Watching her watch me, as I had done for so many long, lonely months, I worked the button loose on her waistband and slid down the zipper. Her thumbs dug into the muscles at the angle between my neck and shoulders and her thighs shook. I caught the edges of her panties in my fingers and slid them down along with her slacks. When she stepped free of the garments, she left her shoes behind as well. Nude now, she stood between my parted thighs, swaying slightly. I held her gaze as wordlessly I skimmed both hands up the inside of her legs to frame her sex, crowned by a darker shade of gold than those sun-kissed strands above.
I did not touch her. I did not need to. She was ready for me, rising full and proud, beckoning my mouth. Her lids flickered once as I circled my lips around her clitoris, pulling her in, and she leaned more heavily against me, trembling. Here in this room, time meant nothing. All that mattered was the flush on her neck, and the dew of desire on her skin, and the flood of arousal on my lips. I felt her heart beat inside my mouth as I watched the echo in her throat. She tensed, pushing against me, bruising my lips. Her gaze was fierce as she prepared to come, swelling and pounding against my mouth. Only then did I fill her, letting my hand take some of her weight as she settled down upon my fingers, stretching to take me in.
I pulled at her with my lips, devoured her with my tongue, caressed the tight muscles inside until her lips parted with a high, thin cry. Still, she kept her eyes open, fixed on my face as her orgasm broke over her. I stopped breathing and grew light-headed, but I wanted nothing—not even the sound of my own breath moving in my chest—to dampen her cries of pleasure.
I would live on those sounds for weeks, feasting on the beauty of her passion, filling the hungry places in my soul with the memory of her pleasure. I would have kept my mouth on her, would have made her come again, if she hadn’t nearly fallen as the crushing climax released her. When she sagged against me, I rose and held her close, murmuring words of love so inadequate I nearly wept at my impotence. With my mouth on hers, catching the last sighs of her release on my tongue, I eased down onto the bed with her in my arms. Side by side, we lay gently touching.
“You’re here,” she whispered at last.
I smiled and kissed the wistfulness from her eyes. “Yes.”
“They’re never enough, these moments.”
I pressed my fingers to her lips and then replaced them with my mouth. I had no answer, only my kisses. Those I gave freely, along with my heart, until her sadness turned to desire, and desire to demand. She pushed me over, stripped me bare, and took what was already hers. When she was over me, inside me, there was no time at all. No past, no future, no moments to steal or lose. Only us, joined—one love, one truth.
Contributors
Saggio (Sage) Amante is a fun-loving and passionate raconteur who lives, loves, and writes in the deep South. She enjoys work, pleasure, culinary adventures, pleasure, Sapphic fiction, pleasure, Sapphic poetry, and pleasure. One of her favorite quotes is by Margaret Mead: “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.”
Lynn Ames is the best-selling author of The Price of Fame and The Cost of Commitment and a contributing author to Infinite Pleasures: An Anthology of Lesbian Erotica, Telltale Kisses, and Call of the Dark. An award-winning former broadcast journalist, Ms. Ames is a nationally recognized speaker and CEO of her own public relations firm. For additional information, short stories, etc., please visit her Web site at www.lynnames.com or e-mail her at [email protected].
Aunt Fanny is a professional storyteller, a graduated fellow of the Greater Valley Writing Project, and a former guest speaker for the California Reader’s Association at Asilomar. She now lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her Beloved, whom she married at San Francisco’s City Hall. She’s turned her hand to writing and has one novel making the rounds of publishing houses. Another is under way.
Kim Baldwin lives in a cabin in the north woods. She began writing fiction after a twenty-year career in journalism. Romance, nature, and adventure are key themes in her stories. Overdue revisits a couple introduced in A Slice of Heaven, a short story on her Web site at www.geocities.com/woodsbard. She has two books in print with Bold Strokes Books: Hunter’s Pursuit, Author’s Edition and the new romance Force of Nature.
