Pride and Groom

by Gibson, Tannya

"What is it?"

  "Some woman," the gruff voice said distantly. "You know the rule. No personal calls."

  "Bite me, Merle."

  "One of these days I'm gonna fire you, Hansen."

  "I'm praying for the day." Zoe said with good-natured sarcasm.

  Lexi felt a tickle of panic that she had put Zoe's job in danger.

  The phone was juggled briefly and her voice came on the line. "This is Zoe. How may I help you?"

  "I just wanted to leave you a message," she explained quickly. "I'm sorry if I got you in trouble with your boss."

  "Lexi!" Zoe said with evident pleasure. "Don't mind Merle; he's just jealous. I'm really glad you called."

  "I can call you later if that would be better."

  "Really, it's okay."

  "Your boss sounds kind of upset."

  Zoe laughed. "Merle suffers from Personality Deficit Disorder. He can't help the way he is. Fortunately, he self-medicates with beer."

  "Does that work?"

  "Not nearly as well as he thinks it does." Zoe laughed again. "Okay, he's gone. I'll bet he repeats that joke to everyone by the time I get off the phone. He loves to mess with me 'cause I'm not afraid of him. I had a seriously deranged drill sergeant in the Army and everybody else seems tame in comparison."

  Now that she had her on the phone Lexi wasn't sure what to say.

  "I've missed you," Zoe said softly into the silence.

  "I miss you, too. Were you waiting for me to call?"

  "I was hoping you would, but I was going to call you tomorrow night if you didn't. I'm trying to balance hard-to-get and desperate-to-see-you."

  Lexi sighed in relief. "I want to see you, too. Maybe you could come to dinner tonight?"

  "What time?"

  "As soon as you can."

  ~***~

  Zoe arrived, freshly scrubbed, before Lexi even started on her last appointment. She felt embarrassed at how good she felt just seeing Zoe.

  "Should I come back later?"

  "No," Lexi said shyly. "Have a seat. Have some coffee. If you open that door," she pointed, "you can let Cricket in. I'm sure he'd love some attention. He seems to have taken a real shine to you." With great difficulty she turned back to the poodle on the table and continued to trim her muzzle. "You got here sooner than I expected. I've still got about an hour of work."

  "I thought maybe I could watch you. Is there anything I can do to help?"

  Resisting the desire to crawl into her lap, Lexi said no. She watched Zoe play with Cricket as she worked and they visited. She allowed herself a few minutes in Zoe's arms while her last dog was in the drying cage and Cricket insinuated himself into every kiss. She was still laughing when her work was done and the door was locked.

  "I want to change my clothes," Lexi said as she led Zoe into her home. "Hair works its way into everything and if I don't change I'll itch all night."

  "By all means," Zoe grinned. "I'll have Cricket keep me company."

  Lexi rushed through a sponge bath and brushed her teeth, then pulled on jeans and a T-shirt. She struggled with her hair for a few minutes and gave up in frustration. A scrunchy pulled it out of her face and she decided it would have to do.

  Zoe was playing 'Fetch' with Cricket and his favorite toy when she came out. The way Zoe was sitting on the couch was possibly the most erotic pose Lexi had ever seen. It was actually more of a slouch than a pose, but those unimaginably long legs changed everything. Lexi had never considered herself drawn to one part of a woman's body over another, but the idea of being partial was gaining momentum. She studied the length of Zoe's upper leg as she headed for the kitchen and knew she had never noticed anyone's femur before.

  She quickly threw together a salad comprised of a little of every vegetable she had in her refrigerator and baked some corn muffins to go with it. A can of minestrone soup completed the meal and Zoe ate with gusto. Lexi picked at her food, too busy watching Zoe to concentrate and too happy just to see her. The rest of the evening was spent playing cards and watching Law and Order on television.

  "I should probably go home," Zoe sighed. "We've both got to work tomorrow."

  Lexi pointed the remote at the TV and turned it off. "When do I get to see you again?"

  "Well," Zoe drawled, "I was thinking it might be fun to have a picnic this weekend at a little spot I know."

  Lexi smiled and picked Zoe's hand from her shoulder to bring it to her mouth. "A picnic sounds nice." She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling of rough knuckles rubbing over her lips. "What should I bring?"

