“Neither do I,” I’d said, admiring the new addition to our family while Jennifer babysat my nephews and our parents visited with a game but tired Kristin, “but I’m sure we’ll figure it out together.”
A loud splash off to my right brought me back to the present. Jennifer, as graceful as a dolphin and about as playful as one, swam toward me. “It’s going to be another hour before lunch,” she said, knuckling saltwater out of her eyes.
I looked over at The Painted Lady. Anchored twenty feet away, her deck was empty except for Ali, the boxer Jennifer bought me for my birthday last year. (We haven’t gotten around to picking out the cats yet. One step at a time.) Seeing me, thirteen-month-old Ali barked and wagged her stubby little tail as if to say, “What are you doing bobbing around out there when you could be playing with me?” I waved to her to acknowledge her greeting.
“What’s the hold up?” I asked Jennifer.
“Our gracious hostesses got a little distracted while they were making the empanadas.”
Marcy and Ana had gotten back together after I left Key West. Leaving without saying good-bye and “I’m sorry” wasn’t my proudest moment. Marcy deserved better. Despite all that, I like to think that I had a hand in her and Ana’s happiness.
Jennifer and I visited them a couple of weeks a year, recharging our batteries while we renewed our friendships.
The first time she had met Marcy, Jennifer had turned to me and said in a voice so low only I could hear it, “You were right. She does have great legs.”
“It’s okay,” I had said. “Yours are the only ones I want wrapped around me.”
“They’d better be.”
Ana and Jennifer had bonded right away, erasing my fears that there would be tension between them because of the potential love triangle (square?) I had nearly placed us in when I was finding my way back to myself. As for me and Marcy, we had picked up right where we had left off—minus the whole wanting to get into each other’s pants thing. We reserved those feelings exclusively for Jennifer and Ana.
“If the boat’s rocking, don’t bother knocking,” Jennifer said.
“Sounds like a great idea, don’t you think?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“What do you think?” I swam over to her and wrapped my legs around her waist. Our relationship was incredible. I couldn’t get enough of her. In and out of bed. Thankfully, she felt the same way. I licked the side of her neck. “What do you say? Are you up for a little afternoon delight?”
Under the water, Jennifer cupped her hands under my hips. “Make me an offer.”
I suggested a race back to the boat.
“If I win, you have to put on that sexy little teddy you didn’t think I saw you slip in your suitcase when we packed to come down here.”
“And if I win?”
I sucked her left earlobe into my mouth and felt her shudder. “If you win, I won’t wear anything at all.”
“You’re on.”
We moved into starting position.
“We go on three,” I said. “One. Two.”
Jennifer began to head for the boat on two-and-a-half. Her kicking calves stirred up nearly as much white water as an outboard motor.
“Cheater!” I called out. Ali’s high-pitched bark seconded my motion.
“You look much better in your birthday suit than I do in my teddy,” Jennifer yelled over her shoulder as she extended her lead.
I couldn’t wait to compare the two.
I dug through the water, chasing after the woman I loved in the place I had learned the most important lesson in my life: sometimes you have to forget who you were to remember who you are.
About the Author
Yolanda Wallace is not a professional writer, but she plays one in her spare time. She has written dozens of short stories, which have appeared in multiple anthologies including UniformSex, Body Check, Bedroom Eyes, Best Lesbian Love Stories: New York City, and Best Lesbian Love Stories: Summer Flings. In Medias Res is Yolanda’s first published novel. She and her partner of eight years live in beautiful coastal Georgia. They are parents to four children of the four-legged variety—a fouryear- old boxer and three cats ranging in age from five to eight. A writer since childhood, Yolanda has also become an avid photographer. She can often be found wandering the world trying to capture on film the elusive images she sees in her head.
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
The Midnight Hunt by L.L. Raand. Medic Drake McKennan takes a chance and loses, and her life will never be the same—because when she wakes up after surviving a life-threatening illness, she is no longer human. (978-1-60282-140-8)
Long Shot by D. Jackson Leigh. Love isn’t safe, which is exactly why equine veterinarian Tory Greyson wants no part of it—until Leah Montgomery and a horse that won’t give up convince her otherwise. (978-1-60282-141-5)
In Medias Res by Yolanda Wallace. Sydney has forgotten her entire life, and the one woman who holds the key to her memory, and her heart, doesn’t want to be found. (978-1-60282-142-2)
Awakening to Sunlight by Lindsey Stone. Neither Judith or Lizzy is looking for companionship, and certainly not love—but when their lives become entangled, they discover both. (978-1-60282-143-9)
Fever by VK Powell. Hired gun Zakaria Chambers is hired to provide a simple escort service to philanthropist Sara Ambrosini, but nothing is as simple as it seems, especially love. (978-1-60282-135-4)
High Risk by JLee Meyer. Can actress Kate Hoffman really risk all she’s worked for to take a chance on love? Or is it already too late? (978-1-60282-136-1)
Missing Lynx by Kim Baldwin and Xenia Alexiou. On the trail of a notorious serial killer, Elite Operative Lynx’s growing attraction to a mysterious mercenary could be her path to love—or to death. (978-1- 60282-137-8)