Georgia Beers was born and raised in Rochester, New York, where she still lives with her partner, Bonnie (bless her patient heart, Bonnie has put up with Georgia for over a decade—nobody knows quite how). She happily divides her time between sales and writing. In addition to several short stories, she has published two novels with Regal Crest Enterprises, Turning the Page (2001) and Thy Neighbor’s Wife (2003). Visit her Web site at www.georgiabeers.com.
Ronnie Black lives in the desert Southwest, where she pursues writing as well as many other forms of creativity. Learning, reading, traveling, and playing sports are a few of her other sources of entertainment. She also relishes being an aunt and thoroughly enjoys the quality time spent with family and friends. Her first novel In Too Deep is available from Bold Strokes Books (2005).
Gun Brooke hails from Sweden, where she resides with her family. Crediting her writing origins to fan fiction, she is the author of Course of Action (Bold Strokes Books, 2005). When not busy editing Supreme Constellation: Book 1—Protector of the Realm, due December 2005 from Bold Strokes Books, Gun maintains her own Web site, where she posts her stories and computer graphics: www.gbrooke-diction.com.
J.C. Chen wrote ScullySlash in a previous life under the ridiculous pseudonym Fatladysing. While not the most aesthetically flattering of pen names, that alter ego did manage to produce four Spooky Award–winning stories, including first place in 2001 for “The Sketch.” Recently, J.C. quit her Real Job as a management consultant to form a film production company with her two best friends. Their first feature film, Red Doors, will be making the film festival circuit in 2005.
Lesley Davis lives in the West Midlands of England with her American partner, Cindy. She is devoted to writing fantasy/romance for lesbians who want heroes. Her published works are available from www.WindstormCreative.com.
Kenya Devoreaux is a lover of beauty in all Her forms. She is a femme-oriented femme lesbian who has found the means with which to inspire other lesbians, but still searches for the woman with whom she can share all that is inspiring. The meaning of life for her would be to traipse the landscape of art and politics, sword in one hand and her partner through time in the other.
Clio Jones is a librarian and smut writer from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She enjoys good shoes, strong coffee, red wine, and keeping the library quiet. Clio has published online at kinkygurl.com and is making her print debut here. Clio may be reached at [email protected].
LC Jordan is a thirty-seven-year-old Midwestern woman who, while new to writing fiction, has had a lifelong passion for reading. Having inherited a love of books and music from both parents, she grew up composing songs and poems as a hobby. Crediting Radclyffe and the online world of fanfic as inspiration, she recently began writing the stories that kept floating just below the surface of her mind. The search for that perfect alchemy of words is still in the Bunsen burner stage.
Karin Kallmaker is best known for more than fifteen lesbian romance novels, from In Every Port to the award-winning Maybe Next Time. She recently plunged into the world of erotica with All the Wrong Places and numerous short stories. In addition, she has a half dozen science fiction, fantasy, and supernatural lesbian novels (Seeds of Fire, Christabel et al) under the pen name Laura Adams. Karin and her partner will celebrate their twenty-eighth anniversary in 2005, and are Mom and Moogie to two children. She is descended from Lady Godiva, a fact that pleases her and seems to surprise no one.
Eevie Keys is an aspiring violinist whose first dream just happened to be writing. This blonde is madly in love with her fiancée and will soon be married to the most beautiful woman in the world, providing college doesn’t kill her first. Her poetry has been published in various and sundry magazines and she uses dashes lik
e Emily Dickinson… We promise, it’s not a coincidence. See more of her poetic-ness at www.Oceanid.org.
Marie Lyn’s erotica has appeared in cleansheets.com, Desdmona.com and The Best Women’s Erotica of 2005. She studied English literature and creative writing at the University of Michigan, and her “traditional” fiction has been published in Xylem and The Sarah Lawrence Review. She currently lives in a lovely apartment in East Harlem, New York, where she enjoys taking long walks and listening to her iPod.
Sherry Michaels is one of those night-owl creatives living in the land of the great Dust Bowl. When not working furiously to feed her two dogs, one cat, and iTunes habit, she often dreams of a house in the country, a couple of horses, and having an intelligent and beautiful girlfriend by her side, not necessarily in that order.
