However, as usual, Tina was  charmingly unaware of this effect she had on others. “Only she has the power to both stop my breath and cause my heart to race, at the same time,” Bette thought to herself, ruefully.

When… when will she ever not? When will the sight of her never cause the very air around me to shift? This chemistry between us is a force… of nature. Even after almost a year apart from the sight of her, nothing hasn’t dimmed this …feeling, and now ache…for her.  Hmmm…. just pointless to resist, I suppose.  (It’s all Zeus’ fault, damnit!, she joked to herself.)

Brown eyes roamed restlessly up and down Tina’s reflection on the mirror: down from that beautiful face and full head of casually tossed, silky blonde hair, to the form fitting black, see-through, lace blouse, overlaid with a set of long, slim gold necklaces Bette had brought back from Dubai for Tina.  Underneath the see-through blouse Tina wore a spaghetti tank top with a slight V cut that accentuated her breasts (which Bette thought seemed “fuller” than she remembered), matched to a purple A-line skirt, and sexy (f*k me) wedged calf boots.   Classy. Sexy.  She drew a breath in.  Mercy.

As her eyes traveled back up, she saw Tina staring back at her through the mirror. Like what you see?, her hazel eyes were asking Bette’s brown ones, hip cocked, arms akimbo, and one eyebrow raised.

Tina smirked, walked slowly, sexily towards her, maintaining eye contact, until she stood close.  She hugged Bette from the back, arms encircled around the brunette’s waist. Her head buried into Bette’s hair, blonde locks and brunette curls intermingling in their reflections in the mirror.

“You smell wonderful, Bette, spine-tingling,” Tina whispered huskily.

Bette smiled and leaned back, into Tina’s embrace, enjoying their renewed closeness and warmth.  “And you,” Bette paused, “are the same sex-on-a-stick hot chick…”

Tina chuckled, “Still have a way with words, huh Porter?”

Porter, huh?  Bette answered cheekily, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no. Nothing wrong. (Pause) For you.”

“What was that?,” Bette drew away slightly from Tina’s embrace, to look directly back at the blonde’s hazel eyes, eyebrows raised.

Tina smirked, “Just drawing your attention to the visual-undressing-thing you do with your eyes when you stare at me sometimes…the way you used to when we first met, and, even later on, when you thought I wasn’t looking, as I walked around the apartment, or while I dressed for work in the morning…”  She chuckled, “For example, the night in the gallery, when Eric introduced us.  I swear, Bette, I couldn’t breathe there for a minute – just struck senseless by the way you were looking at me.  And the morning after, when I was fixing you some tea, and you were in the couch…undressing me with your eyes.  Remember?” she asked, teasing, as she recalled her discomfiture.  Only Bette could get away with that overtly sexual stare.  With her.