“Are you alright?” Bette asked, placing a concerned hand on her bare shoulders. She nodded dumbly just as the band went into a slow ballad. Wihout asking permission Bette drew her into a warm embrace. “This is more to my liking” she murmured. Her lips moved against Tina’s hair. “I like to feel a womans body against mine …when i’m dancing.”

Right then, with that first innuendo Tina should have pulled away from her, politely excused herself and not have anything more to do with Bette for the remainder of the evening.___ But she hadn’t . Instead she had obeyed the encouragement of Bette’s hand on her back and moved closer. It was nice dancing body to body, especially if the body was like this one. -They swayed to the music. Tina’s eyes closed languidly. Their hearts beat together, Bette’s thighs moved against hers. Her hips…Oh God!

“I…excuse me,” She slipped out of Bette’s arms and wended her way past Shane and anyone else who might read her guilty expression. She needed air. Night air would clear up her head and she would stop having these ridiculous fantasies about a woman with dark hair,a magnificent body , who stirred her like no one else had___man or woman.___she was straight for God’s sake___

Covering her face with her hands, she tried to get a grip on herself. If only her heart would stop racing. She felt each pounding pulse at her temples, in her earlobes, in the tips of her breasts,and in the region that felt heavy and swollen and hot between her thighs. Her heart didn’t slow. Rather it came to a standstill when she heard the crunch of the footsteps on the gravel walkway. There was no doubt in her mind who the looming figure in the moonlit opening of the gazebo belonged to. It passed under the arch and came to her slowly through the shadows.

Galvanized by fear of the woman and her reactions to her, she bolted off the bench she was sitting on and tried to slip past her,but Bette caught her against her body. “Why are you marrying Henry?”

“I love him,” Tina cried out.

“Do you?”

“Yes, of course. Yes”

“You don’t sound sure”

I was .-I was until an hour ago. “I love him. I’m marrying him tomorrow. Now please let me go.”