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Tina leaned back against the pillows. “I think Angelica is very excited about having two mamas home all night long.”
Bette watched Tina in the dim light. The robe she had put on was tied loosely, and her every movement revealed and concealed landscapes of skin. A glance of the swell of her cleavage. a glimpse of the silky planes of a thigh, the enticing rill of her collarbone…It was Bette’s turn to raise an eyebrow. ”This is very exciting.”
Turning to Angelica, she continued. “Which is exactly why you need to get to bed.”
She picked the child up and settled her back down under the covers. Angelica safely retucked, Bette walked to the bookshelf and picked out a new book. “Clearly we need some heavy artillery tonight. Time tested tactics.”
She handed the book to Tina and sat down on the other side of the bed. Snuggled between her mamas, Angelica gave a huge yawn and relaxed as Tina began to read.
“In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red ballon
And a picture of-
The cow jumping over the moon…”
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Within a few minutes, Angelica was nodding off. Her eyelids fluttered shut, long lashes coming to rest against her cheeks. She wriggled around to a more comfortable sleeping position, lying on her stomach. Bette rubbed her daughter’s back in soothing circles, and Angelica slid deeper into sleep.
“Goodnight stars,
Goodnight air,
Goodnight noises everywhere.”
Tina closed the book and turned off the bedside lamp. Bette stopped moving and let her hand rest, palm open, on Angelica’s back. She felt the rise and fall of Angelica’s gentle breath.
Tina reached over and covered Bette’s hand with her own.
The only light now was the small glow of Angelica’s nightlight. But Tina was close and Bette was watching her closely. Tina opened her mouth, and a soft exhale of breath made it “I”. The tip of Tina’s tongue darted out to form the L in “love”, her bottom lip against her teeth for the V, and a pout for “you”, almost a kiss, to end the sentence.
These days there was dull ache always inside Bette, a never absent physical craving for Tina’s presence. The ache now tightened, tying itself into a knot.
In one motion, without letting go of Tina’s hand, Bette was off the bed and standing, tugging Tina up after her.
“Come.”
Bette’s touch was firm, her gaze insistent, and Tina caught her urgency. Hand in hand, they moved quietly through the door, quickly through the bright light of the hallway, plunging again into the dim, closing the master bedroom door behind them.
Tina pulled Bette to her, the momentum bumping her back against the bedroom wall. Bette stumbled but caught herself with a hand against the wall, the other at Tina’s waist. Their lips met in a bruising kiss and Bette moved to untie the loose knot that held Tina’s robe closed. Suddenly exposed, Tina was cold for a second, a feeling quickly replaced by firey trails Bette’s hands left on her skin as they went roaming over her shoulders, her arms, her back, down over her ass, gently squeezing, then lower again, Bette’s nails dragging lightly over the backs of Tina’s thighs.
Tina pressed her mouth to Bette’s ear.
“You want me,“ her voice was a warm, ragged whisper.
Bette lifted her gaze to meet Tina’s. “I need you,” she corrected.
In Bette’s eyes, Tina saw love, steady and soft. But the shape of Bette’s mouth was pure sex. Tina recognized that set of the lips, the way Bette moved her tongue when she was throbbing with desire. And then there, the way she cocked her head, the slight hitch in her breathing. That was Bette’s fear, her more than physical need for Tina. Her delicate breakable hope for this family.
With the complete, complex Bette standing before her, Tina was filled with a dual sense of power and protectiveness.