  "Nothing."

  Lexi shivered as Zoe's whisper crawled around her ear and made the hairs on her arms stand up. She relaxed and let Zoe maneuver her into those strong arms. She slipped an arm around her waist and slid the other one into Zoe's hair as their lips met. As their tongues slid around each other an ache started deep inside her chest making it hard to catch her breath.

  "So wild," Zoe whispered against her mouth.

  Lexi breathed in the taste of those words and recaptured Zoe's lips with her own. She couldn't get enough of the taste and feel of her mouth. Zoe invoked a passion in her that had never risen so swiftly or powerfully. As much as she wanted to explore it, she was afraid of it, too. Just along the edges of it, like she was now, she felt her Self dissolving. She had always enjoyed her sex life, but she realized that she had always been in control of what she felt and now she was faced with the loss of that control and who she would be after surrendering was a frightful mystery.

  With an internal groan, Lexi pulled her mouth away and sat up. The craving in Zoe's face was brutal in its honesty and her lips looked swollen. "I'm sorry, Zoe."

  "It's okay," Zoe rasped. "I didn't mean to…"

  "No," Lexi said quickly. "I just…I got scared."

  Pain flooded Zoe's features. "Of me?"

  Lexi fell back into Zoe's arms and buried her face on her shoulder. "Of how I feel, Zoe. Not of you, never of you." She sighed as Zoe's arms came around her and she could feel hot breath on her neck. "You make me feel…it's so strong and so fast and it's never been like that before. I've never felt anything like it and I'm afraid that I'll disappear into you; that I won't be me anymore."

  "Don't be afraid of that," Zoe said quietly. "I won't take you anywhere you can't come back from. I promise I'll always bring you home."

  Zoe's tranquil assurance pierced Lexi to the core and released a spasm of longing. All of the uncertainties of her life boiled up behind it and only the strength of Zoe's arms kept her from bolting in fear. Tears leaked from her eyes as Zoe began to rock her. Lexi placed her hand over Zoe's heart and willed herself to feel it beating. Slowly she began to relax and let a wave of comfort roll over her.

  "I'm sorry I'm such a mess," she mumbled. "I don't mean to be so much trouble."

  "Oh, Lexi," Zoe chuckled. "This is bliss. I could build a life around moments like this. You can trouble me anytime."

  Lexi pushed back a little and looked up into Zoe's eyes. "I'm not a tease, you know." Zoe's fingers moved up to brush hair from her forehead.

  "I never thought you were," Zoe said with a little smile. "Making love is a wonderful thing, but it's only a small part of what I want with you."

  Afraid to hear the answer, Lexi asked anyway. "What do you want with me?"

  Zoe grinned wickedly. "For starters, I want to take you on a picnic on Saturday. Is that a good day for you?"

  Lexi nodded as Zoe's fingertips traced her lips. She could still feel them after Zoe had gone home and she prepared for bed.

  ~***~

  Unsure what the day would bring, Lexi went out early and dropped Cricket off with Nana. She spent a few minutes saying hello to the other residents and assuring them she would be there bright and early the next day to make breakfast.

  The sky was clear and bright and even this early in the day she could feel that it would be hot later on. With an hour and a half to go before Zoe picked her up, Lexi carefully shaved her legs and worked he
r unruly hair into a semblance of order. It still looked like she had paid a visit to the Albert Einstein Hair Emporium, but she knew from experience that it rarely looked better no matter how you cut it. Wearing her favorite shorts and a tank top, she went out front to wait and picked up the garden hose to water her yard.

  Zoe pulled up right on time in an old, rusty Blazer and hung out the window to wolf whistle at her. "Hey, sweet thing! Wanna ride?"

  Lexi rolled her eyes and hid a smile. "My Nana warned me about people like you," she teased.

  Zoe turned off the motor and rested her chin on her arms. "And what, exactly, did she tell you?"

  Lexi turned off the water and walked slowly over to the car. "She told me to make lots of mistakes when I'm young so I'll have plenty of things to remember fondly when I'm old."

  "Am I a mistake?" Zoe asked with a glimmer of uncertainty.

  Lexi leaned against the car door and ran a hand over Zoe's short hair. "It's hard to say. You look a little dangerous to me."

