Shayna smirked. “Of course I’m awesome, but that doesn’t mean everyone in the world likes me. Especially not people whose daughter or sister I’m sleeping with.”
“That just means they’ll like you more.”
“That is not how most families work.” Shayna laughed and shook her head.
“Okay, how about the fact that my parents have asked to meet you three times, and my sister Tamar told me she thinks I’m hiding you from them?”
“That just makes it sound like they think you have an imaginary girlfriend.”
“So you should prove that you’re real.”
“Now you’re avoiding the question.”
“I am not!” Mindy shook her head. “Look, I know you don’t get along with your parents, but I get along really well with mine, and the fact that I like you so much guarantees that they’ll like you, too.”
“Have they liked all your other girlfriends?”
“Well, yeah. They adored Hannah.” Mindy didn’t like admitting it, but she really wanted Shayna to meet her parents, so she had to offer what truths were available. “They didn’t like Brynn, but they were right about her. And, uh… those are all the girls I’ve dated seriously enough to introduce them to my parents. Happy now?”
Shayna was laughing. “Okay, okay. But you’re not just introducing me to them as a way to vet me? If they don’t like me, are you going to dump me?”
Mindy took Shayna by the shoulders and shook her gently. “What is with you today? Of course I’m not going to dump you. It doesn’t matter what they think. Anyway, like I keep telling you, they’re going to adore you.”
Shayna’s words had finally gotten to her, though, and she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if they didn’t like her? What if they reacted to her the way they had to Brynn, her girlfriend in college, with stiff politeness? Would she have to take that as a warning sign the way she had utterly failed to do with Brynn?
But that wasn’t going to happen. The very idea was absurd. Shayna was amazing, and Mindy’s parents couldn’t object to anything except, maybe, her relentless pessimism. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.
“Fine,” Shayna said. “You set something up with your parents, and I’ll come over for a visit.”
Mindy grinned with relief that Shayna had finally agreed. “It’s already set up. Come for the first night of Hanukkah. My whole family will be there.”
Shayna’s eyes widened. “That’s in a week and a half.”
“So? You don’t need time to get ready.”
“What should I wear?”
Mindy shrugged. “You always look nice—there’s no reason to dress up or anything. We just light the candles, then have a family dinner and play dreidel for a while. Oh, and Tamar has two little kids, so you really don’t want to wear anything they’re likely to mess up.”
“You’re not making me feel better about this.”
Mindy kissed her. “It’ll be fine. If you don’t like kids, you don’t have to deal with them, but they’re pretty adorable.”
“You would say that. They’re your nieces or nephews.”
“One of each. But really, it’ll be great. You can come to my apartment or we can meet halfway somewhere—they live in the suburbs now. We can make plans closer to it.”
Shayna sighed and looked down. “I guess I said I would come. I can’t back out now.”
“If you’re really scared…”
“I’m not scared,” Shayna said quickly, looking back up to meet Mindy’s eyes. “It just seems unnecessary.”
“It seems necessary to me. I want this relationship to last.”
“Oh, now you’re just trying to make me feel guilty.”
“I thought you were immune to that.”
“I am. It’s not working.” Shayna grinned.
Mindy swooped down to kiss her. “I really have to get back to work. Talk tomorrow? If you sleep on it and decide to change your mind about meeting my family, I won’t be mad. I’ll just keep pestering you, though.”
Shayna put her hands on the back of Mindy’s head and pulled her down for a long, lingering kiss. “I won’t back out. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Chapter 12
Mindy woke up in the morning almost groaning herself awake. She ached all over—all her muscles, including her eyes. It was like she was one big ball of stress, without actually having been stressed.
Okay, she’d been a little stressed. She had stayed up fairly late working on pitches for graphic design work, and she hadn’t gotten any responses before she finally went to bed. But that was nothing new. Maybe she’d just been too hasty deciding to do extra roller derby practice with Shayna.
