“I need to water those begonias out back before the sun gets too high,” Ida said and disappeared out the back door.

Glenn’s gaze, riveted on Mari, was a beacon brightening a day Mari had thought perfect until now. Now she understood what it meant to be completely whole and unafraid. Glenn’s smile, whimsical and inviting, called to her and Mari rose. She went to her, caressed her uninjured cheek, and kissed her. “Come sit down.”

“Just give me a minute.” Glenn draped an arm around Mari’s shoulders, held her close. “I thought I heard your voice. Thought it was a dream at first. But it wasn’t, was it?”

“No,” Mari whispered against Glenn’s throat. “Not a dream. Real.” She tilted her head back, met Glenn’s calm, patient gaze. “Just like now. We’re real. I love you.”

“I thought I dreamed that too.”

“You didn’t.”

“That’s a dream I wouldn’t mind having every night.” Glenn sighed, leaned against her a little. “You’re all I’ve been thinking about. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Always,” Mari whispered.

“I love you. I never imagined how amazing that would feel.”

Mari closed her eyes, pressed her cheek to Glenn’s shoulder. “Neither did I. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.” She looked up, found Glenn’s eyes. “I wish I could be sure about how long I can offer you.”

Glenn brushed her thumb over Mari’s lips. “You love me, don’t you?”

“Oh yes.”

“And that’s not going to change.”

“Never.”

“I feel the same. That’s all we need. The rest is just living.”

Mari kissed her. “Then I want to live with you by my side.”

“You will.” Glenn smiled. “And for starters, I think I need breakfast.”

A joyful peace settled deep in her heart as Mari looped an arm around her waist. “Sit and get started on this enormous plate of food. I’ll tell Ida it’s safe to come back in.”

When Ida returned, she said, “Flann and Harper said no work for you for a week. They didn’t say you can’t go home, which I imagine you want to do. You know the routine. Don’t overdo.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Glenn said and polished off her breakfast with heartening energy.

Ida nodded, apparently satisfied. “I’ll pack up a basket for you to take so you have something to eat for a couple of days. Don’t imagine either one of you will be doing much cooking.”

*

Mari pulled in behind Glenn’s building and turned to face Glenn. “Are you sure you can handle the stairs?”

“As long as I go slow, I’m doing okay. My head’s good, but the ribs are pretty sore.”

“Let’s get you upstairs and into bed, then.”

Glenn grinned. “I’ve always liked that you could read my mind.”

Mari flushed. “I don’t think that’s a prescribed activity.”

“There are a lot of ways to interpret recovery, and one thing I need more than anything else is you.”

“Let’s start with the stairs, and we’ll go from there.”

“Will you stay today?”

Mari reached for Glenn’s hand and leaned over to kiss her. “Honey, I’m staying for as long as you want me.”

Glenn cupped her cheek and kissed her. “I love you. So that’s easy. Forever would about cover it.”

Chapter Thirty

Mari woke with a warm hand pressed to her middle and Glenn’s body curved against her back, Glenn’s face pillowed in her neck. After four mornings waking the same way, she knew she would never tire of it. Glenn possessed her just as she did everything else—with a quiet certainty that left her feeling safe and desired and stronger on her own than she’d ever imagined.

“Mmm.”

“Does that mean you’re awake?” Glenn murmured, her fingers circling slowly, teasing Mari’s skin into wakeful need.

“I believe I might be, but I’m not sure yet.” Smiling, eyes still closed, Mari pressed her hips into Glenn, rewarded by a swift intake of breath. Knowing she could excite her was another of those wonderful revelations she’d quickly become addicted to and hoped to repeat at every opportunity. As soon as Glenn was fully recovered. The waiting was torture, since every time Glenn looked at her she throbbed. Coming back from the ER to Glenn’s welcoming kiss, sleeping beside her with their heated skin sliding in a seductive dance, kept her constantly on the edge of desire. “Maybe you should just keep doing that a little bit longer.”