Spanking New by Clifford Henderson. A poignant, hilarious, unforgettable look at life, love, gender, and the essence of what makes us who we are. (978-1-60282-138-5)
Magic of the Heart by C.J. Harte. CEO Susan Hettinger and wild, impulsive rock star M.J. Carson couldn’t be more different if they tried—but opposites attract in ways neither woman can resist. (978-1- 60282-131-6)
Ambereye by Gill McKnight. Jolie Garoul is falling in love with her assistant. The big problem is, Jolie is a werewolf. (978-1-60282-132-3)
Collision Course by C.P. Rowlands. Tragedy leaves Brie O’Malley and Jordan Carter fearful and alone. Can they find the courage to take a second chance on love? (978-1-60282-133-0)
Mephisto Aria by Justine Saracen. Opera singer Katherina Marov’s destiny may be to repeat the mistakes of her father when she becomes involved in a dangerous love affair. (978-1-60282-134-7
Battle Scars by Meghan O’Brien. Returning Iraq war veteran Ray McKenna struggles with the battle scars that can only be healed by love. (978-1-60282-129-3)
Chaps by Jove Belle. Eden Metcalf wants nothing more than to flee from her troubled past and travel the open road—until she runs into rancher Brandi Cornwell. (978-1-60282-127-9)
Lightbearer by John Caruso. Lucifer dares to question the premise of creation itself and reveals that sin may be all that stands between us and living hell. (978-1-60282-130-9)
The Seeker by Ronica Black. FBI profiler Kennedy Scott battles ghosts from her past, deadly obsession, and the evil that haunts her. (978-1- 60282-128-6)
Power Play by Julie Cannon. Businesswomen Tate Monroe and Victoria Sosa are at odds in the boardroom, but not in the bedroom. (978-1-60282-125-5)
The Remarkable Journey of Miss Tranby Quirke by Elizabeth Ridley. When love enters Tranby’s life in the form of a beautiful nineteen-year-old student, Lysette McDonald, she embarks on the most remarkable journey of all. (978-1-60282-126-2)
Returning Tides by Radclyffe. Insurance investigator Ashley Walker faces more than a dangerous opponent when she returns to the town, and the woman, she left behind. (978-1-60282-123-1)
Veritas by Anne Laughlin. When the hallowed halls of academia become the s
tage for murder, newly appointed Dean Beth Ellis’s search for the truth leads her to unexpected discoveries about her own heart. (978-1-60282-124-8)
The Pleasure Planner by Larkin Rose. Pleasure purveyor Bree Hendricks treats love like a commodity until Logan Delaney makes Bree the client in her own game. (978-1-60282-121-7)
everafter by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. Valentine Darrow is bitten by a vampire on her way to propose to her lover Alexa Newland, and their lives and love are placed in mortal jeopardy. (978-1-60282-119-4)
Summer Winds by Andrews & Austin. When Maggie Turner hires a ranch hand to help work her thousand acres, she never expects to be attracted to the very young, very female Cash Tate. (978-1-60282- 120-0)
Beggar of Love by Lee Lynch. Jefferson is the lover every woman wants to be—or to have. A revealing saga of lesbian sexuality. (978-1- 60282-122-4)
The Seduction of Moxie by Colette Moody. When 1930s Broadway actress Violet London meets speakeasy singer Moxie Valette, she is instantly attracted and her Hollywood trip takes an unexpected turn.(978-1-60282-114-9)
Goldenseal by Gill McKnight. When Amy Fortune returns to her childhood home, she discovers something sinister in the air—but is former lover Leone Garoul stalking her or protecting her? (978-1-60282-115-6)
Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets edited by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. An anthology of sensual lesbian love stories: passion, surprises, and secret desires. (978-1-60282-116-3)
Femme Noir by Clara Nipper. Nora Delaney meets her match in Max Abbott, a sex-crazed dame who may or may not have the information Nora needs to solve a murder—but can she contain her lust for Max long enough to find out? (978-1-60282-117-0)
The Reluctant Daughter by Lesléa Newman. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant—the story every daughter recognizes of the lifelong struggle for our mothers to really see us. (978-1-60282-118-7)
Erosistible by Gill McKnight. When Win Martin arrives at a luxurious Greek hotel for a much-anticipated week of sun and sex with her new girlfriend, she is stunned to find her ex-girlfriend, Benny, is the proprietor. Aeros Ebook. (978-1-60282-134-7)
Looking Glass Lives by Felice Picano. Cousins Roger and Alistair become lifelong friends and discover their sexuality amidst the backdrop of twentieth-century gay culture. (978-1-60282-089-0)
Breaking the Ice by Kim Baldwin. Nothing is easy about life above the Arctic Circle—except, perhaps, falling in love. At least that’s what pilot Bryson Faulkner hopes when she meets Karla Edwards. (978-1-60282-087-6)
It Should Be a Crime by Carsen Taite. Two women fulfill their mutual desire with a night of passion, neither expecting more until law professor Morgan Bradley and student Parker Casey meet again…in the classroom. (978-1-60282-086-9)
Rough Trade edited by Todd Gregory. Top male erotica writers pen their own hot, sexy versions of the term “rough trade,” producing some of the hottest, nastiest, and most dangerous fiction ever published. (978-1-60282-092-0)
The High Priest and the Idol by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi’s relationship is put to the test when the Guardian sends Jemeryl on a mission that puts her not only in harm’s way, but back into the sights of a previous lover. (978-1-60282-085-2)
Point of Ignition by Erin Dutton. Amid a blaze that threatens to consume them both, firefighter Kate Chambers and property owner Alexi Clark redefine love and trust. (978-1-60282-084-5)
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