Thinking of Shayna, she rolled over and flailed around for her phone. When she had it, she squinted at the screen. It was almost ten, so Shayna would definitely be awake and—no, not working, it was Thursday. But that definitely meant she could respond to texts.
Shayna maidele, I’m dying, Mindy wrote, lying flat on her stomach. My lungs hurt and my legs hurt and my arms hurt. Even my hands hurt.
Yeah, I think we pushed it a little too hard yesterday, Shayna texted back a few moments later. Next time we practice together, I’ll be a little easier on you.
You said you wouldn’t be a taskmistress.
I guess I got carried away.
Next time you should let me catch you sooner.
Maybe.
You’re such a tease.
Excuse me, who decided to put out on our first date?
Mindy grinned. I like it when you tease.
Maybe I’ll pick it up, then.
Have you changed your mind about meeting my family?
No. You know I don’t back out of things. After a pause, Shayna sent another text. You’re not going to expect to meet my family now, are you?
Not until you want me to. I know we have different styles. Besides, if you haven’t even seen your parents since you moved out of DC, I won’t expect to meet them for a very long time.
Try never.
Do you hate them that much?
No. There was another long pause during which Mindy, grumbling to herself, managed to sit up and stumble to the bathroom. She was washing her face when the next text from Shayna arrived.
I just don’t want to be around them anymore. They don’t really care about me.
Mindy frowned. They’re your parents. They love you.
They say they love me, but ever since I was a kid, they haven’t shown any signs of caring about me as a person. Just as a symbol. Their perfect JAP daughter.
Mindy gnawed her lower lip, not sure which part of the text to respond to first. She wished she was with Shayna in person to talk about this, so they could see each other’s faces, but she didn’t want to put a hold on the conversation when Shayna was opening up in ways she rarely did.
I’m sure that’s not true, she wrote. They’re probably bad at showing emotion. You said they’re both lawyers. Maybe they tried so hard to learn to not show emotion that they forgot how to show it properly.
She waited a few seconds between texts, then added, And you’re not a JAP. Shayna might have grown up wealthy and privileged, but her cookie-scarfing, hard-hitting jammer girlfriend was so far from being the snobby, materialistic Jewish-American Princess stereotype that it was ridiculous.
They tried hard enough to make me one.
Mindy threw on some clothes and went into the kitchen to start her coffee, but by the time it was brewing, Shayna still hadn’t sent another text. Was she upset? Why hadn’t she responded to Mindy’s first, more important, text?
Mindy finally decided to text again. They were just trying to do what’s best for you.
How can you defend them? You don’t even know them.
They’re your parents. They have to love you.
Mindy sipped her coffee, staring at her phone, unable to get started with work as she’d intended. Why was Shayna getting so upset? She was the one who’d brought up her paren
ts. She’d never talked this much about them anymore—the only thing Mindy remembered her saying about her parents in the past was that she didn’t want jokes about talking to them. So she didn’t want Mindy meeting them, but Mindy never would have guessed that Shayna had this level of animosity.
I don’t think the world actually works that way. Nice thought, though.
Mindy sighed. Sorry, I didn’t know it would bug you so much to talk about them.
It doesn’t. But you should believe what I say about them.
OK. I have to get to work anyway.
Good. I don’t want to keep you from work. TTYL.
Mindy set her phone to silent and sat down at her computer. She opened her graphic design program and started noodling around with shapes while her browser loaded. She checked her email, then went back to the graphic design program to see that the shapes she’d put together resembled nothing so much as two brides, leaning in for a kiss.
It was hard to pin down Shayna for the Hanukkah plans. Mindy kept giving her options to back out, as long as she was up front about it, but she kept insisting that she wasn’t going back on her word… and then changing the subject when Mindy tried to get her to pick an actual time and place to meet.
Mindy was starting to think that Shayna was going to back out at her at the last minute, until at noon on December 24, her doorbell rang. She hurried to the door, still wearing her pajamas, and opened it to see Shayna.