Glenn chuckled and her hand drifted lower, inviting Mari’s thighs to open.

Mari half turned toward her, kissed Glenn over her shoulder. She caught her breath when Glenn’s fingers slipped between her parted thighs. They were playing a dangerous game, one she loved and was quickly losing. “All right, I’m awake.”

Glenn kissed her again, the tip of her tongue playing over Mari’s lips in time with the glide of her fingers ever lower. She coaxed Mari’s mouth to open, to let her in.

Mari gripped Glenn’s shoulders, turned completely toward her, and pressed her breasts to Glenn’s. “How are your ribs?”

“Perfect.”

Mari laughed, the sound breaking on a sob as Glenn slid effortlessly inside her. She arched, struggling for a little sanity. “Is that a lie?”

“No,” Glenn rasped. “Truth. I’ve been patient, and I’m done waiting. I want you.”

“I’m here. And oh God, I’m yours.”

Glenn buried her face in Mari’s throat and gave herself to the sensation of heat and belonging that pulled her in, body and soul, with each slow, deep stroke. This was home. “I love you.”

“Glenn,” Mari whispered, “you’re going to make me come.”

Mari’s grip on her shoulders tightened, and Glenn focused on the beat of Mari’s heart pounding faster and faster against her own, the soft sounds of wonderment and need breaking from her throat, the lift and pull of her hips. Every hour she’d spent waiting for her body to heal, holding Mari close to her while they slept, part of her had been longing for this, needing this and only this to be completely whole again.

“You’re everything I want,” Glenn said as Mari tightened around her, her body wire taut for an instant, a cry torn from her throat. When Mari relaxed with a long, satisfied sigh, Glenn grinned. “You’re so sexy when you come.”

“Am I?” Mari said drowsily. “That’s handy. Because I very much like it when you make me come.”

“Anytime, say the word.” Glenn kissed her. “How about now?”

Mari laughed, shook the pleasure fog from her mind and framed Glenn’s face, kissing her until Glenn groaned. “If your ribs don’t hurt anymore and your headache’s gone…”

“Gone, perfect, no pain anywhere.” Glenn sounded a little desperate. “Except this one place. Terrible, terrible pain.”

Still laughing, Mari gently eased Glenn onto her back and propped herself on an elbow beside her, trailing her fingertips up and down the center of Glenn’s torso. “Here?”

“That’s nice, but…”

Leaning down, Mari kissed the purple bruise over Glenn’s chest. “You’re sure about this?”

“Yes, yes, positive.” Glenn’s eyes pleaded.

Careful but sure, Mari stroked lower, watching Glenn’s abdomen tighten, her thighs tense. When she slowly circled Glenn’s clit, Glen muffled an oath.

“Sorry. Should I stop?” Mari couldn’t help teasing just a little. She loved knowing Glenn needed her, craved her touch. Loved her.

Glenn growled, gripped her wrist and pressed her hand down harder. “Don’t be cruel.”

“Oh,” Mari whispered, kissing her as she picked up her tempo, “only in the best of ways.”

Glenn’s head rolled back, her neck strained, and a long groan shuddered from her chest.

Content, Mari rested her cheek against Glenn’s shoulder. “I love you.”

“Oh, baby, I love you too.”

“You know we have to get dressed right away.”

“Uh-huh.” Eyes still closed, Glenn stroked Mari’s face. “I’m coming.”

“Not right now,” Mari kissed her. “But later for certain.”

*

Mari gripped Glenn’s hand, her eyes shimmering with tears. Margie sat beside her in an airy floral dress patterned with bluebells the exact color of Blake’s tie. They looked fresh and eager and full of possibility, the kind of possibility Mari welcomed now. Ida and Edward, Carson’s husband Bill and their toddler, and members of the bridal party filled the front row just ahead of them. Mari had heard the words before, thought she’d known their power, but nothing moved her as much as listening to two women she admired and cared for hold each other’s hands in front of family and friends and the entire community and speak the vows of love and devotion and desire.