  "Only a little?" Zoe asked in mock surprise. "How about you come for a ride with me and we'll see if I can convince you to upgrade your opinion of me."

  Lexi laughed and ran around to climb into the Blazer.

  "Where's Cricket?"

  "He's spending the day with Nana."

  Zoe started up the vehicle with a wicked grin. "So, you're completely defenseless."

  "Hardly," Lexi sniffed recklessly. "I am a bona fide mistress in the ancient Sapphic art of Tongue Fu. I can take care of myself."

  "Tongue Fu?" Zoe snorted with laughter. "What belt are you?"

  "Belt?" Lexi flipped imaginary hair haughtily. She could feel a blush attempting to surface and tried to ignore it. "There are no belts in Tongue Fu, you silly girl." It was rather out of character for Lexi to tease verbally this early in a friendship, especially one in which the exact nature of the friendship was still undetermined, but Zoe's evident pleasure in it goaded her on. "There are only mistresses and supplicants."

  "And I would be…?" Zoe waggled an eyebrow suggestively.

  "That remains to be seen," Lexi said primly.

  ~***~

  By the time they reached the edge of a meadow at the end of a long retired logging road an hour later, Lexi felt as though she had spent the morning in a blender. "Do you come up here often?"

  "Several times every summer." Zoe pointed off between some trees. "We still have to walk a couple of hundred yards that way to get where we're going."

  "I've never been up here before."

  "I'm not surprised." Zoe left her car keys in the ignition and got out of the Blazer to stretch. "I've never seen anyone up here but me. I found my way out here just after I got out of high school."

  Lexi got out of the car and waited for Zoe to continue.

  "I was trying on my independence and needed a place where I could just think for a few days. This was where I decided to go into the Army. Of course, I hiked up from that last fork we passed. I didn't know at the time that I could get this far."

  "We passed a fork?" Lexi asked in disbelief. "I wasn't sure we were even on a road."

  "Well, that was 12 or 13 years ago. Stuff grew since then."

  Lexi rolled her eyes as Zoe opened the back gate and shrugged on a large hiking pack. "Can I help carry something?"

  Zoe pulled a cooler out and set it on the ground. "I was hoping you would carry the other end of this."

  Lexi picked up her end and followed Zoe over ground that had obviously never been a path. Clusters of alders shaded them from the sun and she realized that she could hear water. "Is there a creek ahead?"

  "It's the north fork of the Delano River. I think you'll like it."

  With one hand on the cooler handle and the other keeping brush from slapping her in the face, Lexi did her best to keep up. The noise of the water got louder, but remained gentle in tone. The ground under her feet changed from earth to sand in one step and she looked up to see where she had come to. Zoe had stopped walking and Lexi set her end of the cooler down so she could walk further out into the clearing.

  She stood on a sandy beach on the outside edge of a curve of the river. Trees formed a wall at her back and substantial rock formations stood guard at each end. Across the water was a stunning, moss-covered stone face with a fringe of thick trees covering the mountain that rose behind it. The water was exquisitely clear and the river curved out of sight leaving Lexi standing in a secluded pocket of paradise. Tension washed out of her and she closed her eyes to take a deep breath, letting her spirit connect with the beauty that surrounded her.

  "What do you think?" Zoe asked from just behind her.

  Lexi opened her eyes for another look. "It's absolutely beautiful."

  "You're the only person I've ever brought here."

  Lexi wondered if that was as significant as it sounded. "Thank you for sharing this with me. I've never seen anything so…so…" She stumbled to a verbal halt.

  "Yeah," Zoe said. "It gets me like that, too."

  Lexi looked over her shoulder to see Zoe looking up at the mountain before them. Her usually rugged face had softened and Lexi could see anticipation in her gaze. Zoe suddenly turned away and dragged the cooler over to a flat spot next to the southern rock formation and dropped the pack down next to it. Lexi watched as the pack was opened and a blanket was pulled out and spread half in the sun and half in the shade. Beach towels were dropped on one corner with sun block.

  "I wasn't sure what you would like to drink," Zoe said as she opened the cooler. "So I brought beer and bottled water. There's a ton of food in here, including some of my mom's fabulous fried chicken. Just dig in and make yourself at home."