She was wearing her usual pink belted coat, but underneath it, she had a very full skirt. Several inches of red-and-white polka-dotted fabric peeked out from under the coat; the red matched her patent-leather pumps.
“Don’t you look fancy,” Mindy said, opening the door to let her in.
“Is this okay for Hanukkah?” Shayna stepped inside, pulling off her jacket and turning to show Mindy her outfit. She was wearing a fuzzy white cardigan over a dress with an enormous skirt; the red-and-white collar of the dress peeked out from the collar of the cardigan.
“You look amazing,” Mindy said, looking her up and down, her mouth hanging open a little. Shayna always looked good, but the puffy skirt—there had to be a petticoat on underneath—emphasized her narrow waist and her tiny feet dramatically. The cardigan helped emphasize the waist while, at the same time, making her prominent breasts less obvious.
But Mindy knew they were there.
Shayna smirked. “I know, such a surprise.”
“Seriously.” Mindy stepped forward and lifted her hands to skim them over the sides of Shayna’s body, lightly stroking the sides of her breast and waist, then moving out to follow the lines of the skirt. “You’re always in jeans or derby gear. I had no idea you owned anything this impractical.”
“It’s practical for the purpose of impressing one’s girlfriend’s parents.”
“They’d better not be impressed the same way I’m impressed.” Mindy brought her hands up again, caressing Shayna’s breasts with more purpose.
Shayna stepped back. “Stop it. Shouldn’t you get dressed?”
“We have a few hours yet.”
“This isn’t an all-day thing?”
“I told you, it’s just the candles, dinner, and dreidel. We want to arrive before sunset, but not long before. I was thinking I would work, because I couldn’t pin you down for a time.”
Shayna looked down. “Sorry about that.”
“Hey, it’s all right. As long as you let me get you out of that gorgeous outfit…” Mindy stepped forward again and reached for Shayna’s buttons, flicking open the top one.
Shayna pushed her hands away, but she was smiling now. “Oh, no. These clothes are very delicate. If you want me out of them, I need to take them off very, very carefully.”
Mindy bit her lip, warming all over. “Please, be my guest.”
She watched as Shayna undid her buttons, one by one, holding the cardigan closed so Mindy couldn’t see what was underneath it. Finally, she pulled it off to reveal a halter dress, the polka-dotted fabric cupping her full, heavy breasts. As she turned to lay the folded cardigan on the back of the couch, Mindy could see the ends of the halter’s bow flopping over her memento mori tattoo. She ached to reach out and touch her, but held herself back so she wouldn’t get her hand slapped.
Shayna turned to face Mindy again, then reached up, over her head, and behind, making her breasts strain against the dress. She slowly untied the bow holding the dress onto the back of her neck, then let the top of the dress fall down.
Mindy gasped. Shayna wasn’t wearing a bra, and her breasts jiggled as they were released from the fabric, the nipples quickly tightening to points in the cool air. Mindy reached for them, desperate to give them a squeeze, only to be batted away.
“Careful of my clothes,” Shayna said. “And I won’t be able to re-curl my hair here, so we’ll have to be careful of that, too. Unless you have a curling iron.”
“Do I look like I need a curling iron? I thought yours was natural, too.”
“Weak.”
“I know. You’ve got me so turned on with your little strip-tease that I can’t come up with anything clever.”
Shayna’s smile was wicked. She reached again to her back, then brought her hands to her sides, took hold of the top of the dress, and pulled upward. The dress came up and over her head, briefly obscuring her face and her chest, until it was entirely out of the way and she was standing there in just heels and a petticoat.
“I think you should keep the heels on,” Mindy said, her mouth dry. “You’re not wearing stockings under that, are you?”
“Wait and see,” Shayna said with a wink. Mindy folded her hands in front of her to help her resist the temptation.
Shayna giggled at her, then unzipped the petticoat and stepped out of it, setting it aside on the back of the couch with everything else. Underneath, she was wearing pantyhose, not stockings, but the effect was still pretty darn sexy.
