mound. Tina’s lips instinctively parted as she looked at Bette. “Ah, baby,” Tina uttered under her breath.

Bette shook her pants off of her legs before sliding onto Tina. She ran her tongue along the curve of Tina’s left breast, following it up to her nipple that waited for Bette’s mouth. Bette circled her tongue around Tina’s nipple before sucking it into her mouth. She gently bit down, increasing the pressure with each nibble, pushing Tina toward her pleasure-pain threshold.

Tina eased into the comfort she felt from the weight of Bette’s body and her warm skin. She took measured breaths as Bette’s mouth delivered exacting pleasure spiced with a little pain. “Uh, uh, baby,” Tina moaned, her eyes closed, her fingers woven into Bette’s curly hair.

Bette continued sucking and biting before releasing Tina’s pert nipple to blow on it as if to cool it down. “Ah, don’t stop,” Tina said, lost in a faraway trance.

“Never,” Bette said, running her tongue between Tina’s cleavage and up the curve of her right breast. She took Tina’s nipple between her front teeth and carefully bit into Tina’s flesh.

“Ahh-yow,” Tina cried, jerking her back and grabbing Bette’s head.

“Too much?”

“It’s just been a while. Easy baby,” Tina said, taking a deep breath.

Bette sweetly kissed Tina’s hard nipple before sucking it into her mouth.

“Ah, yeah. You feel so good,” Tina said, tipping her hips up to make contact with Bette. She wrapped her legs around Bette’s thighs and began to slowly rock her hips. Bette pushed her torso above Tina on stilted arms as she started a rhythmic grind of her pelvic bone against Tina’s center. The two kept focused on each other, as every stroke of Bette against Tina drove them a little closer to the connection they both had been wanting.

Tina opened her mouth ready to suck Bette’s breast inside when Bette lowered herself onto Tina and met Tina’s open mouth with her own. Tina kissed her with a sense of desperation, grunting and moaning into each swag of her tongue, each suck of Bette’s lip, unwilling to let her go.

Bette felt overwhelmed by her desire to experience Tina through all of her senses. She knew by the magnitude of Tina’s thrusting hips, the pressure she was exerting on her thighs, and her relentless hold on her mouth and tongue, that Tina was not far from coming. Bette wanted to let Tina ride on to her first *****, but her need to taste Tina overpowered her desire to let Tina come.

“T, I want to be in you,” she said, pushing back, releasing Tina’s legs, and inching down her torso. She passing the grape still securely wedged into Tina’s bellybutton, crossed her undulating hips to her exceptionally wet center. Bette inhaled Tina’s scent and then entered Tina with her tongue.

Tina’s taste drove Bette into a heady paradise where she alternated between giving Tina the tongue thrusting and sucking that she knew Tina wanted while feeding her own need to be in Tina and have Tina on her tongue.

Tina placed her trembling hands on Bette’s curly head as she continued rocking her hips. Each lap of Bette’s tongue, each labored breath, each tense muscle fueled the intensity of her building *****. Tina waiting for one more deliberate stroke from Bette’s tongue to release her into the rapture that Bette’s lovemaking brought. As close as she was though, Tina didn’t want to go there alone.

“Come with me, Bette,” Tina barely eked out as she pulled Bette’s head up.

“Uh-ah,” Bette mumbled, resisting Tina’s request.

“I want you with me,” Tina said, pulling Bette’s arms to get her to sit up.

“I was so happy,” Bette said in a playful pout.

Tina sat up and moved to meet Bette on the edge of the bed where she ran her right hand along Bette’s thigh, over her mound to her wet center. “I want this,” T said, wrapping her left arm around Bette, and pushing her right ring and middle finger deep inside.

Bette inhaled sharply. “Whatever you want, T,” Bette said, moving her right palm over Tina’s mound and then slipping three fingers into Tina.

The two began to buck their hips against the other’s hands, finding the groove that was familiar to them. Tina held her breath, resisting the furry of her imminent *****. Bette rocked her hips, aware that Tina was waiting for her to catch up. She opened her mouth, extending her tongue, reaching for any part of Tina. Tina met Bette’s lips with her own, their mouths joined, their tongues engaged in the same rhythmic pace as their hips.

Bette pulled away from Tina’s kiss as the peak of her ***** began to take hold of her. “Ahh, ahh, ahh, oh, God,” she moaned.

Tina felt Bette’s body jerk and her center contract. She felt the last thrust from Bette’s hand that started her own ***** rocketing through her body. “Ha, ah, ah, ahh, baby.”

Tina fell backwards carrying Bette with her. They lay together listening to the other catch her breath, their bodies slick with sweat, their hearts pounding in their chests.

“God, we needed that,” Tina said, resting her head on her right forearm.

“Yeah, that was a really good start,” Bette said, rolling onto her side to look at Tina. She traced her forefinger along Tina’s sweaty brow, past her temple, across her cheek to her lips. Tina sucked the tip of Bette’s finger into her mouth and wiggled the tip of her tongue against it.

“Did you drop it?” Bette asked in her best mock serious tone.

“Huh?”

“Did you drop it? The grape?”

“The grape?” Tina asked, turning to look at Bette.

Bette leaned up on her elbow and ran her hand over Tina’s belly. “It’s gone. You dropped it. I told you not to drop it, T,” she said continuing her serious tone.

“What are you going to do, punish me?” Tina asked, unable to keep a smile from her lips.

“You leave me no choice. I think I have to,” Bette said as she picked up the grape from a fold in the comforter cover. She traced the grape down Tina’s forehead, over her nose to her lips. Tina looked at Bette and puckered her lips against the grape.

“Are you ready?” Bette asked, her voice sultry and low.

“I’ve been a really bad girl,” Tina said.

“I know.”

~~~~

“Jesus, it’s 2 a.m.,” Bette said, pulling Tina closer and nuzzling her nose into the nape of Tina’s neck. She wrapped her left arm around Tina’s torso and held her left hand. Bette twisted Tina’s commitment ring as she placed a sweet kiss against her neck.

“I know. I’m feeling it. When is your first meeting? You’re going to be so tired,” Tina said.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.”

“What, babe?”

“I left a message for James to clear my calendar for tomorrow and for the first part of Tuesday. I have one call I have to make to the attorney first thing, but after that I want to take you to this little bed and breakfast I heard about in Laguna Beach. Is Oscar expecting you tomorrow?”

Tina rolled over to face Bette. “You’re taking time off of work? Now? With the show just a few weeks away? Are you crazy?”

“Yeah, that’s the problem, T. I’ve been feeling a little crazy lately.”

“And you want to stay at a bed and breakfast, not the Ritz?”

“I thought you would like this one. I hear it has an amazing garden filled with rare California natives. There’s several sitting areas in the garden. We could just sit and talk. I thought we could go down for the day and spend the night if you felt like it.”

Tina reached over and placed a lingering kiss on Bette’s mouth. “I think that is the sweetest thing you’ve ever done, Bette. What’s gotten into you?”

“You have Tina. You’re first, remember?”

“I told you I would never forget. And I won’t,” Tina said, kissing Bette and thinking about how she felt like moving the kiss forward to something more, but she didn’t. The drive down the coast tomorrow, the garden, and Bette alone in the bed and breakfast was worth saving her strength for.

*** Is it the end or just the beginning? ***
*** No, it’s the end. Really! ***