Ragged moans were held back or let out as quietly as possible as they came together, marvelling later at that fact. Laying together and stroking arms and legs innocently enough, commenting on the connection they felt.
Tina’s cheeks were still flush with red, licking her lips again as she looked to the delicate silver chain of Bette’s necklace. She touched it and smiled at nothing in particular. She was wildly in love.

“T?”

“Yeah?” she asked, more comfortable with the silence than trying to strangle back all the sounds she wanted to make. She breathed evenly, looking up into Bette’s eyes. The after-effects of an orgasm that strong had them both tingly and exhausted.

“I had a great time tonight.”

Tina scrunched up her nose for a minute, and then played with Bette’s necklace again, her finger drifting aimlessly onto the warm flesh allotted to her. “Me too. I … I really can’t believe you put my name on that invitation, too … Was that a Helena thing?”

The small inquiry had Bette surprised that Tina felt that way, taking the wandering fingers in her hand. “No, T … It’s not like that. I just … I guess I feel really comfortable with you … that you’re … kind of a part of all the things I create.” She blushed even as she said it, knowing how romantic it sounded. How intense.

“… Really?”

Bette couldn’t look her in the eye, trying to hold back her embarrassment at the truth. “Yeah.”

“I mean, I guess I knew on some level, but … wow. Really?” she shifted to bring Bette’s line of sight back to her own. That connection had her smiling, like it often did. “You really feel that strongly? I mean, I know what the gallery means to you.”

“Well, do you know what you mean to me?”

Tina chuckled, “Touché.”

Bette laughed in kind, trying to do so quietly, as it was late in the night by that point. She took a long, deep breath as Tina seemed to be studying her closely. “I felt really great with you there, T. Tonight. I was a little … worried, I admit. Just about you being there with all these crazy art people swarming around, and future investors and buyers and the craziness that is my job, but … There’s no place I wouldn’t bring you. I was just … I was happy to share it with you.”

“But you were afraid. Why?”

Bette didn’t tear her eyes away that time, even as shy as she was beginning to feel. Tina often did her the same courtesy. “I was afraid you would be a little distraught.”

Tina understood, although she didn’t like being underestimated. But honesty was most important to her, so she just nodded and couldn’t help but smile. Vulnerability in Bette always did something to her, tempting her to prod further. “And was I? … As lost and lonely as you thought?”

Bette let herself smile a mischievous grin for a whole minute before speaking again. “Not even close. A couple people asked if you worked for me, actually …”

Tina whacked her arm instinctively, her jaw dropped. “They did not.”

“They asked about you. They did.”

Tina immediately curled up with Bette, feeling a sense of partnership she hadn’t realized before. She hid her face in Bette’s neck, completely comfortable fitting into the arches of each other’s curves. “This was a big step for us,” she whispered, kissing just delicately under Bette’s ear, but then resting where she laid.

Oh Ms. Kennard, you have no idea what’s still ahead. “Yes, it was. And I’m so pleased, I think I might keep you.”

Tina hummed with laughter, finally catching her own fatigue as she’d closed her eyes. She rolled just off of Bette to relax her body. “Mmm.”

“Are you pleased with me too, then?”

Tina just smiled in her semi-conscious state. “I love you more than words.”

“So … you’d like to come again?”

Again, the double entendre escaped without notice, their heavy eyes getting the better of them. But Bette kept her arm wrapped around Tina’s back, her other holding Tina’s arm. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Tina fell asleep to that wonderful confession, hearing the beating heart of her love. Comforted by its steady rhythm, and the fact that she felt the same way exactly. She’d never been as in love in all her life – even unaware that such a connection even existed until Bette. It just can’t get any better than this.