LJ Maas: Rebecca’s Cove

“I’m so there with you, sweetheart. I feel like I’m sixteen and in love, and I’ve never felt like that with any lover before.”

Baylor’s arms tensed. “Um, have there been many...you know, lovers?”

“Don’t go there, Baylor Joan. Not tonight.” Hobie turned in the embrace and touched her fingertips to the crease in Baylor’s forehead. “It doesn’t matter anyway, anything that came before. I feel like I’ve been living my life in a black-and-white movie and now, here we are in Technicolor.”

Baylor instantly brightened. “Thanks for the reminder, and you’re right. It sounds like something Harriet Teasley would write, but I feel like I’ve been transparent all this time. Now I meet you, and suddenly, I can see myself, others can see me. I’m whole.”

“I think I like the way Harriet thinks.” Hobie smiled and the women shared a tender kiss. “Thanks for tonight, for making it special.”

“I think for the evening thus far, I should be thanking you,” Baylor said, wearing a sheepish grin. “However, your special surprise is waiting in that building right there.”

“In the greenhouse?” Hobie’s voice took on an excited, childlike quality. “I’ve always wanted to know what Evelyn grew in that big one there. Guess I was too polite to ask. To tell you the truth, I thought it might be pot.”

_0_

Rebecca’s

Cove

Baylor laughed. “It’s nothing that exciting. I have a little spot set up for us. Have you been eating right today?”

“I did skip a little. I was kind of nervous and, well...Thanks for checking. You know it’s the first thing I forget.”

“I know, baby, but no more. Now you have someone to harp at you every day. I’m gonna make your mom look like she didn’t care.” Baylor chuckled. “I’ve done a lot of research on the Internet about hypoglycemia, and I’m prepared to make your life a married hell.”

Hobie laughed at Baylor’s earnest vigor, feeling secure in the fact that someone was looking out for her for a change. “You’ll probably drive me bananas, but I’ll love every minute of it.”

“So are you hungry?”

“Mmm, what did you have in mind?” Hobie fingered the spot between Baylor’s breasts where she had her towel knotted together.

“Alot.” Baylor jokingly slapped at Hobie’s hand, then kissed the tip of her nose. “But later. First, you’re going to eat some dinner. We’re going to go on a picnic.”

“A picnic? Isn’t it a little late at night?”

“Nope. Not where we’re going,” Baylor said cryptically. “I think you’ll love it. Plus, I want you to eat plenty of high-energy food.”

“Am I going to need it?” Hobie asked with a suggestive look.

“You have no idea, my love. Your evening is just getting started.”

Hobie lay on her back on the soft blankets and raised her arms above her head, stretching like a contented cat. She grinned sheepishly when she caught Baylor smiling at her.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever guessed all this was in here,” Hobie said. “It’s like a different world.”

“You should have seen the look on my face when I first got here. I thought it was the beginning of a bad Twilight Zone episode.”

The women, still in their towels, lounged beside the waterfall, surrounded by oriental grasses and tropical plants with dark glossy leaves.

“Get enough to eat?” Baylor asked as she patted Hobie’s belly.

“Absolutely. How did you know I love Greek food?” “Your mom.”

“Well, these are the best dolmades I’ve had in years,” Hobie said. “Where did you go for them?”

“Oh, hell. I made them,” Baylor said with a satisfied smirk. “You made them? All of this?” Hobie peeked into the wicker

basket, which was still half full of food. “Were you planning on a few more people showing up?”

“Very funny, and yes, I made everything. It’s one of my hobbies.”

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?” “Let me guess. You don’t know how to cook.” “Do peanut butter and jelly sandwiches count?” Baylor dropped her head in false dismay.

“Wait! I can make macaroni and cheese, too—well, the kind that comes in a box—so there. And I can make pancakes. From a mix, though.”

Baylor couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer. She leaned over Hobie and kissed her soundly. “You are as impossible as you are beautiful,” she said after pulling away to look into Hobie’s eyes.

“I try.”

Baylor leaned down for another kiss. This time, Hobie felt an odd sensation. The only way she was able to describe it later was to say that she felt her destiny click into place. The kiss was soft and passionate, tender and hungry all at once. By the time she parted her lips to let Baylor’s inquisitive tongue enter her mouth, their bodies were pressed tightly together. Hobie moaned at the warm softness of Baylor’s tongue. She regretted that they had to come up for air.

“Good Lord, Hobie Lynn. Where did you learn to kiss like that?” Baylor asked breathlessly. She didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s what I remembered, you know. As humiliating and embarrassing as it is to admit that I forgot your face, I remembered that kiss.”

She took Hobie’s face in her hands and kissed her again. She went slower this time, lingering over every subtle nuance of Hobie’s mouth.

“Baylor, touch me.” It wasn’t a command, more like a whispered plea.

“And where would you like me to do this touching?” “Anywhere.” Hobie captured Baylor’s lips with her own.

“Everywhere.”

They kissed for a long time. Eventually, Baylor allowed her hands to roam, and when she cupped Hobie’s breast through the towel and let her thumb brush back and forth across the nipple, Hobie groaned.

“God, Baylor! That feels so—”

Baylor pinched the hardened nipple lightly through the soft cloth.

“God, so...so good!”

Baylor retreated slightly. Hobie pulled her back and nuzzled her neck, kissing the taut skin there. “Baylor...please, don’t stop.”

Baylor looked down at Hobie and gently touched her lips in the lightest of kisses. Lifting her body for a moment, Baylor removed her towel, then reverently opened the towel wrapped around Hobie. She laid her body on top of Hobie, and both women gasped at the feel of skin on skin.

“Hobie, I can’t believe that a woman as beautiful as you would want to be with me. Do you have any idea, my love, how beautiful you are?”

Hobie could feel her skin flush a deep pink.

“It’s true. You are so beautiful,” Baylor continued as she let her hands explore the smooth curves beneath her. “I want to make love to you. I want to be the only person to ever touch you this way. I want mine to be the name you cry out when you come.”

“Oh, yes.”

Baylor moved her hands over Hobie’s skin as she pressed her mouth against Hobie’s lips. She sucked Hobie’s tongue rhythmically, matching it to the tempo of her movements against Hobie’s thigh. She could feel her own wetness as she rubbed her clit harder against the firm muscles.

Hobie enjoyed the feel of Baylor’s body on hers. When Baylor’s kisses turned hungry, Hobie’s passion increased until she was growling with need. Baylor’s kisses ran along Hobie’s jaw, and she pressed her head back into the blanket, giving her entire being over to her lover, instinctively knowing she would be safe and loved within Baylor’s embrace.

Baylor ran her tongue in a random design along Hobie’s shoulders and down to her chest. She took nips of skin, and Hobie gasped in pleasure and surprise with each tiny bite. By the time Baylor’s lips wrapped around an aroused pierced nipple, Hobie felt every pull directly between her legs.