Cliodhna O’Bannion lives in Seattle, where she works as a journalist and publishes in a variety of forms. She enjoys spending time with her girlfriend and lives comfortably with two cats (and somewhat uncomfortably with a long list of things to do). Her passions include bicycling, watching Euro pro bicycle racing, reading, the night sky, and orca watching.
Meghan O’Brien is a twenty-six-year-old software developer who lives in Brighton, Michigan. She’s happily domesticated with her partner of over six years, Ty, and their many cats. She loves video games, writing, and, of course, women. Her first novel is Infinite Loop (2005).
Karen Perry lives happily in the shadows of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. When not writing or romping through the woods, she enjoys photography and slaving away in her flower gardens. Life is shared with her partner of eleven years and their two dogs. Professionally, Karen is an advocate for students with learning differences. This is her first published piece.
RM Pryor was born Rhiannon-Marie Pryor in 1979 in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia. Currently living in Newcastle, she moved out of home at fifteen to fuck up, flip out, have fun, and find love. She thinks she succeeded.
Radclyffe, having practiced surgery for thirty years while writing for pleasure “on the side,” established Bold Strokes Books, Inc, a lesbian publishing company, in 2004 and retired from the practice of medicine to write and publish full-time in May 2005. She is the author of numerous short stories and over twenty novels.
Jean Stewart was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She loves books, music, dogs, and people who laugh. She earned her living as a teacher and coach in her early years, but left education to pursue a writing career. She lives near Seattle, in the beautiful Pacific NW with her partner Susie, three badly behaved dogs, and a reclusive Maine Coon cat named Emily Dickinson. She has published five Isis books and a stand-alone novel, and has had stories published in numerous anthologies.
Renée Strider is a researcher, translator, and editor who lives with her partner and their dog on a big honking lake in Canada. Her interests include languages, history, and art history. Occasionally she writes articles about art and lesbian fiction. This is her first lesbian fiction submitted for publication. Write her at [email protected].
T. Szymanski is the author of the Motor City Thrillers/Brett Higgins Mysteries, including the Lammy finalist When Evil Changes Face. She’s also edited Back to Basics: A Butch/Femme Anthology and Call of the Dark: Erotic Lesbian Tales of the Supernatural. She has shorts in more than a dozen anthologies and has a novella in the notorious Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians. An award-winning playwright, she’s ridiculously proud of using the word damselling in her novella A Butch in Fairy Tale Land.
KI Thompson states, “This is the first time I’ve ever written fiction, so any and all feedback is appreciated ([email protected]). I never dreamed I could or would write something like this, and the fact that I have done so at all is because of two people. Thank you, Radclyffe, for the encouragement and honesty. And to Kathi, thank you for believing in me.”
Saskia Walker is a British author who has had short erotic fiction published on both sides of the pond. She has selections in Seductions: Tales of Erotic Persuasion (Dutton); Sugar and Spice, More Wicked Words and Wicked Words 5 and 8 (Black Lace); Naughty Stories from A to Z, 3 and 4 and Naked Erotica (Pretty Things Press); Taboo and Three Way (Cleis Press); and Sextopia (Circlet Press). Her first full-length erotic novel, Along for the Ride, is due for publication in 2005. www.saskiawalker.co.uk.
Kathryn Wolf fell into fanfic literally by accident several years ago and, after receiving much encouragement, began to write it. She states, “I have always wanted to write, and this seemed the best way for me to pay my dues, as it were. I have several stories posted to the Net, though time and real life have been against me, so two remain unfinished.”
