Tina’s eyes were still shut, savoring the feel of Bette lips on hers, once again.  Just a few seconds more, and she would have ached for further contact.  Just as it had been earlier in the bath tub, when Bette had sat lightly on her lap.  Naked.  But just out of reach, paradoxically, for the moment.  Tina drew a breath in shakily, then refocused,  “Oh, yeah… I called this morning to ask them to send things over.  So they sent it over already?” Bette smiled down at her, noting the slow spread of a blush creeping up Tina’s creamy cheeks.  Their kiss had stimulated something.

That’s the thing about kissing Tina, Bette thought.  Tina’s kisses were shattering, at times.  Electric.  Intoxicating.  And in her experience, nothing like them ever.

She cleared her throat, “Okay.. well, we’ve got less than an hour to make it to the Chateau entrance.”  Tina noted the flash of lust and desire in Bette’s eyes as they withdrew from the kiss, a knowing smile played on the blonde’s lips.

She winked at Bette. “I’ll be ready in 20…”she said, as she turned to get her bag.  She gestured to Bette that she’d change in the powder room, to give Bette room in the bathroom, to get ready.

25 minutes later:

Bette was applying a last-minute tint to her lips, waiting for Tina, who had ducked back into the bedroom to look for her handbag.  She caught sight of Tina coming out of the bedroom, through the reflection of the wall mirror Bette was facing. 

Her heart skipped a beat, as her gaze transfixed on the figure of the blonde stepping out of the bedroom, Bette was rooted to the spot she was standing in, her arm bent, hands still holding the lip tint, and the rest of her “struck senseless,” as Aristophanes had described thousands of years ago, in his passage about the moment a lover encounters her love.  Just as Bette had been similarly shaken two years ago, when Eric had introduced them during a party in Bette’s gallery.  And, just as Tina had done for their day out in Paris two years ago, when she’d worn a mini paired with a casual strapped top, red silk ‘kerchief tied around her creamy neck, sexy roman sandals — Tina was dressed again today to stop traffic, Bette thought.