  Lexi took off her shoes and sat down on the blanket. Hugging her knees she let her eyes roam. "This is really nice, Zoe. I can't believe other people don't come here."

  "About a half mile north is a waterfall. We can walk up there later if you like, it's very pretty; but best of all, it's impassable. You can't raft down it and it's not worth portaging around it. Most of the river between here and there is not worth putting a raft in the water. Now, six or eight miles downstream there's a great spot to start rafting and if you're adventurous, or stupid, you can follow it all the way through town. I've never seen anything to indicate that other people come here." Zoe slipped off her sneakers and tossed them over by the backpack. "I can say with a great deal of confidence that we are…completely…alone."

  The intensity of Zoe's eyes made Lexi catch her breath. She watched as Zoe took off her socks and just as casually removed her shirt. Lexi felt her heart lurch as firm breasts fell free in the sun. She had to swallow before she could speak. "What are you doing?"

  With a single practiced flip of her hand, Zoe unbuttoned her Levi's and began to pull them down over her hips. "I'm going swimming. Feel free to join me."

  Zoe didn't seem to care if she stared or not, so Lexi let her eyes feast. Salmon-colored nipples tightened in the slight breeze and seemed to pull Zoe's breasts tighter against her chest. Her taut belly and muscular legs met at the thickest bush of dark hair Lexi had ever seen. She admitted to herself that she had actually seen very few, but she knew that this one was unusual. She studied Zoe's hips as she walked smoothly to the water's edge and wondered how they could look so slim in jeans and so deliciously abundant in broad daylight.

  Zoe walked straight into the river and at waist deep dove below the surface. Lexi took a much-needed breath and tried to massage the ache in her chest. "My God!" She whispered fervently. "Who knew?"

  She shook her head in an effort to clear it before Zoe reappeared and examined the river to see where she would come up. After what felt like five minutes but could only have been about two, Lexi jumped to her feet and approached the water. "Zoe!" Worried now, Lexi looked the length of the river and called her again. Just as she began to panic she saw Zoe pop up across the water and reach for a handhold on the cliff face. Relief washed through her, followed by irritation. "You scared the hell out of me!" she c
alled.

  Zoe turned to look over her shoulder. "Why?"

  "You were under for a long time. I didn't know if you were in trouble."

  Zoe laughed and began to pull herself up the rock. "Well, don't worry. I can stay under longer than that." She stopped climbing and looked back across the water. "Were you going to save me?"

  Embarrassed, Lexi folded her arms tightly. "I can't swim."

  "What?" Zoe called back.

  "I can't swim!" Lexi felt stupid and small and resented it.

  Zoe held still for a moment and then looked up at the rock above her. Adjusting her position so she could turn more easily she called out, "I am going to crawl up there a bit and dive off. I checked the bottom and it's clear. If I'm not up in 10 seconds you can panic. Okay?"

  Lexi tried to see where Zoe would dive from. "Is it safe? Because I'll be no help if you get into trouble."

  "I promise it will be okay."

  Lexi nodded and Zoe began to quickly climb. At about 25 feet off the water she carefully turned around on a tiny projection. Lexi wished she had a camera. Zoe looked like a work of art up on that ledge. Her heart was in her throat as Zoe arced out into the air and followed her hands into the water. Scant seconds later Zoe broke the surface with a whoop of enjoyment. Lexi laughed in vicarious delight. With smooth, practiced strokes Zoe pulled herself through the current and came to her feet in water up to her waist. Lexi watched water sluicing down that incredible body and backed up involuntarily as she approached.

  "I didn't know you couldn't swim," Zoe said as she wiped water from her eyes. "I'm sorry I scared you."

  With enormous effort Lexi kept her eyes on Zoe's face. "I just never learned. There was no opportunity when I was small and I had other interests after I moved here."

  "I could teach you," Zoe offered hopefully.

  Lexi shook her head nervously. "No…I…no. Maybe in a pool or something, but I'd be too scared to do it in the river. The current is too strong."

  "Okay. Are you going to get in the water at all? It would be a shame if I dragged you all the way out here just so you could sit on the beach. The current isn't bad along shore, it's mostly over on that side of the river."