“Now, it’s up to you,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “You wanted me in the heels, but I can’t get the pantyhose off without taking off my shoes. So, do you want me naked, or—”
“Naked,” Mindy said quickly. “The shoes are adorable, but I don’t think you’ll let me touch you until you get the pantyhose off anyway.”
“That’s true. I couldn’t stand to have a run in them.” Shayna kicked off her shoes, then bent to roll the pantyhose carefully down, her breasts hanging pendulously in the air.
As soon as she had them off and safely put aside, Mindy stepped forward and grabbed her around the waist. “Your panties aren’t delicate too, are they?”
Shayna grinned up at her. “Not in the least. They’re perfectly ordinary.”
“Good,” Mindy said, and started hauling her toward the bedroom. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite strong enough to just pick Shayna up and carry her in, as she would like, but they had fun getting there anyway.
She was able to toss Shayna onto the bed, then crawl on top of her before she had time to recover and pull the underwear off with her teeth. Shayna smelled like sex and roses, and Mindy wasn’t sure she had ever wanted her more.
She started off by nuzzling her way between Shayna’s labia, then started sucking and nibbling at her soft, wet flesh. Encouraged by Shayna’s moans, she pushed on with her tongue, thrusting it into every fold and space she could find.
She licked up and around Shayna’s clit, dragging her tongue over the engorged nub, then back to her center, over and over again until Shayna was shaking and pleading. “Mindy, please! Oh, please, baby, come on, please…”
Mindy licked her way back up, then pressed her tongue down on Shayna’s clit and sucked. Shayna came with a gratifying cry, her hips coming up and pressing her sex right against Mindy’s face.
As Mindy came up for air, Shayna grabbed her by the back of the head and kissed her, hard, their tongues tangling together. Then, before Mindy could do anything else, Shayna pushed her onto her back on the bed.
She pulled off Mindy’s pajama pants, the
n climbed on top of her to kiss her again, grinding their crotches together. Mindy gladly seized the opportunity to do what she’d been aching to do almost since Shayna came in, and grabbed her breasts, squeezing their warm flesh in each hand. She moaned with pleasure into Shayna’s mouth. She had the hottest girlfriend.
Shayna didn’t stop kissing her, but she did reach down with her hand for Mindy’s sex, her fingers quickly locating her clit, swollen and slick with desire. As she started to rub slow circles around it, Mindy whimpered and squeezed Shayna’s breasts still harder.
For a moment, Shayna broke the kiss so they could both gasp for air, and they stared into each other’s eyes. Shayna was so gorgeous, her eyes almost black, their warm brown irises swallowed up by lust.
Then her finger flicked the tip of Mindy’s clitoris, and Mindy screamed with pleasure, her whole body tensing. Shayna dove down again, kissing Mindy while she sped up the rhythm of her fingers. Mindy couldn’t hold onto Shayna’s breasts anymore, but threw her arms around her narrow waist, holding her close until her orgasm left her muscles too weak to hang on any longer.
When she opened her eyes, still breathing hard, she saw Shayna sitting up and patting her hair, her lips pursed. “You didn’t let me sit up. My hair’s going to be a mess.”
“It looks fine to me. Your curls are all in place and everything.”
Shayna nudged her with her toes. “You’re such a guy.”
“Well, it’s true. You look great, and not just because you’re naked.” Mindy sat up. “I, however, am going to need a shower now. Want to join me?”
Shayna shook her head. “That’s just going to be worse for my hair.”
“It’s not like my parents know how you did your hair. You can just have it down, and it will still look great.”
“I’ll go look at it in the mirror.” Shayna wrinkled her nose, hopped off the bed, and walked to the bathroom. Mindy took a moment to toss her pajamas in the hamper before following.
“It seems to be okay at the moment,” Shayna said, turning her head left and right to see it in the mirror. “You didn’t totally crush it.”
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