Harper slid the ring onto Presley’s finger and looked into her eyes. “With this ring, I thee wed.”

Mari didn’t try to stop the tears as Presley lifted Harper’s hand and slipped on the matching circle of gold. “To have and to hold…”

Glenn’s fingers closed around hers.

“I love you,” Mari murmured.

Till death do us part.

About the Author

Radclyffe has written over fifty romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters.

She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance (Distant Shores, Silent Thunder) and erotica (Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA/FF&P Prism Award winner for Secrets in the Stone, an RWA FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW winner for Firestorm, an RWA Bean Pot winner for Crossroads, and an RWA Laurel Wreath winner for Blood Hunt. In 2014 she was awarded the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Award by the Lambda Literary Foundation. She is a featured author in the 2015 documentary film Love Between the Covers from Blueberry Hill Productions.

She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBTQ publishing companies.

Find her at facebook.com/Radclyffe.BSB, follow her on Twitter @RadclyffeBSB, and visit her website at Radfic.com.

Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

21 Questions by Mason Dixon. To find love, start by asking the right questions. (978-1-62639-724-8)

A Palette for Love by Charlotte Greene. When newly minted Ph.D. Chloé Devereaux returns to New Orleans, she doesn’t expect her new job and her powerful employer—Amelia Winters—to be so appealing. (978-1-62639-758-3)

By the Dark of Her Eyes by Cameron MacElvee. When Brenna Taylor inherits a decrepit property haunted by tormented ghosts, Alejandra Santana must not only restore Brenna’s house and property but also save her soul. (978-1-62639-834-4)

Cash Braddock by Ashley Bartlett. Cash Braddock just wants to hang with her cat, fall in love, and deal drugs. What’s the problem with that? (978-1-62639-706-4)

Death by Cocktail Straw by Missouri Vaun. She just wanted to meet girls, but an outing at the local lesbian bar goes comically off the rails, landing Nash Wiley and her best pal in the ER. (978-1-62639-702-6)

Lone Ranger by VK Powell. Reporter Emma Ferguson stirs up a thirty-year-old mystery that threatens Park Ranger Carter West’s family and jeopardizes any hope for a relationship between the two women. (978-1-62639-767-5)

Love on Call by Radclyffe. Ex-Army medic Glenn Archer and recent LA transplant Mariana Mateo fight their mutual desire in the face of past losses as they work together in the Rivers Community Hospital ER. (978-1-62639-843-6)

Never Enough by Robyn Nyx. Can two women put aside their pasts to find love before it’s too late? (978-1-62639-629-6)

Two Souls by Kathleen Knowles. Can love blossom in the wake of tragedy? (978-1-62639-641-8)

Camp Rewind by Meghan O’Brien. A summer camp for grown-ups becomes the site of an unlikely romance between a shy, introverted divorcee and one of the Internet’s most infamous cultural critics—who attends undercover. (978-1-62639-793-4)

Cross Purposes by Gina L. Dartt. In pursuit of a lost Acadian treasure, three women must work out not only the clues, but also the complicated tangle of emotion and attraction developing between them. (978-1-62639-713-2)

Imperfect Truth by C.A. Popovich. Can an imperfect truth stand in the way of love? (978-1-62639-787-3)

Life in Death by M. Ullrich. Sometimes the devastating end is your only chance for a new beginning. (978-1-62639-773-6)

Love on Liberty by MJ Williamz. Hearts collide when politics clash. (978-1-62639-639-5)

Serious Potential by Maggie Cummings. Pro golfer Tracy Allen plans to forget her ex during a visit to Bay West, a lesbian condo community in NYC, but when she meets Dr. Jennifer Betsy, she gets more than she bargained for. (978-1-62639-633-3)