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
Forever Found by JLee Meyer. Can time, tragedy, and shattered trust destroy a love that seemed destined? When chance reunites two childhood friends separated by tragedy, the past resurfaces to determine the shape of their future. (1-933110-37-6)
Sword of the Guardian by Merry Shannon. Princess Shasta’s bold new bodyguard has a secret that could change both of their lives. He is actually a she. A passionate romance filled with courtly intrigue, chivalry, and devotion. (1-933110-36-8)
Wild Abandon by Ronica Black. From their first tumultuous meeting, Dr. Chandler Brogan and Officer Sarah Monroe are drawn together by their common obsessions–sex, speed, and danger. (1-933110-35-X)
Turn Back Time by Radclyffe. Pearce Rifkin and Wynter Thompson have nothing in common but a shared passion for surgery. They clash at every opportunity, especially when matters of the heart are suddenly at stake. (1-933110-34-1)
Chance by Grace Lennox. At twenty-six, Chance Delaney decides her life isn’t working so she swaps it for a different one. What follows is the sexy, funny, touching story of two women who, in finding themselves, also find one another. (1-933110-31-7)
The Exile and the Sorcerer by Jane Fletcher. First in the Lyremouth Chronicles. Tevi, wounded and adrift, arrives in the courtyard of a shy young sorcerer. Together they face monsters, magic, and the challenge of loving despite their differences. (1-933110-32-5)
A Matter of Trust by Radclyffe. JT Sloan is a cybersleuth who doesn’t like attachments. Michael Lassiter is leaving her husband, and she needs Sloan’s expertise to safeguard her company. It should just be business– but it turns into much more. (1-933110-33-3)
Sweet Creek by Lee Lynch. A celebration of the enduring nature of love, friendship, and community in the quirky, heart-warming lesbian community of Waterfall Falls. (1-933110-29-5)
The Devil Inside by Ali Vali. Derby Cain Casey, head of a New Orleans crime organization, runs the family business with guts and grit, and no one crosses her. No one, that is, until Emma Verde claims her heart and turns her world upside down. (1-933110-30-9)
Grave Silence by Rose Beecham. Detective Jude Devine’s investigation of a series of ritual murders is complicated by her torrid affair with the golden girl of Southwestern forensic pathology, Dr. Mercy Westmoreland. (1-933110-25-2)
Honor Reclaimed by Radclyffe. In the aftermath of 9/11, Secret Service Agent Cameron Roberts and Blair Powell close ranks with a trusted few to find the would-be assassins who nearly claimed Blair’s life. (1-93311018-X)
Honor Bound by Radclyffe. Secret Service Agent Cameron Roberts and Blair Powell face political intrigue, a clandestine threat to Blair’s safety, and the seemingly irreconcilable personal differences that force them ever farther apart. (1-933110-20-1)
Protector of the Realm: Supreme Constellations Book One by Gun Brooke. A space adventure filled with suspense and a daring intergalactic romance featuring Commodore Rae Jacelon and the stunning, but decidedly lethal, Kellen O’Dal. (1-933110-26-0)
Innocent Hearts by Radclyffe. In a wild and unforgiving land, two women learn about love, passion, and the wonders of the heart. (1-933110-21-X)
The Temple at Landfall by Jane Fletcher. An imprinter, one of Celaeno’s most revered servants of the Goddess, is also a prisoner to the
faith–until a Ranger frees her by claiming her heart. The Celaeno series. (1-933110-27-9)
Force of Nature by Kim Baldwin. From tornados to forest fires, the forces of nature conspire to bring Gable McCoy and Erin Richards close to danger, and closer to each other. (1-933110-23-6)
In Too Deep by Ronica Black. Undercover homicide cop Erin McKenzie tracks a femme fatale who just might be a real killer…with love and danger hot on her heels. (1-933110-17-1)
Course of Action by Gun Brooke. Actress Carolyn Black desperately wants the starring role in an upcoming film produced by Annelie Peterson. Just how far will she go for the dream part of a lifetime? (1-933110-22-8)
Rangers at Roadsend by Jane Fletcher. Sergeant Chip Coppelli has learned to spot trouble coming, and that is exactly what she sees in her new recruit, Katryn Nagata. The Celaeno series. (1-933110-28-7)
Justice Served by Radclyffe. Lieutenant Rebecca Frye and her lover, Dr. Catherine Rawlings, embark on a deadly game of hideand-seek with an underworld kingpin who traffics in human souls. (1-933110-15-5)
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder by Radclyffe. Dr. Tory King–along with the women who love her–is forced to examine the boundaries of love, friendship, and the ties that transcend time. (1-933110-08-2)
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